The Town Pump

The river those children swam in has since been classified as impaired. South Dakota's goal for the Big Sioux through Sioux Falls is immersion recreation, which allows no more than 235 E. coli colonies per 100 milliliters on any day, and both the river and Skunk Creek, which supplies most of its summer flow through the city, fall short. In 2014 a pilot program began paying farmers $60 an acre a year to fence livestock off Skunk Creek's floodplain from April through September. A city analyst judged a swimmable river doable, with much work still to do.

What the plaque says

The Town Pump Soon after this area was platted in 1889, the city of Sioux Falls installed a community well which was located at this spot. It was a source of water for livestock and household use. Local residents referred to it as the "town pump." Here they hand pumped cold, refreshing water, which they carried back to their homes in pails or hauled in cream cans and barrels loaded on horse-drawn wagons, buggies and stone- boats. The pump was also used to fill a large trough for use by horses and cattle. Dedicated in 1997 by the Minnehaha County & South Dakota State Historical Societies The Town Pump The town pump was a popular meeting place, where children played games, teenagers flirted and adults socialized. Trips often started here for summer swimming and winter ice skating at the nearby Big Sioux River. When municipal water lines reached the West Sioux Falls community in the 1920s, city crews removed the much used pump and filled in and covered the old well. Dedicated in 1997 by the Minnehaha County & South Dakota State Historical Societies

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Falls Park — 1.8 mi
  The falls a town company came for in 1856, abandoned in 1862, and tried to make pay with a seven-story quartzite mill that ran for barely two years.

More markers nearby

• West Sioux Falls — steps away
• West Sioux Falls — 0.2 mi
• In Memory of Makana Na Ota E 'En (Among Little Trees) — 0.9 mi
• U.S. Senator R.F. Pettigrew — 1.5 mi