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Dr. Agenbroad, the Principal Investigator and Site Director, of the Mammoth Site announced that Earthwatch volunteers uncovered the 119th tusk at The Mammoth Site today, this discovery makes the first tusk of the 60th mammoth. Fifty-seven are Columbian mammoths and three are woolly.

The South Dakota Tractor Museum in Kimball displays historic tractors and farm machinery to visitors. Because of the museum’s unique and diverse collection of items, it is one of South Dakota’s Great Places.

There is an interesting building, nestled into the Black Hills near Rapid City, that is unlike any other place in this area of South Dakota. Chapel in the Hills is one of South Dakota

Gutzon Borglum (John Gutzon Borglum) is most notably known in South Dakota as the man who directed the carving of Mount Rushmore National Memorial. While making his mark both on South Dakota history and the visitor industry, he was known for other artistic works as well.

The Nobles trail was the first federally-funded highway in South Dakota.

PIERRE, S.D.- Mentor Graham, who once lived in Blunt, S.D., is regarded as the greatest influence on President Abraham Lincoln during Lincoln’s school years in Salem, Ill.

Founded as the town at the end of the railroad, Faith was originally the hub of a South Dakota homestead boom from 1910-1920.

Fort Pierre, the oldest continuous white settlement in South Dakota, was named after American fur trader Pierre Choteau Jr. of St. Louis, Mo.

The Oahe Dam project was commissioned in 1944, and upon completion was the largest rolled-earth dam in the world. The reservoir is more than 200 miles in length and has in excess of 2,000 miles of shoreline.

During the Cold War era, South Dakota harbored 150 missile silos on its expansive western prairie. The destructive nuclear force acted as a deterrent to keep the peace for several decades.

Harvey Dunn was a famous American painter of western life, war scenes and portraits. The South Dakota native first studied art at State College in Brookings, S.D., before studying at the Art Institute in Chicago.

Beginning in 1882, Yankton College became the first accredited college in the Dakota Territory. Classes were originally held in the Congregational Church, but were later moved to a small three-room building until the Middle Building was erected in 1883.

Crazy Horse Memorial will celebrate Native American Day with its 20th annual celebration on Monday, Oct. 12, starting at 10:00 a.m. MDT. Traditional hoop dancers, Native American artists, an educational program, a blast on the mountain and more will all be a part of the event.

In the 1930’s, the Stratosphere Bowl was selected as a launching location for two helium-filled balloons. The first balloon launch, known as Explorer I, was in 1934. The second and more successful launch with Explorer II occurred in 1935.

In the 1800’s, sod houses were the primary structure for homes on the Dakota prairie. The Dakota Territory began to offer free land to settlers who built dwellings and occupied the land for five years.

The vision for Mount Rushmore National Memorial started with Doane Robinson, a South Dakota state historian, as a way to increase tourism to South Dakota.

In 1885, the Dakota Territory was graced with the stately Mellette House. Arthur Calvin Mellette and his wife Margaret constructed the house for themselves and their four boys.

In 1989, Deadwood launched a long-shot experiment to see if legalized gambling could save the town's economy and preserve its heritage.

In 1804, at the time of Struck by the Ree’s birth, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were having council near his tribe’s encampment along the Missouri River.

The USS South Dakota Reunion will be held July 2-4, 2009 in Sioux Falls at the USS South Dakota Battleship Memorial.

The first territorial legislature of Dakota located the University of Dakota at Vermillion on April 21, 1862.

On August 2, 1876, Jack McCall shot Wild Bill Hickok in the back at the No. 10 Saloon in Deadwood, S.D. Today, Wild Bill lies to rest at Mount Moriah Cemetery on Deadwood’s historic “Boot Hill”.

After venturing into the Black Hills in search of gold, French goldsmith Henri LeBeau became hopelessly lost. Almost dying of starvation, LeBeau came across wild grapes that saved his life. In honor of the lifesaving grapes, he designed what he called the "good luck" jewelry.

When you get to be a national icon of a certain age, you need a little help looking smooth and youthful. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, which turns 68 this year, undergoes a facelift every year.

The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 a as patriotic, mutual-help, war-time veterans organization.

Located two miles east of Custer is an open valley where history was made. This area served as the main base camp for General George Armstrong Custer’s expedition to find gold in the Black Hills. Their stay at the “Golden Valley,” as General Custer called it, lasted five days, the longest of any s

As Native American history grows and continues to capture the interest of travelers around the world, the South Dakota Native American experience provides some of the best travel opportunities and destinations in the world.

Back in 1904, few towns had a high-faluting, Rolls Royce man, but Murdo Mackenzie was one of them and he could be found shipping trainload after trainload of Texas steers to the grasslands of South Dakota near present day Murdo.

In 1804, legend had it that Spirit Mound, near present day Vermillion, was inhabited by evil spirits in human form. Reportedly, these “little devils” were 18 inches high and armed with arrows.

What most people would see as a large rock on the top of Thunderhead Mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Korczak Ziółkowski saw as an opportunity: an opportunity to show the world that, in the words of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, “the red man has heroes, also.”

Today, Mount Rushmore is considered “America’s Shrine to Democracy”, but many Americans don’t know that when Mount Rushmore was first conceived, the carving was designed to look completely different than it does today.

Lewis and Clark spent the late-summer and early fall of 1804 exploring present-day South Dakota. Their return trip, in 1806, also led them back through the area.