1937 Vintage Road Trip Scrapbook - Part 26 - South Dakota, Part 3

(for part 1, click here)

More South Dakota before Home

Here are the last few pages of Joan Adelle Johnson's scrapbook. 

The below page features a pamphlet of Bad Land National Park, compliments of Wall Drug Store. Wall Drug certainly still exists, but it hadn't existed very long before the Johnsons visited. The drug store was bought in 1931 but the family who would go on to make it the famous tourist trap it is today, but it was only the summer before the Johnsons arrived that they started giving out the free ice water they are known for.

Crystal Cave, advertised in the brochure, is also around - but when I checked, it looks like it's currently closed to the public. Bummer! I think I toured it as a kid.

By the way, Wall Drug carries one of my novels! (Ox Cart Angel - a middle grade historical fiction novel about a father and daughter's journey over the Red River trails in 1863) If you want to check it out, click on the link below.

On the next page, we have another wonderful postcard packet - again, 9 double-sided postcards in color - this time of the Badlands. Some highlights farther down. There's also an article about the progress on Lincoln's head on the Mount Rushmore Memorial, and I'm guessing the accompanying picture would have been much like the Johnsons saw the memorial when they visited.

Hell's Half Acre on Sheep Mountain, Bad Lands, So. Dak. (I find it interesting how Badlands used to be denoted as two separate words back then).

Sheep Mountain Near Scenic Bad Lands.

View From the South, Tunnel Through the Bad Lands.

Vampire Valley, Cedar Pass

"The Wall", Cedar Pass

A page with a Ripley's Believe it Or Not cartoon and one of unknown origin.

"Be sure and get that spot on his nose!...That's Junior."

And the very last page of Joan Johnson's scrapbook of her family's 1937 journey. Here we have a Mount Rushmore pamphlet (the pic below this one is a photo from inside the pamphlet) and a newspaper article about Rushmore's sculptor's son taking over the work.

Cool shot from the pamphlet of workers treating Lincoln's acne.

Well, heck! That's it! That's the end of the Johnson scrapbook! I hope you've enjoyed taking a glimpse at these old pages rescued a few years ago from an antiques dealer. I'm not completely done with this scrapbook, however. 

A couple things I'd like to do:

Track down any of the Johnsons living relatives. The hard part is that their last name is Johnson, not a particularly rare name in this part of the world. 

I would also like to meet the folks who currently live in the old Johnson house on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. I wonder if they'd be interested in seeing this.

Another idea I have is a bit more ambitious. I would eventually like to recreate this trip with my family and create a book comparing the Johnson's route to the modern day route, trying to match their's as closely as possible. However, that would be at least a three week trip, and even that would be rushing it. Perhaps I'll start a Kickstarter campaign to cover costs? We'll see. If I did that, it would be fun to meet people along the way, or have other families also taking this trip. We can have meetups along the way, exchange stories, photos. We could video it, or make it into a travelling podcast.

Ha! We'll see what happens, but anyhow, thanks for following the Johnsons on their journey with me!

If you have any questions or suggestions, shoot me an email at AuthorJoelArnold@gmail.com

Best,

Joel Arnold

1937 Vintage Road Trip Scrapbook - Part 25 - South Dakota, Part 2

(for part 1, click here)

Black Hills and Badlands

The next page in good ol' Joan's scrapbook is a bit of a mishmash. Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, Ol' Judge Robbins comic...but my favorite thing is the postcard packet, which contains 9 double-sided colorful postcards of the Black Hills, a sampling of which is below.

Here's Ol' Judge Robbins. "Believe me, there's plenty to see in the Black Hills of South Dakota," says the Judge." Chubbins (remember her?) asks, "What are those queer looking rocks, Daddy?" "They're due to erosion by glaciers that existed in the Black Hills ages ago," says Daddy. Chubbin's says, "Hold it, Dad - Woofy, stop your barking!" "Hurry Chubbins - we don't want to miss that Days of '76 celebration up at Deadwood."

Unfortunately, Chubbins didn't hurry, and was left behind to fend for herself.

Here's that Black Hills postcard packet.

Mount Rushmore with only Washington's head finished.

White-tailed deer in Custer State Park.

Rough Lock Falls, Little Spearfish Canyon. (I really like this one!)

Twin Tunnels on Iron Mountain Road to Mr. Rushmore.

The next page we have a clipping of Dinosaur Park at Rapid City, another Ol' Judge Robbins' comic, and another piece of artwork from our favorite scrapbook artist, Joan Adelle.

Joan's drawing.

