South Dakota… a beautiful State that has played a major role in our country’s history… and also in it’s Defense. Treeless Prairie Lands dominate South Dakota, especially it’s land west of the Missouri River. This Blog Post, modest and mostly pictures, shows what that land looks like. The pictures come from a recent road trip that my good friend Mo Jones and I took… driving back country roads to visit a 50 year old Cold War Relic… An Air Force ICBM Minuteman II missile site… Delta 9.
We started our trip on a sunny September 2015 morning, driving east on Lower Spring Creek Rd, starting at it’s intersection with SD-79, a little south of Rapid City, SD. The road follows its namesake Spring Creek, who’s Headwaters originate in the Black Hills above Sheridan Lake. The road is paved for a few miles, then turns to gravel & dirt in that excellent road-engineering manner that South Dakota seems to excel at. These dirt roads are a pleasure to drive, at least, in the Summertime. 😎
Our road trip roughly followed the green line on the map below, starting just below Rapid City (Green Camper), traveling east heading for Delta 9 (Blue Missile).
Below… Lower Spring Creek Rd where it turns into a dirt road. (Click on picture to Enlarge)
Lower Spring Creek Rd, traveling East.
Traveling Lower Spring Creek Rd… looking towards the creek, with ranching hay fields. Click on picture to Enlarge.
Ranching is the main industry out here… this picture shows the hay fields along Spring Creek. It is common to see horses, and large cattle herds… Land is fertile where there is water. The Black Hills are about 40 miles in the distance.
Open prairie along Lower Spring Creek Road. The ‘Faces’ of Mount Rushmore are the light ‘speck’ on the right side of the mountains. Click on picture to Enlarge.
Our view after driving further east on Lower Spring Creek Rd… just more prairie ranch land, with the Black Hills still clearly visible in the background… Click on the picture to expand, and then Note – The ‘Faces’ of Mount Rushmore may be faintly seen in the picture on the right side of the Black Hills Land Mass.
A few more miles down the road… and we came upon the old prairie town of Folsom, SD… mostly just a dot on the map today. (Click on pictures to Enlarge)
Folsom Community Church… building site is clearly maintained, but not sure if services are still conducted. There are not many people out here in this part of the beautiful Prairie country.
Cornerstone for Folsom Community Church. It reads, “A.D. 1917”
A few miles beyond Folsom, our Lower Spring Creek Rd took a turn to the North… becoming Creston Rd. The reason for this turn, is the Cheyenne River Valley blocking the way, a beautiful and remote place. Creston Rd follows the Valley north for several miles, until it dead ends into SD Hwy 44.
Cheyenne River Valley… looking North and East. View is from a two-track road, just off Lower Spring Creek Rd, where it turns to the North and becomes Creston Rd. Click on picture to Enlarge.
Traveling north on Creston Rd., we encountered this humorous situation – the sign in the picture below left says, ‘Danger, Horses on Road‘. And sure ’nuff… just over the next hill…there are the horses!
The sign says… “Danger Horses on Road”
Yep – sure ’nuff… there they were… just ahead.
After reaching SD Hwy 44, we cut directly North… across the remote NW corner of Badlands National Park… Where the wildlife is abundant.
Buffalo are very common in the Badlands National Park.
After getting thru the Badlands… past Wall Drug… we finally reached our destination – Air Force ICBM Minuteman II Missile launch Site… Delta 9. The History of the Minuteman Missile tracks back to the late 1950’s… Cold War…’Soviet ‘missile gap‘ threat… Note, the picture below right has a telephone number to call for an audio Cell Phone Tour of the site – it works! (605) 301-3006
National park sign on site. Click on picture to Enlarge.
Entry way into Delta – 9. Click on picture to Enlarge.
Below… the Delta-9 Missile Silo… up close.
Click HERE for a Wikipedia overview of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, as preserved by Law. Click on picture to Enlarge.
Minuteman II Missile, loaded into silo. Only the Warhead is a Dummy… Click on picture to Enlarge.
National Park Service PDF on Delta 9. Click to open up two-page concise PDF document on “Delta-09 and the Minuteman II Missile”.
Picture to the right is from the National Park Service Web site… and has a very excellent overview of the launch Facility pictured above. Click on picture →→→ to open a new Window and read. This is a two-page PDF – Note especially..the 2nd page for an excellent description of the site picture above.
A final picture… Jim LaPeer and Morris ‘Mo’ Jones. Back in the 1960’s, as a young Air Force Sergeant, Mo worked on supporting & maintaining these Minuteman II Missiles… and in the 1990’s was part of the American crews that were charged with the dismantling & destruction of such. This was done as a result of the 1991 START (STrategic Arms Reduction Talks) Treaty signed by President George Bush and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Jim LaPeer and Mo Jones, standing in front of the Delta-9 ‘Silo Blast Door’ (90 Tons)
Thank You for taking time to view our post. The pictures do not do justice to the open space of South Dakota, but we try! We have some excellent links embedded in this post for researching the Cold War… and the Minuteman II Missile era. Any questions, please feel free to send us an email.
Thanks,
Jim & Alice LaPeer
To view a full-screen, high-resolution slideshow of A Prairie Road to the Cold War, click the ‘curved arrow‘ just below the picture on the right. To return to normal display, hit [Esc] key. Otherwise, place cursor over the picture to display the slideshow control buttons. Comments are Welcomed!
We really enjoy your posts. They are helpful suggestions for getting off the well traveled paths to enjoy further the beauty of this regions. We are visiting the Badlands area summer 2021.
Beautiful lands. Close to my homeland (Nebraska). I am sure you are enjoying your journey!
Very interesting and informative. Really enjoyed your looking at your trip. Hope all is well with you guys. We are doing fine. Taking a break after a lot of traveling this summer. I post some stuff on Facebook during our trips, if you are interested. Take care and be safe. Jihn & Deb
Hi John and Deb. I am glad you folks got some good Summer travel in. Life is good! I’ll check out your FB posts… we always like good ideas for future trips, and just to share the fun from others…
We’ll be in Arizona in Mid January thru late April, and then Las Vegas early May… then back to the Black Hills for the Summer. If you have any plans to go that way, we’d love to get together. Lets stay in touch.
Jim