South Dakota
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South Dakota is a
state in the high plains of the northern Middle West. It is named after the
Lakota (
Sioux)
American Indian tribe.\nSouth Dakota was admitted to the Union on
November 2,
1889.
North Dakota was admitted on the same day (see
Trivia, below).
South Dakota is bordered to the north by
North Dakota, to the south by
Nebraska, to the east by
Iowa and
Minnesota, and to the west by
Wyoming and
Montana.
USS South Dakota was named in honor of this state.
- Area: 77,121 sq. miles\n:Population: 754,844 (2000)\n:Capital: Pierre\n:Counties: 66 (see: List of South Dakota counties)\n:Bird: Ring-necked Pheasant\n:Flower: Pasque Flower\n:Tree: Black Hills Spruce\n: Nicknames: Mount Rushmore State\n: Slogan: "Great Faces. Great Places."\n:Mineral: Rose quartz\n:Insect: Honey bee - Apis Mellifera L.\n:Animal: Coyote\n:Soil: Houdek\n:Fish: Walleye\n:Gemstone: Fairburn agate\n:Dessert: Kuchen\n:Drink: Milk\n:Grass: Western wheat
Important cities
\n*Aberdeen\n*Deadwood\n*Lead\n*Madison\n*Pierre - State Capital\n*Rapid City\n*Sioux Falls\n*Sturgis\n*Watertown\n*Yankton
See List of South Dakota counties, Governors of South Dakota
Other features
\n*Black Hills\n*Coteau des Prairies\n*Mount Rushmore\n*Missouri River\n*James River\n*Corn Palace\n*Wall Drug Store
See: List of South Dakota rivers
Colleges and universities
\n*Augustana College\n*Black Hills State University\n*Dakota State University\n*Dakota Wesleyan University\n*Huron University\n*Mount Marty College\n*National American University\n*Northern State University\n*Oglala Lakota College\n*Presentation College\n*Sinte Gleska University\n*South Dakota School of Mines and Technology\n*South Dakota State University\n*University of Sioux Falls\n*University of South Dakota
\nTrivia
\nA bill for statehood for North and South Dakota (and Montana, and Washington)\nwas passed on February 22 1889 during the Administration of Grover Cleveland.\nIt was left to his successor Benjamin Harrison to\nsign proclamations formally admitting North and South\nDakota to the Union on November 2 1889. However, the rivalry\nbetween the northern and southern territories\npresented a dilemma: only one, upon the President's\nsignature on the proclamation, could gain the distinction\nof being admitted before the other. So Harrison directed\nhis Secretary of State James Blaine to shuffle\nthe papers and obscure from him which he was signing\nfirst, and the priority went unrecorded.
South Dakota license plates are numbered by county, with the first digit referring to the county of origin. Such a numbering system allows one to easily determine where the vehicle was registered. Counties 1-10 are ranked, roughly, by population. 11-67 are numbered alphabetically.
South Dakota is the only state in the United States that does not offer a state-sponsored college tuition program.
Harney Peak, in the Black Hills, is the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and the French Alps. More than 70,000 people hike to its 7,242 foot summit each year.
The deepest mine in the United States, the Homestake gold mine (now defunct), is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, near the town of Lead. Its shaft plunges more than 8,000 feet beneath the surface. There is also pending legislation that would give the mine to the National Science Foundation for use as an underground research laboratory.
South Dakota is home to the largest indoor, naturally heated, swimming pool in the world. Evans Plunge, heated from natural mineral springs, is in Hot Springs.
The largest and most complete fossil of Tyrannosaurus rex ever found was uncovered near the city of Faith, in 1990. Named "Sue," the remains are over 90 percent complete.
External links
\n*The Official Home Page of South Dakota
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