Each time we go out to Becky’s family in Onida, SD, I look forward to taking a trip with her grandpa, Bud. I like to explore areas of the Missouri River (Lake Oahe) and he loves to show me around. He was the county commissioner before and he knows just about everyone in the county, so he has lots of stories for every area we explore.
This time we decided to head across the Oahe Dam (the second largest earthfill dam in the world) to West River. I’d never been across there before, and we followed the 1806 road along the river. I’ve been interested in finding some property along the river, and there are a few properties available over there. The properties across the river weren’t too appealing, but it was an interesting journey.
After we left the side of the river, we got into some rolling hills and the few cars we had encountered to that point were nowhere to be found. We passed by the Triple U buffalo ranch which was featured in "Dances with Wolves". The road turned to gravel a few miles later as we made our way to a town called Mission Ridge. The road actually became basically a single lane and there were no cars to be seen, so we figured this couldn’t be much of a town. Along the path we spotted two mule deer under a tree – a pretty rare sight (I got a picture). When we made it to Mission Ridge we found one house and one barn – apparently that’s all it takes to become a town. Bud said he hadn’t been there in 45 years, and the last time he was there, there was a sign on one of the houses indicating it was also the post office. That wasn’t there anymore, and it looked like we had been the first visitors in quite some time.
We left Mission Ridge and started to head towards Fort Bennett which is the confluence of the Cheyenne and Missouri River. Apparently Fort Bennett was operated between 1870 and 1889 as a post to prevent the Indians from coming down to Pierre. We drove for miles and miles until we got to the end of the road, still probably 4 miles from the river junction. It appears there’s only one farm that covers the expansive area. The views of the Cheyenne River were great from up there.
On the way back we stopped in Fort Pierre and saw the Verendye monument on a hill overlooking the town. I didn’t find the property I was seeking, but it was certainly an interesting voyage.
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