A jet aircfract is on display outside the entrance to The South Dakota Air and Space Museum

Website

The South Dakota Air and Space Museum is situated on Ellsworth Air Force Base, near Rapid City, South Dakota. The museum's mission to preserve vintage military aircraft, missiles and other aircraft-related artifacts like models, and to honor the memory of aviation veterans who have served in various conflicts, and to educate the public about military aviation history. The museum displays thirty aircraft on display from World War II bombers to the modern B1B Lancer. Aircraft are housed inside the museum and outside on the museum grounds. The museum also houses an aviation hall of fame and offers various educational programs.

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

This extended driving tour starts at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth AFB and includes a half dozen museums and landmark buildings in Rapid City before moving south and west into the Black Hills. Highlights of the driving tour include Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial along with nearby museums and several other historic landmarks related to Native American history and the 19th and 20th century of the Black Hills. 

<p>On June 23, 1885, the Board of Trustees for SD Mines received a letter from Mr. G.E. Bailey offering to loan a collection of minerals and fossils, containing over 5,000 specimens. This offer was accepted and brought in from Cheyenne, WY. Over the years, bolstered by additional ores, rocks, and fossils, the Bailey collection has remained the core of the museum's exhibit. However the collection has lost its distinct identity due to loss of labeling and being mixed with other specimens.</p><p>In 1899, the Museum of Geology entered an important stage of development when Cleophas C. O'Hara led the first fossil-hunting expedition into the Badlands. During this expedition, he and his colleagues discovered and named the School of Mines Canyon, and found the first official specimen of the museum - an Alligator snout. It is still on display at the museum. In 1903, the Department of Geology and Mineralogy moved into the newly constructed building to house the collections. This building is no longer standing, but the arch can still be seen in the campus quad. </p><p>It was nearly a quarter of a century after O'Hara's Badlands expedition before serious fossil collecting began. Glenn L. Jepsen, a geology student at Mines, spent the summer working for the American Museum of Natural History in western Nebraska. At the end of the summer, he collected the Agate Springs Rhino Slab, which was prepared by James D. Bump and LeMoyne Cook. The following years, he continued to collect in the Badlands, finding may specimens still on display in the museum today, including the Xiphactinus.</p><p>The museum first opened to the public in 1923 and quickly became a popular attraction. Its reputation for housing first class displays continued to develop over the years, aided by continuous field expeditions. In 1927, the state fossil of South Dakota was discovered and brought to the museum -the Triceratops discovered near Camp Crook. In 1930, the first museum director - James D. Bump was inducted. </p><p>In 1944, the museum moved into the top floor of the O'Hara Building, where there was room to display the large mounted skeletons and have expanded displays. After WWII, more important changed impacted the museum. Dr. Macdonald became the first curator of paleontology to care for the specimens and increase collections. In 1962, a masters degree was instituted for the field of paleontology. In 1985, the school and the museum celebrated 100 years of operation.  </p><p>In 1993, visitors to Badlands National Park discovered large fossils that began a twenty year dig known as the "Big Pig Dig." The Museum of Geology assisted in this excavation and have specimens from this on display at the museum. In 2009, the museum broke ground to build their Paleontology Research Lab. This building would house their collections, laboratories, and further research on specimens. In 2023, the Museum of Geology celebrated 100 years of exhibits open to the public. </p>

<p>Located on the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology campus, The Museum of Geology was established in 1885, the same year the school opened. The museum contains thousands of fossil and mineral specimens. The surrounding area in all directions has been a treasure trove of fossils and the school and museum have taken full advantage of the location. Collections include fossils of mammals, marine reptiles, fish, invertebrates, plants, and dinosaurs from the Jurassic period and other eras. The mineral collection is comprised of specimens from all over the world. The museum is house on the third floor of the O'Harra Building, which also serves as the administration building for the School of Mines campus. The James E. Martin Paleontology Research Lab is also located at the museum; it is a separate entity but works in conjunction with the museum.</p>

Museum of Geology

Established in 1997, The Journey Museum and Learning Center is a natural and cultural museum in Rapid City, South Dakota. It contains collections from four of the state's museums: the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the South Dakota Archaeological Research Center, the Sioux Indian Museum, and the Minnilusa Pioneer Museum. It is a good place for visitors to get acquainted with South Dakota's history, from billions of years ago to today. 

