TRUE DAKOTAN PHOTO/CRAIG WENZEL

BY CRAIG WENZEL

 A brand new automobile still draws a little attention today, but can you imagine the size of a crowd that might assemble around a sparkling new 1909 Cadillac? Marvin Mentzer, Wessington Springs, was cleaning out some things in the basement of his rural home when he ran into some old glass negative plates that give us a glimpse of life in the turn of the twentieth century.

The photograph above was one of the glass plate negatives that Marvin brought to the True Dakotan last week. We no longer have equipment to produce photographs like this –or do we? I decided to give this nice plate a try with today’s photograph digital scanners and the computer program, Adobe Photoshop.

After a few attempts, the scanner picked up enough of the image on the plate to give us some hope. But the image was still in the negative form. Pushing nearly every button available in the “Image” area of Photoshop, I finally arrived at the “Invert” button. With nothing to lose, I clicked on Invert and presto: the negative magically turned into a positive black and white photograph.

Suddenly there were approximately 40 former Wessington Springs residents looking at what appeared to be a spanking new Cadillac.

The carload of people in the old automobile were apparently engaged in some sort of a festive occasion, by the looks of the eight American flags in the photograph it was probably a Fourth of July parade.

The sign on the building that is partially shown on the left side of the photograph has the letters “ICAN” (partially spelling True Republican) and “H.A. Short, Proprietor” lettered on it. Of course of one our early newspaper predecessors was the “Wessington Springs True Republican”, which was located next door to the “Ideal Restaurant”, which stood where the Jerauld County Heritage Center is now located. A quick check in N.J. Dunham’s “A History of Jerauld County, South Dakota” shows that L.S. DuBois sold the newspaper to H.A. Short in September-1908. Fred Dunham’s “A History of Wessington Springs, South Dakota 1909-1961″ says H.A. Short sold the “True Republican” to H.C. Lounsberry in the fall of 1910.

So the photograph was most likely taken on the Fourth of July, in either 1909 or 1910.

Fred Dunham noted the advent of the automobile with a note in his book. “1909: Automobiles began to be plentiful on the roads of the County and as a result scarcely a day passed that there was not a serious run-a-way by teams driving along the highways. Many injuries resulted and much loss of property.”

Duke spotted the final clue in the glass negative. The letters “L.N. Nesselroad, Dry Goods & Groceries” are printed on a sign on the Cadillac. Page 319 of Fred Dunham’s history book has a photograph of L.N. Nesselroad –yup, that’s him behind the wheel of the Caddy.

PHOTO REPRINTED FROM WESSINGTON SPRINGS

DIAMOND JUBILEE SPECIAL BOOKLET – 1957

L.N. Nesselroad is pictured on the left with Rev. J.M. Tibbets in the center. The “clown” on the right is unidentified, but appears to be the same heavy-set friend of Nesselroad that appears in the backseat of the glass plate negative photograph. Mrs. Glen Eddy contributed the photograph to the Independent prior to the printing of the Diamond Jubilee (yellow covered booklet) in 1957. “I think the picture was taken sometime in 1907 and was sent to my folks by some friends who lived near Templeton church and was sent to us before we moved here in 1908,” she said. The occasion was an early Old Settler’s picnic.

I enjoyed seeing Katie’s picture with former Senator Gladys Pyle in this month’s column.

I was a young sports editor at the Huron Daily Plainsman from 1968-71. Gladys seemed to have full access to the newsroom at the Plainsman in those days, and the pages of the paper were graced with her photo and quotes regarding issues of the day. She would amble through and people would rise, almost as if they were in the presence of royalty. In a way, they probably were. She never asked for, nor expected, special treatment… the people of Huron just give it to her. She always had a special smile and time to talk to everyone she encountered. What a very special lady. Thanks for a nice memory.

PS: Enjoyed a visit with Bernie during newspaper day at Pierre a few weeks ago. Hope his hand (the one that I mistakenly tried to shake) is healing.

