Badlands National Park
Encyclopedia
Badlands National Park, in southwest South Dakota
, United States
preserves 244000 acres (98,743.4 ha) of sharply eroded
butte
s, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass
prairie
in the United States
.
The Badlands Wilderness
protects 64144 acres (25,958.2 ha) of the park as a designated wilderness area and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret
, the most endangered
land mammal
in North America
.
The Stronghold Unit is co-managed with the Oglala Lakota
tribe and includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dance
s, a former United States Air Force
bomb and gunnery range, and Red Shirt Table
, the park's highest point at 3340 feet (1,018 m).
Authorized as Badlands National Monument on March 4, 1929, it was not established until January 25, 1939. Under the Mission 66
plan, the Ben Reifel Visitor Center was constructed for the monument in 1957-58.
It was redesignated a national park on November 10, 1978. The park also administers the nearby Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
.
See also: White River Fauna for a list of fossil animals discovered in the formations that make up Badlands National Park and surrounding areas.
have used this area for their hunting grounds. Long before the Lakota were the little-studied paleo-Indians, followed by the Arikara
people. Their descendants live today in North Dakota
as a part of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Archaeological records combined with oral traditions indicate that these people camped in secluded valleys where fresh water and game were available year round. Eroding out of the stream banks today are the rocks and charcoal of their campfires, as well as the arrowheads and tools they used to butcher bison, rabbits, and other game. From the top of the Badlands Wall, they could scan the area for enemies and wandering herds. If hunting was good, they might hang on into winter, before retracing their way to their villages along the Missouri River
. By one hundred and fifty years ago, the Great Sioux Nation
consisting of seven bands including the Oglala Lakota, had displaced the other tribes from the northern prairie.
The next great change came toward the end of the 19th century as homesteaders moved into South Dakota
. The U.S. government stripped Native Americans
of much of their territory and forced them to live on reservations. In the fall and early winter of 1890, thousands of Native American
followers, including many Oglala Sioux, became followers of the Indian prophet Wovoka
. His vision called for the native people to dance the Ghost Dance
and wear Ghost Shirts
, which would be impervious to bullets. Wovoka had predicted that the white man would vanish and their hunting grounds would be restored. One of the last known Ghost Dances was conducted on Stronghold Table in the South Unit of Badlands National Park. As winter closed in, the ghost dancers returned to Pine Ridge Agency
. The climax of the struggle came in late December, 1890. Headed south from the Cheyenne River
, a band of Minneconjou Sioux crossed a pass in the Badlands Wall. Pursued by units of the U.S. Army, they were seeking refuge in the Pine Ridge Reservation. The band, led by Chief Big Foot, was finally overtaken by the soldiers near Wounded Knee Creek
in the Reservation and ordered to camp there overnight. The troops attempted to disarm Big Foot's band the next morning. Gunfire erupted. Before it was over, nearly three hundred Indians and thirty soldiers lay dead. The Wounded Knee Massacre
was the last major clash between Plains Indians
and the U.S. military until the advent of the American Indian Movement
in the 1970s, most notably in the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee
, South Dakota.
Wounded Knee is not within the boundaries of Badlands National Park. It is located approximately 45 miles (72 km) south of the park on Pine Ridge Reservation. The U.S. government and the Oglala Lakota Nation have agreed that this is a story to be told by the Oglala of Pine Ridge
and Minneconjou of Standing Rock Reservation
. The interpretation of the site and its tragic events are held as the primary responsibility of these survivors.
found its way to a physician in St. Louis by the name of Dr. Hiram A. Prout.
In 1846, Prout published a paper about the jaw in the American Journal of Science
in which he stated that it had come from a creature he called a Paleotherium. Shortly after the publication, the White River Badlands became popular fossil hunting grounds and, within a couple of decades, numerous new fossil species had been discovered in the White River Badlands. In 1849, Dr. Joseph Leidy, published a paper on an Oligocene camel and renamed Prout's Paleotherium, Titanotherium prouti. By 1854 when he published a series of papers about North American fossils, 84 distinct species had been discovered in North America - 77 of which were found in the White River Badlands. In 1870 a Yale professor, O. C. Marsh, visited the region and developed more refined methods of extracting and reassembling fossils into nearly complete skeletons. From 1899 to today, the South Dakota School of Mines has sent people almost every year and remains one of the most active research institutions working in the White River Badlands. Throughout the late 19th century and continuing today, scientists and institutions from all over the world have benefited from the fossil resources of the White River Badlands. The White River Badlands have developed an international reputation as a fossil-rich area. They contain the richest deposits of Oligocene
mammals known, providing a brief glimpse of life in this area 33 million years ago.
