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Tale of Two Paths

By John Andrews

You might know Gregory County because of its high school’s notorious mascot: the Gorillas. Or as the home of Elmer Karl, whose smiling face has appeared in advertisements for home appliances for over 50 years. But this county on the Missouri River — still affectionately described as part of Rosebud Country — is rich in history, culture and natural beauty.

Drivers from East River can cross into Gregory County via two main routes, and the area’s striking landscape is immediately evident no matter which is chosen. Highway 18 spans the Missouri River and Fort Randall Dam in the southern part of the county. The dam is named for historic Fort Randall, built in 1856 just below the present dam site. Fort Randall was an important link in a chain of forts protecting a trail along the Platte River and was the first in a line of forts stretching up the Missouri River. Soldiers stationed here were mostly charged with controlling the Lakota as homesteaders steadily trickled in from the East.

The remains of Fort Randall Chapel.

Fort Randall operated until 1892 but remnants still exist, include building foundations, a chalk rock chapel built in 1875 and the cemetery, where 138 soldiers, their wives and children were originally buried. Some bodies have been moved, but about 90 graves remain inside the white picket fence. A placard provides dates and causes of death — including disease, skirmishes with Indians and a lightning strike — for many who perished at Fort Randall.

Among the many soldiers stationed at Fort Randall included John Shaw Gregory, who worked as a trader for the Frost and Todd Trading Company. He was also a member of the territorial legislature in 1862, when Gregory County was created and named in his honor.

Just across the dam lies the Karl Mundt National Wildlife Refuge, home to one of the most important bald eagle roosts in the country. Between 100 and 300 bald eagles spend the winter there, fishing in the open waters of the Missouri River and roosting in the gnarled old cottonwoods. Birders are welcome, but the refuge itself is closed to visitors. A kiosk below the dam provides excellent eagle viewing.

Frank Day’s Bar caters to hunters in the fall.

All of Gregory County’s towns are situated along Highway 18. During the fall, that’s a well-traveled section of road because pheasant hunters descend upon the area. Local businesses like Louise’s CafÈ in Fairfax, or the TeePee CafÈ in Bonesteel offer hearty breakfasts and weekend specials to satisfy their hearty appetites. Guides, taxidermists and motel operators in those towns, plus Gregory, Herrick and Dallas are kept busy, as well.

Head north of Bonesteel to Whetstone Bay and search for prehistoric sea creatures on the banks of the Missouri River. Bonesteel’s Paul Neumiller has been hunting fossils since 1957. He’s discovered prehistoric lizards, elephants, mastodons and sea turtles that weighed two tons. He also found North America’s first hainosaurus — a giant sea lizard — in 2002.

Just beyond Bonesteel is the tiny community of St. Charles, where the Lakota culture remains alive and well. Gregory County was once part of the Great Sioux Reservation, which encompassed all of present-day West River South Dakota. The land was opened for settlement in 1904, but Lakota still live and work in the area. At Milk’s Camp, Marla Bull Bear leads a summer camp that was created a decade ago to combat a rash of youth suicides on the nearby Rosebud Reservation. Attendees learn about Lakota culture, music and traditions.

Attendees at Milk’s Camp learn hoop dancing under the guidance of Kevin Locke.

The next town along Highway 18 is Herrick. You can’t miss it because its bright red elevator has become a destination. Originally a working grain elevator, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and has been renovated as a retreat center. The town also celebrates an annual Squeal Meal, which includes a pork barbecue, parade, dance and hog calling contest.

Burke is the county seat, but it’s known across South Dakota for the annual Stampede Rodeo. The event is really a community affair, with an expanded farmer’s market and a cattle drive down Main Street. The main event has all the hallmarks of a rodeo plus a singing contest and other special additions.

The largest town is Gregory, at just under 1,300 people. The citizenry loves Gorillas football games and a main street that features the flagship Karl’s store. For years the town held an Oscar Micheaux Festival to honor the African American filmmaker who originally homesteaded in Gregory County. On our most recent trip through Gregory, we stopped for a breakfast of eggs, homemade potatoes, toast and coffee at Sissy’s CafÈ and grabbed coffee at Dayspring Coffee Company.

The last town on 18 is Dallas, home to the iconic Frank Day’s Bar. When we visited 20 years ago, we found historic guns, hats, boots, saddles and photographs plastered to the walls inside the bar. Day, who has since passed away, was also a collector of stories, having recorded interviews with several old-timers. He told us the story of Tom McCrory, a rancher who had a hole in the palm of his hand”so big that you could see daylight through it,” Day said.”He claimed a bear had mauled him but another old-timer said the bear must have had a revolver.”

A cattle drive down Main Street of Burke precedes the summertime Stampede Rodeo.

If you enter Gregory County further north, you’ll cross the Missouri River on the Platte-Winner bridge. When workers built the bridge, the main stem dams had already been built on the river, so they had to build foundations in depths up to 180 feet. It was a lot of expense and work for a bridge that carries less than 1,000 vehicles a day, but few river crossings are as unspoiled and picturesque.

There are no towns in northern Gregory County, but it’s historic country nevertheless. The area around Lucas was headquarters for Jack Sully, a legendary cattle rustler who was gunned down by a posse in 1904. In the days of the open range, large cattle companies from southern states drove livestock into the Dakotas and allowed them to forage, leaving little for the cattle belonging to homesteaders. Many South Dakotans saw Sully’s antics as merely protecting their rights to their own land, but he found himself in jail on several occasions. He broke out of the Mitchell jail and evaded law enforcement until U.S. Marshals learned he had returned to his home in the Gregory County hills. They shot him as he tried to escape on horseback.

Sully’s antics are still the subject of debate, but that’s all part of the beauty and mystery of Gregory County.

Editor’s Note: This is the 14th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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When the Stars Align

By John Andrews

Some people are born in Grant County and stay there all their lives. For others, settling in this county in northeastern South Dakota is a matter of fate.

Such was the case with the Benedictine monks who established Blue Cloud Abbey near Marvin. St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana wanted to establish a new monastery in the Dakotas, so they sent a team to scout for land. The men found a spot they liked along the Missouri River near Yankton, but WNAX’s tall radio towers east of town obstructed the view of the river valley. They decided to try North Dakota, but along the way they were taken with the rolling hills of the Coteau des Prairies and Whetstone River valley. The delegation stopped to inquire about available land, and the banker told them that a property had been listed for sale just 30 minutes earlier. They bought 300 acres at $22 an acre. The deal seemed too good to be true, but when they learned the banker’s name — Effner Benedict — they knew Grant County was the place for them.

Blue Cloud Abbey was a place of worship and reflection for more than 60 years.

Monks worked and prayed at Blue Cloud Abbey until its closure in the summer of 2012. The facility has since been reopened as Abbey of the Hills, an inn and retreat center that also includes an organic farm.

Who knows what other forces were at play when Clarence Justice responded to a”Help Wanted” ad in the Minneapolis Tribune. Justice, a regular reader of the paper, was working as a printer in Miller when he saw the ad seeking a printer to work at the Grant County Review in Milbank. He called and the publisher, Bill Dolan, hired him over the phone without even asking his name (a small oversight in the world of journalism).

The Grant County Review remained in the same family for a century. Phyllis and Clarence Justice published the newspaper for several of those decades.