The Museum of Geology Collection at the center tells how South Dakota was formed over billions of years and contains fossils that can be touched by the public. The South Dakota Archaeological Research Center collection displays artifacts covering 10,000 years, from the peoples living in the Black Hills region after the ice age to the more recent mining period. The collection from the Minnilusa Pioneer Museum consists of illuminated story walls that cover the history of European settlement in the Black Hills region and the conflicts with Native Americans that resulted. The Sioux Indian Museum collection explores Sioux traditional and contemporary culture. The collection includes various Sioux artwork, clothing, and other materials.

The Journey Museum and Learning Center

<p>The memorial was created in 1996 after the South Dakota School of Mines &amp; Technology hosted a traveling exhibit about the Berlin Wall. Dale Clement, a local company executive, received a phone call from Gale Holebrook, the Pennington County Commissioner at the time, asking him to buy a piece of the wall since the exhibit was very successful. Clement then called someone he knew from the exhibit and was able to buy the wall sections along with the tank traps. With the help of others, the memorial was built and the city later assumed ownership. Them memorial is a fitting location as it is near Mount Rushmore and Ellsworth Air Force Base.</p>

The Berlin Wall Memorial is one of the more unique and interesting historical sites in Rapid City. Located at the western end of Memorial Park, the memorial features two sections of the Berlin Wall, which separated East and West Berlin, Germany from 1961-1989, two iron "tank traps," and several interpretive signs with photographs that describe the history of the wall. The side of the wall that faced East Germany is plain concrete; the other side, which faced West Germany, still has graffiti on it. 

Berlin Wall Memorial

<p>Like many other western towns, Rapid City's development early on grew from the railroad industry. The Milwaukee Road reached the city in 1907 and it decided to construct the freight station to accommodate the increase in tourism to the Black Hills after World War I. By this time, the Milwaukee Road owned 1,802 miles of track in the state. By 1980, the Milwaukee Road abandoned the station since it no longer found it useful. It is not clear as to what happened after that and no information appears to be available as to when Sandford's opened. The building itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. </p>

The Milwaukee Road Freight House is a single-story, historic railroad building in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad—also called the Milwaukee Road—in 1923 as a place to store and ship freight. Today, it is the home of Sandford's Grub and Pub restaurant. It is one of the last and well-preserved railroad buildings remaining in Rapid City.  

Milwaukee Road Freight House (Sandford's Grub and Pub)

<p>The courthouse has served as the seat of county government since its construction. At least through the mid-1970s, it housed the offices of the Auditor, Treasurer, and Register of Deeds. Interestingly, the building originally had a dome but this was removed in the 1960s to add office space. One of the most notable features of the interior are the Corinthian columns and two curved marble staircases located on each side of the building. Over the years, the county built additional modern buildings, creating the large complex that exists today that includes the county jail and parking structure. The courthouse building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. </p>

Erected in 1922, the Pennington County Courthouse is one of Rapid City's most striking landmarks. Architecture firm W.E. Halse and Company designed it in the Beaux-Arts style and in fact, it is the city's only example of this style. Indiana limestone covers the building's exterior, which features eight Ionic columns and three two-story arched windows. 

Pennington County Courthouse

<p>Catholics first arrived in what would become South Dakota the 1700s when French fur traders (and their families) began to settle here. French missionary Father Pierre Jean DeSmet, S.J. arrived in 1839. In 1902, Pope Leo XIII established the Dioceses of Lead (the predecessor to the Diocese of Rapid City), to which the Church of the Immaculate Conception became a parish church. The church was officially dedicated in 1911. In 1930, the Diocese of Rapid City was created and the church became the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It held this title until 1962 when the diocese built the much larger Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The diocese eventually designated the church as a chapel. During its history, over 5,000 baptisms, 947 funerals, and around 1,500 weddings took place in the chapel. </p>

The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception (also called the Immaculate Conception Chapel) is a historic Catholic church located on the outskirts of downtown Rapid City. The one-story structure was built in 1909 with locally sourced stone and was named the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It is a fine example example of Romanesque Revival architecture. The church features two chimneys, a square bell tower with a spire resembling a pyramid, and stained glass windows. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. 

