Since our weekend “Whereizzit” Contest lasted about an hour, let’s try again on a snowy Monday. Guess who is doing what and where in the above photo. The first to guess correctly wins a free, autographed, postage-paid, hardcover first edition copy of our best seller, South Dakota Photographed. We’ll give you the year it [...]
South Dakota is truly becoming an energy-producing state, thanks to biofuels and a few wind energy pioneers. Now, a Canadian corporation wants to explore the potential for uranium mining in western South Dakota and apparently the Canadians have already been able to change some state regulations to accommodate “in situ” leach mining, which involves the [...]
While driving in the country today I came upon this old, old Lutheran church. Guess its name and you win an autographed copy of “South Dakota Photographed,” a collection of favorite photos from the first 20 years of South Dakota Magazine.
No cheating of course, etc. etc. Here’s the first tip: there will be a big, [...]
Sixty-five years ago, two B-17 bombers crashed over Miner County. Eleven crewmen were killed. Dave Jensen of our staff wrote a lengthy article about the disaster for our July/August 2007 issue.
Local farmers and kids rushed to the crash site. One man estimated that a thousand people soon showed up. “We got right up to the [...]
Yes, we get a little cocky about our weather in Yankton. It’s always fun to brag about our tulips and dandelions when friends in Roberts County are still waiting for the ice to leave the lakes. Our farmers are sometimes planting corn when their Day County counterparts are still wearing parkas.
I remember the day [...]
A few years ago I was poking around Philip, the county seat of Haakon County. It is midway between Pierre and Rapid City, and it has warm water springs similar to those at Evans Plunge near Hot Springs. Someone came up with the cool idea of growing tilapia in a big greenhouse, using the warm [...]
I was at the veterinary office the other day with Pennington, our office cat, when a man came in with his cat. When the doc prescribed some expensive medicine, the man said, “We ought to just shoot it but the wife won’t let me.” I could tell from the vet’s face that he’d heard that [...]
Two young Stavig brothers lived in Norway. Lars came to America. Knut stayed home. They mailed letters across the Atlantic for the rest of their days, and thanks to Vermillion arts dean Wayne Knutson those letters have now become the fodder for a Readers Theater production known as the Stavig Letters.
The narrator for the hour-plus [...]
Few things in life are more bitter than a fight over a name, and our good friends at the Sturgis Bike Rally are now battling the good people of Sturgis, Kentucky, because that little burg hopes to hold a Little Sturgis Rally.
According to a story in the venerable Rapid City Journal, the South Dakotans [...]
For a state of well under a million people, we certainly seem to produce our share of entertainers and celebrities. Dawn Kinsman is a Watertown girl who probably doesn’t consider herself either of the above, but fans of her Christian music would argue otherwise. Try the link for a sampling of her songs.
Dawn sang [...]
It sounds like bad news for the fish, but Rapid City officials say they will probably have to drain Canyon Lake next winter to fix the concrete dam before it springs a leak and floods the city. Rapid Citians are understandably wary of big floods.
The GF&P is expected to help with the project, and the [...]
Calving and lambing season are in full swing across South Dakota, but there’s probably no man or beast busier than this little Targhee ewe on the Wagner farm near Wessington Springs. She gave birth to five lambs, and Julie Wagner took this picture to show that they’re all healthy and happy so far. We saw [...]
Listening to Barack Obama’s speech on race yesterday, how could us old-timers not remember our own racial healer — our U.S. Representative Ben Reifel?
Reifel was born in a log cabin on the Rosebud Reservation in 1906 and rose to be the first and only Native American ever elected to statewide office in South Dakota. He [...]
The Worldwide Cheese Championships were recently held in Wisconsin, and the top cheesemakers were from Switzerland and Italy. However, the relatively new Lake Norden Cheese Factory won two awards for its fine mozzarella.
The Lake Norden plant (shown here) is owned by Davisco of Minnesota. When built in 2001, it was the largest private construction project [...]
Many South Dakota communities have a rich Irish tradition, so it’s only fitting that we properly observe Saint Patrick’s Day.
Way back in March of 1986, our magazine published a feature article on the most colorful Irishman ever to walk the Dakotas. That would be Charlie Collins. He was a bit of a braggart and a [...]