Yare's Anger: Conformity and Rage in the Field

Abstract

South Dakota may be divided into three sections: 1, the eastern section lying east of the 98th meridian; 2, the central section between the 98th and the 100th meridians; and 3, the western section located west of the 100th meridian and, for the greater part, west of the Missouri River. The eastern section is in the tall prairie-grass belt characterized by a black humus soil and an annual rainfall ranging from 22 to 30 inches. A diversified or intensive farm economy prevails. This section is distinctly not a problem area. It comprises one-fifth of the physical area of the State and contains 40 percent of the total population. The central section is the transitional area. Because of the problems it presents, it may be regarded as the eastern edge of the Great Plains proper. It is, in fact, so regarded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Great Plains Committee in its report, The Future of the Great Plains.2 Here the climatic, soil, and vegetal characteristics that set off the Great Plains blend into the features of the intensive farming or the prairie belt. The soil is less rich in humus, organic matter, and nitrogen; the rainfall averages from 20 to 22 inches; and the tall prairie grasses merge into the buffalo and grama grasses of the plains. This section comprises one-third of the State's total area and 40 per? cent of its population. Its farming pattern ranges from the cash-crop system of the eastern section to the grazing economy in the western section. Maladjustments in crop farming have been most serious in this area. The section west of the 100th meridian lies in the Great Plains proper. Al? though this western section constitutes 45 percent of the total area, it maintains less than 20 percent of the total population of the State. The Black Hills are not properly a part of the Great Plains physiography and shall be deemed outside the scope of this study. This section lies west of the Missouri River. In its unglaciated form, it reveals buttes, sand hills, badlands, and eastward sloping plains cut by deep narrow valleys; consequently a large portion of the land is not tillable. All the characteristics of the Great Plains prevail. The rainfall ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Only two counties outside the Black Hills area have as many as 5 inhabitants to the square mile, and these have a large Indian population; four counties have less than 2 persons per square mile. South Dakota is a young State. The span of years since its earliest settle? ment is relatively short, the first permanent settlers having arrived in 1859. Prior to 1889, the year of statehood, the occupation and settlement by whites