For twenty-five years, hundreds of people worked and lived at the Black Hills Ordnance Depot, a government installation in southwestern South Dakota. The isolated location led to the creation of a community named Igloo on the grounds of the depot. Here, employees established homes and raised families; children attended school and grew to adulthood. In many ways, life at Igloo was typical of life in any American town. In other ways, life there was unique. A sense of common purpose and the special nature of government employment helped create bonds among the depot people which made their lives different from those of citizens in neighboring towns. The history of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot, therefore, concerns not only the development of the post itself, but also the lives and accomplishments of those who were part of that development.

The Black Hills Ordnance Depot was a major World War II project of the Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Department has a long history, dating back to the American Revolution when officers assumed the responsibility of issuing ordnance to troops and inspecting, counting, and purchasing ordnance supplies. In 1812, Congress formally created the department in order to prepare for the approaching war with Great Britain. In the ensuing years, department officials inspected and stored supplies, supervised government manufacture of weapons, contracted for arms and ammunition, and managed the government armories and storage depots.

Until World War 1, the Ordnance Department grew slowly and confidently; officials trusted in their ability to meet any emergency that might arise. However, the demands of World War I surpassed expectations in many ways. The department experienced problems in providing troops with the necessary supplies and in quickly organizing a wartime operation. As a result, Ordnance Department chiefs recognized the need for a stronger organization. However, adverse public sentiment and low appropriations in the decades following World War I prevented any significant expansion. Then, in 1938, the German Army marched into Austria, alerting the American public to the dangers present in Europe. Congress took action to provide increased funding for the Ordnance Department. Nevertheless, expansion remained limited until 1940. After the fall of France on June 14 of that year, Americans reconciled themselves to the possibility of war and the need for rearmament. A new munitions program went into effect with a resulting large scale growth in Ordnance operations.

The Ordnance Department is responsible for designing, procuring, distributing, and maintaining ordnance for the Army ground forces. During World War I I, its mission was the manufacture or purchase of weapons and ammunition, and the storage, inspection, issuance, maintenance, and salvage of that equipment. The increased activity in the Ordnance Department created a need for additional storage depots to house ordnance supplies. In 1940, twenty-six storage depots existed to serve this function. By 1942, storage space would increase tenfold through the construction of sixteen new depots.

In 1941, Major Carroll H. Deitrick was appointed to study possible sites for the new ordnance depots; he spent most of the fall of that year touring the West, searching for appropriate locations. The government gave high priority to locating a site in Southwestern South Dakota or western Nebraska for a depot to provide long-term storage. The high altitude and dry climate of such a site would retard the deterioration of the ordnance; the isolated nature of the area indicated a possibility for gas ammunition storage. The site had to encompass a large piece of land which was on a railroad line, at a safe distance from towns and cities, and had to consist of topography and soil which would facilitate construction and operations.

As the need for additional ordnance depots became known, Representative Francis Case of South Dakota began attempts to place one of them in his home state. A native of Hot Springs in southwestern South Dakota, Case knew the area well and believed that it offered the areas of isolated land base the Ordnance Department needed. In July, 194 1, he submitted a formal proposal to the Chief of Ordnance. Early in August, Major Deitrick and other officials, accompanied by Case and a representative of the Burlington Railroad, inspected areas of land in southern Fall River County. After visiting the sites, Case escorted the military men on a quick tour of the Black Hills, including a stop at Deadwood's Days of '76 celebration. The beauty of the Black Hills made a deep impression on the officials; they told Case later that their tour of the Hills helped them remember South Dakota long after they had inspected dozens of other sites.

Despite their favorable impressions, the government men discovered many obstacles to locating a depot in southwestern South Dakota. One problem was the lack of electrical power. Prior to World War 11, rural electrification was not widespread in South Dakota, and many isolated areas had no access to a source of power. Another difficulty was a labor shortage. Southwestern South Dakota was sparsely settled and located a long distance from any major population center. In addition, many young men were entering the Armed Forces, thus depleting the labor supply that did exist. Francis Case took steps to reassure the Ordnance Department that the required employees would be available to them. He contacted agents on the nearby Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations Concerning potential workers; they responded that approximately six hundred men could 90 to work, some of them bringing skills developed through the Civilian Conservation Corps program. In addition, the South Dakota State Employment Service provided figures showing the availability of 330 skilled, 260 semi-skilled, and 795 unskilled potential employees in the Black Hills area.

