Pierre, South Dakota

Day 16 – The bus picked us up early and headed back down river for an unscheduled scenic drive. We were supposed to view the Medicine Knoll Overlook and a stop at “visions of the past” for photos but our bus driver was not familiar with the area so we never found the overlook and we think the photo op was the silhouettes of the horses, Indians and cowboys on the hill, which I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get a picture. We were in a hurry to head back to town for our tour of the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center. There was so much to see that the hour we allotted for the tour was not enough. When we come back, we will be sure to allow more time.


The most interesting thing to me was the Sioux horse effigy dance stick, which is one of only two known sculptures of its kind in the world.

This piece was carved by a Souix warrior probably around 1875 to honor his faithful steed that had died in battle. Another favorite was learning that when “Sitting Bull” was shot and killed his horse went into his “show routine.” (Sitting Bull was in the Wild Bill Wild West Show). I guess that’s really not funny, but it sure must have been a site to see.

Next stop was the State Capitol Building.

When the S.D. Governor is elected, they hold the inaugural ball inside the Capitol Building, where the Governor and his wife make their entrance down the Grand Stairs.

So we just had to get our group photo on those stairs.


The building itself was constructed between 1905 and 1910. The stone, marble and woodwork were very detailed and beautiful. It was designed and built for just under $1 million. 66 Italian artists were hired to lay the terrazzo tile flooring. Each artist was given a special blue stone as a “signature stone” for the artist to place somewhere in the Capitol at the artist’s discretion. Only 55 of the 66 blue stones have been found.

The Rotunda floor is a combination of American-laid prism glass and Italian terrazzo tile. American-laid prism glass was used in order to allow light to flow through to the first level of the Capitol and also allow light from the first level to penetrate into the Rotunda.

Originally the building did not have running water, so the marble water fountains were filled with water and a brass cup was provided each day for the employees and visitors. Today they have added solid brass spigots and handles and they are now plumbed for water.

After lunch, our guide boarded our bus and off to the Verendrye Monument. The Monument marks a spot where the French buried an engraved lead plate in the mid 1741.

What a view of the Missouri River. I’ll bet this is where the Indians sat and watched as Lewis & Clark came around the bend of the River.

Not far was Lilly Park, which is the confluence of the “Bad River” and Missouri River.

It was named the Bad River by the Indians because in the 1800s a storm from hundreds of miles away caused a flash flood which came roaring through, killing hundreds of Indians. Lilly Park is where the historical meeting of Lewis & Clark and the Souix Nation took place. President Jefferson had commissioned Lewis & Clark to make peaceful contact with the native nations. Unfortunately no one on the expedition could communicate with the Teton Souix, which led to an armed confrontation. LUCKY FOR US Chief Black Buffalo diffused the situation and the expedition continued peacefully to the Pacific Ocean. We were very lucky to have “Bill” as our tour guide. He is the President of the Local Chapter of the Lewis & Clark Heritage Foundation and was involved with the filming of the 2004 reenactment. The movie “Dancing With Wolves” was filmed in Pierre, S.D. and he was part of the film crew.

Our last tour of the day was the Oahe Dam and Powerhouse. Unfortunately, due to security, we were not allowed to take pictures so below is the only picture we have.

Construction began in 1948 and water was diverted through the outlet works in 1958. In 1959, the earth and shale dam reached its full height of 245 feet. The Oahe Dam is the world’s fourteenth largest dam by volume, creating a lake that stretches 231 miles upstream. The lake covers 375,000 acres of land, and we were told the people who lost their land to the Dam were not happy campers…. Power generation began in 1962. The power plant discharges approximately 436,000 gallons of water per second when operating at peak load capacity! Water enters the power plant through 7 intake structures. Each structure has 8 openings 11 feet high. Water entering through the plant is controlled (like an open-ended tin can) and moves through the tunnel at approximately 11 miles per hour.

We ended our day back at the campground for our trip meeting to go over the next day’s travel and to celebrate the birthdays thus far with homemade cake.

Day 17, the drive to Bismarck, North Dakota, was something I’ll never forget. We drove the back roads along the Missouri River. What beautiful scenery, the whole 213 miles! We even saw buffalo, not a lot, but there was one buffalo farm along the way.

I was amazed at how you could see the road for miles and miles. As we came across a casino, it looked like a posse heading out.