South Dakota Postcards

Black Hills and nearby

South Dakota in the 1940s — Needles Highway, Custer State Park

Mount Rushmore Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt — Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt

Bridge over road — Pigtail bridge over Iron Mountain Road

Pigtail Bridge near Wind Cave National Park. Wikipedia: A pigtail bridge is a type of spiral bridge that loops over its own road, allowing the road to gain or lose elevation smoothly, especially in steep terrain. This design is both functional and visually striking, often made from local materials to blend with the surrounding landscape.

road among Badlands — Dillon Pass in the Badlands. wikipedia: named for a local rancher (few details about the rancher). A good place to view or photograph sunrises.

rocky peaks and greenery — On the Badlands Loop State Scenic Byway.

hairpin turn — Cathedral Spires, Needles Road

Evans Plunge, Hot Springs. Opened in 1890, and still operating year round with 87F/30.5C springfed water.

Battle Mountain Sanitarium and city of Hot Springs.

Battle Mountain opened 1907 as a short-term rehabilitation facility, not a longterm residence, for veterans. By World War I, tuberculosis treatment became the primary focus of the Sanitarium. To my knowledge, Battle Mountain still provides treatment to US veterans although the dedicated tuberculosis building has been demolished.

Hotel Alex Johnson Rapid City, opened 1928. Construction began in 1927, one day before work began on nearby Mount Rushmore. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Hotel Alex Johnson, a Curio Collection by Hilton, is an eleven-story property featuring six floors with 143 pet friendly rooms, multiple ballrooms, an upscale rooftop bar and restaurant, and two dining outlets off the hotel lobby. Some people believe there are hauntings in the hotel.

Has 1 cent green George Washington stamp on the back, handwritten message, and unreadable postmark.

25¢ souvenir folder

Carved out of granite on the mass known as Cougar Mountain or Six Grandfathers Mountain by the Lakota, by Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers between 1927 and 1941.

One of several pigtail or spiral bridges in the Black Hills area. The unusual “pigtail” configuration consists of a relatively short, straight span that forms part of a spiral ramp, allowing the roadway to gain elevation quickly in constricted terrain by looping back over itself in a tight curve.

White Pass & Yukon Number 69, an outside-framed 2-8-0 built in 1908.

In Custer State Park. The lake area offers picnic places, rock climbing, small rental boats, swimming, and hiking trails.

The Needles Highway is 14 miles long, closed in the winter, includes three tunnels, and is part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

A. Authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, and construction by the United States Army Corps of Engineers began in 1948. The world’s first rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) was invented in 1952 by James S. Robbins for the Oahe Dam project large earthen dam on the Missouri River, just north of Pierre, South Dakota, United States.

Built 1905-1010. The rotunda is decorated with 16 images of the Tree of Life, as well as acanthus leaves and a pasque flower, the South Dakota state flower.

Crazy Horse Memorial, carved out of Thunderhead Mountain, on land considered sacred by some Oglala Lakota, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 17 miles from Mount Rushmore. The sculpture’s final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet long and 563 feet high.

Ring-necked pheasants are non-migratory, year-round residents of primarily agricultural landscapes. a ground-dwelling, gallinaceous (chicken-like) bird of Asia first introduced into the United States prior to the 1800s

Meridian Highway Bridge on US 81. Opened October 11, 1924, Dedicated October 16, 1924. The name Meridian was selected because the bridge is located near the 6th meridian line of 100 degrees west longitude

View in Badlands National Park. Ancient horses and rhinos once roamed here. Now bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live here.

Originally completed in 1925 and carried U.S. Route 16 (US 16) over the Missouri River. In 1953, Lake Francis Case was created by the new Fort Randall Dam and the bridge became obsolete.

Corn Palace, Mitchell

Remarks on some of the photos in the folder above:

From the looks of the vehicle in the pigtail bridge photo, and the colors on the cover, I estimate this folder is from the 1960s.

Meridian Highway Bridge: The bridge is a two-level lift bridge. This is a rather rare configuration. When built, the lower level had railroad tracks, and the upper level was for vehicle and wagon traffic. It was hoped that a railroad could be attracted from the south by having the bridge already in place. The railroad never materialized, so when the bridge was refurbished in 1953, it was converted to two one-way paths. The bottom level was one-way heading south into Nebraska, while the upper level was one-way heading north into Yankton.
The bridge closed to vehicle transportation in October 2008, but opened in November 2011 to foot and bike traffic. Spanning over 3,029 feet, the Meridian Bridge is the longest double-decker pedestrian bridge connecting two states, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Randall reservoir bridge: the Wheeler Bridge, also completed in 1925, was floated up the river 70 miles (110 km) and the two bridges were joined to span the new lake. The bridge now carries Interstate 90 Business (I-90 Bus.). The main path of I-90 crosses the lake on a modern bridge 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the Chamberlain Bridge and a railroad bridge crosses about 300 yards (270 m) south of I-90.

Corn Palace at Mitchell: The Palace is redecorated each year with naturally colored corn and other grains and native grasses to make it “the agricultural show-place of the world”. Current building completed in 1921. There is a statue of Cornelius, the Corn Palace’s mascot, across Main Street from the Palace.