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A Question Mark feeding on decaying fruit in my backyard feeder log. Our beautiful world, pass it on.
Katya:
Hmm... There´s so many flower prints this season in fashions..
Olga:
There sure is! I am not sure about that... In a way I do like them but... I dunno..
But I´ve been wondering, which flower or a plant I´d be?!
Katya:
Which flower you´d be...
Olga:
Yeah!
What is environmental art?
Before we can answer this (if we can) the question must be divided into two questions:
1) What is art? and 2) What is environment?
1) What is art?
Art is a language, a means of communication.
What is communication?
Communication is listening and saying with the other. It is how life survives.
What does art communicate?
Art is language that interrogates language. When languages stagnate - when survival is threatened - art communicates the threat in a way that offers a solution.
How does language stagnate and how does this threaten survival?
A language stagnates when that which is written or spoken in the language becomes merely an ordering of things; at which point each iteration becomes an order as such, and not a means of communication - where none are actually listening or saying, and evolution ceases.
Communication is an ethical transaction in which each one must justify its saying in this moment and in the presence of a listening other. A language stagnates when all writing and all saying has been reduced to an ‘It is Written!’ or an ‘It is Said!’. (This could be thought of as a kind of fascism of the word.)
But where and how is such a catastrophe occurring?
It is happening right here in the lines of this text. Each of these words is the ideal object in which a rich variety of awkwardness is compressed. Each could be interrogated back into its roots, and beyond, into the very structure of things - by which I mean that we could stop here and now, in this moment, and listen in depth to what each word is actually saying. But to do such a thing would itself be counter-productive to the kind of ‘ideal survival’ that this flow of words permits.
So what’s the problem?
If art is for the re-creation of language - a necessary and continual balancing of human languages between the ordering of ideal objects as ‘knowledge’, and unknowable awkwardness of other things, then art is a fundamental human right and responsibility.
Art is the constant and ethical search for a paradigm of ‘awkward survival’; but the problem is that art itself has become the ideal object. The act of linguistic re-creation has been subsumed by the text it once sought to interrogate… art has been commodified, as 'Art!'
But surely that’s just a fact of life?
In recent centuries, in Western cultures, art has been taken out of the hands of people and is nowadays re-presented to them as 'The Art Experience!' - in which the knowing re-creation of language has been ceded to someone ‘creative’ called ‘An Artist!’
But in this move towards the power of an ‘ideal survival’, I have lost touch with the awkwardness of the Other - which would (if I could only understand it) make me what I am. Because the art of re-creating language with the Other has become objectified, the ethical search for an ‘awkward survival’ paradigm has all but ceased for the people of the West.
That the ‘ideal survival’ paradigm of Western cultures came to dominate the ethical instinct for ‘awkward survival’ of native American cultures in the 18th-19th century, was a ‘point of no return’ for the West. For these and other Indigenous cultures, things around were and are ethical symbols, imbued with the very awkwardness of the Other. But to the ‘knowing’ Western mind, spirit was and is invested in the image of an ideal - God.
And it is only now, in the aftermath of destructive colonisation, that we see the extent to which that differentiating mindset has led us towards ecological calamity and war. Those languages which enabled us to survive are no longer appropriate for our survival.
What can environmental artists do to improve our chances of survival?
What environmental artists can do, is try to help us solve the problem of this stagnant ‘ideal survival’ paradigm. Let’s face it, all artists are actually environmental artists, we all respond to the contexts in which we find ourselves. What’s required of artists and gallery directors/curators is that they have the will to move out of the so called ‘Art World’, and help the rest of us discover an ‘awkward survival’ paradigm.
How can we do this?
By looking towards that which causes the logic of ideals the most distress - which is the utmost awkwardness of quantum entanglement.
2) What is environment?
Environment is what we mean when we are surrounded by other things.
What is a thing?
A thing is an environment.
So an environment is a thing and a thing is an environment?
Yes, a thing is an awkward environment of things which has not yet be-come an ideal object (which it does when comprehended.) For example, ‘the chair is real’ is an ideal object; whereas the ‘chair is actual’ is an awkward environment of environmental things, extending in all directions to the edges of the universe thing and beyond.
What is quantum entanglement and what has it got to do with all of this?
“Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon whereby a pair of particles are generated in such a way that the individual quantum states of each are indefinite until measured, and the act of measuring one determines the result of measuring the other, even when at a [great] distance from each other.”
If we think of the pair of particles as two real objects apparently ‘separated by a vast distance of space’, then the fact that measuring the condition of one instantly determines the condition of the other is indeed very awkward for our ‘ideal survival’ paradigm - paradoxical in fact. But if we think of the pair of particles and the person doing the measuring as actually being one thing - an environment of environments - a constituent of a universe of infinitely overlapping environments, then the awkwardness is gone and the quantum paradox resolved.
This seems to suggest that space is not real?
On the contrary, space and time - and every ideal object in space and time - are real. It’s just that reality is not the actual state of things.
What is the actual state of things?
In comprehending, we simplify infinitely complex environments into the different ideal objects that we see around us. This comprehending is the be-coming of reality; and it’s not until a fundamental paradox arises in reality, that our way of comprehending is thrown into question.
In comprehending, we grasp together that which is apparently different - we differentiate between ourselves and the other objects which exist around us ‘in space and time’. But quantum entanglement seems to imply that this ‘differentiated reality’ is simply our way of comprehending things, and that our actual state (of which reality is but a condition) is singularity.
A singularity of what?
If our condition of reality means that we comprehend different objects in time and space, then that suggests that our state of actuality must be a state prior to difference - and of which difference is a limited condition. Such a state is understanding. Understanding is the actual state of difference. Difference is the real condition of understanding.
Understanding is the singularity of Otherness for which each other literally stands under (under-stands) all the others. What we comprehend as ‘this reality of objects in time and space’ is merely our differentiation of the actual singularity of understanding.
How can people/environmental artists make use of these things?
We and every other thing around us are actually environments of understanding. We under-stand each other as the flux of things. Each environment as a constituent of all environments. In other words we are one.
What this means is that we constitute, and are constituted by, every other environmental thing in the universe. We are the universe - we don’t just simply live in it. We are this planet Earth - we don’t just simply live on it. We are the others that surround us - we don’t just simply live beside them.
Moment by moment, you under-stand me and I under-stand you. We are entangled environments of understanding. If it is the right and responsibility for each one of us to re-create our means of communicating - our languages - then, on the basis of our unity with all other things, that is exactly what we must strive to disclose. We must learn to speak more slowly, thoughtfully, symbolically.
We are the things that appear to surround us and they us. How people/environmental artists make use of that knowledge would depend on the situations in which they find themselves. Nevertheless, by re-creating the other do we re-create ourself, or by harming the other do we harm ourself.
Stan Bonnar
31st July 2021
So, in spite of the presence of my favorite subject matter in the abandoned house, the eye is certainly drawn to that tree, right?
The question of perception is about that tree...
I see a tree (walnut, maybe) with curves that look like a woman's body. A symbol of mother earth, mother nature...
Or maybe it's just a creepy-cool looking tree.
I have visited this property in Palo Alto County, Iowa before.
Explore #386
Well, there you have it: the JJ brothers in real life! Sunglasses for ultimate awesomeness, and photo filter 'cuz it's cool. Anyways, time for the obligatory facts:
1) We are fraternal twin brothers born and raised in San Diego, CA.
2) LEGO has been our primary hobby for as long as we can remember (we started at age 3).
3) We are now both 15 years old as of April 22nd.
4) Justin is much taller than Jordan. This picture illustrates that quite nicely.
5) As builders, we like to build, and have built, in a very wide variety of themes and styles. Some days we'll feel like building one theme, and then a couple minutes later, have a great idea for some other theme. We've really tried to go in as many different themes and styles as we can, and that's what's so great about LEGO!
