Yanktonians kicked off South Dakota’s 125th birthday year with a grand party Saturday night. Re-enactors portrayed historic characters in the downtown streets, and as the sun set the party moved indoors to the Riverfront Event Center where state officials joined 500 fellow South Dakotans in a memorable and festive evening. Photos by Bernie Hunhoff.
Category: gallery-history
Ardmore
Joel Schwader of Rapid City shared these photos of Ardmore, approximately one mile off the South Dakota-Nebraska border on SD Highway 71. The town was founded in 1889 and survived the Great Depression without one family on welfare. Rough times eventually fell on Ardmore and by 2004 it was considered an isolated ghost town.
Mountain Rendezvous
The Muzzle Loaders of the Black Hills held their annual rendezvous last month at Flag Mountain/Hughes Draw, northwest of Hill City. At the rendezvous, a primitive camp, club members show what life was like in America before 1840.
The public is welcome, but to partake in events like black powder shooting, primitive archery and knife and tomahawk throwing, historical clothing is required. That’s not as daunting as it sounds, according to Paul Nelson, club member.”As long as people make a good-faith effort to give the appearance of pre-1840, that is good enough. We are always happy to introduce new people to our hobby and we all have extra clothes and gear to loan, sell, or give away.”
The club also explores the past at their monthly meetings at Cabela’s in Rapid City, monthly muzzle loader shoots and other events throughout the year. To learn more about the Muzzle Loaders of the Black Hills and their activities, visit their website, www.muzzleloadersoftheblackhills.com.
Photos by Trisha Schmelz.
South Dakota’s Oldest Works of Art
Ancient South Dakotans left their mark on the landscape by pecking, chiseling or carving images into the rocks and cliffs around them. These images, called petroglyphs or pictographs, can be found all over the Black Hills.
Tony Diem, a California native who works for bicycle power meter manufacturers Quarq of Spearfish, recently re-discovered and photographed one petroglyph-rich site near Hermosa.”I had visited the site about 8 years before, but my friend Mike Runge, the City Archivist for Deadwood, forgot the location. My girlfriend and I set out and drove many a road to find them off of Highway 79, including LH Road and Cobb Road, and saw some beautiful country, but we came up empty. I called Mike one more time and out of the blue he gave me the directions that had eluded his memory, verbatim.”
If you’d like to see them for yourself, Tony says,”They’re located just south of Hermosa where French Creek crosses Highway 79. Turn west and follow Downen Road for about a mile and a half.”
Photos by Tony Diem.
Owanka Ghost Town
Joel Schwader of Rapid City shared these photos of Owanka. The West River ghost town is located 40 miles east of Rapid City in Pennington County. Caption information taken from an article written by Connie J. Mickelson.
Painting Dinosaur Park
The seven prehistoric creatures at Dinosaur Park have stood above the Rapid City skyline since 1936, but even the meat-eating Tyrannosaurus rex hasn’t caused a lick of trouble.
Rapid Citians are accustomed to them, but one grouchy tourist showed up, took a look, and grumbled,”They’re fakes!” Thank goodness for that, because if they were real, we’d have to build a very tall fence.
Kids are delighted by these sturdy concrete and steel fakes, which were designed by Emmett Sullivan as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. Nobody cares if you climb on the back of the stegosaurus or balance on the tail of the Apatosaurus.
The Rapid City dinosaurs were concrete gray until 1960, when they were painted green with white bellies. Last Saturday, Circulation Director Jana Lane visited Dinosaur Park and saw the 75-year-old beasts get a touch-up courtesy of volunteers from South Canyon Baptist Church of Rapid City. Photos by Jana Lane.
Menno Pioneer Power Show
The little Hutchinson County town of Menno held its 25th annual Power Show last weekend. Photos by Bernie Hunhoff.
Post 9/11 New York City
As we approach the 10th anniversary of the tragedy in New York City, our Production Manager Andrea Maibaum remembers her first trip to the big city… just 12 days after 9/11. Her graphic design club at South Dakota State University planned the trip long before the towers fell. Andrea captured these amazing photos.
