Faulk Co., SD - Description and History, 1884

	This file is a complete transcription of the descriptive information about 
	Faulk County as found in A. T. Andreas' "Historical Atlas of Dakota", 1884.


				FAULK COUNTY

This county is situated in the "Coteau" region, lying between the James and 
Missouri rivers, though the greater portion of its drainage is eastward toward 
the James River. It is bounded north by Edmunds, south by Hand and Sully, east 
by Spink and west by Potter County, and contains twenty-eight congressional 
towns, equivalent to 1.048 square miles, or 670,720 acres. One township remained 
to be surveyed when our atlas was engraved: Town 120, Range 70.

The principal steam is Snake Creek, which heads in the southwestern part of the 
county and lows in a slightly northeastern direction, discharging into the James 
River near Old Ashton, in Spink county. Two or three small creeks flow south 
into the Turtle River, in Hand County. There are no lakes of any importance, 
with the single exception of Scatterwood Lake, in the extreme northeast corner, 
covering perhaps 400 acres. Near this lake is considerable marshy land, and 
small patches of marsh are found in a few localities, but the county generally 
is quite free from them. From this general description, Town 120, Range 70, is 
omitted because it was not surveyed when it was written, and may be full of 
lakes and marshes.

The county is generally an undulating prairie, broken here and there by the 
shallow valleys of the streams, and a few ridges and isolated hills and knobs.

Timber is scare, or almost wholly wanting; but good water may generally be 
obtained. The county is yet thinly settled, but the tide of immigration will no 
doubt soon sweep over it. the towns and post offices so far established are 
FAULKTON, the county seat, situated in Town 118, Range 69, within three miles of 
the geographical center of the county; LA FOON, five miles east of Faulkton; 
HARRINGTON, eight miles west of it; NEWTON, near the south line of the county, 
in Town 117, Range 69; DEVOE, in Town 119, Range 67; WESLEY, in Town 119, Range 
66, and CRESBARD, in Town 120, Range 68; SCATTERWOOD, on the lake of the same 
name in Town 120, Rage 66, and ROANOKE, in town 120, Range 67.  Of these, 
Faulkton and LaFoon, in the valley of Snake Creek, are the most important. The 
proposed line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, from Redfield to Fairbank, 
on the Missouri River in Sully county, will probably pass through Faulkton. 

The settlement of this county has been principally from the east, largely by way 
of Redfield, but partly through Athol and Northville, in Spink County. 

The climate, soil and productions of Faulk County compare favorably with those 
of other counties in central Dakota, and the county is being settled and 
occupied by a very superior class of people, largely from Illinois, Iowa, 
Minnesota and Wisconsin.