Spotlight on South Dakota

Mount Rushmore is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota. Mt. Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four U.S. Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The faces were sculpted between 1934 and 1939. Mt. Rushmore attracts more than 2 million people annually.

Badlands National Park is a national park in southwestern South Dakota that protects 242,756 acres of chiseled spires, deep canyons and prairie grassland in the state. The name comes from the difficult travels over the rough terrain said to be ‘bad land.’ The geologic deposits here contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Today, bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs and black footed ferrets live here.

The Wall Drug Store is a tourist attraction located in the city of Wall, South Dakota. It is a shopping mall consisting of a drug store, gift shop, restaurants and other stores. Unlike a traditional shopping mall, all the stores at Wall Drug operate under a single entity rather than individually run stores. The mall takes in over $10 million a year and brings in over 2 million visitors annually.

Deadwood is a city in South Dakota that is named after the dead trees found in its valley. Deadwood became a popular destination during the Black Hills Gold rush in the mid to late 1870s when prospectors discovered gold. The town's population quickly swelled as folks came seeking their fortune. Today, Deadwood maintians its historic roots, and instead of gold, folks come to get a taste of life in the Wild West.

Crazy Horse Memorial, the world’s largest mountain sculpture now in progress, is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The nine-story-high face of Crazy Horse, a visionary leader committed to preserving the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life, was completed in 1998 when work shifted to the 22-story-high massive horse’s head. The work was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski at the request of Native Americans. Korczak determined that the memorial would be more than just a sculpture…it would be a humanitarian project telling present and future generations the story of Native American peoples by collecting and preserving outstanding examples of Indian culture and heritage. Visitors to the memorial can view the progress of the sculpture as well as tour an Indian museum, cultural center, the sculptor’s studio and orientation center. Although Korczak died in 1982, his wife, Ruth, and their family continue the project working with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.

See the Devils Tower, and explore the trails that surround this jaw-dropping geological formation.