This is a production of SDPB.

White River became you know part of our life.

Its a cool little Town.

because everybody knows everybody and everybody will help each other.

We all just want a better White River.

It's the people.

Always.

It's just the.

People.

Everybody helps.

If they can.

Make sure that we are on the right path.

Greetings from white.

River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River.

Greetings from white River, South Dakota.

Greetings from white River.

Dakota life.

Greetings from white River is supported with your membership and the friends of SDPB.

Thank you.

With help from Horizon Health, at Horizon Health were roote in what's real and what's rural, where local providers are dedicate to caring for our way of life.

Regular medical and dental checkups are important.

More at Horizon Health Care Dot Org And by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, which protects and preserves the cultures, traditions and living heritage of all North American Indians.

Through the Indian Museum of North America, the Native American Educational and Cultural Center.

Crazy Horse Memorial University and Carving the mountain sculpture of Lakota leader Crazy Horse.

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Support the production of local documentaries and other programs of local interest.

Presented by SDPB.

Friends of SDPB appreciates their support of this program.

Welcome to white River.

Its name stems from the river to the north.

Its waters carry sediment out of the badlands, and its people carry the past.

When we bought it, it was quite a rusty old place that hadn't been used for many years, and we even found spoiled butter that is still left in there.

Beginning of our museu was in the building next door.

That was a building.

One of the early ones in 1911 and it served as a post office and moved in here in 2005.

And I realized today that it's 20 years that we've been in here.

So we have a church display and a dental, we're developing a western room.

We have a tool room, which is like a homestead room that has the the creamery that we used to have and, and egg hatching and ironing boards an all the homestead type things.

There's a sheriff's display, butcher, utility tools, display, and, here's the barn display.

There's a kitchen and a full school display, a military, a Native American.

Then we have histories of the towns that are in the county, you know Norris and Wood and White River.

And we just have a little bit of everything.

Stories.

We've got photos.

We've got postcards, we've got obituaries, we've got articles on people, tax books.

You can look of old records of when people pay taxes and, and on the property, etc.

there's so many parts to everything.

You can't just see it in one day or, you know, you got to come back.

You got to read.

and when we had this sixth grade class here, they were looking through some of these, and some sixth grader found a family member.

And even with the board, with, school stuff, they they found some people they knew.

And.

Oh, that's my grandmas.

and Oh, I remember that.

This is helps a lot of people.

And we've actually had people say that.

I'm really glad I came to see this, because now I know where they were.

You got to know where you cam from to know where you're going.

Well, this is it gives you a foundation.

I think it's probably the best rodeo in South Dakota.

The most important event of our county.

I think it's just everybod looks forward to frontier days.

Well, I can just remember going as a kid and been so excited because it was horses and all of, you know, bull riding and all that kind of stuff and all the cowboys and people coming to town.

It was a big event.

You know, relatives came.

Lots of people had families come from far away.

Yeah, it was a big event to come back to.

It was like the reunion time of the whole county.

Actually, frontier days originally began about the same time the county opened up for settlement in 1911.

And, well, you go there, of course, and they have the other organizations that take care of the food.

We also have vendors that come.

The whole community gets together.

That's the thing that just every organization pitches in and does something, you know because you don't get together very often, this public thing where everybody goes.

And that hopefully will keep going.

And, you know, I saw so and so at the rodeo and very important because it's just our culture and it's and they have the power and so on the frontier days.

And that was the original in 1911.

They had dancing here on Main Street.

And I think our frontier day has pretty much stayed the same.

You know, the powwows and the rodeo, of course, everything has improved, and it's one of the best ones in the area.

Far as were concerned.

I think they just keep building on what originally started with the Frontier Days celebration.

Here we go.

White River wasn't always known for basketball success, but when you have 19 consecutive trips to Aberdeen and a superintendent, that is still the all tim leading scorer in South Dakota, basketball in this small town slowly became a legacy.

I think white River has always had, a basketball tradition.

I think a lot of people enjoy playing the game.

