SCOUTING YESTERDAY | From Fort Snelling to the Big Sioux, Prescott’s 1831 journey unearthed
This week in South Dakota history: Sept. 26-Oct. 2
Sioux Falls newspaper readers got their most detailed account yet of the first documented European arrival to the area 75 years ago this week.
Great Plains pioneer Philander Prescott explored the Midwest during the early nineteenth century, developing trading posts, farms, and businesses while also establishing government relationships with Indian tribes throughout the region.
It wouldn’t be until 1950, though, that the citizens of Sioux Falls would learn the explorer was also the first documented visitor to the site of their future city during the winter of 1831-1832.
