Left Tailtrace - Fort Thompson, SD

 Left Tailtrace - Fort Thompson, SD

The Corn Palace is a multi-purpose arena/facility located in Mitchell, South Dakota. The Moorish Revival building is decorated annually with crop art. The elaborate murals and designs covering the exterior building and the interior walls are made from corn and other grains, and new designs are created and constructed each year.

The Corn Palace serves the area as a venue for concerts, sports events, exhibits and other community events. Every year, the community bands together to celebrates the Corn Palace at a citywide festival held in its honor.  Historically, it was held at harvest time in September, but recently, it has been held at the end of August. Over a million people a year visit Mitchell to stop and see the city's star (and only) attraction. The resulting tourism brings in revenue for the entire town.

In the late 19th century, a number of cities on the Great Plains constructed "crop palaces" (also known as "grain palaces") to promote themselves and their products. As the idea succeeded, it spread, including: a Corn Palace in Sioux City, Iowa, that was active from 1887–1891; a Corn Palace in Gregory, South Dakota; a Grain Palace in Plankinton, South Dakota; and a Bluegrass Palace in Creston, Iowa. From 1887 to 1930, at least thirty-four corn palaces were built across the Midwest United States. Only the Mitchell Corn Palace has remained intact to the present.

The original Mitchell Corn Palace (known as "The Corn Belt Exposition") was built in 1892 to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. It was a wooden castle structure on Mitchell's Main Street, constructed on land donated by Louis Beckwith, a member of the First Corn Palace Committee. In 1904–1905, the city of Mitchell mounted a challenge to the city of Pierre in an unsuccessful attempt to replace it as the state capital of South Dakota.

In 2004, national media attention was drawn to the Corn Palace, when it received Homeland Security funding. This drew criticism of the Department of Homeland Security and its grant program. In 2007, the Corn Palace subsequently received $25,000 in DHS funding for a camera system useful for several purposes, including Barack Obama's visit in 2008. The Mitchell Daily Republic, reported the cameras would help protect a "new Fiberglass statue of the Corn Palace mascot Cornelius" in 2009. This statue sits across Main Street, west of the Corn Palace.

Lisa stopped to visit with Cornelius. It's not every day you get the chance to have a photo op with a gigantic corn mascot.  Speaking of corn, we have bought a bunch of local corn from the farmers. We have not seen any produce stands with anything other than corn, but we would love to find some fresh, homegrown tomatoes. Harvest time makes us miss our garden and its bounty.

Lisa stopped to pose with a huge bison at Al's Oasis in Oacoma, SD- again, its not every day you get the chance for this photo op. We have seen several thousand bison in the parks up in the Dakotas, but this one is definitely the biggest one.

We spotted this stuffed buffalo in a grocery store. Many of the local stores sell buffalo meat and most restaurants feature bison on their menus. We try to make sure we eat whatever the local specialty is when we visit various, new parts of the country. 

In 2017, a local professor in Native American studies published the following in the Native newspaper:

As evidence shows throughout history, humans will ultimately disillusion and betray. As is such, I have a new role model who is solid and sturdy. She literally owns a spine of steel and reminds me of the injustice in the world, but also of strength, perseverance and survival. She signifies people who have prevailed through the centuries. She represents all who resist and strive forward. She portrays a rallying cry for those who wish to be heard and valued. She stands strong and proud, meeting the morning sun and bracing against the nighttime cold. She contemplates the world through a poise of conviction and fearlessness. Her name is "Dignity".

These Tipi poles were at the rest area near Chamberlain, SD. We have seen several other similar tipi poles throughout the Dakotas. We have asked several park rangers about the significance of the uncovered tipi poles, but no one seems to know. 

Lisa posed with the big ground hog inside the visitors center.

St. Joseph's Indian School is an American Indian boarding school, run by the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart just outside the city of Chamberlain, South Dakota. The school was named after Saint Joseph and is operated by a religious institute of the pontifical right. The school is within a two hour drive of three reservations of the Lakota people: the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, the Lower Brule Indian Reservation and the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, whose children comprise the majority of students at the school. Most of the families are living in such extreme poverty, they are unable to even feed their children. Many of the students arrive to the school with nothing but an empty suitcase. The kids arrive owning almost nothing and leave with a suitcase packed full of gifts they receive while a student here.  Hopefully, many will learn the skills they need to escape the poverty that they grew up with. Many of the alumni come back to the school to "pay it forward" to the school and the students.   We visited the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center located on the campus and owned by the school.