There's really not much not much else to do out here except play the game.

And I know people really enjoy it, and it's something that our community, parents, our administration, our school board, and most importantly, our kids have really bought into, you got to have talent and you got to have a love for the game, too.

And all that comes with that love and that commitment and that sac I don't know, it's jus it's just how it is, you know?

It's just it's just how it is.

It's hard to.

Explain.

I think we just have kids that just see it and want to.

Be a part of it, you know, the success that we've had, kind of lends to that a little or a lot.

And your kids grow up and they want to be a part of it and they want to keep it going.

And as a coach, like I said, I've been fortunate to have a lot.

Of great.

Players come through and give us the success that we've had.

Oh, behind the back left hand in scoring.

Oh baby.

Showtime.

Well, I don't think we were really a basketball tow until we started having success.

So I think, you know, success breeds more success.

And once we started we had a good run of some solid athletes and were able to win a few state championships.

And obviously the making i to state the 19 times in a row.

I mean, that that that's something everybody's really proud of.

So I think we kind of evolved into a basketball town as we had more success in the sport.

You have to really, genuinely care about kids.

They're smart you cant fool kids, old people and dogs, you know, they know if you care.

And when you when you care, they'll follow.

You know, they you know, even when when kids are a little reluctant if you've set up to and you have that, that trust in that security, they'll follo you sit at the halfcourt line, about.

A half second difference between shot clock and game clock.

Estes for.

The win.

She got it two seconds left.

That'll do it.

The white River Lady Tigers.

Malia Estes I think an understanding that it's the team is about more than the game of basketball.

And that there's things that are more important than the game of basketball.

Prioritizing that and the family and the community and supporting each other and pushing each other to be the best they're capable of being.

And whatever you're pursuing and and when that's the focus and success just happens along the way.

For basketball.

Working hard, you have to work hard.

No one, not everyone can be good at basketball.

You have to work hard for it.

Late nights at the gym and putting up shots even though you don't want to.

I think basketball is a great character builder when it comes to, you know, being like, determined, working hard and being smart.

It also allows you to build, friendships and teamwork with people.

You probably never woul have done it in the first place.

With.

And you know, it's a sport I've always going to plan.

I think it's a beautiful sport and it's one of the most just fun things you could probably probably do around here.

As a teenager.

It's just really amazing to grow up around such a successful program.

As a kid, I've been wanting to grow up and play for them.

Oh, you know, it means a lot because we're such successful program in the past.

Being able to play for them is really special choice.

Challenge to play for and get the possession.

Back there like we put in the work, to accomplish whatever it is we accomplish.

We're abl to get some state championships along the way for our guys.

And I think a really validates everything, all the work, tha the guys put in over the years.

You don't want to take the tim to think about it now because.

I feel like we've still got some years ahead of you left and was trying to make the most of what we got right now.

So, it's hard to.

It's hard to.

Look back and, think about what we have accomplished because I think we still have some accomplishing.

To do.

See you tomorrrow, Love you guys.

Love you too.

Sign up sheets over there Traditions take many forms in white River as this community neighbors the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Indian reservations.

The drum has long marked moments of gathering.

Today, in a small classroom, that rhythm continues.

Three years ago, within the community of white River and the white River School District, they developed what was called the Climate Team, and they were addressing different needs of the students within the school district.

Members of that team consiste of, the principal at that time, parents, different community members and people that work with children.

And one of the things that they really wanted to get going on here was, a drum group and bringing culture back to this, school.

So, white River being a border town to the Rosebud Indian Reservation, I would I would guess that the majority of the students here are American Indian students, and, they needed the access to culture.

That the other schools like on the reservations are getting.

We are really prou of our Native American heritage around here.

We have a about 85% of our kids are some form of Native American, mostly you know, from the Rosebud area.

So it's just a no brainer to incorporate those things into every day learning every day school.

There's so many great lessons that revolve.

The.

Lakota heritage, Lakota culture.