Justice went to work at the Review in 1952 and three years later, he and the publisher’s daughter, Phyllis, were married. They ran the paper together for more than 50 years, becoming South Dakota’s First Couple of newspapering.

Grant County was officially created in 1873 and organized five years later. It’s named after President Ulysses S. Grant. Among the county’s early settlers was Henry Holland, an immigrant from England. Holland built a 44-foot-tall windmill to grind wheat for local farmers. The mill was abandoned and moved to the city park in 1912. It was moved again in 1978 and underwent a total restoration in the early 2000s. Holland’s Mill remains a landmark along Highway 12 on the west side of Milbank.

Holland’s Mill is a Grant County landmark along Highway 12.

With 3,300 people, Milbank is the Grant County seat. It’s also known nationally for Legion baseball and high quality granite. American Legion baseball has its roots in Milbank. The program started there in July of 1925 when a group of World War I veterans thought American boys were losing interest in the national pastime. Tens of thousands of teenagers play Legion ball across the country today.

Milbank’s granite caught the eye of designers as they created the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s. More than 200 truckloads were hauled halfway across the country during construction. The granite around Milbank is thought to be 4 billion years old. It’s popular because of its high quartz content, which accounts for its hardness and light red color.

The Muskegon is dry docked in a local museum.

Several other small towns are scattered throughout Grant County. Big Stone City lies on the southern shore of Big Stone Lake, which serves as the very northeastern border of the county. The lake is a popular recreation spot, but it was also the site of South Dakota’s worst nautical tragedy.

An excursion boat called the Muskegon departed for a pleasure cruise in July of 1917 and never returned. A tornadic storm caused it to capsize, killing seven of the nine people aboard. The boat was pulled shore and eventually resurrected as The Golden Bantam, which plied the waters of Big Stone Lake for another 30 years. In 1960, the boat was placed in dry dock north of Big Stone City and was used as a lake cabin. In 1985, it was donated to the Big Stone County Historical Society and Museum just across the state line in Ortonville, Minn., where it remains today.

Just west of Milbank, Twin Brooks is known for its big annual threshing show the second weekend in August. But there’s also a unique restaurant in town called the Bird Feeder. Carol Kilde runs the cafÈ in the back of the town’s post office. It’s open May through December and there’s no menu. You choose your meal when you call for reservations.

Several years ago, while driving through Stockholm, we met Steve Misener on Main Street. Misener began tuning pianos more than 30 years ago and became an avid collector. His shop holds about 75 pianos and boxes stuffed with parts. Misener often exhibits his collection around northeastern South Dakota.

Steve Misener’s shop in Stockholm holds many piano treasures.

Misener told us he worried about the future of music because younger generations seem to be occupied with other things. But music seems to be in the blood of Delaney Johnston, who released her first country music CD before reaching middle school.

The youngster from Summit got her break when renowned South Dakota singer Sherwin Linton was performing at a benefit concert in LaBolt. Johnston requested that Linton sing Johnny Cash’s”Jackson” for her grandmother. Linton asked if Johnston would like to sing along, and she agreed. Linton recognized that she had talent and helped produce her CD. Now Johnston balances summertime performance at county fairs along with being a kid.

Who knows if young Delaney will stay, but Grant County is richer because of her and others — natives and transplants — who chose to make a home in the county on the Coteau.

Editor’s Note: This is the 13th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Before the Oasis

By John Andrews

It seems that whenever East River friends plan a trip to the Black Hills, they are obliged to take a break from the I-90 monotony at Al’s Oasis in Oacoma. Al’s is a historic business that we’ll write more about when this series gets to Lyman County. But travelers could just as easily stop at Chamberlain, on the east side of the Missouri River. Or Kimball. Or Pukwana. In fact, you could spend a few hours exploring Brule County, home to lawnmower races, popcorn balls and biological and geological diversity found in few other places.

Let’s start in Kimball, the first city you reach on eastbound I-90. Most South Dakotans might know the place as home to the Original Kimball Popcorn Ball, which humbly began in a local gas station. Over the years, they got more and more requests to mail the balls out of town. After a lot of research, David Olson and his partners in popcorn, business owners Eric Pulse, Lee Pulse and Scott Handel, decided to take the risk. In August of 2009, they sold their first popcorn balls from their new factory, a small building that was once a convenience store.

Kimball’s popcorn balls began humbly, but are now sold throughout the Midwest.

Because of the company’s size, production is done on a relatively small scale, with plenty of human involvement. They pop corn daily in a 48-ounce popper, averaging 50-60 batches a day. Each batch makes 47 or 48 balls. The marshmallow slurry used to bind the balls doesn’t pour easily into a hopper, so workers load the factory’s popcorn ball machine by hand to create 4-ounce popcorn balls that are sold in stores throughout South Dakota and several other states.

The residents of Kimball also eat well at the Back Forty, a coffee house, restaurant and bar where Keke Leiferman gives traditional sandwiches a gourmet twist. You can also explore the South Dakota Tractor Museum, a campus that includes old machinery and other pioneer tools.

Keke Leiferman serves sandwiches and other treats at the Back 40.

About 10 miles further west on the north side of the interstate is Pukwana, famous for its lawnmower races held every other Saturday night during the summer. The races got their start more than 10 years ago, when locals watched a lawnmower competition on ESPN. They laid out a track next to the Puk-U Bar and Grill, added bleachers and hay bales and had their own race.

Mowers are divided into three classes: stock, modified and outlaw. Races draw dozens of drivers and hundreds of spectators to Pukwana from May to September.

Take a break from I-90 and head south out of Pukwana on Highway 50 to the Bijou Hills. Capped with quartzite and containing unique fossils and fauna, the hills have been explored by biologists, archaeologists and naturalists. The hills jut 400 feet above surrounding corn and hay fields. Cattle keep the grass low, showing some of the quartzite exposed 10,000 years ago by melting snow from the last glacier.

Every other Saturday night during summer is lawnmower racing night in Pukwana.

Tens of centuries later, the towns of Granville, Eagle and Bijou Hills were started below the hills. Now, only the latter survives. Bijou Hills had just three residents when we visited in 2007 — Wayne and Pat Surat and Wayne’s mother, Ruth.”Somebody will drive by here in 40 years and it will be a cornfield,” said Wayne.”I’m not saying it’s good or bad. It’s just the way it is.”

Two hundred years ago, the hills were on a route for migratory buffalo. Because of them, the Dakota Indians also became frequent visitors, building ceremonial pillars on the hilltops and fashioning arrows and other tools from the quartzite.

White explorers were attracted to the prairie promontories, beginning with French traders and continuing with Lewis and Clark, John Fremont and artist George Catlin, who collected stone samples and was enthralled by the area’s antelope, buffalo and prairie dogs in 1832.

Catlin called the hills by their current name, which has been traced to French fur trader Louis Bissonet, known in his native St. Louis as”Mr. Bijou.” Bissonet operated a post by the river in 1812 and traded with the Dakota Indians and white trappers.

The Bijou Hills are a geologic and social curiosity in southern Brule County.

In the 1880s, homesteaders moved in. Their farmsteads soon circled the base of the hills, but even so, all the towns but Bijou Hills quickly declined.

