South Dakota
A look at South Dakota's top sightseeing destinations: Mount Rushmore, Badlands and more
Home to the Black Hills, the Badlands and the sprawling prairies of the Great Plains, South Dakota is a state rich in scenery and features monuments and dedications to the likes of everyone from Crazy Horse to George Armstrong Custer. It’s also a state extremely proud of its history.
Attracting some 14.7 million tourists annually, South Dakota touts six national parks, some 63 state parks and 16 historic landmarks.
Here’s a look at a few of them.
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Mount Rushmore
No South Dakota travel itinerary would be complete without Mount Rushmore at the top of the list.
Completed in 1941 and originally named the “Shrine of Democracy,” Rushmore was designed by Gutzon Borglum, a sculptor who’d previously undertaken proposals for larger-than-life, relief-like stone monuments – like Georgia’s Stone Mountain.
Completed in 1941, Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable and most-visited tourist attractions in the U.S. (iStock)
Situated in the Black Hills just outside Keystone, a small, sleepy Pennington County town of about 240 people, Rushmore is perhaps the most recognizable presidential memorial in the country as well as one of its top tourist destinations, clocking in at some 2 million visitors per year.
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Famously featuring the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, each about 60 feet in height and carved directly into the mountain’s granite face, Rushmore was originally intended to be even more elaborate. Each president’s likeness was supposed to be carved down to his waist, though this plan was quickly abandoned after funding dried up.
Washington’s likeness was the only one where this work was even started – and a sharp eye can easily make out his ascot and jacket lapels on the finished monument.
Badlands National Park
Sprawling across nearly 243,000 acres in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park is known for its jagged, colorful sedimentary rock formations created by millions of years of erosion and the recession of a shallow sea that covered the area some 75 million years ago.
WEATHER SHAPED BADLANDS OVER MILLIONS OF YEARS, RESULTING IN OTHERWORLDY LANDSCAPE
Its prolific prehistory also rendered the park – which was once home to ancestors of the modern horse and rhinoceros – extremely rich in fossil beds.
Designated in 1978, Badlands National Park is known for its diverse wildlife and large, colorful rock formations. (Buddy Mays/Getty Images)
It’s also known for its vast prairies and the diverse array of wildlife residing in them. Among species currently calling the South Dakota Badlands home are bighorn sheep, bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn, golden eagles and the black-footed ferret – one of the world’s most critically endangered mammals.
Crazy Horse Memorial
Located in the Black Hills in Custer County – and not far from Mount Rushmore – this planned monument is set to depict legendary Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse on horseback pointing at his tribe’s ancestral land.
Much like Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial is also being carved directly into a mountain. However, set to stand some 564 feet high, it’s a much larger undertaking.
With the monument having been a work in progress since 1948, only Crazy Horse’s face and hand can be made out, and there’s no set completion date for the rest of it.
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Upon completion, the Crazy Horse Memorial will be the tallest statue in the U.S. and the third-tallest in the world.
Historic Deadwood
With a population of just over 1,000 and a quaint Main Street lined with old brick shops and saloons, Deadwood might look like any other unassuming Great Plains town – but in its 19th century heyday, it was anything but.
Deadwood’s historic downtown is home to the saloon where legendary frontiersman James “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed during a poker game. (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Deadwood, located near the Wyoming border, was notorious for its lawlessness, rampant criminal activity and frequent murders.
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It’s also home to the site of James “Wild Bill” Hickok’s 1876 killing and the saloon where Jack McCall purportedly shot the legendary gunman during a poker game still stands, prominently advertising itself as the “Wild Bill Bar.”
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GUTHRIE, Okla. — Hadley Peppel and Team South Dakota had a strong showing at the National Junior High Finals Rodeo, which ran from June 21-27 at the Lazy E Arena.
Peppel, who hails from Herrick, was the winner in the bareback riding short-go on Saturday and finished second in the aggregate over three runs, finishing with 192 points and earning $870.71. Jace Wild Green, of Dexter, New Mexico, was the aggregate champion with a score of 198 and claiming $1,160.95.
Peppel was first in the short-go with 67 points and Wild Green was second with 62 points. Wild Green won both of the first two performances during the week, scoring 73- and 63-point rides, respectively. Peppel also took fourth in the first-go with a ride of 66 points.
In boys goat tying, Henry’s Ace Lammers finished as the champion with a total time of 27.99 seconds, powered by a first-place effort in the short-go (8.28 seconds). Lammers earned $1,608.53, plus another $618.66 for the short-go.
Powered by Lammers and Peppel, South Dakota’s boys participants finished third as a team with 4,525 points, only behind Texas (7,080) and Utah (6,585). Overall, South Dakota finished fourth in the team standings with 5,865 points, which was won by Texas (10.208.33), followed by Utah (7,780) and Oklahoma (7,520) and South Dakota. The South Dakota girls participants were fifth in the girls team standings with 1,920 points.
In the second-go of the ribbon roping event, a pair of South Dakota teams fared well. Colome’s Jakob Heath and Miller’s Grace Saiegna had the second-best time in 7.64 seconds, earning $1,497.02. Salenga was also sixth in the all-around cowgirl final standings, scoring 670 points. Wessington Springs’ Wyatt Fagerhaug and Buffalo’s Tommi Holmes teamed up to finish fourth in their ribbon roping performance in a time of 7.87 seconds, earning $953.63.
In barrel racing, Fort Pierre’s Emry Dowling took third in the aggregate timing with a time of 45.51 seconds, good for $1,201.43. Hadlee Landers, of Lawton, Oklahoma, won with a time of 44.514 seconds won the overall title, with Williams, Arizona’s Crosslyn Vest taking second (45.22 seconds). Dowling was also third-fastest in the short-go finals (15.031 seconds), which earned her $462.09, and she was fourth in the first-go (15.193 seconds).
Valentine, Nebraska’s Talon Scheer, who competed for Team South Dakota, had top-10 performances in the girls breakaway and goat tying in the first round of performances, taking fifth in the breakaway and 10th in the goat tying.
In the light rifle shooting competition, Ruger Pelster, of Harrison, Neb., finished third with a three-event score of 327 targets. Chisum Pelster was 11th (312 targets) and Grace Gesinger, of White River, was 13th (307 targets) in the finals.
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The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 27, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from June 27 drawing
03-16-28-30-59, Powerball: 11, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from June 27 drawing
03-08-18-22-39, Star Ball: 06, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Dakota Cash numbers from June 27 drawing
02-21-25-30-32
Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from June 27 drawing
26-32-38-51-52, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
South Dakota is getting another chief elections officer.
Secretary of State Monae Johnson failed to win the Republican nomination for a second term during the South Dakota Republican Party Convention Saturday in Rapid City, where GOP delegates instead favored another Pierre outsider to oversee the state’s elections for the next four years.
“When this office runs well, you don’t notice it. When it doesn’t, you feel it everywhere,” Rep. Heather Baxter told a capacity crowd of delegates and attendees at The Monument events center, where she received nearly 60 percent of votes cast by more than 700 party delegates.
Populist push falls short in South Dakota GOP contest for Public Utilities nod
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