So it's just it's easy, you know, and being able to bring in a drum group and being able to, allow the kids that tim to really do some of that stuff, it's just awesome.

We are teachers of the culture, songs, language, stories.

We come in every Tuesday and we work with second through fifth graders, teaching them Lakota music, culture, language, thought and philosophy stories, whatever, whatever they want to, whatever they want to hear.

I check in with the kids.

What, you guys want stories?

Do you guys want music?

A lot of times it's music, games.

And, Chaz here, he's a great singer and he's a great example for them to look at someone and learn how to use their voice.

Oh.

This is very enjoyable to sing with the kids, you know, they their laughter, you know, their happiness every day.

You know, they're happy to see us every day.

You know, it's it's a it's always a good one.

Warmin feeling to the heart, you know, because they're they're all over and it's like they say, you know Wakanyeja they're sacred.

You know, they're the the sacred.

You know, they they, they make, make laughter, you know, they make everything happy.

Even though, there's there's a lot of, a lot of, you know, bad things going around.

They make everything more better.

You know, by playing you know, just being themselves, you know, just being themselves.

Me makes us very happy just to come here.

I get very excited on Tuesdays to come.

And you build relationship with them.

You watch them grow.

Some of them are my nieces.

Some of them are my nephews.

So we know the outside of the school setting.

And, uh when they come in, they want to give you a big hug.

I've got a little bag at home full of little tiny toys.

There's a few kids that every Tuesday they give me something, whether it's a little ball or a little car.

They give it to me because that's something special to them.

And they want to share it with someone special in their life.

And.

And I feel very blessed to b a special person in their life, even when I that time comes to when I might be long gone.

These guys will have those memories and they'll talk about it.

How how Justin and Chaz came and taught them how to sing.

And that's real special to me.

I. Of, the next generation, you know, the the there's going to be someone, you know, that's going to be learning the language and learning the songs you know, the, the games that we the stories that that we, you know, teach to them.

If somebody took the time to teach that to me, somebody took the time to teach it to them.

And that's how it was preserved for, you know, hundreds of years.

And here we are, 20, 26.

And, it doesn't belong to me.

It doesn't belong to him.

But there is a responsibility there to teach it to the younger people.

That way, it can survive.

Like, like that beat of a drum.

There's a group working to shape what comes next.

One idea at a time.

Just to see it.

Come to life.

again is so exciting.

If people are willing to put a little elbow grease into it and work and do it well, you can get it done.

After attending a few energize conferences hosted by Sdsu, Amy and Bobby realize that white River had potential through a Community Revival program.

We started going to these conferences and it was like a lightbulb first.

First, it was kind of scary because how do communities raise money?

How do they come together and work as a community, and how do you decide what to do first and second and third?

You know, it's all about the energy.

Honestly.

And you're going to a new project being a site with excitement, then people are going to follow.

People are going to want to have that same feeling and want to be involved.

I started coming to the meetings because of Amy and Bobby and some other people, and what I got from them is there's a lot of good ideas and passion, and that's something that I have.

And, I think that that comes from white River.

We have a good backbone.

We come from a long line of hard workers and a long line of supporting each other.

I could see that we had something here.

We needed to do something about it.

I took it upon myself to push it a little bit.

I think, maybe when we weren't ready to be pushed.

But I wanted to get get this started with the 501 C3 so that we could actually go after grant money and had a lot of support with it.

What I like is a younger generation coming in and doing it.

One of the older people on the committee.

But and it's nice that, you know, the people are taking the initiative to do it, you know, and it takes a lot of energy and a lot of wor to do a lot of these projects.

Whether it's brand new grandstands for the rodeo or a walking path, every idea has a chance.

I just felt there was a nee in our community to have a safe walking path.

And there' we have a beautiful city park.

There is a lot of land not being utilized out there.

This is actually yea five of throwing out this idea with a lot of like what Casey was saying.

Naysayers, now we don't need that.

We need our potholes filled and we need new streets.

And why ever really had it in my heart that I wanted a safe walking path for community and.

For walking trail?

