Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/663

 AREA, POPULATION, INSTRUCTION

611

Area, Population, Instruction.— Land area, 77,615 square miles, of which 747 square miles is water area. The area of the Indian reservations in 1919 was 630 square miles, haying a population of 22,829 Indians.

Census population on January 1, 1920, 636,547.

The population at the date of each of the Federal censuses was : —

Year

White

Coloured

Total

Per *q. mile

1890 1900 1910

328,010 380,714 563,771

20,590 19,117

348.600 401,570 583,881

4-5 5-8

76

In 1910 the population hy sex and race was as follows : —

-

White

Negro

Asiatic Indian

Total

Male. Female

306.952 256,819

468 849

9,692 9,608

317,112 266,776

Total

563,771

817

168 19,137

583,888

In 1910, 100,790 were foreign born, of whom 21,544 were German, 20,918 Norwegians, 13,189 Russians, 4,024 English, 5,872 Austrians, 2 980 Irish.

The urban population formed 13*1 percent of the whole. Vital statistics for 1918 :— Births, 14,893 ; illegitimate births, 110 ; deaths, 6,728 ; marriages, 4,516 ; divorces, 489.

The population of the chief cities in the State according to the Federal Census of January 1, 1920, was : Sioux Falls, 25,176 ; Aberdeen, 14,537 : Lead, 5,013 : Watertown, 9,400 ; Mitchell, 8,478; Huron, 8,302 ; Yankton, 5,024 ; Rapid City, 5,777.

The religious bodies with most numerous adherents are, in their order, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Congregational, and Protestant EpiscopaL

Elementary and secondary education are free to all from 6 to 21 years of age. Between the ages of 8 and 16 attendance at a public day school is compulsory on all not otherwise taught. In the 4,749 elementary schools in 1920 there were 78,746 pupils (37,648 girls) and 4,873 teachers (4,458 women). 421 secondary schools had 1,018 teachers (740 women) and 12,694 pupils (7,642 girls). State educational institutions in 1916 were four Normal Schools with 120 instructors and 1,640 students ; (in 1915) a School of Mines, established 1885, with 14 instructors and 83 students ; an Agricultural College with 67 instructors and 1,096 students ; a University, founded at Vermilion in 1882, with 50 instructors and 460 students. In addition the State main- tains schools for the Blind, Deaf Mutes, and the Feeble Minded, as well as a Reform School. Colleges under sectarian control are Huron College (Presb.) with 24 professors and 392 students, Dakota "Wesleyan University with 82 professors and 534 students, Yankton College (Cong.) with 25 professors and 433 students. The Government maintains three Indian Schools in the State, one at Flandreau with 36 instructors and 330 enrolled pupils, one at Rapid City with 25 instructors and 250 enrollment in 1915, and one