9/18/2004:
About 40 miles south of Wishek is the town of Eureka, SD, population about 1,000. The first white farmers there were mainly Germans from Russia who prospered because of their specialty: dry-land farming. The town was at the farthest end of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroads, and acted as a funnel through which the region’s grain fields were emptied, and in the 1890s, Eureka became known as the “wheat capital of the world.”
The town had 42 grain elevators handling 4,000,000 bushels a year, and grain-buying agents established 32 commission houses. In fact, Eureka was the Milwaukee Railroad’s most profitable station, bringing in $100,000 a month.
Eureka is celebrating its annual Schmeckfest today and tomorrow. That means good food!
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm