130 years after her death, a First Lady of Dakota Territory was remembered Wednesday (Sept. 10) at the Yankton Cemetery. Amanda Pennington had been buried in an unmarked grave since her death at age 47 in 1884. Amanda’s husband John served as territorial governor from 1874 to 1878 and remained in Yankton as an active citizen for years. Photos by Bernie Hunhoff.
Here at South Dakota Magazine, we’ve always felt at affinity for Amanda Pennington. She helped her husband, John, built the big brick house that has been our publishing headquarters since 1987. She cooked here, raised children here. Gazed out the same windows that we do.
She was sad here, we know that. And she was sickly. But we hope she also had good times.
She and her husband John lost two of their five children in Alabama. They headed to Dakota Territory when he was named territorial governor in 1874. The Penningtons started a new life in Yankton, raising their three surviving children while John became immersed in controversial issues like gold in the Black Hills, development of the railroads and establishing counties and cities.
They built a big brick house and several smaller houses at 3rd and Pearl in downtown Yankton. When John left the governorship, he also constructed a commercial structure on Third Street and started a weekly newspaper.
But Amanda grew ill and died in the winter of 1884. She was just 47.”She conversed freely with her husband and children up to within a few hours of her death, expressing willingness to go and her unswerving confidence in blessed immortality,” according to the obituary in the Yankton Press & Dakotian. “The few intimate friends present were deeply moved by her perfect resignation and her expressions of hope for the life to come.”
A final wish was that she be buried beside the two little children who’d preceded her in death. The family had bought six plots in the Yankton Cemetery, and she was buried there. But no marker was put up, probably because her husband intended to respect his wife’s wishes and eventually return the body to Alabama.
John Pennington remained in Yankton for seven more years before returning to the South. He was buried in Oxford Memorial Gardens Cemetery at Oxford, Alabama upon his death in 1901.
Mrs. Pennington, first lady of the Dakota Territory, remains in the Yankton Cemetery in an unmarked grave. But that will change on Wednesday (Sept. 10) when local citizens plan to unveil a new gravestone designed and donated by Luken Memorials of Yankton.
Rt. Rev. John Tarrant, the Episcopal Bishop of South Dakota, will preside at a dedication service, assisted by Father Jim Pearson, pastor of the very same Episcopal Church in Yankton that was attended by the Penningtons and in which her funeral was held 130 years ago.
The public is invited to attend the brief service at the gravesite in Yankton Cemetery. It starts at 3 p.m. Immediately following the service, everyone is invited to the Pennington house for refreshments and a short discussion with local historians about the Pennington family.
Travelers were arriving in Yankton by train, horse and steamboat 125 years ago when South Dakota gained statehood.
Steamboats and passenger trains are long gone, but visitors will be coming with horses next week in the old Missouri River city, where a quasquicentennial wagon train will begin on Thursday (Sept. 4). The public is welcome to join the wagoneers for a celebration of statehood on Wednesday afternoon and evening (Sept. 3). Headquarters for the festivities is the rodeo grounds, a half-mile west of the intersection of Highways 50 and 81 on the far northside of Yankton.
From noon to 5 p.m., tours will be offered of a museum-in-progress — the restoration of the historic Mead Building as a new home for Yankton’s old Territorial Museum. Wagon rides will be provided from the rodeo grounds to the nearby museum (pulled by an old tractor, not a horse.) A chicken dinner will be served from 5-7 p.m., with proceeds going to the museum project. Tickets may be obtained in advance at the Territorial Museum. Tickets may also be purchased at the event on a first-come, first-serve basis.
A program of music and history also begins at 5 p.m., hosted by Terry Crandall. The agenda includes singer Mike McDonald, a re-enactment of the first governor by actor John Timm, songs by the Beadle School first-graders, more music by country singers Rachel Wood and Ashley Schweitzer, a speech by wagonmaster Gerald Kessler and remarks by Governor Dennis Daugaard.
A concert and dance will ensue from 7 to 10 p.m., featuring the country/folk songs of Poker Alice. All the activities except the meal are free. No beer or alcohol will be served at the program or dance, so bring the kids and grandkids. This is an opportunity for them to get a sense of the spirit of challenge and adventure that has marked the history of their home state.