6) We've been to BrickFair Virginia twice, and BrickCon once. BrickCon was our first convention, and unfortunately, we probably won't be able to go to that one again for a while. We will, however, be going to BrickFair Virginia pretty much every year. Speaking of which, we hope to meet a lot of you guys there :D
7) We've won quite a few contests, and entered quite a few more. Contests are great because they push you out of your comfort zone, and make you try new things that you wouldn't have under other circumstances.
8) Some of our favorite musical artists include Coldplay, Train, and many others. Some of our favorite composers include John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, and many others as well.
9) We are both in our school's band program. Justin plays the clarinet, and Jordan plays the bass clarinet. In addition to band, we also play on our school's volleyball and soccer teams.
10) We are Freshmen in high school.
11) We have two cats named Nittany and Paws. Nittany is very obese, but Paws remains in respectable shape. This is probably due to the fact that Nittany sits by his food bowl all day long, and doesn't do any exercise.
12) Some of our friends that go to school with us share our passion for Lego, but don't have flickr accounts.
13) We love our Canon EOS REBEL T3i! We're thinking about getting an expensive macro lens for it soon.
14) Jordan takes all of the pictures. Justin watches Jordan take all of the pictures.
15) The only bad part about having cats is the hair. It gets everywhere (especially on the LEGO).
16) Our hobby is becoming more and more expensive every year.
17) Our collab for BFVA (Homefront) will pretty much take up all of our most useful pieces.
18) We appreciate comments more than favorites on flickr. Our reasoning: it takes one second to click the little star above the picture, but it takes much longer to give a nice, thoughtful comment that lets us know that we did a good job.
19) Number 20 is next. What a shocker
20) Justin's favorite color is green, while Jordan's is red. Hehe Christmas
The End.
___________________________________________________________________________
Added are our closest flickr friends and main inspirations. Obviously we can't tag everyone, so don't be offended if you aren't.
Anyways, on to the question: what do you guys think of us trying a different theme every week this summer? It might be kinda fun. We'll think about it.
Thanks for reading, guys!
Sunrise Ballet at the Malibu Pier!
Nikon D810 with the Nikon MB-D12 Multi Battery Power Pack / Grip for D800 and D810 Digital Cameras allows one to shoot at a high to catch the action FPS! Ballerina Dance Goddess Photos! Pretty, Tall Ballet Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens!
www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology
Dancing in the sand!
A pretty goddess straight out of Homer's Iliad & Odyssey!
New Instagram! instagram.com/45surf
New facebook: www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology
Pretty, Tall Bikini Swimsuit Model Goddess!
New blog!
Ask me any questions! :)
Sony A7R RAW Pretty Brunette Bikini Swimsuit Model Goddess! Pretty Hazel Eyes & Silky Brown / Blond Hair!
And here're a couple of HD video movies I shot of the goddess with the 4K Sony:
Enjoy! Be sure to watch in the full 1080P HD!
The epic goddess was tall, thin, fit, tan, and in wonderful shape (as you can see).
Check out my greatest hits compilation, and let me know what you think:
www.elliotmcguckenphotography.com/45surf/45SURF-Heros-Ody...
Epic Goddess Straight Out of Hero's Odyssey Mythology! Pretty Model! :) Tall, thin, fit and beautiful!
Welcome to your epic hero's odyssey! The beautiful 45surf goddess sisters hath called ye to adventure, beckoning ye to read deeply Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, whence ye shall learn of yer own exalted artistic path guided by Hero's Odyssey Mythology. I wouldn't be saying it if it hadn't happened to me.
New 500px!
500px.com/herosodysseymythology
New instagram! instagram.com/45surf
Pretty Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! :)
Follow me on facebook! facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken
She was a beauty--a gold 45 goddess for sure! A Gold 45 Goddess exalts the archetypal form of Athena--the Greek Goddess of wisdom, warfare, strategy, heroic endeavour, handicrafts and reason. A Gold 45 Goddess guards the beauty of dx4/dt=ic and embodies 45SURF's motto "Virtus, Honoris, et Actio Pro Veritas, Amor, et Bellus, (Strength, Honor, and Action for Truth, Love, and Beauty," and she stands ready to inspire and guide you along your epic, heroic odyssey into art and mythology. It is Athena who descends to call Telemachus to Adventure in the first book of Homer's Odyssey--to man up, find news of his true father Odysseus, and rid his home of the false suitors, and too, it is Athena who descends in the first book of Homer's Iliad, to calm the Rage of Achilles who is about to draw his sword so as to slay his commander who just seized Achilles' prize, thusly robbing Achilles of his Honor--the higher prize Achilles fought for. And now Athena descends once again, assuming the form of a Gold 45 Goddess, to inspire you along your epic journey of heroic endeavour.
ALL THE BEST on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
Modeling the Gold 45 Revolver Gold'N'Virtue swimsuit. :)
A laid-back,classic, socal lifestyle shoot!
May the 45surf goddesses inspire you along am artistic journey of your own making!
All 45surf Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography is shot in the honor of Truth, Beauty, and the Light of Physicist Dr. E's Moving Dimensions Theory's dx4/dt=ic . The fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions at the rate of c. Ergo relativity, time, entropy, and entanglement.
New blog celebrating my philosophy of photography with tips, insights, and tutorials!
Ask me any questions! :)
Nikon D810 with the Nikon MB-D12 Multi Battery Power Pack / Grip for D800 and D810 Digital Cameras allows one to shoot at a high to catch the action FPS! Ballerina Dance Goddess Photos! Pretty, Tall Ballet Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess!
Dancing in the sand!
All the best on your Epic, Homeric, Heroic Odyssey into the Art of Photography from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
Are you...
Dreaming! Dreaming the night! Dreaming all right!
Do we! Do we know, when we FLY?
When we, when we go
Do we die?
Western South Dakota is home to incredible sights like the Badlands and the Needles of the Black Hills, but nothing “sticks out” quite like Mount Rushmore National Memorial. This giant monument celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2016. In honor of this milestone, here are 75 facts about the sculpture that has captured the imaginations of so many.
1. The idea of creating a sculpture in the Black Hills was dreamed up in 1923 by South Dakota historian Doane Robinson. He wanted to find a way to attract tourists to the state.
2. It worked. Mount Rushmore is now visited by nearly 3 million people annually.
3. Robinson initially wanted to sculpt the likenesses of Western heroes like Oglala Lakota leader Red Cloud, explorers Lewis and Clark, and Buffalo Bill Cody into the nearby stone pinnacles known as the Needles.
4. Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum was enlisted to help with the project. At the time, he was working on the massive carving at Stone Mountain in Georgia, but by his own account said the model was flawed and the monument wouldn’t stand the test of time. He was looking for a way out when South Dakota called.
5. Borglum, a good friend of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, dreamed of something bigger than the Needles. He wanted something that would draw people from around the world. He wanted to carve a mountain.
6. Besides, the Needles site was deemed too narrow for sculpting, and the mountain had better exposure to the sun.
7. Borglum and his son, Lincoln, thought the monument should have a national focus and decided that four presidents should be carved.
8. The presidents were chosen for their significant contribution to the founding, expansion, preservation and unification of the country.
9. George Washington (1789-1797) was chosen because he was our nation’s founding father.
10. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was chosen to represent expansion, because he was the president who signed the Louisiana Purchase and authored the Declaration of Independence.
11. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was chosen because he represented conservation and the industrial blossoming of the nation.
12. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was chosen because he led the country through the Civil War and believed in preserving the nation at any cost.
13. The mountain that Borglum chose to carve was known to the Lakota as the “Six Grandfathers.”
14. It had also been known as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain and Keystone Cliffs, depending who you asked.
