Irving W. Cooper Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 310

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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IRVING W. COOPER, one of the substantial men of the northwestern part 
of Beadle county, who is engaged in general farming and the drilling of 
artesian wells, residing on the southwest quarter of section 28, in 
Bonilla township, has added to his possessions by his industry and 
honesty. He possesses a half section of land, and deals extensively in 
stock. 

Our subject was born in Lorain county, Ohio, May 30, 1853, the third of 
a family of four children born to Allen P. and Anna (Bailey) Cooper. 
His mother is deceased, but his father resides in Council Bluffs, Iowa. 
Our subject moved with his parents to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, in 
1864, where he worked with his father at farming and stock raising, 
until he reached his majority, when he rented land and began work for 
himself. He had but a small farm, and desiring to engage more 
extensively in stock raising, he moved westward, to try ranching and 
located in Beadle county, April 6, 1883, and the same spring pre-empted 
the land he now possesses. He retained his Iowa farm, determined that 
the Dakota farm should be self supporting, and his start therefore in 
Dakota was on a very small scale. He built a small house, and began 
other improvements, and he engaged in the raising of stock, but with 
little success, on account of the scarcity of water. He sank no fewer 
than twenty wells, in a vain search for a supply of water, and then 
engaged in the raising of grain, which was very uncertain in its yield. 
In 1892 our subject and a neighbor purchased a well-boring outfit, and 
at a depth of nine hundred and thirty feet obtained a flow on his farm 
of sixty gallons of water per minute. They worked at well boring when 
they had any spare time and were very successful, among the wells being 
the Miller City well. As soon as a water supply was secured, our 
subject engaged in stock raising on a more extensive scale: He now 
winters about one hundred head of stock, and keeps about fifty cows. 
For some years he was grading up short-horn cattle, but is now 
introducing the Hereford, which he believes is the better breed for 
that section. In 1897, having become assured of the success of his 
Dakota investment, our subject sold out his Iowa interests, and among 
other improvements which he soon put on his farm, was a fine barn, 
sixty-eight by eighty-four feet, with twenty- four-foot posts. He has 
arranged room for twenty head of horses and one hundred and sixty-five 
head of cattle, and eighty tons of hay. From his three-inch artesian 
well water is piped into the barn, and the system affords every 
convenience for the watering of the stock. Aside from the main barn, 
our subject has one hundred and five feet of cattle sheds. 

Mr. Cooper was married in 1879 to Miss Annie Reynolds, a native of 
Illinois. Six children have blessed their home and are named as 
follows: Raymond, who is attending Huron College; Maude, who is her 
mother's assistant at home; Clifford, Aletta, Lucy, and Luverne. Mr. 
Cooper is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. He is among the best citizens of Beadle 
county, and takes an active interest in the affairs of Bonilla 
township. He has served in various offices, and was chairman of the 
township board. He is a Republican, and favors high license.