The Emerging Rural Communities of Moody County

During pioneer days most of the farmers\u27 activities were confined within a radius of three or four miles--a distance commonly known as a team haul.” In more recent years, improved transportation facilities have permitted farm families to go to village centers for an increasing proportion of their goods and services. The result has been the emergence of village-centered communities whose areas are several times as extensive as those of the old-time neighborhoods. This study was made possible through the cooperation of the State and Federal Work Projects Administration with the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. The project is officially designated as W.P.A. Project No. 665-74-3-143. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following persons: the two farmers in each township who chocked the neighborhood map; church survey field workers who discovered where farm families attend church; high school superintendents who supplied lists of their tuition students; and business men of Moody county trade centers who volunteered information regarding the extent of their trade territories. Full responsibility for statements Of interpretation, however, rests with the authors rather than with the persons who supplied the data