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The Archives and Special Collections has a 1937 atlas by the Clay County Planning Board. It depicts the county after the stock market crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression. The maps show parcels of land owned by private individuals, the Federal Land Bank, other banks, insurance companies, land associations, etc. "The Clay County Farm Ownership Atlas was sponsored by the Clay County Planning Board. The work of securing the data, drafting, blue printing, and all clerica

Vermillion and vicinity - RD12124 - USD - Richardson Collection - Digital Library of South Dakota (DLSD) In late March to early April of 1881, catastrophe struck Vermillion, Dakota Territory then located on a peninsula between the Vermillion and Missouri Rivers. Large ice floes and heavy snow melts destroyed three-quarters of the city. In addition, the flood caused the Missouri River and Vermillion River to change their courses dramatically. Vermillion was no longer a river t

Archives and Special Collections recently received a list of interviews with Clay County WWII military veterans done by Donna Schafer and published in the Vermillion Plain Talk newspaper. Aakre, Elmer “Sandy”. Vermillion Plain Talk. March 25, 2011, page 5. Anderson, Richard. Vermillion Plain Talk website says January 27, 2011, but we could not find it […]

For a time prospects for a park and artificial lake under a W.P.A. grant generated much interest in the southern part of the county. The idea first emerged in 1933 as a modest project involving a grant of $8,000 for work-relief purposes. During the following year the concept grew in proportion to culminate in a […]

Caption on photograph is “Ben shooting the V.R. [Vermillion River] rapids. Image from University of South Dakota Photograph Collection and Digital Library of South Dakota. Identifier PO5878.

If ghost towns do not need to have standing structures, then Clay County has at least one – Lodi. Bloomingdale may turn out to be another one, but further research is needed to determine if Bloomingdale was a town. Both are now private land and used for farming. Peterson’s atlas can be viewed in the […]

The mound appears on this 1856 map as Little Spirits Hill. Spirit Mound was described by local Indigenous people to the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. Twenty years ago in 2001, it was replanted with native grasses and joined the South Dakota state park system as Spirit Mound Historic Prairie. In 2010, a geologic […]

I am hunting for a book titled In The World War 1917 1918 1919, Clay County, South Dakota or An Honor Roll Containing a Pictorial Record of the gallant and courageous men from Clay County South Dakota, U.S.A. who served in the Great War 1917-1918-1919. I have seen similar books for a number of other […]

The Archives and Special Collections recently received the book Rediscovery the Barns of Clay County, South Dakota by the Clay County Historic Preservation Commission. Members of the community, under the leadership of Jim Stone, investigated and recorded approximately 350 barns in Clay County. Most of the book consist of Historic Sites Survey Structure forms, which […]

This year, one of my personal projects is to find out more about Fort Vermillion. When did it exist and where? Here is what I know so far: Fort Vermillion was a trading post established by Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Company along the Missouri River in the vicinity of what is now Vermillion, South Dakota. […]