Kingsbury County, South Dakota, was a region of buffaloes and Indians until the 1870s, and Indian mounds are found at Spirit Lake. In 1838 the Nicollett-Fremont party skirted the northeast corner. In 1857 Inkapaduta’s renegade Indians passed through with two white women captives, victims of the Spirit Lake massacre in Iowa, and in a skirmish several of the renegades were killed by Agency Indians near Lake Thompson. Nobles Trail was built west in 1857, passing south of this lake. The Yankton Sioux ceded the region to the government in 1859. It was part of huge Buffalo County in 1864 and of larger Hanson County in 1870. On January 8, 1873 it became Kingsbury County, named for George W. Kingsbury (1837-1925) of Yankton, legislator, editor and historian. Surveyed in 1873-75, general settlement began in 1878, and the railroad came in 1879-80. The county was organized February 18, 1880 by H.W. Palmer, H.J. Burvee, and Benjamin Loken. De Smet, the county seat, was named for Father Peter John De Smet (1801-1873), Jesuit missionary. The county in 1880 had 1,102 people and by 1890 had 8,562. Its area is 36 by 24 miles, or 552,960 acres. Lakes include Thompson, Henry, Spirit, Preston, Whitewood, Albert, and others. Excellent waterfowl and pheasant hunting, and fishing are found here. Pioneer days were depicted by three former residents of the county in Rose Wilder Lane’s novels, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s children’s stories, and Harvey Dunn’s paintings.