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South Dakota
Basic Information
Postal Abbreviation: SD
Natives: South Dakotan
Population 2020::886,667
Legal Driving Age: 16
(*Younger in special circumstances)
Age of Majority: 18
Median Age: 36.9
Median Household Income:$56,499
Capital..... Pierre
Entered Union..... Nov. 2, 1889 (40th)
Present Constitution Adopted: 1889
Nickname: Coyote State
Mount Rushmore State
Motto:
“Under God the people rule”
Origin of Name:
From the Dakota Indian word for “friends”or “allies”.
USS South Dakota
Railroad Stations
South Dakota Economy
AGRICULTURE: cattle, corn, eggs, hay,
milk, oats, rye, sheep, soybeans, wheat,
wool.
MINING: clay, gold, sand, stone.
MANUFACTURING: electronics, food
processing, lumber, machinery,
printing and publishing.
South Dakota Geography
Total Area: 77,121 sq. miles
Land area: 75,896 sq. miles
Water Area: 1,225 sq. miles
Geographic Center: Hughes
8 mi. NE of Pierre
Highest Point: Harney Peak
(7,242 ft.)
Lowest Point: Big Stone Lake
(966 ft.)
Highest Recorded Temp.: 120˚ F (7/5/1936)
Lowest Recorded Temp.: –58˚ F (2/17/1936)
The state lies within the Great Plains. The eastern half is smooth sloping gently into the James River Valley. The western half of the state has many buttes and ridges. It here that the Badlands with its steep cliffs and canyons is found. The Missouri River crosses the state from north to nouth.
Cities
Sioux Falls, 181,833
Rapid City , 75,443
Aberdeen, 28,562
Brookings, 22,056;
Watertown, 21,482
Mitchell, 15.254
Yankton, 14,454
Pierre , 13,646
Huron, 12,592
Vermillion, 10,571
South Dakota History
1794 Jean Truteau built a cabin near present day Fort Randall.
1802 Fort aux Cedres was built 35 mmiles of the current location fo Pierre
1804 The Lewish and Clark Expeditions explores South Dakota
1817 A Trading post was established at Fort Pierre
1858 The Yankton Sioux signed a treaty ceding most of Eastern Dakota
1859 Yankton founded
1874 Gold is found in the Black Hills
1889 enabling Act breaks North and South Dakota into two territories and then admitted to the Union
1890 Wounded Knee Massacre occurs at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
1972 Canyon Lake Dam fails and 235 are killed down stream in Rapid City and surronding areas
Famous People
Tom Brokaw
Mary Hart
Hubert H. Humphrey
George McGovern
Red Cloud
Sitting Bull
South Dakota National Sites
1) Badlands Nation Park
This National Park cover 243,303 acres. It includes Stonghold Table, the location of the last Indian Ghost Dance, which occurred just before the slaughter at Wounded Knee.
2) Jewel Cave National Monument
This cave covers 79 miles of underground passageway that are studded with crystal and stone formations. It is the second longest cave in the United States that the fourth longest in the world.
3) Mount Rushmore
The faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt have be carved into Mt Rushmore.
4) Wind Cave National Park
Located in the southeastern part of the Dakota’s Black Hills this 44 square mile park includes four hundred bison. The park includes a large cave that is over 27 miles long. It is best known for whistling sound that the cave makes as air comes in and out.