Chapel of the Immaculate Conception

<p>First Congregational Church was established in January 1879 and built its first building—a wood frame structure—at this location in 1883. In 1886, it became the only self-supporting church in the Black Hill region and remained so for a number of years. The congregation eventually outgrew this space and, as noted above, built the current structure in 1914 at a cost of $22,000. Faith Temple Church, which was formed in 1982, purchased the building in early 1984 for $109,500 and paid off the mortgage four years early. The building itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. </p>

Faith Temple Church is a historic church located in downtown Rapid City. Originally known as First Congregational Church, it was built in 1914 and was home to the first organized congregation in the city. It is also a good example of Renaissance Revival architecture. The building features stained glass windows and a large, vaulted interior worship space. 

Faith Temple Church

<p>Local architect Waldo J. W. Winter designed the building, which was intended to be a museum and serve as a repository for local and regional historical collections. As stated above, the Works Progress Administration—one of the "New Deal" programs the federal government established during the Great Depression to support the economy—constructed the building. The building's architecture reflects the "rustic" Adirondack style and craftsman movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which originated in upstate New York. The building's rustic features include logs, large chimneys, native limestone, shingled roofs, large overhangs, and exposed rafters. The west wing was added in 1957. It is not readily apparent when the museums closed and the parks and recreation department moved in.</p>

The Rapid City Parks and Recreation Building is a historic structure built in 1938. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, the building is significant for its vernacular rustic architecture and association with the Works Progress Administration, which built it. Before the parks and recreation department moved in, the building housed two museums, the Minnelusa Pioneer Museum and the Sioux Indian Museum. 

Rapid City Parks and Recreation Building

Dr. Harry Gregerson, who at the time had his own radio show called the Lutheran Vespers, wanted to expand his ministry. He thought that a chapel in the Black Hills would be an excellent location to achieve this goal. Funding for the chapel came from banker Arndt E. Dahl, whose parents were Norwegian. The chapel served as the home of Gregerson's radion show until 1975 when it moved to Minneapolis. A non-profit acquired ownership and still operates the chapel today.&nbsp;

Built in 1969 by Dr. Harry Gregerson, The Chapel in the Hills is a historic Lutheran church located in Rapid City, South Dakota and east of Black Hills National Forest. It is an exact replica of the Borgund Stavkirke chapel in Norway. Today, it draws between 20,000 and 25,000 visitors a year and hosts over 100 weddings each year and other services. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Chapel in the Hills

<div>The Civilian Conservation Corps was a federal relief program during 1933-1942 that gave jobless men work renovating abused lands. The Army built 48 200-man camps in South Dakota and provided food, clothing, medical care, pay and programs of education, recreation and religion for 23,709 enrollees (single men aged 17-25 who sent $25 of their $30 wage to their families) and war veterans. Camps and work projects were supervised by another 2834 men. The Office of Indian Affairs ran small units for 4554 American Indians.</div><div><br></div>

Erected in 1991 by the South Dakota State Historical Society, this marker is located where a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp built public projects throughout the area during the Great Depression. Camp F-2 was part of a national CCC program to renovate forests and build more recreation areas. Work projects, supervised by the USDA Forest Service, included tree thinning, pruning and planting, fire prevention and suppression; rodent, disease and insect control; grazing land improvement and recreation area development. Enrollees renovated dead, diseased, suppressed and excess trees (used for posts, poles and firewood) from hundreds of acres of pine leaving enough trees to produce good quality lumber. They removed flammable debris from forests and nearby areas and quelled forest fires. CCs built firetrails, firebreaks and roads. 

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp

<p>It took three years to build the school at a cost of $10,000. It is very well preserved and is a unique example of a rural frame school building from the turn-of-the century period. It is also unusual for its rather large size and the fact that the lumber used to build it was sourced locally. It was built at a time when Keystone was a bustling community of 1,500 residents, complete with two churches, three hotels, and a number of saloons. The building, which is located on a hillside overlooking the town, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.</p>

Located in the historic 1899 Keystone Schoolhouse building, the Keystone Historical Museum preserves and promotes local history. The museum features numerous items on display including mining tools and artifacts, photographs, rock and mineral collections, old rolltop desks, antique furniture, an old organ, and a bathtub once used by President Howard Taft. The second floor still has classrooms that have been left in tact. The school operated until 1988. 

