“Midland”

Midway between the White and Cheyenne, the Missouri and the South Fork it was well named when Charles H. Baker became postmaster on May 13, 1890 shortly after the Great Sioux Reservation was opened to settlement. It was the center of that cow empire, replete with the cattleman’s gold, grass and water. Until then it was an Indian country with a few cattlemen like Scotty Philip, Dan Powel and Mike Dunn with Indian wives its only white occupants. Surveyed in 1892, strung along the E & W road adjacent to Bad River were P.L. Graham, Trules Madison and Fred LaPlant down river, a ranch 4 miles up Ash Creek to the south.

Midland was a good place for the cowboys to come into to get their mail, stock up on groceries, get their blacksmithing done and wet their whistles. At roundup time, Big Prairie Dog Creek, 10 miles north was a common meeting ground where round-up wagons brought their stock to exchange animals. Until the railroad reached it in 1907, it was strictly “cowtown”. Charley Russell was postmaster for 21 years. It was not until the turn of the century when settlers with plows, fences, and farming ideas edged into that Cow Empire. By 1910, it had 210 people and a

good line of merchandisers. For a time there was a shack on every quarter section. In 1960 with 401 people, its huge elevator indicates that wheat is now vying with beef with some success.”

Haakon County, US 14 just west of Midland