The Fall River Soil and Water Conservation District, which occupies the entire county, is located in the extreme southwestern corner of the state and the extreme south edge of the Black Hills. The first white settlers were gold seekers who did not find gold, but they did find the warm springs of healing waters in 1879. The county was organized in 1883. By the turn of the century, there were a few homesteaders, but they were discouraged by the large cattle companies who occupied the area. Fall River has a great variation in both topography and soils. The drainage is largely through the Cheyenne and Fall Rivers and the several creeks and their tributaries. These, along with the many springs, were the chief sources of water for the settlers and ranchers.

A long time before the district was formed; many people were interested in doing something about their water supply and the protection of their land, as evidenced by the fact that as early as 1890, they were interested in getting water rights. By 1930 they planted farmstead windbreaks and did some strip cropping and built stock water dams. Also, in 1936 they went into a grasshopper bait spreading program. All these acts showed that the people wanted to do something to protect their land and insure their living. Then when the South Dakota District Law come into being, they began to see other counties take advantage of the assistance supplied by the Soil Conservation Service and they decided to also do something about it.

As organized in 1941, the reservoir included only 211,840 acres and 218 operating units of the 1,118,720 acres and 560 units being operated at that time. Following are some of the major conservation practices: contour planting, crop residue management, contour and wind strip-cropping, stubble mulch tillage, irrigation (only on medium and heavy textured soils), grass and hay seeding, proper range stocking, terracing, field and gully diversions, grassed waterways, stock water dams (with trickle tubes), and farmstead windbreaks.