SOUTH DAKOTA

South Dakota is a land unlike any other you will ever visit. It is split down the middle by the Missouri River with gentle rolling prairie hills to the east, and the some of the starkest most twisted landscape you will ever see to the west. The area of western South Dakota is aptly named the badlands. You will find places of stark, flat-topped buttes, and twisted coulees and canyons. This was once the home of huge herds of buffalo. Its earliest residence were Ice Age Hunters, but the warming of the temperatures caused them to leave and we then see the Arikara Indian Tribes. The Arikara were a farming culture that lived along the Missouri River. They built villages of elaborate earthen lodges. Also living here were the mighty Cheyenne, a nation of hunters, who lived in the western regions. The Sioux migrated in from Minnesota in the 7900s at a time when the Great Plains Indian culture was at its peak. The introduction of horses by the Spanish in the 16th century gave the tribes the ability to hunt more widely for bison and created a highly mobile lifestyle that followed the massive herds.

In 1743, the La Vérendrye brothers were the first white men to enter the Missouri River valley as they sought a route to the Pacific. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark also passed through that region in 1804 and were the first Americans to enter that region.

South Dakota was included as a portion of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The entry of settlers into the territories brought a bloody response from the Sioux, who deemed these lands sacred and declared them off-limits to whites, but in 1874, under the leadership of Lt. col. George Armstrong Cuter, the treaty was officially broken with hi discovery of gold there. It set off a stampede of prospectors and boomtowns sprang up overnight, bearing colorful names such as Deadwood and Lead. The Homestake Mine at Lead which opened in 1876 is still operational and shows no sign of quitting.

The Sioux and Northern Cheyenne responded to the invasion of the settlers and the breaking of the treaty with one last uprising, led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and several others. It was one of the few times the great Sioux nation ever fought together as a unit. The battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana ended General Custer's life and somewhat questionable career, but eventually the Sioux were forced onto reservations. One particular of Custer's battles lives on as one of infamy--The Battle of Wounded Knee in which the soldiers under his command led an unwarranted attack on a village of women and children and elderly tribesmen. As a point of interest, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the participants in the Wounded Knee and Bighorn battles. My grandfather and I met Chief Iron Hail Dewey Beard in South Dakota when I was in fifth grade. Chief Beard was in his 90s and living on site in his teepee with his daughter and granddaughter. Because he was not eligible for social security or other pensions, he made his living allowing tourists to take his photograph. My grandfather was an avid western historian and so began talking with Chief Beard. Chief Beard was pleased with our interest and invited us into his teepee and told us of his experiences, which were many. He lost his first wife and child in the slaughter at Wounded Knee and was one of those who personally saw to it that General Custer did not live to do this ever again. He was a man of great dignity and carried the wisdom of many years. I never forgot that experience. A few years later, there was a big article on him in the Omaha World Herald Newspaper and I carried that article for years because I was so honored to have made his acquaintance.

South Dakota was apportioned to several other territories before finally becoming a place in and of itself. Until 1820, they were part of the Missouri Territory. From time to time, the eastern half was joined into the Territories of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. The Western half of the territory belonged to the Nebraska Territory. In 1861, it finally was established as a territory and later divided into two separate territories, North and South Dakota.

Because of the rich soil which is between the Big Sioux and the Missouri Rivers, many farmers were attracted to the area. Several settlements were established along the Missouri River. After the first Homestead Act was passed in 1863, settlers pour into the area. The primary ethnic group in South Dakota is the Norwegians. You will also find numerous people from Germany, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, England, Austria, Irish, Finland, Poland, Greece and Italy.

South Dakota was officially a territory in 1861 and became the 40th state on 2 November 1889. As a matter of significant historic interest, in 1897 the Supreme Court ordered the United States government to pay the Sioux tribes $105 million for the 1887 forced surrender of the Black Hills. The Tribes refused the money. They wanted back their land.

SOUTH DAKOTA RESEARCH LINKS