Header image from National Park Service, South Dakota Badlands National Park
North Dakota and South Dakota became states on Nov 2, 1889. They became the 39th and 40th states. President Benjamin Harrison had the papers (for the two new states) shuffled to obscure which one was signed first and the order went unrecorded.
Ring-Neck Pheasant
The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota, one of only three U.S. state birds that is not a species native to the United States. It was introduced from China.
Ring-necked Pheasants are able to stay on a roost for several days without eating if the weather is very bad.
Breeding males will keep other males away from a small group of females during the breeding season. This practice is known as “harem-defense polygyny.”
A group of pheasants has many collective nouns, including a “bouquet”, “brace”, “plume”, “plump”, and “trip” of pheasants.
Flower: Pasque flower
Pasque flower – is the provincial flower of Manitoba, Canada and the state flower of South Dakota. Also known as Pulsatilla, it is highly toxic, and produces cardiogenic toxins and oxytoxins which slow the heart in humans. Excess use can lead to diarrhea, vomiting and convulsions, hypotension and coma. It has been used as a medicine by Native Americans for centuries. Blackfoot Indians used it to induce abortions and childbirth.[6] Pulsatilla should not be taken during pregnancy nor during lactation. Extracts of Pulsatilla have been used to treat reproductive problems such as premenstrual syndrome and epididymitis. Additional applications of plant extracts include uses as a sedative and for treating coughs. The Pasque flower is useful in treating eye diseases like cataracts.
Tree: Black Hills Spruce
The Black Hills spruce is a variety of the more widespread white spruce found naturally only in southwest South Dakota and a small portion of northeast Wyoming. While not as widely known as other spruces, this ornamental spruce can be planted just about anywhere that the more common Colorado spruce will grow.
State Quarter
from The U.S. 50.com:
The South Dakota quarter features an image of the State bird, a Chinese ring-necked pheasant, in flight above a depiction of the Mount Rushmore National Monument, featuring the faces of four American Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The design is bordered by heads of wheat. The coin’s design also bears the inscriptions “South Dakota” and “1889.”
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began drilling into Mount Rushmore, the 5,725-foot peak rising above Harney National Forest, in 1927. Creation of the “Shrine of Democracy” took 14 years and cost approximately $1 million, though it is now deemed priceless.
Capital: Pierre
Nickname: Mount Rushmore State/ Coyote State (Coyotes were so numerous in South Dakota that they were adopted as the official state animal in 1949)
Motto: Under God the people rule.
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.
South Dakota Facts and Trivia
South Dakota is 77,121 square miles extending east-west 380 miles and north-south 245 miles. It is slightly bigger than North Dakota.
South Dakota is the home of the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota tribes, which make up the Sioux Nation.
South Dakota can generally be divided into three regions: eastern South Dakota, western South Dakota, and the Black Hills. The Missouri River serves as a boundary in terms of geographic, social, and political differences between eastern and western South Dakota. The geography of the Black Hills, long considered sacred by Native Americans, differs from its surroundings to such an extent it can be considered separate from the rest of western South Dakota. The Black Hills extend into Wyoming.
This area features rocks such as limestone, which were deposited when the area formed the shoreline of an ancient inland sea. 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.
Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state’s population, and the area’s fertile soil is used to grow a variety of crops.
West of the Missouri River, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are in West River.
The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, are in the southwest part of the state.
Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is in the Black Hills.
The North American continental pole of inaccessibility is between Allen and Kyle, 1,024 mi (1,648 km) from the nearest coastline.
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”. These stone columns were probably built to indicate distance and direction to waterholes and provided the sheepherder with a pastime while tending his flock.
The French explorers Francois and Louis-Joseph de La Verendrye were the first Europeans to arrive in South Dakota in 1743. They claimed the land for France. Fur traders moved into the land to take advantage of the valuable fur trade with the local Native American tribes.
South Dakota became a part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The American explorers Lewis and Clark made their way across South Dakota in 1804, mapping out the land for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. In 1817, the first permanent European settlement was established at Fort Pierre by Joseph La Framboise.
Perhaps the most significant fur trade/military fort on the western American frontier, Fort Pierre Chouteau was the largest (each side of the fort was about 300 feet long) 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.
In the late 1800s much of the land began to be settled by homesteaders looking to farm the land.
The city of Sioux Falls was established in 1856.
In 1858 the Yankton Sioux signed a Treaty, ceding most of present-day eastern South Dakota to the United States.
In 1861, the Dakota Territory was established by the United States government (this initially included North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming). Settlement of the area, mostly by people from the eastern United States as well as western and northern Europe, increased rapidly, especially after the completion of an eastern railway link to Yankton in 1873.
1868 – The Treaty of Fort Laramie granted the western half of South Dakota to the Sioux Nation.
George Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills in 1874.
Miners and explorers began illegally entering land promised to the Lakota. Custer’s expedition took place despite the fact the US had granted the entire western half of present-day South Dakota (West River) to the Sioux in 1868 by the Treaty of Laramie as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. The Sioux declined to grant mining rights or land in the Black Hills, and war broke out after the U.S. failed to stop white miners and settlers from entering the region. Eventually the US defeated the Sioux and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into five reservations, settling the Lakota in those areas.(In 1980, the US Supreme Court and Congress ordered payment to the Lakota for the illegal seizure of the Black Hills. The case remains unsettled, as the Lakota refuse to accept the money and instead insist on the return of the land.)