The Ordnance Department considered several sites in the area, two of them in South Dakota. One site was located seven miles northeast of Ardmore and fifteen miles southwest of Oelrichs. The other was about seven miles southwest of Edgemont, near the village of Provo. Both places offered an adequate expanse of land, relative isolation, and proper climatic conditions. Supporters of the Oelrichs / Ardmore locale stressed the fact that an installation there would offer benefits to more towns and people than the less centrally located Edgemont / Provo location. In addition, virtually none of the land was privately owned, thus facilitating the acquisition process. However, the Edgemont / Provo site was adjacent to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, and railroad shipping capabilities were essential to the function of the depot. If the Ordnance Department chose the more central location, they would have to build railroad spurs into the area.

As the Ordnance Department continued consideration of these sites as well as sites in adjoining states, Case worked to encourage the selection of South Dakota land for the depot. He met with officials of local power companies and the Rural Electrification Association to find a way of providing electricity to an installation. He also tried to stem the rumors circulating about the potential establishment of a facility. Local newspapers repeatedly reported tips and indications that the depot would be located in South Dakota; each of these reports, Case asserted, caused neighboring states to increase their attempts to obtain the depot. Finally, he asked newspaper editors to refrain from publishing stories about the proposed depot until official notification came.

That notification arrived on December 27, 1941. The Ordnance Department informed Case's office that the site near Provo and Edgemont had been chosen as the location of the proposed depot. Case was not in his office when the long awaited message arrived. An aide immediately dispatched pre-written telegrams to South Dakota state officials, area newspapers, and other interested parties. Shortly after the telegrams were sent, an Ordnance official called, instructing Case not to release word of the decision until further notice. Fortunately, no changes were made in the official choice, and the "leak" did no harm.

The approximately 21,000 acres of land picked to be the site of the depot consisted of grass-covered prairie. A few ranchers lived in the area, along with coyotes and bobcats, jackrabbits and raccoons, rattlesnakes, pheasants, and eagles. Cattle, horses, and sheep grazed in this spot, quiet except for the sounds of the wind and the train whistle. In the summer, the place was hot and dry; in the winter, it was at the mercy of cold, driving winds and prairie storms. To the north were the Black Hills, pine-covered mountains which sheltered valleys from winter storms and summer heat. But few trees punctuated the almost desolate landscape of the chosen area, soon to be teeming with human activity.

The impending establishment of the Ordnance Department facility delighted most local residents. The lightly populated region was still recovering from the effects of the 1930s depression, which had devastated South Dakota and the surrounding states. These Plains states had suffered not only from the financial depression experienced nationally, but also from an agonizing agricultural slump which began in the 1920s with low farm prices. In addition, the decade of the thirties brought severe weather condi-tions: minimal rainfall which made it nearly impossible to grow crops, and high winds which blew the parched topsoil away. In-festations of grasshoppers destroyed many of the few crops that survived the weather. In a region dependent upon agriculture for its lifeblood, the effect of this long disaster was overwhelming. Farmers lost land and abandoned the area, or made do with the minimum necessary for survival. Businesses closed and people lost their jobs. Very few citizens of South Dakota escaped the curse of the thirties. The promise of employment at the defense facility, and the prospect of the money it would generate and spread to surrounding communities, seemed a godsend.

In January, 1942, the U.S. Engineers established an office in the remodeled Union Station building in Hot Springs. These men held the responsibility of appraising the land and acquiring it from the owners. One of the advantages Case had stressed in his attempts to locate the depot on the site was the fact that few people actually lived on the land, much of which was already owned by the federal government. These factors simplified the acquisition process. Eventually, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture transferred 8,725 acres of land under their control to the Department of War. A land area comprising 3,652 acres owned by private citizens, mortgage companies, and railroads was purchased directly. In addition, the government took an additional 8,719 acres by condemnation. These lands were owned by private individuals, Fall River County, and the state of South Dakota. The purchased land cost the government an approximate average of $1.00 an acre; that land taken by condemnation cost a little more than $6.50 an acre on the average. Thus, the 21,096 acres were acquired through transfer, purchase, and condemnation for a total cost of $96,469. Although the development of the depot was a blessing for many in the economically ravaged area, it was not so beneficial to those who lost land. Many of these people had lived in the area for years and were forced to sacrifice their homes. For those nearing retirement age, this was a special hardship.

