One of the seven Hunhoff brothers lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. Because we feel so sorry that he can't live in South Dakota, the rest of us make an annual trip down I-29 and across Arkansas (which is actually not such a bad-looking state). We golf, bowl, eat, drink a beer, play cards, and then return –– leaving our brother glad that he doesn't have to put up with us year-around.

The point is... we're leaving now. I'll be back Tuesday.

We've Yet To Find The End Of Jewel Cave!


The original cave entrance.

Two brothers stumbled upon the entrance to Jewel Cave in 1904 when they were exploring their land in the southern Black Hills. They felt a whoosh of hot air. At first they thought they'd traveled all the way to Pierre, but then they remembered the legislature wasn't in session at the time, so they explored further and found that the hot air was coming from a hole in a cliff. They enlarged the opening (the rest of this is true) and came upon a cavern that was beautiful when illuminated with their lantern light.

They almost immediately used it as a tourist attraction. Soon, Pres. Teddy Roosevelt heard about it and it became one of America's first national parks. Less than a a mile of the cave's passageways were explored the first 50 years -- but since then, scientists have crawled and crept 135 miles into the cave -- making it the third longest cave system in the world.

They still haven't found the end. Who knows? It might still run all the way to Pierre.

You've probably heard by now that actor Sean Penn will be filming scenes for a movie this summer in the tiny Miner County town of Carthage. It's a nice little place that is fighting to stay afloat. Carthage has a pretty little fishing lake on the edge of town and the citizens recently begged 1,300 bales from farmers and built themselves the world's only Straw Bale Museum.

Here's a little Sean Penn trivia: did you know his father, a film director, refused to testify at the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s and was black-listed?

The movie is based on a true story about a loner who lived awhile in Carthage before embarking on an adventure to Alaska, where he died a lonely death.

Notre Dame Academy was perhaps the most important architectural treasure in Mitchell next to the Corn Palace. But no more. The Mitchell Daily Republic website shows this picture of demolition work underway this week.

The only good news is that it does end a bitter controversy in the city. Even parishioners in Holy Family Church, which owned the property, were quite divided between historic preservation and future land use plans. The argument is over.

If you have not seen Brookings County farmer Trygvie Trooien's fashion show, then make plans now to attend his "Bib Overall Modeling Road Show" on Saturday, March 4, at the Toronto (South Dakota to be clear) Farm Show. This is the 2006 debut of the bib overall show.

Trygvie is one of our favorite South Dakotans. The 50-ish bachelor farmer has always worn bib overalls at work, play, church and for business in town. Over the years, he has amassed perhaps the world's biggest collection of overalls. He has also learned a lot about farm fashion.

Did you know that Big Yank promised no more than one percent shrinkage? H.D. Lee & Co. guaranteed that their overalls "must look better, fit better and wear longer or you may have a new pair free or your money back."

He says the general rule of wearing overalls went like this: A man wore his newest pair to church. When they were slightly worn and faded they could be used for night business, meaning they could be worn to town or to visit neighbors. When the overall was no longer fit for public use, it was worn during the work day.

Trygvie and his brother, Phil, carry it all out with tongue in cheek. Trygvie is Thoreau with a Farmall tractor. he is what Thomas Jefferson wanted every man to become –– at home and happy on the land.

He is very proud of his Norwegian Lutheran heritage. Prior to visiting him, we'd heard that his hometown had four Lutheran churches. I asked him about that. "No," replied Trygvie. "We have four churches: Lutheran, Lutheran, Lutheran and Methodist."

He attends Singsaas Lutheran Church on the South Dakota-Minnesota border. His farm borders the east shore of Oak Lake. Osh Kosh by Gosh, this is exactly what South Dakota life was really supposed to be about in the first place.

I came across this good information while doing some research for a writing project. Paul Higbee, our longtime Black Hills correspondent, was called for jury duty. As he waited his turn, the lawyer was questioning another prospect.

Lawyer: "I see that on your pre-trial questionnaire you completed that you list rattlesnake milking as a hobby."

"Yes sir," said the possibly juror.

"I assume milking means extracting venom from the fangs?" asked the attorney.

"Yes."

"Any uses for this venom?"

"No sir," he replied. "I just like catching rattlesnakes and milking them."

Paul said the snake milker was home before the rest of the jury pool had their coats off.

$799 million of corn raised last year but soybeans are a close 2nd

Last week's Pierre Capitol Journal had some bad news for the roller coaster farm economy. The value of grain sold in 2005 was below the cash totals for 2004 or 2003. Oddly, North Dakota showed an increase in total sales.

Our '05 total was $2.62 billion .... still quite a lot, but hopefully the downward trend is a blimp. Of course, most of the gains have been in greater efficiencies by farmers. Prices have been nearly static for decades.

No group in America has become more efficient than the American farmer. If the farmer was running Ford Motor Company, cars would cost $7,500 and they would last 500,000 miles (though there may be a little baling wire under the hood). If farmers ran Wallmart, there'd be health care coverage for all and lawn chairs would be 50 cents.

So the farmer's cost/price squeeze continues. To us it's just another reminder of the farmers' amazing survival story.

Sometimes a great old fellow by the name of Arnold Johnson from Estelline calls me to complain about current events. He is an octogenarian, an old rebellious NFO member who has never quit fighting.

Today Arnold is worked up over the extreme religious right. He says it is nothing new. He remembers when there was a pastor over by Bruce who got everyone in the community riled up into a fightin' mood. He says the pastor once claimed to have seen the devil himself one night out in the "school section," which was the public lands devoted to school funding.

Arnold says the pastor claims to have driven his car off into the grassy field and tried to chase the devil down and run him over -- right here in East River South Dakota! "And if I'd have had a V-8 I would have caught him and run right over the top of him!" said the pastor.

How much better a world we'd have today if that pastor had just had a V-8 engine. Maybe the congregation should have been paying him better.

And what a tourist site we could have made: "The Devil Was Killed On This Spot in 1955, t-shirts 3 for $10 inside gift shop!"