The best way to understand this complex state is to drive its back roads through its regions of diverse people and geography. And do it with the radio on.
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of our young nation. Here is the ninth in a series of articles reporting, state by state, what the Louisiana Purchase represents today.
In South Dakota, we haven't decided yet how the 19th century is going to turn out. That is what makes our state such a fascinating place to visit, and such a challenging place to live.
We struggle as a people in some way every day with our past 200 years. The nation's decisions joined us but seem destined to always divide us. Yet we make our lives together here because we love "here."
Like a couple who stays together for the sake of the children, we try to make the best of things, keeping our voices low so as not to provoke one another, but in not talking, we don't really get to know enough about each other.
We were built as a place to get across, so the established East could reach the promise of the West, first by railroad, later by the interstate highway system. Now we're mostly flown over.
So to really find us, you must look along the two-lane roads, with your radio tuned to the small-town stations that still have local DJs. As you drive, in what you see and hear, you will start to find why we are South Dakotans.
In those unfolding hours will come the sky and grass, earth and rock, water and gold, wind and light. Among it all you'll find our attitudes and ways of life, determined largely by nature, by what we can reap from the soil, by how much rain comes, by the geologic manifestations of the big-bang and the ice age.
In South Dakota we are two societies: modern American democracy with its private property, and Indian tribes living on reservations.
We are a place where Congress and the courts steadfastly define people's rights based on whether we are tribal members by blood heritage, and whether we are in Indian Country.
But before the Louisiana Purchase, this was all Indian Country.
Where the people are few
So turn the ignition key, turn on the radio and drive. Start in the east, where the rainfall and soil are good enough to grow corn and soybeans.
Head west and feel the world change as the precipitation becomes less, the ground tougher, the pastures shorter and rockier. That's wheat and sunflower country, where the people are fewer, the towns farther apart.
You find yourself up against the Missouri River, with few places to cross. Bridges come out of Mobridge, Gettysburg, Chamberlain and Platte; there are dam crossings at Pierre, Fort Thompson, Pickstown and Yankton.
Then you hit shortgrass country, where even most of the one-room schoolhouses have closed. Folks drive an hour or two to meet friends for coffee at the cafe.
South Dakota is the place of author Laura Ingalls Wilder and some of her Little House on the Prairie stories. This is the land where one of the most Oscar-laden movies of the past 15 years was filmed, Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves. (Because of the terrain and the people, parts of a lot of movies get made here, Viggo Mortensen's Hidalgo being the latest.)
Dances, its dewy Hollywood flaws aside, caught the nature of our original and everlasting conflict. So much open space represented so much opportunity to pioneer a new society and economy in the late 19th century. But to the American Indian societies already here, the arrival of white settlers was an invasion of immense consequence. That conflict has never been resolved.
Defining "South Dakotan"
You catch the same division of our worlds in our art. Look at two of our masters:
The thick, rough-knifed oils of Harvey Dunn are grounded in the pioneers' earthy struggle and the universality of the homesteading story. The bright, geometric semiabstracts of Oscar Howe reflect the whirl of forces upon American Indians and the spiritual energy to rise above it.
South Dakota is where L. Frank Baum lived when he wrote The Wizard of Oz and essays that can still fuel fierce intellectual discussion: Was he a racist who sought the extermination of Indians or a social satirist?
Our state's production of literature is short, in some ways because we are so few and because we are still new. (South Dakota celebrated the centennial of its statehood in 1989.)
Though no book covers it all, some will help you understand who we are.
Dakota, by Kathleen Norris, helps explain the hows and whys of our small towns. Aurelia, by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, is an emotionally powerful work about the modern ranch-country life of Indians displaced by the damming of the Missouri River. On the topic of the river project, Dammed Indians, by historian Michael Lawson, is an invaluable, concise record of the U.S. government's latest taking of tribal and private land for national purposes.