Residents of nearby communities, however, welcomed the depot enthusiastically. Their excitement increased as arrangments for construction began, and they began preparing for the ,inevitable increases in population and activity. The establishment of the depot would have a profound effect on these towns; they experienced both the disadvantages and advantages connected with such an enterprise.

Hot Springs, the county seat of Fall River County, was thirty-five miles from the depot site. Once a well-known health spa, the comunity of about 3,000 people was the area trade center. Its citizens hoped that the establishment of the depot would bring new prosperity after the ravages of the depression. Provo was less than two miles from the site of the depot. With a population about twenty people, it was the smallest town in the area. Although it could provide only limited services, townspeople realized that Provo would change drastically as a result of the Ordnance Department's choice of location. Edgemont, seven miles Northeast of the proposed facility, had a population of about nine hundred people. Larger than Provo, Edgemont could provide services and goods the smaller village lacked. Nearer than Hot Springs, it was more convenient to the depot than the larger town.

As the U.S. Engineers and other officials began coming into the area to make arrangements for construction of the depot, these communities started preparing for the demands of increased population. Edgemont citizens successfully revitalized the inactive Chamber of Commerce, and their city council began having weekly meetings to discuss potential problems and solutions. Two restaurants opened in Edgemont almost immediately after the announcement. Hot Springs citizens speculated that their town would become construction headquarters for the project and were disappointed to learn that these activities would be located at the construction site, to avoid commuting problems. The Provo post office was moved to a larger building in order to handle the expected increase in mail.

J.A. Terteling and Sons, an Idaho construction company, received the contract for the major portion of the work, although other companies built the electrical system, heating plant, administration buildings, railroad system, and other components of the depot. The actual beginning of construction was delayed due to heavy rains during April and May. The rains produced "Provo Mud," which reached depths up to twelve inches in some places, making transportation and work in the area impossible. In addition, floods washed out many roads. Wartime conditions also hampered construction. Materials and equipment were scarce, and these shortages, as well as delayed deliveries, slowed the construction process further. Another problem was the acute housing shortage; contractors found it difficult to hire and retain employees who could find no place to live. In May, the mud began to dry and construction crews could begin work in earnest. Increased wages and temporary housing built at the site helped attract workers. By August 13, nearly six thousand people were employed on the project.

Despite construction problems, people began rushing into the area in April to work at building the depot. Provo, a village with less than six houses, no electricity or running water, and one store, quickly became a boom town, with a population of one thousand by July. Workers took up residence in their cars or tents; some brought materials to build their own "tar-paper shacks," or pulled in trailers. They dug holes beside their dwellings to provide a cool place for perishable foods. Lines up to three hundred feet long formed at the post office as the workers sought to send or claim mail. The Provo residents decided to delay formal incorporation of their town until they could determine the permanent effects of the depot, but they did dig a 20,000-gallon cistern to provide water. Landowners, excited by the population increase and housing shortage, began offering lots for sale at prices as high as $1,000. However, no buyers appeared, and prices sank to $250.

Businesses developed to serve the new Provo populace including a theatre, pool hall, night club, and gas station. Charles and Emma Stearns converted their home into a cafe to serve the newcomers. Their daughter Dorothy was six years old at the time, and later recalled their enterprise:

Our house was 24' by 24', the kitchen being 10' by 14' and living room 14' by 14'. The kitchen was equipped with a wood and coal cook stove, kerosene cook stove, cabinet, ice box and wash stand. The living room was stripped of all furniture and furnished with two long and one short table with long benches for seating. During that summer, electricity was installed, so an electric refrigerator was put in the corner of the living room.... This made it a lot easier, because we didn't have to run to the cellar to get the food items that had to be kept cold, as the ice box wasn't large enough for everything. The Stearns Cafe was in operation the spring, summer and early fall of 1942. Approximately 35 men ate breakfast and supper there, and a few also purchased their lunches....