began before the end of the American Civil War
; however, homesteading didn't really impact the Badlands until well into the 20th century. Many hopeful farmers travelled to South Dakota from Europe or the East Coast to try to eke out a living in this hard place. The standard size for a homestead was 160 acres (64.7 ha). This proved far too small to support a family in a semi-arid, wind-swept environment. In the western Dakotas, the size of a homestead was increased to 640 acres (259 ha). Cattle grazed and crops like winter wheat and hay were cut annually. However, the Great Dust Bowl
events of the 1930s combined with waves of grasshoppers proved too much for most of the hardy souls of the Badlands. Houses built out of sod blocks and heated by buffalo chips were soon abandoned. Those who remained are still here today - ranching and raising wheat.
, home of the Oglala Sioux people, for a gunnery range. Included in this range was 337 acres (136.4 ha) from the Badlands National Monument. This land was used extensively from 1942 through 1945 as an air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery range including both precision and demolition bombing exercises. After the war, portions of the bombing range were used as an artillery range by the South Dakota National Guard. In 1968, most of the range was declared excess property by the USAF though 2500 acres (1,011.7 ha) are retained by the USAF but no longer used, the majority of the land was turned over to the National Park Service.
Firing took place within most of the present day Stronghold District. Land was bought or leased from individual landowners and the Tribe in order to clear the area of human occupation. Old car bodies and 55 gallon drums painted bright yellow were used as targets. Bulls-eyes 250 feet (76 m) across were plowed into the ground and used as targets by bombardiers. Small automatic aircraft called "drones" and 60 feet (18 m) by 8 feet (2 m) screens dragged behind planes served as mobile targets. Today, the ground is littered with discarded bullet cases and unexploded ordnance.
125 families were forcibly relocated from their farms and ranches in the 1940s including Dewey Beard, a survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre
. Those that remained nearby recall times when they had to dive under tractors while out cutting hay to avoid bombs dropped by planes miles outside of the boundary. In the town of Interior
, both a church and the building housing the current post office were struck by six inch (152 mm) shells through the roof. Pilots operating out of Ellsworth Air Force Base
near Rapid City
, found it a real challenge to determine the exact boundaries of the range. Fortunately, there were no civilian casualties. However, at least a dozen flight crew personnel lost their lives in plane crashes.
The Stronghold District of Badlands National Park offers more than scenic badlands with spectacular views. Co-managed by the National Park Service
and the Oglala Lakota Tribe, this 133300 acres (53,944.6 ha) area is steeped in history. Deep draws, high tables and rolling prairie hold the stories of the earliest plains hunters, the paleo-Indians, as well as the present day Lakota Nation.
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
preserves 244000 acres (98,743.4 ha) of sharply eroded
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
butte
Butte
A butte is a conspicuous isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; it is smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landform tables. In some regions, such as the north central and northwestern United States, the word is used for any hill...
s, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The Badlands Wilderness
Badlands Wilderness
The Badlands Wilderness is located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Entirely within Badlands National Park, the wilderness was designated by Congress in 1976, and is managed by the National Park Service. Badlands Wilderness, in southeastern Pennington County, includes 64,144 acres of the most...
protects 64144 acres (25,958.2 ha) of the park as a designated wilderness area and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret
Black-footed Ferret
The Black-footed Ferret , also known as the American polecat or Prairie Dog Hunter, is a species of Mustelid native to central North America. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN, because of its very small and restricted populations...
, the most endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
land mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The Stronghold Unit is co-managed with the Oglala Lakota
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people; along with the Nakota and Dakota, they make up the Great Sioux Nation. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the...
tribe and includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dance
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times...
s, a former United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
bomb and gunnery range, and Red Shirt Table
Red Shirt Table
Red Shirt Table is a table mountain in Shannon County, South Dakota part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The table, named after Chief Red Shirt is approximately long, generally extending in a north-south direction, and is located along the western boundary of...
, the park's highest point at 3340 feet (1,018 m).
Authorized as Badlands National Monument on March 4, 1929, it was not established until January 25, 1939. Under the Mission 66
Mission 66
Mission 66 was a US National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service....
plan, the Ben Reifel Visitor Center was constructed for the monument in 1957-58.
