History & Heritage By Tom Gri th 67 MILLION YEARS AGO The Tyrannosaurus Rex nicknamed Sue roamed South Dakota. Long before man set foot in South Dakota, dinosaurs roamed the land. Today, remnants of these creatures remain and can be experienced at several attractions in the state. | EXPERIENCE IT From their perches in Dinosaur Park on Rapid City’s Skyline Drive, life-sized concrete dinosaurs survey the bustling com-munity below. At nearby South Dakota School of Mines and Technology , the free Museum of Geology boasts mounted skeletons of dinosaurs, mammals, marine reptiles and fi sh, as well as meteorites and a fl uorescent mineral room. The big boys are buried at The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, where the largest concentration of woolly and Columbian mammoths on the planet has been unearthed since a lone tusk was discovered in 1974. And in Hill City, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research , a leader in paleontological excavations best known for fi nding the T. rexes known as Sue and Stan, even o ers cast replicas of original fossils for sale. Dinosaur Park 1804 | EXPERIENCE IT Meriwether Lewis and William Clark begin their legendary expedition. Intrepid explorers and strange tales have always been integral to the South Dakota story. of bu alo grazing in the distance. Pastel-colored cli s line the shores of Lewis and Clark Lake , where an impressive visitor center near Gavins Point Dam west of Yankton ex-plores the expedition, the tribes they encountered, and how a once-raging river was tamed by man. In opening a window to the West, Lewis and Clark crossed 11 western states, including South Dakota. Today, their 3,700-mile route is marked by the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail . The Missouri National Recreational River brought Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s Corps of Discovery to present-day South Dakota where, early in their journey, they encountered their fi rst Native American tribes. One tribe told them of 18-inch devils with huge heads that inhabited a prairie hill. Hiking in sweltering heat, Lewis and Clark ascended Spirit Mound and found no miniature devils, but they did spot a massive herd 18 #HiFromSD Lewis and Clark re-enactors
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