Craig wenzel

True Dakotan editor

Craig,

Thanks for the story about Gladys. Although I was very young when I met her I knew she was special – very kind to both my dad and me. Because I met her when I was so young it’s nice to hear more about her.

I hope you enjoy the column, and thanks so much for running it in your paper. My dad tells people all across the state that your paper is the state’s best weekly. So, I am honored to have a column in the state’s best weekly paper.

I think Bernie’s hand is healing, although slowly. It must have been quite painful because he actually went to a doctor to ask about it, which rarely happens.

Thanks again,

Katie (Hunhoff)

While providing ecology-friendly electrical power to portions of eastern South Dakota, a wind farm that sprouted up in the Wessington Hills is about to begin providing a punch to the Jerauld County economy.

Officials around Jerauld County area expecting a windfall of sorts as they await the arrival of tax money generated by a 34-tower wind farm near Wessington Springs.

The first annual payment should arrive sometime in April, according to Jerauld County Auditor Cindy Peterson.

Not much was known about the tax that would be paid on the wind farm when the project began in 2008. But according to estimates the auditor’s office received last week from Todd Bailey, Property Tax Specialist with the SD Department of Rules and Regulations, the figures are impressive.

The largest benefactor to the wind-powered taxes in Jerauld County will be the Wessington Springs Independent School District with an estimated $84,000 this year. The County of Jerauld will receive $53,000 for this year’s payment. Media Township with $2,255 and Anina Township with $6,290 round out the list.

The payments could go up next year, Peterson said. “The 2010 payment is for just ten months in 2009,” she said, “which covers from the time the wind farm went into operation on February 26, 2009 until December 31 of 2009.”

That should be good news to all of the residents in Jerauld County as next year’s payments could be at least ten percent higher.

The wind farm also generates approximately $102,000 annually in $3,000 per tower payments to landowners that host the 34 towers.

Phase two of the Wessington Springs wind farm is being considered where many more towers could be installed in the county. Also in the works is another wind farm, a 111-tower giant between Crow Lake and White Lake that could plant 17 more towers in Jerauld County, raising the tax ante by another fifty percent.

Ownership of the Wessington Springs wind farm has shifted from Babcock and Brown, the company that built it, to Nextera. The new owners have placed four full time workers on the local wind farm.

The Wessington Springs school district has budgeted about $75,000 in tax revenue from the wind farm, Supt. of Schools Lance Witte said. “This is a nice thing for the school district at this time,” he said. “One of the things we were worried about was that the state would deduct (the wind farm tax payment) from the school’s state aid. But under current law that will not happen. This will just be additional revenue for the school district.”

Both the county and the school expect to place this year’s tax payments in their general funds.

Wind farm Windfall

2010 Payment

(for 10 months of 2009)*

County gov’t: $53,839.46

WS Schools: $84,100.00

Anina Twnsp: $6,290.00

Media Twnsp: $2,255.00

Landowners: $102,000

Total payments 2010:

$242,194.00*

County gov’t: $64,605.00

WS Schools: $100,920.00

Anina Twnsp: $6,910.00

Media Twnsp: $2,480.00

Landowners: $102,000.00

Total payments 2011*

$276,915.00

*Estimates from SD Dept. of Rules and Regulations

Despite ownership change

School still has sights on a giant wind tower

BY CRAIG WENZEL

TRUE DAKOTAN

Although ownership of the Wessington Springs wind farm has transferred from Babcock and Brown to Nextera, plans for the local school district to acquire a tower are still in the works, according to Supt. of Schools Lance Witte.

The school has continued talks with Heartland Power Consumers, the company that purchases the power from the Wessington Springs wind farm. “We are looking at different options (for getting a school-owned wind tower),” Witte said. “Rather than wait for phase two to go into the works, we are trying to do something with phase one… like adding a 35th tower.”