About the author: Chuck Cecil is a native South Dakotan who currently lives in Brookings. He was born in Wessington Springs and grew up in Sturgis and Rapid City. He was an aerial photographer for the United States Navy during the Korean War. Later, he enrolled at South Dakota State University and earned a bachelor's and master's degree in journalism. After a decade in the newspaper business with the Watertown Public Opinion and the Vermillion Plain Talk, Cecil became an administrator at SDSU and served in various positions, including assistant to the president. HE then established a chain of ten weekly newspapers in the Brookings and Sioux Falls area. Cecil retired in 2000 but has continued writing a weekly column for the Brookings Register, and he has written more than twenty books. He and his wife, Mary Cecil, have three children: Dan Cecil, a physician in Brookings, South Dakota; Matt Cecil, a dean at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota; and Amy Cecil Holm, an instructor at SDSU. 

Image description: The cover features a sepia-toned photograph of several bulls pulling wagons, and men dressed in historical clothing guiding them. The bulls are walking through a town, with hills in the background. The title is printed at the top of the cover, and the author's name is printed in the bottom left corner.