South Dakota: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

South Dakota

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State nickname: The Mount Rushmore State
Other U.S. States
Capital	Pierre
Largest City	Sioux Falls
Governor	Mike Rounds
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water  - % water	Ranked 17th 199,905 km² 196,735 km² 3,173 km² 1.6%
Population  - Total (2000)  - Density	Ranked 46th 754,844 3.8/km²
Admittance into Union  - Order  - Date	40th November 2, 1889
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5 Mountain: UTC-7/-6 Eastern SD in Central, Western SD in Mountain
Latitude Longitude	42°29'30"N to 45°56'N 98°28'33"W to 104°3'W
Width Length Elevation   -Highest   -Mean   -Lowest	340 km 610 km   2,207 meters 670 meters 294 meters
ISO 3166-2:	US-SD

South Dakota is a state in the high plains of the northern Middle West. It is named after the Lakota (Sioux) American Indian tribe. South 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.

The state is divided into 66 counties; see: List of South Dakota counties.

Official state objects

Bird: Ring-necked Pheasant

Flower: Pasque flower

Tree: Black Hills Spruce

Nicknames: Mount Rushmore State

Slogan: "Great Faces. Great Places."

Mineral: Rose quartz

Insect: Honey bee - Apis Mellifera L.

Animal: Coyote

Soil: Houdek

Fish: Walleye

Gemstone: Fairburn agate

Dessert: Kuchen

Drink: Milk

Grass: Western wheat

• Aberdeen
• Deadwood
• Lead
• Madison
• Pierre - State Capital
• Rapid City
• Sioux Falls
• Sturgis
• Watertown
• Yankton

See List of South Dakota counties, Governors of South Dakota

• Black Hills
• Coteau des Prairies
• Mount Rushmore
• Missouri River
• James River
• Corn Palace
• Wall Drug Store

See: List of South Dakota rivers

• Augustana College
• Black Hills State University
• Dakota State University
• Dakota Wesleyan University
• Huron University
• Mount Marty College
• National American University
• Northern State University
• Oglala Lakota College
• Presentation College
• Sinte Gleska University
• South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
• South Dakota State University
• University of Sioux Falls
• University of South Dakota

A bill for statehood for North and South Dakota (and Montana, and Washington) was passed on February 22 1889 during the Administration of Grover Cleveland. It was left to his successor Benjamin Harrison to sign proclamations formally admitting North and South Dakota to the Union on November 2 1889. However, the rivalry between the northern and southern territories presented a dilemma: only one, upon the President's signature on the proclamation, could gain the distinction of being admitted before the other. So Harrison directed his Secretary of State James Blaine to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first, 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.

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