Keystone Historical Museum

<p>Mount Rushmore was a plan to attract tourists based on showing the triumph of modern civilization while Indians that occupied the ground saw it as a loss of their land and injustices of their suffering under the U.S. Government. In the Treaty of 1868, the Latoka Sioux Indians were promised land, which included used the entirety of the Black Hills. However, white settlers came into the area after the discovery of gold was found in the area. This caused the government to force those Indians out of the Black Hills. This resulted in the Wounded Knee Massacre as the U.S. Army fought the Native Americans in 1890 where nearly 300 Indians (men, women, and children) were shot to death by U.S. troops.</p><p>At first, the plan was not to show the faces of popular presidents; in fact, the original plan included the carving of other famous figures on a completely different mountain, such as Chief Red Cloud from the Sioux tribe. Combating these intentions, Gutzon Burglum envisioned a mountain with the four presidents that are still there today, showcased from the torso up, however, limited funding caused the plan to change to only the heads of each individual. Historian Doane Robinson is known as the man for coming up with the idea of Mount Rushmore for his belief of it raising tourism in the area. South Dakota Senator Peter Norbeck helped secured funding and sponsored the construction of the memorial. Finally, a plan was complete and President Coolidge delivered his dedication speech on August 10, 1927.</p><p>Through 14 years of construction, 400 workers climbed 700 stairs daily just to start the job. However, much of the construction occurred during the Great Depression so a job and income was widely appreciated despite the dangers. Most of the 450,000 tons of rock removed was done by dynamite. Only the last few inches were finished by hand using drills and chisels.</p><p>In March, 1941, Gutzon died and left the finishing touches to his son, Lincoln. Later that year, the project was finally finished. In the coming years, a visitor center would be added, a museum for Lincoln Borglum was established detailing the work of Lincoln and his father, including their contribution to the construction of Mount Rushmore, and the Presidential Trail, a walking trail that leads up to the sculpture.</p><p>Now, the 60 foot heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt stand as a "Shrine of Democracy". This memorial was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. A 500-word essay on Mount Rushmore by student William A. Burkett of Nebraska won first place in a 1934 writing contest. It would be emboldened in a bronze plate at the memorial in 1973. President George H.W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore in 1991.</p>

<p>Authorized on March 3, 1925, the monument of Mount Rushmore is used to represent the nation’s birth and development as a country. The presidents carved into the granite were initially started by Gutzon Borglum to increase tourism in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. During the build, 400 men and women labored through dangerous work to create what is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the nation. Today, the 60 ft heads of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt stare out from Mount Rushmore representing how far the nation has come since the declaration of its independence from Britain. There is even a memorial park that houses this monument and visitors can look from an outlook post to check it out.</p>

