Dakota Life: Greetings from Lemmon

CONTENTS LEMMON SOUTH DAKOTA, NO EXPLANATION NEEDED. MOTHER DUCK FARMS HONEY BEE FARMER SDPB ARCHIVE: PERKINS COUNTY PETRIFIED GIANT VETERAN REUNION: UNLIKELY NEIGHBORS THE BORDER MONUMENTS VIEW FROM THE CREW

GREETINGS FROM LEMMON

DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER SDPB.org

LEMMON SOUTH DAKOTA, NO EXPLANATION NEEDED

BY LARRY ROHRER

Even if you’re visiting Lemmon for the first time, you won’t need anyone to take you aside and explain what is special about the community. They will if you ask, but you will see it all around you.

For me, the experience starts with the drive north from Howes Corner, through Faith, and along the 70 plus mile length of Perkins County. I’m an annual visitor to the area, but always appreciate the unobstructed view of 20 plus miles to any horizon, punctuated by buttes, rolling prairie, and the Moreau and Grand Rivers.

But I hope you will ask. You may meet renowned sculptor John Lopez driving downtown in his pickup. As we were filming out front of his Kokomo Gallery in the snow, John drove up and said...

“I’ve got some errands to run, but the Gallery is open is you need to go inside and warm up.”

Lemmon is like many communities in the state, there is at least “one of everything” available in town. But be prepared to drive the 25 miles west to Hettinger ND, or 98 miles east to Mobridge, or even to Bismarck. The North Dakota capitol is an hour closer to Lemmon than driving to Pierre.

Self portraits are a challenge. Also note, archery hunting is allowed in many state parks. I try to wear something in a color not found in nature. Exhibit A: the blaze orange hat.

Back to what you will see all around you…

The Petrified Wood Park is extraordinary. This connection to the area’s prehistoric past can be overwhelmed by the creativity, scale, and detail of the park.

If you want the full picture, spend some time at the Grand River Museum. The executive summary is in the “Cowboy riding a Triceratops” sculpture outside. Inside, is a history of the land, prehistoric inhabitants, native and white cultures, and legend like that of Hugh Glass and the grizzly bear.

Continued on the next page.

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Lemmon South Dakota Continued Or you’ll see Phyliss Schmidt from the Grand River Museum. “The Museum is closed for the season, but if you want to stop by, I can let you in the have a look around.”

Or Brad Wheeler, whose parents loved the area so much, they bought a jewelry business in Lemmon so they could move there. And after 75 years of innovation and a commitment to community and customer service, multi-generational Wheeler Manufacturing is a leader throughout North America. Brad Wheeler says the longevity of 100 plus Wheeler employees in Lemmon “tells you all you need to know” about the business and the community.

I live in a small community, but near my hometown of Sioux Falls. So, what is it about living in a rural and somewhat isolated community like Lemmon? I get the sense that they understand who they are, what they want, and they find it in the community and the wide-open spaces… and their opportunity is all around, if they make the most of what you have.

Special thanks to Jen Suter, Lemmon Chamber of Commerce www.lemmonsd.com Local history is on display at the Grand River Museum.

A tribute to native leader Sitting Bull illustrates his life. G.E. Lemmon is the town’s namesake.

Art by John Lopez commemorates the legend that is Hugh Glass.

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MOTHER DUCK FARMS

BY JACKELYN SEVERIN

The humble chicken egg is a staple of our diet and often the first thing we reach for at breakfast or for baking. If you live in the Sioux Falls area, though, you have another option. Now you can buy locally grown duck eggs.

The Costlow farm has a myriad of animals, from chickens, to goats, to geese. But, of course, the stars of the show are Debra Costlow’s ducks. Costlow says that she has six different breeds of ducks, so her flock comes in all shapes and colors, “The black ones are Cayugas. I don’t know if you can see the tall, skinny, lanky brown ones. Those are runner ducks. I just like the way they look. It says, they’re described as bowling pin shaped.”

Costlow rotationally grazes the ducks. She is moving them to their winter home on a lush lot with lots of tall grasses. The journey isn’t far but, as you can imagine, moving one-hundred ducks is no easy task.

