Lemmon, South Dakota (Wood: purchase, college, live)

[LoveSD]

Time to jump in the water here!
I have great interest in Lemmon even though I have never even visited. My grandfather was born there in 1903 on a settlement near Flat Creek. The place was actually near Seim which I know no longer exists. He remembered the town of Lemmon being built and he told me what it was like to visit the town back when he was about 4 or 5 years old. His own father was a rancher and his grandfather was a judge and also had spent time as a sheriff in the Dakota territories.
His uncle Earl Knepper was a citizen of Lemmon until he died in 1969. He was close to 92 then. His wife, Ennis died at the age of 94 in Feb. 1975. They had a son, Bryant Knepper born in 1904. My grandparents traveled to Lemmon to visit the Kneppers. I had an address of 609 Main St. for them.
Sometimes one hears that some small towns are "closed to outsiders" but this doesn't seem to be the case of Lemmon from all the wonderful posts I have read. It's heartwarming to see that Lemmon is a friendly, welcoming place and I look forward to visiting Lemmon someday.
We loved South Dakota while we lived there and didn't want to leave but the air force had other plans.
Thanks and God Bless!
LuvSD

[amiewise]

My Grandpa Monte Labarge just passed away January 5, 2007. When I was a little girl about 5, I played in the petrafied wood park for he lived across from there until the day he died. Not only will I remember the safety of this little town playing a top the the rocks and looking up at the stone trees. I miss this place but most of all I miss my Grandpa. He was known as my favorite Grandpa who always liked to fish and could talk to you all day. I never tired even as a child listening to what was going on in Lemmon and his wisdom. My Grandpa and Grandma lived in Lemmon for many years. My mom Graduated from her Lemmon High School in the seventies. I think to myself oh the quiet and the buz of the little town of Lemmon South Dakota. Maybe We will return and raise our children there.

[Jammie]

Amie, I'm so sorry you lost your Grandpa. It sounds like you have wonderful memories of your Grandpa and of Lemmon.

[sd2ca]

I was born in Lemmon, and lived on the family farm just a few miles from Lemmon Lake. About the time I was ready to start grade school we moved to the Black Hills (Spearfish) but returned to farm in the spring to plant the wheat, stayed until harvest, then returned to Spearfish for school in the fall.

My dad sold most of the farm in the early 1980's, and just a few years ago sold the remaining piece of property.

I remember what a treat it was for the weekly trip into town on Saturdays for shopping. A bottle of orange soda was 5 cents at the Laundromat. If we were really lucky, mom would buy a pound of summer sausage and a dozen sugar cookies for us at the CO-OP grocery store.

And then there was the Dairy Dip!!! OMG!!!! We rarely got to stop there, but that was the best treat ever. Loved the blue raspberry slush.

Fishing for bullheads at Flat Creek Lake with grandma...what a blast! We caught 60 of them one day.

A couple of times a year, our neighbors and my family would go down to their property on the Grand River, have a picnic and go swimming in the river...all of the cattle up stream never bothered us (now I know what those occasional warm spots were in the water)

When I was old enough to drive, my pal Tim and I would stop at Summerville, buy a box of Old Dutch Potato Chips and a six pack of Mt Dew, and spend the day fishing behind Sam Gossmans place.

Those were the days my friend....and I do miss the simple life.

I still have aunts, uncles and cousins there, and a few good friends. I currently live in Northern California, I try to get back to SD every year, and about every 5th year while in SD, I drive up to Lemmon to say hello.

As I get older and closer to retirement, I often wonder if I could move back.

[Jammie]

What a touching post!! I didn't live in Lemmon, but I remember so many of those things like the 5 cent Orange Crush, fishing for bullheads, mt. dew when it first came out, etc. Have you spent most of your life in Cal?

[sd2ca]

I spent the first 31 years of life in SD.

I've been in CA since Nov. 1988.... 6 more years until retirement. Trying to figure out where to move to when that day comes.

[ElkHunter]

Surprisinly, yes, I have put together shocks. Corn also. I was born and raised down at Miller South Dakota. My brother and I used to say that we worked from "Can see, to Can't see". Setting out in the field waiting for the sun to come up enough so you could see. The wonderful smell of fresh cut grass or alfalfa. early morning rain. If it rained hard enough to stop work, we went fishing.

[I Remember]

JGussler, I remember shocking wheat then getting under the stack and eating lunch along with drinking much water. Corn was a little heavier and as a 10 year old, I strugled. Yes we started as the sun came up, quit when it started to settle down for the night. No one complained, we thought everyone in all parts of the world did the same. I still think of the grasshoppers spitting tobacco juice as we called it.

[Jammie]

Oh yea, I remember the shocking days well. We always bindered wheat and oats and had to shock. When it came time to thresh, we didn't have enough tractors so we and one of our neighbors still each used a team of horses to pull the hay racks around. It's great to have memories of this, but remember how hot it was and how itchy it was?

[I Remember]

Talking about tobacco juice, there was a hotel on Main Street owned by Oliver and Edith Gupman. Wnen I was a little boy, there were spittoons all over the place. It seemed like snuff was the thing and the gentlemen would spit from some distance. The good side during hot days, the Gupmans always had a huge crock of ice cold Lemonade in the lobby. The Gupmans later sold the hotel and bought a farm north of Lemmon in North Dakota.