Everyone is encouraged to dress in western wear, contemporary or historic. Commemorative t-shirts are available at the Chamber of Commerce for $12. They will also be sold at the event on Wednesday. The t-shirt slogan reads,”Happy Trails to You, Until We Meet Again in Yankton.”
Fraser Harrison, a travel writer from England, spent the summer of 2013 in Yankton. An essay on his impressions is featured in the current South Dakota History magazine, published by the State Historical Society.
Harrison calls it a love letter to Yankton. But it was not love at first sight. The 2013 visit was not our English friend’s first time in Yankton. He visited several South Dakota towns in 2011 for his book Infinite West: Travels in South Dakota. Harrison stayed for one night in Yankton and left with a bleak picture of a “melancholy little town.” In hindsight, he realized his stay had started off on the wrong path when he was booked into”a cell-like hotel room” from a misleading website. His impressions didn’t get better. He found several closed buildings downtown, and the historic Meridian Bridge was closed and fenced. He left, wrote a sad account of Yankton, and thought he would never return.
“Travel writing is an irresponsible art,” he writes in his new essay. “The writer grants himself the license to visit a place for a few hours and pronounce magisterially on its vices and virtues, its charms and blemishes, without fear of punishment or reprisal.”
On the flip side of that sentiment, there is something precious about seeing a place for a first time. In the business of travel writing, Harrison says it is always important to “preserve your capacity for wonderment.”
That’s our goal at South Dakota Magazine. We hope every issue surprises readers and gives a sense of wonderment to a place we all know very well. Harrison told me that ordinary things such as grocery stores, which are quite boring to visit at home, seem fascinating when you see their equivalents in foreign countries. Likewise, some of our greatest features here in South Dakota may seem mundane after viewing them so often.
In the July/August issue of South Dakota Magazine we asked town mayors to tell us one thing they would like readers to know about their town, something that would surprise and entertain. Mayors have strong ties to their towns, and work tirelessly to make them better places. They didn’t have the luxury of seeing their town with fresh, clean eyes. Nevertheless, their answers often did surprise us even though we travel the state intensely.
We hadn’t heard, for example, that Brookings recently turned trash into treasure by converting an old landfill on 22nd Avenue into the 135-acre Dakota Nature Park. Mayor Tim Reed hikes there with his dog, Ace. There is also kayaking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and four ponds stocked with fish.
We learned that a world-renowned airbrush artist is a new resident in Menno. To feel more at home, he has already painted many murals and signs around the Hutchinson County town. Harris welcomes visitors to his downtown studio.
And we found that there is more to do in Wall than stopping by Wall Drug for donuts. Mayor Dave Hahn informed us that the town has the only U.S. Forest Service Visitor’s Center in the United States. The site seeks to educate visitors on national grasslands and has many hands-on learning exhibits.
It’s also important to note that not all towns care about first impressions or even desire visitors. Cottonwood mayor J.C. Heath says he knows his town looks like a ghost town, but people do live there — 12 people, to be exact. “We get every tourist coming through Jackson County to the Hills,” says Heath. “We don’t mind people stopping to look at the old buildings but they should keep off our private property. Everything belongs to somebody.”
A visiting travel writer has the benefit of surprise and wonderment when touring South Dakota landscapes and towns, but as we explore within the state we know and love we have a bigger responsibility. We owe it to our readers to see the possibilities and the promise.
I guess mayors and South Dakota’s writers have that in common. Fortunately those of us who write for a living don’t have to worry about sewers, streets and gutters.
Carvel Cooley stopped in our magazine office today. He’s a great old fellow from Bon Homme County, a gentleman farmer historian.
He brought a “new” picture of Jesse James.
The James brothers have long been linked with southeast Dakota Territory and northeast Nebraska but there’s been little proof and some James historians doubt that the two had much of a connection to this part of the West.
Their most famous sighting is of course at Garretson, north of Sioux Falls, where Jesse supposedly jumped Devil’s Gulch on a stolen horse in September of 1876 as he and his brother Frank were fleeing from the Northfield, Minn., bank job. As the story goes, Frank was on the west side of the gulch and Jesse on the east. As the posse closed in on Jesse, he reportedly spurred the old nag and persuaded her to leap an 18-foot chasm.
Family stories in our part of the old territory have kept alive many other sightings. There’s hardly a 19th century barn standing that Jesse didn’t sleep in; hardly a 19th century farmhouse, for that matter, where he didn’t dine. All the stories tell of a kindly young man who caused no harm and sometimes even extended a courtesy or maybe left a horse.
