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Inspired by McCook County

By John Andrews

We drive Highway 81 when we travel from Yankton to my hometown of Lake Norden. Whenever we approach Salem, my 10-year-old daughter scans the skyline for the steeple of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Monsignor Bernard Weber oversaw construction of the pink quartzite church in 1898. I suspect the stately steeple stood out on a prairie vista that included just a few trees and Salem’s early buildings. Perhaps it acted as a source of inspiration for the early settlers of McCook County, whose descendants seem to have carried on the desire to provide hope and help to others.

McCook County was established in 1873 and named for Edwin McCook, the secretary of Dakota Territory. McCook belonged to the famous”Fighting McCooks” family from Ohio whose dedication to the Union was unparalleled. Brothers Daniel and John McCook all served in the war, as did 13 of their sons. McCook saw action in battles at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and in the Vicksburg, Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns and was severely wounded three times.

He was appointed secretary of Dakota Territory in 1872. The following year, a dispute over the Dakota Southern Railroad put him at odds with Yankton banker Peter Wintermute, who shot and killed McCook over the disagreement at a meeting in downtown Yankton in September of 1873.

McCook County covers 577 square miles halfway between Mitchell and Sioux Falls. Interstate 90 bisects it from west to east, and Highway 81 halves it from north to south. Salem, the county seat with the noticeable church steeple, sits just north of that busy intersection. Another source of inspiration is found in Canistota, south of the interstate and east of 81.

Salem is the seat of McCook County. The steeple of St. Mary’s Catholic Church can be seen in the lower left corner.

In the early 1900s, farmer Amon Ortman discovered that his hands possessed a healing touch. When his work was done in the fields, he often encountered friends or neighbors complaining of a sore neck or other such malady. He’d have them sit on a wagon tongue or a bucket and provide relief as only he could. His unique touch turned Canistota into a destination for people around the world who seek treatment. Since Amon and his brother Noah opened the Ortman Clinic, four generations of Ortmans have treated more than 3 million patients. The influx gives the town of 600 a steady boost.

Canistotans can also learn a lesson in entrepreneurship from Tom and Ruth Neuberger. In 1984, they fattened 3,500 geese and then found themselves without a market. They decided to process the birds and hit the road in a refrigerated bus, selling town to town. Their formula became a huge success, and the Goosemobile has crisscrossed the state hundreds of times.

John Alvarez and his wife, Dee Ann, run My Fishing Pond, a therapeutic retreat near Bridgewater.

Across the county in Bridgewater, John Alvarez uses fishing to help brain injury survivors. Alvarez survived a horrific car accident in 1994 near Tucson, Arizona, but was left with a severe brain injury. He had to relearn basic skills and grew frustrated living in a busy urban environment. So he and his wife Dee Ann moved to a small acreage near her hometown of Bridgewater where Alvarez spent quiet days casting for bullheads in nearby Wolf Creek. Realizing the therapeutic value of fishing, Alvarez created My Fishing Pond, a non-profit organization that invites fellow brain injury survivors, children with special needs or the elderly to catch and release fish.

You no doubt remember the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, about an Iowa farmer who upon hearing strange voices in his cornfield builds a baseball diamond. Well, a friend of mine was recently driving through tiny Center, just south of the intersection of 245th Street and 443rd Avenue, and was surprised to find a similarly well-tended baseball field. The Center Ball Diamond became a reality in 1958, when a group of local softball players decided they wanted a ballpark near their rural homes. McCook Electric installed light poles in the middle of what was then a hayfield and the park began taking shape. More softball teams formed and soon there was a rousing league. Between concession stand sales, league dues and services donated, the park eventually became self sufficient — McCook County’s own field of dreams.

Canistota farmer Tom Neuberger started the Goosemobile in 1984.

The tiny hamlet of Center is also the setting for one of my favorite South Dakota baseball stories. The Center Store did solid business during the 1930s, and in the fall during pheasant season it wasn’t unusual to spot a celebrity or two who had come to South Dakota for a hunting excursion. Bob Feller, star pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, hunted every year between Center and Howard with his uncle, who delivered gas and oil to the store.

One day, a middle-aged hunter who nobody recognized walked in. Kenny Knutson, a local farmer on his way home from a baseball game in Salem and still in uniform, happened to be inside.

“I see you’re a ball player,” the visitor said.”I used to play a little ball myself.”

“Yeah, when?” Knutson asked, looking and the old hunter with doubtful eyes.

“It was a few years back. Maybe you’ve heard of me. I’m Ty Cobb.”

“Oh, sure, and I’m Babe Ruth!”

Wayne Porter’s 60-foot-tall longhorn towers over the prairie along Interstate 90 near Montrose. Photo by Stacey Stoddard/S.D. Tourism.

But it was true. Cobb, who had retired in 1928 after 24 seasons with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Athletics and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, didn’t say another word. He just pulled out his hunting license and presented it to the gape-mouthed Kenny.

Wayne Porter is also living his dream in McCook County. He’s the creative force behind the Porter Sculpture Park, and eclectic mix of scrap iron creations that can be seen near the Montrose exit along Interstate 90. You’ll spot dragons, butterflies, vultures and a man’s head with a hand emerging from the top. Maybe the least out-of-place is the 60-foot-tall longhorn.

But perhaps the saddest source of inspiration comes from Spencer, a town that made headlines worldwide in May of 1998 when a monstrous tornado destroyed the town. I had just graduated from high school, but I remember people traveling there to help with the clean up. Six people were killed and several more displaced. The town’s population never rebounded to the pre-tornado estimate of 315, but many residents stayed, refusing to let Mother Nature control their lives. Spencer is now home to about 150 people.

As someone who simply passes through from time to time, I never really thought about all the inspiring people and places to be found in McCook County. But the 5,600 folks who live there see it every day — in a quartzite church steeple, the ball field in the middle of nowhere and that 60-foot longhorn.

Editor’s Note: This is the 33rd installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Pennington Revisited

By John Andrews

Ten years ago, Jerry Wilson, the former managing editor of South Dakota Magazine, wrote an article about the incredible geographic diversity found in Pennington County. Its western edge begins in the heart of the Black Hills. As you travel east, the second largest city in South Dakota — Rapid City — sprawls along the eastern foothills. The landscape gradually gives way to ranch country, the Badlands, the Buffalo Gap National Grassland and the Lakota culture of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which sits directly across Pennington’s southeastern boundary.

