Everything De Smet is known for
The winter of 1880-81 brought months of unrelenting blizzards to the Dakota Territory, burying railroad tracks, cutting off supply lines, and pushing settlers to the edge of starvation — an ordeal immortalized by Laura Ingalls Wilder in 'The Long Winter.'
Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in De Smet from age twelve, and five of her beloved Little House books are set here on the Dakota prairie where her family homesteaded 160 acres.
From October 1880 to April 1881 De Smet was buried under relentless blizzards that came one after another for six straight months. The railroad tracks…
By February 1881 De Smet was starving. The trains had not run in months and the town's wheat supply was nearly gone. Two young men Almanzo Wilder and Cap…
Charles Ingalls filed his homestead claim near De Smet in 1880 for the grand total of sixteen dollars in filing fees. That bought him 157 acres of open prairie…
De Smet's population today hovers around 1100 people which is not much bigger than it was in Laura's day. Most prairie towns this small dried up and blew away…
When the coal ran out during the Long Winter of 1880 the people of De Smet had to find something else to burn or freeze to death. Someone figured out that if…
When Almanzo Wilder came west to De Smet he filed a homestead claim that required him to be twenty-one years old. He was only nineteen. Laura knew about the…
The Chicago and Northwestern Railway pushed its tracks across the Dakota prairie in 1879 and Charles Ingalls followed. He took a job as the railroad's…
The Ingalls family arrived in De Smet in 1879 and their first home was the railroad surveyors house a small building left behind by the Chicago and…
13 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
From October 1880 to April 1881 De Smet was buried under relentless blizzards that came one after another for six straight months. The railroad tracks…
Charles Ingalls filed his homestead claim near De Smet in 1880 for the grand total of sixteen dollars in filing fees. That bought him 157 acres of open prairie…
When Almanzo Wilder came west to De Smet he filed a homestead claim that required him to be twenty-one years old. He was only nineteen. Laura knew about the…
By February 1881 De Smet was starving. The trains had not run in months and the town's wheat supply was nearly gone. Two young men Almanzo Wilder and Cap…
The winter of 1880-81 brought months of unrelenting blizzards to the Dakota Territory, burying railroad tracks, cutting off supply lines, and pushing settlers to the edge of starvation — an ordeal immortalized by Laura…
Step back in time to the real home of the Ingalls family in De Smet! This is the house Charles Ingalls built for his family after their years on the prairie. Charles built this house in 1887, and the family moved in on…
De Smet's population today hovers around 1100 people which is not much bigger than it was in Laura's day. Most prairie towns this small dried up and blew away…
When the coal ran out during the Long Winter of 1880 the people of De Smet had to find something else to burn or freeze to death. Someone figured out that if…
The Ingalls family arrived in De Smet in 1879 and their first home was the railroad surveyors house a small building left behind by the Chicago and…
The Chicago and Northwestern Railway pushed its tracks across the Dakota prairie in 1879 and Charles Ingalls followed. He took a job as the railroad's…
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet holds over 2000 original artifacts from the Ingalls and Wilder families. There are quilts sewn by Laura's…
Every summer since 1971 the people of De Smet have performed the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant on an outdoor stage on the prairie. Local residents play the…
Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in De Smet from age twelve, and five of her beloved Little House books are set here on the Dakota prairie where her family homesteaded 160 acres.