Wall, SD - Hitting the Wall

I don’t know if you’ve heard of Wall Drug in Wall, SD but it’s as iconic as South of the Border in South Carolina, just south of the North Carolina border. But, Wall Drug is a lot easier for us to get to since it’s actually on our route today. Our plan was to get to Wall, SD, stay overnight in their parking lot, visit and then move on down the road to Sioux Falls, SD. The journey was typical South Dakota, rolling hills, golden grains, not a tree in sight and it goes on forever. You climb up over one small rolling hill, surrounded by golden grasses only to see another hill surrounded with golden grasses and a grey ribbon running from one to the other as straight as a bowling lane. Let’s follow that ribbon, I say, maybe it will lead to something exciting and all we find is another rolling hill.

But, then we found Wall Drug in Wall, SD. Interesting story about its founders, Ted and Dorothy Hustead. Ted Hustead had graduated from pharmacy school, had worked for two different pharmacies but had dreams of owning his own store. He and his wife, Dorothy, traveled throughout Nebraska and South Dakota in their Model T, looking for the perfect town for them. They had several criteria: it had to be a small town where they could know everyone on a personal basis and it had to have a Catholic Church so that they could go to mass every day. Finally they stopped in Wall, SD which fit all of these criteria and they decided to move - in 1931. But, you know, it was the Great Depression, not an auspicious time to open a business, especially in a small town where there are few possible customers and most of them are broke. Their family called Wall Godforsaken, the middle of nowhere, no place to raise a family. But they saw their place and bought it. For 4 years they struggled along, filling one prescription at a time and working hard, They loved the town and certainly wanted to stay but were wondering if they could make it.

Their family had grown, they had two kids and their 5-year lease was up at the end of the year. It was July, it was hot and there was no business. Dorothy decided to take a nap but returned shortly after she had left the store. She had not been able to sleep with the rattle and noise of all the cars driving west past Wall looking for something better than what they had out east. And this gave her an idea. ‘What is it that those travelers want after driving across that hot prairie? They’re thirsty. They want water. Ice cold water. Now we’ve got plenty of ice and water. Why don’t we put up signs on the highway telling people to come here for free ice water? Listen, I even made up a few lines for the sign:

        ‘Get a soda

        Get root beer

        Turn next corner

        Just as near

        To Hwy 16 and 14

        Free Ice Water

        Wall Drug”

Well, why not, nothing else was working, why not try this? Over the next few days, they made up some signs just like the old Burma Shave signs.

        Every day

        We do our part

        To make your face

        A work of art

Ted put them up along the highways and, when he returned to the pharmacy, there were people waiting in line for ice water.

        ‘Could I have some for granny, she’s in the car.’

        ‘I’ll take an ice cream cone with that water.’

        ‘Do you still have some root beer?’

        ‘Do you have any aspirin?’

And, so on. Not only did people come for the ice water, once they were there, they bought other things. Well, of course, that was the plan. At the end of the day, they were out of ice cream, out of ice and plenty tired. But - it had worked. They had drummed up some business and made more money than they had the previous day.

The next summer they hired 8 young women to help them in their store. And, it’s been growing ever since. Today it’s a zoo - well not a zoo really but there were people everywhere: the shoe and boot shop, the book store, the drug store, the ice cream shop, the rock shop, the pottery shop, the donut factory, the belts, purses and leather goods shop, the jewelry emporium, the food court and - the free ice water table.

Ted and Dorothy Hustead had learned that no place was Godforsaken and that no matter where you live, you can make money by providing what people want and need.

Gary and his family had stopped here when Gary and his sister Cathy were young-uns and had their picture taken by the Wall Drug dinosaur. That’s Darlene, Big Gar, Lug and Cathy. Maybe Cathy won’t read this one particular blog.

Today, Gary wanted his picture taken so he could text Cathy his new picture near the dinosaur. It had been moved to be nearer the highway and had been recently painted and all spiffed up.

