THE GREAT PLAINS AND PRAIRIES, Chapter 12

Nearly all of South Dakota lies within the Great Plains and Prairies region. The state offers an assortment of landforms, many of which are within the borders of National and State Parks and Forests. These, along with monuments, memorials, and other sites of interest, are listed below:

Badlands National Park - "Where the prairies have eroded into an eerie jumble of rock formations holding fossils of creatures dating back millions of years, to the beginnings of the age of mammals." (Ken Burns) Many people describe the Badlands as a "moonscape," including steep ridges, canyons, and spires. Wildlife in Badlands National Park includes prairie dogs, bison, mule deer, and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

Badlands National Park

Mammoth Site - Located in Hot Springs, South Dakota, this is the largest concentration of mammoth bones found in the Western Hemisphere.

Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, South Dakota

Jewel Cave National Monument - Located near Custer, South Dakota. Jewel Cave, with more than 133 miles of passageways, is the third-longest cave system in the world.

Jewel Cave National Monument

Wind Cave National Park - Located near Custer, South Dakota. Wind Cave National Park is really two parks, one below ground and one above. There are more than forty-four miles of underground passages in the park. Wind Cave is named for the strong wind currents that blow in and out of the cave entrance.

Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park

Crazy Horse Memorial - Located near Custer, South Dakota. The Memorial is an enormous sculpture of the great Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. It is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain, a granite mountain similar to Mount Rushmore. Work began on the Crazy Horse Memorial in 1948 and continued until the sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, died in 1982. When complete, the head of Crazy Horse will be 87 feet high, as compared to the Presidents' heads on Mount Rushmore, which are 60 feet high. If finished, it will be the largest sculpture in the world.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Custer State Park - Located near Hot Springs, South Dakota. Named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, this park was South Dakota's first state park, and is its largest, covering an area of over 71,000 acres. It is home to many wild animals, and is most famous for its herd of 1500 free roaming buffalo. Other wildlife in the park are elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, and feral burros.

Buffalo grazing, Custer State Park, South Dakota

Custer State Park, South Dakota

Mount Rushmore National Memorial - Located near Keystone, South Dakota. Mount Rushmore is a giant granite sculpture of four American Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The Presidential Memorial represents the first 150 years of America's history. Each of the Presidents' heads is 60 feet high, and approximately two million people visit Mount Rushmore each year.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Wounded Knee Historical Site - Located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. This monument marks the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, where on December 29, 1890, 84 Sioux men, 44 women, and 18 children were shot by the U.S. 7th Cavalry and buried in a mass grave.

The U.S. Army had orders to escort the Sioux to the railroad for relocation to Omaha,Nebraska. On December 28th, the Sioux had been cornered by the U.S. troops and agreed to turn themselves in at the Pine Ridge Agency. The 7th Cavalry met them there to disarm them. There was confusion during the disarming process, and a scuffle over one deaf Sioux's rifle escalated into all-out bloodshed, with the 7th Cavalry opening fire indiscriminately from every side, killing mostly unarmed men, women, and children. Twenty-five troopers died as well, some believed to have been the "victims of friendly fire, as the shooting took place at point-blank range in chaotic conditions."

Memorial Commemorating Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890,

Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

Wounded Knee Historical Site

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