Oh, I guess Chubbins found her way back to her dad's car. "This Days' of '76 celebration is held here every year," says pops. "There's how highwaymen used to hold up the western stage coaches in your grandfather's time." "Thank goodness it's only fun," says Chubbins. Judge Robbins sez, "I'm glad we stopped back at this Mount Rushmore memorial. I'm told that Washington's and Jefferson's faces are 60 feet high and carved from solid rock. Let's go up with the guide."

The ol' Judge is also probably wishing the guide would stop leering at his daughter.

Ready for the last pages of the Johnson scrapbook? Then click here!

1937 Vintage Road Trip Scrapbook - Part 24 - South Dakota, Part 1

(for part 1, click here)

The Black Hills

Ah, the Black Hills. Lots of fun and interesting things for the Johnsons to see there. Below, we have a 1937 South Dakota Highway Map, a couple clipped pictures from a magazine (one of a dude ranch, one of a momma pig and her litter) and a couple of Joan's drawings.

A close-up for your amusement;

I like how she signs them "Joan Adelle".

This next drawing of Joan's takes up much of the next scrapbook page. She writes at the bottom, "My sister Marilyn, drawn in the car while travelling homeward." Marilyn looks wistful, as if she's had a good trip but is anxious to get home to friends and the life she's accustomed to.

Next we get into some Mount Rushmore items. I find this especially interesting, since the monument has not yet been completed when the Johnsons visit.

"Hold that pose, George!"

Some photographic prints of Rushmore. A view through a tunnel. A photograph showing the mountain before carving began, and after. Also, an informational postcard on the memorial.

Close-up of the tunnel print below. The caption beneath says, "Every Rushmore highway tunnel forms perfect frame for Natl. memorial miles away. Black Hills, S.D."

Here's the before and after photo. Some interesting tidbits about the mountain that the faces are carved on. The Lakota Sioux called the mountain The Six Grandfathers (they also called it Cougar Mountain). White settlers also called it Slaughterhouse Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Keystone Cliffs, and also Cougar Mountain.

When the Johnsons visited Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, only Washington's and Jefferson's heads were finished, although Lincoln's head would be finished a few months later. Teddy Roosevelt's visage wouldn't be completed until 1939. Astoundingly, no workers died while carving the mountain.

More South Dakota next!

2014 Author Tour - Final Part

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

After spending the night in Murdo, we drove east toward home. Stopped for lunch at Al's Oasis while it poured rain, crossed the Missouri River into Chamberlain and then stopped in Mitchell. Of course the Corn Palace was an obligatory stop, although they were doing some refurbishing of the outside.

After buying some delicious popcorn balls inside the palace (which is actually an auditorium where high school basketball games are played and concerts are held, but during tourist season converts into a giant gift shop) we headed over to the Dakota Discovery Museum, where they were kind enough to purchase some of my books. After that, it was a long stretch home.

It was a great trip. Got my book into 13 new stores that hadn't carried it before. Saw a lot of great places that can serve as potential magazine articles, story ideas or at least blog posts. I made a few great contacts, met a lot of good people, and Paige and I had a great time.

Yes, we had a great time, but we breathed a sigh of relief as we finally pulled into our driveway.

It's good to be home, be among the familiar, be with the rest of my family, my bed, my couch, my yard, my porch...

It's good to be home.

Thanks for following my blog posts about our 2014 Author Tour! If you'd like to be emailed whenever I post a new blog entry, and/or if you'd like to sign up to my once-a-month-or-so newsletter, check out the links on the right-hand side of this blog.

Take care!

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Grand River Museum, Lemmon, SD - 2014 Author Tour, Part 4C

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

I want to step delicately here, since I'll admit that I went into the Grand River Museum in Lemmon, South Dakota as a bit of a lark. I knew going in that it was a creationist museum. You know, one of those places that promote the "science" of the bible. For example, they believe the earth is only 6,000 years old, that people and dinosaurs co-existed, and that dinosaur fossils were placed in the earth by God.

But while the sculpture under the museum's sign captures this sentiment, you also gotta admit, it's a fun sculpture; a cowboy riding a triceratops. Plus it's a cool sculpture. My photo doesn't do it justice, since you can't see much detail in it, but the closer you get to the sculpture, the more it leaves your jaw hanging. The artist who did it - John Lopez - uses scrap metal for his pieces, and his pieces are amazing. Take a look at some of his work here to see his incredible sculptures in way better detail than you can see in my photo. Go ahead, I'll wait a moment.

Okay, you're back? Great!

