Washabaugh County was a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. The county was named after Frank J. Washabaugh, a prominent South Dakota politician.

History

First established in 1883 as a county in

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

from a part of Lugenbeel County, it became a county in the new state of South Dakota in 1889. Washabaugh remained an unorganized county, attached to various other counties for judicial purposes, until it merged with Jackson County in 1983. When Absaroka was proposed as a new state in the late 1930s, its territory included Washabaugh County.

Geography

The county encompassed the northeast corner of the

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...

including the community of Wanblee. The eastern portion of the county was within the

Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as t ...

until 1911, when that part was annexed into the newly created Mellette County. By 1914, Washabaugh County's boundaries were expanded to include a portion of Washington County to the west and all of Jackson County south of the White River.1914 Map of Washabaugh County
/ref>

Demographics

As an unorganized county lying entirely within two American Indian reservations, Washabaugh did not report separate population totals during the

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

, and 1910 censuses. Instead, population was included in the total population counts for the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations. The county started reporting separate population counts with the 1920 Census.

References

{{Authority control Former counties of South Dakota Geography of Jackson County, South Dakota 1883 establishments in Dakota Territory Populated places established in 1883