Tracking the DM&E's big dream: Chapter 12

In 1991 Schieffer was nominated by President Bush to be South Dakota's U.S. attorney. He served in that role for more than a year, but his nomination got caught up in political wrangling and was never approved before the Clinton administration took over and offered its own nominee.

During his short tenure as the state's chief federal prosecutor, Schieffer became entwined in a bizarre and highly publicized custody battle.

A year before Schieffer was nominated, the world's largest and most complete tyrannosaurus rex fossil was discovered on the property of a rancher on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation near Faith, S.D.

The fossil was named Sue, after the paleontologist who found the initial bone fragments. In 1992, Schieffer sent federal agents to the site where Sue was being painstakingly unearthed by workers for the Black Hills Geological Research Institute, which had paid the rancher $5,000 for the rights to Sue's remains. Schieffer ordered the fossil seized, contending the institute had no legal right to it. His argument was based on the fact that the rancher, Maurice Williams, had his land in a federal trust, which exempted him from paying taxes on his property, but required him to get permission from the government before selling it.

A long legal battle ensued over whether Sue's entombed bones were part of the land or personal property found on the land. In 1993, a U.S. district judged ruled that Sue was part of Williams' land and awarded custody of the bones to the rancher and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA gave Williams permission to sell the fossil, and in 1997 Sue was purchased at auction by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History for $7.6 million.

In the meantime, Schieffer had gone into private legal practice in Sioux Falls, and the DM&E was one of his principal clients. "Eventually, they just got tired of paying legal bills," he jokes, "so they hired me."

He became the company's president and chief executive officer in November 1996 after the railroad's former CEO and president, J.C. McIntyre, retired. About seven months later, Schieffer started pitching the Powder River Basin project, which he contends is essential to the long-term viability of the railroad.

The company has been marginally profitable since its inception in 1986. But Schieffer says the line is in dire need of repairs, and the coal train project will infuse the necessary capital to refurbish the track and make the DM&E a profitable and safe business.

"I just have a burning conviction that this (project) needs to happen and that it will," he says. "I remain the eternal optimist. We will start construction (in 2000). Or else we will start in 2001, or in 2003." He acknowledges that at this stage he has no control over when the project, which he estimates would take about three years to complete, can get under way.

Aware of the Post-Bulletin's editorial page opposition to the project, Schieffer appears wary throughout our 90-minute talk. His responses to my questions come slowly and methodically. His mood is serious. There is little off-the-subject banter. He does not laugh once.

Schieffer vehemently dismisses rumors that he might be cooking up a deal to sell the railroad to one of the nation's two transcontinental carriers, Union Pacific or Burlington Northern Santa Fe, saying such a deal would never receive federal approval.

As for his own future, he says his only long-term goal is to get the Powder River project done.

I ask if he might be interested in returning to politics someday.

He finally flashes a smile.

"Right now, I don't think I could get elected dog catcher."