15. The mountain’s official name came from a New York lawyer who was surveying gold claims in the area in 1885.
16. Charles E. Rushmore asked his guide, William Challis, “What’s the name of that mountain?” Challis is said to have replied, “It’s never had one…till now…we’ll call the damn thing Rushmore.”
17. In 1930, the United States Board on Geographic Names officially recognized it as Mount Rushmore.
18. The carving of Mount Rushmore began in 1927 and finished in 1941.
19. The actual carving was done by a team of over 400 men.
20. Remarkably, no one died during construction.
21. The men who worked on the mountain were miners who had come to the Black Hills looking for gold.
22. Although they weren’t artists, they did know how to use dynamite and jackhammers.
23. The Borglums did hire one artist, Korczak Ziolkowski, to work as an assistant on the mountain. But after 19 days and a heated argument with Lincoln Borglum, Ziolkowski left the project. He would later begin another mountain carving nearby, Crazy Horse Memorial, which today is the world’s largest mountain sculpture in progress.
24. Mount Rushmore once had an amateur baseball team.
25. Because Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum were so competitive, they would often hire young men for their baseball skills rather than their carving and drilling skills.
26. In 1939, the Rushmore Memorial team took second place at the South Dakota amateur baseball tournament.
27. The image of the sculpture was mapped onto the mountain using an intricate “pointing machine” designed by Borglum.
28. It was based on a 1:12 scale model of the final sculpture.
29. 90% of the mountain was carved with dynamite, and more than 450,000 tons of rock was removed.
30. Afterwards, fine carving was done to create a surface about as smooth as a concrete sidewalk.
31. The drillers and finishers were lowered down the 500-foot face of the mountain in bosun chairs held by 3/8-inch-thick steel cables.
32. Workers at the top of the mountain would hand crank a winch to raise and lower the drillers.
33. If they went too fast, the person in the bosun chair would be dragged up the mountain on their face.
34. Young boys (known as call boys) were hired to sit on the side of the mountain to shout messages back and forth to the operators to speed up or slow down.
35. Each president’s face is 60 feet high.
36. The faces appear in the order: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln.
37. Jefferson was originally intended to be on Washington’s right.
38. After nearly two years of work on Jefferson, the rock was found to be unsuitable and the partially completed face was “erased” from the mountainside using dynamite.
39. Washington’s face was completed in 1934.
40. Jefferson’s in 1936.
41. Lincoln was finished in 1937.
42. In 1937, a bill was introduced to Congress to add the image of women’s rights leader Susan B. Anthony to the mountain.
43. Congress then passed a bill requiring only the heads that had already been started be completed.
44. In 1938, Gutzon Borglum secretly began blasting a Hall of Records in the mountain behind the heads.
45. The Hall of Records was meant to be a vault containing the history of the nation and vital documents like the Constitution.
46. Congress found out about the project and demanded Borglum use the federal funding for the faces, not the Hall of Records.
47. Gutzon reluctantly stopped working on the hall in 1939, but vowed to complete it.
48. That same year, the last face — of Theodore Roosevelt — was completed.
49. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum died in March of 1941, leaving the completion of the monument to his son Lincoln.
50. The carving was originally meant to include the bodies of the presidents down to their waists.
51. A massive panel with 8-foot-tall gilded letters commemorating famous territorial acquisitions of the U.S. was also originally intended.
52. Funding ran out and the monument was declared complete on October 31, 1941.
53. Overall, the project cost $989,992.32 and took 14 years to finish.
54. It’s estimated only 6 years included actual carving, while 8.5 years were consumed with delays due to weather and lack of funds.
55. Charles E. Rushmore donated $5,000 toward the sculpting of the mountain that bore his name.
56. In 1998, Borglum’s vision for the Hall of Records was realized when porcelain tablets containing images and text from the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and biographies of the presidents and Borglum himself were sealed in a vault inside the unfinished hall.
57. The Hall of Records played a role in the plot of the 2007 movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets, starring Nicolas Cage.
58. Visitor facilities have been added over the years, including a visitor center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum and the Presidential Trail.
59. The Lincoln Borglum Museum features multimedia exhibits that let you use an old-style explosives plunger to recreate dynamite blasting the face of the mountain.
60. You can also visit the Sculptor’s Studio, where Gutzon Borglum worked on scale models of Mount Rushmore.
61. The Grand View Terrace — one of the best places from which to see Mount Rushmore — is located just above the museum.
62. The Grand View Terrace is at the end of the Avenue of Flags; it has flags from all 50 states, one district, three territories and two commonwealths of the United States of America.
63. The Presidential Trail is a 0.5-mile walking trail that offers up-close and different views of each face.
64. If you start the trail from the Sculptor’s Studio, you’ll have to climb 422 stairs. Enter the trail from the Grand View Terrace and you’ll have an easier time of it.
63. Rushmore’s resident mountain goats are descendants of a herd that was gifted to Custer State Park by Canada in 1924.
64. They evidently escaped (naughty goats!).
67. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Ben Black Elk, a famous Lakota holy man, personally greeted visitors to Mount Rushmore.
68. Every night, Mount Rushmore gets illuminated for two hours.
69. Since illumination can impact the natural environment (think lost moths, among other things), a new high-tech LED lighting system was installed in 2015 to minimize the negative effects of lighting Mount Rushmore.
70. Some believe you can see an elephant, or at least the stone face of an elephant, if you look to the right of Lincoln. Others believe if you look at a picture of the mountain rotated 90 degrees, you can see another face.
71. Mount Rushmore is granite, which erodes roughly 1 inch every 10,000 years.
72. Since each of the noses is about 240 inches long, they might last up to 2.4 million years before they completely wear away.
73. After about 500,000 years, the faces will likely have lost some of their definition. But at this rate the basic shape of the presidents’ heads might last up to 7 million years.
74. Numerous things are being done to preserve Mount Rushmore. This has included installing 8,000 feet of camouflaged copper wire in 1998 to help monitor 144 hairline cracks. The copper wire was replaced with fiber optic cable in 2009.
75. So far preservation efforts have been successful, with Mount Rushmore celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2016 — all four noses, chins and foreheads (as well as all 8 eyes, nostrils, lips and ears) intact!
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States Presidents recommended by Borglum: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively. The memorial park covers 1,278 acres (2.00 sq mi; 5.17 km2) and the actual mountain has an elevation of 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.
The sculptor and tribal representatives settled on Mount Rushmore, which also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure. Doane Robinson wanted it to feature American West heroes, such as Lewis and Clark, their expedition guide Sacagawea, Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud,[9] Buffalo Bill Cody, and Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse. Borglum believed that the sculpture should have broader appeal and chose the four presidents.
Peter Norbeck, U.S. senator from South Dakota, sponsored the project and secured federal funding. Construction began in 1927; the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. After Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941, his son Lincoln took over as leader of the construction project. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941.
Sometimes referred to as the "Shrine of Democracy", Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million visitors annually.
Mount Rushmore was conceived with the intention of creating a site to lure tourists, representing "not only the wild grandeur of its local geography but also the triumph of western civilization over that geography through its anthropomorphic representation." Though for the latest occupants of the land at the time, the Lakota Sioux, as well as other tribes, the monument in their view "came to epitomize the loss of their sacred lands and the injustices they've suffered under the U.S. government." Under the Treaty of 1868, the U.S. government promised the territory, including the entirety of the Black Hills, to the Sioux "so long as the buffalo may range thereon in such numbers as to justify the chase." After the discovery of gold on the land, American settlers migrated to the area in the 1870s. The federal government then forced the Sioux to relinquish the Black Hills portion of their reservation.
The four presidential faces were said to be carved into the granite with the intention of symbolizing "an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans".
