South Dakota and West

 Sunday was a quiet day.  We visited a few stores along the way and were disappointed.  The temperature was decent and it was dry.  

We arrived in Sioux Falls, SD on Sunday evening. Sioux Falls is a large city, about 182,000.  It appears to be a clean city with industries that include tourism, agriculture, a network hub for transportation among others.  It is home to one of the largest stockyards in the US.  Unemployment is about 2.7%.

This is our third trip to Sioux Falls.  One of the reasons we keep coming back is because it is a pretty city and the water fall.  The first time we visited the water fall was in the early spring and the water was frozen in place.  

A couple of years later we visited in the fall.  2017 was real wet for SD.  There was so much rain the farmers were unable to harvest their crops.  There was standing water in the fields and the tractors were unable to maneuver the fields.  Hence the water fall had an abundance of water flowing over the rocks.

Now in 2021, the water fall is not frozen but because there was not very much rain last year and little snow this last winter, the water fall has minimal water coming over the rocks.  Of course they are hoping for more rain this summer to water their corn and soybeans and to feed the water fall.  Today was cold with wind.  I had on a pair of jeans with some insulated pants over the jeans.  On top I had 4 layers plus gloves.

Sioux Falls, SD

Through the south western part of Minnesota and south eastern part of SD most of farmers depend on rain throughout the summer to water their crops.  We have seen little evidence of irrigation.

After visiting the water fall we drove west again on I-90 to Mitchell, S.D.  Mitchell is about 75 miles west of Sioux Falls.  Mitchell has a population of about 16,000.  It is best known for the Corn Palace.  

This is the 3rd time we have visited Mitchell.  Our first visit in 2015 was by accident.  I was so interested in exactly how the mural was reconstructed each year and I wanted to see it in progress.  So in the fall of  2017 we visited again to watch some of the progress.  We learned that it actually occurs throughout most of the year starting when the crops are harvested.  The corn and other grains have to just the right amount of moisture in them to attach them to the walls of the building.

Eight years before the turn of the 20th century, in 1892 (when Mitchell, South Dakota was a small, 12-year-old city of 3,000 inhabitants) the World's Only Corn Palace was established on the city’s Main Street. During it’s over 100 years of existence, it has become known worldwide and now attracts more than a half a million visitors annually. The palace was conceived as a gathering place where city residents and their rural neighbors could enjoy a fall festival with extraordinary stage entertainment - a celebration to climax a crop-growing season and harvest. This tradition continues today with the annual Corn Palace Festival held in late August each year.

By 1905 the success of the Corn Palace had been assured and a new Palace was to be built, but this building soon became too small. In 1919, the decision to build a third Corn Palace was made. This one was to be permanent and more purposeful than its predecessors. The present building was completed in 1921, just in time for the Corn Palace Festivities. That winter Mitchell hosted its first boy’s state basketball tournament. The building was considered to have the finest basketball arena in the upper Midwest area.

In the 1930’s, steps were taken to recapture the artistic decorative features of the building and minarets and kiosks of Moorish design were added restoring the appearance of early day Corn Palace.

Today, the Corn Palace is more than the home of the festival or a point of interest of tourists. It is a practical structure adaptable to many purposes. Included among its many uses are industrial exhibits, dances, stage shows, meetings, banquets, proms, graduations arena for Mitchell High School and Dakota Wesleyan University as well as district, regional and state basketball tournaments. USA Today named the Corn Palace one of the top 10 places in America for high school basketball.

The Palace is redecorated each year with naturally colored corn and other grains and native grasses to make it “the agricultural show-place of the world”. We currently use 12 different colors or shades of corn to decorate the Corn Palace: red, brown, black, blue, white, orange, calico, yellow and now we have green corn! A different theme is chosen each year, and murals are designed to reflect that theme. Ear by ear the corn is nailed to the Corn Palace to create a scene. The decorating process usually starts in late May with the removal of the rye and dock. The corn murals are stripped at the end of August and the new ones are completed by the first of October. Just like South Dakota Agriculture, growing condition can affect production of our decorating materials and may delay the decorating process.

Today the palace features murals of South Dakota celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 3rd Corn Palace Building.  Due to COVID and too much rain the murals have not been replaced for 2 years.

Mural for 100th Anniversary of Corn Palace
Murals made from grasses and corn grown
in the area.

After re-visiting the Corn Palace again we continued west on I-90 toward Rapid City on the other side of South Dakota.  We stopped in a little town called Chamberlain.  It is another one of those little Americana towns that are fun to walk through.

There are two other small towns along I-90 that we have visited before.   The term "been there, done that" holds true for these towns.  One is Murdo which has a huge car museum.  If I remember, there are 5 large buildings full of cars of all makes.  One is even made entirely of wood.  The other town is Wall.  There are road signs from the east and the west boarders of SD, advertising Wall Drug.  It is a block long store that is supposed to look like several stores but inside they all run together.

Arrived in Rapid City about 5 PM.  There was a time change so the day was longer than most.  We were tired of sitting and looking forward to getting out of the truck.

We will be home soon.  Good Night

It was a good day for traveling.  The roads were good but there is still snow on the ground and in the hills.