50 state - South Dakota

South Dakota . . .

South Dakota's flag was adopted in 1963. The flag is sky blue with state seal in the center which is surrounded by yellow rays are the words, "South Dakota" and "The Mount Rushmore State". South Dakota's state seal pictures a farmer plowing a field, a river, forests, mountains, a steamboat, and the motto, "Under God the People Rule."

South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889 as the 40th state. South Dakota is a great plains state which is bordered on the north by North Dakota, the east by Minnesota and Iowa, on the south by Nebraska, and on the west by Wyoming and Montana. South Dakota is mainly a rural state and the capital city, Pierre is one of the smallest state capitals.

South Dakota’s terrain is some of the earliest geologic history of the continent that we see in the rock formations. This terrain is characterized by high buttes, rough canyons, and wide expanses of nearly level tablelands which we know as the Badlands, which rich depository of fossilized prehistoric animals.

The climate is known for having very extreme temperatures, low precipitation and low humidity. In the winter blizzards and deep snow sweep across the state and lows could be in the negative numbers. The summer brings hot sunny days with temperatures in the mid 90’s to low 100’s.

South Dakota is known for its livestock and is one of the leading cattle producers in the United States. It also ranks near the top in wool production. Gold is South Dakota’s most important mineral and a town called Lead is the country’s leading gold mining center. Tourism is a major source of income and millions of people come to visit Mount Rushmore and other attraction areas such as the Black Hills area.

Economy:
Agriculture: Cattle, hogs, wheat, soybeans, milk, corn.
Industry: Food processing, machinery, lumber and wood products, tourism.

South Dakota has 67 counties:
Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Butte Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Custer Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Fall River Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Harding Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jackson Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lawrence Lincoln Lyman McCook McPherson Marshall Meade Mellette Miner Minnehaha Moody Pennington Perkins Potter Roberts Sanborn Shannon Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Union Walworth Yankton Ziebach