In October, 1896, quite a lengthy and well considered editorial appeared in the Dell Rapids Tribune in reference to the drying up of the smaller lakes in the Northwest, and mention was made of the fact that in Minnehaha county numerous lakes, which only a few years ago contained quite large bodies of water, were entirely dried up and their bottoms turned into cultivated fields.  The editor had seen an extended article in the Pioneer Press, upon the subject of the drying up of the lakes in the Northwest, and took occasion to express the opinion that we would again see the former lake bed in Minnehaha county filled, though probably not as full as they were when the surrounding country was an unbroken prairie, and was drained into them.  The opinion was expressed in the Pioneer Press, that we would never again see water in a vast number of the dry lake beds, due to the dry period of the past few years, but that the cultivation of the adjacent country had absorbed the rainfall to such an extent that it had materially lessened the quantity of water flowing into the lakes, and was a more important factor still in the drying up of the smaller streams.
     While admitting to a certain extent that the cultivation of the land adjacent to the lakes would result in a greater absorption of the rainfall, the editor of the Tribune was of the opinion that too much importance had been given to this fact as a cause for the drying up of the lakes and smaller streams of water.
     Since the publication of this article in the Tribune, in an interview at Washington, Hydrographer F.H. Newell of the Geological Survey, went over this whole subject from a scientific standpoint, and many interesting facts were referred to, and important deductions made therefrom, which can not fail to interest the people of Minnehaha county, who have witnessed the gradual diminution of the water supply in the county from all sourced during the last decade.  Only a summary of this interview can be presented here, and it is gratifying to note the fact that Mr. Nisbet’s views were more in accord with these of the distinguished scientist than those of the Pioneer Press.
     Mr. Newell, when questioned as to the cause of the shrinkage of the water supply in the Northwest, in substance replied, that the shrinkage of water supply was not local to the Northwest, for there has been during the past few years a material shrinkage in the water supply in the Ohio valley region and in several of the eastern states.  This condition of things in the Northwest is not new, for at various times within the historic period lakes in which there is now considerable water have been completely dried up.  The larger shallow lakes have retreated in many instances to mere pools, while the wide surface of the larger bodies with well defined shores has fallen so considerably that navigation has been injured or destroyed.  The records of almost any water body demonstrate a similar behavior of the lakes in the Northwest.
     There has been an unbroken record of the height of Lake Michigan since 1859, and while it shows considerable fluctuations there is a certain rhythm or regularity about it.  The causes of the fluctuations in the lakes and streams are mainly climatic.  By an examination of tables of rainfall and temperature it will be seen that these have a certain range of fluctuation up and down, going down gradually for several years and then coming up again with great irregularity, too great for prediction.  The increase or diminution of water surface is the resultant of not only the greater or less rainfall, but also of the changes of temperature, of average humidity and of wind movement.  The irregular fluctuations in the intensity of the force of nature are sufficient to account for all the variations we find in the water supply.  The cultivation of the soil and the increase of settlement have an influence, but in comparison to the forces of nature they are exceedingly small.  In 1890 the census figures show that one-seventh of the land in South Dakota was improved, and it is to be doubted, even if no water ran off from the cultivated land, whether the effect would be noticeable.
     Many other minor considerations were discussed in this interview, but in concluding he said:  “As to the future prospect, it will probably be as in the past.  The larger lakes will undoubtedly fill to a height equal to that of the average of high waters in the past, and the smaller lakes, where not permanently drained, will probably reappear and for a series of years increase and again shrink.  As to when this increase in water will begin to take place, or how long it will last is impossible to predict, for these fluctuations, as shown by the oldest records, sometimes are short and sharp, at other times long continued and apparently regular.  It is fairly safe to assume, however, that what has happened many times before will probably recur again, except in so far as the works of man may have to a small extent, modified the effect of nature’s forces.”
     That the annual rainfall, one of the main sources of water supply in South Dakota, for the past ten years has been considerably below the normal, is known to every resident of the state, and if Mr. Newell is correct in his statement that there is to a certain extent a regular succession in the fluctuations of the annual rainfall above and below the normal for a series of years, then we may reasonably expect to again see in the near future many of the now dry lake beds in Minnehaha county filled with water.
     Since writing the foregoing in 1896, the annual rainfall has been gradually increasing, and it would seem as though the predictions of Mr. Newell are likely to be fulfilled.

