About Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913
Timber Lake, S.D. (1910-1913)

Dewey County Advocate

The Dewey County (South Dakota) Advocate was first published on October 14, 1910, by Raymond Lee Dillman; John F. Moore was the printer. The weekly eight-page, six-column paper was put out by The Advocate Printing Company in Timber Lake, South Dakota, every Friday, and aimed at readership throughout Dewey County and on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. The Advocate was published through September 26, 1913, and cost $1.50 per year. Dillman was a lawyer and a homesteader in addition to being the Advocate's owner and editor.

The Dewey County Advocate came into existence the same year that white settlers were first legally allowed to obtain unallocated and unsold land on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. The newspaper emphasized agriculture and horticulture, in addition to covering local, national, and international news.

The Advocate ran articles designed to attract female readers, including fashion news, advice on running a home, and serialized romantic fiction. Nearly every edition carried a column highlighting news in the surrounding towns of Isabel, Eagle Butte, or Lemmon. From June 30 through October 10, 1911, a Lakota language column entitled Lakota Wakan (Lakota News) occasionally appeared as well. Around this time there was also a marked increase in publishing legal notices, grain market reports, and land filings.

Dillman did not write many articles for the Advocate, relying instead on pre-printed sheets for the majority of the inside pages. During the fights for the locations of the county seat and the land office, the Advocate was a staunch supporter of the community of Timber Lake. Headers on the newspaper included "Watch Timber Lake Grow" and "The Town That Does Thing Right" Dillman called the Timber Lake area the "promised land" and the "Mecca of the West." The Dewey County Advocate had a distinct pro-Indian viewpoint, publishing an editorial chastising another town for not permitting Native Americans to vote. It also carried a large number of articles extolling western Canada, in particular Manitoba, for its crop production and encouraging settlers to travel there.

On April 29, 1913, Dillman sold the Dewey County Advocate to John F. Moore. By October 1913, the Advocate had consolidated with the Timber Lake Tribune and the Trail City Record to form the Timber Lake Topic, under its managing editor, Joseph J. Holley. Dillman, Holley, and Moore were directors of the new paper; Dillman was president, Holley treasurer, and Moore secretary.

Provided by: South Dakota State Historical Society – State Archives