'Round the Dakotas

by Gary Allen
Editor
DISPATCH Monthly Magazine

There are as many preconceived notions about North and South Dakota as there are about, say, the bison that roam the two states. Well, it's time to set the record straight--or at least to find out what the two states look like. In doing so, we made a loop around both states, and visited most of the major cities [map of trip].

That goal prompted a counter-clockwise circumnavigation of the Dakotas prior to the 1999 annual conference of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO). Our trip began in Minneapolis, on a day that tied the record high temperature of 99 degrees. We headed up Interstate 94, past hundreds of small lakes, green fields being mowed by tractors, and quaint farmhouses surrounded by silos and trees. At stops along the way, the cashiers, waiters and other people we met did have an accent, but it's not that obvious and actually quite enchanting.

About 100 miles up the road, our car radio was interrupted by the an Emergency Broadcast System announcement that "strong winds and possible damaging hail" were heading right for Alexandria, the town just up ahead. We had already been pelted by strong rains and scared by thunder and lightning directly overhead. We had to slow down to 45 mph at one point because the windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the deluge. But now hail would threatened to damage our rental car--we just couldn't let that happen. So we raced ahead, took the off-ramp and a drive-through bank with an overhang. It was Sunday, so no one minded that we parked there for 30 minutes while the storm raged through. In the end, there was no hail, but we felt smart just the same.

There's plenty to see along Minnesota's highways. It's just that you have to be a little more "tuned" to nature than man-made objects. In Fargo, the Red River separates the town from Moorhead, and poses an ever-present danger of flooding. The town was saved in 1996 (Grand Forks was devastated in the same flood), and obvious flood control dikes and pumping stations help reduce the future risk. Oh, and check out the constant line of hayrolls along the highway--they've replaced those hay bales that you're so used to.

Drive straight across Interstate 94 and you find Bismarck, settled along the Little Missouri and two rolling hills. Nearby, Fort Abraham Lincoln stands as the headquarters for General George Armstrong Custer, and where he set out for Wyoming in 1876 to round up Indians who refused to move onto reservations. He had a picturesque house, looking out onto a hugh parade grounds and a series of barracks.

A straight shot up to Minot, where the annual State Fair featured all the usual attractions--carnival rides, displays of extraordinary foodstuffs, livestock competitions, 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) exhibits, and hucksters selling all sorts of merchandise.

Yes, North Dakota is different. The Diary Queens have the standard menu, but we also saw one that advertised "Cheese Buttons and Borscht Soup." The auto repair shops have portable signs posted outside the business--the day after the big storm--reminding everyone that they can fix hail damage to vehicles.

Further along I-94, you immediately spot a huge, brown buffalo on a hillside--this is Jamestown. That's pretty much the attraction of the town, along with the standard Interstate highway businesses that pop up near interchanges. The 43-foot, concrete buffalo is part of an old-time village, composed of buildings assembled from different parts of the state, and different eras.

Knife River Indian Indian Villages National Historic Site features the remains of an entire village of native Americans who built domed structures along the Little Missouri River north of Bismarck. Now, the site consists mostly of depressions in the earth, along with an A-1 National Park Service visitors' center, a recreated domed house, and artifacts excavated from the site. We just missed the site's annual tribal gathering and celebration, but did get to walk among teepees that were erected for the occasion.

The Teddy Roosevelt National Park is along I-94 in the western part of the state, and is sited next to the small town of Medora. The park's visitors' center has a nice announcement board out front, with an interesting solution for reaching help in an emergency. It features buffalo (who often tie up traffic by blocking the roads), multi-colored canyons and beautiful vistas. It's a 2-1/2 hour drive south into South Dakota, and the "metro" area of Spearfish, Deadwood (a restored western town, now a casino city), and Mt. Rushmore. There is abundant wildlife--we spotted prairie dogs, buffalo, cottontail rabbits, wild horses and mule deer.

Devil's Tower is just over the state line in Wyoming, and 30 miles from anything. It's the country's first National Monument, and is most famous for its role in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." We made the 1.25-mile walk around the base of the tower just after a cool rain swept the area. It was refreshing to walk while it was 55 degrees instead of 102! Small, colored points on the side of the tower were climbers who had started up the fluted monument early in the morning, but who decided to back down when the rain began. Up to this point, we didn't encounter crowds at the tourists points. But the smallish parking lot of Devil's Tower was full and, even in the rain, there were lots of tourists.

Mt. Rushmore is everything you've ever heard--and much that you have not. First, the faces evoke patriotism, history and wonder, and the presentation is every bit as dramatic as you've anticipated. The night-time lighting is especially heart-pounding, as the National Anthem signals a gradual illumination of the faces, which are in darkness on the ridge, which is outlined with the setting sun's dark blue sky.

