MT. RUSHMORE and WALL DRUG Experience
Fourth of July in South Dakota
Springfield, Illinois
By: Cathy Burford
On the way to Mt. Rushmore, we stopped for a night in Wall, SD to have the famous Wall Drug experience. It has become a huge tourist stop, but the story of its rise to fame is worth repeating. In this remote town during the depression, Ted Hustead and his wife Dorothy were looking for customers at their drug store. One day as Dorothy was listening to all the cars pass by on the highway she had her 'Aha!' moment. She thought that if they put up signs offering free ice water to all the hot, thirsty travelers they would surely stop. They were overrun the very first day the signs went up. Now the theme-park phenomenon that is Wall Drug stands as a testament to that terrific idea!
We passed on the Badlands when we realized that we could get to Mt. Rushmore for their July 3-4 Celebration! Our home base while we are here is the tiny town of Hermosa. We look out our front window at the setting for 'Little House on the Prairie', complete with horses. On a recommendation we took the 'back way' to Mt. Rushmore(Hwy 36 to 16A) through some of the most scenic country we've seen so far. We passed beautiful green hills, small little ranches, The Elk Haven Horse Camp, then skirted Custer State Park, and drove through Black Hills National Forest toward Mt. Rushmore. We passed through several short, square, one lane 'honking' tunnels. I refer to them as such not because they are large, but because you honk as you enter to stop traffic from entering from the other direction. As you approach Mt. Rushmore is visible for the first time from about five miles away. For first time visitors, I would highly recommend driving in from this direction.
I haven't been here since the 60's, so this was a bit like experiencing it for the first time! Wonderful exhibits in the Lincoln-Borglum Museum are not to be missed. There is a short movie shown there that gives a new understanding of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. For instance, I never knew that he studied under Auguste Rodin, did you? Construction began in 1927 and completion was in 1941. It was a great, though intermittent, source of employment in those depression years. Borglum died before it was completed, and his son, Lincoln, completed his work.
We witnessed the following in the beautiful amphitheater at Mt. Rushmore's base; 7pm USAF induction swearing in; 7:25, Vet's recognition for 92 year old WASP Ola Mildred Rexroat, who learned to fly a plane before she learned to drive a car; 8pm B1B Flyover from nearby Ellsworth AFB(very cool); 8:15 Black Hills Symphony played, being interrupted twice by 'rain breaks', a common phenomenon here; 9:40 At long last the fantastical 'Lighting Ceremony' By this hour it was windy & chilly, but we hung in there. There were no fireworks this year due to fire danger, but honestly, they just weren't necessary...these glowing, larger-than-life men were more than enough!
Yours from the road on this 4th of July,
Cathy & William
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