Life on a farm in the early decades of the twentieth century meant hard work without modern conveniences. No running water. No electricity. No radio. No paved roads. Few motorized tractors. Very cold winters with lots of snow. Very hot summers with flies and mosquitoes. Homes were heated with a hard coal heater in the living room, and cooled with cross breezes from open windows.
Farm families preserved fruits and vegetables for home use; raised chickens and gathered eggs for dinner or ready cash; raised hogs and cattle for market or meals; milked cows for milk, butter and cream to sell or set on the table; planted wheat and corn, oats and hay to sell or to feed the livestock; kept horses to pull the plow or to hitch to a buggy for the drive to church and market; sent their children walking to the country school carrying their lunch pails.
The most modern convenience in any home may have been the telephone, with a live operator and neighbors listening in on the party line that connected them to one another as well as to the outside world. Although many farmers bought their first automobile between 1910 and 1920, horse and buggy was still a common form of travel, carrying travelers at a liesurely two to three miles per hour.
In 1915, the state of South Dakota conducted a detailed census that provides fascinating details about life in that era. Answers provided by Aurora County residents in the state’s third census help to create a picture of the area by revealing ethnic heritage, marital status, schooling, crops grown, livestock raised, and even number of eggs produced.
The county’s population of 6,736 in 1915 was still quite young, with close to half of all individuals younger than age 20. One-third of those over 18 were not yet married, and single men outnumbered single women almost two to one. Imported schoolteachers found this hospitable husband-finding territory. The area was sparsely populated with literate, mostly English-speaking residents without a lot of formal education. While everyone, nine years and older, could read and write, only 11% of those 18 years and older had finished high school.
In the early years of homesteading, Americans moving west were the primary settlers in this county. A large majority of those counted in 1915 were born in the United States and claimed northern European heritage. About half of the 12% who came from foreign countries had arrived more than 20 years earlier, during those first years of settlement. Among the foreign born, 45% were from Germany. Those born in Denmark, Holland or Norway each represented 11% of the immigrant population. Although several other countries were represented, their numbers were very small. Of those born in this country, 36% claimed German ancestry. Another 25% identified themselves as American. Other ancestries noted included England, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Scotland, France and Wales. The census also records four Negroes and three ‘other colored’. There were no Indians reported living in the county.
Close to two-thirds of the residents indicated a church connection. Roman Catholics comprised one-third of those who claimed a specific church, while about 30% reported themselves as Lutheran and another 20% worshiped as Methodists. The remaining 18% distributed themselves among ten other religious organizations.
The farm economy was based on raising hogs and cattle, cultivating acres in cash crops and livestock feed, and selling milk, butter, cream and eggs. The average value of the farmland per acre for the county was $25 to $50 per acre, with the highest value in the state selling at $50 to $75 per acre.
This census provides abundant information about the farm economy at the township level. Specific details from Dudley Township offer a glimpse of farm life in one of the county’s 20 townships. Dudley, 36 square miles, registered its peak population of 311 in 1915, and is located on the eastern border of Aurora County, close to the southern edge. The town of Stickney, established in 1905, is in the southwest corner of this township.
Of the 69 farms operating in Dudley Township at this time, more than half (37) were occupied by the owner and 32 by a renter. Farmers planted most of their cash crop acres in wheat (54%), corn (39%) and oats (8%) with a smattering planted in barley, flax, alfalfa and speltz, a variety of wheat. Hay and forage were also planted. The number of acres in pastureland and hay was about half that planted in cash crops. Less than twenty acres were irrigated, and even fewer acres contained timber. Vegetables, fruits, honey, cheese, turkeys, and potatoes were not produced in any measurable amount.
The farmer, or most likely his wife, raised more than 4,400 chickens that laid more than 21,000 dozen eggs, about 828 eggs per resident of the township. Cows on the 69 farms provided more than one and a half million pounds of milk and 14,000 pounds of butter.
Of the 782 cattle in Dudley, about 40% were kept as milk cows; the others were kept or sold for meat at $8.28 per hundred pounds. The 1,677 hogs were a significant part of the farmer’s income and brought in $11.90 per hundred pounds. Sheep do not appear to have been a major product of this township, with only 39 sheep producing 314 pounds of wool. With four horses needed to pull one plow, farmers reported an average of eight horses per farm.
Entering the twentieth century, Aurora County had moved past the boom and bust cycle of its first twenty years and started settling into its true nature as a rural community with family farms and small towns working together to build a productive and enjoyable quality of life. Church, school, and town hall provided social life. Change would come over time, but for now, this was the character of the county.
Changes from 1915 to 2010
| Census Numbers | 1915 | 2010 |
| County Population | 6736 | 2710 |
| County Population/Square Mile | 9.5 | 3.8 |
| County Average size farm | 246 | 962 |
| Dudley Township Population | 311 | 84 |
| Value of Land per Acre | $25-$50 | >$2,000 |
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It Happened Right Here: Character of the County, by Ruth Page Jones. Published in the South Dakota Mail, Plankinton, South Dakota, August 1, 2013.
RPJ Histories - Ruth Page Jones 