Mount Rushmore is known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers" (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe) or "Cougar Mountain" (Igmútȟaŋka Pahá); but American settlers knew it variously as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain and Keystone Cliffs. As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was on the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of military campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
Beginning with a prospecting expedition in 1885 with David Swanzey (husband of Carrie Ingalls), and Bill Challis, wealthy investor Charles E. Rushmore began visiting the area regularly on prospecting and hunting trips. He repeatedly joked with colleagues about naming the mountain after himself. The United States Board of Geographic Names officially recognized the name "Mount Rushmore" in June 1930.
Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 to promote tourism in South Dakota. In 1924, Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum to travel to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished. The original plan was to make the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles. However, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. He chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to the sun.
Borglum said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will march along that skyline."
Borglum had been involved in sculpting the Stone Mountain Memorial to Confederate leaders in Georgia, but was in disagreement with the officials there.
U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson of South Dakota introduced bills in early 1925 for permission to use federal land, which passed easily. South Dakota legislation had less support, only passing narrowly on its third attempt, which Governor Carl Gunderson signed into law on March 5, 1925. Private funding came slowly and Borglum invited President Calvin Coolidge to an August 1927 dedication ceremony, at which he promised federal funding. Congress passed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act, signed by Coolidge, which authorized up to $250,000 in matching funds. The 1929 presidential transition to Herbert Hoover delayed funding until an initial federal match of $54,670.56 was acquired.
Carving started in 1927 and ended in 1941 with no fatalities.
Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 to promote tourism in South Dakota. In 1924, Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum to travel to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished. The original plan was to make the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles. However, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. He chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to the sun.
Borglum said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will march along that skyline."
Borglum had been involved in sculpting the Stone Mountain Memorial to Confederate leaders in Georgia, but was in disagreement with the officials there.
U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson of South Dakota introduced bills in early 1925 for permission to use federal land, which passed easily. South Dakota legislation had less support, only passing narrowly on its third attempt, which Governor Carl Gunderson signed into law on March 5, 1925. Private funding came slowly and Borglum invited President Calvin Coolidge to an August 1927 dedication ceremony, at which he promised federal funding. Congress passed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act, signed by Coolidge, which authorized up to $250,000 in matching funds. The 1929 presidential transition to Herbert Hoover delayed funding until an initial federal match of $54,670.56 was acquired.
The chief carver of the mountain was Luigi Del Bianco, an artisan and stonemason in Port Chester, New York. Del Bianco emigrated to the U.S. from Friuli in Italy and was chosen to work on this project because of his understanding of sculptural language and ability to imbue emotion in the carved portraits.
In 1933, the National Park Service took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction. Julian Spotts helped with the project by improving its infrastructure. For example, he had the tram upgraded so it could reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the ease of workers. By July 4, 1934, Washington's face had been completed and was dedicated. The face of Thomas Jefferson was dedicated in 1936, and the face of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated on September 17, 1937. In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civil-rights leader Susan B. Anthony, but a rider was passed on an appropriations bill requiring federal funds be used to finish only those heads that had already been started at that time. In 1939, the face of Theodore Roosevelt was dedicated.
The Sculptor's Studio – a display of unique plaster models and tools related to the sculpting – was built in 1939 under the direction of Borglum. Borglum died from an embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. Originally, it was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist, but insufficient funding forced the carving to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase commemorating in eight-foot-tall gilded letters the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial acquisitions from the Alaska purchase to the Panama Canal Zone. In total, the entire project cost US$989,992.32 (equivalent to $18.2 million in 2021).
Nick Clifford, the last remaining carver, died in November 2019 at age 98.
South Dakota is a landlocked U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota Sioux tribe, which comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Pierre is the state capital, and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South Dakota's most populous city. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota (to the north), Minnesota (to the east), Iowa (to the southeast), Nebraska (to the south), Wyoming (to the west), and Montana (to the northwest).
Humans have inhabited the area for several millennia, with the Sioux becoming dominant by the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, European-American settlement intensified after a gold rush in the Black Hills and the construction of railroads from the east. Encroaching miners and settlers triggered a number of Indian wars, ending with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. They are the 39th and 40th states admitted to the union; President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first.
Key events in the 20th century included the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, increased federal spending during the 1940s and 1950s for agriculture and defense, and an industrialization of agriculture that has reduced family farming. Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state's population, and the area's fertile soil is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri River, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are in West River. The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, is in the southwest part of the state. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is there. South Dakota has a temperate continental climate, with four distinct seasons and precipitation ranging from moderate in the east to semi-arid in the west. The state's ecology features species typical of a North American grassland biome.
While several Democrats have represented South Dakota for multiple terms in both chambers of Congress, the state government is largely controlled by the Republican Party, whose nominees have carried South Dakota in each of the last 14 presidential elections. Historically dominated by an agricultural economy and a rural lifestyle, South Dakota has recently sought to diversify its economy in other areas to both attract and retain residents. South Dakota's history and rural character still strongly influence the state's culture.
The history of South Dakota describes the history of the U.S. state of South Dakota over the course of several millennia, from its first inhabitants to the recent issues facing the state.
Human beings have lived in what is today South Dakota for at least several thousand years. Early hunters are believed to have first entered North America at least 17,000 years ago via the Bering land bridge, which existed during the last ice age and connected Siberia with Alaska. Early settlers in what would become South Dakota were nomadic hunter-gatherers, using primitive Stone Age technology to hunt large prehistoric mammals in the area such as mammoths, sloths, and camels. The Paleolithic culture of these people disappeared around 5000 BC, after the extinction of most of their prey species.
Between AD 500 and 800, much of eastern South Dakota was inhabited by a people known as the 'Mound Builders'. The Mound Builders were hunters who lived in temporary villages and were named for the low earthen burial mounds they constructed, many of which still exist. Their settlement seems to have been concentrated around the watershed of the Big Sioux River and Big Stone Lake, although other sites have been excavated throughout eastern South Dakota. Either assimilation or warfare led to the demise of the Mound Builders by the year 800. Between 1250 and 1400 an agricultural people, likely the ancestors of the modern Mandan of North Dakota, arrived from the east and settled in the central part of the state. In 1325, what has become known as the Crow Creek Massacre occurred near Chamberlain. An archeological excavation of the site has discovered 486 bodies buried in a mass grave within a type of fortification; many of the skeletal remains show evidence of scalping and decapitation.
The Arikara, also known as the Ree, began arriving from the south in the 16th century. They spoke a Caddoan language similar to that of the Pawnee, and probably originated in what is now Kansas and Nebraska. Although they would at times travel to hunt or trade, the Arikara were far less nomadic than many of their neighbors, and lived for the most part in permanent villages. These villages usually consisted of a stockade enclosing a number of circular earthen lodges built on bluffs looking over the rivers. Each village had a semi-autonomous political structure, with the Arikara's various subtribes being connected in a loose alliance. In addition to hunting and growing crops such as corn, beans, pumpkin and other squash, the Arikara were also skilled traders, and would often serve as intermediaries between tribes to the north and south It was probably through their trading connections that Spanish horses first reached the region around 1760. The Arikara reached the height of their power in the 17th century, and may have included as many as 32 villages. Due both to disease as well as pressure from other tribes, the number of Arikara villages would decline to only two by the late 18th century, and the Arikara eventually merged entirely with the Mandan to the north.
The sister tribe of the Arikaras, the Pawnee, may have also had a small amount of land in the state. Both were Caddoan and were among the only known tribes in the continental U.S. to have committed human sacrifice, via a religious ritual that occurred once a year. It is said that the U.S. government worked hard to halt this practice before their homelands came to be heavily settled, for fear that the general public might react harshly or refuse to move there.
