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Cowboys of the Open Range During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as South Dakota grew, first as a Territory and then as a State, there was a major attraction drawing people to the region, other than gold. The vast open prairies of western South Dakota were ideal for raising cattle.

In the early days, it was the open range, unfenced and vast, that attracted a unique breed of men, cowboys. Even after the fencing of the plains with the invention of barbed wire, the cowboy life was to continue. This episode looks at the life of the early cowboys on the open range and shows how it helped to make us the state we are today.

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