We parked our RV in the lot where the other RV’s were but noticed a sign that said that there was no ‘camping’ allowed per ordinance 60-B. However, at this time, we wanted to take a break, eat some lunch and have some ice cream. After that we began to look for a campground. We found one nearby, moved the RV and camped. I know that the town wanted to protect their campgrounds run by local citizens but, in the end, since it took time to find the campground, move and park, we spent far less money in town than we might have had we been able to boondock in their parking lot. And, the next day, we were off early, rather than spending time at breakfast in town.

However, we did have a few minutes to tour Wall Drug. We wandered around a bit, exploring the stores and finding some 1500 marvelous pictures in the back building.

Garryowen, MT - Battle of the Little Big Horn: Americans Fighting Americans

We journeyed to Garryowen, MT. yesterday which is the closest town to the Battle of the Little Big Horn Battlefield NM, and into the only campground near it: the 7th Ranch. Nice campground but the 1-mile gravel road into the campground sure did a number on our clean RV - and our clean Jeep. Oh, well. We set up, enjoyed the beautiful day, had dinner and relaxed. We planned to visit the NM tomorrow.

(So how in the world a town got the name of Garry Owen? Actually, it’s not a person’s name but a loose translation of the Gaelic meaning ‘Owen’s Garden.’ About 40% of Custer’s regiments were foreign-born with the majority of these from Ireland and England. One of the songs that the Irish sang was a song called Garry Owen and Custer liked it so much that he took it as his regiment’s song to build company morale and spirit. )

We’ve all heard of Custer’s Last Stand between the army forces led by General George Armstrong Custer and the Native American forces led by Chief Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Well, it used to be called Custer’s Last Stand but in 1991 the US Congress changed the name of the battlefield to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. and ordered the construction of an Indian Memorial. The new name more correctly reflects that it really was a battle between Americans and Americans. And, that is certainly how the National Park Service presents it. Actually, it wasn’t just a battle between two opposing military forces but between two opposing ways of life and beliefs. On one side was the commercial, industrial, agricultural, based culture of the US and the hunting, gathering, nomadic culture of the Native American. Even though the Native Americans won a few battles along the way, with the Little Big Horn being one of them, the war was won by the US.

The confrontations between these two groups had been going on since the first Europeans landed in America but really took off after the Civil War when thousands of settlers left the east coast heading west in the search for land and gold. Confrontations ensued until 1868 when the US government and the Sioux along with other Great Plains tribes signed a treaty giving to the Sioux a large section of the upper Great Plains, including the Black Hills, as a reservation and the US government agreed to protect the tribes ‘against the commission of all depredations by people of the US.’

2 problems: first many of the Indians, including Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, did not want to give up their nomadic way of life and accept the reservation system. They felt no obligation to stay on the reservation and continued to roam and hunt. Secondly, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1874. Though the US government tried to keep all the hordes of eager gold seekers out, it was difficult and thousands found their way in to begin their mines. The Sioux and Cheyenne refused President Grant’s offer to buy the land especially since the Sioux considered this sacred land. When many of the Indians, led by Sitting Bull, began to raid settlements on the fringes of their territory, President Grant sent the army began a campaign to force them back to the reservation.

To the Indians, the cause of the wars was the continual encroachment on their lands by the settlers, miners, soldiers and others often in violation of the treaties signed by the US Government. To the whites, the continual raids by the Indians upon their homes and settlements and their refusal to reside on the reservations was the cause of the wars.

The campaign included 3 separate groups to capture the Indians in a pincer movement. General George Armstrong Custer and the 600-man 7th cavalry was part of one of these groups and sent to the Little Big Horn from the south. Custer’s scouts, from the Crow and Arikara tribes, and had their own conflicts with the Sioux, spotted the Sioux Village over a hill, galloped back to tell Custer who then ordered his forces to split in three and attack. However, by this time the Sioux, who greatly outnumbered Custer with 1500 - 1800 warriors, had spotted his troops and the element of surprise was lost. He split his group into thirds and began the attack.