We last visited Pennington County several months ago for a family vacation, and you’ll not be surprised to learn that all of those characteristics remain true. The Badlands haven’t disappeared and the Black Hills are still there, though there have been some monumental changes since the county was created in 1875. In its 142 years, Pennington County has become South Dakota’s prime tourist destination, with millions of travelers making plans to visit every year.

Badlands National Park protects over 240,000 acres of rugged landscape that spills into Pennington County.

Tourism likely wasn’t on the minds of territorial legislators when they created Pennington, Lawrence and Custer counties in one fell swoop, but current governor and county namesake John Pennington saw the move as way to help his friends and line his pockets. The governor named several of his closest allies in Yankton to lead offices in the new county rather than fill those positions with people who lived in the area. The slight became worse when the new officials chose to stay in Yankton instead of moving west. Rumors of corruption escalated even further when Pennington selected Sheridan over Rapid City as the new county seat. It was believed that Pennington held real estate near Sheridan, and its value was sure to increase with the town’s elevated status.

Locally elected officials soon replaced Pennington’s appointments, and the county seat was eventually relocated to Rapid City. But the governor remained unpopular in the Black Hills until William Howard succeeded him in 1878. Shady as his dealings may have been, we do hold a soft spot for Pennington since we publish South Dakota Magazine in his home, an 1875 brick Italianate building on the east end of Yankton’s Third Street. It’s the only territorial governor’s home remaining in South Dakota. Readers are welcome to stop by for a tour when they’re in town.

Our trip into Pennington County began on the Badlands Loop Road, a 31-mile detour off Interstate 90 that provides several scenic overviews of a landscape millions of years in the making. The kids enjoyed venturing out onto short trails, taking note of the”Watch for Rattlesnake” signs. Every now and then they would head off-trail, skipping over narrow chasms and climbing precarious points.

Mount Rushmore draws nearly 3 million visitors every year.

The Badlands Loop Road met Interstate 90 again at Wall, which meant a stop at Wall Drug. We spent a couple of hours perusing the many shops. I don’t think the kids believed that it all began with signs for free ice water, enticing motorists to stop at the town’s tiny drug store. I was impressed by the huge collection of original Western paintings that hang throughout the complex.

Our first morning in Rapid City began with coffee at the historic Fairmont Creamery building. Constructed in 1929, the space has undergone extensive renovations and now hosts several businesses, including Pure Bean.

Fully caffeinated, we made our way to Mount Rushmore, the grand jewel of tourism for Pennington County. Roughly 3 million people visit the national memorial every year. I’ve written a few stories covering different angles of Mount Rushmore, but it was nice to simply view the granite heads from the observation deck and to stroll along the Presidential Trail through the pines and see the sculpture from new perspectives.

Ellie Andrews served time in Presidential Pawn’s fictitious jail.

Back in Rapid City for the afternoon, we explored the lively downtown district, anchored by the new Main Street Square. Children laughed and splashed in the fountain while families lounged in the green space. We strolled the vibrant and ever-changing Art Alley, where business-owners gladly allow the drab back halves of their buildings to become colorful street paintings. We saw the world’s smallest taxidermied dog inside Presidential Pawn and enjoyed a meal at the Firehouse, Rapid City’s original fire station converted into a restaurant and brewpub.

For part of our trip, we stayed at Newton Fork Ranch, a former working ranch that has been converted in a series of cabins set about a mile outside of Hill City. From here, we had easy access to Prairie Berry Winery, the Miner Brewing Company and the 1880 Train, which travels round trip from Hill City to Keystone along the old Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line.

We took advantage of other popular stops in Pennington County. We traveled through Bear Country and saw mountain lions, timber wolves in captivity, and bears as they sauntered past our car. There were doubts about whether or not some in our party would be able to successfully navigate the crooked cabins of the Cosmos Mystery Area, but once the surroundings stopped spinning and the nausea became tolerable, everyone completed the tour. The Cosmos is a very weird place where tennis balls appear to roll uphill, and uneven ground proves to be completely level. Two college students discovered the peculiar place in 1952 as they searched for land on which to build a summer cabin. They immediately noticed the unusual forces and created demonstrations that have confused visitors ever since. But it really isn’t for everyone. Several people on our tour seriously struggled with balance and a few even mentioned headaches.

Joe Andrews enjoys a leisurely ride on the 1880 Train.

That sounds like a busy trip, but we truly only scratched the surface of things to do in Pennington County. We missed the amazing museum at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and Reptile Gardens just south of Rapid City. We could have spent a day at Pactola or Deerfield lakes or made the pilgrimage to the top of Black Elk Peak, the highest point in South Dakota and the tallest peak in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. When we were there, the promontory was still known as Harney Peak, in honor of Gen. William Harney, a 19th century military commander stationed in the area. But in August 2016, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names changed the moniker to Black Elk Peak for the legendary Lakota holy man whose vision quest atop the mountain was immortalized in John Neihardt’s classic book Black Elk Speaks.

Missing out on all of those other activities simply means another trip is in order, perhaps in the summer of 2017. And I bet the ponderosa pines, the rugged Badlands, doughnuts and coffee at Wall Drug and the four granite faces of Mount Rushmore will still be there, waiting for us.

Editor’s Note: This is the 32nd installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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A Tasty Resolution

By Katie Hunhoff

Only 8 percent of those who make January resolutions keep them, according to a study by the University of Scranton. Apparently most people make their resolutions too complicated or difficult, ending in failure. We’ve prepared the following bucket list of our favorite menu items from across the state and propose you adopt visiting them as your new resolution for 2017. Our writers travel thousands of miles exploring South Dakota, and we’ve found some favorite treats. We could have listed hundreds instead of the 26 below, but finding your own may be part of the fun — and part of your resolution.