The Lakota Oral histories tell of them driving the Algonquian ancestors of the Cheyenne from the Black Hills regions, south of the Platte River, in the 18th century. Before that, the Cheyenne say that they were, in fact, two tribes, which they call the Tsitsistas & Sutaio After their defeat, much of their territory was contained to southeast Wyoming & western Nebraska. While they had been able to hold off the Sioux for quite some time, they were heavily damaged by a smallpox outbreak. They are also responsible for introducing the horse to the Lakota.
The Ioway, or Iowa people, also inhabited the region where the modern states of South Dakota, Minnesota & Iowa meet, north of the Missouri River. They also had a sister nation, known as the Otoe who lived south of them. They were Chiwere speaking, a very old variation of Siouan language said to have originated amongst the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk of Wisconsin. They also would have had a fairly similar culture to that of the Dhegihan Sioux tribes of Nebraska & Kansas.
By the 17th century, the Sioux, who would later come to dominate much of the state, had settled in what is today central and northern Minnesota. The Sioux spoke a language of the Siouan language family, and were divided into two culture groups – the Dakota & Nakota. By the early 18th century the Sioux would begin to move south and then west into the plains. This migration was due to several factors, including greater food availability to the west, as well as the fact that the rival Ojibwe & other related Algonquians had obtained rifles from the French at a time when the Sioux were still using the bow and arrow. Other tribes were also displaced during some sort of poorly understood conflict that occurred between Siouan & Algonquian peoples in the early 18th century.
In moving west into the prairies, the lifestyle of the Sioux would be greatly altered, coming to resemble that of a nomadic northern plains tribe much more so than a largely settled eastern woodlands one. Characteristics of this transformation include a greater dependence on the bison for food, a heavier reliance on the horse for transportation, and the adoption of the tipi for habitation, a dwelling more suited to the frequent movements of a nomadic people than their earlier semi-permanent lodges.
Once on the plains, a schism caused the two subgroups of the Sioux to divide into three separate nations—the Lakota, who migrated south, the Asiniboine who migrated back east to Minnesota & the remaining Sioux. It appears to be around this time that the Dakota people became more prominent over the Nakota & the entirety of the people came to call themselves as such.
The Lakota, who crossed the Missouri around 1760 and reached the Black Hills by 1776, would come to settle largely in western South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska, and southwestern North Dakota. The Yankton primarily settled in southeastern South Dakota, the Yanktonnais settled in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota, and the Santee settled primarily in central and southern Minnesota. Due in large part to the Sioux migrations, a number of tribes would be driven from the area. The tribes in and around the Black Hills, most notably the Cheyenne, would be pushed to the west, the Arikara would move further north along the Missouri, and the Omaha would be driven out of southeastern South Dakota and into northeastern Nebraska.
Later, the Lakota & Assiniboine returned to the fold, forming a single confederacy known as the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven council fire. This was divided into four cultural groups—the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota & Nagoda-- & seven distinct tribes, each with their own chief—the Nakota Mdewakan (Note—Older attempts at Lakota language show a mistake in writing the sound 'bl' as 'md', such as summer, Bloketu, misprinted as mdoketu. Therefore, this word should be Blewakan.) & Wahpeton, the Dakota Santee & Sisseton, the Nagoda Yankton & Yanktonai & the Lakota Teton. In this form, they were able to secure from the U.S. government a homeland, commonly referred to as Mni-Sota Makoce, or the Lakotah Republic. However, conflicts increased between Sioux & American citizens in the decades leading up the Civil War & a poorly funded & organized Bureau of Indian Affairs had difficulty keeping peace between groups. This eventually resulted in the United States blaming the Sioux for the atrocities & rendering the treaty which recognized the nation of Lakotah null and void. The U.S., however, later recognized their fault in a Supreme Court case in the 1980s after several decades of failed lawsuits by the Sioux, yet little has been done to smooth the issue over to the best interests of both sides.
France was the first European nation to hold any real claim over what would become South Dakota. Its claims covered most of the modern state. However, at most a few French scouting parties may have entered eastern South Dakota. In 1679 Daniel G. Duluth sent explorers west from Lake Mille Lacs, and they may have reached Big Stone Lake and the Coteau des Prairies. Pierre Le Sueur's traders entered the Big Sioux River Valley on multiple occasions. Evidence for these journeys is from a 1701 map by William De L'Isle that shows a trail to below the falls of the Big Sioux River from the Mississippi River.
After 1713, France looked west to sustain its fur trade. The first Europeans to enter South Dakota from the north, the Verendrye brothers, began their expedition in 1743. The expedition started at Fort La Reine on Lake Manitoba, and was attempting to locate an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. They buried a lead plate inscribed near Ft. Pierre; it was rediscovered by schoolchildren in 1913.
In 1762, France granted Spain all French territory west of the Mississippi River in the Treaty of Fontainebleau. The agreement, which was signed in secret, was motivated by a French desire to convince Spain to come to terms with Britain and accept defeat in the Seven Years' War. In an attempt to secure Spanish claims in the region against possible encroachment from other European powers, Spain adopted a policy for the upper Missouri which emphasized the development of closer trade relations with local tribes as well as greater exploration of the region, a primary focus of which would be a search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Although traders such as Jacques D'Eglise and Juan Munier had been active in the region for several years, these men had been operating independently, and a determined effort to reach the Pacific and solidify Spanish control of the region had never been undertaken. In 1793, a group commonly known as the Missouri Company was formed in St. Louis, with the twin goals of trading and exploring on the upper Missouri. The company sponsored several attempts to reach the Pacific Ocean, none of which made it further than the mouth of the Yellowstone. In 1794, Jean Truteau (also spelled Trudeau) built a cabin near the present-day location of Fort Randall, and in 1795 the Mackay-Evans Expedition traveled up the Missouri as far as present-day North Dakota, where they expelled several British traders who had been active in the area. In 1801, a post known as Fort aux Cedres was constructed by Registre Loisel of St. Louis, on Cedar Island on the Missouri about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of the present location of Pierre. This trading post was the major regional post until its destruction by fire in 1810.[30] In 1800, Spain gave Louisiana back to France in the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon for $11,000,000. The territory included most of the western half of the Mississippi watershed and covered nearly all of present-day South Dakota, except for a small portion in the northeast corner of the state. The region was still largely unexplored and unsettled, and President Thomas Jefferson organized a group commonly referred to as the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the newly acquired region over a period of more than two years. The expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, was tasked with following the route of the Missouri to its source, continuing on to the Pacific Ocean, establishing diplomatic relations with the various tribes in the area, and taking cartographic, geologic, and botanical surveys of the area. The expedition left St. Louis on May 14, 1804, with 45 men and 15 tons of supplies in three boats (one keelboat and two pirogues). The party progressed slowly against the Missouri's current, reaching what is today South Dakota on August 22. Near present-day Vermillion, the party hiked to the Spirit Mound after hearing local legends of the place being inhabited by "little spirits" (or "devils"). Shortly after this, a peaceful meeting took place with the Yankton Sioux, while an encounter with the Lakota Sioux further north was not as uneventful. The Lakota mistook the party as traders, at one point stealing a horse. Weapons were brandished on both sides after it appeared as though the Lakota were going to further delay or even halt the expedition, but they eventually stood down and allowed the party to continue up the river and out of their territory. In north central South Dakota, the expedition acted as mediators between the warring Arikara and Mandan. After leaving the state on October 14, the party wintered with the Mandan in North Dakota before successfully reaching the Pacific Ocean and returning by the same route, safely reaching St. Louis in 1806. On the return trip, the expedition spent only 15 days in South Dakota, traveling more swiftly with the Missouri's current.
Pittsburgh lawyer Henry Marie Brackenridge was South Dakota's first recorded tourist. In 1811 he was hosted by fur trader Manuel Lisa.