Mr. Cooley says there are records showing that Jesse might have fathered a child at Santee, Neb., south of Yankton, in 1870. The child was supposedly baptized Jesse James Chase in March of 1870. He says Jesse was present at Devil’s Nest, an outlaws’ hideway about 30 miles west of Yankton on the Nebraska side of the river, in 1869, 1871 and 1876.
Mr. Cooley lives on the Bottom Road west of Springfield, across the river from Devil’s Nest. He brought us this undated picture of the James brothers, hanging out with a couple of young men from Nebraska. It is further proof that the James boys were making acquaintances in our part of the country. If you have more evidence, let us know. We’ve started a file.
Little was known about present-day South Dakota when President Thomas Jefferson recruited Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase in 1804. Luckily for the Corps of Discovery, shortly after they shoved off they met Pierre Dorion floating down the Missouri River with a load of furs and buffalo tallow.
Dorion was born in Quebec City in 1740. By about 1774 he was trading in the area around present-day Yankton. He was married to Holy Rainbow, daughter of a Yankton Sioux chief, and had become well versed in the Lakota language. Dorion had spent over 20 years in the area Lewis and Clark were sent to explore, so the Corps hired him and bought 300 pounds of his buffalo grease, which they used to”repel insects.”
Dorion’s knowledge of the area and the Lakota language soon proved invaluable. When the party reached the mouth of the James River, Dorion was dispatched to gather members of the Yankton Sioux for a meeting at Calumet Bluffs, a few miles upriver. He successfully translated Lewis’ speech and helped the explorers document details about Native culture.
Lewis and Clark then tried to convince several chiefs from area tribes to go with Dorion to St. Louis and on to Washington, D.C., to meet President Jefferson. The Corps continued north while Dorion traveled south. The interpreter’s absence left a void that was especially felt when Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of the Bad River on September 24. There they met the Teton Sioux, and for the next four days teetered between friendly relations and near open warfare.
The two sides could only communicate through rudimentary sign language and the limited knowledge of Pierre Cruzatte, a member of the expedition who understood the Omaha language, but very little Lakota. On their first day there, the two sides exchanged gifts, as was customary, but then things went awry. One of the head tribal men drank half a glass of whiskey and nearly started a fight with Clark. When Clark and a few other men reached shore in a pirogue, several Indians grabbed its mooring cable and refused to let them return to their keelboat.
Lewis ordered in armed American reinforcements, while Indians lined the shore with bows and arrows. But tensions eased, and the next day the two sides enjoyed a great feast. The roller coaster continued until Lewis and Clark left. It’s difficult to say if Dorion could have helped relations, but Clark clearly thought so.”We feel much at loss for the want of an interpreter,” he recorded in his journal on September 25.”The one we have can Speek but little.” Given the intense preparations Lewis and Clark made before departing St. Louis, not securing an effective interpreter seems to have been an oversight that could have had deadly repercussions.
Dorion continued trading in the region and in 1806 was commissioned by the U.S. War Department as a subagent along the Missouri and its western tributaries. He did help Clark again in 1807 by facilitating a meeting with several Indian chiefs. Dorion died in 1810 and was buried along the Missouri River. His grave remained undisturbed until the 1890s when Yankton brick makers digging for clay along the Missouri River uncovered it. Its location became lost through time and was again discovered by local historians about 15 years ago. Yankton leaders erected a monument in 2002 near Dorion’s gravesite at the intersection of Second and Locust.
Amanda Kate Pennington left the two small graves of her children Willie and Kate in Alabama when she came to Yankton, Dakota Territory in 1874 with her husband, John, who was named Territorial Governor by President Ulysses S. Grant. They had three other children, however, and so she adjusted to life as an active and enthusiastic Dakotan.
But the Penningtons suffered anew when Amanda grew ill and died in 1884 at her home, an Italianate-style brick home at Third and Pearl in downtown Yankton. Since 1987, the Pennington House has been the headquarters for South Dakota Magazine.
John Pennington was a Southern newspaperman during the Civil War. He gained General Ulysses S. Grant’s trust and attention by editorializing that the South was paying too great a price and should consider surrender. When Grant became president, he awarded Pennington the governorship of Dakota Territory.