I'm probably not goin to go out there and walk around.

I know it's not for me, but there's a lot of people t like doing that and it's fine.

It's great.

We can't all be the same.

Everybody has their niche in life, them, they should pursue it.

All these ideas come from this table in our community and we all want the same thing and to see it come alive.

I can't explain how good that feels.

And to be a part of it, not just do the projects that energize is involved but what our community is doing.

You know we have a new school going up.

We have some bathrooms at the football field for the first time ever.

So, there's there's a lot of good things going on in white River.

And it's it's about that ripple effect, you know, one person mows their yard, the next person is going to mow their yard.

And, you can really feel it in our communit and people are talking about it, and it's because whatever just helps people out, whether that is caring enough to show up and volunteer for people.

But just like raising funds for my daughter.

So.

That's that's White River.

but that is like why you give into your community is because they're going to pour into you when you need it.

Don't never say never.

You can't do something because if you put your mind to it and willin to work for it, you can do it.

And my kids want to come home one day, and I want there to be opportunity for them.

And I already have one child who's back in White River this year, she took the high school science teacher job, and she's going t be assistant volleyball coach.

She's going to middle school girls basketball.

So I can, feel good about what is happening with White Rive in the future for White River.

And then my kids can come back here and have opportunity.

The momentum behind Energize White River reflects a larger story one playing out in small towns across South Dakota, the next generation.

And if they choose to stay.

Nestled on highway 83, the outpost is more than a gas station.

It's a hardware store, a third place for local coffee drinkers and dogs.

He knows right where the vent blows?

So he lays righ where the floor is the coldest.

Even a repair shop.

Hopefully it can come there being like a staple, almost like a little general store for the town.

Clinton and Lisa are veterans that met each other during their service in the Marine Corps.

She was supposed to go to Iceland.

I was supposed to go overseas.

My orders got canceled because I got promoted and her orders got canceled.

So instead of being a couple thousand miles apart, we end up being a couple hundred miles apart.

And once they moved to whit River, an opportunity appeared.

It was a CHS And CHS is closing, a lot of their stores.

We didn't want to see it closed for the community.

A guy who works at CHS feedmill in Winner, he mentioned to me said, wh don't you just buy that place?

Jokingly, I just brought it up to her.

And so we tried and we started pursuing it a little bit and.

It kept circling back to us.

So we figured we'd take the opportunity.

And the da I was supposed to get the check to send the bid in, that big fire started.

Well, the fire went all the way to our house and a quarter mile from our house.

So and I spent the next four days in a fire truck after that and texted the guy at CHS said, sorry, thanks for the opportunity, but things didn't work out.

I guess it wasn't meant to be.

And he responded back ten minutes later, said, no we want to work with you guys.

I guess it mean to be it every time we could get financed.

Well, a Bank in Valentine security first.

They helped us.

Out to give us a small operation, an operating line.

And that's been huge to us going because it just didn't look good on paper.

But we saw potential.

We knew it would be a lot of work because in between ranching and cleaning up, rearranging it was a huge community effort.

We had to have probably 20 different people from the community to come in and volunteer their time to, strip the floors, you name it.

Yeah, I help paint shelves.

They were we wouldn't have been able to open when we did if we didn't have all them coming and help We're trying to, you know, make it what the community needs and hardware we have.

Feed for animal, livestock, the gas.

We have dairy products from Ethan South Dakota.

Fresh butte from a little creamery in Hope, Minnesota, Cedar Creek vegetables.

And they're here in mellette county, sporting goods, plumbing too.

So just like emergency necessities and mechanics.

Mechanics, we have mechanics.

I mean, it's a job, but Clinton and Lisa are really awesome people.

I've actually known them for a while just because they live right on next to our ranch.

So yes, that's a good place to meet a lot of people, too, because it's a gas station, so they have people coming in and out all the time, and.

We weren't sure how busy they would stay.

We were a little nervou about hiring the second one, but they haven't slowed down since.

And they're both young guys.

They're capable, so that's been very helpful.