Several women were hired to help my mother, Erma, and sister, Wyoma (16 years old). Iva Belle and I, being only seven and six years old, helped set and clear the tables. Sugar was rationed at that time, so the men were asked to share some of their sugar stamps for cafe use. All bread and other pastries were homemade, especially many pies. Living on the farm, milk, eggs and meat were easily obtained from our own source. Water was hauled from the cistern a quarter mile away in cream cans. (Dorothy Stearns Honadel, untitled manuscript, n.d.)

The cafe business proved to be more work than the Stearns family had bargained for; in the fall, they closed the restaurant and Mrs. Stearns became head cook at the Liberty Lunch Cafe, another Provo eatery.

Edgemont also experienced the onslaught of construction workers. In an attempt to control the growth of inexpensive housing, the city council announced that any worker coming to Edgemont in a trailer could park free of charge in a city trailer camp. By July, there were more trailers in Edgemont than any other type of housing. In addition, workers rented all available rooms, towns-people, converted garages and woodsheds into living quarters, and local farmers and ranchers leased any free space in their bunkhouses. Business in Edgemont prospered. Business-men pledged to keep prices in line with other towns but still saw, their income skyrocket as shoppers flooded their stores. Some reported that items which had languished on their shelves for years sold, immediately. The eight restaurants and food stands were "continually crowded, and customers found it difficult to buy a imeal. Long lines of people with checks to cash waited in front of the bank.

Hot Springs also prospered from the rapid population increase, though not as dramatically as Edgemont and Provo. Because of its distance from the site, workers in Hot Springs had to comute seventy miles round-trip. Besides the problems of time and money expended, workers who lived in Hot Springs also had to contend with war-time tire rationing. This problem was alleviated in June, when the Pathfinder Transit Lines of Casper, Wyoming, began running a thirty-passenger bus between Hot Springs and Provo three times a day. Although most people still preferred to live closer to the site, the demand for housing exceeded Hot Springs' supply. The Chamber of Commerce secretary urged people with empty bedrooms, apartments, or houses to do their patriotic duty and earn money at the same time by renting the space to workers. Many construction employees who lived elsewhere came into Hot Springs to shop, thus boosting revenues. Big- name bands played dances at the city auditorium, drawing large crowds and providing income for sponsoring organizations. Despite the fact that Hot Springs was not as closely tied to the depot as Edgemont and Provo, the community definitely felt the effects of the facility's establishment.

Not all those effects were beneficial. With increased population and prosperity came increased responsibilities and problems. Edgemont city officials urged everyone to obtain immunizations against typhoid fever; they feared an outbreak of the disease because of the heavy burden on the city sanitary system. The city also found it necessary to install traffic signs, and residents ex-pressed concern that the town's firefighting equipment did not provide adequate protection to the expanded populace. In addition, the city had to plan a new jail, and the police court grew in creasingly busy dealing with a variety of offenders, including a number of pickpockets. Dance halls proliferated and liquor sales skyrocketed. Citizens complained of minors obtaining alcohol and frequenting dance halls and pool rooms. Provo, with no or-ganized police force, had little defense against similar problems. Hot Springs experienced a sharp increase in liquor sales and related concerns.

The advantages and the problems presented by the depot inspired boom presented a mixed blessing to Edgemont, Provo, and Hot Springs. They welcomed the increases in population and revenue, but grappled with the accompanying dilemmas. The problems were particularly difficult to solve because the towns-people had little or no experience in dealing with crime, sanitation systems, or housing crunches. In addition, the pressures of war, the lack of manpower, and the material shortages made possible solutions harder to achieve.

The construction project which brought all these changes was a massive undertaking with its own particular problems. One drawback was the lack of adequate water at the construction site, a difficulty that would plague the depot throughout its history. Until a well was completed in the spring of 1942, employees had to haul water to the site for drinking purposes. The finished well was 4,000 feet deep; its bottom was 345 feet below sea level. The water contained so much mineral matter it could not be used in engines; the minerals had a cathartic affect on humans until they became accustomed to it. In addition, the temperature of the water was approximately 140 degrees, too hot for drinking or mixing with concrete. Consequently, contractors had to build a water treatment plant to cool the water to a suitable temperature. Until the plant was completed, workers joked that the water was so hot because the site was onbly one-half mile from Hell.

