Tuesday, August 21, 2007
South Dakota Part I
Be sure to click on photos for larger images.
This installment covers Friday (August 17) through Tuesday (August 21).
On Friday we started by visiting the President’s Park Sculpture Garden. This attraction has a large bust of every president (see photo) accompanied by a display which highlights his life and presidency and contains a brief comment on his First Lady. We then visited a natural history museum in Hill, SD, containing a variety of rocks, fossils, and dinosaur skeletons. After window shopping on the short main street, we had lunch at Desperados, a restaurant housed in the oldest surviving commercial log structure in South Dakota. We finished the day’s sightseeing by driving to Sturgis, the home of an annual motorcycle gathering which ended about a week ago. While there, we visited the Motorcycle Museum. Back at the RV for the evening, where we had a very heavy rain and a little small hail. Deadwood missed the worst of the storm – there was baseball size hail about 12 miles due south of Sturgis, with flash-flooding in the same area.
On Saturday we drove a “scenic byway” from Deadwood to Spearfish. En route we walked a short paved trail to Roughlock Falls. It is so named because the surrounding hills are very steep and in the early days they were navigated downhill by tying (rough-locking) the wheels of a wagon, hitching the team to the back, and letting the horses slow the wagon’s slide downhill. In Spearfish we visited the High Plains Museum, which featured a lot of cattle related items, including a vast barbed wire collection. This is the first place I have ever seen a men’s room sign saying “Please exercise diligence when using the urinals.” After lunch we returned to explore downtown Deadwood.
In Deadwood we won a little money (about $11) at video poker in one of the many small casinos; souvenir-shopped; watched a mock gunfight (not nearly as elaborate as the one we saw last week at Ft. Lincoln); visited the Deadwood Museum (where we learned that Wild Bill Hickok’s killer was found not guilty at his first trial in Deadwood, but was convicted and hanged after a second trial a few weeks later in a nearby city – so much for double jeopardy); and drove up a steep hill to visit Mt. Moriah Cemetery, where we saw the gravesites of Hickok (see photo) and Calamity Jane.
On Sunday we drove from Deadwood to Pierre, SD, where we are staying for two nights in a nice campground (Lake Oahe Downstream) managed by the State of South Dakota on a Corps of Engineers lake. Our first stop was at the touted Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD (see photo) – it has more road signs announcing its approach than does Rock City.
Next we drove through Badlands National Park, stopping at a lot of overlooks for sightseeing and photos (see photo).
On Monday we drove to downtown over the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River – this is one of the largest rolled earth dams in the world. We then took a self-guided toured of South Dakota State Capitol, which is a highly decorated building (see photos) that looks much more like a typical capitol than did North Dakota’s. The floor in the rotunda is mosaic. Since the artisans who laid the mosaic could not sign their work, each was given one blue tile to place as a signature – apparently on 55 of the 67 artisans actually laid these tiles. When the floor was refurbished, each of the tile-layers was given a heart-shaped tile to place as a signature. Next we walked around Capitol Lake and saw the memorial to South Dakota servicemen and women (see photo).
After lunch, we toured the South Dakota Heritage Center. This was another nice museum whose claim to fame is that it is covered by earth, making it very energy efficient. From the upstairs, looking downtown, you can see that Pierre is located in a valley surrounded by hills on all sides.
We left the campground about 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning so that we could get to the half-day a week (Tuesday 9:30-12:00) open house at the National Park’s new Minuteman Missile sites located near the Badlands National Park.
There are two Minuteman sites – Delta 01 is the former Delta flight’s launch control center, Delta 09 is the silo for one of the flight’s 10 Minuteman II missiles. The preservation of these two sites as a museum was negotiated as part of the arms reduction talks. The other 44 Minuteman II launch control centers and 449 missile silos have been destroyed. (There are still about 500 active Minuteman III missile sites in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, and they are scheduled to stay in service until at least 2025.)
