Tracking the DM&E's big dream: Chapter 8

Near Wasta, S.D., the proposed route meets up with the existing DM&E line, which parallels U.S. 14 for the next 400 miles all the way to the Mississippi River.

Wasta, a Lakota word meaning "good," is too

Faye and George Bryan or Wasta, S.D., are retiring from ranching, but they haven't given up riding. They graze two horses on land leased from the DM&E near where the proposed tracks would meet up with the railroad's exisiting line.

small to earn a population listing in the Rand McNally road atlas. And most of its three dozen or so residents like it that way.

The only businesses there are a bar and a small hotel, which on the day I visited was closed because the owner was running errands.

But there are rumors that a convenience store might be built soon over by the Interstate. "We really need it, too," says Faye Bryan. "The nearest gas station is 11 miles up the road in Wall. So, some people here carry 5-gallon cans in their cars, just in case."

Faye and her husband, George, live in a small, wood-frame house about two blocks from the DM&E tracks. A fluffy orange cat dozes on the front steps. Hanging on the porch is a neatly organized array of horse gear -- spurs, ropes, bridles and hackamores.

In the living room, their leather-covered furniture is decorated with the brand the Bryans used on their horses and livestock when they operated a Hereford cattle ranch near Wall.

Although they've retired from ranching (Faye is 71 and George is 85) the Bryans still own two riding horses that graze on land they lease from the DM&E on the edge of town.

"I know there's some complaints about the railroad (expansion project)," says Faye, who's known around town for the hot pink western boots she wears. The biggest complaint is the number of trains that are likely to roll through town. "But I don't worry too much about it. The DM&E has been good to us. I don't even hear the trains at night. To tell you the truth, I rather enjoy them."

From Wasta, the DM&E line rolls along the Cheyenne River bed through about two dozen small farming communities, some of them no bigger than Wasta. They have pretty much the same features: a grain elevator, one or more taverns, a filling station, a post office and a rodeo grounds or stockyard.

These are what DM&E President Schieffer calls "second economy" towns. "They aren't prospering like the Sioux Falls or Rochesters of the world," he says.

One of the largest of these smaller towns is Philip, population 1,100, about 90 miles east of Rapid City. It's in a part of South Dakota where ranching is still big business, but where more generous rainfall and more forgiving terrain make grain farming possible.