  1. POTATOES BRUL…, a favorite of regulars at Vermillion’s Cafe BrulÈ, features diced and broiled potatoes in a creamy cheese sauce.
  1. A TASTEE with fries and a black raspberry malt at Tastee Treet, a fast-food dinosaur still going strong in downtown Yankton. What’s a Tastee? A tavern, of course — or a loose meat sandwich, a sloppy joe or a Maid-Rite.
  1. ROAST DUCK at Czeckers in Yankton, with all the Eastern European trimmings — dumplings, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and a kolache for dessert. Duck is featured Friday nights and roast beef on Saturdays.
  1. BEAN SOUP at Fanny Horner’s in Mitchell. Jon and Janice Airhart were given the recipe by a customer called Slim in the 1980s. Fanny’s is also famous for sour cream pie.
  1. CHILI FRIES (or enjoy cook Dorothy Berg’s famous chili a la carte) at Joe’s Cafe in Alexandria. Dorothy has been at the grill for 24 years.
  1. CHISLIC at Meridian Corner, at the junction of Highways 18 and 81 south of Freeman. It’s where the cubed and seasoned meat-on-a-stick tradition first arrived from Russia.
  1. TABOULI at Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet in Sioux Falls. Tabouli is a Mediterranean salad made of parsley and bulgur wheat — healthy, tasty and fresh.
  1. SAMBUSA at Lalibela, an Ethiopian restaurant in Sioux Falls. The triangular pastry is stuffed with beef, chicken or lentils along with sautÈed onions, peppers and spices. (Also try the vegetarian sampler!)
  1. A BURGER from Nick’s Hamburger Shop in Brookings. They’ve been deep fried and sold by the bag since 1929.
  1. IRISH BOXTY (a potato pancake with steak or chicken) at Dempsey’s brewpub in Watertown. Wiener schnitzel and spaetzle are also popular.
  1. BROASTED CHICKEN at the Palm Garden Cafe in Aberdeen. The recipe dates back to 1932 when the cafe was founded. Though closed for decades, the popular eatery on Highway 12 reopened a few years ago.
  1. REUBEN SANDWICH (sauerkraut & corned beef on rye) at the Dakota Cafe in Hosmer. On Thursdays, enjoy it with knoephla soup — a specialty of the cook, JoAnne Gisi, who grew up with German cuisine.
  1. GERMAN FRY SAUSAGE and cheese buttons, served Thursdays at Dakota Jo’s in Tolstoy. The sausage comes from Kauk’s Meat Market in Eureka. Try the rhubarb desserts in season.
  1. ROAST BEEF with real mashed potatoes at D&D Delights in Java — or enjoy the German sausage with sauerkraut and real mashed potatoes.
  1. PRAIRIE DOG MOUND, a concoction of fried potatoes, onions, bacon and cheese topped with eggs at the Prairie Dog Cafe in McLaughlin.
  1. STEAK TIPS at Sparky’s in Isabel, where the chef serves more than seven tons of beef a year in a town of 300. Ryan Maher and his crew cut their own meat, marinate the marshmallow-size tips overnight and serve them with a salad bar, potato and Texas toast.
  1. MOUSSAKA at the Bay Leaf Cafe in Spearfish. Bay Leaf, a resurrected 19th century wood hotel, is one of the state’s most interesting eateries. Moussaka is a lasagna-like dish of lamb with eggplant rather than noodles. The lamb is grass fed in nearby Wyoming.
  1. BUFFALO RAVIOLI at the Deadwood Social Club. Pasta stuffed with buffalo sausage and topped with three cheeses and a homemade red sauce. The Deadwood Social Club occupies the second floor of the historic Saloon No. 10, where locals re-enact the killing of Wild Bill Hickok every afternoon.
  1. PHO at the Saigon restaurant in Rapid City. Pho is a noodle soup with beef, chicken or the authentic Vietnamese version of beef meatballs.
  1. TAMALES wrapped in cornhusks at the unpretentious little brown shack on E. North Street in Rapid City called Sabor a Mexico.
  1. WALNUT PIE at Desperados on Hill City’s main street.
  1. BREAKFAST BURRITO at Baker’s in Custer. Eggs, sausage, hash browns, salsa and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with homemade green chile sauce.
  2. CHOCOLATE DOUGHNUTS at Wall Drug. Or should we use the singular”doughnut” because one is plenty, especially if you just finished the buffalo burger.
  1. HOT ROAST BEEF at any of South Dakota’s livestock auction barns, because you dare not serve average beef to ranchers. Fort Pierre, Burke and Sisseton are a few favorites.
  1. STRAWBERRY PIE, the standard at Al’s Oasis in Oacoma for decades, is still available in season but Chef Donnie Dominiack now bakes a lemon cream cheese pie that regular diners can’t resist.
  1. THE BIG MIKE at Manolis, a quaint grocery store, tavern and sandwich shop in Huron. The Big Mike is a toasted bagel with ham, pepperjack and cream cheese.

What did we miss? Share your South Dakota menu favorites with fellow readers at our online restaurant bucket list.

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Keeping Tabs on Jerauld County

By John Andrews

The Wessington Springs True Dakotan is one of a handful of South Dakota weekly newspapers that comes to our Yankton office, so I feel like I stay up to speed with happenings in Jerauld County more so than many other places in the state. For example, I recently read that the Carnegie Library director in Springs (you don’t need to say”Wessington” if you’re a local) is retiring. She is only the fourth director in the library’s nearly 100-year history. It was built in 1918, the last Carnegie Library constructed in South Dakota, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its unique prairie-style architecture (most other Carnegies were built in the beaux arts style).

Speaking of libraries, a new Little Free Library opened this past fall in the city park in Alpena. There was a nice photo of the town’s children gathered around the book receptacle. Another issue from about that same time told of Alpena gardeners Wayne and Vicki Mees, who were surprised one day to find that one of their pumpkin plants had sent a runner up the trunk of an evergreen tree. Before they knew it, a bright orange pumpkin was growing about 6 feet off the ground.

The Anne Hathaway Cottage in Wessington Springs is modeled after the English home of William Shakespeare’s wife.

And last summer the Jerauld County Heritage Museum hosted a fashion show in which students modeled clothing that their ancestors and other town pioneers had donated. I thought it was a fun way to raise money for the museum and the historic 1905 Opera House.

You get the idea. Sometimes I feel like the character in the old Andy Griffith Show who subscribes to the Mayberry newspaper and comes to feel like he knows everyone in town. I’m not to the point of wanting to move there, but it gives me some sense of familiarity when passing through and exploring other parts of the county.

Jerauld County was officially organized in 1883 and named for H.A. Jerauld, a lawmaker from Canton who played an important role in moving the territorial capital from Yankton to Bismarck. Jerauld served on the 12-member territorial council that decided the fate of the capital removal bill. The vote was deadlocked at 6-6 with Jerauld firmly opposed until suddenly he switched his vote. No doubt the Bismarck contingent exerted enough pressure (and enough money probably changed hands) to alter Jerauld’s perspective.

The Old Grade Nature Trail features trees as many as 300 years old.

The county boasts three towns, but it nearly became two several years ago. A dispute over property taxes in Lane, a town of about 50 people along Highway 34, led to a vote on whether or not to dissolve. Residents decided overwhelmingly to retain their status as a town. I also seem to recall Lane being the destination for a teenage excursion, sort of like the Zap to Zip in North Dakota, or the Whip to White northeast of Brookings. If anyone remembers, feel free to start a conversation in the comments.