The story of Minuteman missiles: These were the first solid fuel missiles that were deployed; they replaced the liquid fueled Atlas and Titan missiles. The earlier missile silos had to be adjacent to the launch control centers because of the manual process involved in raising and fueling the missiles. Each ten Minuteman II silos, which were built by the Corps of Engineers between 1961 and 1963, were controlled by one launch control center. (A squadron consisted of 5 launch control centers, controlling a total of 50 missiles.) These silos were located remotely – typically 3 to 15 miles from the launch center – and were tied into the center by underground copper cable. They remained in service for thirty years, from 1963 to 1993.
The above-ground life support and security facilities at the launch center were manned by a USAF facility manager, 6 security policemen, and a cook, who worked 36 hours on, 36 hours off. Sometimes these personnel were joined by maintenance personnel. The launch control facility, located 30 to 90 feet underground depending on the soil conditions, was manned by two missilers who worked 24-hour shifts behind an 8-ton hydraulically-operated, steel and concrete blast door (see photos). This was a “no-lone zone,” which meant that there could never be one person left alone in the launch facility.
Our guide in the launch control center was a former missiler. He explained that a “war order message” would be announced by a warbling tone followed by two six digit codes. Once these codes were authenticated by both of the missilers, they would use separate keys to open a red lock box containing launch codes and launch keys. They would then determine, from the war order codes, which of the particular launch codes was to be used. Each missile had six preprogrammed targets. The particular launch code would determine which missiles would be launched at which targets, and which missiles would be held in reserve. The war order message also contained a launch time. The missilers would enter the launch codes and, at the appointed time, would turn their launch keys in slots located 12 feet apart. No missiles would be launched, however, unless keys were turned simultaneously in at least two of the squadron’s five launch control centers. Once launched, there was no way to destroy the missiles in flight.
At the Delta 09 site, we saw a missile in its silo (see photo). The missile was normally covered by a 7-ton concrete door. As part of the launch preparation sequence, explosive charges would be remotely detonated in order to blow the door away.
After finishing the tour of the two Delta sites, we drove on to Rapid City on a state highway that traveled primarily through a national grasslands preserve. After a late lunch we went to a theater to see “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
This installment covers Friday (August 17) through Tuesday (August 21).
On Friday we started by visiting the President’s Park Sculpture Garden. This attraction has a large bust of every president (see photo) accompanied by a display which highlights his life and presidency and contains a brief comment on his First Lady. We then visited a natural history museum in Hill, SD, containing a variety of rocks, fossils, and dinosaur skeletons. After window shopping on the short main street, we had lunch at Desperados, a restaurant housed in the oldest surviving commercial log structure in South Dakota. We finished the day’s sightseeing by driving to Sturgis, the home of an annual motorcycle gathering which ended about a week ago. While there, we visited the Motorcycle Museum. Back at the RV for the evening, where we had a very heavy rain and a little small hail. Deadwood missed the worst of the storm – there was baseball size hail about 12 miles due south of Sturgis, with flash-flooding in the same area.
On Saturday we drove a “scenic byway” from Deadwood to Spearfish. En route we walked a short paved trail to Roughlock Falls. It is so named because the surrounding hills are very steep and in the early days they were navigated downhill by tying (rough-locking) the wheels of a wagon, hitching the team to the back, and letting the horses slow the wagon’s slide downhill. In Spearfish we visited the High Plains Museum, which featured a lot of cattle related items, including a vast barbed wire collection. This is the first place I have ever seen a men’s room sign saying “Please exercise diligence when using the urinals.” After lunch we returned to explore downtown Deadwood.
In Deadwood we won a little money (about $11) at video poker in one of the many small casinos; souvenir-shopped; watched a mock gunfight (not nearly as elaborate as the one we saw last week at Ft. Lincoln); visited the Deadwood Museum (where we learned that Wild Bill Hickok’s killer was found not guilty at his first trial in Deadwood, but was convicted and hanged after a second trial a few weeks later in a nearby city – so much for double jeopardy); and drove up a steep hill to visit Mt. Moriah Cemetery, where we saw the gravesites of Hickok (see photo) and Calamity Jane.