A couple years ago she was buying chickens online and came across some interesting looking ducks so she ordered those too.

“I don’t know what happened. I just bought some ducks as pets and all of a sudden, I’m trying to sell duck eggs,” Debras shared while laughing.

It’s been a year since she started Mother Duck Farms. Costlow says there was a small dip in sales because of the pandemic but despite that her business is doing well.

Even though the how of starting her business is a bit fuzzy, Costlow certainly knows the why, “Sell to my community sustainably, humanely farmed food.

You know, organic, chemical free, I believe in it all. You know, I want to be a part of feeding South Dakota.”

This is just one of the benefits of duck eggs over chicken eggs. Duck eggs are about twice the size of a chicken egg, which Costlow says is great for baking, “The yokes are bigger and higher in fat. So you get richer bakes. They’re good for custards.”

Costlow also says duck eggs have higher amounts essential amino acids, omega-3s, B vitamins and other nutrients. The big question many ask, though, is how do they taste?

“So they’re free range, just like our chickens.

They eat the same feed, just higher protein, as the chickens. So our duck eggs, as far as taste, taste the same as chicken eggs,” shares Costlow.

Costlow sells her eggs to two organic, local foods grocery stores in Sioux Falls. She also sells directly to customers. She says a lot of her first customers were really happy to have a local source of duck eggs because they are allergic to chicken eggs, “The protein make-up is different so that people who are allergic chicken eggs can eat duck eggs.”

Luckily, Costlow has two very eager helpers. Her 7-year-old twins, the oldest of five, Eden and Clara.

Eden shares, “I like collecting eggs the most because it’s helping mom.”

Debra follows up, “They’re really good at helping.

I’m glad I have them otherwise this would be, take a lot longer every day to do. They are actually the ones that are picking the eggs, bringing them in.

They water the ducks, you know. They’re awesome.”

Costlow is originally from Georgia and used to work in IT. She moved in 2007 with her husband, who is originally from South Dakota, to a farm just west of Sioux Falls.

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HONEYBEE FARMER

BY TOM HANSON

Tom Hanson, with videographer Jordyn Henderson visits Bret Adee near Bruce, South Dakota. Their ‘livestock’ is housed in 80,000 hives across the state.

VIDEO: INSPECT HIVES AND PROCESS HONEY WITH BRET ADEE

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PERKINS COUNTY VIDEO:

HUGH GLASS & STORIES OF THE PRAIRIE VIDEO: JOHN LOPEZ, BRONZE CASTING COWBOY

VIDEO: JAMI LYNN, “40 MILES TO WATER”

SDPB ARCHIVE: PETRIFIED GARDEN

Jami Lynn’s great great grandfather attempted to move his family to Lemmon. She shares his lore.

VIDEO: LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH DAKOTA: PETRIFIED GARDEN Return to Menu

PETRIFIED GIANT: THE ALMOST FORGOTTEN PETRIFIED TREE OF PERKINS COUNTY

BY MICHAEL ZIMNY

An ancient petrified tree in Perkins County may be one of the largest ever discovered, and may eventually tell us more about what kind of landscape existed here in the ancient past.

“My father and a friend of his discovered it while herding sheep back in the 1930s,” recalls retired local rancher Clyde Jesfjeld. “They decided that it had to be a tree because of the way it appeared.”

Contemporary newspaper articles confirm that it was George Jesfjeld and Charles Murphy who first discovered the tree, Northwest of Bison, South Dakota.

“Word got around, and back in those days the WPA was in operation. There was a small crew that came in and unearthed more of it than what my

father and his friend had uncovered.”

Over the years, there have been several efforts to partially excavate and examine the tree. In 1949, the Rapid City Journal reported that University of South Dakota Museum Director Dr. W.H. Over visited the site, and estimated the tree’s age at sixty million years. The same article listed its measurements as nine feet in diameter at the exposed base, with eighty-four feet uncovered, extending to as much as two hundred feet total as it disappears beneath the sloping ground.

