Final Report: Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey of Hanson, McCook, and Miner Counties, South Dakota

Vogel, Robert; Pathfinder CRM, LLC

Abstract: "A reconnaissance-level survey of historic resources in the counties of Hanson, McCook and Miner was carried out between June, 2008 and June, 2009. The survey was conducted by Pathfinder CRM, LLC, a cultural resource management consulting firm based in Spring Grove, Minnesota, under the direction of Robert C. Vogel, the firm's senior historian and managing partner. The survey included archival research, field survey, and the preparation of site inventory forms. Archival research focused on delineation of local historic contexts. Every public road and street in the survey area was traversed during the field survey, which covered an area approximately 1580 acres in extent. 162 buildings, sites, structures, objects and districts were identified and evaluated against the National Register of Historic Places eligibility criteria. Intensive survey will be required before the historical significance and integrity of these properties can be fully evaluated. The survey findings indicate that the three-county area contains a wealth of potential National Register properties, including houses, commercial buildings, grain elevators, churches, farmsteads, schools, rural neighborhoods, cemeteries, auditoriums, bridges and dams. The majority of these properties date from the period ca. 1915-1940. Contextually, agriculture and rural life are the most important themes and the architectural resources are dominated by vernacular forms. The survey identified grain elevators and rural cemeteries as important property types that are underrepresented in existing inventories and the National Register. Due to the unavoidable bias and constraints inherent in the windshield survey technique, as well as the large survey area, houses and barns may be under-documented in the inventory. In order to be useful, information on the actual number, location and significance of farmhouses and nonfarm dwellings will have to be generated by intensive surveys. In addition to intensive surveys that will provide the detailed information needed to fully evaluate individual historic properties and prepare National Register nominations, the report recommends the development of multiple property cover documents for grain elevators and rural cemeteries. Archaeological reconnaissance survey, with an emphasis on historic farmstead sites, is also recommended as part of any future county-wide surveys." Project funding was provided in part by a 2008 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office (project number SD-08-025, grant number 46-08-21746) administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Final Report: Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey of Hanson, McCook, and Miner Counties, South Dakota

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