The Aktá Lakota Museum & Cultural Center is a private, non-profit educational and cultural outreach program. The museum was established to honor and preserve the Lakota culture for the students at St. Joseph’s Indian School and to foster among people who visit an appreciation of the culture.

The mission of the Aktá Lakota Museum is to promote the knowledge and understanding of the cultures of Northern Plains Native Americans through the preservation of historical and contemporary works of art. The Aktá Lakota Museum has one of South Dakota’s most comprehensive collections of Northern Plains Native American artwork and historical artifacts. The museum operates fully on donations and the admission is free to the public. We spent several hours enjoying this wonderful collection of artifacts and chatting with the staff as they shared stories of their ancestors and their culture.

We saw this Frito Lay special potato chip can in a local antique store. I recall similar cans of potato chips my family had delivered to our home when I was a kid. Ours were made by Charles Chips. 

Fort Thompson is located on the Crow Reservation. Our campground adjoined the reservation. Quite unknowingly, we discovered there was the Hunkpati Oyate Wacipi Pow Wow the weekend we were there. We went two days to the event because this was a first for both of us. We sampled several of the local specialties from the Native food vendors at the event. Apparently very few Native Americans like diet coke, because only one vendor had any (and it was my least favorite diet pepsi). It was about 98 degrees that day, so we could not be choosy. We were not sure what to expect, but many of the locals were very friendly and welcoming to us.

We had a bit of excitement when we left the arena the first time. On our way back to the campground, we came upon a motorcycle accident that had just happened. The young man was not wearing a helmet and was laying in a huge pool of blood. I will not go into graphic details, but it made this hardened old nurse gasp and feel weak kneed. He was missing about a fourth of his face. Parts were exposed and dangling where they should not be. We never found the missing facial bones/pieces. Some how he was conscious, although he was confused and agitated. He would be the perfect poster child for why you should wear a helmet. We stayed with him, tried to reduce the bleeding and keep him from hurting himself until EMS arrived. There was not much I could do for him, unfortunately.  Oddly, the next day I just happened to randomly ask one of the young locals if she knew about him-and she did. He was still alive after several surgeries but in very critical condition. I wish I was able to follow his case, but I doubt a good outcome is in the cards for him.

The Tribal Chief was leading the procession onto the Pow Wow grounds as part of the ceremonial opening parade. Customs, rituals and pride in their heritage were abundantly obvious by both the young and the old.

The Tribal royalty were led onto the grounds. The royalty are a relatively new addition to the ceremony. A contest is held before the pow wow to appoint a young Princess (and in some cases a Warrior as well) to represent their tribe/community. Since tribes do not actually have royalty, the terms are designated in name only. The understanding I have was the contest was like a pageant to appoint a "Miss Crow" (instead of a Miss Utah...), like a Miss America pageant, to represent her tribe. 

The National Champion Grass Dancer was competing at this pow wow. We were unaware of the different dances and their accompanying customary regalia. Apparently, referring to their ceremonial regalia as a "costume" is about the most disrespectful thing a non-native visitor can say to a native dancer. Luckily, we read that prior to attending the pow wow so we knew not to offend or disrespect anyone.  It takes years and many thousands of dollars to acquire the full regalia they hold so dearly and wear so proudly.  

Male and female, both young and old, Native Americans in full regalia were performing celebratory dancing rituals they learned from their elders in regalia their elders helped them prepare. Tradition and customs are held with the utmost respect by the tribal members. Their sacred traditions are passed down with honor through the generations. It was uplifting to see so many children and young people carrying on the traditions of their ancestors under the direction of their elders.

Extreme poverty and very low standards of living are a way of life for far too many who live on tribal land. Discrimination, poverty, addiction and violence are permeated throughout the lives of the natives. It is not uncommon for 3 generations to live in one small, cramped living space that lacks access to sufficient food, heat, air conditioning, plumbing and other basics of necessity for a healthy life. Life on the  reservations is often compared to life in a third world country with a significantly lower life expectancy than the rest of our country. It was very concerning to see and read about how accepting many are to this lifestyle. Many are content to live this way rather than being motivated to break this cycle of the generations before them. Our government continues to enable them by perpetuating their dependency on the government rather than helping them escape this ugly cycle and gain independence and success.

It was horribly hot, so it seemed to be a perfect time to take a day off to stay home, catch up on our chores and maybe squeeze in a much needed afternoon nap. Taking naps is one of the best and least talked about benefits of retirement. We should have done this years ago!