As a kid growing up in South Central South Dakota, I remember trips to Sioux Falls like  yesterday.  Both mom and dad would drive truck so we made quite a few trips to Sioux Falls. Since most of our Sioux Falls trips brought west river cattle to the Sioux Falls Livestock I quickly picked up on one thing. Sioux Falls didn't smell very good. In fact, it plain ass stunk.

I recall coming in the truck and sometimes we a friend would ride along. We'd roll up the window and hold our noses. If the wind was wrong, you were hopping that you got to the stockyards fast where at least you would be greeted with a smell you were familiar with.

Back in the late 60's to early 70's,we would hop on Interstate 90 at Chamberlain, then it was off to the dark side, East River South Dakota and Sioux Falls, or as we called it Sewer Sioux Falls. If you live here now, or have for the past decades you know, Sioux Falls does not stink anymore. Turns out there are some good reasons why. I checked with former Mayor Rick Knobe and he said;

The main culprits to the foul smell at the time were the old rendering plant, the old waste water treatment plant, (now between Brandon and Sioux Falls) the Sioux Falls Stockyards and probably a little bit from Morrell's.

Knobe says, things started to improve with the closing of the old rendering plant. That was located near what is now I-229 and Rice. After that the city moved the waste water and water treatment plant to it's current location between Sioux Falls and Brandon, South Dakota. The final deodorizing of North Sioux Falls came when they closed the Stockyards which was bittersweet for me, because we made so many trips to the facility. I'll have more on that later.

Now, Morrell's is still in town, but they seem to be pretty user friendly. I don't pick up much smell wise from the plant that has employed so many Sioux Falls residents over the years. Knobe added, sometimes when you drive byMorrell's, if the wind is just right you can almost actually smell bacon. I guess that isn't such a bad smell either.

 

 

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