Photo by Terry Palmer

This sunset view from Lookout Mountain reflects the ferocity of the Piedmont Fire.

An Associated Press account just out says the Dakotas are at the epicenter of a huge drought. A lot of our fellow Dakotans are truly suffering an economic catastrophe. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

More proof of how hot and dry it was in July -- my conservative little country church. St. Agnes of Sigel, voted today (Sunday) to finally install air conditioning in the church hall after 120 years of doing just fine without it. I abstained because I sit by the window and fan in the back corner. The AC is probably a good idea, but the liberalism sweeping our church is intriguing. What's coming next? Lady priests?!!?!?

If you are enjoying the weekend, but feeling a little sorry for yourself that the heat is keeping you indoors, think of our friends in the Black Hills who are enduring the heat and the threat of smoke and flames. Volunteer firefighters from across the state are rushing to the mountains to help. It's hard to imagine fighting fires in this heat; they all deserve our appreciation and thanks.

Michael Clarkson, a reader from the Black Hills, emailed this note Saturday morning:

Just want to thank all the east river firefighters who are on the way to the Black Hills to help us out. I've been looking for up to date info on the fire, and so far the best website I've found for current information is the Rapid City Journal's website at www.rapidcityjournal.com
Just click on the wildfire blog at the top of the page. Bill Harlan is at the fire scene and is constantly updating with his laptop. Amazing stories and photographs. It is 105 degrees here and the wind is howling from the south.

Chad Greenway could probably buy his hometown of Mount Vernon, S.D., today, after signing a $13 million-plus contract with the Minnesota Vikings. They must think he's pretty good at what he does. Here's the info from the Star Tribune.

Buffalo Rock Lodge

C.C. Gideon has always intrigued me. He's an example of how this came to be such a great state. Today, while working on a story on Iron Mountain Road, I learned a lot more about him when I stumbled onto his granddaughter, who runs Buffalo Rock Lodge near Keystone.

Her name is Marilyn Oakes, and she knew her Grandpa Gideon. She says he was a humble, quiet fellow who loved the Black Hills.

He also has his handprints on many of the Southern Hills' best manmade treasures, like the Game Lodge, the artist's studio at Rushmore and the pigtail bridges on Iron Mountain Road. In the case of the bridges and tunnels, Gideon was Norbeck's sidekick. What Norbeck envisioned, Gideon put to paper, and later to reality.

Interestingly, Marilyn noted that Gideon was entirely self-taught. He was the oldest of four kids of a single mother (she tossed her husband out the door). He quit school after 8th grade "because he was hungry," says the granddaughter. He learned carpentry while working in a Minnesota boat factory, and found he had a knack for design as well. He built notable buildings in the Gopher State, and was recommended to Norbeck by architects there who designed the Game Lodge. Gideon built the Game Lodge. He also designed Gutzon Borglum's studio after the sculptor tore up plans made by professionals.

I suppose today they wouldn't even let a high school dropout handle a hammer at such a prestigous project, let alone be involved in the design and specs.

A web site called The Black Table lists six things You Don't Know About South Dakota. You'll know them, but the writer Erin Schulte does have an interesting take on the state. She's apparently a new New Yorker who spend a lot of time in South Dakota earlier in life.

Corn Farmers' Ethical Dilemma?



As innovative new uses are found for corn (and other grains), an ethical dilemma arises: is it right to use foodstuffs for energy and packaging and building materials when millions of people are starving? That question is explored in the August issue of Smithsonian. The writer also questions whether packaging made from corn is as biodegradable as it's said to be. Of course, these are not just ethical questions for corn farmers. We all have a stake in it; especially those who are going hungry.

I stumbled on the road journal of a Missouri grad student who pedaled home to Mandan, N.D., following the Lewis & Clark route. Of course, that took her across South Dakota. Her experiences and observations are quite interesting.

Amahia Mallea hit Tyndall just in time for Hot Dog Days (lucky kid). Tyndall has Peschl's Hot Dogs, the best in thousand miles around and maybe further. She also found some kuchen in the bakery. You can eat like that if you bike all day.

She gently discussed river issues with some guys at Pickstown, and they thought she was arguing so she went back to pedaling. She was amazed at all the recreation in the state (see quote below). She speculates that South Dakota has better road shoulders than Missouri because most South Dakotans are pulling boats. Here's a link to Amahia's journal.

In Missouri, we seldom go to the river, rather the river comes to us (in flood). But here in the Dakotas, behind the dams, people go to the river. People's attitudes toward the river couldn't be more different. People don't really talk about "the river" here, because the river has become a series of lakes--the "Great Lakes" of the Midwest, as they call it.