Another problem contractors dealt with was the need to provide on-site medical services in the event of injury or illness. Terteling and Sons contracted with the Black Hills Clinic of Hot Springs to examine employment applicants, care for injuries, and provide services to employees and their families. The clinic opened an office in Provo in May, 1942. Two physicians and two nurses commuted daily from Hot Springs to the tarpaper building, once a storage shed for cement, that served as a medical facility. Because of the muddy conditions, bulldozers and tractors transported the staff when roads were impassable. In July, the personnel moved into the unfinished hospital building on the depot grounds and continued providing services there until the contract between Black Hills Clinic and Terteling and Sons terminated.

The new ordnance facility was named Black Hills Ordnance Depot at Case's suggestion, although some Edgemont citizens had promoted the name "Edgemont Ordnance Depot," in view of their town's prozimity to the site. Construction on the depot began in earnest in May. The plans included various buildings, a railroad system, and other features including particular structures for the storage of ordanance. These structures, which the Ordnance Department had been building since 1928, were named igloos. Shaped like the dwellings associated with Eskimos, they were made of reinforced concrete covered with earth. They were built with arched sides and a semi-circular roof, nearly half the structure was underground. The design insured that any explosion would be directed upward, not outward. These igloos became closely identified with the operations at the Black Hills Ordnance Depot. Crews began building the igloos on May 30 and progressed rapidly. On August 25, Terteling employees set a world's record by pouring thirty-two igloo arches within a twenty-four hour period. They completed construction of the 802 igloos, laid out in nine blocks adjacent to the railroad, in October. The igloo magazine area also included equipment storage buildings and fox-holes for the protection of workers.

The depot, designated as a reserve facility to store both slow moving ammunition and general supplies, was designed to include six other areas: administration, utilities, lumber storage, mobilization, above-ground magazine, and bundle ammunition packing areas. The administration area contained the main administration building, as well as the fire-house, guard house, and dispensary. In the above-ground magazine area were fox-holes, the inspectors' workshop, and the packing, shipping, and receiving buildings. In the utilities area, buildings included a locomotive shop, machine shop, and central heating plant. The bundle ammunition packing and shipping area held four ammunition packing buildings as well as a field office; the lumber storage area contained a yard for lumber storage and a carpenter shop. The mobilization area included the temporary housing for use by civilians. Many of the buildings were temporary structures meeting minimum standards because of wartime restrictions and regulations.

Even as construction was going on, the Black Hills Ordnance Depot personnel office was established and began recruiting civilian workers to operate the facility. The Ordnance Department was one of the largest employers of civilians during World War II. Most of the domestic ordnance installations were manned almost totally by civilians, with only a small number of officers and enlisted men involved. In fact, because the War Department placed a ceiling on the use of officers, the Ordnance Department had to use civilians in some jobs officers might have filled. Recruitment of civilians was unusually difficult at the Black Hills Ordnance Depot. No large cities or concentrated labor pool existed nearby, and neighboring small towns offered few living accommodations. Thus, recruiters had to work especially hard publicizing job openings and attracting labor. Recruiting was especially intense on Indian reservations near the Black Hills Ordnance Depot and other depots in a similar situation. Recruiters drove trucks to reservations, administered exams, and took recruits back to work immediately. Women were also recruited in large numbers, due to the shortage of men created by the war.

The limited labor pool, the fact that people could earn more money at defense installations such as aircraft plants if they were willing to relocate, and the housing shortage were barriers to recruitment. Little could be done to solve the first two problems, but the government addressed the housing shortage. In an effort to regulate rentals charged in surrounding communities, the federal government designated the area including Provo, Edgemont, and Hot Springs as a Defense Rental Area. Accordingly, the rents charged had to conform to those in effect on March 1, 1942. Although this move restrained landlords from taking advantage of the population boom by charging high rents, it did nothing to solve the problem of shortage of adequate housing in the communities, or the problem of workers commuting during periods of adverse road and weather conditions. These difficulties led to the decision to construct public housing within walking distance of the employees' duties on the depot, and this decision led directly to the establishment of a self-contained community on the grounds of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot.