It was redesignated a national park on November 10, 1978. The park also administers the nearby Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established in 1999 to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile development. This National Historic Site preserves the last remaining Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States...
.
Genera found in the area
See also: White River Fauna for a list of fossil animals discovered in the formations that make up Badlands National Park and surrounding areas.
Native Americans
For 11,000 years, Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
have used this area for their hunting grounds. Long before the Lakota were the little-studied paleo-Indians, followed by the Arikara
Arikara
Arikara are a group of Native Americans in North Dakota...
people. Their descendants live today in North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
as a part of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Archaeological records combined with oral traditions indicate that these people camped in secluded valleys where fresh water and game were available year round. Eroding out of the stream banks today are the rocks and charcoal of their campfires, as well as the arrowheads and tools they used to butcher bison, rabbits, and other game. From the top of the Badlands Wall, they could scan the area for enemies and wandering herds. If hunting was good, they might hang on into winter, before retracing their way to their villages along the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
. By one hundred and fifty years ago, the Great Sioux Nation
Great Sioux Nation
The Great Sioux Nation is a general term sometimes applied to the Sioux. The Great Sioux Nation is divided into three linguistically and regionally based groups and several subgroups:# Lakota...
consisting of seven bands including the Oglala Lakota, had displaced the other tribes from the northern prairie.
The next great change came toward the end of the 19th century as homesteaders moved into South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. The U.S. government stripped Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of much of their territory and forced them to live on reservations. In the fall and early winter of 1890, thousands of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
followers, including many Oglala Sioux, became followers of the Indian prophet Wovoka
Wovoka
Wovoka , also known as Jack Wilson, was the Northern Paiute religious leader who founded the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language.-Biography:...
. His vision called for the native people to dance the Ghost Dance
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times...
and wear Ghost Shirts
Ghost Shirts
Ghost shirts were vests held sacred by certain factions of the Lakota Sioux that were supposed to guard against bullets through spiritual power. Contrary to popular belief, Jack Wilson opposed rebellion against the white settlers...
, which would be impervious to bullets. Wovoka had predicted that the white man would vanish and their hunting grounds would be restored. One of the last known Ghost Dances was conducted on Stronghold Table in the South Unit of Badlands National Park. As winter closed in, the ghost dancers returned to Pine Ridge Agency
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
. The climax of the struggle came in late December, 1890. Headed south from the Cheyenne River
Cheyenne River
The Cheyenne River is a tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Wyoming and South Dakota. It is approximately 295 mi long and drains an area of...
, a band of Minneconjou Sioux crossed a pass in the Badlands Wall. Pursued by units of the U.S. Army, they were seeking refuge in the Pine Ridge Reservation. The band, led by Chief Big Foot, was finally overtaken by the soldiers near Wounded Knee Creek
Wounded Knee Creek
Wounded Knee Creek is a tributary of the White River, approximately long, in southwestern South Dakota in the United States. Its Lakota name is '....
in the Reservation and ordered to camp there overnight. The troops attempted to disarm Big Foot's band the next morning. Gunfire erupted. Before it was over, nearly three hundred Indians and thirty soldiers lay dead. The Wounded Knee Massacre
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...
was the last major clash between Plains Indians
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
and the U.S. military until the advent of the American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
in the 1970s, most notably in the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Incident
The Wounded Knee incident began February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...
, South Dakota.
Wounded Knee is not within the boundaries of Badlands National Park. It is located approximately 45 miles (72 km) south of the park on Pine Ridge Reservation. The U.S. government and the Oglala Lakota Nation have agreed that this is a story to be told by the Oglala of Pine Ridge
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
and Minneconjou of Standing Rock Reservation
Standing Rock Indian Reservation
The Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States...
. The interpretation of the site and its tragic events are held as the primary responsibility of these survivors.
Fossil hunters
The history of the White River Badlands as a significant paleontological resource goes back to the traditional Native American knowledge of the area. The Lakota found large fossilized bones, fossilized seashells and turtle shells. They correctly assumed that the area had once been under water, and that the bones belonged to creatures which no longer existed. Paleontological interest in this area began in the 1840s. Trappers and traders regularly traveled the 300 miles (482.8 km) from Fort Pierre to Fort Laramie along a path which skirted the edge of what is now Badlands National Park. Fossils were occasionally collected, and in 1843 a fossilized jaw fragment collected by Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur CompanyAmerican Fur Company
The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...
found its way to a physician in St. Louis by the name of Dr. Hiram A. Prout.
