History of South Dakota

    The South Dakota area was first explored in 1743, by Louis-Joseph and Francois Verendrye. They were both from France for a route to the Pacific Ocean. The United States got this state as an addition of the Louisiana Purchase, which was in 1803. Those two men who explored this area were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, famously known as Lewis and Clark. They explored the whole Louisiana Purchase Territory from the years 1804-1806, which is two years.

    The first permanent settlement was Fort Pierre, which was built in 1817. In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, but the year before that, in 1873, a railroad track was built so settlements could be made in South Dakota, and you could get from place to place.

    The Black Hills are one of the highest mountains, just east of the rockies. Mt. Rushmore is a very famous landmark here, with four presidents' faces on it. Those faces are the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Mt. Rushmore was carved into granite by Gutzon Borglum. 90% of this memorial was carved using dynamite, which was dangerous and very exciting for the workers. Visitors would ask if they could get some of the rock used, but the workers said no because he had to hold it for a buddy. The visitors would offer $2 but the worker would say no, so the visitor would pay $6 for a small piece of granite. What the vistors didn't realize was that they wanted to get rid of the rock, but they wanted the money. One piece was sold, and another was brought down one after another.

    The Badlands is a very beautiful tourist attraction. The colors you see in the sand can be normal, red, yellow and much more, and sometimes you might even see a cactus! The city of Deadwood has a very famous cemetary named "Mt. Moriah", and it is famous because Wild Bill Hickok was killed gambling, and brought to that cemetary in the year of 1876. He was killed by Jack McCall. This was also when gambling became legal, which was a very big deal. Martha Jane Cannary Burke, well known as Calamity Jane, got to know Wild Bill very well. The day he was murdered, he was gambling, and Calamity

Jane claimed to be married to him. We now know that on September 25th of 1873, at Benson's Landing in the Montana Territory, they did get married. After Wild Bill died, Calamity Jane went after Jack McCall with a meat cleaver (also known as a meat knife). She never caught him, but he was hung for killing Wild Bill. Calamity Jane died at the age of 51 on the date of August 1st, 1903.

References:   https://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108270.html   www.wikipedia.com