Dewey County, South Dakota

Dewey County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Timber Lake
Year Organized: 1873
Square Miles: 2,303

Court House:

PO Box 277
County Courthouse
Timber Lake, SD 57656-0277

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Dewey is named for William P. Dewey, the surveyor general of Dakota Territory from 1873 until 1877.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Dewey County was created in 1883 and organized in 1910. The county was named for William P. Dewey, Territorial surveyor-general from 1873 to 1877. In September 1910 a petition was presented to Governor Vessey asking for the organization of the county along the lines and boundaries of the then unorganized county. A special election was held in November to organize the county and elect officers. Timber Lake was named the county seat.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,446 square miles (6,334 km²), of which, 2,303 square miles (5,964 km²) of it is land and 143 square miles (370 km²) of it (5.85%) is water. Almost the entire county lies in the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The balance of the county, along its extreme northern county line, lies in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. It is one of five South Dakota counties that lie entirely on Indian reservations.

Neighboring Counties:

Corson County, South Dakota - north
Walworth County, South Dakota - northeast
Potter County, South Dakota - east
Sully County, South Dakota - southeast
Stanley County, South Dakota - south
Ziebach County, South Dakota - west

Cities and Towns:

- Eagle Butte	city	Incorporated Area
- Firesteel	township
- Isabel	town	Incorporated Area
- Timber Lake (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."