The History of Tripp County, South Dakota

Tripp County is found in the south-central part of South Dakota, with very gently, rolling hills. The northern part of the region has a clay or "gumbo" type soil and the southern half gradually turns to sand. The average annual rainfall in the county is not large, but the larger part of the annual precipitation occurs during the growing months, so good crops are usually secured. Practically all of Tripp County has a fine growth of prairie grasses, which affords excellent pastures for all kinds of livestock.

The county was named after Bartlett Tripp, a lawyer and chairman of the First Constitutional Convention of 1873. He was an early statesman of Dakota Territory. Tripp County was part of the Rosebud Indian Reservation which was officially established in 1889 and encompassed part of Gregory, and all of Tripp and Mellette counties. It was named for the abundance of yellow and pink wild roses that grew throughout the territory. Tilling of the soil and chemical spraying of weeds has greatly diminished the wild rose, but they are still quite prevalent. It's Lakota name is "Onjinjintka Oyanke". Even thought Tripp County was opened for settlement in 1909, the Brule Tribe did not recognize Tripp County's independence from the reservation. In 1972, the Brule Tribe asked the Federal Court to rule that the Tripp County Homestead Act was not intended to separate Tripp County from the reservation. In 1977, the U. S. Supreme court settled in favor of Tripp County.

The county was not opened for white settlement until 1909, but this did not mean that there were not white residents in the county before then. Whites married to members of the tribe were allowed to live on the allotments guaranteed to these members of the reservation. Most of these whites were males and former servicemen.

Before the lands could be opened for homesteads, the govenment had to make sure that each Native American was given an allotment on the reservation. When all the Native Americans had their allotlment, the remaining lands could be opened for settlement. Most of the Brule chose to locate in neighboring Todd County when the other parts of the reservation were opened. Some did stay on their original sites in Tripp County.

Congress enacted a law in 1907 providing for the opening of Tripp County to homesteaders. The time for registering for prospective homesteaders was from October 7 to October 17, 1908. There were 114,769 registrants and only 6,000 homesteads in the county.