In 1817, an American fur trading post was set up at present-day Fort Pierre, beginning continuous American settlement of the area. During the 1830s, fur trading was the dominant economic activity for the few white people who lived in the area. More than one hundred fur-trading posts were in present-day South Dakota in the first half of the 19th century, and Fort Pierre was the center of activity.[citation needed] General William Henry Ashley, Andrew Henry, and Jedediah Smith of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and Manuel Lisa and Joshua Pilcher of the St. Louis Fur Company, trapped in that region. Pierre Chouteau Jr. brought the steamship Yellowstone to Fort Tecumseh on the Missouri River in 1831. In 1832 the fort was replaced by Fort Pierre Chouteau Jr.: today's town of Fort Pierre. Pierre bought the Western Department of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company and renamed it Pratte, Chouteau and Company, and then Pierre Chouteau and Company. It operated in present-day South Dakota from 1834 to 1858. Most trappers and traders left the area after European demand for furs dwindled around 1840.
Main articles: Kansas–Nebraska Act, Nebraska Territory, Organic act § List of organic acts, and Dakota Territory
In 1855, the U.S. Army bought Fort Pierre but abandoned it the following year in favor of Fort Randall to the south. Settlement by Americans and Europeans was by this time increasing rapidly, and in 1858 the Yankton Sioux signed the 1858 "Treaty of Washington", ceding most of present-day eastern South Dakota to the United States.
Land speculators founded two of eastern South Dakota's largest present-day cities: Sioux Falls in 1856 and Yankton in 1859. The Big Sioux River falls was the spot of an 1856 settlement established by a Dubuque, Iowa, company; that town was quickly removed by native residents. But in the following year, May 1857, the town was resettled and named Sioux Falls. That June, St. Paul, Minnesota's Dakota Land Company came to an adjacent 320 acres (130 ha), calling it Sioux Falls City. In June 1857, Flandreau and Medary, South Dakota, were established by the Dakota Land Company. Along with Yankton in 1859, Bon Homme, Elk Point, and Vermillion were among the new communities along the Missouri River or border with Minnesota. Settlers therein numbered about 5,000 in 1860. In 1861, Dakota Territory was established by the United States government (this initially included North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming). Settlers from Scandinavia, Germany, Ireland, Czechoslovakia[citation needed] and Russia,[citation needed] as well as elsewhere in Europe and from the eastern U.S. states increased from a trickle to a flood, especially after the completion of an eastern railway link to the territorial capital of Yankton in 1872, and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 during a military expedition led by George A. Custer.
The Dakota Territory had significant regional tensions between the northern part and the southern part from the beginning, the southern part always being more populated – in the 1880 United States census, the population of the southern part (98,268) was more than two and a half times of the northern part (36,909), and southern Dakotans saw the northern part as bit of disreputable, "controlled by the wild folks, cattle ranchers, fur traders” and too frequently the site of conflict with the indigenous population. Also, the new railroads built connected the northern and southern parts to different hubs – northern part was closer tied to Minneapolis–Saint Paul area; and southern part to Sioux City and from there to Omaha. The last straw was territorial governor Nehemiah G. Ordway moving the territorial capital from Yankton to Bismarck in modern-day North Dakota. As the Southern part had the necessary population for statehood (60,000), they held a separate convention in September 1883 and drafted a constitution. Various bills to divide the Dakota Territory in half ended up stalling, until in 1887, when the Territorial Legislature submitted the question of division to a popular vote at the November general elections, where it was approved by 37,784 votes over 32,913. A bill for statehood for North Dakota and South Dakota (as well as Montana and Washington) titled the Enabling Act of 1889 was passed on February 22, 1889, during the Administration of Grover Cleveland, dividing Dakota along the seventh standard parallel. It was left to his successor, Benjamin Harrison, to sign proclamations formally admitting North and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889. Harrison directed his Secretary of State James G. Blaine to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first and the actual order went unrecorded.
With statehood South Dakota was now in a position to make decisions on the major issues it confronted: prohibition, women's suffrage, the location of the state capital, the opening of the Sioux lands for settlement, and the cyclical issues of drought (severe in 1889) and low wheat prices (1893–1896). In early 1889 a prohibition bill passed the new state legislature, only to be vetoed by Governor Louis Church. Fierce opposition came from the wet German community, with financing from beer and liquor interests. The Yankee women organized to demand suffrage, as well as prohibition. Neither party supported their cause, and the wet element counter-organized to block women's suffrage. Popular interest reached a peak in the debates over locating the state capital. Prestige, real estate values and government jobs were at stake, as well as the question of access in such a large geographical region with limited railroads. Huron was the temporary site, centrally located Pierre was the best organized contender, and three other towns were in the running. Real estate speculators had money to toss around. Pierre, population 3200, made the most generous case to the voters—its promoters truly believed it would be the next Denver and be the railway hub of the Dakotas. The North Western railroad came through but not the others it expected. In 1938 Pierre counted 4000 people and three small hotels.
The national government continued to handle Indian affairs. The Army's 1874 Custer expedition took place despite the fact that the western half of present-day South Dakota had been granted to the Sioux by the Treaty of Fort Laramie as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. The Sioux declined to grant mining rights or land in the Black Hills, and the Great Sioux War of 1876 broke out after the U.S. failed to stop white miners and settlers from entering the region. The Sioux were eventually defeated and settled on reservations within South Dakota and North Dakota.
In 1889 Harrison sent general George Crook with a commission to persuade the Sioux to sell half their reservation land to the government. It was believed that the state would not be viable unless more land was made available to settlers. Crook used a number of dubious methods to secure agreement and obtain the land.
On December 29, 1890, the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It was the last major armed conflict between the United States and the Sioux Nation, the massacre resulted in the deaths of 300 Sioux, many of them women and children. In addition 25 U.S. soldiers were also killed in the episode.
Railroads played a central role in South Dakota transportation from the late 19th century until the 1930s, when they were surpassed by highways. The Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & North Western were the state's largest railroads, and the Milwaukee's east–west transcontinental line traversed the northern tier of the state. About 4,420 miles (7,110 km) of railroad track were built in South Dakota during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, though only 1,839 miles (2,960 km) were active in 2007.
The railroads sold land to prospective farmers at very low rates, expecting to make a profit by shipping farm products out and home goods in. They also set up small towns that would serve as shipping points and commercial centers, and attract businessmen and more farmers. The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway (M&StL) in 1905, under the leadership of vice president and general manager L. F. Day, added lines from Watertown to LeBeau and from Conde through Aberdeen to Leola. It developed town sites along the new lines and by 1910, the new lines served 35 small communities.
Not all of the new towns survived. The M&StL situated LeBeau along the Missouri River on the eastern edge of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The new town was a hub for the cattle and grain industries. Livestock valued at one million dollars were shipped out in 1908, and the rail company planned a bridge across the Missouri River. Allotment of the Cheyenne River Reservation in 1909 promised further growth. By the early 1920s, however, troubles multiplied, with the murder of a local rancher, a fire that destroyed the business district, and drought that ruined ranchers and farmers alike. LeBeau became a ghost town.
Most of the traffic was freight, but the main lines also offered passenger service. After the European immigrants settled, there never were many people moving about inside the state. Profits were slim. Automobiles and busses were much more popular, but there was an increase during World War II when gasoline was scarce. All passenger service was ended in the state by 1969.
In the rural areas farmers and ranchers depended on local general stores that had a limited stock and slow turnover; they made enough profit to stay in operation by selling at high prices. Prices were not marked on each item; instead the customer negotiated a price. Men did most of the shopping, since the main criterion was credit rather than quality of goods. Indeed, most customers shopped on credit, paying off the bill when crops or cattle were later sold; the owner's ability to judge credit worthiness was vital to his success.
