Some of our readers may enjoy a blog being written by a lady who grew up in Harding County and lives today in Omaha, Neb. Willo Boe writes about current events and old times. Today she highlighted South Dakota Magazine, which brought it to our attention. She does a nice job.

Broom Tree Farm in Yankton County is something you might expect to see in Bozeman or Colorado Springs. It is a big, rustic lodge with gigantic log beams. But it sits amidst family farm fields and pastures, providing a quiet place for teenagers, college students, singles, couples, pastors and all others to come for meditation and reflection.

The Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls built it over the past two years, and last night they invited some neighbors to a pork dinner and tour. Father Jim Mason is the spiritual director ... a fact that underscores the importance of Broom Tree to the bishop's office. Father Mason is clearly one of the church's chosen up-and-coming leaders. He stressed to us that Broom Tree is non-denominational. All faiths are welcome, and in fact the Lutheran pastors of Sioux Falls recently held conferences there.

Father Mason said it's interesting to note the differences between men and women at the silent retreats. The men don't usually have much trouble with the silence, but it obviously challenges the women ... to the point that they have now modified the schedule to allow verbal visiting for an hour after dinner each night.



As grand as the lodge is, what's even more impressive is that the church didn't build it on top of the pristine Lake Marindahl. The lodge is subtly set about a quarter-mile away from the lake, which leaves it a wild place where great blue herons and other waterfowl and wildlife still feel safe. Marindahl is one of South Dakota's least-known and least-developed lakes, and so far the Broom Tree project has done surprisingly little to change that.

We're wrapping up work on a story about stone construction in South Dakota. Mostly we're focusing on a beautiful new stone house built a few miles east of De Smet. Look for it if you're driving Highway 14.

South Dakota hasn't had a lot of field stone construction, considering our wealth of field stone. In the Sioux Falls vicinity, some impressive homes have been built of quartzite, including much of downtown Dell Rapids. Limestone and chalkstone have also been used sparingly. Field stone buildings are quite rare.

Rod Palmlund, the man who built the De Smet house, knows why. It takes a lot of extra work and money these days. Building the shell of a house is relatively cheap in the 21st century ... maybe $8 a running foot. Rod estimates it cost him $30 per running foot for walls even though the rocks were free. Labor and mortar aren't cheap. Ipswich has several fine field stone buildings that are mentioned in our story, which will probably be in the July/August issue.

Progress continues on an appropriate memorial to the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. We understand that meetings are planned next month to seek financial support. Today, the hilltop cemetery where the 250 victims are buried is marked only with a simple sign. The Lakota are understandably quite sensitive to the way a memorial is built. However, it has now been 115 years so hopefully progress can be speeded just a little. The travesty, which followed Sitting Bull's death, needs to be remembered and pondered for all generations to come.


The western history department of the Denver Public Library has an extensive collection of photos from the aftermath of the massacre ... many of which we haven't seen before. They are on a Lakota cultural website.

We've known for a long time that the best way to learn about South Dakota history was to find an old brick building in Yankton with a faded blue Chevy pickup parked nearby. Bob Hanson was sure to be close by, trowel in hand, replacing and repairing the walls.

History can seem so dull in school. But Bob Hanson brings it alive, because he can point to exact spots where there were hangings or shoot-outs or trading posts. He kept his ears open wide, as a child, when Yankton's old-timers were swapping stories. He followed that up with decades of researching family histories. He also does hands-on projects. For example, he built a Gatling gun that actually fires. He also rebuilt a Civil War cannon.

Bob repairs the brick on our circa-1875 magazine office every few years, and by the time he's finished we have a half dozen stories to work on. We thought he was our own personal historian, but apparently word has spread. Last week he was given a Governor's Award for History at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. Lots of distinquished professors could have received the award. But we like the idea that, every now and then, it goes to a man with mortar under his fingernails.

The photo above is one that will be in John Front's new phography book, which will be on bookshelves by the end of summer.

Photo by Greg Latza



The new issue of South Dakota Magazine is now available. Here are a few of the stories featured:

Our featured town: Hot Springs

A photo essay about lighting on the plains by Paul Horsted

Highway 85, our Northwest Passage from Tipperary to Steamboat

Norm Evers nurtured Sam McCrory's garden in Brookings to world-class

A century of searching for fire from Black Hills towers

Rapid City's Bill Groethe has focused on the Black Hills for 66 years

Georg Joutras captures foxes on film

Tom and Sherrill Sawyer kept civilization alive on Castle Creek

The men of the Civilian Conservation Corps, and what they built

Plus book reviews, fiction, poetry, and a complete calendar of events

Subscribe today!

The young Oscar Micheaux Festival might just take off



Oscar Micheaux was an urban black man who homesteaded in Gregory County around 1905. He loved the beauty and adventure of the plains and wondered in his writings why every young black man in America doesn't move out here and get 160 acres. He answered his own question in his (autobiographical) novels: His main characters became lonely for a woman. Few soulmates were to be found on the prairie, and the city girls couldn't be lured West.

Oscar eventually migrated back to urban America and became a novelist and America's first successful movie producer. His classic films are finding new fans in the 21st century. Nine years ago, the little town of Gregory began to host an Oscar Micheaux Festival to explore themes of race, theater and literature in rural America. The festivals have been quaint and fun. The darndest people show up from all over the country. They mix with local farmers and prairie historians, and everyone has a good time. Gregory, located south of Mitchell on Highway 18, is one of South Dakota's nicest small cities. It has a great gift shop (Naper's Emporium), eclectic local restaurants, a golf course and all the other amenities. A few pheasants have been spotted in the area as well.

We have learned through the grapevine that the Micheaux festival may be on the verge of bigger things. The promoters have now opened a full-time office on main street. Contacts have been made to possibly premier a national film there. And some big-name celebrities are starting to take an interest. There's even talk of Gregory becoming the Sundance of the northern prairie. Well, first we'd better sell out the Friday night barbecue.

It's one of the greatest smallest events that occur in summertime South Dakota. This year's event is August 11-15. Keep watch for more details.