CONTENTS
DE SMET: A FAMILIAR TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE HISTORY OF DUTCH OVENS MORE FROM DE SMET PRIVATE CABINS, PUBLIC LAND WINDMILL MAN
DIGITAL EDITION SEPTEMBER SDPB.org
DE SMET: A FAMILIAR TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE BY LARRY ROHRER
I’m very pleased that the Dakota Life team will be on location each month. We see it as a chance to tell more of the South Dakota story within each episode. Our stop in De Smet is familiar to me. My nephew is still in Bull Dogs basketball record books, my wife grew up on a farm a few miles south in Miner County, our family is no stranger to the waters of nearby Lake Thompson… and THERE’S A DAIRY QUEEN! The ingredients for De Smet to do well are in place. The community is at the intersection of highways 14 and 25, so you’re likely to drive through while on a trip almost anywhere in east central South Dakota. There is a strong connection with our two major industries, Agriculture and Tourism. The surrounding countryside is filled with row crops and livestock, and visitors can walk in the footsteps of Alonzo and Laura Wilder or get away on the waters of Lakes Henry and Thompson. That’s a pretty good start
The Kingsbury County Courthouse in De Smet. Built in 1898 and is listed on the Federal Historical Register.
But there is something special going on in the background. Laird Beck, former manager for Lyle Signs says “De Smet is an example of a Dakota Thing, people caring about each other and willing to give a neighbor the shirt of their back and not as for anything in return.” I think it’s more than people willing to help each other or volunteer for a project to support the community. More than just having a good idea, it’s NOT being afraid to pursue
it and believe ANYTHING is possible. Laura Wilder could not have imagined that writing scenes from her childhood memories would grow into a worldwide following, but it did. Or the community imagining an industrial park would result in De Smet’s population growing by nearly a third each day as people drive into town to go to work. Or that a regional cattle industry promotion would grow into the nationwide program. And there are other examples of home-grown tech companies with an international cliental. Continued on next page.
LAKE THOMPSON NORTH SHORE Return to Menu
De Smet: A Familiar Town on the Prairie continued. Once you get a taste for not being limited by your imagination, you can build a state-ofthe-art community events and fitness center or resurrect the local newspaper during a pandemic as a volunteer weekly publication. It’s not easy, it’s understanding that problems only become roadblocks if you let them stop you. Bob and Nancy Montross raise cattle near De Smet and are the force behind the “Beef Bucks” promotion campaign. Nancy says “the people around here look to the future. Although we’re proud of our heritage, we want to keep life moving forward.” And Bob adds “there are people in the area that think outside the box and that makes De Smet an exciting community to live in.” I wonder what will happen next in Kingsbury County and I look forward to sharing a visit to Hot Springs in our next Dakota Life.
LAKE THOMPSON LAKE IS 7 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DE SMET. IT HAS GROWN TO COVER MORE THAN 16,000 ACRES AND IS A POPULAR DESTINATION AND RECREATION SITE.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homes site in De Smet. You can tour two original homes of the Ingalls family and an original school that Laura and Carrie attended. Return to Menu
Cast iron dutch ovens are a versatile piece of cookware. They can be placed over open fire as a mode of stewing dishes. Alternately, coals or wood embers may be used.
HISTORY OF DUTCH OVEN COOKING BY MELISSA HAMERSMA SIEVERS
Karri Kreger has a stack of cast iron cookware in her kitchen cupboards. Once a Girl Scout leader, Kreger brought Dutch ovens along on campouts. At home, the yard is an appealing setting for meal preparation. “I have the whole setup on my patio,” says Kreger. “At least twice a week we’re eating out of the Dutch oven on the back patio, or I use a charcoal grill. I have a smoker, so we eat a lot outside.”
Karri Kreger prepares enchiladas in her dutch oven. Possibilities are endless, savory or sweet.
Gwen McCausland has been using Dutch ovens since she was about 12-years old. “I loved reading about history,” says McCausland. “I was just absolutely fascinated. I used to watch Little House on the Prairie on TV.” Rooted in a desire to be selfsufficient and connected to the land, young Gwen
honed life skills using primitive techniques. “At that same time I was learning how to spin wool, because I read a book called Hatchet. This kid is flying to Alaska. The plane goes down and he’s living out in the middle of nowhere.” McCausland explored her family’s farm to learn how to be a self-supporting individual. “My parents were great about letting me dig a pit in the backyard. I would experiment. I already knew how to bake in a normal oven or modern oven. So, we would make biscuits and bread and pies to perfect the technique.” Embracing resiliency and history inspires McCausland’s hobbies and even her profession. Continued on the next page.
