Dakota Buttes Visitors Council
The Dakota Buttes Visitors Council provides tourism packets and other promotional materials to visitors or organizations. Contact adamschmbr@ndsupernet.com
Keeping the Buffalo Dream Alive - September 2009
by Bonnie Smith
A year ago this month, interested persons from the area and from outside the area were invited to become part of a dream to honor the American bison by donating to the Dakota Buttes Museum’s Buffalo Heritage Project.
Spearheaded by a committee from the county and the trade area, the goal of this project is to have on display in the museum, a full-sized buffalo bull mount. This mount would represent the legendary creatures of the Northern Great Plains who once roamed the area in numberless herds.
Through direct donations and through the “Trophy Hunt of a Lifetime” won by a Grafton, ND, hunter, by December of 2008 the financial goal set by the committee was surpassed.
Local buffalo ranchers Jim Strand and Don Archibald were instrumental in locating and donating the 2,000 lb animal.
After the hunt in early January, Dakota Packing Company of Hettinger salted and cured the hide. Later, with the help of local taxidermist Randy Holler and others, it was packed and shipped to the tanner. Now in Randy’s care again, he feels it is in “good shape.” He has purchased the necessary forms, has cast the hooves and is looking forward to working on the mount which will be displayed on a movable, naturalized base.
A tentative date for the unveiling of the mount has been set for May 1, 2010. Photos of various steps of the project will be archived at the museum.
The committee is also working on historical display boards to complement the mount and on the presentation of the donor list.
To all who have helped so far on any of the steps of this project, thank you. To any who would still like to donate, please send your earmarked donations to the museum’s treasurer, Betty Svihovec.
Let’s keep the dream alive.
Funds may be sent to the Dakota Buttes Historical Society
Betty Svihovec, Treasurer
PO Box 565
Hettinger, ND 58639
The DAKOTA BUTTES MUSEUM
Ordinary things . . . for an extraordinary experience.
Do not miss the DAKOTA BUTTES MUSEUM, a complex of four newly redesigned and refurbished buildings and outdoor exhibits displaying over a century of life and times in Adams County and southwestern North Dakota. Located in southeast Hettinger, ND, at 400 11th St. South just west of the Armory, the museum houses a rare, horse-drawn fire truck and hose cart, as well as a memorable collection of early Twentieth Century farm machinery, railroad memorabilia, early and mid-century vehicles and extensive wall displays of Bucyrus, Haynes, Hettinger and Reeder.
See the HALL OF FLAGS, a display highlighting the homesteaders’ ethnic backgrounds. See over 350 photographs of first and second generation residents. See the Titanic Survivor display, Judge Sonderall’s Land Office and the recreation of the early Adams County Record building, in addition to displays on the county Court House, military service and sacrifice, churches, areas businesses, home life, school and community music and sports, health care on the prairie and so much more.
Some of the new displays in 2008: Happy 100th Birthday, Reeder!
A Century of Photography
A Century of Dolls
Open Memorial Day through Labor Day or by special appointment during the winter. Call 701-567-4429.
9 - Hole Grass Green Golf Course
Hettinger's 9-Hole grass green golf course is municipally owned by the Hettinger Park Board and is located
4 miles south of the city. The golf course is open year round, weather permitting and is open to the public. The Club House is open during the evening summer hours. Golf carts are available to rent. For more information, please contact the Hettinger Golf Course at 567-2339.
Hunting & Fishing
The Hettinger Area offers outstanding fishing and upland and big game hunting. Game and wildlife are abundant in the Hettinger area. Big game, such as white tail deer, mule deer and antelope can be located easily. Waterfowl of many species and upland game birds such as the sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge and the majestic ring neck pheasant are also plentiful.. The Pheasant Fest Committee provides numerous contests to local hunters (both pheasant and deer) along with connections to local services that may be needed. A Landowner/Operator Appreciation Banquet is held at the end of the Annual Pheasant Fest in December.
Mirror Lake
Mirror Lake Park, located on the south end of Main Street, offers modern camping facilities, bandshell with dance floor, non-motor boating, fishing, large playground area, a walking /running path around the lake, and the Centennial Fountain.
Relive the Last Great Buffalo Hunts
In one of the last historic hunts, 2,000 Teton Lakota Sioux - men,
women, children - left Fort Yates on June 10, 1882, and trekked
the 100 west to the valley of Hiddenwood Creek. In three days
they killed 5,000 buffalo. This "great hunt" began near what is now Haynes, and extended west into the Hettinger area and perhaps north to the Cedar River. At night the Teton Lakota families feasted, danced and listened to stories of courage and victory told by famed war leaders and hunters.
At the time it was not known that the 50,000 buffalo grazing here were the last remnants of an estimated 60 to 75 million bison that once ranged across the western plains of North America. The southern herd was gone by the mid 1870s. The northern herd, which had left Dakota Territory 15 years earlier, split in southeastern Montana. Half went north of Miles City and were soon killed by white hide hunters.
The other half returned to this part of Dakota Territory, then reservation land. Indian elders said the buffalo returned to fulfill their destiny to once again provide food, clothing and shelter for their starving Indian brothers and sisters, rather than be slaughtered for their hides alone, by white hunters.
Reprinted from the booklet "The Last Great Buffalo Hunts" by Francie Berg, available at the Chamber Office for $5.00 (plus $2 for shipping & handling).
Birding
Several locations in and around Hettinger offer opportunities for productive birding. Over 230 species have been recorded around Mirror Lake which is adjacent to the town of Hettinger. A local birding booklet "Griffiths'' Guide to Western Dakota Birding" is available at the Chamber Office for $5.00 (plus $2 for shipping & handling).
Calling all Caps
by Bonnie Smith
There they are. Small, medium, large, extra-large, 2X, and teeny. Caps of all colors, all fabrics and all textures. Caps with logos and caps without logos. Caps with bands and caps without bands.
What’s missing? Your caps.
Your caps can make the difference in a new collection at the Dakota Buttes Museum in Hettinger, the cap collection. Goal: 3,000 or more. Can you help?
How about donating that collection of over 100 caps you’ve been savoring all these years? Or what about that box of 50 you’ve got stored in the garage? Or how about that trunk upstairs with yours, your dad’s, your grandpa’s, and your great-grandpa’s caps? Have only one? That’s OK, too.
Those close-fitting head covers with visors are part of our modern prairie heritage. Gone are the felt and straw hats of the turn of the Twentieth Century. Gone are the fedoras of the mid-Twentieth Century. Caps are in and caps are here to stay.
The history of an area is discernible through its caps. Anyone have a cap from any of the elevators? From any gas stations, or parts or implement dealers? From any cafes, restaurants, delivery businesses or lumber companies? Or from any one of the many other businesses that have graced the streets of Haynes, Bucyrus, Reeder, Lodgepole and Hettinger?
Perhaps you have a cap from a family or class reunion that you would share, or from a company, an organization, an event, or a commemoration.
Why not go through that closet, basement, garage or attic? Perhaps a treasure of caps awaits, a treasure you could share with the museuem.
Bring your clean caps to the museum on any Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday afternoon until fall, or call us to set up a time. Write your name inside of them, if you wish. That way, years down the road, people can say, “Oh, look! There’s so-and-so’s cap!”
You bring ‘em. We’ll hang ‘em. Let’s fill the north red wall of Building #2 with caps.