What you don't see in the photographs and videos is the massive visitor area that was completed in 1998 to accommodate some three million visitors a year. Your first look at the Mt. Rushmore faces arriving by U.S. 16-A is worth the winding 35 mile drive from Rapid City (SD). But the next curve in the roadway is a shock--a giant, multi-level, concrete-gray parking structure, a walkway flanked by restrooms, information center, gigantic gift shop, and a full restaurant (which is not the same as the original as seen in Alfred Hitchcock's movie "North By Northwest"). The walkway leads to a dramatic overlook, and an amphitheater where the night lighting is staged. I suppose the complex was necessary to accommodate the millions of visitors, but somehow the vast concrete expanse makes the simple faces of four presidents seem a little insignificant.

The town of Custer is a convenient headquarters for day-trips around the area. On a map, Keystone would seem to be the most-central town, but it's a one-street collection of "World's Best Bargains," cheap eats and bars. You'll find a helicopter tour operator at the west end of town, flying one of the few Bell 47-G copters still in service, but the rest of the town is a quick visit.

Jewel Cave is the third-largest cave in the world, with over 121 miles of explored tunnels, rooms and caverns, and perhaps hundreds more miles of unexplored territory. It has some unique features--layers of calcite crystal structures that coat most walls, and strange formations of calcite formed by millions of years of dripping water. The cave was located about1900 by two prospectors, but was formally explored rather recently--1959. Unlike some other caves, Jewel is relatively undamaged by tourism, and current tours are by guide only, and are carefully plotted to limit any visitor contact, and therefore damage. There is a visitor's center at the tourists' cave entrance, with an elevator 270+ feet to the start of the tour. There are no other facilities, and the every-15-minute tours (1:15 and 1:30 versions are available, with different levels of difficulty) fill quickly, so plan a stop here earlier in your day.

Just a few miles down the road from Mt. Rushmore is the more ambitious Crazy Horse Monument. It just celebrated the start of its second 50 years of construction, depicting Chief Crazy Horse astride a horse. The granite carving only reveals the Chief's face so far, and visitors must use their imagination to see the remainder of the monument. It's almost impossible to understand the scope of the project until you look through binoculars to discover that the yellow speck on the mountain is actually a giant bulldozer! The entire project is being carrier out with private funds by the family of the original sculptor, making the monument even more impressive. Visitors to the site are greeted by a 1/34th model of the project, which is mounted to allow photos of the mountain in the background.

On the car radio, the govenor of South Dakota reveals that the state is third-worst for wearing seatbelts, and then promotes a program where State Patrol officers who stop you for a minor traffic violation might give you a chance in a state raffle. The prize? It's a one-year lease on a car! Presumably one with seat belts.

Mention the South Dakota Air & Space Museum and you might receive a few chuckles. But it's serious business, since Ellsworth Air Force Base is based in Rapid City (the locals call it "Rapid"). It features several static displays inside and outside, including a B-29. You can also take a one-hour tour of the base, which includes a visit to a Minuteman missile silo (actually an underground training facility on-base that's exactly like the scores of missile sites around South Dakota, and that were deactivated after a treaty was signed with the former Soviet Union).

Did I mention the tiny town of Sturgis? It's usually home for under 1,000 residents, but in mid-August several hundred thousand persons converge on motorcycles for the Sturgis Rally. During our visit to the Black Hills in western South Dakota, we counted hundreds of motorcyclists heading towards Sturgis, and hundreds of other vehicles towing covered trailers with motorcycles inside. Motel parking lots all along Interstate 90 (the main east-west route in the state) were filled with cycles and cyclists, and the main street of every town along the way had cycles parked out in front of night spots.

Badlands National Park has been the setting for several motion pictures, including Armageddon and Brave Heart. It's an unreal, desolate and hot (in summer) area of central South Dakota that has been eroded in a particular--and spectacular--fashion. The effects of water and wind have left tall towers of layered soil and rock standing among gullies and valleys.

About mid-way across I-90, the town of Mitchell sports one of the most unusual sites on the trip--the Corn Palace. It's a large auditorium first built early in the century, and then decorated annually with designs made of corn cobs and wheat sheafs. It's amazing what just a few colors can accomplish, and the huge number of tourists that show up to snap photos, populate the town's motels and restaurants.

Lastly, we stopped in Sioux Falls (SD) for a look at their renovated Falls Park. It's a very pleasant place to listen to the water rushing over the rocks, sit in the shade, and even climb three stories up an observation tower to view the scene.

Within two days we land in Minneapolis and will begin our coverage of the APCO conference. We're looking forward to it!