Pennington survived as governor for four years (1874-1878), double the tenure of most territorial leaders. He was sympathetic to the concerns of farmers and Native Americans and considered a capable fellow, but he became identified with the infamous”Yankton Ring” that mastered the spoils system. For example, when Pennington County was created in 1875, the governor named Yanktonians to serve as county officers. His friends collected salaries without moving west to perform their duties.
After leaving office, Pennington remained in Yankton. He published a weekly newspaper and built a substantial commercial building downtown. He became a full-fledged South Dakotan after serving as territorial governor.
Sioux Falls historian Gary Conradi recently completed a search for all of our governors’ graves. He assumed that Mrs. Pennington was buried in Alabama, but when he found six Pennington grave lots in the Yankton Cemetery, he searched the Yankton Press and Dakotan archives for her obituary. It noted that she was indeed buried in the Yankton Cemetery, though the family intended to move the grave home to Alabama so she could rest alongside her deceased children. But it was not easy to move a loved one’s remains in the 1880s, and it never happened. Eventually her husband and three surviving children, Lulu, Mary and John Jr., left without her. Of the six Pennington plots in the Yankton Cemetery, only one was ever used. Amanda rests there alone today, without a stone or any recognition.
In this 125th birthday year for South Dakota, a group of Yanktonians and state historians intend to right an old wrong by placing a headstone on Amanda’s grave befitting a first lady of the territory. It will include the names of her five beloved children. A memorial service will be held at the grave on Sept. 10 with Episcopalian Bishop John Tarrant presiding.
How do you find a star in a cottonwood twig? What’s the most ferocious winged predator of the plains? Kids discovered the answers to those questions and many more at the very first Missouri River Outdoor Expo in Yankton’s Riverside Park. Local Boy Scouts organized the event, which featured a hands-on look at the flora and fauna of the mighty Missouri. Photos by Bernie Hunhoff.
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Morel mushrooms were a rare treat in my childhood. Dad searched for them along the Missouri and had the best luck near rotted cottonwood trunks. He showed me how to bathe the fungi in saltwater to remove sand and insects and then sautÈ them with butter and salt. At first I was wary of the morel’s brain-like appearance, but became hooked by its rich, meaty flavor. |
Although I enjoyed my dad’s finds, I had never hunted myself until last spring. I did know that hunters are very secretive about their hunting techniques, so I turned to Tony Kellar, a Sioux Falls outdoors enthusiast and author of Camping & Cooking with the Bare Essentials, for advice.
“The best time to find morels is usually when the lilacs start to bloom,” says Kellar, whose tattooed, athletic build reflects an active lifestyle. The season varies throughout the state, but it’s normally late April and early May. The tasty morsels are found on moist forest floors, especially near rivers and lakes. Look for yellow or tan mushrooms with spongy caps, but beware the false morel. It can be poisonous. True morels are hollow throughout, while false morels are solid.
Kellar suggests following an experienced hunter. That may be difficult to arrange, as hunting spots are top secret. But you can be initiated. Kellar introduced his friend Jarett Bies to morel hunting during a kayaking excursion on the Missouri.
“Tony explained the shape and how, like a 3-D painting, once you found one you’d suddenly see more,” says Bies, a writer and avid kayaker from Vermillion. He and Kellar hunted on hands and knees along the edge of the beach, and soon calls of”got one” rose from the brush. Of course, Bies was warned not to reveal the location.”I doubt I could relate to anyone where we were, so the secret is safe,” he says. The morels were rinsed, buttered, and baked right on the sand.”The flavor of these wild treats makes all the subterfuge worth it,” Bies says.
Last May, my husband Jeremy and I went on our own excursion. We searched a shady area west of Yankton, the ground damp with rain. I used a stick to poke around the dead leaves for about an hour with no success. Thoughts of the time Jeremy dragged me along deer hunting popped into my head — a nice hike but nothing to show for our efforts.
“Let’s try this ravine,” Jeremy said, and gracefully descended to the bottom. I slipped on some loose dirt and traveled down on my back. After shaking the dirt and leaves from my hair, I took a few careful steps into the ravine and finally spotted the unmistakable tan fungi.”I found one!” I shouted.
“They’re everywhere!” Jeremy exclaimed.
