1909 Peterson Promotional Real Estate Map of South Dakota

This is a rare 1909 land and settlement promotional map and early Dakota imprint map of South Dakota issued by E. Frank Peterson for L. L. Hagaman Real Estate of Pukwana. This is a fine example of the imagination and industry employed by real-estate promoters for these newly opened lands, who needed to create an image of prosperity and richness of services to promote the region to settlers from the Midwest and Eastern United States. The upper margins of the map include statistics advertising South Dakota's appeal for Ranching and Farming:

Improved and Unimproved Farms in the Corn Belt of South Dakota

Large and Small Ranches in Brule and Buffalo Counties

A star in Brule County indicates the site of Pukwana – the map's promotional focus. It is likely that this map is related to land speculation associated with the development of an extension line to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway from Oacoma to the Black Hills – on which Pukwana was a minor stop. Real Estate sales in Pukwana must have been somewhat disappointing to Hagaman. As of the 2010 census, the population of modern-day Pukwana was just under 300.

This map was probably initially drawn by Peterson for his Illustrated Atlas of South Dakota and has here been repurposed with expanded promotional content and striking red overprinting by the Pukwana Press-Reporter Printing House (1908 – 1909). We are aware of no other examples of this map, as thus, but a similar map issued by Will A. Beach of Sioux Falls did appear in 1902, suggesting that Peterson sold the rights of his map to various local publishing houses for real-estate promotional purposes.