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Click here for more information on the badlands! Rapid City is the most common gateway to the Black Hills. Visit the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. It has terrific exhibits that feature rocks, minerals, and fossils of giant reptiles (both aquatic and terrestrial) from around the area. Other points of interest include the South Dakota Air and Space Museum and the Horseless Carriage Museum, which showcases vintage automobiles and other artifacts from the past years. Located in the
southwestern part of the state you will find Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.
This is one of the most famous landmarks in the United States.
The likenesses of four U.S. presidents have been carved into a
5,725-foot mountain. The faces of
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt can be seen in three
different ways: from the ground, face to face via a helicopter, and at night. You
can now visit a museum which details how the monument came into existence.
The celebration of Mt. Rushmore’s 50th anniversary in 1991
helped kick off a fund-raising campaign to preserve the monument and improve the
facilities. After viewing this
spectacle, travel a short 17 miles southwest to visit the next work in progress,
the Crazy Horse Memorial. This is a
tribute to the Native American leader who led the defeat of General Custer at
the Battle of Little Big Horn. This monument was started in 1949 and is
projected to be completed at the end of the decade.
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South
Dakota
If you go to the
Badlands National Park early in the morning or late in the afternoon the
geological formations are especially striking.
Try panning for
gold at one of the ventures in the Black Hills.