Mount Rushmore National Memorial 

<p>Crazy Horse was born around 1840 and was a leader of the Oglala Lakota tribe of present-day South Dakota. Crazy Horse’s original name was Tashunka Witco. Later on, he acquired the name Crazy Horse from his father who was also named Crazy Horse by demonstrating his excellent skills as a warrior. After seeing the death of the Lakota leader Conquering Bear, Crazy Horse began to have trances so his father took him on a vision quest. Crazy Horse received a Black stone from a medicine man named Horn Chips to protect his horse which made him believe that he and his horse were one in battle. </p><p><br /></p><p><strong style="background-color:transparent;">Lakota People</strong></p><p><br /></p><p>Crazy Horse (Tashunka Witko) was a Lakota Native American who came from the ancestors of Lakota Native Americans. Lakota Native Americans are viewed as the first settlers of North America. The Lakota Indian's essential area is in South Dakota and North Dakota. The Lakota tribe mainly stays on or around the reservation of South Dakota. The word Lakota stands for the alliance of people distinguished by family connection with the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people. Moreover, this specific Indian tribe communicates in the Lakota language. The Lakota Indians can also be followed back to the Lewis and Clark campaign. During this time, the Lakota Indian people played a significant part in the Great Plains. Due to progressing fighting, the Lakota Indians constrained northward and settled in the Dakotas.</p><p><br /></p><p><strong style="background-color:transparent;">Military Involvement</strong></p><p><br /></p><p>Through the late 1850s to the early 1860s, Crazy Horse's reputation as a warrior grew through the Lakota tribe. In 1864, he joined with other tribes to fight the US military following the Sand Creek Massacre. In 1865, he earned the title Ogle Tanka Un which meant war leader. On December 21, 1866, Crazy Horse and six other warriors, both Lakota and Cheyenne, decoyed Capt. William Fetterman's 53 infantrymen and 27 cavalry troopers under Lt. Grummond into an ambush. The Lakota warriors swept over the hill and attacked the infantry. Additional Cheyenne and Lakota hiding in the buckbrush along Peno Creek effectively surrounded the soldiers. Seeing that they were surrounded, Grummond headed his cavalry back to Fetterman. The combined warrior forces of nearly 1,000 killed all the US soldiers, in what became known at the time to the white population as the Fetterman Massacre. It was the Army's worst defeat on the Great Plains up to that time. </p><p><br /></p><p>On the morning of September 5, 1877, Crazy Horse and Lieutenant Lee accompanied by Touch the Clouds as well as a number of Indian scouts, departed for Fort Robinson. Arriving that evening outside the adjutant's office, Lieutenant Lee was informed that he was to turn Crazy Horse over to the Officer of the Day. Lee protested and hurried to Bradley's quarters to debate the issue, but without success. Bradley had received orders that Crazy Horse was to be arrested and taken under the cover of darkness to Division Headquarters. Lee turned the Oglala war chief over to Captain James Kennington, in charge of the post guard, who accompanied Crazy Horse to the post guardhouse. Once inside, Crazy Horse struggled with the guard and Little Big Man and attempted to escape. Just outside the door, Crazy Horse was stabbed with a bayonet by one of the members of the guard. He was taken to the adjutant's office, where he was tended by the assistant post surgeon at the post, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, and died late that night.</p><p><br /></p><p><strong style="background-color:transparent;">Origins</strong></p><p><br /></p><p>Korczac Ziolkowski was brought to South Dakota to help Gutzon Borglum in the building of Mount Rushmore. During the building of Mount Rushmore, the Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear reached out to Korczac Ziolkowski stating, “my fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, too." Korczac Ziolkowski was driven by Chief Henry Standing Bear’s statement to construct the Monument of Crazy Horse in honor of Crazy Horse and the Native American People. With no government assistance, Ziolkowski started the Memorial of Crazy Horse in the Black Hills of South Dakota on June 3, 1948. On July 6, 1955, a report on a Public Bill was reported by the House and Senate. The Document title stated: ”Establishing the Crazy Horse Memorial Commission to provide for the construction of a permanent national memorial to the North American Indians.”</p><p><br /></p><p>This bill passed by the House and Senate allowed the construction of the Crazy Horse Monument to take place in Black Hill’s, South Dakota. This Public Bill allowed the Monument of Crazy Horse to be nationally recognized in the United States as a memorial to the Native Americans. At the Standing Bear’s request, Mr. Ziolkowski dedicated the remainder of his life to bring into existence a monument that would honor Crazy Horse and the Native American people. During the year 1982, Mr. Ziolkowski passed away and the unfinished Crazy Horse Monument was passed along to his wife Ruth. With no prediction of when the Monument of Crazy Horse would be completed, Ruth began the job her husband Korczac Ziolkowski started and found ways of bringing in funds like donations and gifts to complete the monument. </p><p><br /></p><p><strong style="background-color:transparent;">Memorial Controversy</strong></p><p><br /></p><p>The Black Hills in South Dakota once used to be a sacred home to all Native Americans, but particularly sacred to the Lakota Sioux. The Lakota Sioux are voiceless while witnessing a land of the sacred ground being carved apart. Within the sacred Black Hill’s, there is a monument that is slowly being carved up to life called Crazy Horse. The Monument Crazy Horse is created to honor all Native Americans and Crazy Horse, but the carving of Crazy Horse challenges many Lakota and Native American’s beliefs and traditions. The usage of the land is not being met in the eyes of the Lakota Native Americans. Many traditional Lakota is against the memorial of Crazy Horse. In 1972 an autobiography by John Fire Lame, a Lakota who was known as a medicine man, stated, "The whole idea of making a beautiful wild mountain into a statue of him is a pollution of the landscape. It is against the spirit of Crazy Horse” (Simon and Schuster. P. 96). Russell Means who is an activist for the Lakota people also stated "Imagine going to the holy land in Israel, whether you're a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, and start carving up the mountain of Zion. It's an insult to our entire being. It's bad enough getting four white faces carved in up there, the shrine of hypocrisy. (Roberts, September 2001). </p><p><br /></p><p>According to the majority, this is primarily an insult to Native American’s entire being, due to the fact that Standing Bear who was the main proponent of the carving did not consult with other Lakota Sioux community members. This was the main disconnect between the project of the Crazy Horse Monument and the Lakota people. The brokenness of the memorial in its present-day nation appears to mirror the Lakota human beings themselves, seemingly shattered after years of heartbreak, loss and forced assimilation. (White Face Interview 2013). The incompletion of the Memorial Crazy Horse represents the Lakota people, The Lakota, and Native American people are witnessing a memorial being built in their honor on a sacred ground that they did not wish for. The Lakota and Native American voice of terror is being unheard while their land is being polluted by tourism. The plan to construct the memorial resulted in controversy as many members among the Lakota community are in opposition to the idea.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>

