I'm in Pierre, South Dakota, reconnecting with the landscape of my youth.  This morning I walked along the Missouri River as I did when I was a teen, only now on a beautiful walking trail, where once there was a dirt road.  It seems like every cell in my body is thrumming with energy, enlivened with memory.

I'm staying in a lovely hotel in a beautiful setting next to the Missouri River, with a room full of amenities — such as a drip coffee pot, mini-fridge and walk-out access from this room with a view.  Early on, I brewed a pot of extra bold French Roast, poured some into a white porcelain cup, added cream, put the room key in my pocket and walked outside into air some call muggy, I call palpable.  Fishermen in the parking lot were talking and drinking their coffee, while standing next to their power boats (on trailers) soon to head off to the marina.

As I walk to the river the crunchy sound of gravel is over-scored by dove-cooing and robin-thirping; a meandering rail fence is on my right and smooth as glass water is straight ahead. 



I hear faint rumbles of thunder in the distance and look up a the sky.  My impression of the South Dakota sky is that it goes forever, with a magnified largeness made grander by a narrow band of earth reaching to the horizon.



Tears run from my eyes, not from sentiment but from something in the air.  I believe it may be from the bursting pods of cotton shed from the majestic cottonwood trees.  As a child, I remember seeing white specs floating in the air  - cotton. 





The white band along the path is cotton.  Did the Sioux make use of these fibers?

Walking on, I reach the edge of the river, and my breath is taken away by the reflection of this bridge on the water.



Perspective - two bridges from two centuries






Artnjava



After taking these shots I read about the bridge and look at these pictures posted on a monument. 





Returning to my room I researched the bridge and found this information on SDHistory.org

Prior to 1907, pontoon bridges, steamboats, and the frozen MissouriRiver were the primary modes of transportation connecting Pierre andFt. Pierre.  Pedestrians crossing the river were subject to rapidcurrents, ice jams, floating debris and other natural hazards.

The September 14, 1905 issue of the Daily Capitol-Journal heralded the promise of a new railroad to connect the city with the Black Hills.    

"At last Pierre is to have rail connections with the Hills.  After years of waiting and hoping the country between the mighty Missouri and the Mountains of the west is to be girded with steel rails....It is a great thing for the whole country.  Now watch Pierre grow." 

SOURCE:  South Dakota History

More tomorrow...