Natural disasters included the usual grasshopper plagues, fires and tornadoes. A gravestone in the nearby Union Cemetery memorializes the destruction of May 27, 1899, when a twister struck the Peterson farmstead, killing the father and six of his eight children. Neighbors rushed to the scene and found Mrs. Peterson in a muddy field, dazed and badly injured. At first sight, they thought she was an animal of some sort. Eleven-year-old Earl was found a half-mile away, also alive but pinned in mud by a stick that had driven through his clothing. Another son, Alvah, had ducked in the storm cellar and survived the storm while crouched in the dark hole with a big bull snake.

Another search had a sad ending. Harvey Burr disappeared from his farm near town in November of 1951. His bloodied body was found days later in a haystack. Burr’s murderer, a young man from Mitchell, was a distant relative who had kidnapped and raped a country schoolteacher, and then abducted and killed Burr and wrote checks on his bank account. Though it happened over 60 years ago, old timers in the hills remember every detail.

Red Lake was designated a National Natural Landmark because of its waterfowl habitat.

The Bijou Hills have the distinction of being one of 13 sites in South Dakota that have been designated National Natural Landmarks. The federal program highlights places that feature unique biological and geological diversity. Another landmark — Red Lake — can be found in Brule County just south of Pukwana. The shallow pond was added to the list because of its waterfowl nesting and breeding areas.

Head back to the interstate and drive west into Chamberlain, a city that has embraced its proximity to the Missouri River with summertime speedboat races. You’ll also find the South Dakota Hall of Fame not far from the river. The Hall was established in 1974 and for years was housed in an old log cabin in Fort Pierre. The grand museum in Chamberlain was finished in 2000. More than 500 South Dakotans have been enshrined.

The Akta Lakota Museum houses art and artifacts celebrating Lakota culture.

Another unique repository of culture is the Akta Lakota Museum, and arm of the nearby St. Joseph’s Indian School. The museum’s collection features art, artifacts and educational displays that depict the heritage of the Lakota people. Though Brule County contains no reservation land, the Crow Creek Reservation lies just across the border to the north and the Lower Brule Reservation is across the river to the northwest. Upon its creation in 1875, the county was named for the Brule, or Burned Thigh, band of Teton Sioux.

Now that your exploration of Brule County is over, you can cross the river on the historic Chamberlain Bridge, originally finished in 1925 to carry traffic on old Highway 16. When the new Fort Randall Dam created Lake Francis Case in 1953, the old Wheeler Bridge was floated upriver and the two were joined to span the wide, new lake. A more modern bridge a mile to the south follows the main path of Interstate 90.

You can still stop at Al’s Oasis, just across the river. No trip across South Dakota would be complete without it. Maybe you can talk about the things you found in Brule County over a cup of coffee. I hear it’s good and cheap.

Editor’s Note: This is the 12th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Land of the Burnt Thigh

By John Andrews

In late August we drove from Yankton to Pine Ridge on Highway 18 to collect stories for an upcoming issue. As we passed through the pine forested hills and ravines of the Little White River valley, I was reminded that this area is one of South Dakota’s hidden gems. The region is known locally as the Little Black Hills, and was our Todd County selection in our July/August 2011 feature on places to visit in every county. It’s beautiful from the highway, but even better views are found by kayaking the Little White River, particularly the 25-mile stretch between 18 and the Spring Creek Day School, or by driving BIA Route 5.

Todd County is rich in Lakota culture because the Rosebud Indian Reservation, home to the Sicangu (Burnt Thigh Nation) people, lies completely within its borders. The Rosebud was created in 1889, when the Great Sioux Reservation — which encompassed all of present day South Dakota west of the Missouri River — was parceled into the reservations we know today.

Architecture true to Lakota culture accentuates Sinte Gleska University’s campus.

The county’s largest town is Mission, where Sinte Gleska University provides an education rooted in both the Western and Lakota worlds. Lionel Bordeaux, who grew up not far from the campus, leads the college. He attended high school at the St. Francis Indian Mission, then enrolled at Black Hills Teachers College in Spearfish. He had a job with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota when he got a phone call from Stanley Red Bird, Sr., considered the founder of Sinte Gleska College.

He said they were searching for a president to lead the newly formed school and that Bordeaux’s name had come through from the Spirit World. Red Bird told Bordeaux to resign his position with the BIA and that he was not to continue at Minnesota. Bordeaux talked with his wife and they returned to Mission, where he was inaugurated President of the college in 1973, just before his 33rd birthday. He’s one of the country’s longest-serving college presidents.

Sinte Gleska is named for Spotted Tail, one of the most revered Sicangu leaders. He proved himself an able warrior in his younger days, though eventually he grew to believe that resisting the advance of white settlers was futile, and sought ways to benefit his people who had been relegated to reservation life. He was killed by a rival, Crow Dog, in 1881. His gravesite, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is in the Episcopal Cemetery at Rosebud.

A vision brought Lionel Bordeaux back to Mission, where he’s led Sinte Gleska University for more than 40 years..

Lakota Studies is an important part of SGU’s curriculum, and for years Albert White Hat, one of the country’s leading preservers of the Lakota language, led it. He was raised at Spring Creek, a small community of five or six families on the Rosebud. Children learned Lakota ways, and spent winter evenings listening to storytellers explain Lakota history, culture and spirituality using the Lakota language. But in the early 1950s the tribe adopted the state’s education standards, which said nothing about Lakota studies. When his children started school in the Todd County district in the late 1960s, White Hat lobbied for a Lakota language and history program.”They really gave me a bad time,” he told us in 2009.”None of them would accept it. They laughed at me. Finally in 1970, they said, ‘You can have a half an hour during noon hour to play your tape and dance.'”

Albert White Hat (left) and Duane Hollow Horn Bear helped preserve Lakota language and culture at SGU.

Soon White Hat was teaching Lakota studies part time at St. Francis and Sinte Gleska University, even though he knew little about teaching. He had no books and learned how to formulate lesson plans from colleagues. The university hired him full time in 1983.

White Hat worked on standardizing Lakota, but he encountered problems in the 1990s as he worked on his textbook, Reading and Writing the Lakota Language. White Hat and Jael Kampfe, a Montana native studying at Yale University, began the project in 1992. Kampfe recorded White Hat’s classes. Then they transcribed and edited them into a 226-page book. He sent the manuscript to three linguists and a host of schools and publishers who offered mixed reviews.

“The language has developed what they call a subculture,” he said.”Historians and anthropologists use the modern translations, and my work contradicts that. They didn’t want that printed.” One major university press told White Hat that,”folk etymology and oral history are fine, but they’re not recorded so this shouldn’t be printed.” The University of Utah Press finally published his book in 1999 and it remains widely used, a fitting tribute to White Hat, who died in 2013.

Girls at Mission’s North Elementary (from left) Shanelle Eagle Star, Bailey Horse Looking, Hapun McCluskey and Olivia Leading Cloud made dancing shawls.

Todd County was created in 1909 and named for John B.S. Todd, a native of Kentucky and cousin to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Todd had a long military career that included service in the Mexican War before he resigned in 1856. He moved to Fort Randall and became a trader engaging with Indian tribes west of the Missouri River. Todd started a law practice in Yankton in 1861, but with the outbreak of the Civil War he was commissioned as a brigadier general. He led North Missouri district until the end of 1861. He again resigned from the military in 1862 and moved back to Dakota. He represented Dakota Territory in Congress in the 1860s and also served in the territorial House of Representatives. Todd died in 1872.

