605: A Little Slice of Paradise

 
By: Gov. Larry Rhoden
June 5, 2025  

My family has ranched the same area of western South Dakota for generations. My hometown of Union Center is a very small community. In town, you’ll find Cammack Ranch Supply, a store that is a big economic driver for our community. It used to be owned by my good friend, Gary Cammack – he sold it to his son, Reed Cammack.

Gary and his wife Amy own some land about 20 miles away south of White Owl in the two rivers country where the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche rivers meet. Their property is a little slice of heaven. It actually adjoins the land that my mother grew up on, but there’s a pretty drastic change in the terrain between her old land and theirs.

After church about a week ago, my wife Sandy and I went to spend the day on their property. I was amazed by the incredible beauty just 20 miles down the road!

They have a stock dam with docks for boating and paddleboarding, beautiful rolling hills, rock formations, and old trees. They had areas on their property that had never been grazed because the country was too rugged to have access to water. So, he found a way to pipe water to those remote areas.

I was impressed by an old stone building, which was built partially into the ground by the original homesteaders. They’ve restored that building and made it beautiful.

I’ve said many times on my Open for Opportunity tour that I’ve been amazed at all the businesses in South Dakota that I never knew about. Imagine my wonder to see such unexpected natural beauty just a couple miles from where my mom grew up!

If my friend Gary had never bought that land and invited us to join him, we would have never experienced this little slice of South Dakota. The overall opportunity of our state would have been just a little bit less. We’d be capitalizing just a bit less on our abundant natural beauty. And my wife and I wouldn’t have had such a great weekend.

So open the door in front of you, even if it’s a door that nobody else saw, even if it might be locked – at least check the lock. You might create your own little slice of paradise. You might launch an opportunity that nobody else saw. You might change lives, your community, or even our state.

Every year on June 5, we celebrate “Forever 605 Day” across South Dakota. It’s an opportunity to celebrate our single area code: 605. And it’s a great chance to look at what unites us.

From the Big Sioux to the Cheyenne River, from the Black Hills to the prairie lakes – we have a beautiful, diverse state united by shared values and special people. I spent another day about a week ago in the southeast corner of our state – it was entirely different than anywhere else in South Dakota, but no less beautiful.

The idea behind “Forever 605” is bigger than a state; it’s a state of mind. It’s a pledge to be both a brave wanderer and a passionate steward of the 605 state. Forever 605 means celebrating our natural beauty and protecting it for our future generations.

Whether you live in Sioux Falls or Union Center, you probably have a 605 area code. You’re a South Dakotan. And you are just as much a part of creating opportunities for our next generation as the rest of us.

Our state is pretty special. I will keep doing my part as Governor to keep our state Open for Opportunity – not just for my generation, and not just the next generation – but for those who come after us, as well. Happy “Forever 605 Day!”

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