We picked about 5 pounds of mushrooms that day. As we carried our bounty out of the forest, Jeremy stopped short at the sound of other hikers.
“Shh. Stay here,” he whispered while gesturing behind a tree.”I don’t want them to know about our hunting spot.”
Jeremy and I kept our harvest, but some hunters sell to gourmet or natural grocery stores. Molly Langley, owner of Coop Natural Foods in Sioux Falls, occasionally buys morels for resale. She learned about the culture of secrecy the first time she bought from a morel hunter.”I remember saying, ‘Where did you get them?'” says Langley.”The seller found another corner of the store to look at and wouldn’t tell me.” She purchased the mushrooms.”We packaged them up as we do our other local mushrooms,” says Langley.”They were gone in 12 hours.”
Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the March/April 2012 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (can substitute extra virgin olive oil)
3/4 lbs. morel mushrooms
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup chicken broth
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
pepper to taste
8 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
Morels can be stored in the refrigerator in a brown paper bag, or in a colander at room temperature. The mushrooms begin drying slowly, but will rehydrate when cooked.
Prepare mushrooms by brushing away loose dirt. Then cut each in half lengthwise and soak in salt water for about 20 minutes to remove insects and tiny snails. After soaking, you may wish to rinse each mushroom separately to remove any remaining sand.
To make the sauce, begin melting butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and cook for about one minute, stirring often. Then add mushrooms and sautÈ for a few minutes until tender.
Decrease heat to low and add salt, lemon juice and parsley. Once pasta is cooked al dente, turn the skillet back to medium heat. Add the pasta to the mushrooms and toss together. Next add chicken broth and pepper to taste. Serve sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (Makes about four servings)
A bald eagle built a nest near the old Meridian Bridge in Yankton two years ago, and then perched on a nearby cottonwood branch and posed for pedestrians, who were at eye level to the big bird when they were on the bridge’s upper deck.
The eagle eventually abandoned that nest. Maybe it was a tad too close to civilization for her comfort. But more eagles than ever are wintering on the open water of the Missouri River in Yankton, and they often glide slowly over the walking bridge that extends into the city’s old downtown.
Eagles were following the Dodo bird to extinction a scant 50 years ago. Illegal hunting, habitat destruction and a poison known as DDT were killing the species. In 1963, only 487 nesting pairs could be found in the United States.
But the Endangered Species Act banned DDT in 1972, and the eagles gradually adapted to a changing prairie landscape. Today, the state Game, Fish & Parks Department estimates that there may be as many as 300 nesting pairs just in South Dakota.
Most South Dakota eagles can be found wintering below the Missouri River dams, where massive old cottonwood trees provide a barky foundation for their large, heavy nests. Open water below the river’s dams provides easy fishing. Eagles also nest in the Black Hills near the Deerfield Reservoir, and it’s not surprising to find them in any part of the state.
Eagles build their nests by mid-February and begin laying eggs in late February. The birds mate for life, and use the same nests from year to year, adding twigs each year. Their nests are among the largest of any North American bird. One big nest measured 13 feet deep by 8 feet wide.
The majestic bald eagle was chosen as our national emblem in 1787, partly because it was native to North America. The fierce appearance of its curved beak, regal white head and piercing eyes were also factors. In the emblem, drawn in 1782, a bald eagle is displayed with an olive branch in one claw and 12 arrows clutched in the other, representing both peace and war.
Benjamin Franklin famously opposed putting the bald eagle on the nation’s emblem. He favored the wild turkey, which he claimed was, “A much more respectable bird and a true native of America.” He said the turkey was a bird of courage that “would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.”
It seems Franklin was also put off with the bald eagle’s habit of eating carrion. They often steal food from smaller birds by intimidating them into dropping their prey. They also feed on dead fish and crippled birds. “He is a bird of bad moral character,” wrote Franklin. “He does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched in some dead tree where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish and is bearing it to his nest for his young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes the fish.”
It seems unpatriotic to dredge up Franklin’s comments. After all, the eagle is just doing what comes naturally. Go eagle watching this spring and you will instantly be reminded of why our founding fathers chose this regal bird to represent our nation. Your best chance to see some soaring is to visit the Missouri below the dams at Yankton, Pickstown, Fort Thompson and Pierre. In Yankton, a few eagles can often be found in the big trees that lie south of Riverside ballpark.