     Mr. Ole O. Graves, one of the earliest settlers of Highland township, has furnished us with the following account of a cloud-burst a few miles north of his farm:
     “About the first day of May, 1876, there was a cloud-burst a few miles north of my place on the upper Split Rock. The water came rolling down over the bottom from eight to twelve feet in depth.  One of my neighbors, a Mr. Lee, saw something moving quite a distance north of us and thought it was an immense flock of geese, and took his gun and started for the place.  He discovered his mistake just in time to escape with his life.  A pair of oxen were picketed out on the bottom below my place, and the water was so deep that it took them off their feet, and for a while the picket stakes held them fast so that they floated.  A man on horseback attempted to rescue the oxen, but was thrown from his horse.  He could not swim, but was fortunate in getting hold of the horse’s tail, and the horse took him to the shore.  When the stakes finally became loosened the oxen saved themselves by swimming ashore.”

     This section of the country is not remarkable for extremes of heat and cold, but at the same time it must be admitted that when a thermometer registers 35° below zero and within six months registers 100° above, it has traveled over a wide field.  Reliable thermometers have done this in Minnehaha county, but these extremes are seldom reached, the temperature being rarely 30° below zero.  The first winter the writer spent in Minnehaha county the coldest day was 26° below zero.  Of course, there are cold winters and mild winters, hot summer and those of moderate heat.  The extreme cold spells are usually longer here than in the same latitude in the eastern states, and the same is also true of the extreme warm spells of weather, and it must also be admitted that there are few places where there are more sudden changes in temperature than in South Dakota.  But taken as a whole, the climate is invigorating and healthful, notwithstanding these occasional extremes of cold and heat, and the statistics show that the death rate in South Dakota, in proportion to the total population, is lower than in any other country in the world.  As appears elsewhere, the summer of 1871 was unusually warm, and the summer of 1886 was called a hot one, and during the summer of 1889 there was a long spell of excessively hot weather.  But the summer of 1894 was both hot and dry, and the Daily Press in its issue of August 9, said:  “Skunk creek is dried up and the prairie chickens have left the country along that stream because of the lack of water.”
     The coldest winters during the last fifteen years were the winters of 1884-5-6-7, especially during the two last years there were long spells of extreme cold weather.  But one of the coldest days during this period was February 4, 1883, when reliable thermometers registered 37° below zero.  Occasionally in midsummer the heat is 100°, but it is an unusually hot day in Minnehaha county when it is above 90°.  The 17th day of September, 1895, was one of the hottest days experienced in this vicinity.  A thermometer at the Cataract house, at 3:30 in the afternoon of that day marked 104° in the shade, and other thermometers in the city indorsed these figures as being about right.
     Dr. Levi S. Carter, Volunteer Meteorological Observer at Sioux Falls for the United States Department of Agriculture Weather Bureau, kindly loaned us the record of his observations for the last few years.  We have summarized the average monthly maximum, minimum and mean temperature, also the average precipitation and the number of clear days for the years 1893 4-5-6, a table of will be found below:

     Since writing the foregoing, there has been such extreme cold weather, remarkable also for its great duration, that we should almost feel like stopping the press to record it, if this work was being printed.
      If extreme cold weather should be encountered in the future, it would be well to examine the record of the cold spell which the whole country experienced in January and February, 1899.  Hicks predicted mild, pleasant weather for the week commencing January 22, but notwithstanding Hicks, it commenced growing cold Wednesday evening January 25.  The next day it was colder still, and so on, until Sunday night when there was a snowfall of about four inches.  Monday it was cold, and it continued growing colder until Wednesday the 8th day of February.  During that day, the thermometer at no time indicated less than twenty-three degrees below zero, and at eight o’clock the following morning it was forty-two degrees below, and some ambitious thermometers indicated one or two degrees colder still.  This kind of weather, with little variation continued until Sunday night, February 12, when it grew warmer.
     It was one cold wave after another for eighteen days, or one cold wave coming down from the northwest in sections, with but little intermediate space between them.  It was a record breaker, not only in this locality, but all over the country east of the Rocky Mountains.
     Following is the minimum record of Dr. L.S. Carter for the first thirteen days in February, 1899:  9, 19, 14, 29, 28, 30, 29, 38, 42, 22, 40, 32, 13 degrees below zero.