Dan O'Brien's In The Center of The Nation is a wonderful novel about the intersection of conflicting modern values in the Black Hills region of western South Dakota. Notes From Indian Country Vol. I, Tim Giago's collection of his essays for the Indian newspaper the Lakota Times, is a first draft of history.
John Miller's Looking for History on Highway 14 takes you down the main streets of a dozen communities along the two-lane that runs through the heart and mind of the state.
We are still a wild place in many ways. You might see a mountain goat wandering through the parking complex at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. In a few hours in Custer State Park, you will encounter wild, free-roaming buffalo, wild turkeys, mountain sheep, possibly elk and most likely mooching burros.
Its potholes and marshes make South Dakota the top producer of wild ducks in the lower 48 states. The upland bird hunting for pheasants and sharp-tailed grouse is the best in the nation.
And we prize our political independence. South Dakota is one of the birthplaces of the initiative and referendum processes, which allow citizens to make laws or block them through the ballot box. That was a reaction to the railroads' early dominance of the farmers and ranchers.
The people's voices
Back to that drive around the state: It's important to have your radio on to try to understand us. On your radio, you can hear Jerry Oster slinging the news and "five-state weather" for the farmers on "Your Big Friend," WNAX-AM in Yankton, the old territorial capital, as you glide through the fertile bottom country of the southeast.
Across the wide central plains you will catch Patrick Callahan hosting an afternoon call-in show with the governor for the ranch-country listeners on KGFX-AM in Pierre, a few blocks' walk from one of the nation's best-kept, and most beautiful, state capitols.
As you motor west, dropping down and then climbing back out of the Cheyenne River bottoms, you pick up the twin cultures of cowboy hats and reservation life.
There are professional rodeo updates, stock (as in cattle) sale ads and '60s-era Haggard and Cash on KBHB-AM in Sturgis, in the shadow of Bear Butte, a mountain sacred to Indians.
And there is the freewheeling mix of traditional Lakota Sioux songs, Jimi Hendrix, Freddy Fender, Willie Nelson, sobriety discussions and live reports from tribal council meetings on KILI-FM in Porcupine, up the road from Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
As you look west, the 7,000-foot uplift known as the Black Hills takes shape on the horizon. You start picking up ZZ Top ripping from KSQY-FM's tower high above the historic mining towns of Deadwood and Lead.
In the evening, there is swinging "Uncle Jimmo" settling you in, uniting listeners across the state after the sun goes down through the sounds of the Hammond B-3 organ, the genius of Miles Davis and the sensuousness of Diana Krall on the his Jazz Nightly program on South Dakota Public Radio.
We live together in our differences. For decades we officially called ourselves the "Land of Infinite Variety." But the motto on our state flag has always been, "Under God The People Rule."
Our cultural symbols are, on one hand, the buffalo and the eagle feather, and on the other, Mount Rushmore's hewn-granite visages of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.
But what else might you expect? We were brought together by the Louisiana Purchase, the land grab nonpareil of U.S. history.
Monuments to history
The federal government's later treaties with the Indians were legal contracts agreed to by people who had no written language. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills produced the most vast and deep underground mine on the continent, and it led to government abrogation of an 1868 treaty in which it had recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. In 1980 the Supreme Court upheld a multimillion-dollar award to the Sioux for the land, but they have refused to accept the government's payment because they want the land back.
At Wounded Knee, the mass grave for the more than 200 Sioux men, women and children the U.S. military massacred on Dec. 28, 1890, has not been designated as a federal monument by the National Park Service because tribal people disagree among themselves whether that should be done.
But we do have a Minuteman missile monument.
Across South Dakota, crumbling gray farmhouses, closed country schools and struggling small communities are evidence of the mistaken agricultural assumptions of the 19th century Homestead Act, which promised free land to settlers who could grind out a living on it long enough.
The flawed marvels that are the Missouri River dams and their sparkling reservoirs, built during the mid 20th century, today are the focus of a national legal fight over endangered species, barge traffic and fishing, boating and hunting.
