This national park in northern Minnesota may have been named after the French-speaking fur traders who passed through the area in the 18th and 19th centuries, but Native American people had been living on that land for 10,000 years. That long record in the park has been documented in more than 200 archaeological sites dating from the period before Europeans arrived there. The park is also home to Ojibwe sites where archaeologists have uncovered evidence of the extensive trade between the Ojibwe and the voyageurs. Discoveries continue, so visitors coming across artifacts should leave them in place and alert park rangers.
SDSU began humbly in 1881 as Dakota Agricultural College. Nestled on a parcel of land gifted by the city of Brookings, the college eventually evolved into South Dakota State College in 1889 when South Dakota became a state. At that time, it received a boost from The Morrill Act of 1862, which provided the school two land grants to support its work: 120,000 acres devoted to its academic mission and an additional 40,000 acres earmarked for its Agricultural Experiment Station under the Hatch Act of 1887.
South Dakota (This Land Is Your Land)
It is notable that most of this gifted land is located in the western part of the state and, before being awarded to the university, was promised to another group: the Lakota and Dakota tribes. It was The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 that designated these acres as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. Without gaining official consent from tribal leaders, the federal government undermined the aforementioned treaty and claimed much of the land in western South Dakota under the Dawes Act of 1889. The property was used for a variety of purposes, including the provision of the 160,000 acres for the land commitment to South Dakota in support of its new land-grant college and associated South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Stations (SDAES).
South Dakota continues to hold the title to much of this land grant, and SDSU and the SDAES use the annual rental income for base funding purposes. When land-grant designated land was sold, the state placed those proceeds in a trust and the annualized return on those investments flowed to SDSU and SDAES.
Today, this land-grant income supports the largest university in the state; SDSU serves more than 12,600 undergraduate and graduate students, and though located in the community of Brookings, its impact extends far beyond. Academic programs are available in three additional communities, and students near and far engage via online programs. In addition, five off-campus research stations dot the state, and eight regional extension centers provide programming in every county. These offices reach even further through their web-based learning program, iGrow.
After being sued twice, putting thousands of miles on her pickup to attend numerous meetings and hearings, spending significant sums on legal fees and holding out for as long as she could, Hoogestraat eventually succumbed to an eminent-domain ruling that forced her to allow the multi-state DAPL oil line to be buried on her land.
To Hoogestraat and a few hundred other eastern South Dakota landowners, the pipeline plan by Summit, and another CO2 line being proposed by Navigator Carbon Ventures, are an offense to their land and their lives.
Not only do they see the pipeline as an interference on their property rights, but they also worry over the loss of usable farmland and ranch land and are concerned over the risk that a leak could someday poison people or animals. They also resent the time, money and emotions they expend in trying to fight off the pipeline firms or to ensure impacts from the intrusion are as limited as possible.
Certainly, some property owners along the proposed pipeline routes welcome the use of their land, and see buried pipelines as safe and unobtrusive. They likely see the lease payment for use of their land as an unexpected bonus, and will gladly accept up to three years of payments for any crop losses.
Hoogestraat is also angry that the oil pipeline on her land may prevent her or future generations of her family from selling or developing the land, which is located in a high-growth suburban area west of Sioux Falls.
After he contacted Summit, the company emailed him an hour later to tell him that the route had been moved away from the development. But Schoenbeck said the landowners were never told the route had been moved away from their properties.
Jake Ketzner, a spokesman for Summit, said the project is receiving strong support among regulatory officials and landowners based on its goals of removing carbon from the atmosphere and for creating thousands of new jobs.
Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, a spokeswoman for Navigator CO2 Ventures, said the company intends to work closely and in harmony with landowners along the 1,300-mile route of its Heartland Greenway CO2 pipeline project that crosses five states.
Affected landowners on the 62 miles of pipeline planned for South Dakota should have received information packets in the mail, and Navigator has extensive information about the project on its website.
Both Summit and Navigator have hosted numerous listening sessions with affected landowners. Navigator is also hiring a tribal consultant to address any concerns of Native American individuals, tribes or communities, and will conduct a cultural survey on the pipeline route in the coming months, Burns-Thompson said.
Strom said she wrote on the bottom of her land-use survey agreement that DAPL officials should let her know when they were surveying so she could be present, and to inform her immediately if they found anything of value or historical interest on her land.
Peggy Hoogestraat was never formally notified of any changes in the proposed route of the Summit pipeline, but she recently looked at maps on the PUC website and now believes her land near Hartford is no longer a target of the CO2 project. Despite the good news for her and her family, Hoogestraat said she has no intention of being less involved in fighting for landowner rights during the pipeline planning and construction process.
Under South Dakota law, SDCL 10-6-131, landowners may submit a Request for Ag Land Adjustment to the Director of Equalization in the county the land is located in. The county Director of Equalization has the option to make an adjustment to the assessed value of agricultural land where a factor affects the productivity of the land.
South Dakota agricultural property owners with riparian buffer strips (a vegetated area near a body of water) have until October 15 to apply for a property tax incentive. Eligible waterways are determined by the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources with additional waterways as allowed by the county commission. If you have questions about the eligibility of your land, contact your local Director of Equalization. To be eligible applicants must meet the following requirements:
The focus of these concerns is currently on the former Inn at the Mission site, which sits directly across from the Mission. After grading had already commenced, landowner and developer Bill Griffith dropped his plans for the Inn at the Mission, and has since said developing the previously approved Plaza Banderas hotel at the site is a possibility.
Passed on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act accelerated the settlement of the western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public land for a minimal filing fee and five years of continuous residence on that land.
Although this act was included in the Republican party platform of 1860, support for the idea began decades earlier. Even under the Articles of Confederation, before 1787, the distribution of government lands generated much interest and discussion.
The act, however, proved to be no panacea for poverty. Comparatively few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire the necessary tools, seed, and livestock. In the end, most of those who purchased land under the act came from areas quite close to their new homesteads (Iowans moved to Nebraska, Minnesotans to South Dakota, and so on). Unfortunately, the act was framed so ambiguously that it seemed to invite fraud, and early modifications by Congress only compounded the problem. Most of the land went to speculators, cattle owners, miners, loggers, and railroads. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders. Indeed, small farmers acquired more land under the Homestead Act in the 20th century than in the 19th.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any person owning and residing on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have performed service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has never borne arms against the Government of the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided, however, That no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death; shall. prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has borne rue allegiance to the Government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided for by law: And provided, further, That in case of the death of both father and mother, leaving an Infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall ensure to the benefit of said infant child or children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such children for the time being have their domicile, sell said land for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money herein specified. 2ff7e9595c
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