The town of Alpena is slightly larger (population 286) and is probably best known for its Jack Link’s beef jerky plant. The company is based in Wisconsin, but its Alpena production facility is its largest and employs close to 900 people. Alpena is largely a farming town with a fairly new restaurant and, of course, a new little library.

Jerauld County’s largest town is Wessington Springs (pop. 956). It was platted in 1881, and because of its location at the foot of the Wessington Hills — a crescent-shaped geological formation that curves through the county — it grew to become the region’s dominant municipality.

The area’s first settler was Levi Hain, who built a cabin near a site called Big Springs in 1876, but there was traffic nearly 20 years earlier. The spot was a stopping point on the Nobles Trail, considered the first road through present-day South Dakota. Built in the late 1850s, the Nobles Trail was named for Col. W.H. Nobles and was meant to be the main overland trail from St. Paul, Minnesota to the southern pass of the Rocky Mountains, but it never materialized as its developers had hoped.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote a letter to local school children in 1951. It is housed in the Jerauld County Heritage Museum.

Among the treasures found in Wessington Springs today are the Anne Hathaway Cottage and Shakespeare Garden. The touch of England is courtesy of Clark and Emma Shay, longtime professors at the Wessington Springs Seminary. Emma toured England in 1926, and the next year she and her husband built the garden near the school’s administration building. When they retired in 1932, they built the Anne Hathaway Cottage, modeled after the original home of Shakespeare’s wife in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The garden was a popular attraction until the college closed in the 1960s. The school was demolished in 1970 to make way for a housing project, but the garden and cottage remained. Locals organized the Shakespeare Garden Society in 1989 to buy and restore them.

Other historic buildings include the 1905 Opera House and Gov. Robert Vessey’s home on College Avenue. Vessey’s claim to fame came in 1909, when a woman in Philadelphia wrote to every state governor lobbying for day in which honor mothers. On April 9, 1909, Vessey became the first governor to establish a special Mother’s Day. President Woodrow Wilson made it a national observance in 1913.

The town also has a unique nature trail accentuated by trees that are several hundred years old. There are actually three trails that begin near downtown, but the one that ascends into the hills west of town is called the Old Grade Nature Trail. Lowell Stanley, a retired science teacher, helped establish the trail with Terry Heilman, a soil conservationist, in 1990. An oak tree along the route was core tested and dated to 1717. There are cottonwoods planted by the town’s earliest settlers and an old stone bridge built in 1895 by a mason who used no mortar in its construction.

History buffs may want to stop at the Jerauld County Heritage Museum to see a handwritten note from famed children’s author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Dated Feb. 26, 1951, the letter is a response to note she received from students at the Sefrna rural school near Crow Lake. Wilder discussed her family, her books and her desire to write again.

I’ll have to head that way again when the weather warms. I haven’t played golf at the Wessington Springs course in several years, and I’ve been hearing good things about the pork wings at the Red Hog Bar and Grill in Alpena. I’m fairly certain that pigs cannot fly, but if they do in Jerauld County I’m sure the True Dakotan will be on the spot.

Editor’s Note: This is the 31st installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Built on Fur

By John Andrews

Phil Steckley and the Newhouse No. 6.

I remember clearly walking into a shed on Phil Steckley’s farm south of Geddes. We had traveled into Charles Mix County to do a story on the rich fur trading culture that had grown there over the last two centuries, and to find people still living it out.

Steckley had traps of all shapes and sizes hanging on the walls. The largest was a Newhouse No. 6 that he said he’d used to trap a bear during an excursion north into Canada and Alaska. When I asked what they’d done with it, Steckley looked as though I’d asked if the sky was blue.”Well,” he said, somewhat incredulously,”we ate him!”

The fur trade in Charles Mix County dates back more than 220 years. Jean Baptiste Trudeau became the first European to establish a permanent residence there in 1794 when he built a trading post called the Pawnee House along the Missouri River southwest of Wagner. The French Canadian had been the first schoolteacher in St. Louis when the Missouri Company chose him to lead an expedition up the Missouri River, make contact with Indian tribes and create an agency.

Lewis and Clark mentioned Pawnee House in their journals when they passed by during their 1804 expedition up the river. Fire destroyed the structure in 1817, but by then the fur culture was firmly entrenched in the area.

Some remnants of the fur trading hey day can still be found. The town of Geddes celebrates Fur Traders’ Days every summer, and guests can tour a trading post that Cuthbert Ducharme built in 1857. Ducharme, also known as Old Papineau, came from a fur trading family in Quebec. He worked for the American Fur Company and gained a reputation as a man who was prone to violence. It was said that a small cemetery outside the post was reserved for all the men Ducharme had killed.

Ilo Vanderboom sweeping the streets of Platte.

Old Paps’ roadhouse stands in the Geddes Historical Village, alongside an old WNAX gas station, a replica Lewis and Clark keelboat and the childhood home of former governor and senator Peter Norbeck. The legend of Papineau’s gold survives, as well. Ducharme apparently grew rich and gave his wife $50,000 in gold in case anything happened to him. She buried the money, but when she died in 1900 the location became a mystery. The legend says Ducharme drove himself insane trying to find the money. He suffered a breakdown and died at the state hospital in Yankton in 1903. Did the endless search for lost treasure lead to his demise, or what is simply the result of a hard life on the frontier?

Papineau’s trading post also served as the first post office in the new county of Charles Mix. Organization began in earnest in 1858 when Theophile Brughier, Charles Picotte and John B.S. Todd — a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln who was stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Randall, just across the Missouri River — grew the idea of opening the land to settlers. The region was already home to the Yankton Sioux Tribe, so the speculators took a delegation from Yankton to Washington, D.C., hoping to finalize a treaty. They met Charles Mix, a clerk in the Interior Department who had connections within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and in the administration. In return for his help navigating the treaty through Congress, the new county was named in Mix’s honor upon its creation in 1862.

Charles Mix is still home to the Yankton Sioux Reservation, which encompasses 262,000 acres in the southern half of the county. A monument north of Greenwood commemorates the Treaty of 1858, and the famed Yankton chief Struck by the Ree, who died at Greenwood in 1888, is buried just north of that marker. The town of Marty is home to Ihanktonwan Community College and the architecturally impressive St. Paul’s Church. Students built pews and railings for the grand, limestone chapel, completed in 1942. The church’s spire rises 167 feet, while traditional Indian colors and themes are woven throughout the stained glass windows, murals and ceiling artwork.