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Carey Holt and his wife assemble ingredients for their dutch oven dish, Fiesta Chicken.
Dutch Oven History Continued She presents historical cooking demonstrations with reenacting groups and as part of her role as director of the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum. Connecting with history also inspires Kreger to use Dutch ovens. “I think that’s pretty much the niche crowd, people who enjoy being outside and the old way of doing things. When I look at Dutch oven cooking, I think this is what my grandparents did or about the old West.”. Kreger participates regularly in a potluck-style gathering with friends in Clear Lake. Much of the meal is prepared in Dutch ovens. Carey Holt is an active participant and past scout leader too. For him, flexibility is an appealing element of the cooking method. “You can use wood for heat. You can use charcoal for heat. The ingredients generally are very easily to pack in and pack out because their nonperishable stuff generally is what you use for the cooking.” Flexibility is one of the reasons why the implement was invented. McCausland has spent time studying its history. Iron casting evolved in the Netherlands with the invention of casting iron using sand. This allowed metal workers to create a high-quality kettle with a tight fitting lid, i.e., the Dutch oven. A British gentleman, Abraham Darby, observed the method in foundries that he visited and wished to replicate them in Britain. Those Dutch ovens were manufactured and followed settlers to British colonies around the world. “Most of those Dutch ovens are just like a kettle with a lid,” says McCausland. “And it has a handle that you could either hang over open fire in a hearth, or you could place over an open fire with a grid or a griddle.” Innovation continued as the kettle travelled West and through the American colonies. Scholars credit Paul Revere with adding the feet to the cast iron and creating a flat-top lid. McCausland says that this creates a viable baking option. “If you were of a poor family or your house just didn’t have an oven, you could bake using a Dutch oven.” The lip on the lid holds the coals without falling off. The feet allowed placement of coals underneath. An even coating of coals on top and a bellow is what makes it an actual oven. “You can also use that same Dutch oven as a roaster, the lid as a frying pan. There are many different uses for this one particular cookware. And so that’s why it was very, very popular in the remote areas of the American colonies and Australia. One investment of one piece of cookware could then have multiple uses,” says McCausland. Return to Menu
Dutch Oven History Continued Installing an earthen oven or brick oven in a home was a very expensive endeavor. Settlers were moving regularly, so a portable mode of baking was more appealing and accessible. Military encampments and cowboys moving cattle found the Dutch oven handy too. “It can be easily be packed up, and doesn’t take up that much room,” says McCausland. “So it was something that was very, very popular in American West. And is technically the official cookware of Texas.” Currently, the Dutch oven is part of many camping enthusiasts’ kits. Enameled Dutch ovens are often used for casseroles in the modern kitchen. “By the time you actually settled in at your farm or your homestead by the late 1800s, you started getting your cookstoves,” says McCausland. “It wasn’t necessarily used for baking as much as it was for just as a regular roasting pan.” McCausland says that using burning embers around cast iron just isn’t efficient enough to use regularly. “The challenge of baking today is that you have to have a pretty good supply of coals to then heat it. So the average family is not going to wait two or two hours or so to burn down the wood to get the coals.”
oven here that was plum full of that stuff, and there was nothing left at the end of the day. It’s a recipe that is easy to put together and you can sit back and visit while it is cooking and not have to worry about it.” McCausland agrees that there’s just something about cooking with cast iron, whether it be a pan or oven. “You just get that really nice sear on your meat. And, it really just helps sealing that flavor that I find you don’t necessarily get with other cookware.” On the other hand, cast iron can be unwieldy. Many folks look past this and are drawn in by an
element of nostalgia. “With any cookware, it’s more about the memories that are associated with it and not necessarily the piece itself,” says McCausland. “I would say probably by the 1920s cast-iron went out-of-favor for enamel pans because cast iron is very heavy. If your grandmother always made the best fried chicken out of her heavy cast iron, you need a really strong wrist when you’re having to lift things. Whether you inherited the piece or not, for a lot of people that cast iron is used as a decoration because it’s more of a representation of a family member that lives on through those memories of that piece.” Continued on the next page.
