Tag Archives: @southdakotalife

two weeks in South Dakota…

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I just spent a few weeks in Burke, South Dakota visiting family and friends. I’m sorting through my grandfather’s files, letters, newspaper clippings, photos, and library. I’m finding treasures like these photos.

Burke Main Street in the early 1920s. My grandparents, Doris and Louis at a celebration. It looks like Grandpa was either ready to go or listening very carefully.

Leaving for the airport in Sioux Falls on Monday, I was traveling a road that was so familiar. I decided I wanted to see something less so.

I decided to take HWY 81 toward I90 instead of going through Parker as I have on almost every trip since I was a child. The landscape was familiar, however, the farms, barns, and views were all new to me.

It was frigid and MLK day, and I was almost the only car on the road. This heightened the sense of spaciousness I love (and often miss) about being on the upper plains.

I saw the snow geese in the distance and then came upon them swooping in formation. I stopped to watch them…truly breathtaking. I always like the unusual terms of groups of animals…a murder of crows for instance. Geese when waddling on the ground are a gaggle. However, if geese are flying overhead they are a flock or a skein…cool huh?

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me. —Woody Guthrie

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. —Leonard Cohen

No, I cannot forget from where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town
And people let me be just what I want to be

—John Mellencamp—lyrics from Smalltown

Thank you South Dakota for a great visit.

I’ll see you in March.

Will Lillibridge’s words & my photos

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My great-great uncle, William Otis Lillibridge (1877-1909) was a dentist and an author in South Dakota. One of his books, Ben Blair was made into a movie in 1916. My grandfather recounted that his father used to say that Will was a much better writer than dentist.

After a recent trip to South Dakota I wondered if I had photos that reflected some of Will’s words. It seems that Uncle Will loved the wildness of the prairie as much as I do.

A BREATH OF PRAIRIE & OTHER STORIES by William Otis Lillibridge

“The reddish glow in the east had spread and lit up the earth…”

“The self-confidence of the splendid animal was his. He would work and advance himself.”

THE DOMINANT DOLLAR by William Otis Lillibridge

“I’m serious, Robert. Douglass is a cattleman west of the river.”

“The river!” apostrophized Bob. “The man juggles with mysteries. What river, pray?”

“The Missouri, of course. Didn’t you ever study geography?”

“…in a spirit of bravado, roped the “devil” and instituted a contest of wills. The pony was stubborn and a battle royal followed. As a buzzard scents carrion, other cowboys anticipated sport, and a group soon gathered.“

“No, but I know the country. It’s new and wild now, of course, and you’ll find neighbors a bit scarce; but it’s alright.”

LINK: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29245/29245-h/29245-h.htm#:~:text=WILL%20LILLIBRIDGE%20AUTHOR%20OF%20%E2%80%9CBEN%20BLAIR,%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%9CTHE%20DOMINANT%20DOLLAR,%E2%80%9D%20ETC.

The story of his life is characteristically told in this brief autobiographical sketch, written at the request of an interested magazine.

“I was born on a farm in Union County, Iowa, near the boundary of the then Dakota Territory. Like most boys bred and raised in an atmosphere of eighteen hours of work out of twenty-four, I matured early. At twelve I was a useful citizen, at fifteen I was to all practical purposes a man,––did a man’s work whatever the need. In this capacity I was alternately farmer, rancher, cattleman. Something prompted me to explore a university and I went to Iowa, where for six years I vibrated between the collegiate, dental, and medical departments. After graduating from the dental in 1898 I drifted to Sioux Falls and began to practise my profession. As the years passed the roots sank deeper and I am still here."