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Boss Cowman’s Own Words
... was an event, but for Ed Lemmon and other old-timers the spring of 1897 stood out from all others. That winter had been especially hard. Early season storms coated the prairie in glistening ice, then blizzard followed upon blizzard, burying the grass and making it impossible for cattle to graze. From northern and central South Dakota, thousands of cattle drifted south in search of feed. “There was hardly ...
Atop Rose Hill
July 7, 2015
... long ago Spearfish put Rose Hill to another use. Since November 1876, this has been the town’s cemetery. For a long time I thought it unbelievably ironic that the first person buried here, a Mr. Blizzard, actually died in a blizzard. It reminded me of the stale, dark joke about how strange it was that Lou Gehrig died of the very disease that bore his name. As readers swifter on the uptake than I may have ...
Thy Neighbor's Rain
June 18, 2015
... from ground that’s as lifeless as chalk. What will it mean for farm families if the rains don’t come?
I’m not a weather worrier by nature. I’m one of those goofballs who love blizzards, and who does exactly what you’re not supposed to do when the wind starts howling and lightning bolts rend the heavens. Instead of heading for shelter I run to the window in hopes of seeing Dorothy’s ...
The Land and the Sea
June 2, 2015
... name, but he never returned. Locals began calling it Emma’s Lake.
A huge buffalo herd became trapped in the thick trees around a chain of lakes in southeastern Marshall County during a four-day blizzard. Pleased with their kill, Indians named the place “The Buffalo Hunt in the Woods,” later shortened to Buffalo Lakes.
Long Lake near Lake City could hold buried treasure. A Santee named Gray ...
Welcome, Mr. President
May 5, 2015
... senator, I can promise you that we’d find a way to balance our state budget if we lost the 40% that comes from Washington. It wouldn’t be easy, but we’d survive the same way we dig out of blizzards. One shovel after another. Our senior citizens appreciate Medicare and Social Security, but the cost of living is lower here so we’d probably even get by without those wonderful perks. ...
Awaiting a March Blizzard
March 4, 2015
... Vladimir and Estragon never stop expecting him, never cease speaking of his imminent arrival.
And that’s exactly how Black Hills people speak in anticipation every March about the approaching spring blizzard — the March Terror, the State Basketball Tournament Storm, the 36 inches except where it’s drifted 6 feet across your driveway. It’s the stuff of legend.
Only last year, like Godot, ...
Talking Late Winter
February 23, 2015
... don’t have to shovel the cold.” * “There’s not much moisture in snow anyway.” And if worse comes to worse: “I hear there’s a X*#!*# blizzard coming!”
A Whale Of A Mountain
... the whales.
I was at Terry Peak with my camera on a sunny winter afternoon when whales were surfacing on the slopes, and it was great fun for the snowboarders and for me.
“It seemed like it was blizzarding but it was a perfect day with blue skies,” explained Connor Haggerty, a snowboarder from Rapid City. “The whales were fun, it was like a small jump line.” A jump line, for the uninitiated, ...
Counting Your Blessings
November 27, 2014
... beef, pork, fish, seafood, and of course, ice cream.
I have enough. More than enough. More than enough to survive a zombie apocalypse, or more likely, a couple of days huddled around the wood stove in a blizzard-induced power outage. A cast iron pot of stew would simmer welcomingly for all that sought shelter from the cold. Well, maybe not the zombies.
As I find my seat at the Thanksgiving table loaded with ...
The Cattleman's Blizzard
Editor’s Note: On Oct. 4-5, 2013, western South Dakota was pummeled by one of the worst blizzards in the state’s history. Winter Storm Atlas was unexpected and deadly. It began as rain, but then temperatures plummeted and winds began to howl. When the clouds cleared 2 to 4 feet of snow blanketed ...
Give These a Read
September 23, 2014
... O’Brien’s Wild Idea Buffalo Company is wildly successful. By the end of the book, I was just as happy for the author as I was for the animals and their environment.
The Children’s Blizzard, David Laskin
The day on which the Children’s Blizzard raged in 1888 began as a calm, spring-like day, quite unusual for January 12. Farmers worked in the fields as their children ...
Making Hay
... fill the bellies of calves out on the hillside, to feed them fat through a long, cold winter.
What do you care? My voice might rise, my throat tighten. You'll be snug in your houses and offices when the blizzards arrive, or edging along the highway again, cursing the ice and yourself for forgetting snow tires. We'll be out here, in bone biting cold, riding the same Popping Johns and loading the hay we're cutting ...
The Judge
... Dakota.
Though in years since it has become a cliche, Sig really did treat state government like a business. When the U.S. Air Force loaned him a plane to drop hay bales to starving cattle after a blizzard, Sig went along and helped push the bales out. Then he returned to Pierre and insisted on paying for use of the aircraft. "I believe that you pay your own way," he said. "We tried our level best to pay ...
Meeting the Need
February 27, 2014
... their Rapid City and Spearfish ski equipment shops after graduation. But a horrific accident changed all of that.
On Jan. 4, 1997, the entire family was taking Dawn and Joe to the Omaha airport, but blizzard conditions on Interstate 90 made visibility difficult. Dallas drove 35 miles per hour as they neared Alexandria and Mary unbuckled her seatbelt to watch the shoulder. Suddenly, a semi rear-ended them ...
Selectively Desperate
February 19, 2014
... Keystone XL will bring; Keesis says South Dakotans can't pass up any economic development opportunity:
Out here on the prairie, you know, we're a tough people …. We deal with drought and 8-foot blizzards and all kinds of stuff all the time, so anytime we can get something like this to give us a shot, it's a good thing. [quoted in Rob Hotakainen, "American Indians Versus the Pipeline," Governing, ...
January/February 2014
Robin Reinhold took this photo of her son, Caleb, digging a cow out of a snowdrift after an October blizzard devastated West River.
Return of the Ghost Shirts: Sacred garments from the Ghost Dance era return to the Cheyenne River Reservation.
Sioux Falls in White: Greg Latza captures ...
All I Want for Christmas
December 24, 2013
By Cory Allen Heidelberger
My exile continues. Work keeps my family away from the lake, the prairie, the river, the Hills, all those singular South Dakota places where we find our friends and relatives and neighbors living in just two degrees of separation.
As I hear from home of the temps dropping to two degrees, I still say I'd rather be in South Dakota on a cold winter day than anywhere ...
Stranded in Quinn
December 18, 2013
When a fierce blizzard stopped West River travellers, a tiny Badlands town took them in.
Close Encounter at Choteau Creek
Roger Wiltz got more than he bargained for when he searched for a big buck after a fierce Charles Mix County blizzard.
Big Shots
October 16, 2013
... checked the South Dakota Magazine archives and found the following tales of fame and pheasants.
Oh Sure — And I’m Babe Ruth
By Merland Howe
The thirties were a decade of dust, blizzards and poverty. But there was relief from grim times at the Center Store, located in northern McCook County, especially during pheasant season. Locals and out-of-staters gathered for gas, soda, ice cream ...