Fred Jennewein, a Bison-area rancher who ran a small range relics museum in town, was active in the effort to excavate the tree. “In the 75 feet of exposed log,” wrote Jennewein, “there is no break

thru [sic] the trunk of the tree altho [sic] in recent years there has been some vandalism by shelling off considerable sized pieces of the petrified wood.”

Today, the base of the tree — which is located on a School and Public Lands parcel, but not accessible by road — can still be seen, though much of tree has been re-interred with earth. Your SDPB Outdoors Correspondent counted 37 paces walking along the depression where excavation once apparently occurred, before the earth above it slopes upward. Away from the exposed base, an occasional glimpse of petrified wood emerges from beneath the surface.

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The base of the tree. A slight depression runs most of its length. Photo by Michael Zimny

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Petrified Giant Continued At one time, some locals hoped that the entire tree would be uncovered or excavated. “When the summer comes again we are going out with a bulldozer or some other kind of dozer and find out just how much farther that Oldest Old Timer goes back into that hill,” wrote Jennewein.”

That does not appear to have happened. After the 1950’s, newspaper articles about the tree are scarce.

Though there had been some talk of removing the tree intact, that would be a difficult, expensive job.

In 1967, the state legislature allocated $1,200 to place a fence around the site, probably to prevent its gradual disappearance.

“I remember as a young boy taking a lot of different people down there so they could look at it,” Clyde Jesjfeld recalls. “A lot of people took a small piece.”

There is no fence in place, if one was ever built.

Souvenir seekers may have forgotten about the tree and its remote location.

“There was discussion about getting the tree hauled out of there and placing it somewhere else where the public could view it,” says Mike Cornelison, Land Agent for School and Public Lands. However, any such effort would have to balance protecting the integrity of the native prairie against extracting the tree, a delicate task in its own right.

“If there was the right kind of supervision, it could be excavated,” says Cornelison.

So far, the funding has not come forward.

Recently, several scientists at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have expressed some interest in visiting the site. Perhaps soon we will learn more about the tree — it’s history and potential future.

Is this the biggest intact petrified tree in the world, as some local enthusiasts claimed in the past? That probably depends on how bigness is measured. Maybe the tree can tell us more about the environment it thrived in, back in the days, to quote Fred Jennewein, “when the earth was young.”

A US COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY MARKER PLACED AT THE SITE IN 1952.

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VETERAN REUNION: UNLIKELY NEIGHBORS

BY MELISSA HAMERSMA SIEVERS My paternal grandfather served in World War II in the Pacific. I’m a little fuzzy on the details of Grandpa Hamersma’s service. I know his unit provided transportation and hauled supplies. I know he was wounded by a sniper; shot as he was walking, the bullet went through his right arm on the back swing. If he’d been a fraction of a second slower, he’d have taken the shot through his torso.

I know that my grandmother was frequently kicked as my grandpa slept at night. He would occasionally have nightmares, a product of PTSD. He very rarely shared his war experience. One day he and I were visiting my grandmother in her nursing home. Another gentleman who’d been a veteran stopped at my grandma’s table to chat up my grandpa. I was amazed to hear them talk about the war. Then the visitor apologized for monopolizing the conversation. I assured him it was fine as I never got to hear such things.

World War II ended in September of 1945 and men and women who served still suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Still, many are not likely to share their experiences with others. Susan Buhler is all too familiar with this phenomenon.

Buhler is the Life Enrichment Director and Resident Safety Advocate at Edgewood Healthcare in Watertown.

Buhler meets with residents when they move into Edgewood. She offers a questionnaire to get

to know them on a more personal level: hobbies, preferences, veteran status. And while Buhler is intrigued to learn more about folks who’ve served, she’s learned to not press too hard if they are hesitant to share.

Of the 120 folks who live at Edgewood in Watertown, 17 are veterans. Buhler takes time to get to know each member of this community, including the former soldiers. Her nature is to be curious about their history, if they are willing to share. She offers empathy and each resident becomes part of this new family. To that end, Buhler works to chat with them about any topic, in hopes of making them feel comfortable to come to her with any issues that may arise while they live at Edgewood.

