South Dakota towns and cities dependent on manufacturing jobs have suffered the most from the economic malaise of 2008-2009, but overall the state's economy has plodded along better than most. There are several reasons why we've escaped the worst. We never got carried away with housing prices, of course. Our people are generally more cautious and practical than the average American.

And we have enjoyed a booming farm economy.

It has often been said that they even spend a lot of money when they are not making so much — and we're about to test that theory because profits are going down on the farm according to last Friday's Wall Street Journal.

Journal writers quoted ag department experts who think that farm profits may fall 38% this year. Net farm income is expected to drop to $54 billion this year, down $33.2 billion from 2008 when high oil prices resulted in higher corn prices thanks to ethanol. That is a sobering $9 billion lower than the 10-year average.

Dairy, hog, wheat, soybean and corn farmers will be among the hardest hit if conditions continue as they are. Hog farmers are losing as much as $30 a head. And to make matters worse, land prices are expected to soften — which will make it harder for farmers to borrow if their collateral has depreciated.

The good news? Most farmers are coming off several good years so they may be prepared for a downturn. Let's hope so for their sake and for South Dakota's.

By John Andrews

Earlier this week we got a call from a reader asking if we had an image of the Dakota Territorial flag. The question was understandable considering we are headquartered in the former territorial governor's home and Yankton was capital of Dakota Territory for 22 years. But we don't have an image and neither, apparently, does anyone else. In fact a Dakota Territory flag might never have existed.

A flag honoring Dakota Territory hangs in the state capitol in Pierre, but a quick Internet search reveals that U.S. territories in the late 19th century had official seals, not flags. They flew only the Stars and Stripes. Incidentally the Dakota Territorial seal is now the state seal of North Dakota (shown above). Historians, does that sound right?

Speaking of flag trivia, that knower of all things called the Internet also suggests that the push for Dakota Territory statehood led to the creation of some rare and valuable American flags. The U.S. flag contained 38 stars in 1889, one for each of the country's 38 states. Some flag makers, oblivious to the intense push here to split the territory into two states, began making flags with 39 stars, betting Dakota Territory would be admitted as one state. Of course it was split, so the U.S. never had an official 39-star flag. Check your attics because apparently a few of these flags still exist and can be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to collectors.

By Bernie Hunhoff

A few weeks ago I was in Marshall County. Having never seen the interior of the grand courthouse in Britton, I decided this was the time. It is a fine and stately structure, one of the grandest in South Dakota.

South Dakota's courthouses all have a charm their own. Hand County's has a museum on second floor. Perkin's has a display of a hanging that occurred there. Bon Homme has an Eiffel Tower.

Britton's courthouse wasn't quite that quirky, but I did notice a handbill on the bulletin board titled "For Sale By Owner." A local fellow is selling his 24x36 wood frame house. "Great Fit-it-upper" (sic) he typed, "Make an Offer."

He is also selling a 14.6-foot Crestliner fishing boat for $600, a 1989 Chevy S-19 with AM/FM radio for $1,000 OBO and a Swedish rifle with wood laminated stock and a 3x9 scope.

"Reason for selling the rifle is that there are some concerned people in this community that deem fit for me not to have my deer rifle," he wrote, "as I have been told I am a danger to myself and others. The rifle can be seen by contacting the Marshall County Sheriff's Office."

The fellow signed his name and address at the bottom.

Believe me when I say I'm not poking fun at the sales bill. I left the courthouse thinking that while there is probably a sad story behind it all, the "system" seems to be working quite well in Marshall County. Neighbors apparently were watching out for a neighbor. The sheriff was contacted and he found some middle-ground — give me the rifle and we'll try to help you sell it. A man with some troubles still has his independence and relative freedom. Any South Dakotan with a fishing boat still has a reason to get up in the morning — especially if he lives in the great Glacial Lakes country of South Dakota. We wish the fellow all the best.

By John Andrews

In our July/August issue we wrote about the Gut Check 212, a 48-hour bike race on Highway 212 from the Wyoming line to Minnesota. Just thinking of pedaling 400 miles across South Dakota is enough to make anyone's bottom half ache, but how about doing it twice? That's called the Hell and Back ride: 800 miles from Minnesota to Wyoming and back again. No one has successfully completed the challenge until this year. Karl Krueger, a 62-year-old man from Ethan, did it in just under 93 hours. Krueger tells the Mitchell Daily Republic that the cooler-than-normal August and monster cookies from his wife helped.

By John Andrews

Jes Schlaikjer may have been one of South Dakota's most prominent artists, but we're still learning more about him. Schlaikjer grew up north of Carter in Tripp County, graduated from Winner High School and went on to become a well-known portrait artist on the East Coast. He painted popular war posters during World War II and portraits of heavy hitters like Dwight Eisenhower and Gen. Patton.

An interesting characteristic about the artist is that he always wore a business suit while painting. An article by John Rychtarik in the Summer 2009 issue of South Dakota History explains why.

"I was painting in my studio one hot summer day when a man telephoned to make arrangements for a portrait," Schlaikjer told a writer in 1953. "Since I was wearing a minimum of clothing for comfort, I told him I'd have to change before meeting him. He said he had to catch a train and couldn't wait until I got dressed. I lost the commission."

From that day forward, Schlaikjer was always prepared to meet with someone, even if it came in the middle of a painting. His response led to more questions. Surely it must be expensive to clean suits with paint dribbled on them. And since Schlaikjer was so scantily clad while painting on that hot summer day, it must be stifling to paint in a full suit. "I very seldom get a spot on my clothing," the artist responded. "And, in the summer, when it's too hot to wear a business suit, it's too hot to paint."

Photo: The Washington Star Pictorial Magazine, March 22, 1953.

The Greater Yankton South Dakota Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry Association today announced that South Dakota Magazine's main headquarters at 3rd & Pearl in historic downtown Yankton has been selected as the image for the 2009 Yankton holiday ornament.

Each year, the Chamber's Trade & Growth Committee creates an ornament featuring one of the city's historic sites.

The magazine headquarters was built in 1875 by Territorial Governor John Pennington and it is the only governor's house still standing in the old capital city. The magazine has been published here since 1987. We've also acquired two adjoining brick buildings also constructed by the ornery old governor in the 1870s and 1880s.

So leave a little branch on your Christmas tree for us.

By John Andrews

I'll never be able to eat canned spinach again.

I recently got an e-mail from Dan James, a graduate student at South Dakota State University. It was a photo of him in Rapid Creek holding a dripping wad of green goo. It does look like canned spinach, but it's an invasive species of algae called rock snot.

It showed up in Rapid Creek in 2002. Since then researchers have found that brown trout in the creek have gotten smaller and fewer. James is studying the algae to figure out what effects it is having on fish and other aquatic life.

He's just beginning his study, but he has made one discovery. Mosquitoes and gnats are plentiful in areas of the creek where the algae grows, so remember the Deep Woods Off and the vanilla on your next trip.

A friend of ours who works for NWPS just delivered an earwig to the magazine office. He had a tough time identifying the half-inch bug with big pinchers (he says they do hurt) and he wondered whether they are common to South Dakota?
I can't recall seeing one before. Anybody know for sure? According to the big Web, they got their name because Europeans once thought they liked to climb into a man's ears and burrow into his brain. But apparently that's a myth. There is only one recorded case of it happening.

And they don't bite, either. But they do pinch. The Web says they arrived in the USA about a century ago on the East Coast. They made it to Wisconsin in the 1980s. Are they new to SD?