South Dakota is celebrating its 125th anniversary, and SDPB is taking a look at the people, places, and things that give our state its character. Pioneers were a vital part of the formation of South Dakota. From 1860 to 1920, thousands of homesteaders poured into Dakota Territory, looking for a better life. More than 15 million acres in South Dakota, or 32 percent of the state’s total land, were claimed under the Homestead Act. A traveling exhibit currently on display at the Huron Public Library tells the story of those pioneers.
For Shirley Apley, Director of the Huron Public Library, the “Drawn to the Land: Homesteading Dakota” exhibit is personal. Her grandfather homesteaded in North Dakota, and she has her own pictures of sod houses similar to those on display at the library. She says many other South Dakotans do too. It’s not uncommon to go back only a few generations and find an ancestor who came to the territory to make a claim.
The traveling exhibit consists of pop up kiosks featuring photos, images, and text that tell the story of Dakota pioneers. Several pictures show early state residents standing in front of their sod houses and claim shanties.
“And I love this. This is probably two generations. Mom, son, and daughter in law. This one’s a little bit better house,” Apley says. “I’d put a new roof on it. But they had a window, and they had glass in their window, and they even have plants out front. So they may be growing tomatoes or something. And it looks like either a cat or a dog is on her lap. And those were very vital animals to have.”
Like in many pioneer photos I’ve seen, the people look a little frazzled. Especially the women. One of the ladies in this picture is having a bad hair day. The South Dakota wind is blowing her bangs about, and she’s not smiling. Looking at pictures like this, and thinking about how different my life is from theirs, I always wonder, how did the pioneers survive? Apley says South Dakotans are tough people.
“That’s one of the things that people can learn from looking at this exhibit,” Apley says. “If these people can come out here with very little, take dirt, build a house, live in it, with nobody around for 50 miles, raise a family, and the families progress through time, get an education, go on, do great things but yet come back, that says a lot about who we are and where we came from.”
Apley says the settling of South Dakota is still happening today. Immigrants are still coming to our state, facing some of the same challenges the early pioneers faced, including cultural differences and language barriers. Huron is a main spot for Karen people to settle. Apley says these immigrants from Burma and refugee camps in Thailand come to the library and check out DVD’s to help them learn English.
“I find it quite interesting that today in Huron there are nine different languages that are being spoken,” Apley says. “Immigrants are still coming. So we’re still the land of opportunity. So this is something that shows the new arrivals how the old arrivals came.”
Of course, the homesteaders weren’t the first people to arrive in South Dakota. Native Americans had been living here well before the first pioneer made a claim. Apley says unfortunately, Native Americans were promised land, but the amount was reduced as the state developed.
“And I just think that it’s a sad shame because here’s a heritage of people that knew how to live off the land, honor the land, and we took it away from them,” Apley says. “But they were a vital part in the homesteading of South Dakota because a lot of times they were the ones that would come by and help the immigrants and teach them how to live off the land and make it through.”
One of the panels highlights the legacy left behind by the pioneers. It shows an aerial photo of a farm. Apley says she’s seen pictures like this in countless homes in South Dakota.
“There’s pride there. I can see it, I can feel it,” Apley says. “And that’s what makes us South Dakota, is our pride of knowing the land, working the land. You take care of the land, the land will take care of you.”
Apley says she hopes the exhibit makes people proud to be from this state. The display is in Huron through the end of October. She says she hopes it makes visitors think about their heritage, and reminds them of just what it took to become South Dakotan.