Jesuit missionaries played an important role in the evolution of the area. They established the St. Francis Mission in the 1880s, and today it’s an important destination for those wanting to study Lakota culture. The Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum in St. Francis contains over 2,000 items in its ethnographic collection and more than 42,000 photos. The museum is named after Father Eugene Buechel, S.J., a noted missionary, linguist and ethnologist who came to St. Francis in 1902.

Respected Sicangu leader Spotted Tail’s gravesite can be found in the Episcopal Cemetery near Rosebud.

Another place to visit in St. Francis is St. Charles Borromeo Parish, painted bright lavender by children attending a camp there in 2005. The church has 24 stained glass windows that depict the life of Christ.

Todd County also has a few famous sons. Ben Reifel was born at Parmelee in 1906, attended South Dakota State College and Harvard University and became the first Lakota to serve in Congress when he was elected in South Dakota’s First District in 1960. He served in Washington, D.C., for 10 years.

Jim Abourezk, who served in the U.S. House and Senate during the 1970s, was born just across the county line in Wood, but his uncles Tom and Chick ran a general store in Mission for 30 years. It’s still referred to locally as”Abourooski’s.”

And longtime television game show host Bob Barker spent his childhood on the Rosebud, where his mother Tillie taught school. In his memoir, Barker has fond memories of swimming in Antelope Crick (not Creek). He didn’t write anything about the Little Black Hills, but maybe some places are better kept secret.

Editor’s Note: This is the 11th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Of Birds and Baseball

By John Andrews

What comes to mind when you’re asked to think about South Dakota? Two images rise to the top of my list: the iconic ring-necked pheasant and amateur baseball on a summer night, and it seems that no where in South Dakota are these more ingrained in the local culture than in Spink County.

Many other cities in South Dakota call themselves”The Pheasant Capitol of the World,” but Redfield has claimed the title since June of 1908. That’s when a group of city leaders acquired three pairs of pheasants from Grants Pass, Oregon, and released them in Hagmann’s Grove, just north of Redfield. The newcomers seemed to do well in Spink County, and in 1919 the first one-day open season on roosters was held. Pheasants have since become the state bird and have transformed the state’s outdoor tourism industry. Thousands of resident and non-resident hunters will roam the fields when pheasant season opens on the third Saturday of October.

The national pastime has also been an important part of life in Spink County, and affects those who are only tangentially connected to the area. ESPN.com writer David Schoenfield wrote a tribute to baseball in Redfield that appeared in our May/June issue. Schoenfield’s father grew up in Redfield, and later brought his wife and children back to his hometown. Among the memories that still stand out for Schoenfield are baseball games on Redfield’s emerald green diamond.

Pheasants were introduced near Redfield in 1908. Now they come in fiberglass.

His article prompted a reader to share the memories he has of watching Redfield win the state amateur baseball championship on its home turf in 1954. Redfield had amassed an early 10-0 lead, but Aberdeen slowly chipped away until it was 10-9 in the ninth inning. Aberdeen had the bases loaded with their most feared hitter, Blackie Engelhart, coming to bat. With one out, Engelhart crushed a ball that seemed destined to be a grand slam, but Redfield’s center fielder leaped and caught it before it sailed over the fence. Then he wheeled around and fired the ball to the second baseman for a double play (the runners had been certain Engelhart would at least have a base hit, and took off running as the ball soared into the outfield).

Redfield is the hub of activity in Spink County.

Spink County was also the site of a unique baseball battle in 1920. Redfield had secured a professional team, but because the Congregational church owned the field and grandstand, no games were allowed on Sundays. Ten miles south in Tulare, Mike Anderson, editor of the town newspaper and manager of the Tulare baseball team, invited the Redfield squad to play its games there, provided Redfield would finance the cost of a new grandstand.

Both towns agreed, the grandstand was constructed in record time and games began. That’s when the Methodists of Tulare began to suspect something might be amiss. They thought the charging of admission on Sunday might violate one of South Dakota’s”blue laws.”

Six Methodist church members agreed to attend a Sunday game. Once they had purchased tickets, they filed a statement at the courthouse in Redfield. The judge ultimately ruled that Sunday baseball could continue, and admission could be charged, provided a separate area was maintained for those who wished to watch the games for free.

Chief Drifting Goose was a thorn in the side to Spink County’s early settlers.

Spink County has even produced a Major League Baseball player. Deacon Phillippe grew up learning to play baseball in the small town of Athol. As a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Phillippe defeated Cy Young in the first World Series game ever played in 1903. He won 189 games in a 13-year career that began when he was 27.

Long before the days of pheasants and baseball, the settlers who trickled into Spink County as early as the 1850s had to contend with the notorious Chief Drifting Goose. His Hunkpati band of Yanktonai was headquartered at Armadale, an island in the James River four miles northeast of Mellette. He’s remembered as a peace-loving leader who preferred pranking homesteaders to violence. Legend says he once stole the clothes from a settler and then made him run back to his sod shanty naked. When railroad surveyors marked a line through his encampment, he moved the stakes. Eventually the rail was routed through Northville, a more respectful 10 miles west of Drifting Goose’s camp.

Locals tell Drifting Goose stories with a chuckle, but they also respect the leader who never signed a treaty and, in his mind, never ceded any land. Historians have named a bridge that spans the James River on Highway 20 after Drifting Goose.

Redfield’s Carnegie Library is the oldest of its kind in South Dakota that has been continually used as a library.

Of course, the colorful leader’s tricks couldn’t stop the eventual settlement and organization of Spink County, created by the territorial legislature in 1873. The area was named for Solomon Lewis Spink, a New York native who worked in law and journalism before President Abraham Lincoln appointed him secretary of Dakota Territory in 1864. He also served in Congress and practiced law in Yankton until his death in 1881.

Several towns emerged along rail lines that passed through Spink County. The largest is Redfield (pop. 2,385), where the state legislature placed the Northern Hospital for the Insane in 1902. Called the South Dakota Developmental Center, the facility still cares for roughly 145 people with disabilities. Redfield is also home to the state’s oldest continually used Carnegie Library. Built in 1902, the red brick building with a sandstone foundation and domed cupola stands at 5 E. Fifth Ave.

Hubert Humphrey as a boy in Doland.

Fisher Grove State Park, east of Redfield near Frankfort, straddles the James River. It’s where the old Watertown-Pierre stage line crossed for the first time using a traditional rock crossing used by Native Americans. Further east on Highway 212 you’ll find Doland, the hometown of Hubert Humphrey, vice president of the United States under Lyndon Johnson from 1965 to 1969.

Follow Highway 37 north of Doland to Turton, (pop. 49) home of the Frogs. The tiny town still holds a Frogtown Festival every June, even though the Jim River is 15 miles away and the closest stream is called Dry Run. The pillar of Turton is the St. Joseph Catholic Church, where St. John the Baptist’s birthday is celebrated in June. The tradition dates to 1899, making it one of the nation’s oldest birthday parties for a saint (besides St. Patrick and St. Nick).

