On our way to Sioux Falls this morning, we made a stop in Wall, SD to see the Wall Drug Store which was a must on Jim’s bucket list. Are you kidding me? A Drug Store? Was I ever surprised to see an entire street, on both sides, filled with what was once a single drug store gone viral. On the way to this bucket list destination, we saw many road signs advertising “Free Ice Water” at Wall Drugs. More signs than you see advertising South of the Border and that’s saying something.
Interesting columns to hold up the overhang at Wall Drug – trees from the area
Main Street in Wall, SD – Wall drug is on the right side
The background story goes something like this: In 1931 Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought the Wall Drug Store on the edge of the South Dakota Badlands. Population of Wall was 326 fairly poor people, mostly farmers suffering from the Depression or drought. Both their families had told Ted and Dorothy that buying this store in the middle of nowhere was a mistake but they felt it was the right thing for them to do. They were going to give themselves 5 years to make a go of it. Ted even studied some veterinary medicine to add to his pharmacy license to help the farmers in their new community.
It was July of the fifth year and nothing was getting any better. December would be the end of the five years and although they loved the people in the town they were no closer to making the drug store a success. It was hot and humid and Dorothy left the store to put the children down for nap and maybe take one herself because Ted didn’t need any help in an empty store. Within a very short time she was back because all the road noise from Route 16A. There was lots of traffic and she suggested they offer free ice water to all these travelers who were out there to draw them into the store. The next weekend they put up signs all along the road and it brought in all the customers they could handle. By the next summer, they had to hire 8 ladies to help serve the ice water, ice cream cones, food, and generally handle all the sales the Drug Store was getting from the people stopping for free ice water. Today, the store draws up to twenty thousand people on a really hot summer day and based on what we saw, it will be continuing for a long time.
After leaving with our free ice water, we drove through the Badlands National Park. Both the Lakota Indians and the French called this area “bad lands” because of the intense heat, peaks, gullies, buttes, and wide prairies devoid of water and life. Thousands of millions of years ago, this area was created by a volcanic eruption, sinking the ground and then sending ash over the entire area. Over time the ash, soil and water formed clay and then about 500 million year ago the rain began to erode the clay creating these pinnacles and peaks with the diversity of shapes, colors, and sizes that creates the landscape. 
Yellow Mounds in Badlands National Park
Big Horn sheep
Just outside the park is a prairie homestead that remains from its 1909 origin by Edgar and Alice Brown who came from Nebraska to claim a 160 acre homestead from the government for $18.00 and a guarantee of ownership if they could sustain themselves for five years with a crop and farm animals. 
The left side of the house in this picture is what they built and lived in originally for the first 15 years. The rest of the house was added later along with a root cellar, barn, and eventually a garage for their model A.
Garage for car on left side and barn for animals on right
This was a hard life that many did not survive and had to give up and go back home. Mr. Brown had said, “It’s the government betting 160 acres against $18.00 that you will not be able to make it.” But Mr. and Mrs. Brown did survive until 1936 when the home and 160 acres was rented to a bachelor who lived there until 1949. Where were you living in 1949? I’ll bet it didn’t have a dirt floor or sod walls.
Inside the home with dirt floor behind paper wall is bedroom
Bedroom behind the paper wall
Root Cellar
MG giving some attention to the goats on the property
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