Kingsbury County

Kingsbury County. You are about to enter. A region of buffaloes and Indians until 1870s. Indian mounds are found at Spirit Lake. In 1838 the Nicollett-Fremont party skirted the NE corner. In 1857 Inkapaduta’s renegade Indians passed through with two white women captives, victims of the Spirit Lake massacre in Iowa. In a skirmish several of the renegades were killed by Agency Indians near Lake Thompson. In 1857 Nobles Trail was built west passing south of this lake. , The Yankton Sioux ceded the region to the government in 1859. It was part of huge Buffalo County, 1864, and of larger Hanson County in 1870. On Jan. 8, 1873 it became Kingsbury County, named for George W. Kingsbury (1837-1925) of Yankton, legislator, editor and historian. Surveyed in 1873-75, general settlement began in 1878. The railroad came in 1879-80. The county was organized Feb. 18, 1880 by H.W. Palmer, H.J. Burvee, and Benjamin Loken. De Smet, the county seat, was named for Father Peter John De Smet (1801-1873), Jesuit missionary. The county in 1880 had 1,102 people, by 1890 – 8,562. Its area is 36 by 24 miles, or 552,960 acres. Lakes include Thompson, Henry, Spirit, Preston, Whitewood, Albert and others. Excellent waterfowl and pheasant hunting, and fishing are found here. Pioneer days have been depicted by three former residents of the county in Rose Wilder Lane’s novels, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s children’s stories, and Harvey Dunn’s paintings.