Miles M. Cooper Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1302-1304 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	MILES M. COOPER, farmer, stock raiser and also ex-member of the 
South Dakota house of representatives, is a native of Jennings county, 
Indiana. and dates his birth from November 16, 1845. Like the majority 
of country lads, he was reared on the farm, early became familiar with 
the rugged duties and wholesome discipline of the same, and of winter 
seasons attended the public schools of his neighborhood, acquiring a 
fair knowledge of the branches constituting the usual course of study. 
When a youth of sixteen he left home and after spending several years in 
the northern part of the state, yielded to a desire of long standing by 
making an extensive trip through the west. Young Cooper started on this 
journey in the spring of 1864, crossing the plains to Montana, thence to 
Virginia City, where he engaged in placer mining, operating for some 
time in Alder gulch and various other places and meeting with reasonably 
fair success as a gold seeker. He spent the greater part of three years 
in the above section of country, but in 1867 went to Wyoming and entered 
the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, whose main line was 
then in process of construction. 

	After devoting the ensuing three years to railroad work, Mr. 
Cooper severed his connection with the company and from 1871 to 1873 
inclusive was engaged in the live-stock business, buying cattle in 
Kansas and shipping them to various eastern markets, also selling to 
different parties in that and other states. Discontinuing this line of 
business he spent the succeeding three years at and in the vicinity of 
Fort Bridger, Wyoming, devoting his attention the meanwhile to 
prospecting and mining, in addition to which he also took a number of 
contracts for various kinds of government work north of the fort, 
completing the same in due time with credit to himself and to the 
satisfaction of his employers. In the spring of 1877 he joined a party 
at Cheyenne and started for the Black Hills country, arriving in 
Deadwood the following April, and immediately thereafter engaged in 
farming in Boulder Park, east of the city. In connection with 
agriculture he did considerable freighting at odd times, between 
Deadwood and Pierre, and to these lines of work he gave his time until 
the spring of 1883, when he disposed of his interests in the Black Hills 
and came to Meade county, taking up a fine tract of land about six miles 
east of Sturgis, on which he has since lived and prospered as a farmer 
and stock raiser. 

	Mr. Cooper exercised excellent judgment in the selecting of his 
ranch, his place being admirably situated for agricultural and live-
stock purposes, and by his labor and judicious management it has become 
one of the most productive and valuable farms in the county of Meade. He 
has added a number of substantial improvements, including among others a 
fine modern residence, supplied with all the latest comforts and 
conveniences calculated to make country life desirable, and his business 
affairs have so prospered that he is now in comparatively independent 
circumstances, with a liberal competence laid up against possible 
adversity and for his declining years. 

	Politically Mr. Cooper wields a strong influence for the 
Democratic party, of which he has been a zealous supporter since old 
enough to exercise the rights of citizenship, and for a number of years 
past he has been a prominent factor, not only in local affairs, but in 
public matters of district and state import. In the fall of 1889 he was 
elected to represent Meade county in the general assembly, and his 
record as a law-maker proved so satisfactory to his constituents that he 
was again chosen in 1891. While in the legislature he was untiring in 
his efforts to promote the interests of his county and state, serving on 
several important committees, taking an active part in the general 
deliberations of the house and earning the reputation of one of the 
hardest workers in the body, as well as winning recognition as a leader 
on the Democratic side, his party, however, being in the minority.  

	Mr. Cooper is a man of great energy and has done much to advance 
the material prosperity of Meade county, giving his encouragement and 
support to all enterprises with this end in view. Public-spirited in all 
the term implies, he has frequently lost sight of self in his endeavors 
to promote the public welfare and today there are few men in western 
Dakota as widely known or who in a greater degree enjoy the esteem and 
confidence of the people regardless of party ties. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, belonging to the lodge at Sturgis, and is also 
identified with the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
at the same place, having been honored with high official station in 
both organizations. 

	On March 9, 1881, occurred the marriage of Mr. Cooper, his wife 
having formerly been Miss Mary P. Ranft, who was born and reared in the 
state of Ohio. The union has resulted in an interesting family of eight 
children, whose names are as follows: Otto B., Allyn R., Harold M., 
Lawrence, Edith, Jefferson, Edna and Bryan.