Lifeblood of the Valley: Watering Spearfish and Its Croplands

Higbee, Paul

"Semi-arid western South Dakota only rarely sees abundant water. Bust historically, residents made the most of every drop, thanks to bold and often completely innovative hydrology. In the first half of the 20th century, prominent Black Hills area water projects included Homestake Gold Mine's hydroelectric system that helped revolutionize American industrial power (and simultaneously made South Dakota the number one gold producing state for most of the century), and creation of what was in 1912 the world's largest earthen dam - creating Belle Fourche reservoir. Less impressive in development but not less significant economically were private property stock dams that were keys to pulling South Dakota out of the 1930s Dust Bowl. In the middle of the century, the Black Hills were transformed by a series of man-made lakes, serving as both reservoirs and recreational sites, and fitting into the landscape so perfectly that most visitors assume they are natural. Pre-dating all of this by decades was water development led by Irish immigrant Robert Evans in the 1870s. His venture transformed dry, mostly treeless Spearfish Valley into fertile fields that grew much-needed crops as the Black Hills population boomed. The water also made possible an enviable townsite: Spearfish...." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office, South Dakota State Historical Society, administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P19AF00014).

Lifeblood of the Valley: Watering Spearfish and Its Croplands

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