DELBERT PETERSEN, ARMY JIM BREWER, ARMY

World War II is a fascinating subject for many history enthusiasts and Buhler views any anecdote a veteran is willing to share as a gift. Delbert, who is 96, has lived at Edgewood for nearly four years. “I knew he was a veteran,” says Buhler. “Through oneon-one time with him, I was just asking him more questions. He went through the Battle of the Bulge, which I know was an extremely cold battle. A lot of people did not survive that. We did win against all odds against Germany. It was quite an experience to be right on the ground, in the cold sleeping, on the ground. I asked him questions about that.”

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COURTESY 66TH INFANTRY DIVISION.ORG Army Reunion Continued.

If that were the extent of this man’s experience, it would be an honor to be graced with his tale.

However, the Battle of the Bulge wasn’t the only opportunity for him to display bravery and grit. “I discovered that he had been on a ship,” says Buhler.

“He said it was hit by two torpedoes.”

Buhler was mesmerized and proceeded cautiously. She wanted to learn more, but she also didn’t want to press too hard. “When it comes to veterans I never know if there’s any gray lines that I shouldn’t cross. I talk about it as long as they’re comfortable with that.”

Delbert shared that his ship was the Belgian S.S. Léopoldville, which had been hurriedly reloaded with reinforcements for the Battle of the Bulge.

Upon investigation, Buhler learned that its sinking had been kept secret. “I wanted to know why it was hushed up,” says Buhler. “I don’t know if Delbert was just not talking about it because he was trained not to, or he was in denial, but he survived that sinking.”

After surviving the torpedo blasts and sinking, Delbert went on to fight in and survive the Battle of the Bulge. Those experiences alone are enough to fill a lifetime. His story is a treasure gifted from a generation that doesn’t often talk about their traumas. But more was to come.

When another gentleman moved into Edgewood in the spring of 2020, Buhler proceeded with her usual questionnaire. Jim shared that he was a veteran. He talked about Christmas Eve, 1944.

He spent the night on a boat crossing the English Channel. “Both gentlemen, when they stopped to describe that night, kind of looked off and said it was a cold night,” says Buhler. “The moon was shining bright. The stars were bright. There was no

wind.”

Jim had been part of a convoy with a ship struck by enemy torpedoes. Buhler recognized the story.

“He started explaining it. And I said, ‘was that the SS Léopoldville?’”

Jim wasn’t on the SS Léopoldville, but on a smaller boat nearby, whose servicepeople helped rescue survivors from the SS Léopoldville. “I said, ‘Jim, there’s a guy that lives here that was on the SS Léopoldville that night!’,” says Buhler. “He said, ‘You’re kidding!’ He was really shocked.”

The discovery offered some release. Buhler believed Jim’s story, which was not always how his listeners responded. “He said, ‘you know, when I got out of the military, I talked about it with my friends, family, but nobody would believe me. Even other soldiers wouldn’t believe me because there was no report. There was no news. There were no newspapers. It was hushed up.’”

Buhler says the disbelief led Jim to stop sharing his experience. “It’s kind of sad, you know. Not only is that a traumatic thing for them back then, but it compounds it, that it was hushed up.”

In 1944, a Christmas Eve mission was

presumed to be relatively safe. With everyone busy celebrating, an attack seemed unlikely. But a German U-boat aimed for the largest ship in the channel, the Léopoldville. Rescue calls to France went unanswered, presumably due to holiday celebrations.

Buhler took it upon herself to video-record, separately, the veterans’ accounts of that Christmas Eve. Each man remembers the evening very differently. Jim watched soldiers attempt to leap from the Léopoldville. The distance between decks was so great that successful landings resulted in broken limbs. Vessels pitching dangerously on the water made jumping ship even more hazardous. An ill-timed leap could heave a soldier between boats, crushing him as the vessels collided. Some chose to stay on the sinking ship.

As the archivist, Buhler says many aspects of the stories are captivating, including the abandon ship announcements issued in Flemish and not understood by many U.S. soldiers. Delbert was fortunate to get on a lifeboat. “It was a miracle that as many people survived that night,” says Buhler.