Gwen McCausland demonstrates dutch oven cooking at Fort Sisseton.
Most people don’t saunter out to the yard to set up a fire for their family meal, but Kerri Kreger does. “When the kids are home, they’re outside with the dogs. This way we’re just all outside together.” Kreger and her friend Carey Holt set up the Dutch Oven Gathering in Clear Lake. For them, the appeal is taking a moment to slow down and connect with their guests. The group has yet to repeat a recipe. Anything can be prepared in a camp oven. Holt enjoys preparing and sharing what he calls Dutch Oven Nachos. “We had this big Dutch
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Dutch Oven History Continued But for every challenge there is someone who truly appreciates the extra character. Where some see a heavy piece of cookware, others revere its sturdiness. Cast iron is hearty, holds its heat well and, if cared for, will last generations. Kreger treasures pieces given to her by her mother-in-law who received them from her own grandparents. Dustin Mattson is another member of the Dutch Oven Gathering. New to the group, he’s still learning to cook over fire with a Dutch oven, but he has some well-seasoned pieces. “I actually have a pot that was given to me, passed down from my great, great grandmother. It wasn’t big enough for our dish today. So, we got one that’ll accommodate enough food for everybody here. I’m using a cast iron skillet that came from my great-grandmother for my side dish. So, continuing to use that, that’s kind of fun.” Carey Holt remembers desserts made by his grandmother when he uses the heirloom Dutch oven once owned by her. “My Grandma Holt, she made cobbler. That was her famous thing to make, an apple or peach or cherry cobbler in her Dutch oven.”
would just throw it in the fire and let the grease and everything cook off.” Feeding family and friends a hearty meal has been the purpose of the Dutch oven since it was created. That’s how it was for chuckwagon chefs on a cattle drive, cooks in a military encampment or families making their way across the prairie. Today, it’s a slowed down process of preparing food and a chance to visit with people that you care about. That’s the appeal for Kreger. “I like the process of cooking outside on a fire, being out here with everybody. I like the process of getting stuff together. A lot of it [the cooking technique] is timing and when to turn your pots. My goal at the end is to have a pot of food when we’re ready to have supper.”
Extra: Tips for baking pie in a dutch oven.
Then at evening’s end you wipe out the kettle and stash it away. It’s ready for the next gathering.
Carey Holt enjoys using coals for dutch oven cooking.
History in a dinner dish is a unique treat to experience. Modern society turns to single use or cast away items so easily. The idea of using a kettle that pre-dates the cook’s life is astounding. The cookware’s longevity boils down to how a family’s cast iron Dutch oven was cared for. Treated well, it will serve meals for many generations. Just like the vessel, the process is simple. Soap is frowned upon. Hot water and a good scrubbing is enough “And in the old days, they used to clean their pots and pans, they would make gravy,” says McCausland. “That was how you clean the gristle and bits off of your pan. If there was a buildup, they
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MORE FROM DE SMET: PAGEANTS ARE AN ANNUAL TRADITION FOR THE LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE. South Dakota Public Broadcasting makes return visits to De Smet. In 2012 Dakota Life stopped by to document that season’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant.
2012 Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in De Smet.
In 2020 the pageant was produced as a radio drama to reduce potential exposure to COVID19.
VIDEO ARCHIVE: PAGEANT ON THE PRAIRIE
VIDEO: 2020 Laura Ingalls Wilder Radio Drama
Due to COVID19 the 2020 pageant became a radio drama.
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BLACK HILLS HIDEAWAYS: PRIVATE CABINS ON PUBLIC LAND BY SETH TUPPER Scattered around the Black Hills, tucked away in the forests and meadows, there’s a curiosity: privately owned vacation cabins on public land. One of the oldest is the Durst cabin. A logging family built the cabin in a meadow along Flynn Creek around 1911. Eight years later, Custer State Park was born. Its boundaries soon wrapped around the vintage cabin, with its dark wood walls, screened-in porch and outhouse. Today, the cabin still stands within the park. And the cabin still belongs to Durst descendants. They own the building and use it as a private gathering place, even though they don’t own the land.
The goal of the programs, as explained by Matthew Jurak, a recreation and lands staff officer for the Black Hills National Forest, was to attract visitors and build support for public lands. “I think that was really the intent all along, to have a personal connection with the natural environment and the forest itself,” Jurak said. “So, for a Forest Service employee looking back to the early 1900s, I think that was pretty progressive. They were looking ahead.”
