20 interesting facts about South Dakota
- South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America.
- Centrally located Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls is the state's largest city.
- Total Area: 17th among states, 199,742 sq km (77,121 sq mi).
- It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes.
- A gigantic sculpture of Crazy Horse, the famous Sioux chief, is being carved in the Black Hills. The project, begun in 1947, remains uncompleted.
- As of 2009, South Dakota had an estimated population of 812,383.
- More than 90 percent of South Dakota's land area was classified as farmland in the mid-1990s.
- South Dakota is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing the state into two socioeconomically distinct halves, known to residents as "West River" and "East River".
- The Badlands of South Dakota, a region of barren ravines and cliffs, were created by volcanic action as well as by wind and water erosion.
- The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains, is located in the southwest part of the state. The area is of great religious importance to local American Indian tribes.
- Evan’s Plunge, the world’s largest natural indoor warm-water pool, is located in Hot Springs.
- Mount Rushmore is a major state tourist destination in the Black Hills.
- The geographic center of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, is located in South Dakota, 17 miles west of Castle Rock.
- South Dakota is situated in the north-central United States, and is considered to be a part of the Midwest by the U.S. Census Bureau, although the Great Plains region also covers the state.
- The largest buffalo herd in the U.S. lives at the Standing Butte Ranch near Pierre.
- Harney Peak, with an elevation of 7,242 ft (2,207 m), is the state's highest point, while the shoreline of Big Stone Lake is the lowest, with an elevation of 966 ft (294 m).
- The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs has 100 Columbian and Woolly Mammoth fossils buried there.
- 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.
- Some of the logs in Petrified Wood Park in Lemmon weigh more than 10,000 pounds. Others contain the fossilized remains of snakes and early marine life.
- The Missouri River is the largest and longest river in the state.