The gravesite of Struck by the Ree. Photo by Chad Coppess/S.D. Tourism.

Wagner, at just over 1,500 people, is the largest town in Charles Mix County. It’s especially known for its Labor Day celebration, a four-day gathering of fun, games, music and a grand parade down Highway 46. Lake Andes is the county seat, and the 5,600-acre national wildlife refuge east of town is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

Platte, in northern Charles Mix, is home to another 1,300 people. We visited during the summer of 2004 and one of the first faces we saw was Ilo Vanderboom’s. He created the popular Boom’s restaurants found in southeastern South Dakota, but they day we showed up in Platte he was piloting a street sweeper, intent on keeping his town clean. We found busy bakery, a movie theater and a baseball field where the Platte Killer Tomatoes (maybe the best nickname in all of South Dakota Amateur Baseball?) play their summertime games.

The fur trade isn’t as important to Charles Mix County as it once was, but perhaps an even bigger change came with the construction of Fort Randall Dam, one of six mainstem dams built along the Missouri River in the 1950s and 1960s. The town of Pickstown was created solely for the workers who toiled on the project from 1946 to 1956. When the dam was finally closed, it forever altered the Missouri River Valley. Historic towns like Wheeler were flooded, and the once wild river became a reservoir known as Lake Francis Case. That’s a good reminder to anyone planning to seek out Old Paps’ lost fur trading treasure to bring swimming trunks.

Editor’s Note: This is the 30th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Getting to Know Deuel

By John Andrews

Back in my newspapering days, a colleague and I used to rib each other about our home counties. I grew up in Hamlin and he was from Deuel. The phrase”God’s country” got thrown around a lot, and we both enjoyed bragging up our hometowns and sports teams. We don’t see each other as often these days, but when we do the subject still comes up — and we’re still equally as proud of our counties as we were then.

Now I concede nothing, but after nearly a decade of working at South Dakota Magazine, I’ve learned a lot more about Deuel County. And I have to give him credit. His home county has some pretty interesting stories.

One of his favorite summer pastimes is to camp out at the Crystal Springs rodeo, held every June northeast of Clear Lake. I’d always known about Crystal Springs, but I had no idea until I came to the magazine that one of the most popular rodeos in the Upper Midwest began as a farmer’s dream.

It goes all the way back to 1936, when E.W. Weisel bought the Crystal Springs Ranch in 1936. His property included a hill that formed a circular valley where he used to imagine what it might be like to hold a rodeo there. “I dreamed it,” he told us a few decades ago.”I dreamed it was all there, with horses and cattle and the people all laughing and having a good time.”

Hundreds of people showed up the first year, so he tore down the corn cribbing and put up a permanent corral. A Clear Lake banker gave him a loan and he put on a bigger show in 1946, and he installed lights the following year.

But he never built bleacher seats, and for good reason. The surrounding hillside makes a natural outdoor amphitheater. Weisel advertised it as “America’s Most Natural Rodeo Bowl.”

The Crystal Springs Rodeo is held in America’s most natural rodeo bowl northeast of Clear Lake. Photo by Christian Begeman

Today the Crystal Springs Rodeo spans three days with rodeo performances every night. The whole city of Clear Lake gets involved, staging a parade, car show, trail ride and pancake feed.

Another dream has come true in Gary, a small town that straddles the South Dakota-Minnesota line in southern Deuel County. After Gary lost county seat status to Clear Lake in 1895, Doane Robinson, publisher of the Gary Interstate and future state historian, began advocating for the state to build the South Dakota School for the Blind on property just north of the town’s business district. Ground was broken in 1899 and students were on campus in 1900.

The School for the Blind operated until 1961, when it was moved to Aberdeen. After 1980, the campus’ buildings were mostly abandoned. But then in 2009, wind energy entrepreneur Joe Kolbach transformed the campus into the Buffalo Ridge Resort and Business Center.

The buildings of the old School for the Blind in Gary have been transformed into a resort and business center.

Satisfied guests like the quiet setting, an atmosphere that feels like a bed and breakfast, a large patio set up for barbeques and 50 pretty acres. Kolbach resuscitated Lake Elsie, which is a damming of Lac Qui Parle Creek. Guests can feel the history in the stately buildings, especially in the web of tunnels that visually impaired students once walked daily between buildings.

On a given day, the campus could see vacationers checked into some of the resort’s 19 guest rooms, along with students training across the yard (or through the tunnels) at the administration/classroom building. Meanwhile a meeting could be underway in the former school auditorium, now called the ballroom, and an outdoor wedding could be happening alongside Lake Elsie.

Guests interested in history can hike a mile west of town to place locals call Indian Lookout. A giant compass made of rocks sits on a grassy hillside. Dakota elder Elden Lawrence believed the rocks were placed there in the 1860s to guide Indians traveling from the Sisseton area to Pipestone, where they quarried native stone to make sacred pipes.

Lake Elsie, formed by damming Lac Qui Parle Creek, was restored along with the School for the Blind campus.

Deuel County is home to other legends as well, such as the blue flags that grow each spring in a region called the Hidewood. Floyd Haug discovered the flowers when he rented the land, and later discovered that they mark the graves of two pioneers.

A Norwegian settler named Per Gustav Erikson and his wife, Ida Mary originally homesteaded the land. In the early 1880s they had a baby daughter. But during the winter of 1885-86, a diphtheria outbreak struck the territory and both Ida Mary and the daughter died. Because the snow was so deep and the ground frozen, their bodies were placed in two wooden boxes built by a neighbor.

The grieving young settler kept the rough-hewn coffins in a shed until spring, when he dug two graves just to the south of his house and buried them above the Hidewood Valley. He probably had no money for a permanent marker, and instead planted blue flag flowers. That same year, he sold his claim for $300 to Peter Dahl and left Dakota Territory.

Now, almost 130 years later, the flowers still mark the simple graves. Prairie grasses have infiltrated the flowers, but the blue flags still grow thick and in the obvious rectangular shape of a grave.

Other stories aren’t as sad. Several years ago, Lowell Anderson wrote an article for us about Herman Raschke, a man he called the Goodwin Giant.

Born in 1896, Raschke lived with his brother and a sister in a clapboard house overlooking Round Lake in northern Deuel County.”I was always told that Herman stood 6 feet, 10 inches tall, and weighed 425 pounds,” he wrote.”My father claimed he weighed himself on the grain elevator’s truck scale.