The general absence of businesses, banks and privately owned homes on the tribal reservations reflect the inherent flip side of government-run socialism and tribally held property.
Come to South Dakota prepared to be fascinated.
- Bob Mercer, former press secretary to the state's longest-serving governor, Bill Janklow, is now a reporter covering state government and politics in South Dakota's capital.
On the Web
Readers can find all the articles in our series on the Louisiana Purchase by going on the Web to www.sptimes.com/lapurchase There are links to the installments and interactive features.
Top annual festivals
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and Races, Sturgis. Each August this event attracts tens of thousands of bikers. Operated by the small town (pop. 6,682) of Sturgis, at the northern edge of the Black Hills, this is the big one for loud engines, two-week beards, leather halters (or no halters) and 24-hour action in the dead of summer. The 64th annual rally, which includes hill climbing competitions and races on short and long tracks, runs this year from Aug. 9 to 15.
Annual Buffalo Roundup, Custer State Park. The gathering of the bison is at the opposite extreme. It is a great three-day weekend in a jewel of a natural setting. The thundering herd coming over the last hill on a crisp Monday morning is a spectacle to be experienced nowhere else. The approximately 1,500 buffalo are moved to corrals. Some are auctioned to breeders; the rest are released back into the park. This year the roundup is Oct. 4.
The "Wizard of Oz' story. It was in Aberdeen that L. Frank Baum wrote the book that became the movie. Never mind that the movie is set in Kansas.
Three must-see places
Wounded Knee site, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. At this site, the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry killed more than 200 Lakota Sioux men, women and children on Dec. 29, 1890; 25 soldiers died. The event, still considered by many as an unprovoked massacre, was the last official battle in the Indian wars the federal government waged in the 19th century. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, in the northern Black Hills near Keystone. The four faces were blasted and carved over 14 years. They are most impressive in the pinkish light of dawn and sunset.
Cultural Heritage Center museum, in Pierre, the state's capital, and the historic murals in the state Capitol. The museum displays records of South Dakota's history and culture, written and artifacts.
For more information on these sites, go to www.travelsd.com or call the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development at 605 773-3301.
Three places to avoid
* Rapid City and the Black Hills region during the summer tourist season. You might find motel prices are higher than you expected, but those rates help the businesses make it through the nine lean months of the year.
* 41st Street in Sioux Falls, the state's largest city, population approximately 130,000, during evening rush hour and shopping hours on Saturday.
* Local folks' special fishing and hunting spots - unless they invite you.
Best places to eat
South Dakotans love to hunt and fish, and two of the best dishes produced in the state are fresh-fried walleye pike and roasted pheasant. These are typical entrees, especially for Sunday dinner.
But the thing South Dakotans probably love more is going out with friends for a big steak. The Chateau, in Fort Pierre, for decades has served a good filet mignon and onion rings, and if you want authenticity, this narrow, dark place fills up with cowboy hats on sale day at the nearby livestock auction barn. The Chateau, 110 N Deadwood St.; 605 223-2402. The big daddy might be Bob's Steakhouse, on Lake Oahe near Gettysburg, where the adjective "large" takes on new meaning and the doggy bag is big enough for a small roast. (605) 765-2535; www.bobsresort.com
If you're looking for something more upscale, Jakes at the Midnight Star, Kevin Costner's casino in the gambling town of Deadwood, has a Midwest-level of Hollywood class. 677 Main St.; toll-free 1-800-999-6482; www.themidnightstar.com
Famous sons
World War II fighter ace and then governor Joe Foss, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, frontier legend Sitting Bull, Olympic champion Billy Mills, two-time Super Bowl-winning kicker Adam Vinatieri, presidential candidates Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern, U.S. Senate majority and minority leader Tom Daschle.
Major problem residents face
They are twins: the continued decline of non-Indian population in most rural counties and the growing American Indian population in counties largely filled by reservations. Both areas face the challenges of finding the people to provide necessary social, medical and public services, and finding the money to pay for schools, hospitals and roads.
