Larry A. Smail's Blog

   Our western adventure is coming to a close. This last item on our agenda with any western flavor to it will be a visit to DeSmet, South Dakota. This is the homestead of a Mr. Charles Ingalls and his family.

Giddy-up mules!

In case this place and name are causing you to scratch your noggin allow me to add a few descriptive words. Charles Ingalls was Pa Ingalls on the television show called “Little House On The Prairie.” The star showed Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls.

   This homestead and the writings of Laura Ingalls later in her life were the inspirations for the hit show. Laura Ingalls wrote a series of books on her families exploits doing her earlier years.

Was it good for you?

A dugout home was here on site to explore. A dugout was a home-built with sod and grass. Remember trees were scarce  in these grassy prairies.

Making flour

Homestead

A claim shanty was built at this site in 1878. Soon the Ingalls family built their lives on site. Today there is a reconstruction of their home  and barn. An outhouse is on site too. Laurie was impressed how small the home was. Ingalls dug a six feet deep well. A workable hand pump can be used by visitors. I remember using these and the outhouses in my early days through my teens.

We jumped in a covered wagon motorized by two mules. Laurie took the reigns as we traveled across the property to an original one room school house. She enjoyed that!                                                                                                 

We entered the school and sat in old desks several of which were original to the school. This school was not the original to the site. The first one burned down in and around 1887 I believe. We had a chance to be educated by a school teacher of the time.

Charles Ingalls planted many Cottonwood trees. Only five of them currently exist.

The five Cottonwoods

We had chances to make things as the early pioneers  did. The projects included making rope; grinding wheat into flour and making corn cob dolls.

The trip east towards Pennsylvania is now full swing as we travel. Some other wildlife species we saw included the Sandhill Crane and Snowy Egrets.                                                                               

   We arrived home on August the 23rd around 8:00 P.M. from our trip to the west. We had a great time seeing many sites. Many more months would be needed to even touch the surface of everything to see. happy Trails to you all.                              

Mount Rushmore

I have been aware of Mount Rushmore since my youth five years ago. Well, we finally had the opportunity to see this great feat of workmanship.

The man who spearheaded this huge task of carving into a granite hill was Gutzon Borglum. His dream was to create a special place to share the American dream.  The actual work began in 1927 and was completed in 1941. Explosives and jack hammers and the work of around 400 workers made this happen. The president’s faces displayed in the carved hill’s side are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.            

Each face is sixty feet tall. For instance to demonstrate the size, Washington’s eyes are each 11 feet in length and his nose is 21 feet long. Now that is a honker!

More Black Hills!

Laurie and I walked a boardwalk that allowed us to walk under this huge undertaking. Of course, Laurie found what she had been looking for here…Black Hill Gold ear rings!

Crazy Horse was a Lakota Sioux born around 1842.his life witnessed the final push of the Sioux Nation. he would be pulled into the great conflict and take part of the infamous “Custer’s Last Stand” in June of 1876.

In the year of 1868 the Treaty of 1868 was signed with the Sioux and the United States Government. In effect it stated: “As long as rivers run and grass grows and the tree bear fruit, Pahu Sapa-the Black Hills of Dakota will forever be the sacred lands of the Sioux Indians.”

    When the treaty failed, Crazy Horse took up arms against the United States. After such events as Wounded Knee (The United States government massacred over 200 Sioux, mostly women and children and the elderly.) the great Sioux nation became a defeated nation….sad!

Upon their ceasing hostility against the whites, a soldier asked Crazy Horse, “Where are your lands now?” The great warriors response was, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.” He was stabbed by a soldier in 1877.

The Crazy Horse Memorial

A man named, Korczak Ziolkowski took on this huge task of creating the Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1948. The image of the chief’s head is complete and much preliminary terracing of the mountain. It will be many years until completion. This man died in 1982 and through private funding the work continues. The horse’s head has been outlined and the hammering and controlled blasts will someday move forward towards the final result. A museum,  is on site.

We had an opportunity to watch a Sioux in traditional clothing talk about the happenings and history of the Sioux, he preformed some native songs and dance as well.