General Store and Rock Shop in Oakaton, SD-Honeymoon Memories

Oakaton, SD General Store and Rock Shop

The old Oakaton Feed Mill



Carol and I were on our Honeymoon traveling to Utah via I-90 through South Dakota.  We had gotten married in June of 2005 and I believe the Honeymoon trip was late June- early July.  We had not hit the Black Hills and I spotted this obscure sign that said Rock Shop next Exit.  I turned instinctively in the turn lane (not telling Carol what I was doing, only that it was "An adventure").  There was the sign for Oakaton, SD pop. 12 at that time.  What a charming semi-ghost town.  The general store used to have a much better rock shop back in the day, but evidently the husband and wife who had the place before had died and the rock selection had waned.  There were still nice specimens and a fair amount of fossils left, but the passion wasn't in the new owners.  The place had back buildings that showed what the place used to be like with an old bank, jail, blacksmith... and these spaces were filled with antiques for sale.  What was of more interest was the old run down feed mill with an abandoned set of Milwaukee Railroad tracks in front of it.  Evidently, the Milwaukee Road abandoned the track in the mid to late 1940's, but neglected to pull the rails.  As you can see by the picture, the cross bars are still there.  Years ago, someone from Hollywood came to Oakaton and filmed a movie that was never released.  This was a romantic trip and a very romantic stop.  Rocks, fossils, a single gas pump, old buildings, old set of train tracks set into the Dakota Prairie, and each other.  Meow.

Coming up on Oakaton from the north off I-90