A growing population and political concerns (admitting two states meant having four new senators for the Republican Party) caused Dakota Territory to be divided in half and President Benjamin Harrison signed proclamations formally admitting South Dakota and North Dakota to the union on November 2, 1889. Harrison had the papers shuffled to obscure which one was signed first and the order went unrecorded.
On December 29, 1890, the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Commonly cited as the last major armed conflict between the United States and the Lakota Sioux Nation, the massacre resulted in the deaths of at least 146 Sioux, many of them women and children. 31 U.S. soldiers were also killed in the conflict.
Mt. Rushmore The faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are sculpted into Mount Rushmore the world’s greatest mountain carving.
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.
Before 1800, there were millions of American bison living in South Dakota. During the 1800s bison were hunted by the millions. By 1900 the American bison was almost extinct with less than 1000 thought to be left alive. Some estimates are that nearly 60 million bison were slaughtered. Today the bison has survived and the population has been restored to several hundred thousand.
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.
Difference between bison and buffalo. It is not unusual to hear bison referred to as buffalo but they are different species. Buffalo have never been found in North America.
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. Begun in 1948 it is far from complete.
Sturgis is home of the annual Black Hills Classic Motorcycle Rally. The event generates around $800 million in annual revenue
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.
The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota is decorated with crop art; the murals and designs covering the building are made from corn and other grains, and a new design is constructed each year. The Corn Palace is a popular tourist destination, visited by up to 500,000 people each year.
Mammoth Site is located at Hot Springs and is an active paleontological excavation site. As of 2016, the remains of 61 mammoths, including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths had been recovered.
Open to the public since 1936, Dinosaur Park, Rapid City, SD, is located on a ridge of sandstone that encircles the Black Hills. Along this ridge dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous have been found. Not far from the park dinosaur footprints have been found.
While several Democratic senators have represented South Dakota for multiple terms at the federal level, the state government is largely controlled by the Republican Party, whose nominees have carried South Dakota in each of the last 13 presidential elections. In 2016, South Dakota voted for Republican nominee Donald Trump over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by a margin of 30%.
From Reader’s Digest The 50 Funniest Jokes About All 50 States
South Dakota A tough old Badlands rancher once told his grandson that the secret to long life was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning. The grandson did this religiously, and he lived to be 93. When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren … and a 15-foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.
And From Reader’s Digest – The Most Difficult to Pronounce Names from each state
South Dakota: The town of Pukwana, South Dakota is home to 285 residents and the “Puk U” bar. It’s not hard to pronounce once you hear it pronounced for the first time (Puck-WAH-na), but considering that it got this name after having been originally called “Carlton,” we felt it deserved an “honorable mention.”
Strange Laws
Horses aren’t allowed into fountains unless they are wearing pants.
To lie down and fall asleep in a cheese factory is against the law.
It is illegal to show any movies that include police officers being struck, beaten, or treated offensively.
Casinos in the sate of South Dakota are not allowed to post signs that say ‘casino’.
All hotels are required to have two twin beds and the beds must always be two feet apart. (Believe it or not, part of this law also states that it is illegal to make love in the space between the two twin beds.)
It’s illegal to disturb a mink den in South Dakota.
It’s illegal for hunters to use a spotlight in South Dakota, unless they’re hunting raccoons and need the light to keep track of their dog.
People:
From deadwood.com
Wild Bill Hickok is probably the most famous Deadwood resident, even though he was only in town a few short weeks. James Butler Hickok arrived in Deadwood, along with Colorado Charlie Utter and Calamity Jane, in July of 1876. He was a well-known gambler and gunslinger, participating in many shootouts before coming to Deadwood.
He was killed on August 2, 1876 in Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon when Jack McCall shot him from behind while playing poker. When he died, Wild Bill was holding a pair of aces and eights, that series of cards became known to poker players all around the world as the “Dead Man’s Hand.” In 1979, Wild Bill Hickok was inducted as a charter member into the World Series of Poker’s Hall of Fame.
The original site of Nuttal & Mann’s was located near what is present day 624 Main Street.
You can see Wild Bill’s gravesite as well as that of Calamity Jane at Mount Moriah Cemetery.
- Sparky Anderson baseball manager
- Tom Brokaw TV newscaster
- Myron Floren accordionist
- Crazy Horse Oglala chief
Hubert H. Humphrey senator and vice president- Cheryl Ladd actress
George McGovern politician- Dorothy Provine actress
Sitting Bull Hunkpappa Sioux chief- Mamie Van Doren actress
- Laura Ingalls Wilder, author
whose semi-autobiographical books are based on her experiences as a child and young adult on the frontier, is one of South Dakota’s best-known writers.
Music
Hail, South Dakota (state song)
South Dakota Morning by Bee Gees
Rapid City, SD by Dwight Yoakam
Big foot by Johnny Cash
South Dakota Lady by Buddy Red Bow
Credits
ducksters.com
Only in your state.com
Only in your state.com
50 states.com
deadwood.com