South Dakota Tourism Division, Capital Lake Plaza, 711 E Wells Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota 57501-3369; 605-773-3301; 800-732-5682
Fax: 773-3256. Email: sdinfo@state.sd.us.
Web: http://www.travelsd.com.
State Animal: coyote
State Bird: Chinese ring-necked pheasant
State Bread: fried bread
State Dessert: kuchen
State Drink: milk
State Fish: walleye
State Fishing Museum: Museum of Wildlife,
Science, and Industry of Webster, South Dakota
State Flower: American pasque flower
State Fossil: triceratops
State Gemstone: Fairburn agate
State Grass: Western wheat grass
State Greeting: How Kola!
State Insect: honeybee
State Jewelry: Black Hills gold
State Mineral: rose quartz
State Motto: Under God the people rule.
State Musical Instrument: fiddle
State Nickname: Mount Rushmore State and Coyote State
State Quarter:
State Seal:
State Slogan: Great Faces. Great Places.
State Soil: houdek
State Song: Hail, South Dakota
State Sport: rodeo
State Tree: Black Hills spruce
State Capitals
Yankton, South Dakota — Yankton, South
Dakota. Territorial capital from 1861 to 1883.
Pierre, South Dakota — South Dakota State Capitol, Pierre, South Dakota. Web:
http://www.state.sd.us. Current state capital.
State Songs
Hail, South Dakota.
State Specials
Lead is home to The Homestake Mine, the largest gold mine in the United
States. It opened in 1876, making it the oldest continually operating gold mine
in the world. It produces about 15% of the nation’s gold and still has huge
reserves.
Evan’s Plunge, the world’s largest natural indoor warm-water pool, is located in Hot Springs.
The largest buffalo herd in the U.S. lives at the Standing Butte Ranch near Pierre.
Fossilized remains of life 50 million years ago have been arranged in unusual
forms, which is Lemmon's mark of distinction at the world's largest petrified wood park.
Belle Fourche is the geographical center of the United States of America,
designated in 1959 and noted by an official marker and sheepherder's monument
called a Stone Johnnie.
The largest underground gold mine is the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota.
Clark is the Potato Capital of South Dakota. Clark is home to the world
famous Mashed Potato Wrestling contest.
With more than 82 miles of mapped passages, Wind Cave contains the world’s
largest display of a rare formation called boxwork.
The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs contains the largest concentration of
Columbian and woolly mammoth bones discovered in their primary context in the
world! This National Natural Landmark is the only in-situ (bones left as found)
display of fossil mammoths in America.
Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil
beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old.
In 1898, the first commercial timber sale on Federal forested land in the
United States was authorized in the area of Jim and Estes Creeks (near the town of Nemo).
