Well, she wouldn't be on our web page if she didn't have South Dakota roots, but click here for the full story from Todd Epp, a longtime friend of South Dakota Magazine.

Nile Stone of Mission, S.D., rides a steel elephant near the city park.

In our travels across South Dakota, we always enjoy seeing happy children at play. It is a great blessing to live in a rural region where children are a high priority, where they are quite safe and where they often have extended "families" who care about them ... though those who care may be neighbors, friends or relatives.

Why do I bring this up? I recently read "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin, a fine book about the Jan. 13, 1888 blizzard in which more than 100 children were found dead on the Dakota-Nebraska prairie.

Toward the end of the book, Laskin makes an interesting commentary: "The outpouring of grief after (the storm) was at least in part an expression of remorse for what children were subjected to every day –– remorse for the fact that most children had no childhood. This was a society that could not afford to sentimentalize its living and working children. Only in death or on the verge of death were their young granted the heroine funds, the long columns of sobbing verse, the stately granite monuments. A safe and carefree childhood was a luxury the pioneer prairie could not afford."

Fortunately, that has all changed. And it would be unfair to stereotype all pioneer families that way. Still, it's worth remembering that this is our heritage and it partly shaped our modern rural civilization.

The Brookings Daily Register has an interesting article on the quality of water in the Big Sioux River. South Dakota is blessed with wonderful rivers. Few states could match us for river resources. But this report, while not so surprising, is quite disappointing.

Especially disconcerting is the idea that many people are starting to work at developing more nature and recreational opportunities along the Big Sioux -- such as canoeing, fishing, kayaking, etc. We have work to do in South Dakota.

If I (and I'll bet a lot of the citizens there) could change one thing about Hartford, it would be to give it a "town square", so to speak -- a place where people could proudly gather. Every town needs a living room and a "magic mile" along Highway 38, though it also serves a good purpose, makes a poor substitute.

Hartford's leaders have reluctantly watched the downtown dwindle away, and now the town is in danger of losing its most important architectural gem -- the Mundt Building, constructed of quartzite in 1904 by a local merchant. The 40x70 building (seen at the right side of the photo above) is owned by a local antique dealer who would sell it cheaply (maybe $35,000 to cover his taxes and recent legal and architectural costs, incurred to keep the city from condemning it). However, it would cost several times the purchase price to renovate the structure.

One would think that it would be a feasible project, considering it's 10 miles from Sioux Falls where such buildings now are treasured. It could be one of the grandest office buildings in the region. All three stories have possibilities. The basement walls are bare quartzite. The top floor was once a dance hall and is still wide open: tin ceilings, wood floors and rounded windows.

The building is considered an eyesore to most people in Hartford, but in many cities in the world it would be a rough diamond waiting to be polished. If you want to buy it, give us a call and we'll get you in touch with the owner ... we'll waive the finder's fee.

The town has artists, eclectic shops, unusual eateries and history.



Hartford was a delight to explore on Friday. The town of 2,500 people is booming in many ways –– commercially, residentially, religiously. It is somewhat of a bedroom burg to Sioux Falls but not entirely. There are many natives. The town has a rich 125-year history. Small farms still form a ring around the community, and farmers ring the cash registers. They are the most loyal supporters.

The "new" residents also bring a lot to Hartford. Rhonda Sebert (the artist pictured above) is a good example. She and her husband have three young sons in the schools. Her art hangs at the local Alamode gallery on Highway 38. They are lobbying neighbors for the school bond vote to be held on Valentine's Day. The Seberts would be a credit to any city in South Dakota and they are happy as can be in Hartford.

Most of our smaller cities have churches far bigger than they need in this era of declining rural population -- but not Hartford. All the churches are full because the town is growing.

The football team has won something like 8 of the last 10 state championships but there are no boastful signs or pennants and nobody mentioned it. When I tried to poke around on that subject, they grinned and avoided it. Nobody could quite remember the 50-7 score of last November.

We'll have a full report in our May issue. Hartford has just one short-coming that I could see; I'll find time to write about it this afternoon.

Did any animal do more for South Dakota's economy than Cody, the noble buffalo in the movie classic "Dances With Wolves"? By now you've probably heard that he has died at age 19. Here's a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. This is the buffalo that charged a little Indian boy in the film. Kevin Costner saved the boy by shooting the bull and then eating its heart. That's Hollywood. Once famous, the bull (which was bottle fed at birth and quite domesticated) was sought after. Euro Disney offered $100,000 but the Minnesota owners refused to sell.

Photo from KOTA-TV

Many South Dakotans surely think Deadwood's leaders are mostly interested in historic preservation for the business that it brings to town -- but there appears to be true outrage over the recent unannounced destruction of the 1896 Wing Tsue building. According to a story in the Lawrence County Tribune Mayor Francis Toscana doesn't appear ready to let this be swept under the rug. "Replication isn't historic preservation," he said. "It's not the same thing."

He and the city council plan to pursue prosecution of the owner. And a poll in Deadwood Magazine showed that people think the owner was wrong by a 172-9 margin.

There are dozens if not hundreds of buildings just as important in South Dakota that are endangered. Hopefully this outrage will spread.

BOB OATES HAS COVERED EVERY GAME SINCE 1967


When the Kansas City Chiefs played the Green Bay Packers in the first Superbowl 39 years ago, Aberdeen native Bob Oates was there as a writer for the Los Angeles Examiner.

Now at age 90, he's still an LA sportswriter and he's going to the Superbowl again. He is one of only five sportswriters to have covered every game.


Bob, a longtime South Dakota Magazine reader, was inducted into the SD Hall of Fame and the SD Sports Hall of Fame last year. He sent me a little booklet on his life that is quite entertaining. He remembers helping other Aberdeen youngsters throw rocks at hobos riding coal trains, and the hobos would retaliate by throwing coal -- which his friends from poorer families quickly retrieved and hauled home.

As a little lad, he copied stories from the New York Times in pencil to learn how to write. His mother said a newspaperman had to know how to run a typewriter so she bought him an old Underwood and a manual and she helped him learn -- even though she could never type herself.

At Yankton College in the 1930s, before the school emphasized athletics as it did later, he said he learned a great deal about writing, literature and culture -- and he met the love of his life, a girl named Marnie from Tyndall -- now his bride of 70 years.

He'll be covering Pittsburg and Seattle next week, thanks in no small part to his mom's belief in the value of learning the keyboard.