South Dakota

Hang out with the most fascinating characters in South Dakota history, a state where profiles get set in stone. Accompany fossil hunters through the Badlands and retreat with Calvin Coolidge to the Black Hills. Wild Bill talks shop in Deadwood, W.L. Dow gives shape to Sioux Falls and a cowboy governor finds a way through the Dust Bowl. Pick up a South Dakota history book to saunter through a passenger car packed with unforgettable personalities.
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Spearfish National Fish Hatchery
Spearfish National Fish Hatchery
$24.99
WNAX 570 Radio
WNAX 570 Radio
$24.99
Jewel Cave National Monument
Jewel Cave National Monument
$24.99
Spink County
Spink County
$24.99
Remembering Rapid City
Remembering Rapid City
$24.99
Pierre and Fort Pierre
Pierre and Fort Pierre
$24.99
Jewish Pioneers of the Black Hills Gold Rush
Jewish Pioneers of the Black Hills Gold Rush
$24.99
Belle Fourche
Belle Fourche
$24.99
Ziebach County
Ziebach County
$24.99
Black Hills Passion Play
Black Hills Passion Play
$24.99

Spearfish National Fish Hatchery

9781467110082

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In 1892, US Fish Commission scientist Barton Warren Evermann was on assignment to South Dakota from Washington, DC. His charge: survey fisheries and locate a site for a federal hatchery. The foray took him to the Black Hills and springs of Ames Canyon that poured into Spearfish Creek. The site was ideal. By 1899, Spearfish National Fish Hatchery started raising trout for the Black Hills and points beyond, and its effects on fishing were profound. In time, the mission changed, and so did the hatchery's name. Today's D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives--named to honor the hatchery's first superintendent--is a treasure trove of information related to fisheries conservation. The facility's historic and commanding hatchery building is iconic in the community and a one-of-a-kind museum.
Spearfish National Fish Hatchery

WNAX 570 Radio

9780738540191

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Life on the northern plains was lonely in the early 20th century. Farmers and ranchers went for weeks without hearing any voices other than those of their families. Then, in 1922, Al Madson, proprietor of a Yankton radio parts shop, made a radio transmitter. He formed a broadcasting company, and on November 25, 1922, WNAX broadcast its first program. People of the northern plains now had a daily "visitor." Gurney Seed and Nursery Company owned the station for its first 16 years, adding distinctive innovations to its programming. In its constant commitment to agriculture, the station has influenced the history of the five-state area it covers. Lawrence Welk got his start there. Wynn Speece, known as the Neighbor Lady, still broadcasts daily after starting at WNAX in 1941.
WNAX 570 Radio

Jewel Cave National Monument

9780738561981

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Buried under layers of limestone and sandstone hundreds of feet thick, Jewel Cave is more ancient than South Dakota's Black Hills, which adorn the landscape above. The cave lay undiscovered until 1900, when two brothers, miners and part-time cowboys, felt a strong wind coming from a small hole in the ground at the base of a cliff. When they enlarged the opening, they found passages filled with the glittering calcite crystals that give the cave its name. Although its discoverers marveled at the cave's natural beauty, few believed the find to be significant. Even after Pres. Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Jewel Cave a national monument in 1908, the government was unwilling to fund development. Americans then took up motoring, roads improved, and tourists flocked to the once remote Black Hills. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps created facilities to accommodate the influx. Yet it was not until an adventurous couple from the East received permission to explore and map the cave that its true importance was realized. They and fellow cavers who accompanied them or followed in their footsteps discovered a massive multilayered labyrinth. Jewel Cave now is the second-longest cave in the world, and the exploration continues.
Jewel Cave National Monument

Spink County

9780738593524

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The area that now encompasses Spink County was virgin prairie grassland 140 years ago, inhabited by Native American Sioux who survived by hunting the millions of roaming buffalo. The land was surveyed a few years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 in accordance with the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Homestead Act of 1862. Within 25 years, the land was completely covered with farms, ranches, and towns and connected to the rest of the United States by a grid of railroads. Thanks to the then new science of photography, the amazing transformation of vast, treeless, sparsely populated prairie into a completely settled agricultural community is recorded here in wonderful and fascinating detail. Spink County is the pictorial record of an amazing historical movement.
Spink County

Remembering Rapid City

9780738520094

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Rapid City-"The Summer Playground of America"-was founded in 1876 by gold seekers, fueled by a rush to the Black Hills following the Custer Expedition of 1874. Merchants supplying the miners and military units patrolling the region were the ones who ultimately prospered, however. When the railroad arrived a decade later, cattlemen replaced the prospectors, and Rapid City remained a hub of activity. By the end of World War I, the popularity of the automobile and newly constructed roads helped to shape area tourism. Mount Rushmore, 23 miles distant, was under construction in 1927, and the new Alex Johnson Hotel was completed in 1928. Together, they were natural draws to complement the pine-scented beauty surrounding Rapid City, making it the center of Western hospitality. On June 9, 1972, a flood roared through the heart of the community, taking 238 lives. By the end of the decade, many new civic improvements began to change the face of Rapid City again. With this growth, Rapid City retains its early charm as the "gate city" of the Black Hills.
Remembering Rapid City

