Lake County, named for its beautiful lakes, had been the realm of the Dacotah (Sioux) Indians with few white intruders until the Yankton tribe ceded it in 1858. In 1857 Noble's Trail was built across its northeast corner, and that year Mrs. Wm. Marble, a captive of Inkepaduta's renegade Indian band, was rescued at Lake Herman by two Christian Indians. The county was created in 1873 from parts of Brookings, Minnehaha, and Hanson Counties and was organized on October 6th with Herman N. Luce and John T. Hare as commissioners. Settlement began in 1870 when Wm. Lee, John Walker, and Herman N. Luce arrived and built the Lee log cabin, its first edifice. Soon Madison, named for Madison, Wis., and Herman, named for Luce, grew up on the shores of Lakes Madison and Herman. By 1880 the population was 2657, and the arrival of the railroad that year shifted the county seat from Old Madison to Madison, laid out by C.B. Kennedy on July 6th 1880; the first train arrived on January 12, 1881. The Swiss Colony at Badus was founded in 1878, Wentworth in 1880, Winifred in 1882, and Ramona in 1887. Madison State Normal was established in 1881 with classes starting in 1883, and its present name, General Beadle State College, honors its president W.H.H. Beadle, who served from 1889 to 1906 and was known as the Savior of the School Lands. From 1890 to 1932 the Lake Madison Chautauqua brought culture and entertainment to thousands. Miner County was named for Capt. Nelson Miner, Co. A, 1st Dakota Cavalry, and territorial legislator. The ancient Dacotah (Sioux) Trail from Pipestone Quarries to the Three Rivers of the Sioux on the Missouri passed through the county, and later Dakota's first road, the Ft. Ridgely and South Pass Wagon Road, passed through here in 1857, as did the Minnesota and Powder River Road of 1865. In 1864 Miner County was part of the gigantic Buffalo County and in 1870 of an even larger Hanson County. In 1873 what are now Sanborn and Miner Counties were called Miner and Bramble, each 48 miles long, and in 1879 they were renamed Miner with Forestburg as temporary county seat in 1880. By popular election in 1882 Howard became the county seat, and Sanborn Co. was created in 1883. The first settler in Miner County was M.A. Moore, who took up a tree claim in April 1879, soon followed by many other homesteaders. In 1881 the first train came through Miner County bringing many settlers, so that by 1890 the population was 4,928. The county is 24 miles square, with many prosperous farms on fertile, well-drained land abounding in pheasants and small game, and Howard has the distinction of having the oldest public library in South Dakota. The prosperous towns in the county are Argonne, Canova, Carthage, Fedora, Howard, Roswell, Vilas, and Epiphany.