SOUTH DAKOTA, FLAG OF

U.S. state flag consisting of a blue field (background) with the state seal in the centre encircled with the name of the state and the inscription The Mount Rushmore State. In the early 20th century the secretary of the state historical society, Doane Robinson, worked with the state senator Ernest May to develop a flag for South Dakota, the design for which was first painted by Robinson's secretary, Ida Anding. The flag, influenced by a song written by Willis Johnson, had a sky-blue field featuring a yellow sun with rays, framed by the name of the state and its nickname The Sunshine State. After the legislature added the state seal on the reverse side, the new flag became official July 1, 1909. The expense and practical difficulties of making a double-sided flag eventually convinced state authorities to amalgamate the two central emblems. On March 11, 1963, the state legislature approved a new design for use on both sides of the flag. The inscriptions remained, but the South Dakota seal was represented on top of the sun in such a way that only the sun's rays were visible. Another modification was introduced on July 1, 1992, when the new state nicknameThe Mount Rushmore Statewas substituted for the old wording. The seal repeats the name of the state, the date of its admission to the Union (1889), and the state motto, Under God the people rule. A farmer is shown in the foreground plowing his fields. In the background cattle, crops, a smelting furnace, and a steamship on a river complete the naturalistic details of the design. Whitney Smith History Settlement and gold rush A lead plate, discovered at Fort Pierre in 1913, records the presence of French explorers during 174243. Twenty years later Spain acquired sovereignty over the region, and in 1800 it reverted to France. The territory's inclusion in the Louisiana Purchase led to U.S. ownership in 1803. Trappers and fur traders were the principal European residents of the area until the mid-1850s, when land speculators appeared and the U.S. Army built Fort Randall on the Missouri River. Permanent settlements at Vermillion and Yankton sprang up in 1859. The Dakota Territory was created in 1861, but for several years settlement was confined to the southeast between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers. Wars between the Indians and white immigrants went on intermittently from the Grattan Affair in Nebraska in 1854 to the massacre at Wounded Knee, near Pine Ridge, in 1890. Fairly peaceful relations during the fur trade era thus had changed to cultural separation, out of fear if not hatred, from which Indian and white South Dakotans have never fully recovered. The search for gold in the Black Hills in the early 1870s attracted non-Indians to the western part of Dakota Territory, despite the recognition of Indian ownership by federal treaties. In 1877 the Indians were forced by Congress to accept a reduction of their reservation and to cede the Black Hills. Rapid City emerged as the main gateway city to the region. Freight and stage lines connected the mining population with the East until railroads entered west-river provinces early in the 20th century. Statehood and homesteading The gold rush was followed by a flood of settlers into the east-river region, swelling its population from about 80,000 to 325,000 between 1878 and 1887. This rapid expansion led to calls for division of the territory at the 46th parallel and separate statehood for the southern half. In the north and in Congress a single state was favoured. The southern section held constitutional conventions in 1883 and 1885; at the latter the state of Dakota was established. Dual statehood based on a division below the 46th parallel received congressional approval in 1889, and both North and South Dakota were admitted to the Union simultaneously. The Great Sioux Agreement of 1889 established six reservations for Teton and Yanktonai Sioux and opened more than 9,000,000 acres to white entry. The general complexion of life in South Dakota has not changed appreciably since 1920, when the majority of residents were positioned in enclaves on farms, ranches, small urban centres, and Indian reservations. Adverse climatic and economic conditions have caused some rural-to-urban migration among non-Indians, while limited reservation resources have forced some Indians to leave the reservations. Education, health care, social services, transportation, and tourist industries all have improved. Yet population size has remained fairly static and ethnic diversity has survived.