Picture: Impressive Mt. Rushmore
As part of our tour to Nature’s Cathedrals we have had a few “tourist stops” along the way. One is a most peculiar destination. Anyone who has traveled on the highways of South Dakota has surely seen at least dozens of the many thousands of billboards measuring the miles to a tourist attraction called Wall Drug.
I drove through South Dakota many years ago on business and remembered seeing the signs and could not imagine what would warrant such publicity. However I drove right on past not bothering to find out, but the wondering-thought has been in my mind for these many years. God has a way of fulfilling even our smallest wish, if you could even call this a wish!
Coming out of the Black Hills and the Badlands National Park our road took us straight to Wall, and of course we just had to stop in to answer that long-ago question that had stubbornly lodged itself in my mind (we have to be very careful what we allow into our minds!). Well the story of how this drugstore in Wall became so famous that there are advertisements as farflung as Paris, France and Australia is really quite amazing.
Our story begins with Ted and Dorothy Hustead. Ted graduated and worked as a druggist for a few years before striking out on his own. He took a small legacy and bought a drugstore in the town of Wall. In deciding to settle in Wall Ted’s first priority was to live in a place where there was a Catholic Church so he and his wife could attend Mass every morning. The priest, doctor and banker all assured the Hustead’s that Wall “was a good place with good people.”
The year was 1931, Wall was a town of only 326 people and his cousin ruefully told them the town was in the middle of nowhere and everyone was flat broke. Even Ted’s father-in-law told him that Wall is just about as Godforsaken as you can get. In the end, though, everyone felt that it was God’s will for them to move there. Then the testing began. Business was bad and didn’t improve. Dorothy said she was sure their abilities could be used in Wall; Ted said he would give it five years for the business to work.
They weren’t starving and they made good friends, but whole days went by when Ted was staring out from the store’s front door. Flashforward, with just months to go in their five year plan the business had not grown and they were much discouraged. They had two children to consider and the future looked bleak.
One hot summer afternoon Ted was busy swatting flies with a rolled up newspaper and looking out on a street with no traffic. Taking a rest with her baby Dorothy got up with an idea. Route 16A passed the town by with traffic that had no reason to stop. Dorothy had a flash, put a sign out for free ice water in the sweltering heat, remember this was before cars had air conditioning. They put the sign out on the highway and the cars and people didn’t stop coming, and of course they would pick up a few items at the drugstore while getting free cold water and and nickel coffee.
Very soon they had eight young women employees selling ice cream cones and sundry. Today they have over a million visitors a year, and twenty thousand customers on any particular scorching summer’s day visit this town of 600; and yes they still offer free ice water. In the end, God did put their abilities to use and rewarded some good people when they endured until inspiration hit.
As Carla and I toured through an unending maze of rooms at Wall Drug, with every glitzy trinket of every description imaginable, we found a gem of a chapel built into the heart of this sprawling business enterprise. Entering in Carla and I immediately felt lifted up in this quiet respite. It is wonderful to see the goodness of everyday people and a priority on spiritual values–even when they have become successful beyond imagination.
Picture: Sweet chapel amidst the glitz
Another stop on our pilgrimage took us to Mt. Rushmore. This iconic sculpture made a surprising impression on both Carla and me. We both had grown up seeing pictures of these four American presidents impressively carved out of a granite cliff. The many difficulties overcome in creating this work of art is worth many stories in itself. But here I will content myself with the effect we experienced on the day we were there.
The sculpted faces, 90% created with dynamite, are truly remarkable; particularly fine is George Washington’s. However, it is the eyes, whose effect comes from various depths of boring into the granite that bring these faces alive. Pictures really don’t convey the magnetic draw as when you are there in person. Washington and Lincoln have always stood out first to me for their strength of character, Jefferson for his genius, and Teddy Roosevelt for his boldness and being a driving force behind the creation of National Parks.
America has played a pivotal role in the formation of Democracies around the world, but more than that, the creation of republics that that have balance of power constitutions and the rule of law that both supersedes and protects every individual. However imperfect these Democracies may be, they are lightyears ahead of every other form of government in recent recorded history.
The creation and preservation of this greatest of experiments, democracy is worthy of note in the unfolding pageantry of history”s march from the dark ages into more and more enlightened times. Those better times may seem far off on any particular day, but its march is sure and will one day fulfill this long-awaited prophecy.
May your own travels in life toward enlightenment be rapid and every obstacle be overcome in the face of your enduring persistence and God’s grace.