Stretching toward sunset from the Missouri, South Dakota's West River country is an unrelieved expanse of rough-hewn plains and arid badlands. Under the tough sod lie prairie-dog towns and nuclear missile silos. Above ground, a handful of ranchers raise sheep and cattle on the stingy rangeland. Mostly, natives say, there are miles and miles of miles and miles.
Only the signs and billboards along Interstate 90 break the monotony. They beckon to motorists heading west toward Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone or east toward Sioux Falls and the industrial Midwest. The pitch is tantalizing:...
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