Five generations of Glenn Overby’s family have grown wheat in Spink County.

Spink County covers 1,500 square miles, and much of it is ideal wheat growing country. Farms are plentiful and elevators dot the horizon, especially along Highway 20 through Conde, Brentford, Mellette and Northville in the northern third of the county. The South Dakota Wheatgrowers’ Co-op at Mellette can store 5.5 million bushels, but chances are good you’ll see the overflow of this year’s harvest piled outdoors.

Several years ago we visited the Glenn Overby farm near Mellette. Glenn’s father, John, was a self-taught agronomist who developed his own varieties of wheat: Marvel Wheat and Spinkcota. You can see an exhibit about John Overby and his other inventions at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings.

Wheat farming requires long hours, but we noticed this summer while attending the state amateur baseball tournament in Mitchell that the Northville team’s roster included A.J. Overby, the fifth generation of Overbys to work the Spink County land. That means there’s still time for baseball, and probably pheasants in October, too.

Editor’s Note: This is the 10th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Moved by Water

By John Andrews

The Missouri River forms the western border of Campbell County, in the far northwest corner of what South Dakotans call East River. The Big Muddy has affected the lives of everyone living along its course through South Dakota, but the river’s role in shaping Campbell County is unique. The Missouri’s bank was home to an early Plains Indian village that is still studied today. It’s where explorers Lewis and Clark first heard a curious Indian legend. And its waters caused an entire town to relocate.

Indigenous people have inhabited the Great Plains for thousands of years. Archaeologists study their lives at various village sites, one of which remains on the shore of Lake Oahe in Campbell County near Pollock. Called the Vanderbilt Archaeological Site, the village dates to about 1300. When it was first examined in 1979, researchers found 22 depressions believed to be house rings, trash pits and collected over 200 pieces of ceramic, stone chips, tools and other projectile points. Archaeologists say that despite erosion due to wave action from the lake, they’ve been able to learn a lot about the movements and living patterns of the region’s earliest inhabitants.

Campbell County’s stone idols stand among the hills of the Missouri River valley near Pollock.

More than 500 years later, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their Corps of Discovery paddled into present day Campbell County. On Oct. 10, 1804, the explorers met with the leaders of three Arikara villages and presented them with clothes and flags. Three days later, Lewis and Clark first learned of the Stone Idols.”Two stones resembling human persons and one resembling a dog are situated in the open prairie,” Lewis wrote in his journal for Oct. 13.”To those stones the Arikaras pay great reverence, make offerings whenever they pass. Those people have a curious tradition of those stones. One was a man in love, one a girl whose parents would not let marry. The dog went to mourn with them. All turned to stone gradually, commencing at the feet. Those people fed on grapes until they turned, and the woman has a bunch of grapes yet in her hand. On the river near the place those are said to be situated, we observed a greater quantity of fine grapes than I ever saw at one place.”

The stone idols are there today, though it takes a bit of work to find them. Take Highway 1804 a mile south out of Pollock to the West Pollock Resort. Take the road through the cabins and you’ll see the idols on the northeast corner of the resort.

Spring Creek, renamed through the years, runs through Campbell County.

Lewis and Clark camped along Stone Idol Creek, which doesn’t appear on maps today. That’s because at some point in history, it was decided that the creek needed a new name. For reasons unbeknownst to us, it became known as Hermaphrodite Creek. Eventually someone else came along and renamed it Spring Creek, which is what maps show today. The residents of Campbell County remain eternally grateful.

Campbell County as we know it today was organized in 1873 and named for Norman B. Campbell, a territorial legislator from Bon Homme County. Campbell remains somewhat of a mystery. He served in the legislature in 1872-73 and died quite young. His father was the Civil War Brigadier General Charles T. Campbell, founder of the town of Scotland.

The county seat was originally located at La Grace, along the Missouri River. The election of 1888 transferred that status to Mound City, where it remains despite the town’s current estimated population of 65. That makes Mound City one of the smallest county seats in the nation. Townspeople fought battles with nearby Herreid in the 1960s over the possible relocation of certain offices, but they stayed in Mound City. Perhaps politics is simply in the blood of Mound Citians. The town’s most famous daughter is Alice Kundert, who served as state auditor from 1969 to 1978, secretary of state from 1979 to 1986 and then ran for governor. She lost the election, but went on to serve in the state House of Representatives from 1991 to 1994. She died in 2013.

The construction of Oahe Dam and the resulting Lake Oahe forced the relocation of the town of Pollock.

The federal government’s attempt to tame the Missouri River in the mid-20th century led to a life-altering decision for the people of Pollock. The town had been founded in 1901 along the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Saint Marie Railroad. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unveiled plans for a series of dams along the river, the resulting reservoir that became Lake Oahe would inundate the town.

On Jan. 27, 1953 a town meeting was held to determine the fate of Pollock. A vote was taken to determine which direction the town should move. The results were: west, 2; north, 20; east, 39; south 139. A second unanimous ballot was cast for the southern site, which was one mile away on a hilltop. E.L. McKay, editor of the Pollock Pioneer, cleverly used the headline,”A city built on a hill cannot be hid” as part the next week’s newspaper.

After the new town site was platted, people made their lot choices and sealed them in an envelope. Lots were assigned by drawing, and only a handful of duplicate choices were settled by a coin toss.”Nearly everyone was satisfied,” reported the Pioneer.

Pollock’s brick schoolhouse was demolished before the original town site was flooded.

The official groundbreaking of the new town took place on June 4, 1955, making Pollock one of the only towns in America that celebrates two founding dates. The community celebrated its centennial in 2001, and then followed with a 50-year celebration in 2005.

Not surprisingly, Pollock today is a fishing community, nestled between Lake Pocasse (named for one of the Arikara leaders who met with Lewis and Clark) and Pollock Bay, which leads into Lake Oahe. The Pollock Visitor and Interpretive Center houses an impressive collection of historical artifacts and memorabilia from the town of 217.

Though Mound City is small, it’s hardly sleepy. For decades, Bernie’s Beefstro served meals so good that diners drove 60 miles just to eat there. Longtime owner Bernie Huber decided to sell the bar in July after 40 years of ownership, but hopes to help the new proprietors make the transition.

Mound City is also home to the headquarters of Wild Dutchman sunflower seeds. Three generations of the VanderLaan family run the business that began as a fluke. Wayne VanderLaan started by dehydrating small batches of seeds on his wife’s stovetop. Today their seeds are found throughout the Upper Midwest. The exact recipe is a secret, but part of Wild Dutchman’s appeal comes from the low salt content.

Inside the Campbell County courthouse in Mound City.

If you think you might like to live in Campbell County, check out the town of Herreid, pop. 403. The town’s economic development corporation offers up to $5,000 for families purchasing an existing home or building new. Once you’ve relocated, you can research a Campbell County mystery we’ve been trying to solve for years.

We first heard about the Kiss Me Quick Hills in a book called South Dakota Geographic Names. They supposedly rise east of Pollock and are named for the”series of short, sharp rises in the road, which almost cause a person to meet himself.” Several years ago, a South Dakota Magazine editor was traveling through Campbell County. He asked a local about the Kiss Me Quicks.”I’ve heard them called lots of other things by people trying to get over them, but never that,” he replied.