Most of the Ordnance depots built during World War II did not include employee housing complexes. The particular nature of the southwestern South Dakota depot and its surroundings, however, made such housing a necessity there. The establishment of the housing project created other responsibilities which the federal government had to address. One of these was medical care. Because no hospital was located closer than Hot Springs, government regulations decreed that medical care had to be provided to the workers residing at the depot. Accordingly, the construction of a hospital became part of the depot design. Late in 1942, after Terteling and Sons' contract with the Black Hills Clinic expired, the Ordnance Department opened a dispensary from which a doctor and two nurses immunized employees and transferred major illnesses and injuries to Hot Springs. Upon completion of the hospital in September, 1943, workers had access to a 54-bed facility including a fully equipped surgery as well as dental, pharmacy, and out-patient services, and a staff eventually numbering 44, including four physicians.

Another necessity created by the establishment of on-depot housing was educational facilities. Because workers would bring their families to live on the depot, their children needed access to schools. The development of these facilities required the cooperation of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot officials, the local school district, and neighboring communities.

Upon being acquired by the U.S. Government, the depot land became a military reservation. Therefore, the property was no longer a part of the state of South Dakota and was not included in a school district. Because neither Army officials nor civilians living on the depot could be responsible for federal funds allotted for school purposes, an outside organization had to handle the money and the school. Although somewhat reluctant to assume such a heavy responsibility, the Provo District School Board agreed to administrate an educational system for the depot; as a result, the school carried the Provo name. This board was made up of three members, later expanding to six; a committee of three depot resi-dents served as an advisory body.

In the fall of 1942, the federal government authorized an allotment of approximately $41,000 for the construction of a school on the depot. However, arrangements had to be made to educate the children until the school facility was constructed. The school board hired Miss Adelaide Ward as coordinating supervisor, and to her fell the responsibility of providing an education to the children of depot construction workers and civilian employees.

The Provo school board could not have hired a more concerned or capable person to oversee this task than Adelaide Ward. A native of Wisconsin, Miss Ward graduated from Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1923 and worked in Des Moines, Iowa, in the social work field before coming to South Dakota as a teacher in 1924. From 1926 until 1940, she served as the high school principal and superintendent at Buffalo Gap, South Dakota. After the Provo school board hired her in 1942, she devoted most of the remainder of her career to the Provo School district, serving as its first superintendent and later as high school principal, the position she held until her retirement in 1961.

Alumni of the Provo School invariably reminisce about Miss Ward: they remember her insistence upon adherence to high standards in education and personal conduct, her interest in individual students, and her talents as a teacher and an administrator. What many of those students never saw were her ceaseless, behind the scenes efforts to provide them with a quality education under unusual and often very difficult circumstances. She worked closely with board members and local, state, and federal government officials to solve problems of transportation, funding, and inadequate facilities. She corresponded with the state congressional delegation and kept them informed on the status of the school. She was fiercely loyal to the school and willingly opposed depot officials when she believed their policies were detrimental to the educational process. She must receive the bulk of credit for the development of Provo School.

In that first fall of 1942, Miss Ward found herself responsible for a student body consisting of nearly two hundred students; there were, however, inadequate facilities or supplies available to serve them. Prior to this time, the Provo School had enrolled an average of ten to fifteen students yearly. In anticipation of the increased student numbers, Provo's school board moved a building into town and combined it with the original one-room school, but only one of the rooms was ready on September 14, 1942, when school began. By the following day, however, desks were set up in both rooms and the county superintendent had supplied as many books as possible. Miss Ward and Ada Richenbach taught the approximately seventy students who enrolled there. Miss Ward arranged for about one hundred additional students to attend school at Edgemont. They were bussed from the depot and attended classes from one o'clock until six o'clock in the afternoon. Miss Christina Hajek, a friend and colleague of Miss Ward's, commuted from Provo with the students and supervised the bussing, as well as teaching in Edgemont. Miss Hajek, like Miss Ward, would remain committed to Provo School until her retirement, eventually serving as principal of the Provo Elementary School.

