South Dakota

a north central state of the American Union. It lies approximately between the forty-third and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude and the ninety-seventh and one hundred fourth degrees of west longitude. A portion of the northeastern boundary is formed by Lakes Traverse and Big Stone. The portion of the rectangle lost at this point is more than counterbalanced by the projection of a peninsula at the southeast, between the Big Sioux and the Missouri. Area, 76,620 square miles, considerably greater than that of New England. With the exception of a small tract tributary to the Red River and the Minnesota, the entire state lies in the basin of the Missouri. The greatest altitude is found in the Black Hills, where Harney's Peak reaches a height of 8,700 feet. The lowest part of the state is the shore of Big Stone Lake, 967 feet above sea level. The winding valley of the Missouri starting from the north, cuts the map of the state into two nearly equal areas. The chief tributary on the east is the James. The chief western tributaries are the Grand, Moreau, Cheyenne, and White. The Black Hills, in the extreme southwest, is an elevated region of quartz, granite, and sedimentary rocks, rounded and eroded by the elements into huge domes, ridges, and gulches. Deadwood, Lead, and other towns in this locality are practically mining camps. Crushers, smelters, and reducing works on a large scale are in evidence in many localities. There are valuable ores of gold, silver, lead, and tin. The Homestake mine is famous for productivity. In the combined production of gold and silver, South Dakota claims fourth place in the Union. The Black Hills district has produced $140,000,000 worth of gold alone.

THE BAD LANDS. The Bad Lands, an area of 2,000 square miles of weird scenery, lie west of the Missouri. The most characteristic region is that between the White and the Cheyenne. There deep valleys have been eroded in a white clay, leaving steep clay cliffs, sometimes 300 feet high. Sometimes pillars of clay capped with layers of sandstone, stand like the chimneys of a city. The buttes and ravines, adorned with fantastic buttresses and pinnacles, form a confused labyrinth, through which only those familiar with the grassy bottoms and dry, gravelly waterways can hope to find their way. A great number of interesting fossils-skeletons of extinct animals-have been found in the cliffs. The region is much frequented by scientists from Eastern colleges.

PRODUCTS. The Black Hills are clothed with western pine and other evergreens, and there are areas of hardwood along the Missouri, but the lumber output of the state is not important. Apples, plums, and small fruits do well in the Black Hills and in the southeastern part of the state. The eastern third of the state is one of the great agricultural regions of the world. The mines of the southwest yield about $10,000,000 a year, but the farmers and stockraisers produce (1909) about $190,000,000 a year. Named in order of money value, the chief agricultural productions are live stock, wheat, corn, hay, oats, dairy products, barley, poultry and eggs, potatoes and other vegetables, flax, wool, and rye. Secretary Doane Robinson estimated that the value of all products of the soil and mines for 1909 was $381.80 for every man, woman, and child in the state.

CLIMATE. The annual rainfall decreases regularly from east to west. At the Minnesota border from twenty to forty inches may be expected. The western border receives about one-third as much. The winters are like those of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. In the western part of the state cattle make their own living on the dried bunch grass. In a broken region, when the snow is sure to be swept from at least a part of the surface by winds, there is little danger of stock perishing.

HISTORICAL. When first known to white men, the country was occupied by the Dakota Indians. The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed up the Missouri in 1804. In 1832 George Catlin, the painter and student of Indian customs, accompanied a steamboat of the American Fur Company on a trip up the Missouri. Six years later John C. Fremont explored the eastern part of the state. The earliest settlers were fur traders. The earliest settlements were fur-buying camps established from St. Louis as a center. The buffalo disappeared about 1856-60. The earliest permanent farming settlement was made at Sioux Falls in 1856-7. The first railroad was built from Sioux City, Iowa, to Yankton, in 1872-3. The first purchases of land were made from the Sioux in 1851. The territory of Dakota was organized in 1861. South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington were admitted to the Union by an omibus act in 1889. The dividing line between the two Dakotas runs a township south of the forty-sixth meridian. The population in 1900 was 401,570, including 20,000 Indians on reservations. In 1905 the population was estimated at 455,000.

EDUCATION, ETC. The state has made liberal provision for education. A system of common schools is supplemented by high schools in all the larger towns. The state university is at Vermilion; the agricultural school at Brookings; the school of mines, at Rapid City; and the normal schools are at Madison, Aberdeen, Springfield, and Spearfish. There are also several denominational colleges. Named in order of adherents, the leading religious denominations of the state are the Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Episcopalians. Named in order of population, the leading cities and towns are Sioux Falls, Lead, Aberdeen, Deadwood, Yankton, Watertown, Huron, and Brookings.

Pierre on the Missouri is the capital. In the vicinity of Pierre and elsewhere there are extensive remains of mound builders or some other pre-historic race. The outlines of an extensive fort may yet be traced. The height and strength of the walls and their adaptability to stand a siege, as well as specimens of pottery and well tempered copper implements, indicate a degree of industry and of intelligence and skill not possessed by the Dakotas.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See Buffalo; Missouri; Gold