Adeline Jenney, Second Poet Laureate of South Dakota and a longtime Valley Springs resident, wrote "They Were Able" to honor the memory of the New England and Scandinavian immigrants who followed schooner trails into this favorable Minnesota Territory valley from 1868 to 1873. The area had been officially opened for settlement by the Homestead Act of 1862, and adventurous pioneers traveled the stage road, now Cliff Avenue, into town, where two stage coach routes crossed near the east side of present day Cassidy Park. Settlers were drawn to the unpopulated area by the many underground springs that supplied Beaver Creek, and Valley Springs took its name from springs located in the valley. Before suitable timber was available, people first built dugout homes, and the first commercial building served as both a store and lodging for travelers. Lumber was eventually hauled from Sibley, IA, on a crudely marked freight trail. Jonathan Dunham, known as the "Father of Valley Springs," applied for the post office in 1873 and began the town's incorporation in 1878. Private homes served as schools and churches until 1878, when a school building and church were erected. That same year brought the first passenger train in Dakota Territory from the East, and with the coming of the railroad the town entered its boom years, with four hotels, two newspapers, a newly organized fire department for protection from deadly prairie fires, and the "Air Dome," a uniquely constructed dance hall whose sides were raised for ventilation. In the late 1800s, Valley Springs was the area's largest grain and livestock shipping point. Rich, fertile land helped agriculture flourish, and the town's major industry was the Valley Springs Roller Mill Co., a four story plant producing 200 barrels of flour per day. The mill, the first in the county to run by steam, shipped four brands of flour daily to the East and overseas. With the introduction of the automobile and the loss of passenger trains to the area, industry declined, and Valley Springs remained a quiet and friendly residential community with a rich history.