Began in 1948, the Crazy Horse Memorial is a planned sculpture and monument to the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse Monument is located in Black Hills, South Dakota. The Black Hills were Native American’s hunting grounds and it was also sacred ground and territory of Western Sioux Indians, including the Arapaho, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. Also,  part of the land was inhabited by the Crow. In 1955, a Public Bill was passed by the House and Senate which authorized the Crazy Horse Monument to be constructed and placed in the Black Hills. This bill allowed Crazy Horse to be recognized national wide in honor of the Native Americans. At the Lakota Chief Standing Bear's request, Korczac Ziolkowski became motivated to construct a monument in commemoration of the Crazy Horse. Although the Crazy Horse Memorial was built in respect for the Native American people, the idea sparked controversial debates as many members of the Lakota community found the monument very offensive. Today, the memorial complex consists of the monument of Crazy Horse (still under construction), the Indian Museum of North America, and the Native American Cultural Center. The Crazy Horse's face was completed in 1998 and when completed, the monument itself is estimated to be approximately 641 feet wide and 563 feet high. The project is funded by donations and revenue from the visitor's center. Tours to the museum begin with a historical presentation about the memorial titled Dynamite & Dreams.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Bear Country USA, while performing many noble missions regarding animal preservation and conservation, is symbolic of a long, rich, complex, and tumultuous history, both for southwestern South Dakota and the U.S. The park represents a long history of Americans attempting to first, claim the West, and then taming it; part of taming it included the removal of Native Americans. Very often, in Europe and the U.S. creating parks includes social unrest, needing to remove both animals and humans in order to construct a perfect park. In truth, Parks represent a movement started it the 19th century to preserve the frontier, but in a controlled manner. As such, modern society often seeks to look at nature as if part of a laboratory, be it zoos, parks, or on television and film.<sup>1</sup>&nbsp;<br><br>Before white settlers arrived, much of the region was inhabited by the Sioux, Crow, Cheyenne, and Arapahoes. Frank B Linderman, in his book (and interview with)&nbsp;<i>Plenty-coups: Chief of the Crows,&nbsp;</i>describes the land that included the Black HIlls region before it was necessary to build a park, "No other section could compare with the Crow Country, especially when it was untouched by white men. Its wealth in all kinds of game, grass, roots, and berries made enemies for the Crows." So majestic and bountiful, in fact, the Crows routinely had to defend itself against other tribes to protect its resources.<sup>2</sup>&nbsp;<br><br>Not only did Americans also covet that land, but when gold was found in the Black HIlls, the eventual end to Native American occupancy came with it. Americans also looked to preserve its own frontier, but in its own way. Historian Ted Steinberg notes the Crows and other tribes as it related to Yellowstone National Park policy: <br><br><blockquote><i>In Yellowstone's case, creating wilderness meant rendering the Native Americans, who laid claim to the area, invisible when, in fact, they had long used it for hunting, fishing, and other means of survival. <b>Preservation of the country's national parks and Indian removal proceeded in lock-step motion</b>. Treaties and executive orders signed between 1855 and 1875 effectively cosigned the Bannock, Shoshone, Blackfeet and Crow Indian to reservations, where <b>t</b><b>hey would be less likely to interfere with tourists headed to Yellowstone</b>.<sup>3</sup>&nbsp;</i></blockquote><br><div>Much of the tension that resulted can be summarized by the events unfolding in nearby Wounded Knee, both in 1890 and again in 1973. &nbsp;<br><br>HIstory.com provides a good summary of the 1890 episode:</div><div><br></div><blockquote><div><b><i>T</i></b><i>hroughout 1890s, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>On December 29, the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under Big Foot, a Lakota Sioux chief, near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it’s unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which it’s estimated 150 Indians were killed (some historians put this number at twice as high), nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>The conflict at Wounded Knee was originally referred to as a battle, but in reality it was a tragic and avoidable massacre. Surrounded by heavily armed troops, it’s unlikely that Big Foot’s band would have intentionally started a fight. Some historians speculate that the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment’s defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876. Whatever the motives, the massacre ended the Ghost Dance movement and was the last major confrontation in America’s deadly war against the Plains Indians.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>Nearly half of the Sioux killed at the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre were women and children.<sup>4</sup></i></div></blockquote><br><div>As Bear Country USA arrived on the scene in 1972, tensions between Native Americans the and the Federal Government had arisen again. An article by <i>The Atlantic</i> describes the event:</div><div><br></div><blockquote><div><i>On February 27, 1973, a team of 200 Oglala Lakota (Sioux) activists and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized control of a tiny town with a loaded history -- Wounded Knee, South Dakota. They arrived in town at night, in a caravan of cars and trucks, took the town's residents hostage, and demanded that the U.S. government make good on treaties from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Within hours, police had surrounded Wounded Knee, forming a cordon to prevent protesters from exiting and sympathizers from entering. This marked the beginning of a 71-day siege and armed conflict.