See this from the Wall Street Journal, dateline Elk Point, South Dakota:
In this lush farming community of 1,800 people, everybody's talking about the Gorilla. Except for the handful of people who are trying to keep it a secret.
The mystery has turned some residents into sleuths. They swap tidbits about the Gorilla after Sunday services at the Lutheran church on tree-lined Main Street, or while waiting in line for chili dogs at Ollie's Drive Inn. Others have taken to the Internet, following leads that trail off at multinational companies, Texas consulting firms and mysterious out-of-town executives.
"There have been so many stories," says Barb Bernard, 77 years old, who agreed with her husband to sell options on their 160 acres. "We have no idea what it is."
Residents are amazed that in this small Midwestern town, details haven't leaked out. At least three locals -- board members of the Elk Point Economic Development Corp., which is funded by local businesses as well as the city -- know about the initiative but have signed nondisclosure agreements. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds knows the suitor, as do members of the state's economic development office.
Hints have emerged. Farmers say real-estate agents have told them the Gorilla may encompass 5,000 acres -- roughly 8 square miles -- and bring 2,000 permanent, well-paying jobs. Some 10,000 construction workers would be needed over three years. Total price for the plant, the real-estate agents say: $6 billion to $8 billion, a hefty sum in a state whose 2005 economic output was $31 billion.
Locals speculate the land will be used for an oil refinery, or maybe a new Toyota plant. Landowner Tim Irwin, 40, says he successfully started a rumor that it'll be an adult-toy manufacturer. "I don't care what it is," says Scott Bruning, the 42-year-old football coach at Elk Point-Jefferson High School. "As long as it brings me four kids who are about 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds."
The Gorilla is what South Dakotans are calling a huge, multibillion-dollar manufacturing operation that a highly secretive backer wants to build in this remote southeast corner of the state. What locals know is this: Since August or September, three real-estate agents representing an unidentified company have been negotiating with farmers to acquire options to buy swaths of land now used mostly to raise corn and soybeans.
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