So our writer came home without so much as a kiss. Here’s hoping you’ll be luckier.

Editor’s Note: This is the ninth installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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The Spirituality of Hanson County

By John Andrews

At 435 square miles, Hanson County is the third smallest county in South Dakota. But what it lacks in area, it makes up for in spirituality. The lazy James River quietly runs through the southwestern quarter, past the graves of two men who died defending their staunchly held religious beliefs. In Alexandria you’ll find a shrine dedicated to a modern miracle. And in between the lakes, fields and streams provide ample opportunities to reconnect with nature.

Most visitors will arrive in Hanson County driving 80 mph on Interstate 90, but that’s the fastest pace you’ll find here. Exit at Alexandria and spend a few quiet moments at the Fatima Family Shrine, an elaborate exhibit of Catholic statuary started in 1987. It pays tribute to the 1917 appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal. The shrine features an image of Mary modeled after the statue at Fatima. At the base is Portuguese rock and soil from the very ground by the oak tree on which Mary was seen.

St. Mary of Mercy Church in Alexandria.

The shrine is next to Alexandria’s historic St. Mary of Mercy Catholic Church. Across the street is a cloistered convent called the Monastery of Our Mother of Mercy, where 14 Carmelite nuns work and pray for world peace in relative isolation from the public.

Another powerful spot is burial site of Michael and Joseph Hofer, two Hutterites who died after refusing to fight during World War I. They rest in the cemetery at Rockport Colony, 8 miles southwest of Alexandria. The Hofers were drafted in 1918, but as pacifists they were conflicted. After consultation with elders, they decided to report for training but to abstain from any activity that furthered the war effort.

They were jailed, taunted, beaten and starved until they both contracted pneumonia inside the prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Hofers died within days of each other. Their bodies were returned to Rockport and buried in the tiny colony cemetery.

Today the story of the Hofers is well known among the North American Hutterite community, though few others are aware. Hutterite children learn about the brothers as schoolchildren, and families from across the continent come to Rockport to pay their respects at the grave.

Michael Hofer’s gravesite at Rockport Colony.

Rockport Colony sits on the very first townsite in Hanson County. The first settlement grew in 1865 when the U.S. military sent soldiers to keep peace between Indians and encroaching settlers. The men used quartzite, which is plentiful along the banks of the James River around Rockport, to build Fort James, one of the only stone cavalry forts in the West.

Fort James was occupied for only two years. All that remains are quartzite foundations and a marker placed at the site following an archaeological investigation of the area several years ago.

Hanson County was originally created in 1871 and named for Major Joseph R. Hanson, one of Yankton’s earliest residents. Hanson was born in New Hampshire and moved west seeking better business opportunities. He arrived at Sioux City in 1858, crossed into Nebraska and set up a winter camp just across the Missouri River from present day Yankton. At the time, only four white men lived in the area, and all worked at the Frost, Todd and Company trading post.

Fort James was occupied in 1865 and 1866.

Longtime state historian Doane Robinson credits Hanson as being the second actual settler of Yankton behind John Holman, who had built a cabin there a month before Hanson’s arrival. He served two years as chief clerk of the territorial legislature and helped secure the fledging town against Indian raids by direction construction of the Yankton stockade in 1862. Hanson became a prominent citizen with a successful farm just east of town.

The first civil settlement in Hanson County occurred at Rockport, when Peter, Samuel and Michael Bloom, Jerry Flick and Frank Foster arrived in 1872. A small post office was built and a town platted in 1878 in preparation for Rockport’s designation as county seat. But the county’s boundaries were adjusted in 1879 and the railroad chose a route through Alexandria. Voters moved the county seat to Alexandria after the election of 1880. Rockport became the site of a Hutterite colony in 1894 and remained so until 1918, when nearly all Hutterites in North America moved to Canada in opposition to the war. The present Rockport Colony was created in 1934.

Lake Hanson, southwest of Alexandria. Photo by Christian Begeman.

In that same year, the Depression-era Works Progress Administration built a dam along Pierre Creek 2 miles southwest of Alexandria. The resulting impoundment became known as Lake Hanson, a popular spot for water recreation. Another fishing hole is Long Lake, just north of Farmer. Anglers catch bluegill, sunfish and largemouth bass there.

Hanson County is largely rural. Alexandria is its largest town, at about 630 people. Emery, just southeast along Highway 262, is a town of 450 people. In Fulton (pop. 94) sisters Mary Wipf and Elizabeth Soladay run Con Brio Studio, a business specializing in restoring and re-hairing bows for stringed instruments. Only 10 people call Farmer home, but the community still manages to hold a grand antique tractor parade the weekend following Labor Day. Their slow procession contrasts starkly to the traffic zooming along I-90 just 5 miles south. Maybe those cars should get off the freeway and experience the laid back and reflective life that Hanson County can offer.

Editor’s Note: This is the eighth installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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West River Melting Pot

By John Andrews

We really have a thing for rocks at South Dakota Magazine. I’m not ready to call it an unnatural obsession because rocks really can be quite fascinating. And they are natural, so I guess it would be natural obsession?

Anyway, two weeks ago in our online feature on Moody County, we wrote about Lone Rock, a huge glacial erratic and local landmark. Lone Rock had been our selection back in the summer of 2011, when the magazine did a feature on one unusual thing to see in every county.

When it came to Haakon County, guess what we chose? Yep. More rocks. This time a pile of them. But just like Lone Rock, there’s a story behind the stack that helps us understand the uncertainty that came with settling Haakon County, a 1,800-square-mile tract right in the middle of West River whose untamed prairie could easily have intimidated homesteaders as they eventually trickled across the Missouri River.

This manmade landmark is the Silent Guide Monument, built sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s by a sheepherder who wanted to mark a well that never seemed to go dry. It originally stood 14 feet tall and could be seen from 35 miles around. As cowboys and sheepherders battled for land, cattlemen sometimes roped the monument and pulled the stones to the ground. Once, a fed-up sheep man sat atop the pile with his shotgun, daring others to destroy it.

James “Scotty” Philip.

The monument’s importance faded as more homesteaders arrived and found their own wells. Still, locals kept watch over it, rebuilding its stones when they naturally toppled to the earth. Eventually they were permanently cemented together. You’ll find the Silent Guide Monument about 8 miles west of Philip on the way to Grindstone.

Many of the early homesteaders who relied on the monument were Scandinavian, which explains why the county was named after King Haakon VII of Norway after its creation in 1914. It’s the only county in South Dakota named for a non-American person, and is one of nine named for people who did not live in South Dakota.

One exception to that immigration rule was James”Scotty” Philip, who came from Scotland in 1874 and settled east of Philip in 1881. Philip is best known as”the man who saved the buffalo,” although history has shown that fellow rancher Fred Dupris deserves just as much credit as Scotty. Still, you can’t think of Philip without thinking of buffalo.

Scotty Philip’s bison were up to the challenge presented by Mexican fighting bulls.

Our favorite story involving Scotty’s herd happened in 1907, when Philip was on a fall buying trip to Texas. He encountered two men from Juarez, Mexico, who were bragging about the toughness and stamina of their country’s fighting bulls. Philip suggested that any one of his bison could easily take down a bull, and offered to prove it by shipping one or more south for a fight.