One of Anderson’s favorite stories about the giant involved a traveling salesman who was driving along the Grant-Deuel county line one spring, not far from the Raschke house. His car became stuck in the soft road, and he walked to the Raschke house for help. When he knocked on the door and saw Raschke, a good 14 or 15 inches taller than he was, the salesman was taken aback.

A natural spring near Astoria has been gushing fresh water for decades.

“I’m stuck out on the road. I need help,” he said.”Would you possibly have a team of horses to pull me out?”

“Let’s go take a look,” said Herman.

“You don’t need to look. I’m stuck. For sure. The wheels don’t even touch the ground!”

“Let’s go check it out.”

The salesman didn’t argue. He followed as Herman walked directly across a plowed field, through an accumulation of spring mud, towards the road and the car.

“See, I’m really stuck,” said the salesman.

“Oh, it doesn’t look so bad,” said Herman.

And then, Raschke put his hands under the front bumper, lifted the front end of the car out of the ruts, and gently lowered it onto solid ground. He did the same to the rear of the car. The salesman was speechless.

I’ve also learned about unique traditions, including stopping your car along Highway 28 to fill jugs with water gushing from Jorstad Spring, 2 miles northwest of Astoria. Decades ago, someone stuck a pipe into the creek, and ever since — even through the dry years of the Depression — pure water gushed out from a shallow aquifer.

Another tradition is only recently discovered is the annual oyster stew feed at the Bemis Holland Presbyterian Church. The feed is featured in our September/October 2016 issue, and is coming up this Saturday, October 15. It’s been a harvest tradition for nearly 130 years, and even though numbers at the rural church continue to dwindle, oyster stew night is one of the busiest of the year.

Despite our history of good-natured banter, I’ve always enjoyed my trips to Deuel County (even though I still haven’t completely figured out that outrageously downhill par 3 at the Clear Lake Golf Course). Maybe”God’s country” knows no county lines.

Editor’s Note: This is the 29th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Coming Home

By Paul Higbee

The verdict is still out. Some friends say I’ve found mature contentment and others claim I’m turning into a stay-at-home curmudgeon.

At issue is the fact that I’ve often traveled out of state in the last year. Sometimes I’ve flown and sometimes I’ve driven but either way, friends say, I’m more inclined to talk about how good it is to return home rather than describe the marvels found in Texas, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio and elsewhere.

This trend began when I spent time in Minneapolis and couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to buy cheap Timberwolves tickets. Then five minutes after crossing into South Dakota via I-90 I heard a radio commercial about a high school boys basketball triple-header at the Corn Palace, and I made a beeline for Mitchell. Of course, what’s a Corn Palace triple-header without a pregame steak at Chef Louie? What an evening: Chef Louie, three games in one of the nation’s unique and most comfortable basketball venues, and good visits with folk from Mitchell, Howard and Stickney. I wouldn’t trade the evening for any NBA ticket.

Anyway, back home in Spearfish, I maybe talked a little too enthusiastically about my big night in Mitchell, maybe even called the Chef Louie and Corn Palace combo the ultimate South Dakota winter experience, and some relatives and friends said I was no longer the jump-on-a-jet-and-see-the-country guy they once knew.

Some other things I’ve found thoroughly enthralling upon returning home (home being anywhere within South Dakota’s borders):

Interstate 90 and Interstate 29

Like most South Dakotans I’ve bashed these highways over the years, saying they’re boring compared to two-lane roads that conform to the prairie’s roll and pitch. But, unlike some eastern turnpikes, they’re toll-free, well marked, and food and fuel services are immediately adjacent. Speaking of fuel …

Mighty Few Pre-Pay Gas Pumps

In some parts of the country, wanting to pay for anything in cash makes you somewhat suspect. So you’re expected to pay for your gas before pumping it. A gasoline purchase is a business transaction. Leave it to South Dakota, a state that still prides itself in conducting business on a handshake, to believe a customer should be trusted to fuel up and then walk 50 feet in full view to the cashier.

Sioux Falls’ Small Town Charm

I know Sioux Falls sometimes promotes itself as urban, and maybe that’s smart, but thank goodness it isn’t a true big city. Re-entering the state from south or east, up I-29 or along I-90, I sometimes stop for coffee or lunch at one of Phillips Avenue’s sidewalk cafes. Pulling off the I-229 bypass I can be in the heart of downtown in 10 minutes, placing my order instead of navigating through rings of suburbs. And the inclusive sidewalk conversations and eye contact are anything but big city — especially noticeable if you’ve spent the previous days in ¸ber-urban America.

America’s Best Highway Rest Stop

It’s located at Chamberlain and offers a sweeping view of the Missouri River/Lake Francis Case. Plus there’s a Lewis and Clark museum display, wide lawns, trails, picnic shelters and spotless restrooms. This rest stop so out-distances others that I can’t even think where the nation’s number two or number three stops might be.

Scenic Overlook At I-90 Mile Marker 138

It’s an OK view of the wide prairie, especially at sunset. But if you’re a West River resident returning from the east, the scenery isn’t what impresses you here. Rather, this is where the air starts smelling right again: clear, dry, spiced by grama grass.

Wall Drug Donuts

A few years ago, when the rest of America was going bonkers over Krispy Kreme doughnuts and deciding they were the world’s best, South Dakotans knew better.

Crow Peak View

At Elkhorn Ridge, near I-90 exit 17, westbound traffic makes a wide turn and the whole north range of the Black Hills comes into view. A minute later, mighty Crow Peak dominates the horizon. It stands right on the state’s western edge and I’ve always thought of it as a mammoth bookend, keeping our stories and personalities and traditions from toppling into Wyoming. For me Crow Peak also marks the end of my journeys; we live so close to its base that I can’t see it unless I back away half a mile or so. But I always know it’s there; I always sense its presence. Maybe it’s what keeps me in South Dakota instead of toppling away into the far West.

Editor’s Note: This column is revised from the September/October 2011 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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History Lives in Union County

By John Andrews

A granite block marks the spot of old Fort Brule in Union County.

It’s hard not to bump into history when you visit Union County in the far southeastern tip of South Dakota. It’s among the oldest counties in the state, one of 10 created by the first territorial legislature in 1862. It was originally called Cole County after Austin Cole, a member of that legislature, but strong Union Army sentiment during the Civil War led to the name change two years later when its boundaries were redrawn.