In the cities consumers had much more choice, and bought their dry goods and supplies at locally owned department stores. They had a much wider selection of goods than in the country general stores and price tags that gave the actual selling price. The department stores provided a very limited credit, and set up attractive displays and, after 1900, window displays as well. Their clerks—usually men before the 1940s—were experienced salesmen whose knowledge of the products appealed to the better educated middle-class housewives who did most of the shopping. The keys to success were a large variety of high-quality brand-name merchandise, high turnover, reasonable prices, and frequent special sales. The larger stores sent their buyers to Denver, Minneapolis, and Chicago once or twice a year to evaluate the newest trends in merchandising and stock up on the latest fashions. By the 1920s and 1930s, large mail-order houses such as Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward provided serious competition, making the department stores rely even more on salesmanship and close integration with the community.
Many entrepreneurs built stores, shops, and offices along Main Street. The most handsome ones used pre-formed, sheet iron facades, especially those manufactured by the Mesker Brothers of St. Louis. These neoclassical, stylized facades added sophistication to brick or wood-frame buildings throughout the state.
During the 1930s, several economic and climatic conditions combined with disastrous results for South Dakota. A lack of rainfall, extremely high temperatures and over-cultivation of farmland produced what was known as the Dust Bowl in South Dakota and several other plains states. Fertile topsoil was blown away in massive dust storms, and several harvests were completely ruined. The experiences of the Dust Bowl, coupled with local bank foreclosures and the general economic effects of the Great Depression resulted in many South Dakotans leaving the state. The population of South Dakota declined by more than seven percent between 1930 and 1940.
Prosperity returned with the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941, when demand for the state's agricultural and industrial products grew as the nation mobilized for war. Over 68,000 South Dakotans served in the armed forces during the war, of which over 2,200 were killed.
In 1944, the Pick-Sloan Plan was passed as part of the Flood Control Act of 1944 by the U.S. Congress, resulting in the construction of six large dams on the Missouri River, four of which are at least partially located in South Dakota.[83] Flood control, hydroelectricity and recreational opportunities such as boating and fishing are provided by the dams and their reservoirs.
On the night of June 9–10, 1972, heavy rainfall in the eastern Black Hills caused the Canyon Lake Dam on Rapid Creek to fail. The failure of the dam, combined with heavy runoff from the storm, turned the usually small creek into a massive torrent that washed through central Rapid City. The flood resulted in 238 deaths and destroyed 1,335 homes and around 5,000 automobiles.[84] Damage from the flood totaled $160 million (the equivalent of $664 million today).
On April 19, 1993, Governor George S. Mickelson was killed in a plane crash in Iowa while returning from a business meeting in Cincinnati. Several other state officials were also killed in the crash. Mickelson, who was in the middle of his second term as governor, was succeeded by Walter Dale Miller.
In recent decades, South Dakota has transformed from a state dominated by agriculture to one with a more diversified economy. The tourism industry has grown considerably since the completion of the interstate system in the 1960s, with the Black Hills being especially impacted. The financial service industry began to grow in the state as well, with Citibank moving its credit card operations from New York to Sioux Falls in 1981, a move that has since been followed by several other financial companies. In 2007, the site of the recently closed Homestake gold mine near Lead was chosen as the location of a new underground research facility. Despite a growing state population and recent economic development, many rural areas have been struggling over the past 50 years with locally declining populations and the emigration of educated young adults to larger South Dakota cities, such as Rapid City or Sioux Falls, or to other states. The Cattleman's Blizzard of October 2013 killed tens of thousands of livestock in western South Dakota, and was one of the worst blizzards in the state's history.
Kâhta ’22
This ancient Roman bridge was built by the emperor Septimius Severus in c. 200 AD in the course of his Parthian campaign. The idea here was to enable legions from Samosata to cross the Cendere Stream on their way east. The stream itself is fairly shallow and easily fordable, so this was a question of ease rather than necessity. The bridge is 118 meters long, so it's fairly big and all a single span. The attribution of this bridge to Septimius can be shown from the inscriptions on the pillars. There were four of these, one each for Septimius, his wife Julia Domna, and his two sons Caracalla (whose pillar is visible here) and Geta. Caracalla was a royal (or imperial) prick who hated his brother, so within a year of his father's death he had Geta murdered in his mother's arms and all depictions or dedications to him erased throughout the empire. Thus the fourth pillar was torn down, leaving us with a somewhat asymmetric bridge.
The bridge today is easy to access as it's just off the road connecting Kâhta to Sincik. It served its function as a bridge until surprisingly recently - it's only around 2010 that a modern bridge replaced it and the area was cut off from all but pedestrian traffic. The setting is pretty impressive - there's a great gorge on one side and a wide open plain on the other. Well worth stopping by for a quick visit.
I have some itchy fingers for sewing, but I'm a bit stuck on what to sew.. what would you like to see here?
I still have the commission list going, but I'm not sure what turns life is going at the moment so I don't feel like I can start it up just yet.. sorry for everyone waiting on it. It is very much on my mind.
Questions for my partner. 1. What do you think about the star colors? Is rainbow okay? 2. Do you like it with or without the background diamonds. If I add them, it will be the size of a 2" hexi. Is that too big? The advantage is I would be able to put a large magnet inside.
Its a question of lust
Its a question of trust
Its a question of not letting
What weve built up
Crumble to dust
It is all of these things and more
That keep us together
Independence
Is still important for us though (we realise)
Its easy to make
The stupid mistake
Of letting go (do you know what I mean)
(c) Depeche Mode
Soon, when my Red Hood story line is over, my Scarecrow comics will be on a small hiatus. So, my question is, while that is happening... Should I make comics about Mystic? Comment below your thoughts!
~Scarecrow
¿Qué sabes del procedimiento #fastrope ❓ El #EjércitodeTierra ha organizado las I Jornadas de Formación de Instructores, impulsadas por la #EMMOE_ET y donde doce futuros instructores de Unidades del ET realizaron más de 50 descensos diurnos y nocturnos con #helicópteros #FAMET NH-90, Cougar y #Chinook F. ¡Participa con tus comentarios‼ 🇪🇸 #SomostuEjército
➡ Reportaje #DigitalTierra ejercito.defensa.gob.es/public.../boletin/index.html
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She was a beauty--a gold 45 goddess for sure! A Gold 45 Goddess exalts the archetypal form of Athena--the Greek Goddess of wisdom, warfare, strategy, heroic endeavour, handicrafts and reason. A Gold 45 Goddess guards the beauty of dx4/dt=ic and embodies 45SURF's motto "Virtus, Honoris, et Actio Pro Veritas, Amor, et Bellus, (Strength, Honor, and Action for Truth, Love, and Beauty," and she stands ready to inspire and guide you along your epic, heroic journey into art and mythology. It is Athena who descends to call Telemachus to Adventure in the first book of Homer's Odyssey--to man up, find news of his true father Odysseus, and rid his home of the false suitors, and too, it is Athena who descends in the first book of Homer's Iliad, to calm the Rage of Achilles who is about to draw his sword so as to slay his commander who just seized Achilles' prize, thusly robbing Achilles of his Honor--the higher prize Achilles fought for. And now Athena descends once again, assuming the form of a Gold 45 Goddess, to inspire you along your epic journey of heroic endeavour.
ALL THE BEST on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
Modeling the Gold 45 Revolver Gold'N'Virtue swimsuit. :)
A laid-back,classic, socal lifestyle shoot!
May the 45surf goddesses inspire you along am artistic journey of your own making!
All 45surf Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography is shot in the honor of Truth, Beauty, and the Light of Physicist Dr. E's Moving Dimensions Theory's dx4/dt=ic . The fourth dimension is expanding relative to the three spatial dimensions at the rate of c. Ergo relativity, time, entropy, and entanglement.
All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!