Philip selected an 8-year-old named Pierre and a 4-year-old, and under the guidance of his nephew, George, they departed for Juarez. On the day of the fight, Pierre sauntered into the ring and, tired from his long journey, flopped down right in the middle. The crowd roared when the Mexican fighting bull was released. He was eager to fight because darts had been plunged into his shoulder to enhance his spirit.

A favorite hangout for local ranchers is the Philip Livestock Auction Barn. Cattle sales are held on Tuesdays, and the popular cafe is open daily. Gathered (from left) are Jake Schofield, Barry Barber, Boyd Waara and Thor Roseth, the owner and operator.

Pierre got to his feet in time to absorb the bull’s first charge. When the dust cleared, there stood Pierre, with the dazed bull wondering what had just happened. A couple more charges left the bull shaking in the arena, the crowd showering him with jeers.

The Mexicans, believing this first bout to be a fluke, sent three more bulls to square off against Pierre. Each time the bison stood his ground, and the question of species superiority was settled once and for all.

Philip became a prominent stockman and legislator before he died suddenly in 1911 at the age of 53. It is said that as he was buried in the family cemetery, his buffalo crested a nearby hill to say a final goodbye. His life was the subject of a recent documentary called The Buffalo King, written and produced by Justin Koehler, who grew up near the tiny settlement of Nowlin in Haakon County and named his Colorado-based film company Nowlin Town Productions.

George Stroppel’s healing hands still soothe aches and pains in Midland.

Philip left several lasting legacies, including the buffalo herd at Custer State Park, which descends from his animals. Another is the town of Philip, formed in 1907 and named after him. It’s the largest city in Haakon County, with 762 people, and is definitely a cow town. The Cattle Business Weekly newspaper is published on Center Street and sale days at Philip Livestock Auction are lively. But there are also amenities you won’t find in most towns fewer than 800, including the Gem, the only movie theater between Pierre and Rapid City.

Just up Highway 14 is Midland, a town of 130 people tucked into the hills of the Bad River Valley. Midland has been known for decades for its healing hot springs and the hands of George Stroppel, longtime operator of the Stroppel Hotel. He has sold the business, and its now called the Lava Water Hotel, but he still offers the massages that draw people from hundreds of miles.

Sundays are busy in Milesville, pop. 2.

If you relish an even slower pace of life, visit tiny Milesville, pop. 2 — Dan and Gayla Piroutek. The postal service no longer delivers mail there, but two churches still hold Sunday services and the town hall hosts birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions.

Outside of those towns, there’s a lot of open space in Haakon County — and, if you believe in legends, a buried treasure. Ed Sanchez was one of Haakon County’s earliest homesteaders, settling on land near the Grindstone Buttes in 1878. He operated a roadhouse, ran cattle and carried the mail from Grindstone to Pedro. His business ventures must have been lucrative because local legend says that before Sanchez died in 1902, he buried his fortune in fruit jars along Dirty Woman Creek. Buy a shovel at the hardware store in Philip, head west out of town on the Grindstone Road and try your luck. If you unearth any rocks, just pile them up. They won’t look out of place.

Editor’s Note: This is the seventh installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Rocks, Rolls and Rivers

By John Andrews

If you took a road trip around South Dakota with the goal of seeing one — and only one — thing in each of South Dakota’s 66 counties, where would the intrepid editors of South Dakota Magazine send you in Moody County?

We asked ourselves that very question in the summer of 2011, when we wrote an extensive travel feature based on the idea of seeing one unique spot in every county. There were some fascinating places: 19th century cabins and churches, wildlife refuges, public art displays and beautiful sections of the Missouri River known only to locals.

And what did we select for Moody County?

A rock.

Yes, a rock. But it’s a really big rock with a story that’s 1.8 million years old. Lone Rock is one of millions of stones deposited by glaciers as they scraped across present-day South Dakota, but this one stands out. The boulder is 25 feet high and is estimated to weigh 100 tons — and that’s just the part you can see. Locals think another 50 to 75 tons remain buried beneath the prairie. Lone Rock became a travelers’ landmark and a favorite picnic spot for locals since the late 1880s. If you want to see the king of glacial erratics, Lone Rock lies in a pasture near the corner of 487th Avenue and 235th Street, southeast of Flandreau and less than a mile from the Minnesota border.

Lone Rock has been a landmark in southeastern Moody County for centuries.

Who knows if Gideon Moody ever saw Lone Rock, or how much time he actually spent in the county that was created and named for him in 1873? Moody was one of several territorial politicians for whom counties were named, but he was probably the only one who narrowly avoided a knife fight with a colleague. It happened while Moody served in the Indiana legislature in 1861. The body was debating states’ rights, an especially controversial pre-Civil War issue. One legislator attacked the governor and Moody came to his defense so vociferously that he was challenged to a duel using bowie knives. They crossed the border into Kentucky to consummate the challenge and were promptly arrested and fined $500 each. The bowie knives remained in their sheaths.

Gideon Moody.

Moody’s fighting spirit (at least in the physical sense) abated when he came to Dakota Territory with his family in 1864 to supervise construction of the Sioux City to Fort Randall military road. When he discovered the road could be built for far less than the money already appropriated, he paid the farmers he had recruited to work on it double the money originally intended. It raised the ire of the federal government, but he earned the respect of thousands of South Dakotans.

Moody served in the House of Representatives, was a judge in Deadwood and became one of our first U.S. Senators in 1889. He cultivated an unparalleled reputation for honesty. During one court case in Deadwood, litigants worried over the trial’s probable outcome against them tried to find someone who would bribe Judge Moody. They found an old law partner of Moody’s from North Dakota and brought him to town. When he heard their plan, he shouted,”My God, men! Do you expect me to tackle that man on any such proposition? Why, I should be in the penitentiary in 48 hours. If that is what you got me here for, I might as well leave for home on the coach tomorrow.” And he did.

Grace (seated) and Gabby Flute Player enjoy a front yard decorated with pipestone in Flandreau. Their father, Rick Flute Player, uses the stone quarried from the Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota, to create ceremonial pipes.

When he faced defeat in his bid for re-election to the Senate in 1891, several legislators suggested supporting Moody in exchange for certain privileges.”He told them that if one dollar were used in buying a vote for him he would refuse to qualify for the office or accept it, and more, that he would assist in prosecuting both the man offering the money and the man accepting it,” wrote state historian Doane Robinson.

Moody ultimately lost the election. He practiced law before moving to California in 1900. He died four years later.

Today about 6,500 people call Moody County home. Its biggest city is Flandreau, where the citizenry is a mix of the descendants of European homesteaders and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. After the Dakota Uprising in Minnesota in 1862, several Santee Sioux were relegated to the Santee Agency in Nebraska. Seven years later, a delegation of them left and decided to settle on a bend in the Big Sioux River.

Flandreau boasts both public and Indian schools, and the Royal River Casino and Hotel draws people from hundreds of miles. If you are passing through, don’t miss the Long John’s at the Flandreau Bakery or the large paintings inside the auditorium by Brookings artist Dorothy Lyford, who was commissioned to illustrate the city’s history. The historic St. Vincent Hotel has also been restored. It’s where John Dillinger stayed while planning his robbery of the Sioux Falls Security National Bank in 1934.