Cabins are passed between generations
When the programs ended in the 1960s, existing cabins were allowed to stay. Nearly 200 remain – about 35 in Custer State Park, and almost 160 across the million-acre Black Hills National Forest.
Neither the park nor the forest plans to allow any Lloyd Marsden, of Sheridan, Wyoming, is a great- new cabins on public land, so the owners of the old cabins are an exclusive club. They pay annual leases grandson of the original owners. He said seven ranging from about $400 to $2,000. They can’t live generations have ties to the place. in the cabins full-time, they’re not allowed to rent “Ashes of several of those people have been spread the cabins out, and they have to get approval for here,” Marsden said. “So it goes a long way back, repairs and renovations. and there’s a chance to connect with those earlier Some cabins are far off the beaten path, at the generations.” end of rutted two-track trails. Many are small The Durst family isn’t the only one with a private and rustic, with plain brown exteriors. Some lack connection to public land in the Black Hills. plumbing, running water and cell-phone service. Beginning in the 1910s and ’20s, hundreds of Others have been updated with a few modern people were allowed to build cabins within the amenities. boundaries of Custer State Park and the Black Hills Continued on the next page. National Forest.
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fished and waded in the creek, and snowshoed the area in the winter. One of their kids got married at the cabin. Future uncertain for state park cabins The King family of Chadron, Nebraska, has similar stories. Their Custer State Park cabin dates to the 1930s, when it served as an office for the Civilian Conservation Corps. The cabin has been in Don’s family since the ’50s.
Black Hills Cabins continued. Families pass the cabins down through generations, but occasionally they come up for sale. The lease transfers have to be approved by publiclands managers. ‘Best decision that we ever made’ Brad and Connie McKinney, of Custer, were living in Nebraska 30 years ago when Brad saw a classified ad for a cabin in the Black Hills. He said Connie needed convincing. “I think there was some trepidation on Connie’s part – with two kids in diapers and no running water and an outhouse and such – that maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do,” Brad said. “But I was maybe the pusher of that decision, and I think she came to appreciate it.” Connie now calls the purchase “the best decision that we ever made.” “Oh, I thank him all the time,” she said. “Literally, I say, ‘I am so glad you didn’t let me moan and groan.’” The McKinneys calls their cabin visits “French Creek time.” They’ve hiked and explored the park,
The cabin still bears the look of the CCC, with forest-green interior walls, a stout stone fireplace and a hand-hewn table and chairs. “What is not to like about being here?” Stephanie said. “It is peaceful. It’s just somewhere that, I don’t know, it just is good to your soul.” But the future is uncertain for the private cabin owners of Custer State Park. Through the terms of a long-ago agreement, leases with the park all expire in nine years. In 2029, the Kings, the McKinneys, the Durst descendants and all the other cabin owners in the park face the prospect of eviction, and the additional problem of figuring out whether and how to move their cabin. Don and Stephanie King have mixed emotions about it. “We’ve been here for 19 years and we have another nine years left with our family,” Don said. “That’s a long time, and so it’s been well worth it. We don’t begrudge it at all.” Stephanie nodded in agreement but then interjected with a laugh, “Yeah, well, I don’t know if I agree, but anyway …” No plan to terminate Forest Service leases Cabins on Black Hills National Forest land
appear to have a longer future. They were built as part of a nationwide Forest Service program. There are 14,000 private cabins in national forests around the country, and the owners have a national association. The Forest Service leases run for 20 years and include many of the same provisions as the state leases. People own the buildings, not the land, and they need permission to make changes to their cabins. The leases all expire in 2028, but Forest Service officials say the leases are likely to be renewed, as long as cabin owners adhere to the program requirements. Mary Smrcka, of Custer, is restoring one of the old national forest cabins. It sits above a creek in an otherwise dead-silent pocket of forest near the Black Elk Wilderness. “Isn’t this just wonderful?” she said during a recent visit to the cabin. “Who could be as lucky as this? It’s just plain grand.” Smcrka was working as a hospital lab tech when she bought the cabin. “And you need a break,” she said. “You need a place that’s so different and so uplifting, really, and the natural surroundings are helpful. It helps you recuperate from that job.” Now she’s retired and spends hours reading and relaxing at the cabin with her dog. Continued on the next page.