Otherwise, we had to go to either Murdo or Winner Pierre and you got to wait a couple weeks, get in, and you just don't have that kind of time.

To all the coffee drinkers, it's always fun listening to their stories and talking with them.

And they there's some good stories you hear back there and it's great.

You get some of those little cowboys talking about old times as it gets kind of funny.

So they'll flip.

Like a quarter.

Heads or tails and whoever loses has to buy all the.

Round of drinks or whatever.

Oh, this is probably the best spot place to relax.

have a , I don't drink coffee, but I drink other things.

Well, it so happens this is one of my first commercial jobs.

I built this building.

I can't remember what, what, what year it was, but.

And I was sure glad the Clinton Lisa were able to get it, you know, take over.

And, you know.

Local people makes a world of difference.

You know, it's just it' just a good deal for everybody.

You know you were able to keep it going.

We don't know when to stop.

Blessing and a. Curse.

We don't have an off switch.

I mean in the Marine Corps.

It was get the mission accomplished no matter what.

No one's going to die here if we don't get, you know, some fasteners in But it's just our mentality has been just beaten into us for 20 years, you know, we don't know any better, okay?

Just.

We just.

Work, till it gets done Gotta work till it gets done from sunup to sundown.

And that's what it is.

So although the outpos isn't a life or death mission, the community of white River needed to rally together during the power da fire on September 12th of 2024.

First of all, what directions the wind in?

, you know?

And I looked u and I saw smoke and I thought, well, this is the worst day for that to happen.

Fire took off and it was bad.

Really bad.

I knew from the beginning it was bad.

Terrible.

It came, it came close to where I grew up.

I was the first one on it.

Yeah, the wind was blowing.

It was hot.

Whistle blew.

We got on it right away.

But the wind was so bad it just took it was gone.

It was blowing so bad that day.

You could just see i jump from one hill to the other.

Kept trying to knock it down.

But it was so hot and windy and dry.

The grass was so dry that you could put it out and in no time at all it'd be lit up again.

Thinking, okay, when do we do?

do start moving animals or what?

What do you do?

swept across so fast it didn't even have time to burn the grass.

But luckily there was a guy, a dirt guy there that had a blade.

He started building a line wit his blade that protected that.

The smoke was so thick already and I mean within minutes we saw it just blazing throug the pastures, heading northwest to where our cows are.

So then you go up to the next spot where you think you might can stop it, and.

There's probably eight discs out there with tractors just going and funnel that all the way to the road.

There.

It came within a quarter of a mile from my son's place, and then a neighbor lady and her husband that lived u the hill took their whole place.

And it's been abandoned for years, too.

But still, historys gone.

Had to run back and grab my neighbor's elderly mother because he was.

He couldn't see anything.

They were trapped, were there.

It was just luck.

How fire split.

Jumped the river, the little White River twice.

It stopped at at the big white Managed to miss our place by about 200 yards and we lost, our ranch lost 3500 acres of our summer pasture.

When I picked her up, I thought it was the last time I see that place, because I could have.

There was ashes falling north.

We had fire trucks west.

We had fire trucks all over the place.

A group of girls that I had coached, and they said, take me to the church.

So they took them to straight to the church, and they started making sandwiches for the fire department.

There was food that came from area towns, you know, sandwiches and drinks.

And here's my Venmo account.

If you can help in any sort of way, you can bring gas tanks to the CHS so you can fill a gas tank, send me money, whatever in, I bet 45 minutes we raised like $3,200 to fill gas tanks.

Well we're just hoping for the best and all the people come to help.

It was great.

It was kind of coo seeing people from the community get together to provide stuff for all the volunteer firefighters and stuff.

That's just a big picture of how White River steps up in a time of need you know, that wasn't planned.

It was totally unplanned.

It was happened that fast.

Just lots of people willing to help.

Everybody pitched in and helped do everything.

And, you know, we don't know the names of our streets, but we know, oh, turn out so-and-so's house.

You know, that's just the community that we are.