Looking for History on Highway 14 [signed] [first edition]

Inscribed "To Ken, Happy Traveling on Highway 14, John E. Miller". Signed copies rarely offered. Winner--Mountain Plains Library Association Literary Contribution Award Millions of Americans have fond memories of traveling United States Highway 14, the Black and Yellow Trail, to South Dakota?s Black Hills and beyond. Armchair travelers wanting to sample small-town life, significant historical events, and modern-day marvels will find much to please in John E. Miller?s Looking for History on Highway 14. For three hundred years, small towns were central to the way Americans lived their lives and derived their values. During the past century, an industrialized, urban, media-saturated society has come to define American culture, but the notion of the small town still excites the imagination. Miller seeks to capture the spirit and essence of small-town life, taking the reader into cafes, depots and stores to meet farmers, ranchers and townspeople. He encourages people to think seriously about the quality of life and sense of community that contribute to the ideal of the small town. Although Miller focuses on small towns in South Dakota, much of what he writes applies to the history and fate of small towns in general.Highway 14 traverses the heart of South Dakota, passing through Pierre, the state capital; Brookings, home to the state?s land-grant university; and Huron, the state fair city. Towns on the route include De Smet, Laura Ingalls Wilder?s little town on the prairie; Manchester, hometown of prairie painter Harvey Dunn; and historic Fort Pierre where trade routes and cultures?American Indian and white?intersected. Here, French explorer Francois La Verendrye buried a lead-plate marker in 1743, Lewis and Clark?s Corps of Discovery encountered the Teton Lakotas and fur-traders and missionaries pursued their livelihoods among the native inhabitants.