On Sunday we drove from Deadwood to Pierre, SD, where we are staying for two nights in a nice campground (Lake Oahe Downstream) managed by the State of South Dakota on a Corps of Engineers lake. Our first stop was at the touted Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD (see photo) – it has more road signs announcing its approach than does Rock City.
Next we drove through Badlands National Park, stopping at a lot of overlooks for sightseeing and photos (see photo).
On Monday we drove to downtown over the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River – this is one of the largest rolled earth dams in the world. We then took a self-guided toured of South Dakota State Capitol, which is a highly decorated building (see photos) that looks much more like a typical capitol than did North Dakota’s. The floor in the rotunda is mosaic. Since the artisans who laid the mosaic could not sign their work, each was given one blue tile to place as a signature – apparently on 55 of the 67 artisans actually laid these tiles. When the floor was refurbished, each of the tile-layers was given a heart-shaped tile to place as a signature. Next we walked around Capitol Lake and saw the memorial to South Dakota servicemen and women (see photo).
After lunch, we toured the South Dakota Heritage Center. This was another nice museum whose claim to fame is that it is covered by earth, making it very energy efficient. From the upstairs, looking downtown, you can see that Pierre is located in a valley surrounded by hills on all sides.
We left the campground about 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning so that we could get to the half-day a week (Tuesday 9:30-12:00) open house at the National Park’s new Minuteman Missile sites located near the Badlands National Park.
There are two Minuteman sites – Delta 01 is the former Delta flight’s launch control center, Delta 09 is the silo for one of the flight’s 10 Minuteman II missiles. The preservation of these two sites as a museum was negotiated as part of the arms reduction talks. The other 44 Minuteman II launch control centers and 449 missile silos have been destroyed. (There are still about 500 active Minuteman III missile sites in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, and they are scheduled to stay in service until at least 2025.)
The story of Minuteman missiles: These were the first solid fuel missiles that were deployed; they replaced the liquid fueled Atlas and Titan missiles. The earlier missile silos had to be adjacent to the launch control centers because of the manual process involved in raising and fueling the missiles. Each ten Minuteman II silos, which were built by the Corps of Engineers between 1961 and 1963, were controlled by one launch control center. (A squadron consisted of 5 launch control centers, controlling a total of 50 missiles.) These silos were located remotely – typically 3 to 15 miles from the launch center – and were tied into the center by underground copper cable. They remained in service for thirty years, from 1963 to 1993.
The above-ground life support and security facilities at the launch center were manned by a USAF facility manager, 6 security policemen, and a cook, who worked 36 hours on, 36 hours off. Sometimes these personnel were joined by maintenance personnel. The launch control facility, located 30 to 90 feet underground depending on the soil conditions, was manned by two missilers who worked 24-hour shifts behind an 8-ton hydraulically-operated, steel and concrete blast door (see photos). This was a “no-lone zone,” which meant that there could never be one person left alone in the launch facility.
Our guide in the launch control center was a former missiler. He explained that a “war order message” would be announced by a warbling tone followed by two six digit codes. Once these codes were authenticated by both of the missilers, they would use separate keys to open a red lock box containing launch codes and launch keys. They would then determine, from the war order codes, which of the particular launch codes was to be used. Each missile had six preprogrammed targets. The particular launch code would determine which missiles would be launched at which targets, and which missiles would be held in reserve. The war order message also contained a launch time. The missilers would enter the launch codes and, at the appointed time, would turn their launch keys in slots located 12 feet apart. No missiles would be launched, however, unless keys were turned simultaneously in at least two of the squadron’s five launch control centers. Once launched, there was no way to destroy the missiles in flight.
At the Delta 09 site, we saw a missile in its silo (see photo). The missile was normally covered by a 7-ton concrete door. As part of the launch preparation sequence, explosive charges would be remotely detonated in order to blow the door away.
After finishing the tour of the two Delta sites, we drove on to Rapid City on a state highway that traveled primarily through a national grasslands preserve. After a late lunch we went to a theater to see “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
