Digging for Our Roots, Part I: Canton and Sioux Falls, South Dakota

7-18 August, 2012

We have spent the past 11 days immersed in our family history. We split our time between Canton and Sioux Falls which is about 20 miles north of Canton. Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota at about 150,000. Canton is pretty small – about 2000 folks.

Our camping spot in the Canton area was pretty cool, we were right next to a cornfield. Lots of birds in the morning and evening and a few bunnies. And the weather has started to cool as well. Most days were in the 70s and 80s rather than the 90s and 100s of July. Hallelujah!

We started our family research at the public library in Canton and the county courthouse. Found several articles in the Sioux Valley News from the 30s and 40s that helped to fill in some holes. We visited Canton High School and found some relatives in the class pictures from the 30s and 40s. And we toured around Canton proper where we found the homes where Florence (Russ’ mom) and Cleo (my mom) lived during the 30s.

There is a very pretty state park about 5 miles outside of Canton named Newton Hills. Lots and lots of trees and rolling hills which is a welcome change from the flat grasslands we have been traveling through for the past several weeks. Lots of wildlife to see also; turkeys and deer. We also visited Klondike where there is a bridge crossing the Big Sioux River which Russ’ dad and great uncle helped to build in the 1920s after they returned from Montana. The bridge has been replaced by another, larger bridge but the old one is still there and, apparently, is a great fishing bridge as witnessed by the several groups of families out enjoying themselves.

We took one day and traveled down to Sioux City, Iowa, where Russ’ dad and aunt attended Morningside College, a Methodist school. It is a small campus, about 2000 students, with several buildings dating from the early 1900s and a few more modern buildings. The grounds are beautiful. The yearbooks in the library yielded several pictures of Russ’ dad and aunt in their early 20s. Pretty cool to see them at that young age and to imagine what their college life experience was like. Looked pretty fun to me. And it just hit me one more time the sacrifices their parents made to be able to send them to college during the depression. Russ’ grandfather was a Methodist minister and they didn’t have much money at any time, especially during the depression.

The move up to the Sioux Falls campground took all of about 45 minutes, so we had pretty much the rest of the day to tour around. Sioux Falls has a nicely restored downtown section, full of boutiques and pubs, with an interesting sculpture walk. I think over 40 sculptures are put out on display for a year and people vote for their favorite one. At the end of the year, they tally the votes and the city buys the sculpture with the most votes for the city’s permanent collection. Of course, if you see one you just cannot do without, the opportunity exists to buy it outright for your collection. Pretty clever way to display city art on a small budget.

Visited a small but nice butterfly garden and aquarium where Russ got to hone his photography skills. And we visited a memorial to the USS South Dakota, the most decorated battleship ever. Lots of original photos in the little museum they have in the "island" of the ship.

The falls, which Sioux Falls is named after, has been much impacted by the drought and the water flow is much lower than what it usually is. So I wasn’t impressed by the “roar” of the water. But the city has made a beautiful park out of the area. We had lunch at what used to be part of a flour mill that had been built in the late 1880s. In the evening, we watched a laser light and sound show that covered the history of Sioux Falls. The only downside was that, at times, the park was downwind from the Morrell meat process plant which includes a slaughterhouse. Not pleasant.

There is a huge church, St. Joseph’s Cathedral, which sits on a hill overlooking the falls. Surrounding this church are several blocks of large restored Victorian homes. So we took part of an afternoon and cruised up and down these streets with me oohing and aahing over the Queen Anne’s and Neo-Colonial styles. I have always been partial to the Victorian era and these homes were stellar examples.

On my birthday, we took a mini-road trip west and north out to Fedora, about 60 miles from Sioux Falls. This is where Russ’ parents met while teaching. Unfortunately, the school is no longer there. Putting the size of Fedora into perspective, Florence noted that it takes longer to drive out to Fedora than it takes to see it. She is right about that. But the ride was nice. We completed the square by driving east to Palisades State Park where there are some very nice cliff formations along a small river. On the way to Fedora, we came across a very unusual metal sculpture garden, Porter's, which was spread across a rolling hill surrounded by corn fields and pasture. The sculptor lives on the premises with his sheep dog during the tourist season and spends the winter working in the family blacksmith shop where he works on his next set of sculptures. They were light heartened pieces with humorous hand painted writings next to them.

We were able to spend an afternoon with Russ’ family including his two aunts (sisters of Florence) and five cousins along with spouses and a couple of the kids (not kids anymore actually, but really cool young adults). Kind of a mini family reunion. I am so grateful that they were all able to come together for the visit. We had a great time. And I was able to find more information for the family tree.

Russ and I concluded that, except for the weather, Sioux Falls would be a wonderful place to live. It has all the amenities, great history and beautiful surroundings. We now leave for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

A mama turkey and her brood at Newton Hills.

The natural grasslands grow quite high, these are as tall as Russ.

The Newton Hills are heavily forested with a variety of hardwoods. I bet they are beautiful in the fall.

The Klondike bridge, built in the 1920s to cross over the Big Sioux River north of Canton.

A view of the cornfield right next to our campsite near Canton.

The Missouri River from a bluff in Sioux City, Iowa.

This obelisk commenorates the death of a member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. It was the first, and I believe, the only death during the whole trip.

In front of the USS South Dakota Memorial in Sioux Falls.

They weren't able to move the whole ship, but they brought some guns, the mast and a propellor. The memorial was laid out to the exact same footprint as the ship.

I imagine every aquarium in the world has a tank full of Nemos nowadays.

This guy seemed to enjoy walking backwards on his tail. Can't imagine how he was taught to do that.

Not a real butterfly. One of the sculptures in Porter's Garden.

This guy is so large, you can walk inside of it through a gate in the back.

Interesting rock formations in Palisades State Park.

Sioux Falls. Not alot of water this year. The rock is called Sioux Falls quartzite. Many of the older buildings in the city are made from the rock.

The ruins of the Queen Bee Flour Mill which was built in the 1880s. Now part of the Falls Park.

There used to be a huge pipe laid across these rocks which connected to the turbine room down below. Water would flow down the pipe to drive the turbine for the flour mill (the ruins you can see on the right.)