THE SNEEZELESS LAND OF DACOTAH 



BY EARL H. EMMONS 



WTHEN the corn is in the whiskers and the hay is in 

 the stack and the pol'.en blows profusely, how does 

 it make you feel? Do you snap your lily-white fingers 

 in its face and give vent to a loud and ribald laugh, or 

 do you sneak down alleys with a couple handkerchiefs 

 in each hand, kachooing at every step and wishing you 

 were dead? 



If you are of the latter type, then 

 list to the tale of a land that is sneeze- 

 less, and if you belong in the former 

 category trail along anyway you will 

 enjoy the scenery. I am about to refer 

 to that glorious region so little known 

 east of the Mississippi and west of the 

 Rockies the Black Hills. You may 

 have heard of them through your 

 geography or history. Anyway, in all 

 probability, your ideas are wrong. 



In the first place, the Black Hills are 

 not black at all. They are a very dark 

 blue and green and sometimes purple, 

 which shades off to gray and yellow, 

 but no black. Neither are they hills, 

 unless you call 

 most of the 

 Rockies and all 

 the chains east- 

 ward hills, be- 

 cause the alti- 

 tude here is 

 higher thai 

 many of the 

 peaks in the 

 Rocky range 

 and higher than 

 a n y t h i n g be- 

 tween the Rock- 

 ies and the Hi- 

 malayas. Thus, 

 outside of being 

 neither black 

 nor hills, the 

 name fits them 

 quite well. How- 

 ever, 'if they 

 were called Na- 

 ture's riay- 

 ground or th; 

 Garden of Mi- 

 das, or some- 

 thing like that. 

 the name would 

 fit better. 



ALONG THE HIGHWAY THROUGH THE NEEDLES 

 IN THE BLACK HILLS 



The main reason for such statement is that the Black 

 Hills form a region which is the richest spot of its size 

 on earth, as far as mineral wealth is concerned, while 

 its scenic ability, when you consider not only size, but 

 variety and color, makes the average mountain landscape 

 of this once broad and free land look foolish. 



But I started 



to talk about 

 hay - fever and 

 how to discour- 

 age it, and I 

 know of no 

 other place 

 where hay-fever 

 has such a small 

 chance as in 

 these same Black 

 Hills. I do not 

 possess hay- 

 fever, so am un- 

 able to say just 

 what it is out 

 here that is so 

 rough on the ail- 

 ment. It might 

 be the wonder- 

 ful air, and it is 

 wonderful, b e - 

 sides w h i c h 

 there is a great 

 deal of it which 

 has never been 

 used up at all. 

 Or it might be 

 the scenery. 

 There are some 

 things the Hills 

 do not have, but 

 they do have 

 scenery. You 

 can tell the 

 world. For in- 

 stance, there's 

 Harney Peak, 

 named after General Harney, the Indian 

 fighter. He discovered the peak in 1855 

 and climbed it with his staff officers 

 The party spent several days on the 

 summit, during which time they planted 

 a pole and flew the stars and stripes 

 from this highest point in the United 

 States east of the Rockies. Incidentally, 

 they celebrated the event with a large 



THE HIGHEST 

 POINT BETWEEN 

 THE ROCKIES 

 AND THE HIM- 

 ALAYAS 



The United States 

 Forest Service Fire 

 Observatory on Har- 

 ney Peak near the top 

 of the world. 