The Big Sioux River’s shallow depths make it an easier river to kayak. Photo by Greg Latza.

Take advantage of the outdoors by paddling the lazy Big Sioux River, which snakes through Moody County. Kayaking enthusiast Jarrett Bies told us the river is perfect for paddlers of all skill levels.”The Big Sioux is a pretty easy river to paddle, because if you have a mistake or you tip over, your number one strategy is to just stand up because you’re probably in knee-deep or waist-deep water,” Bies says.”If you tipped on the Missouri, you’d face a much more complex rescue.”

One of his favorite stretches follows the big horseshoe bend. Start at the access point at the pow wow grounds about a mile north of Flandreau on Highway 13. The river flows east toward Minnesota before curving south and west, past the Flandreau city park to a low-head dam in town.”It’s a five minute drive from the pow wow grounds to the dam, but you get a three-hour paddle on 12 to 14 miles of river,” Bies says.

Jim and Joan Lacey’s Little Village Farm is an eclectic collection of farm equipment and memorabilia.

You can also portage around the dam and continue south for another three-hour paddle to Egan. Stop at the access point in the city park, or continue south to Dell Rapids. This course features farmland, abundant wildlife, woodland areas and rugged red quartzite canyons.

Outdoorsmen like to stay at the River of the Double Bend Campground and Outfitters near Trent. Owner Morris Kirkegaard is a life-long Big Sioux River rat, full of stories about his experiences.

Another unique destination just outside of Trent is Jim and Joan Lacey’s Little Village Farm. The Laceys have moved several large barns onto their property to house the enormous collection they’ve amassed over the years — tractors, windmills, cream separators, lightning rods and other farm equipment.

A day in Moody County might begin with rolls at the Flandreau Bakery, then a round of golf at Sunrise Ridge Golf Course on the south edge of Colman. Spend a quiet afternoon at the city park in Egan and have a thick, juicy steak at the Feather’s Nest in Ward. Finish it off with a float on the Big Sioux or a campfire with the Kirkegaards.

And if you see any other rocks you think we ought to know about, give us a call.

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth†installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Taking Chances

By John Andrews

If you like rodeo, golf, art, windsurfing and playing poker, then you’ll feel at home in Sully County. It’s an interesting mix — maybe not one you’d expect to find in the middle of South Dakota — but the county’s small towns, prairies, Missouri River bluffs and the wind and waves on Lake Oahe provide the perfect setting for all those interests to converge.

Sully County was created in 1873 and named for Gen. Alfred Sully, who commanded cavalry troops during the Indian Wars of the 1860s. Following one particularly brutal battle near Whitestone Hill in 1863, several of Sully’s troops marched south and built Fort Sully just east of Pierre. Soldiers abandoned the fort in 1866 due to scarcity of resources and a new fort was built 30 miles upstream on land near the present-day Fort Sully Game Refuge. It remained occupied until 1894. A marker was placed there in 1929 and moved to the Sully County Courthouse in Onida in 1962 before water from Lake Oahe inundated the site. Farm Island Recreation Area lies on the site of Old Fort Sully now, and markers indicate its one-time location.

Onida’s Smoky Joe Mendel was once the world’s fastest man.

At one time, Sully County was a refuge for African Americans fleeing from racial persecution in other parts of the country. Norvel Blair, born into slavery in Tennessee, established the Sully County Colored Colony in the 1880s.

Blair’s sons Benjamin and Patrick arrived in Dakota Territory to scout land in 1882. They settled near the town of Fairbank, one of several towns to emerge in Sully County after its official opening for settlement in 1883. Norvel, his wife Mary, and their other children soon followed.

The Blairs wanted to share their freedom with other African-Americans. In 1906, Ben Blair and others met in Yankton and created the Northwestern Homestead Movement, designed to relocate blacks from Southern states to farms in South Dakota and around the Upper Midwest. The Blair family even pledged 1,700 acres upon which to build an agricultural college.

The group considered colony locations in four counties but only Sully County’s became successful, thanks to Norvel’s daughter Betty. She worked for a real estate company in Iowa and is credited with selling much of the land.

The Sully County Colored Colony had as many as 200 members, and remained a bustling community for over 50 years. By the 1950s only a handful of people still lived in the area. Today only scattered buildings and the Blairs, resting in their family cemetery, remain as a reminder of the sanctuary Sully County became for men and women seeking freedom.

Lake Oahe is a prime spot for windsurfing.

Onida is the Sully County seat and has a reputation of producing talented athletes. Professional golfers Curt and Tom Byrum grew up there as did Smoky Joe Mendel, who briefly held the title of”Fastest Man in the World.” Mendel was a student at Yankton College in 1931 when he ran the 100-yard dash in 9.5 seconds, which tied the world record. Mendel had been a track and field star at Onida High School. During his senior year he single-handedly won the state title for his team over Sioux Falls Washington.

You can still find speed in Sully County, but you need a surfboard and wetsuit. Several years ago we met Randy and Michelle Brich, who had built an energy-efficient home on a bluff overlooking Okobojo Creek. It provided fantastic views of the Missouri and an easy vantage point to monitor the winds. When they blow from the south-southeast (against the river’s current), conditions are perfect for windsurfing. Brich called the area”ground zero for windsurfing in South Dakota, and perhaps the entire Great Plains.”

The Sully County Courthouse anchors Main Street in Onida.

North of Okobojo is the Little Bend of the Missouri River. The Sully County peninsula that juts into the river is home to the Fort Sully Game Refuge, a state-owned wildlife preserve. It lies near the spot where Lewis and Clark camped on their voyage up the Missouri River on Oct. 1, 1804 and again on Aug. 24, 1806 as they returned.

The bluffs have changed since Lewis and Clark passed through, not just because of the Missouri River dams. Man has molded them in many ways, including a world-class golf course. Sutton Bay in the northwestern corner of the county is a private retreat that offers hunting, fishing and an 18-hole golf course designed by internationally acclaimed architect Graham Marsh. Membership comes by invitation only, so cross your fingers if you hope to one day enjoy its breathtaking views of the Missouri.

Michael Moore paints the landscapes of Sully County.

If it’s not in the cards, you can enjoy the scenery of Sully County through the landscapes of Michael Moore. He splits his time between California and a farm 10 miles west of Agar, which he and his wife purchased in 2001 without ever having been to South Dakota. Moore is also a championship poker player. He won $220,000 and a gold bracelet at the 2013 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Raising rodeo stock has different pressures than playing cards for a small fortune, but the Sutton family has been doing it successfully in Sully County for decades. It began in 1926 when the Ed Sutton family staged a rodeo on their home ranch. Sutton saw the opportunity for profitability and joined a touring rodeo company.

Moore, who lives west of Agar, is also a champion poker player.

In the 1950s, James Sutton partnered with Erv Korkow. Their stock was selected to perform at the first National Finals Rodeo in 1959. Today, through five generations, the Sutton Rodeo Company has produced rodeos at every level: 4-H, high school, college, Indian National Finals, South Dakota Rodeo Association and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

They pride themselves on the high quality of their bucking stock. Given enough time, maybe they’ll learn to ride a surfboard, play Texas Hold’em or swing a five iron. They can do it all in Sully County.

Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.