Welcome to the Grand River Museum

Working today to preserve the past for the generations of tomorrow!
                            Lemmon, SD

Branding 

Branding is done by South Dakota ranchers west of the Missouri River. The main purpose of branding is in proving ownership of lost or stolen animals. Today, branding is a word used for any identification method used to prove ownership: fire or freeze branding and ear tagging.

What the Cowboys Use

Chaps are intended to protect the legs of cowboy from contact with hazards seen in working with cattle, horses and other livestock.

They help to protect riders' legs from scraping on brush and other thorny vegetation, reduce the chance of rope burns, and reduce the dust load on clothes.

A model of a homestead.
 

This is what the corrals may have looked like.

In his lifetime, Sitting Bull became the most respected leader of all his Lakota people and the most widely recognized Indian of all times.

Rain in the Face, Thunder Hawk and Gall are also in the Museum. Many fine examples of the rich Native American culture can be found in the Museum.

Harvest was a major undertaking back in the day.

What did the early settlers of the west do for fun? Why played games of course.

Hundreds of pictures are displayed at the Museum. Look through them to see how different and alike they were compared to our lives now.

Barbed wire tamed the West. It was used to keep free-range cattle from getting into farmer's fields. This started "range wars" in which the law sided with the farmer protecting his crops.

G.E. Lemmon founded our town of Lemmon.