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>Russell Means, one of AIM's leaders, died yesterday. Means was a controversial figure within the movement and outside of it; as his New York Times obituary put it, "critics, including many Indians, called him a tireless self-promoter who capitalized on his angry-rebel notoriety." After getting his start in activism in the 1970s, Means went on to run for the Libertarian presidential nomination in 1987, and for governor of New Mexico in 2002. He also acted in scores of films, most famously in a lead role in the 1992 version of The Last of the Mohicans.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>For all the contradictions of his life, he was no less controversial than AIM itself. The Wounded Knee siege was both an inspiration to indigenous people and left-wing activists around the country and -- according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which besieged the town along with FBI and National Guard -- the longest-lasting "civil disorder" in 200 years of U.S. history. Two native activists lost their lives in the conflict, and a federal agent was shot and paralyzed. Like the Black Panthers or MEChA, AIM was a militant civil rights and identity movement that sprung from the political and social crisis of the late 1960s, but today it is more obscure than the latter two groups.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>The Pine Ridge reservation, where Wounded Knee was located, had been in turmoil for years. To many in the area the siege was no surprise. The Oglala Lakota who lived on the reservation faced racism beyond its boundaries and a poorly managed tribal government within them. In particular, they sought the removal of tribal chairman Dick Wilson, whom many Oglala living on the reservation thought corrupt. Oglala Lakota interviewed by PBS for a documentary said Wilson seemed to favor mixed-race, assimilated Lakota like himself -- and especially his own family members -- over reservation residents with more traditional lifestyles. Efforts to remove Wilson by impeaching him had failed, and so Oglala Lakota tribal leaders turned to AIM for help in removing him by force. Their answer was to occupy Wounded Knee.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>Federal marshals and National Guard traded heavy fire daily with the native activists. To break the siege, they cut off electricity and water to the town, and attempted to prevent food and ammunition from being passed to the occupiers. Bill Zimmerman, a sympathetic activist and pilot from Boston, agreed to carry out a 2,000-pound food drop on the 50th day of the siege. When the occupiers ran out of the buildings where they had been sheltering to grab the supplies, agents opened fire on them. The first member of the occupation to die, a Cherokee, was shot by a bullet that flew through the wall of a church.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>To many observers, the standoff resembled the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 itself -- when a U.S. cavalry detachment slaughtered a group of Lakota warriors who refused to disarm. Some of the protesters also had a more current conflict in mind. As one former member of AIM told PBS, "They were shooting machine gun fire at us, tracers coming at us at nighttime just like a war zone. We had some Vietnam vets with us, and they said, 'Man, this is just like Vietnam.' "</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>When PBS interviewed federal officials later, they said that the first death in the conflict inspired them to work harder to bring it to a close. For the Oglala Lakota, the death of tribe member Buddy Lamont on April 26 was the critical moment. While members of AIM fought to keep the occupation going, the Oglala overruled them, and, from that point, negotiations between federal officials and the protesters began in earnest. The militants officially surrendered on May 8, and a number of members of AIM managed to escape the town before being arrested. (Those who were arrested, including Means, were almost all acquitted because key evidence was mishandled.)</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>Even after the siege officially ended, a quiet war between Dick Wilson and the traditional, pro-AIM faction of Oglala Lakota continued on the reservation -- this despite Wilson's re-election to the tribal presidency in 1974. In the three years following the stand-off, Pine Ridge had the highest per capita murder rate in the country. Two FBI agents were among the dead. The Oglala blamed the federal government for failing to remove Wilson as tribal chairman; the U.S. retorted that it would be illegal for them to do so, somewhat ironically citing reasons of tribal self-determination.</i></div><div><br></div><div><i>Today, the Pine Ridge reservation is the largest community in what may be the poorest county in the entire United States. (Per capita income in 2010 was lower in Shannon County, South Dakota, where Pine Ridge is located, than in any other U.S. county.) Reports have the adult unemployment rate on the reservation somewhere between 70 and 80 percent. AIM -- and Means -- drew a lot of attention to the treatment of indigenous people in the U.S. But perhaps more than any other civil rights movement, its work remains unfinished.<sup>5</sup></i></div></blockquote><div><i><br></i></div><div>Thus, while the park provides numerous environmentally- and sustainability-minded efforts, deemed necessary and good by modern society, it should be remembered that it came only after the removal of the animals that once roamed free in that region, and by a people that largely lived amidst nature (though they altered their environment as well, albeit to a much less extent to modern society).&nbsp;<br><br></div>