In 1846, Prout published a paper about the jaw in the American Journal of Science
American Journal of Science
The American Journal of Science is the United States of America's longest-running scientific journal, having been published continuously since its conception in 1818 by Professor Benjamin Silliman, who edited and financed it himself...
in which he stated that it had come from a creature he called a Paleotherium. Shortly after the publication, the White River Badlands became popular fossil hunting grounds and, within a couple of decades, numerous new fossil species had been discovered in the White River Badlands. In 1849, Dr. Joseph Leidy, published a paper on an Oligocene camel and renamed Prout's Paleotherium, Titanotherium prouti. By 1854 when he published a series of papers about North American fossils, 84 distinct species had been discovered in North America - 77 of which were found in the White River Badlands. In 1870 a Yale professor, O. C. Marsh, visited the region and developed more refined methods of extracting and reassembling fossils into nearly complete skeletons. From 1899 to today, the South Dakota School of Mines has sent people almost every year and remains one of the most active research institutions working in the White River Badlands. Throughout the late 19th century and continuing today, scientists and institutions from all over the world have benefited from the fossil resources of the White River Badlands. The White River Badlands have developed an international reputation as a fossil-rich area. They contain the richest deposits of Oligocene
Oligocene
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
mammals known, providing a brief glimpse of life in this area 33 million years ago.
Homesteaders
Aspects of American homesteadingHomesteading
Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple self-sufficiency.-Current practice:The term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading...
began before the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
; however, homesteading didn't really impact the Badlands until well into the 20th century. Many hopeful farmers travelled to South Dakota from Europe or the East Coast to try to eke out a living in this hard place. The standard size for a homestead was 160 acres (64.7 ha). This proved far too small to support a family in a semi-arid, wind-swept environment. In the western Dakotas, the size of a homestead was increased to 640 acres (259 ha). Cattle grazed and crops like winter wheat and hay were cut annually. However, the Great Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
events of the 1930s combined with waves of grasshoppers proved too much for most of the hardy souls of the Badlands. Houses built out of sod blocks and heated by buffalo chips were soon abandoned. Those who remained are still here today - ranching and raising wheat.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
As part of the war effort, the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) took possession of 341726 acres (138,291.7 ha) of land on the Pine Ridge Indian ReservationPine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
, home of the Oglala Sioux people, for a gunnery range. Included in this range was 337 acres (136.4 ha) from the Badlands National Monument. This land was used extensively from 1942 through 1945 as an air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery range including both precision and demolition bombing exercises. After the war, portions of the bombing range were used as an artillery range by the South Dakota National Guard. In 1968, most of the range was declared excess property by the USAF though 2500 acres (1,011.7 ha) are retained by the USAF but no longer used, the majority of the land was turned over to the National Park Service.
Firing took place within most of the present day Stronghold District. Land was bought or leased from individual landowners and the Tribe in order to clear the area of human occupation. Old car bodies and 55 gallon drums painted bright yellow were used as targets. Bulls-eyes 250 feet (76 m) across were plowed into the ground and used as targets by bombardiers. Small automatic aircraft called "drones" and 60 feet (18 m) by 8 feet (2 m) screens dragged behind planes served as mobile targets. Today, the ground is littered with discarded bullet cases and unexploded ordnance.
125 families were forcibly relocated from their farms and ranches in the 1940s including Dewey Beard, a survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...
. Those that remained nearby recall times when they had to dive under tractors while out cutting hay to avoid bombs dropped by planes miles outside of the boundary. In the town of Interior
Interior, South Dakota
Interior is a town in Jackson County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 94 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Interior is located at , approximately one mile from Badlands National Park....
, both a church and the building housing the current post office were struck by six inch (152 mm) shells through the roof. Pilots operating out of Ellsworth Air Force Base
Ellsworth Air Force Base
Ellsworth Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota just north of Box Elder, South Dakota....
near Rapid City
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid...
, found it a real challenge to determine the exact boundaries of the range. Fortunately, there were no civilian casualties. However, at least a dozen flight crew personnel lost their lives in plane crashes.
The Stronghold District of Badlands National Park offers more than scenic badlands with spectacular views. Co-managed by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
and the Oglala Lakota Tribe, this 133300 acres (53,944.6 ha) area is steeped in history. Deep draws, high tables and rolling prairie hold the stories of the earliest plains hunters, the paleo-Indians, as well as the present day Lakota Nation.