The military played a role in the early years of Union County. The Sioux City to Fort Randall Military Trail was put into use in 1859, and crossed into present-day South Dakota at Jefferson near a railroad bridge that spans the Big Sioux River, which serves as Union County’s eastern border. Though the trail itself has all but vanished, important stops can still be found between Jefferson and Elk Point along Highway 1B. Twelve Mile House, so named because it lies that distance from Sioux City, was a post office and stage stop as far back as 1861. The structure still stands, though it is unoccupied and deteriorating. Just 2 miles away is Fourteen Mile House, a log house built in 1861 by Frenchman Frances Reandeau whose name was carved on one of the logs. Originally a post office and hotel, it has been modernized and resided, and serves as a private residence today.

History seekers can head 5 miles north of Elk Point on Highway 11 to the junction with Highway 50, another important site in Union County and South Dakota history. St. Paul Lutheran Church, built in 1863 and the first Lutheran church in the Dakotas, stands 1 mile west. Less than a mile to the east is the site of old Fort Brule, built in 1862 following the Dakota Uprising in Minnesota. Finally, just a half-mile north is a memorial to Norwegian novelist Ole Rolvaag, the author of Giants in the Earth who worked as a farmhand in Union County after his emigration in 1896.

The 14-mile house is one of several points of interest along the old Sioux City to Fort Randall military trail.

There are also historic places in Elk Point, such as Edgar’s Soda Fountain inside Pioneer Drug. Kevin and Barb Wurtz have been serving ice cream sodas, sundaes, phosphates and other old fashioned treats there for 25 years. The soda fountain made its debut in Centerville in 1906, where it served up ice cream at the local drugstore for nearly 50 years. When pharmacist Edgar Schmiedt, Barb’s grandfather, retired in the 1960s, he put the old fountain in storage. He gave it to Barb and Kevin, and in appreciation they named their Elk Point store in his honor.

Farther south at Jefferson, you’ll find tangible historic reminders of the strong faith that Dakota homesteaders possessed. Grasshopper swarms destroyed thousands of acres of crops in the 1870s and not only ruined farmers but also entire towns. Father Pierre Boucher was determined that town of Jefferson would not meet the same fate. He announced during Mass one Sunday in the spring of 1876 that he intended to lead a spiritual retreat to rid the territory of grasshoppers. The next morning, Protestants and Catholics alike met 2 miles south of Jefferson. Bearing a cross, Boucher led the group on an 11-mile pilgrimage. They placed crosses at four points, plus another in the cemetery at Jefferson. Not long after, dead grasshoppers were found near the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers.

Edgar’s Soda Fountain serves ice cream and other cold treats.

The old wooden cross in town stood until decay finally claimed it. A replacement was built in 1967, and can still be seen outside St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Other crosses are found 4 miles northwest of Jefferson on County Road 1B near the Southeast Farmers Coop Elevator and another is near the corner of 330th Street and 480th Avenue west of Jefferson.

The Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve in the very southern part of the county mixes history with outdoor adventure. Stephen Adams homesteaded on the property in 1872. His granddaughters, Mary and Maud Adams, donated the 1,500 acres to the state in 1984, wanting to create a peaceful place where visitors could recharge. In addition to its restored homestead buildings, the acreage includes 10 miles of trails that wind through prairie, stately stands of old cottonwoods and along the Missouri River valley.

The tiny hamlet of Nora was never a big town, but its historic general store draws hundreds of people during the holidays. Mike Pedersen set up an old pipe organ in the store in 1989, and hosted a party for the neighbors. People have come ever since for his holiday sing-alongs held the three weekends after Thanksgiving.

The original grasshopper crosses were erected in 1874 in a faithful attempt to ward off the insects. Replicas stand in Union County today.

The Nora store officially closed in 1962. Pedersen lived in the back room from 1973 to 1985 while seed corn was stored up front. He now lives in the storekeeper’s house next door. On sing-along weekends, Pedersen plays the organ and leads carols at the top of his lungs. Neighbor women bring cookies, and Pedersen makes coffee and cider. Guests select the tunes, Pedersen plays them, and when his fingers get tired he makes room for somebody else.

The town of Alcester also has a musical connection to South Dakota history. DeeCort Hammitt was a teller at the Alcester State Bank in the 1920s, but his real love was music. He led the Alcester Town Band, which entertained President Calvin Coolidge during his summer vacation at Custer State Park in 1927. They went to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 and 1934 as the official agricultural band. He wrote and published many songs, including “To a Prairie Lullaby” for Lawrence Welk, who often played at The Ritz, a dance hall near Beresford, in the 1940s. But Hammitt is best remembered for composing South Dakota’s official state song, “Hail South Dakota,” in 1943.

Thousands of cars zoom through Union County every day on Interstate 29. But it’s worth it to get off the interstate and spend a day driving the rural roads, because Union County packs a lot of history into 467 square miles.

Editor’s Note: This is the 28th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Explorers On Two Wheels

By Katie Hunhoff

Traveling is one of life’s great joys, so we love it when our stories inspire readers to hit the road. Jan and Carl Brush took that idea to the extreme when they used South Dakota Magazine to plan a 360-mile biking trip. The couple has biked in all 50 states, but they like South Dakota best. Our small towns, friendly people, beautiful wildlife and peaceful roads make for a perfect two-wheel experience … or maybe I should say three-wheel. The Brushes use a tandem recumbent trike that is 10 feet long.

They left from Yankton on July 24, and Jan wrote some notes from the first day that shows why they love biking here.”We rode 51 miles total. We saw lots of wildlife. Everyone waved and a herd of horses greeted us west of Freeman at the Jonas farm and ran alongside us for 100 yards inside their pen.”

Wildlife and animals were a fun part of the Brushes’ adventures. During the eight-day trip they were trailed by a young Billy goat and saw a white pelican and a wood stork near Willow Lake. They also met the most famous pet in Canova — Bill Perrine’s rescue dog, Daisy.”The local joke is, if you want to find Bill, find Daisy,” Jan told us. After talking with Bill, the Brushes found something they had in common — Bill loves biking, too, but the motorized kind. He and his wife have motorcycled in every state, in all the Canadian provinces, throughout Mexico and much of Western Europe.

Bill was just one of many interesting people the Brushes met when they stopped in several small towns. They met Tammy Zulk in Canova, the creator of a memorial garden.”She started the garden in 2007 as a memorial to her late son, Tyler, who died in a motorcycle accident,” Jan said.”Engraved memorial stepping stones are available by contacting Tammy. She etches them herself. The beautiful garden is certainly the pride of the community.”

The Brushes visited with Amish families in Canistota who were there visiting the Ortman Clinic. They also made new friends in Bridgewater whom they had read about in our magazine. Jack Vondra, age 91, runs a jewelry store and shared local history.