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Jim Brewer

Delbert Petersen VIDEO: SUSAN BUHLER’S VETERAN INTERVIEW MAY BE VIEWED ONLINE.

Army Reunion Continued.

Astonishingly, seventy-six years later Jim and Delbert found themselves in the same place at the same time. And now long-held stories are being documented and shared, including across social media -- a task Jim’s family had asked him to do for years. The veterans also shared their experience as part of the assisted living facilities veteran’s program. “We’re proud of the video,” says Buhler. “The families are very happy, very proud.” Buhler plans to document the stories of other veteran residents who are willing to share.

My own grandfather passed away in May of 2009, a purple heart recipient. I don’t have the opportunity to interview him about his tour. I do think of him each Veteran’s Day. I am glad that as time goes on, sharing these stories is an opportunity of dignity instead of stigma.

Susan Buhler’s job with Edgewood is to make the residents feel welcomed, cared for, and safe. Fortunately, Delbert and Jim were able to share their stories, with each other and the world, before they were lost to time.

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THE BORDER MONUMENTS

BY MICHAEL ZIMNY

If you walked the border between the two Dakotas from the Coteau des Prairies to the Cave Hills you’d encounter hundreds of Sioux quartzite “silent sentinels” marking your way. Once, their were 720 of these 800-pound stone monuments.

In 1890, the US Congress passed a bill that tasked the secretary of the interior with surveying the North Dakota-South Dakota boundary and marking the entire length with “conspicuous monuments of the most durable material.”

The boundary — which spans the seventh parallel north of the fifth principal meridian public survey system — is the only state line in the nation so conspicuously marked.

Richard Pettigrew, South Dakota’s first US senator, successfully lobbied the federal government to choose Sioux Quartzite, quarried in Minnehaha County, for its beauty and durability.

Pettigrew was a champion of the budding quartzite and jasper mining industries, and used his position to promote their use in building projects, including the federal courthouse on Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls. He didn’t need to exaggerate its durability — on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, quartzite rates between a seven and an eight (diamond is a ten). The stone can stand up to intense pressure and heat.

The General Land Office’s specifications for the markers decreed that they be made of quartzite,

a minimum of seven feet long and ten inches square, and that they be “set 3 1/2 feet in the ground, with their faces directed to the cardinal points.” Surveyor Charles L. Bates of Yankton was commissioned to complete the project. “This line we are putting in,” he said, “will stand until the judgement day comes.” (Queen City Mail of Spearfish, 1891.)

Each post was marked “N.D.” and “S.D.” facing north and south, respectively. On their east faces, half mile posts were marked “1/2 M.,” while mile posts were marked with the distance in miles from the initial post. That starting post was placed at the intersection of the seventh parallel north and Continued on the next page.

This post on the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate features a unique variation.

Photo by Michael Zimny

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Border Monuments Continued. and the Bois de Sioux River — which forms the boundary between Minnesota and northeastern South Dakota.

West River posts, and posts on Indian Reservations, received additional markings: on north faces, “S.C.” at section corners, “1/4 S.C” at quarter section corners, and township numbers at township corners (example: T. 139); east and west faces of township corners are marked with an “R.” and range number (Example: R. 84). Section corner posts are marked on the east and west sides with horizontal lines corresponding to the number of miles to the next township corner.

On September 19, 1891, Bates and a crew of eight began the work of surveying and marking the seventh standard parallel between North and South Dakota. The initial monument was placed eight chains (a surveyor’s chain measures 66 feet) west of the Bois de Sioux. In accordance with special instructions from the General Land

Office, the post was marked on the east face with a horizontal “In. Mt.” and beneath that “In. Pt. 9 C.E.” for “Initial Point 9 Chains East,” meaning the marker was placed nine chains west of the North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota state lines.

The town of White Rock, South Dakota was a stop on the Fargo line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway at the time, and Bates used it as the first of several depots for shipping monuments from Sioux Falls to the boundary line. From the depot, they were moved by horse and wagon teams.