Pierre and Fort Pierre

9780738539690

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From prairie to river's edge, the Pierre and Fort Pierre area resounds with historical adventure. Visited in 1743 by French explorers-the Verendrye brothers-and by Lewis and Clark in 1804, Fort Pierre was established as a significant fur trading post in 1817 and served briefly as a military fort in 1855. The decaying port settlement was revived during the Black Hills gold rush of 1875, outfitting bull trains. For over a decade, it bustled with freighting activity and stagecoach travel on the Fort Pierre-Deadwood gold trail. When the Chicago, Northwestern Railroad reached the Missouri River in 1880, Fort Pierre's sister city, Pierre, emerged as an important river town. During the days of the open range, Fort Pierre served as a holding place for the millions of cattle to be ferried across the Missouri to the trains at Pierre. In 1889, Pierre was named capital of the state and became the political heart of South Dakota. When nearby reservations opened for settlement, the cattle range began to fill with settlers, changing the scene once again. In these pages, a pictorial history unfolds, the drama of men and women who lived out their dreams near the Missouri.
Pierre and Fort Pierre

Jewish Pioneers of the Black Hills Gold Rush

9780738577814

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The very name Deadwood conjures up vivid Wild West images: saloons with swinging doors, brazen dance-hall girls, buckskin-clad Calamity Jane roaming the streets with her erstwhile paramour, Wild Bill Hickok. The setting is the lawless Dakota Territory of 1876 at the start of the Black Hills gold rush, a stampede for the golden pay dirt. One would hardly expect to find a Jewish pioneer grocer named Jacob Goldberg in this scene, yet Deadwood's story is incomplete without Goldberg. And Goldberg's story is incomplete without either Calamity Jane or Wild Bill. Not just Goldberg, but Finkelstein (also known as Franklin), Stern (also known as Star), Jacobs, Schwarzwald, Colman, Hattenbach, and many other Jews joined the throngs. The Jews provided much more than overalls, chamberpots, and the chambers in which to put them. They also became the mayors, legislators, and civic leaders who helped bring sense and stability to this unruly expanse.
Jewish Pioneers of the Black Hills Gold Rush

Belle Fourche

9780738561523

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Belle Fourche is located on the northern edge of the Black Hills in western South Dakota. It is a small town that serves as a hub for ranchers over a three-state area. Belle Fourche was founded in the late 1800s by Seth Bullock, famous from his days as sheriff in Deadwood. Bullock offered free right-of-way to the railroad when nearby Minnesela was demanding too much money. Early Belle Fourche was very much a cowboy town, even becoming the largest shipping point for cattle. Today Belle Fourche sits at the intersection of three major highways and, since 1959, is the geographic center of the nation.
Belle Fourche

Ziebach County

9780738577838

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South Dakota's north-central Ziebach County, established in 1911, is named for Frank M. Ziebach. The majority of the county lies within the boundaries of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation; small areas also lie within the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. As the railroad penetrated the area, small towns sprang up. Dupree, the largest town in Ziebach County, was selected as the county seat. Founded in 1910, the town of Dupree celebrates its 100-year centennial with the publication of this history. The Ziebach County Historical Society is dedicated to preserving the history of the area's people, places, and events. A collection of nearly 200 photographs provides a glimpse into the past, along with modern development. Ziebach communities included Armstrong, Bridger, Chase, Cherry Creek, Dupree, Glad Valley, Iron Lightning, Redelm, Red Scaffold, Takini, and Thunder Butte.
Ziebach County

Black Hills Passion Play

9780738552354

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In 1932, Josef Meier, a native of Luenen, Germany, brought a small company of actors to the United States to tour with a passion play. It was performed in German, destined for a limited engagement in German theaters, churches, and German-speaking communities. Political and economic conditions in Germany were already deteriorating during this time, and Meier determined to remain in America, to found a permanent home for the play. He translated the play into English, hiring American actors to replace the German-speaking cast. As he booked tours across the United States, Meier continued to seek a suitable permanent outdoor location for his production, mentioning his quest to the public in interviews across the nation. En route to the West Coast, Meier presented the Passion Play in Sioux Falls, the only town of size within South Dakota at that time. A group of businessmen from the Black Hills attended and asked Meier to examine possible sites in their area. He chose a spectacular natural location in Spearfish, and in 1939, an amphitheater was constructed and became the home of the renamed Black Hills Passion Play of America.
Black Hills Passion Play