|
- Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began drilling into the
6,200-foot Mount Rushmore in 1927. Creation of the Shrine to
Democracy took 14 years and cost a mere $1 million, though
it's now deemed priceless.
- The faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are sculpted into
Mount Rushmore the world's greatest mountain carving.
- Fossilized remains of life 50 million years ago have
been arranged in unusual forms, which is Lemmon's mark of
distinction at the world's largest petrified wood park.
- Perhaps the most significant fur trade/military fort on
the western American frontier, Fort Pierre Chouteau was the
largest (almost 300' square) and best equipped trading post
in the northern Great Plains. Built in 1832 by John Jacob
Astor's (1763-1848) American Fur Company as part of its
expansion into the Upper Missouri region, the trading
activities at the site exemplified the commercial alliance
critical to the success of the fur business.
- Jack McCall was tried, convicted and hanged two miles
north of Yankton in 1877 for the shooting of Wild Bill
Hickok. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the Yankton
cemetery.
- The site of a rich gold strike in 1875, Deadwood retains
its mining town atmosphere. While Deadwood is one of the
most highly publicized mining towns of the trans-Mississippi
West, much of its fame rests on the famous or infamous
characters that passed through.
- Tom Brokaw of NBC graduated from Yankton High School and
the University of South Dakota.
- Belle Fourche is the geographical center of the United
States of America, designated in 1959 and noted by an
official marker and sheepherder's monument called a "Stone
Johnnie".
- Bowdle is known for the tallest water tower in South
Dakota.
- Clark is the Potato Capital of South Dakota. Clark is
home to the world famous Mashed Potato Wrestling contest.
- In 1803, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson purchased the
Louisiana Territory from France, a real-estate deal that at
the time doubled the size of the United States.
- South Dakota is the home of the Dakota, Lakota and
Nakota tribes, which make up the Sioux Nation.
- Custer State Park is home to a herd of 1,500
free-roaming bison. Bison can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.
Historically, the bison played an essential role in the
lives of the Lakota (Sioux), who relied on the “tatanka” for
food, clothing and shelter.
- Jewel Cave is the third-longest cave in the world. More
than 120 miles of passages have been surveyed. Calcite
crystals that glitter when illuminated give the cave its
name.
- With more than 82 miles of mapped passages, Wind Cave
contains the world’s largest display of a rare formation
called boxwork.
- The Crazy Horse mountain carving now in progress will be
the world’s largest sculpture (563' high, 641' long, carved
in the round). It is the focal point of an educational and
cultural memorial to and for the North American Indian.
- Badlands National Park consists of nearly 244,000 acres
of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with
the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United
States.
- Badlands National Park contains the world's richest
Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years
old.
- Sage Creek Wilderness is the site of the reintroduction
of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal
in North America.
- The name "Black Hills" comes from the Lakota words Paha
Sapa, which mean "hills that are black". Seen from a
distance, these pine-covered hills, rising several thousand
feet above the surrounding prairie, appear black.
- In 1898, the first commercial timber sale on Federal
forested land in the United States was authorized in the
area of Jim and Estes Creeks (near the town of Nemo).
- Woonsocket is known as The Town with the Beautiful Lake.
Lake Prior sits in the middle of town.
- Harney Peak, at 7242 above sea level, is the highest
point in the United States east of the Rockies.
- The 9824-acre Black Elk Wilderness in the center of the
Norbeck Wildlife Preserve was named for Black Elk, an Oglala
Lakota holy man.
- Sturgis is home of the annual Black Hills Classic
Motorcycle Rally.
- The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs contains the largest
concentration of Columbian and woolly mammoth bones
discovered in their primary context in the world! This
National Natural Landmark is the only in-situ (bones left as
found) display of fossil mammoths in America.
- The Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo details more than 250
rare automobiles including the infamous Tucker and Edsel.
- Near the shore of Lake Herman, Prairie Village includes
the original townsite of Herman, Dakota Territory. It is
also home of the Art B. Thomas Hershell-Spillman Carousel
that is complete with its operating coal fired boiler and
steam engine.
- The abundant water flow of Spearfish Creek favored the
establishment of a Federal Fish Hatchery in 1898. It is
known today as the D.C. Booth Historic Fish Hatchery.
- Sioux Falls exists as a city today because the land
speculators who staked town site claims there in 1857 came
in search of the cascades of the Big Sioux River.
- Mitchell is the home of the world's only Corn Palace.
- The Flaming Fountain on South Dakota State Capitol Lake
is fed by an artesian well with natural gas content so high
that it can be lit. The fountain glows perpetually as a
memorial to all veterans.
- The George S. Mickelson Trail is South Dakota's premier
rails-to-trails project. This award winning tail stretches
114 miles from Deadwood to Edgemont.
- The Crystal Springs Ranch rodeo arena in Clear Lake was
built on a drained duck pond. The former duck pond is now
known as "America's Most Natural Rodeo Bowl".
- Faith is famous to paleontologists. Several Hadrosaur,
Edmontosaurus annectens were excavated on a ranch north of
Faith and one of the largest, most complete, and best
preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex was excavated nearby.
- The Silent Guide Monument in Philip was built in the
late 1100%s by a sheepherder to mark a waterhole that never
went dry. Made of flat stones, the guide originally stood
fourteen feet high, and could be seen as far as thirty five
miles away.
- The largest underground gold mine is the Homestake Mine
in Lead.
- Mato Paha "Sacred Mountain" is the origin of many Native
American legends. Rising 1400 feet above the surrounding
prairie near Sturgis, and standing all by itself, Bear Butte
isn't hard to find. It was used as a landmark by the plains
Indians and even today it is considered sacred by the plains
peoples.
- Black Hills National Cemetery "The Arlington of the
West" is a final resting place of our nation's veterans.
- The Anne Hathaway Cottage at Wessington Springs is the
only structure in the Midwest US that features a thatched
roof. The cottage is styled after the original Anne Hathaway
home in England.
- Brookings is the home of South Dakota State University,
the state’s largest university, with 8100 students, and a
staff of nearly 2000.
- Rivers were the highways in settling the western
territory. Lewis and Clark named American Creek when they
passed through the Chamberlain - Oacoma area while exploring
the territory for President Jefferson in 1804.
- Yankton was the original Dakota Territorial capital
city.
- Henry Holland built an English-style mill in Milbank in
1886, three years before South Dakota became a state. Until
1907 it was used by settlers to grind wheat and corn and to
saw wood.
- The first & oldest Dakota daily newspaper, published in
1861 is the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan.
- The Meridian Bridge built in 1924 was the first
structure built across the Missouri River in South Dakota.
- The Prairie Rattlesnake is the only venomous snake
native to South Dakota. The color of the Prairie Rattlesnake
varies from light brown to green, with a yellowish belly.
Dark oval blotches with light colored borders run along the
center of its back.
- The U.S.S. South Dakota was the most decorated
battleship during World War II.
- Newton Hills State Park, south of Canton, is part of a
geological feature called the Coteau des Prairie. This
narrow strip of rolling hills and forests was created by
glaciers and extends along the eastern edge of South Dakota.
At its highest point, the Coteau rises to more than 2,000
feet above sea level.
- For millions of years, Split Rock Creek near Garretson
cut deep gorges through Palisades State Park. Geologists say
the Sioux quartzite spires are 1.2 billion years old!
Glaciers deposited a thin layer of debris atop the
quartzite. Beds of dark red pipestone can be found between
the layers. This is one of the few areas in the nation where
pipestone is found. The mineral is considered sacred by
American Indians.
Thanks to:
Crucesdale, JRB049, kkostel
|
|