The museum has excellent displays on some of the area's history. They have actual dinosaur fossils, too. The museum owners have found a bunch of fossils on their property. And the curators are really nice folks, too. They're in the process of adding a huge addition in the back that will have more displays on ranching and western art, and there will apparently be more of John Lopez's sculptures.

They also have this:

And this - Noah's ark:

They do make it fun for kids, since it's filled with little models, and you have to guess which items weren't really around at the time of the ark. Since, you know - accuracy is important, and all that.

So I feel a bit like an asshole for harping on the place, since 1 - if people want to believe in Creationism despite all evidence to the contrary, that's their prerogative. And 2 - they bought copies of my book for their gift shop. So you see, I feel like I'm getting into some 'cutting off my nose to spite my face' territory here.

What do you think? Was it wrong to offer my books for sale at their gift shop even though I find the whole Creationism thing laughable? I'm really not sure how I feel about the whole thing…

On that note…onto part 5!

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Visit Joel's Amazon Page!

Petrified Wood Park, Lemmon, SD - 2014 Author Tour, Part 4B

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

This place is one of those reasons I like to get off the Interstate and take some of the lesser travelled roads. This is in the town of Lemmon, SD (pop. 1227) on highway 12, the old Yellowstone Trail that took people out west before Interstates 90 and 94 were around. Lemmon is right at the northern edge of the South Dakota border.

The Petrified Wood Park was created by Ole Quammen in the early 1930s with the help of three dozen or so men. He used materials found within only a few miles of town. There's no admission charge to explore the park or the accompanying museum.

The pictures don't do it justice. You walk through this place surrounded by all these strange sculptures and easily forget you're in the middle of a town. It's a tactile place. You can't climb the sculptures, but you can touch them. It's one of those places where you might ask yourself "Why?" and just as easily answer, "Well, why not?"

It's just plain cool.

This building houses a museum dedicated to the history of Lemmon

The park is huge - taking up an entire city block

You can go inside this interesting structure. 

This is inside the above structure looking up at the pyramidal ceiling. Apart from petrified wood and stones, you can find fossils incorporated into many of the sculptures - particularly this one.

A little courtyard 

Detail of the arch from the picture above this one - those stones imbedded on the arch are rose quartz

Aside from the petrified wood sculptures, there were stacks of these cannon-ball type rocks

Petrified wood sculptures

Looking up at one of the taller sculptures

Is this place a vision of mad genius? Or is it some guy who just tried getting through the Great Depression in an interesting fashion? He did, after all, give the 30+ men who helped build the place jobs at a time when many in the country couldn't find any.

I love places like this. They're unique. They're something that take you out of the ordinary, everydayness of life. They make you look around, smile a bit and say to yourself, "Well, why the hell not?"

Thanks for stopping by, and head on to part 4C of the author tour, in which I find myself in a bit of a moral dilemma!

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Visit Joel's Amazon Page!

Storybook Land, Aberdeen, SD - 2014 Author Tour part 4A

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

After a night of severe thunderstorm warnings in Ellendale, we moved on to the next part of our trip - down to Aberdeen where we'd hook up to old Highway 12 - also known as the Yellowstone Trail, which would take us all the way to Miles City, Montana on this day. There were a number of interesting stops along the way to Miles City, so I'm breaking them down into their own separate entries. First stop - Storybook Land in Aberdeen!

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to enjoy the place as much as I did. I especially thought Paige, now 13-years old, would be unimpressed. But we were both surprised, I think, at how elaborate and fun the place was. There were dozens of life-size settings and characters for just about every famous childhood story you could think of.

"No, Pinocchio - chiseling your knee won't hurt a bit!"

The giant coming down the beanstalk for Jack. Thank heavens he's wearing underwear!

Aberdeen was also the home of Wizard of Oz creator L. Frank Baum from 1888 to 1891, so there is of course a section dedicated to the Wizard of Oz story.  (They don't mention the part where Baum infamously wrote an editorial for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer calling for the extermination of all Native Americans.) There's even a yellow brick road to follow!

The Oz crew

The Scarecrow - don't pull his finger!

This is actually a giant Tin Man slide - though at first I was afraid that giant ping-pong balls would shoot from between his legs...

The Haunted Forest!

Paige leaving the Cowardly Lion's den

Storybook Land is free to walk through. There are also some amusement park-type rides, a gift shop, concessions, bumper boats, mini-golf, go-carts, a petting zoo, and a train ride that winds around the area. Very fun place to go! We spent over an hour there just walking through Storybook Land. I recommend it, even if you don't have kids.

Now on to part 4B!

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