The Power of Electricity

The road from Sioux Falls to Vermillion can be a long one. The scenery never changes except there might or might not be cows in the fields and you can measure how tall the corn grows. It is a long road indeed. There is a grain elevator on the south bound side of the highway. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a grain elevator is, think of it as a distribution point for grains from the area farms. Instead of having to bring their grain to kingdom come around the country, they sell it to an elevator which is strategically placed in towns. The elevator then distributes the grain to the rest of the country. This is one case, I believe, that having a middle man can be a good thing.

In front of the grain elevator are huge loads of grain that cannot fit into the elevator’s storage bins. They looked as if they were on rail cars and covered in thick, white plastic. From the angle at I was passing, they looked remarkably like a covered wagon train resting up before the next leg of the journey west. (I should insert here that W says it goes against physics to have corn packed in such a way as to look like a covered wagon. I’m still sticking to the image).

This past week we were in an awful heat wave. The temperatures reached into the upper nineties with heat indexes in the 100’s. In other words, it was hot. It’s at times like these that I think about how the pioneers did it. How did they face, and win, against the elements? The same pioneers who traveled thousands of miles in covered wagons to build better lives for themselves and their children. First, a little history to set the stage.

South Dakota was first part of the Dakota Territory which was established in 1861. This territory also included North Dakota as well. In 1889, South Dakota and North Dakota became states. South Dakota did not have electricity until 1909, 30 years after the lightbulb was invented. To put it in perspective, that was 133 years after the Declaration of Independence. The first electric cooperative was not established until 1935. Electricity, it seems, would be a long time coming in South Dakota.

This brings me back to the pioneers and the covered wagons. How would they have handled the heat? Find a nearest creek I would imagine. Stay inside. All the things we do now when it gets too hot. So maybe the next time it gets hot, think of how things would be without electricity. Without air conditioners. Without running water. And forget about ice cubes.

Perhaps turning the AC up a few degrees to save energy and save your electric bill is not so hard after all.

Garden Report: The garden is loving this hot, humid weather. Especially the tomatoes. The cucumbers and other cold loving veggies not so much. My volunteer tomatillos and tomatoes are going crazy. I've made pesto with most of my basal and soon I'll have to make a second batch.