Elk Point (S. D.) Industrial School
By Bert Rhoads
The climate of this location is milder than other parts of the State. Frost comes late, owing perhaps to the modifying influences of the Missouri River and the timber. At one time this was a thickly wooded country, and there remain many groves of natural timber. The school is situated on the Missouri River bottom between the Iowa hills and the Nebraska bluffs. All kinds of garden vegetables do well here, especially tomatoes. We put up and sold about ten thousand cans of tomatoes last fall. Our broom-corn is of a fine quality, and we have raised enough to make six hundred dozen brooms. We also raised several hundred bushels of potatoes. Our school opened Sept. 27, 1905, with an enrolment of twenty-four. Our present enrolment is fifty, with a daily attendance of forty. Our class of students is excellent. A spirit of earnestness, unity, and zeal is manifested. Undoubtedly some are here who will bear burdens of responsibility in carrying the message. In addition to the school work, there is a goodly amount of hard work in fields or shop. This work, carefully and cheerfully done, is a most necessary element in character building. There is “no excellence without labor.”