South Dakota: Little-known Facts and Trivia

If you plan to write a script for a movie set in South Dakota, you can forget about showing police officers being beaten, struck or treated in an offensive manner. According to South Dakota Fun Facts and Trivia, such movies are forbidden in the state. It's also illegal to lie down and fall asleep in a cheese factory there.

Pierre, South Dakota is the only state capital that doesn't share any letters with its state. "Under God the People Rule" is the state motto. In 1978, the honey bee was named the state insect.

Mr. Rushmore didn't always have that name. Before someone carved presidential faces on the stone, it was known as Mountain of Rock. Carrie Ingalls, the youngest sister in the "Little House on the Prairie" series, lived in South Dakota most of her adult life. Other famous residents include newscaster Tom Brokaw, Calamity Jane, Theodore Roosevelt, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Wild Bill Hickok was killed in 1876 in Deadwood.

While it's primarily known for agriculture, the state hosts the Sturgis Rally and Races during the first full week of August. Motorcyclists from all over the world participate in hill climbing and racing events. Total attendance tops 650,000.

The state also boasts the world's largest petrified wood park at Lemmon. Visitors can see the remains of life 50 million years ago arranged in unusual forms. Some 60,000 people in nine official tribes make up one of the largest Native American populations in the United States.

The next time you note sawdust on the floor of a bar or saloon in a movie, think of Deadwood, South Dakota. This is supposedly where the tradition of putting sawdust on the floors began due to the amount of gold dust that fell to the floor. Proprietors used the sawdust to hide the gold, which was swept up at the end of each night.

South Dakota is well known for its Black Hills Gold. The name derives from the Lakota words for "hills that are black". From a distance, the pine-covered hills, which rise to several thousand feet above the prairie, look black. They are home to Jewel Cave, which is the fourth largest in the world.