Bear Country USA is a unique opportunity for people driving through the Black Hills area of South Dakota. This conservation site allows you to drive though a park to see enclosures and encounter many different types of animals.

Dr. Dennis Casey and his wife Pauline opened Bear Country USA in August 1972. They started out with 11 Black bears, one cougar, one wolf, three buffalos, and one large bull elk. Their main purpose for this attraction was to provide a place where the people of Rapid City could enjoy animals. Over the years the number of animals living at the park have grown. Now there is around 200 acres filled with Black and grizzly bears, plus 20 other species of North American animals. 

Now owned by Pauline Casey and 3 of her children, this family has dedicated much time to opening up a place where people can come and appreciate the animals that are in their home areas. Most of the animals are born on the premises and are hand raised by the park staff.  They make a few exceptions to accepting animals off of the reserve. 


Bear Country USA

<p>Frank and Albert Michaud, two local prospectors, noticed the
cave in 1900, when they felt a cold breeze blowing out of a small pit in a
canyon. It is undetermined whether any previous occupants of the area were
aware of the natural cave opening, which was not sizeable enough for a person
to enter.<br></p>

<p>After enlarging the cave entrance with a controlled blast,
the Michaud’s found a deep cavern lined with calcite crystals, which steered
them to name it "Jewel Cave."</p>

<p>President Theodore Roosevelt pronounced Jewel Cave a
National Monument on February&nbsp;7, 1908.</p>

<p>The Park Service offers three tours: the scenic tour, a
half-mile loop through a cemented and lighted central portion of the cave
accessible by elevator; the historic tour, a candlelight tour through the
earliest-discovered part of the cave; and a wild caving tour, through an immature
part of the cave near the scenic loop. There are 3 surface trails varying in distance
and difficulty. </p>

<p>The ability to view wildlife is plentiful at Jewel Cave
National Monument. Most live in the forest and open meadows of the surface but
some also live in the cave itself.</p>

<p>There are roughly 120 species of birds that can be seen at
Jewel Cave National Monument. Some are copious, like the red-breasted nuthatch,
though others, like the bald eagle, are uncommon but are seen occasionally.</p>

<p>There are 393 plants that grow in the vicinity of Jewel Cave
National Monument. Visitors can find wildflowers at the visitor center, the
historic area and along all surface trails.</p>

<p>There are also a couple programs for young kids to enjoy and
be a part pf while at the national monument </p>

<p>1. The Junior Ranger Program at Jewel Cave National Monument
is a program that children from ages 5-12 can enjoy.</p>

<p>2. Jewel Cave National Monument offers the opportunity for
youngsters ages 3-4 to become a Pee-Wee Ranger.</p>

Established on February 7, 1908, as a National Monument. Jewel Cave stretches across an area of around 1,273 acres making it the third longest cave in the United States. With over 180 miles of charted and plotted passages, this underground wilderness charms to human curiosity. Its impressiveness is revealed through fragile formations and previews of brilliant color. Its intricacy of passages tempt explorers, and its scientific wealth remains a mystery. This resource is truly a jewel in the National Park Service. 

Rapid City to the Black Hills and Beyond Driving Tour

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

Introduction

Images

Sources

Additional Information