Fred LaPlant Biography

	This biography appears on pages 723-724 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	FRED LAPLANT is one of the extensive stock growers of the state, 
using the extensive range on the Cheyenne Indian reservation and having 
the best of facilities for carrying on his operations as a cattle 
raiser. He bears a name which has been most conspicuously identified 
with the history of the northwest, his father having come into Dakota 
among the very first white men to penetrate its untrammeled wilds and 
having been a conspicuous figure in the strenuous life of the frontier. 
He is frequently mentioned in connection with the general history 
appearing in this work, and an individual sketch of his career is also 
incorporated, so that a recapitulation is not demanded in this 
connection. 

	Fred LaPlant was born in the locality known as Deer's Ear, north 
of the Black Hills, in what is now North Dakota, the year of his birth 
having been 1861. He was reared on the frontier and thus his 
educational advantages were limited, but his alert mentality has 
enabled him to overcome to a large extent this early handicap. His 
father, Louis LaPlant, was among the first to engage in the raising of 
live stock in the territory of Dakota, and our subject early became 
familiar with the labors involved in connection with this industry, 
being associated with his father during his youthful days on the stock 
range, while he was also identified with him in freighting to the Black 
Hills in 1876-8, for details of which enterprise see the sketch of 
Louis LaPlant. In 18388 the subject engaged in the raising of cattle 
upon his own responsibility, becoming associated with his brother 
George, and they successfully continued in partnership until 1893, when 
Fred established himself in the same line of enterprise individually, 
and has since continued operation with ever increasing success. He for 
some time utilized the open range along the Bad river, while since 1896 
he has availed himself of the unexcelled range of the great Cheyenne 
Indian reservation. He usually runs as high as five or six thousand 
head of cattle, and he has shown marked discrimination and executive 
ability in his operations in connection with this great industry, while 
he has not been denied a due reward in the way of financial success. On 
June 1, 1903, Mr. LaPlant also became identified with the general 
merchandise business, becoming associated with Dr. L. P. Michael in the 
opening of a well stocked establishment at the Cheyenne agency, under 
the firm name of Michael & LaPlant. 

	In politics the subject is a staunch Republican and fraternally 
he has attained distinguished advancement in the Masonic order, in 
which he has passed the thirty-second degree in the Ancient and 
Accepted Scottish Rite and been designated as a Sublime Prince of the 
Royal Secret. He is a member of Oriental Consistory, No. 1, at Yankton. 

	In the year 1889 Mr. LaPlant was united in marriage to Miss 
Virginia Travesty, of Sioux City, Iowa, she being a daughter of August 
Travesty, who was one of the very early settlers in the territory of 
Dakota, and a man of prominence in the stirring life on the frontier. 
Mr. and Mrs. LaPlant have four children, Maud D., Lucille, Fred 
Ellsworth and Irene.