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A full interview with the Israeli painter Raphael Perez (in Hebrew Rafi Peretz) about the ideas behind the naive painting, resume, personal biography and CV
Question: Raphael Perez Tell us about your work process as a naive painter?
Answer: I choose the most iconic and famous buildings in every city and town that are architecturally interesting and have a special shape and place the iconic buildings on boulevards full of trees, bushes, vegetation, flowers.
Question: How do you give depth in your naive paintings?
Answer: To give depth to the painting, I build the painting with layers of vegetation, after those low famous buildings, followed by a tall avenue of trees, and behind them towers and skyscrapers, in the sky I sometimes put innocent signs of balloons, kites.
A recurring motif in some of my paintings is the figure of the painter who is in the center of the boulevard and paints the entire scene unfolding in front of him, also there are two kindergarten teachers who are walking with the kindergarten children with the state flags that I paint, and loving couples hugging and kissing and family paintings of mother, father and child walking in harmony on the boulevard.
Question: Raphael Perez What characterizes your naive painting?
Answer: Most naive paintings have the same characteristics
(Definition as it appears in Wikipedia)
• Tells a simple story to absorb from everyday life, usually with humans.
• The representation of the painter's idealization to reality - the mapping of reality.
• Failure to maintain perspective - especially details even in distant details.
• Extensive use of repeating patterns - many details.
• Warm and bright colors.
• Sometimes the emphasis is on outlines.
• Most of the characters are flat, lack volume
• No interest in texture, expression, correct proportions
• No interest in anatomy.
• There is not much use of light and shadow, the colors create a three-dimensional effect.
I find these definitions to be valid for all my naive paintings
Question: Raphael Perez Why do you mainly choose the city of Tel Aviv?
Answer: I was born in Jerusalem, the capital city which I love very much and also paint,
I love the special Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv, the ornamental buildings that were built a century ago in the 1920s and 1930s, the beautiful boulevards, towers and modern skyscrapers give you the feeling of the hustle and bustle of a large metropolis and there are quite a few low and tall buildings that are architecturally fascinating in their form the special one
Also, the move to Tel Aviv, which is the capital of culture, freedom, and secularism, allowed me to live my life as I chose, to live in a relationship with a man, Jerusalem, which is a traditional city, it is more complicated to live a homosexual life, also, the art world takes place mainly in the city of Tel Aviv, and it is possible that from a professional point of view, this allows I can support myself better in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel.
Question: raphael perez are the paintings of the city of Tel Aviv different from the paintings of the city of Jerusalem
Answer: Most of the paintings of Jerusalem have an emphasis on the color yellow, gold, the color of the old city walls, the subjects I painted in Jerusalem are mainly a type of idealization of a peaceful life between Jews and Arabs and paintings that deal with the Jewish religious world, a number of paintings depict all shades of the currents of Judaism of today
In contrast, the Tel Aviv paintings are more colorful, with skyscrapers, the sea, balloons and more secular motifs
Question: Raphael Perez Tell us about which buildings and their architects you usually choose in your city paintings
Answer: My favorite buildings are those that have a special shape that anyone can recognize and are the symbols of the city and you will give several examples:
In the city of Tel Aviv, my favorite buildings are: the opera building with its unusual geometric shape, the Yisrotel tower with its special head, the Hail Bo Shalom tower that for years was the symbol of the tallest building in Tel Aviv, the Levin house that looks like a Japanese pagoda, the burgundy-colored Nordeau hotel with the special dome at the end of the building, A pair of Alon towers with the special structure of the sea, Bauhaus buildings typical of Tel Aviv with the special balconies and the special staircase, the Yaakov Agam fountain in Dizengoff square appears in a large part of the paintings, many towers that are in the stock exchange complex, the Aviv towers and other tall buildings on Ayalon, in some of the paintings I took plans An outline of future buildings that need to be built in the city and I drew them even before they were built in reality,
In the paintings of Jerusalem, I mainly chose the area of the Old City and East Jerusalem, a painting of the walls of the Old City, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the El Akchea Mosque, the Tower of David, most of the famous churches in the city, the right hand of Moses, in most of the paintings the Jew is wearing a blue shirt with a red male cord I was in the youth movement and the Arab with a galabia, and in the paintings of the religious public then, Jews with black suits and white shirts, tallitas, kippahs, special hats, synagogues and more
I also created three paintings of the city of Haifa and one painting of Safed
In the Haifa paintings I drew the university, the Technion, the famous Egged Tower, the Sail Tower, well-known hotels, of course the Baha'i Gardens and the Baha'i Temple, Haifa Port and the boats and other famous buildings in the city
Question: Have you created series of other cities from around the world?
Answer: I created series of New York City with all the iconic and famous buildings such as: the Guggenheim Museum, the famous skyscrapers - the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Lincoln Center, the famous synagogue in the city, the Statue of Liberty, the flags of the United States and other famous buildings
Two paintings of London and all its famous sites, Big Ben, famous monuments, the Ferris wheel, Queen Elizabeth and her family, the double bus, the famous public telephone, palaces, famous churches, well-known monuments
I created 4 naive paintings of cities in China, a painting of Shanghai, two paintings of the city of Suzhou and a painting of the World Park in the city of Beijing... I chose the famous skyline of Shanghai with all the famous towers, the famous promenade, temples and old buildings, two Paintings of the city of Suzhou with the famous canals, bridges, special gardens, towers and skyscrapers of the city
Sorting out a few original blinds for the 94 , this one from TL in 1977. What route(s) would have run along the three Bermondsey locations ?. Thanks.
Question mark (Polygonia interrogationis), photographed at Chadron State Park, about 9 miles south of Chadron, Nebraska on June 11, 2020.
"why did i do this to myself!?" was a question that came up alot while i was working on this piece. an entire weekend of drawing (alot of snake scales), followed by days of just staring at it for ideas on how to fill the negative spaces on the cup, after i was done with drawing the guy and the snake.
i finally finished it today, (sept 15) after about a week of work. i spent probably half that time just staring at the cup, and the rest of the time praying that i dont make any mistakes. drawing the foot was a huge challenge. i was never too good at drawing feet, but i thought it turned out good. i also studied alot of tattoo works and japanese and chinese prints. i had to keep in mind that keeping the proportions accurate isnt a concern when it comes to the tattoo designs i have seen. so i wasnt as anal about where the leg began on the body. as long as it is graphically pleasing to the eye, it is good.
i plan to just draw stick men on cups for the next few weeks.
cheers,
boey
No that wasn't a question! I want you to like my legs! If wanting isn't sufficient, then I demand that you like my legs!
This snug fitting strapless black & gold minidress that came from coquetryclothing.com.
I've matched it up with my super shiny Platino Cleancut 15 denier pantyhose over Hanes Alive Barely There pantyhose and my 5½" black patent pumps.
To see more pix of me in other tight, sexy and revealing outfits click this link:www.flickr.com/photos/kaceycdpix/sets/72157623668202157/
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I thought quite a bit today about this question. What is the difference between a photograph, a good photograph and a great photograph. Obviously there are things that can improve any photograph, rule of thirds, proper exposure, leading lines, focus on the subject, elimination of distracting objects, etc. But I feel that it is so much more than that. All those things turn a photograph into a good photograph, i think a great photograph can capture the personality or style of the photographer as well. I thought about this this weekend when 4 great photographers set up their gear all in a line with virtually the same equipment, shooting the sunset in the smokies. I also knew that each one of those people would put their own stamp on that image. I always like seeing someone who can shoot something that has been done a million times but can do it differently than all those others. I also like seeing a thumbnail, photo, or group of photos and can tell that is a friends because i can tell by the style, by the processing, by the mood. So to me a good photograph has used some elements of skill to advance it from just a photograph to a good photograph but a great photograph captures the essence of the scene in front of the camera and the essence of the photographer behind it. Your thoughts?