Aberdeen, SD, to Austin, MN
Traveling east from Aberdeen and south to Sioux Falls, the prairie has been tamed into one of the most productive agricultural areas in the nation. Rolling hills are blanketed with waves of corn and soybeans around numerous ponds and lakes. Rolled bales of hay dot the shoulders of the road, even the grass growing on the shoulders is of high enough quality for the state to harvest!
Fall harvest is underway…
When white men began infiltrating the northern plains west of the Mississippi River in the mid-1700’s they ran up against a large established native population that had themselves immigrated to the area from the New York area just one hundred years earlier. The Sioux, or Dakota, lived in migratory villages on the plains with most of their basic needs met by the immense herds of buffalo that roamed the tall prairie grasslands. About 14,000 years ago glaciers scoured this area during the last Ice Age and as they retreated left the rolling plains along with areas where the ground had been scoured down to bedrock. The Big Sioux River tumbles over a series of falls in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, a site which has been inhabited by people for hundreds of years. The first Europeans settled along the falls in the 1860’s but, as with the rest of the Dakotas, the area did not really begin to take off until the Great Dakota Boom of the 1880’s. Today Sioux Falls is by far the largest city in South Dakota with nearly 250,000 people in the metropolitan area (a little more than one third of the total population of the entire state.) The city lies along the banks of the Big Sioux River just above the falls, now the centerpiece of Falls Park.
Falls Park
The pink rock around Sioux Falls (Sioux quartzite) is said to be one of the hardest rocks in existence, ranking just below diamonds. The water rushes over a series of falls created by outcroppings of quartzite. Approaching from the parking lot below the falls, the 1908 Sioux Falls Light and Power building at one time housed three power generators, it is now home to the Overlook Café.
A foot bridge crosses the falls from the Overlook Café to the Visitor’s Center on a small hill west of the falls.
Standing on the bridge one has a spectacular birds-eye view of the falls.
From high atop the Visitor Center observation tower the view to the south is across the park and towards the city center. The clock tower of the 1909 Old Courthouse in “Uptown” pierces the morning sky, the commercial buildings of “Downtown” loom on the left. Out croppings of the famed pink quartzite dot the lush green lawns of the park.
Downtown Sioux Falls spreads out west of the river on a wide shelf between the river bank and a line of low bluffs. “Uptown” is the northern side, “Downtown” is the southern area. The Uptown area is home to various county government buildings as well as a theater and warehouses, all built in the early 1900’s and many made of blocks of the pink quartzite chiseled out of local quarries. The 1909 Old County Courthouse, now a museum, dominates the northern edge of the central area.
To the south is the Downtown area, a bustling neighborhood of office buildings, restaurants, bars and retail. Part of the success of the local economy is due to the state banking laws in South Dakota. I don’t know the particulars but the laws are such that many banks house credit card divisions and other operations in the area. Make no mistake about it, downtown Sioux Falls is a happening place and is very busy on a workday morning.
Three blocks of Phillips Street in Downtown are lined with sculptures in one of the highlights of any visit to Sioux Falls, the Sculpture Walk. Every year sculptures are placed along the street and the public votes on their favorite sculpture. The winner is purchased by the city for permanent display. This year there are 57 sculptures on display, all available for purchase (at prices in the thousands of dollars.) This is a picture of part of the brochure that is available along the street. It displays every sculpture, the price, and the artist and contains a ballot where one votes and then drops it off in the ballot boxes that are also on the street. It really is kind of neat!
Turning east our path takes us across the lush farmlands of southern Minnesota, a stretch of undulating land clothed in shades of green and gold under a hazy morning sun that later gives way to brilliant sunshine. What you can’t see is the brisk wind coming up from the south that is trying to blow the Lunch Box all over the road. Maneuvering the boxy motorhome in a side wind isn’t particularly pleasant!
Blue Earth, MN
Blue Earth is a small town of about 3,500 people just off I-90 where the “Golden Spike” of I-90 is denoted by a strip of concrete across the interstate. Here, in 1978, the two construction teams building the interstate, one from the west and one from the east, met and joined the two halves. While interesting, that’s not the reason for our stop. I simply defy any middle-age adult in the United States to look at this next picture and not burst into song!
Yes, this is the land of the “Jolly Green Giant”, advertising icon for a brand of canned food products (mostly vegetables) and Blue Earth is home to one of the original canning plants for what is now Seneca Foods. The roots of the company began in 1903 in La Sueur, MN, when a group of men formed the Minnesota Valley Canning Company and built a cannery to can local corn. In 1907 the company expanded and began canning peas, for the next 30 years peas and corn where the only two products the company processed. Historically only white corn had been considered suitable for human consumption, yellow corn was dismissed as “horse corn.” In the 1920’s the company introduced cream corn made from yellow corn which began a complete shift in the public’s preference for yellow corn. Today 90% of the corn consumed by humans is the sweeter yellow corn. In 1925 the Jolly Green Giant was introduced as the symbol of the company and the rest is history. The first canning plant in Blue Earth was built in 1926, production continues to this day. A 55 feet tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant and his little buddy greet visitors at the entrance to Blue Earth.
A new museum building is being constructed near the statue but for now thousands of pieces of Jolly Green Giant memorabilia are housed in an old warehouse in downtown Blue Earth. The warehouse is crammed with all kinds of Green Giant “stuff” collected over the years.
A series of processing machines from the 1950’s line one of the walls. The first is a “Corn Cutter Bar”, a machine that removed the kernels from the cob. (The wheel in the back is not part of the machine, it’s just leaning against the wall.)
The filler was used to fill the cans with cream corn.
The closing machine packed the product down to leave a little space at the top (necessary for the can to seal and cook properly) and then sealed the lid.
Back on the road our next destination is Austin, MN, the eastern terminus of this trip. The lush farmland continues to unfold around us.
Austin, MN
Austin is a bustling city of 25,000 and home base for the massive Hormel Foods Company. The city center is a bustling line of shops and restaurants in the usual tidy Mid-West manner.
The 1928 Paramount Theater anchors the northern area.
West of Main Street are three notable structures. The first is the Hormel Mansion, built in 1871 by local businessman John Cook and sold to George Hormel in 1901, it now houses a museum dedicated to the history of the Hormel family.
Just down the street is the 1896 Saint Augustine Church.
By far the largest and most architecturally dominating structure in the city is the Austin Public High School. The portion centered by the main entrance was built in 1919, the large addition to the south was added in 1939, housing an auditorium that can seat 1,850 as well as a large gymnasium. The three story building can be seen from all over town.
All of this is very interesting but it’s not the reason I have come to Austin. It’s all about the SPAM!
SPAM Museum
Smack dab in the middle of Main Street is an homage to the signature item from Hormel Foods, SPAM.
A canned ham product first introduced in 1937, you either love it or hate it. I haven’t met too many people who are ambivalent about their opinion of SPAM. Entering the free museum, a carousel of SPAM greets the eye.
The international impact of SPAM is explored.
South Korea’s SPAM consumption is the 2nd largest in the world, ranking only behind the United States. A favorite recipe is “Army Stew”, a combination of classic SPAM, kimchi, hot pepper paste, onions and ramen noodles. SPAM was introduced in China in 2009 and is described as “Meaty Juicy Satisfaction.” SPAM is only made up of six ingredients. The proportions of each is secret but “How It’s Made” is proudly displayed.
Who knew there were so many flavors of SPAM?
A large gift store peddles every imaginable trinket associated with SPAM for the devotee. What fun!
Next up: “76 Trombones…”
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