Day One: July 17, 1894

In this journal entry two sites are mentioned. The first is three miles out from their De Smet, South Dakota home. The second one is sometime after 2pm. They had just crossed Miner County. She describes a hot wind but no temperature. She had taken a thermometer on the trip. Later on, it would get lost! 

They were able to camp by a non-pumpable spring. Ouch. However there was feed or the horses. 

The route they took would later become highway 25. 

In 1894 De Smet, Kingsbury County, SD had a population of 541 people. As of 2012 the population is 1,110 people. De Smet is the county seat of Kingsbury County.   

Miner county was named after Nelson and Ephraim Miner. It's county seat is Howard, SD. In 1894 there were about 5,165. It had grown over 1,300% from 1880. Today Miner County has half the population at 2,326 people. Wikipedia notes five cities in the county; Canova, Carthage, Howard, Roswell, and Vilas. 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miner_County%2C_South_Dakota