Luckily, the calendar intervened, or I’d have never met Jim Peterson!
Spirit Mound, SD, (north of Vermillion, Jim’s home) is one of the few places where it is known with certainty that ‘Lewis and Clark stood here’. It is also right on the way from Yankton, SD (where I had given a Rotary talk) to Sioux City, IA, my next stop, so I had to stop, of course. Turns out, it’s about a ¾ mile hike to the top of the Mound, and I was still in ‘presentation’ clothes. Then, when I read the interpretive signs, I discovered that our famous explorers had been there on Aug 25, 1804. In 3 days, that would be exactly 212 years later. Noting that date still coincided with my stay in Sioux City, I determined to come back on the anniversary!!
Later, when Bev Hinds (see page 120) discovered this, she arranged a visit with Jim, who lives in Vermillion. So, it was that I was sitting at the base of Spirit Mound, three days later, visiting with Jim Peterson.
Jim loves the Missouri River. (He is also involved in Lewis and Clark history, which is how he knows Bev.) At one time or another, mostly in three long stints, he has boated the entire River from Three Forks, MT to St. Louis, MO!! He’s also boated the Jefferson River, above the Missouri. He’s extremely knowledgeable about the river, and Bev says he knows every snag. When told this, Jim replies, “Yep – I’ve hit all of them!” He also says he has slides of every foot of the river.
Jim was raised in Ponca, NE (near Sioux City) on the Missouri River. His dad and granddad were both ‘river rats’, so he comes by his love for the river naturally. When he returned from the service in ’46, the University of Nebraska refused to honor the scholarship he had earned in ’43 (though they told him it would be there), so he enrolled in University of South Dakota here in Vermillion, and has been there ever since. He has a law degree, but worked for an insurance claim firm and “never had to sit behind a desk”. He retired in ’90, but continued nurturing his love for the river!
Since his wife died, he now lives in town, but he has kept their place on the River, which we went to visit! I got to see all 3 of his boats, including the one he used for his ‘source to mouth’ adventures.
Jim loves this place and would prefer to always be here near the river. He’s attracted to the peace and quiet, both on and off the River, and he loves boating in general, especially on the river (not lakes). He calls this stretch of the river between Yankton and Ponca the most natural and undisturbed on the River.
Jim is still President of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization Assn, and been for 20-30 years. He’s had some run-ins with the Corps of Engineers in the past, and claims the Corps could address the concerns of landowners better while still doing the things they need to do for the River. He’s quite opposed to the ‘channeling’ efforts of the Corps, which are so evident further downriver.
As I leave that morning, Jim chooses to stay for awhile near his beloved river (we came in separate cars). Jim is 90 years old, only takes one prescription, and is boating on the river every chance he gets. Perhaps we should all move to the river!