VIDEO: Private Cabins, Public Land on Dakota LIfe Return to Menu
Black Hills Cabins continued. For everyone else: Camp Remington Not everyone can own a wilderness cabin, but there is a way for the rest of us to enjoy a private cabin in a public forest. The Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota built Camp Remington as a clergy retreat in the 1920s. The three cabins are closed this summer during the pandemic, but otherwise, they’re available to rent for $35 a night. The cabins are allowed on public land through a Forest Service lease. They have many of the same traits as the privately owned cabins – like no running water and no electricity. Key Parker is one of the Camp Remington caretakers. He said it’s the perfect place for people who crave solitude. “It’s just real peaceful sitting out here. And you can relax,” Parker said, “like no place else.”
VIDEO: A Tour of Camp Remington Return to Menu
Mike Moeller works on the tail portion of an Aermotor windmill.
THE WINDMILL MAN BY MICHAEL ZIMNY
Mike Moeller has a unique skill set. Those iconic Aermotor windmills that populate the Plains, often in dilapidated, unworking condition? He can fix them. He can take them apart, repair broken parts or fabricate new ones, and make them spin again. For centuries, wind has been used to power various operations. In Europe, wind was historically harnessed by grain mills. That tradition continued in America, though the need for water is what drove the proliferation of windmills across the American prairie. According to T. Lindsay Baker’s “A Field Guide to American Windmills,” the first commercially successful American windmill was invented by Daniel Halladay of Marlboro, Vermont in 1854.
In 1863, the Halladay Wind Mill Company was bought out and manufacturing operations were moved to Batavia, Illinois. The market was in the Midwest, where fewer farms had access to water. Railroads, which used wind power to pump water for their steam locomotives, were another major customer. The early commercial windmills were made with wooden blades, at first featuring larger, paddleshaped blades, but designs quickly trended toward more numerous, thinner, rim-fixed blades. (Some farmers constructed their own windmills by hand, often utilizing designs much different than those commercially available.) Continued on the next page.
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Windmill man continued. The manufacture of all-metal mills began in the 1870’s and accelerated in tandem with the American steel industry toward the end of the century. At the turn of the century, there were dozens of major windmill manufacturers in operation, mostly in the Midwest, making machines that many ordinary farmers could afford. Companies invested in beautifully drawn advertisements and traveling salesmen. Others sold their wares through mail order catalogues. The Aermotor, introduced in 1888, was designed by Thomas Perry, who had experimented extensively with different models while working for the U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company, the same concern that bought out Daniel Halladay. Aermotor billed its wind machines as more efficient and buyers apparently agreed. The company dominated the industry by the 1890s, and its logo is still recognizable on wind vanes of old mills, working or not, around South Dakota and beyond. When Mike Moeller started working for Dakota Windmill, based in Hurley, most farm Continued on the next page.
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Windmill Man Continued communities had electricity. Most people no longer needed wind power to pump water. There are areas of the country, like in Texas and the Nebraska Sandhills, where ranchers are still drilling new wells and installing wind-powered pumps. Dakota Windmill sells components and services to the well drillers who do this work. In South Dakota, in the nineties, says Moeller, “People were selling their windmills left and right... cheap too. They couldn’t give them away sometimes.” “At that time, we’d go and take these down and sell them in Nebraska or Texas.” When they couldn’t find working parts they needed, they’d rebuild broken parts or machine new ones. In recent years, some people began to rediscover the aesthetic appeal of a working (spinning) windmill, even if it doesn’t power anything. Now Moeller spends some of his summers outside the shop, repairing or installing Aermotor windmills in the same areas where he used to buy them for scrap. Your SDPB Outdoors Correspondent stopped by as Moeller installed an Aermotor windmill with a 1927 gearbox at a farm near Parker. “These farms couldn’t have survived on the prairie, without windmills,” says Moeller. They supplied precious water where there otherwise would have been none. No longer needed for their original purpose, they have become totemic, decaying symbols of the rural past. Here and there, though, the reverse happens. An Aermotor — with a shiny coat of red paint on the gear box, and that simple but ubiquitous logo on the tail — appears on the prairie, spinning like it was 1927. When that happens Mike Moeller might have been in town. Return to Menu
