Huron
...home of the world's
largest pheasant
From mid-October through late-December, the hillsides come alive with hunters challenged by the flight of the Pheasant, which has made Huron known as the best hunting location in the upper-mid west. Its central location is ideal for those wanting to scour the surrounding counties in search of small and large game of many types.
Huron is located just 30 minutes east of DeSmet, home of the Laura Ingalls Wilder family homestead. Shakespeare Gardens is just 40 miles away. The World's Only Corn Palace is 50 miles south. The Missouri River is 90 miles west with the James River running right through town and beside a beautiful butterfly garden dedicated just this year as the Griffeth Gardens in Riverside Park.
Scenes from Griffeth Gardens, Riverside Park 
Pictures by Arlene Tschetter
Huron is located in Beadle County, SD., approximately the center of the James River Valley. The James River Valley is a broad, nearly level stretch of land from 50 to 75 miles wide and 250 miles long. This valley has an abundance of many different forms of wildlife and weather. Because of its location, there is an anomaly, locally called a "bubble", over the city of Huron that affects the various weather systems that come through the area.
Primary landmarks in the James River Valley are artifacts, mounds,
effigies, tipi circles, outline turtle/snake tails,
structures, hieroglyphics, burial rock, buffalo surrounds and buffalo rub
wallows.
The area is basically farm land with many crops of sunflowers, barley, corn,
hay, oats, soybeans and some wheat. The state soil, Houdek, is typical of
many soils that formed under influence of prairie grass and
glacial till, in South Dakota. It is very well suited for small crops
or rangeland and is an important soil for providing wildlife habitat and well as
crops. The dark surface layer of the Houdek, was formed by the
accumulation of organic matter from decayed plants and animals during the
process of the ice ages the area has gone through. The average annual
precipitation is about 22 inches, and the average annual air temperature is
about 48 degrees F. (The surface layer of Houdek soil
is dark grayish brown loam. The upper subsoil is dark grayish brown clay
loam, the middle is grayish brown clay loam , and the lower is light olive brown
clay loam. The substratum soil is light yellowish brown clay loam. The
S.D. Legislature designated the Houdek it's state soil in 1990.)
It is hard to say which came first to the Huron area, the railroad or the
people. Some books say there were maybe three or four families here before
the railroad came to the DeSmit area. Because of its central location,
Huron became a home for many of the workers on the railroad as it came through
Huron and continued west. Later, the railroad men brought their families
here and settled down. The James River and the railroad made Huron an
important commerce center for the area. The livestock from South Dakota's
ranches were processed and packed in plants in Huron as well as Sioux Falls,
Mitchell, Yankton, and Wagner.
There are dairies, creameries, hog, sheep, turkey, chicken, and geese
farms. Because of the James River and the abundance of unoccupied
farmland, the Hutterite people came and settled in and around the Heartland
area. With the packing houses drawing many nationalities, the backgrounds of the
people are truly a "melting pot", many and varied.
If some of the writings on the Tulare Boulder
turn out to be Chinese, perhaps the first people here were the Chinese, then the
Eskimo Indians, Native American Indians, German/Mennonite/Hutterite/Irish/Polish,
etc., truly a diverse people.
And not to be forgotten is the wind in the state. Perhaps because of its
location, perhaps because of the lack of trees to stop the wind, what ever the
cause, Huron, as a part of the state has its share the crop called
"wind". Because of the wind, there are many windmills used for bring
up well water. Many have suggested harnessing the wind for electricity but
have never gone far with the suggestion. Perhaps in the future?
New Gazebo in Griffith Gardens in Huron
back to table revised 2004