When the Brushes returned to Bridgewater on their way home, they stopped again to say hello to Jack and his wife, Lois.”Jack moved here in 1947 to start a job repairing watches,” they wrote.”He was paid $25 a week and a place to live. In 1951 he and Lois were married and they bought the jewelry store on a handshake agreement. At age 91 he still can be found at the store most days.”

The Brushes met many more interesting people and enjoyed some great food, too — more than I can fit into this column. But check their travelogue to see more. We guarantee you’ll find travel tips that aren’t likely to be found anywhere else in the world.

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Taking a Bite Out of McPherson County

By John Andrews

McPherson County may be the tastiest county I’ve visited in my time at South Dakota Magazine.

The editor sent me there several years ago to write a story about the region’s German heritage and culinary traditions. Not realizing my fondness for German food and my stomach capacity, he probably had second thoughts upon seeing the reimbursement receipts. Nevertheless, it was a fascinating couple of days learning about how these South Dakotans have preserved their culture through food.

Several Civil War veterans initially settled the county, which seems fitting for a place named after Civil War general James McPherson, who was killed in 1864 at the Battle of Atlanta. Captain Samuel Prescott Howell was among the first, coming in the fall of 1882 and later becoming a county commissioner. Veteran Bela Dexter staked a claim near the North Dakota border. Captain E.D. Haynes was among the founders of Leola, named for his daughter.

Lake Eureka is a peaceful summertime recreation spot.

Another early homesteader was literary great Hamlin Garland. A monument to Garland stands near his later home in rural Brown County, but the writer claimed a spot about 9 miles south of Leola in 1885. It is said that he scribbled notes about his homesteading experience all over the interior walls of his shack.

Although immigrants from several countries in Northern Europe settled McPherson County after its creation, the vast majority were Germans from Russia. In 2000 (the last year the federal government asked about ethnic heritage), more than 80 percent of people in Eureka claimed a German background.

Many of the Germans who came to Dakota Territory had spent decades in Ukraine, living under favorable condition offered by Catherine the Great, who wanted to turn the region into Europe’s breadbasket. When Czar Alexander II came to power in 1871, Germans began to leave.

It’s no wonder, then, that the predominantly German town of Eureka became the greatest primary wheat market in the world. By 1897, two-thirds of the world’s wheat crop was shipped from Eureka, a rail point that served farms within a 75 mile radius. On some days, as much as 30,000 bushels left town by rail. But the heady times were gone nearly as quickly as they had arrived. Advancing railroads meant farmers could ship from points closer to their homes, and the Eureka wheat boom slowly abated.

Rhubarb, native to the Volga River area of Russia, does well in Leola, the world’s Rhubarb Capital.

Nevertheless, the town of Eureka grew into McPherson County’s largest city, boasting about 850 people today. In a twist common in many developing counties, the smaller city of Leola (pop. 457) became the county seat. Much of the credit for that is given to Charles Herreid, another early homesteader who became McPherson County’s first clerk, register of deeds and later governor from 1901 to 1903.

Leola has also proudly proclaimed itself the Rhubarb Capital of the World. The town’s rhubarb celebration began in 1971 as a simple baking contest, but grew to include parades, contests, music, rhubarb royalty and, of course, as many rhubarb concoctions as you can imagine. The next Rhubarb Festival is set for June 2017.

Food is important to the people of McPherson County, especially the ethnic German staples they ate while growing up. I visited Kauk’s Meat Market in Eureka, where Larry Kauk prepares German fry sausage that he sells in markets around eastern South Dakota and ships to McPherson County natives from coast to coast.”I’m sorry if you’re here looking for some big secret,” I remember him saying.”Because there isn’t one.”

Vicki Lapka is known for her strudels, served with sausage and carrots on German meal day at the Lyric Lanes in Eureka.

The key is sticking to tradition, and preparing sausage the way his family did near the town of Artas. People from California to New York know you can’t find it in a package labeled Oscar Meyer, which is why they turn to the hometown butcher.

Unfortunately, some of that tradition is in danger of being lost. I stopped at the Lyric Lanes, which serves a weekly traditional German meal thanks to Vicki Lapka. She is known around the region for strudels.

Lapka, a fifth-generation descendant of Germans from Russia, learned strudels and other German delicacies from her grandmother while growing up around Mound City. But after high school she and her husband moved to the Twin Cities, and those German recipes lay dormant for 15 years. In January 1992 they moved back to Eureka, bought the Lyric, and inherited its Saturday night German buffet. Lapka’s mother helped her relearn German cooking, and the weekly German meal (moved to Tuesday afternoons) remained a tradition.

Three electric skillets sat atop her counter when I arrived. She added water, lard, onions and potatoes, then set strudels on top and closed the lid.”If you open them while they’re cooking they just drop,” Lapka explained.”You’ll have flat dumplings and flat strudels. My kids learned the hard way. If I was making dumplings or strudels, they stayed out of the kitchen.”

Strudels are temperamental. If the water is just a few degrees too cool or too hot, the yeast won’t react correctly. And they must remain covered. Since Lapka can’t see them cook, she tips the pan after 30 minutes of cooking and listens to see if they are frying inside. If there’s no sizzle, she knows they need more time. Before I left, Lapka showed me freezers packed with 150 pounds of strudels to fill orders from townspeople.

Kuchen, a fruit-filled pastry, is a traditional German sweet and South Dakota’s official state dessert.

But she worries that traditional recipes will be lost if younger chefs don’t take time to learn.”They’ll come in and ask for a pan full of strudels. They could make them, but they don’t know how. It’s so easy to just come buy the strudels, go home and cook them, but they don’t want to do that. If we don’t keep this going, we’re going to lose it all.”

One German food that may stand the test of time is kuchen, South Dakota’s official state dessert thanks to the efforts of several McPherson County bakers who lobbied the legislature in 1999. They traveled to Pierre during session and presented a skit that conveyed the importance of kuchen in the lives of early pioneers. They dressed in period costumes and even brought samples. The governor said he’d sign the bill, but it was defeated in the House.

The bill was reintroduced in 2000. This time, Eurekans sent letters to towns around the state seeking support for kuchen’s candidacy. Seventeen cities replied, and the letters were brought to Pierre as evidence that kuchen enjoyed statewide support. This time, the legislature agreed.

Travelers can find kuchen in supermarkets throughout north central South Dakota, and the Eureka Kuchen Factory specializes in a variety of flavors. If I ever head north again, I’m bringing a cooler. Just don’t tell the editors.

Editor’s Note: This is the 27th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.