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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Desmet Leader (Desmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891

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About The Desmet Leader (Desmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891

The De Smet Leader was established January 27, 1883, by Mark A. Brown in De Smet, Dakota Territory, a town located on the route of the Dakota Central Branch of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. Editor Brown hired printer Carter Sherwood, who became a publisher on June 16, 1883, and an editor on August 1, 1885. Sherwood bought out Brown to become the sole owner of the Leader on October 31, 1885.

The four-page, eight-column newspaper was published on Saturdays by the Leader Publishing Company. Readers from Kingsbury County paid $1.50 per year in advance. A staunch Republican, Editor Sherwood backed Prohibition; he regularly published meeting times of the Kingsbury County chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union as well as minutes of the meetings. Another common topic was the settlement of Dakota Territory; land notices, Homestead Law revisions, and letters from the Commissioner of Public Lands were published as well as lists tracking its growth by county. These lists included population counts, number of schools per county, county valuations, and number of businesses established. A weekly column carried territorial news and promoted further settlement of the area. Sherwood favored dividing Dakota Territory into two states. When another newspaper ran an article stating that there was resistance from the eastern states to dividing Dakota Territory as they were “. . . jealous of the growing power of the West . . .”, he stated that “… North Dakota and South Dakota as one huge state will quarrel like two cats tied together.” The Leader’s content was primarily local snippets of news and columns about surrounding small towns, as well as boilerplate including short stories, poetry, agricultural advice, and railroad news. Every edition included legal notices as well as railroad schedules. A stagecoach line’s schedules for travel to Watertown and Clark were published until June 27, 1885. The Leader’s last issue was printed on November 1, 1890; the following year Sherwood consolidated the Leader with C.B. McDonald’s Kingsbury County News to form the De Smet News.

Provided By: South Dakota State Historical Society – State Archives

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Desmet Leader (Desmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891

Dates of Publication

  • 1883-1891

Created / Published

  • DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.] : M.A. Brown,

Headings

  • -  De Smet (S.D.)--Newspapers
  • -  Kingsbury County (S.D.)--Newspapers
  • -  South Dakota--De Smet
  • -  South Dakota--Kingsbury County
  • -  United States--South Dakota--Kingsbury--DeSmet

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 27, 1883)-
  • -  Ceased in 1891.
  • -  Available on microfilm from: State Archives, South Dakota State Historical Society.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Merged with: Kingsbury County news, to form: DeSmet news.
  • -  Kingsbury County news
  • -  DeSmet news (DeSmet, S.D. : 1891) (DLC)sn 00065131 (OCoLC)43479210

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn00065129

OCLC Number

  • 43479276

ISSN Number

  • 2769-7967

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Desmet Leader Desmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota S.D. -1891. (Desmet, SD), Jan. 1 1883. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn00065129/.

APA citation style:

(1883, January 1) The Desmet Leader Desmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota S.D. -1891. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn00065129/.

MLA citation style:

The Desmet Leader Desmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota S.D. -1891. (Desmet, SD) 1 Jan. 1883. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn00065129/.