Bates and crew worked their way quickly across the Sisseton Wahpeton Reservation and the high Coteau des Prairie, past the low, flat James River valley to the Missouri Hills. In November, a blizzard slowed them down, but the crew continued on to the Missouri River and placed the 190th mile marker on November 18, 1891. Then they broke for winter.

In spring of 1892, Bates arranged for several rail cars of monuments to be shipped from Sioux Falls to Pierre, than delivered via steamboat to Kenel, on the west bank of the Missouri, just south of the state line. The crew recommenced their work on June 6. As they crossed the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, they encountered rocky bluffs, sandy soil and badlands formations. Some monuments were established in high places, and have since been displaced by erosion.

West River, the boundary country they marked wasn’t settled, though it was grazed by tremendous herds of cattle. Beyond Standing Rock, they entered the Grand River forks country and crossed the meandering North Fork many times.

The buttes jutted higher and huddled closer as they ventured into the Cave Hills, then the Little Missouri badlands.

At Box Elder creek, they encountered only the second place, out of 720, where a monument couldn’t be placed at a standard section corner.

(In the first instance, the section corner occurred in the center of the James River). A “witness” monument, since washed away, was placed on the east bank of the creek. On August 2nd, they reached the Montana border and set the terminal monument, marked “1892 T.M. 380 M. 45.35 C.” (380 miles, 45.35 chains from the initial monument).

A few weeks later, Bates arrived in Sturgis where the Sturgis Weekly Record reported: “He will at once forward application for membership in the Humane Society of the United States… he set about 720 of the most superb scratching posts for cattle that ever were seen.”

Later that year, United States Surveyor Charles Beardsley followed the border line across the state Return to Menu

Border Monuments Continued. to examine Bates’ works and declared that he had done “an honest piece of work.”

When the monuments were set, many presumed that they would stand at least until apocalypse.

Gordon Iseminger, a professor of history at the University of North Dakota, documented their well-being for his 1988 book The Quartzite Border: Surveying and Marking the North DakotaSouth Dakota Boundary, 1891-1892, and found that despite their durable materiality, many have fallen, been moved for road construction, preyed on by vandals or stolen. Some were sequestered

as yard ornaments. One stands on the Marshall County Courthouse lawn in Britton, South Dakota, and another at The Post, an event space and former museum in Mandan, North Dakota.

Exactly how many still span the boundary line would be hard to determine, as it would involve crossing many miles of private property, often not very near a road.

The initial and terminal monuments still stand, and between them likely hundreds more of what Charles Bates called “silent sentinels on the prairie.”

Above: Near Pollock North and South Dakota boundary is defined by these monuments.

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Lemmon sits on the border.

North Dakota is across the tracks to the left.

JOHN LOPEZ: TREE OF LIFE WHEELER MANUFACTURING

DUTCH OVEN COOKING

TRANS SD BIKE RACE

THE KINGSBURY JOURNAL

LISA CASPER

LAKE MITCHELL CABINS IN THE HILLS 9/11 STAIR CLIMB BALLOON FESTIVAL

BAINBRIDGE FAMILY

LANCE CHRISTIANSEN JR.

GRAPHIC DESIGN FARMER

THERAPY DOGS ANDERSEN FAMILY

DAKOTA LIFE CONNECTS RESIDENTS FROM FROM PERKINS TO TURNER COUNTIES ENJOY STORIES ONLINE

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ON THE ROAD WITH THE DAKOTA LIFE CREW

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Visit River View Tree Farm near Canton, a place where many families source their Christmas tree. Tour historic buildings in the community.

Creative gifts are treasured during the holiday season. Art Moms Pop up Boutique in Sioux Falls offers an outlet for unique and hand crafted gifts.

SDPB enjoyed visiting Lemmon this month.

Celebrate the holiday and visit Canton next month! Dakota Life airs on Decmber 8 at 8pm CT/ 7 MT on SDPB1.

Jacob Richards is fascinated by Christmas Lights, as are many youth. At 10 years old, he’s been choreographing his home display for more than three years.

VISIT THE CHAPEL IN THE HILLS

LINCOLN COUNTY COURTHOUSE

BECOME A MEMBER!

JACOB RICHARDS ART MOMS

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