Bussing students to proved to be a problem, because the pupils did not reach home until seven o'clock in the evening. Shortly after the beginning of the school year, the student population began to decline as some of the construction projects ended and families left the area. Therefore, the system was arranged so that all the students attended the school in Provo in shifts. Students shared desks, and orange crates served as lockers. In a short time, however, additional construction projects brought more families and students, and children once again attended school in Edgemont. The hasty arrangements and fluctuating numbers were typical of the excitement and confusion of the construction period.

This excitement was shared by all those who came to the depot during the construction period, whether they were there to build, to administrate, to teach, or to learn. Literally thousands of people -many who knew they would be gone in a few months-lived and worked together. They experienced the instability caused by temporary employment and increased by the pressures of war and the inconvenience of construction. One local resident, Archer B. Gilfillan, came to work at the depot while it was under construction. Warned by his friends that life there would be hard and uncomfortable, he registered at the huge camp and settled into his assigned room, a barracks with forty-five roommates. He was pleasantly surprised to find the table manners and conversation of his mess-mates uncommonly good, and the waitresses demure young high school girls, not the "seasoned," "hard-boiled" women he expected (Black Hills News, September 10, 1942). No doubt many others who came to the construction site were similarly surprised to find that life there consisted not only of work, heat, dust, and cramped quarters, but also companionship and fun.

Those in charge of construction and recruitment details realized that employees needed rest and relaxation to relieve the pressures of work and worry connected with the war. The USO established a recreational hall in an Edgemont church basement to provide activities for workers. Open daily from noon until 10 P.M., the facility provided showers, stationery, a reading room, classes in archery and first aid, and parties. The USO eventually transferred its activities to the Community Building at the depot. The first organized recreation on the depot began during the construction period when several Works Progress Administration staffers organized baseball and volleyball games, community sings, and dances. Sixteen softball teams formed, including some made up entirely of Indians or blacks. Boxing became another favorite sport. As more women and children arrived, supervised play periods, story hours, women's sports, cooking classes, and various clubs developed to meet their needs. Wednesday night "old fashioned" dances and Saturday night "jitterbug" dances provided additional opportunities to socialize.

Activities held during one week in September, 1942, illustrate the variety of social and recreational activities workers enjoyed. On Saturday night, the "Dukes of Rhythmn," a Hot Springs band, provided music at a dance in the PX. The manager of the store made room for the dancers by closing up one end of the hall and one side of his counters. The Lance Theatre, housed in a building moved from Wyoming, showed a new double feature on the same day, with two changes of bill during the following week. On Thursday, several thousand spectators viewed all day performances at an Indian pageant and pow-wow. Indian residents from nearby Pine Ridge reservation demonstrated techniques involved in drying buffalo meat and cooking in a buffalo pouch. Cooks prepared a 700-pound buffalo in the mess kitchen, and officers and construction heads were special guests at the meal. In the afternoon, Indians demonstrated songs and dances. Later, J. W. Terteling, the chief contractor, became an adopted member of the Oglala tribe; he received a war bonnet and the name Joe Leading Eagle. Area Engineer Major E. H. Oechsle also was inducted into the tribe as Elmer Thunder Hawk. The pageant, which closed with a group rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner, "was held to commemorate the Terteling firm's achievement in pouring thirty-two igloos in a twenty-four hour period.

Following the pageant, hundreds of people danced to the music of Jack Arneson and the Swing Kings in the PX until one o'clock in the morning. The next night, more than six hundred spectators attended four three-round boxing bouts. At the same time, the recreational workers met to plan a table tennis tournament, Obviously, depot employees had many ways to spend their time.

Later in September, Terteling and Sons laid off several thousand men as construction neared completion. By December, the bulk of the building was completed. The grounds held 158 miles of road and 38.4 miles of railroad, as well as the igloos, above ground magazines, and various other structures. Although construction on the school, hospital, and housing project would continue into 1943, the Black Hills Ordnance Depot, for the most part, was finished. Construction workers left the area and permanent depot employees concentrated on fulfilling their official duties and developing their new community.

The construction of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot was an amazing accomplishment, in view of the hardships caused by weather, inadequate housing, wartime shortages and restrictions, and lack of labor. The eight-month period during which the bulk of the depot was built brought huge population increases, unprecedented economic health, and unforeseen problems to the surrounding communities. Those communities were permanently altered by these experiences; they would never be the same.