Comanche, "the only living thing found on Custer Battlefield." This photograph was taken at Fort Lincoln, 1877, about 1 year after the battle. Blacksmith Korn is holding the bridle and Capt. H. J. Nowlan, Seventh Cavalry, is in the background.
(Photograph by courtesy Haynes, Inc.. Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.)

Outnumbered 3-1, they came under heavy attack, were forced back and Custer found himself and his command on a hill surrounded by Indians led by Crazy Horse. They shot their horses to use them for cover but it was not enough and all 209 in his command were killed on the hill in less than an hour.

The other two groups united and fought their own battle about 3.5 miles away. 2 days later, the Indians left, knowing that other soldiers were heading their way, taking their dead and wounded with them. The tribes and families then scattered, each going their own way. Eventually, they returned to the reservations and surrendered.

The Indians won that particular battle but lost the war. The deaths of Custer and his men caused outrage in the US and not only did Grant send more troops but the US also redrew the reservation borders so as not to include the Black Hills. That’s a very short summary of the battle and its causes and results. Obviously thousands of books have been written about it and many are still being written. They are actually still making archaeological discoveries in the area and studying it thoroughly.

To get more out of our visit, we took the short walking tour around the area and really enjoyed it and learned a lot. The Ranger who was giving the tour is head of a university art department and has written what is usually called a coffee-table book on mapping the battle. He lives and teaches in Texas during the winter but journeys up to Montana both to study and to work as a Ranger during the summer. He told us that he had written a book on the battle and I cruised through the book store in the VC, reading author’s names but couldn’t find his name at all. Later, back at the RV, I checked Amazon and found his book. It looks very interesting, especially since I love maps, but I can see why it is not for sale in the bookstore.

After his tour, we walked around the area ourselves to revisit the things he had talked about. We circled around the Indian Memorial first. Here’s a sculpture on one side.

And, here’s a painting of one of the Cheyenne warriors. This was done with a small Dremel tool - hard to believe since it’s so detailed.

The Indian Monument was designed with this on one of the sides: a slot in which the soldiers’ monument is directly in the middle - so the souls of the soldiers and the souls of the Indians can meet in the middle.

The Ranger told us that there were probably not two men buried here. Firstly there are more tombstones than there were men who died. Secondly He told us that when the rest of Custer’s command came to bury the bodies, they were hurried because they feared the return of the Indians. Also the ground was extremely hard and they had few tools. Thus, the theory is that they had a body on the ground and dug around it on both sides and covered the body that way. Over the years scavengers had taken care of the bodies and when the army returned to bury the bodies officially, they found no bodies but did find the two depressions on each side and assumed that there had been two bodies, one for each depression. Thus, in many places there are two tombstones placed side by side.

He also told us that they buried the officers with their names but the ordinary enlisted man was just called a soldier on their stones.

In 1991, stones for the Indians who died in the battle were placed around the battlefield. Since the families had taken their bodies after the battle, it’s not known exactly where they fell but they were put in the most logical position.

After this we went to another description of the actual battle it self, minute by minute by another Ranger. My, he really got into his subject. He shouted ‘pow’, ‘pow’ when he wanted us to know guns had been shot, he yelled ‘pack trains, pack trains’, when he was telling how Custer wanted the pack trains with the ammo, he shouted ‘whoosh’ when he wanted us to know that arrows had been shot. He made it all so very real. His talk was about 45 minutes long and, while we visitors were under some shade on chairs, he was out in the sun giving us his all. He was spent when he finished.

We then toured the museum there and then, since we wanted to take our walk, we walked the road towards more of the battle field. There are red stones and white stones strewn throughout the battlefield.

One of the things that surprised us about the Battle was that there were lots of Indians who were helping Custer. These tribes also had problems with the Sioux who were a fiercer tribe than many others and also claimed some land that belonged to other tribes. At the monument where the Indians have erected their own monument to celebrate their warriors, they celebrate both sides: the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne and the Crow and Arikara tribes.

Very neat monument and marvelous talks by the Rangers.