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South Dakota History Trivia

South Dakota History Trivia Quizzes

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  South Dakota History    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
South Dakota's history includes thousands of years of competition between groups who wanted the land. Hope you enjoy these questions!
Average, 10 Qns, littlepup, Nov 13 16
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littlepup
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Related Topics
  South Dakota [Geography] (7 quizzes)


South Dakota History Trivia Questions
1. Those ancient mounds one notices in the eastern part of the state--who built them?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: the Mound Builders

Too easy? Unfortunately, when archaeologists don't know much about a people, one has to go with what one knows. They built mounds, probably around 500 to 800 AD, when their culture disappeared. There are similar mounds found in many states, a thousand or more miles away, so we know they had a flourishing civilization with trade networks, perhaps many overlapping ones, but we just don't know much more about them or why they disappeared.

2. A map by William De L'Isle drawn in 1701 shows trails and rivers that indicate Europeans from this nation were traveling through South Dakota and the surrounding area. What nation was it?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: France

French fur trappers were already exploring the area in the 1600s, and by the early 1700s were regularly using the rivers as roads for travel. Water was so much easier for travel that the Verendreye brothers even passed through the state circa 1742-43, on their way back from trying (unsuccessfully) to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean.

3. South Dakota became part of the United States when what President purchased it in 1803, mostly sight unseen, along with lots more territory?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

The Louisiana purchase included all of what would become South Dakota, except for a little section in the northeast corner. Jefferson paid eleven million dollars to Napoleon, and then set about organizing the Lewis and Cark Expediton or Corps of Discovery, to find out what he'd bought.

4. Fort Pierre was established in the 1830s near modern-day Pierre, South Dakota along with over 100 other trading posts to accept the area's main commodity. Even John Jacob Astor got involved. What was making people so much money?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: fur

Fur trapping was a major source of income, and even Astor's American Fur Company took part. The periods of boom alternated with busts, though, and the heyday of the 1830s passed into a decline in the 1840s.

5. What U.S. Army officer discovered gold in 1874 in the Black Hills of present-day South Dakota? At the time, he was more famous for his flamboyant hair, uniform and leadership style.

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: General George Custer

Custer announced the discovery of gold on French Creek. He was sent to protect a railroad survey party against the Sioux, and had been making various forays into the area. The relationship between the army and the Sioux was becoming increasingly hostile. Custer's death two years later in 1876 at his "Last Stand" against the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho is well known.

6. Both North and South Dakota got permission for statehood under the Enabling Act of 1889. How did President Benjamin Harrison decide which state's document to sign first, to keep the two competitive states happy?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: signed them in random order

We still don't know which state was born first, if the legend is true. Harrison ordered his secretary of state, James G. Blaine, to shuffle the papers and hide all but the area he needed to see to sign. He signed them both at 3:40 pm. on Nov. 2, 1889, one immediately after the other. One had to be first, but Harrison never knew and Blaine may not even have known himself. In a move that would be politically incorrect today but was quite fitting then, the president used a quill from an eagle shot over northern Dakota Territory to sign the act.

7. The night of June 9-10, 1972, disaster struck Rapid City, South Dakota. Over 3,000 people were injured and 238 died in a tragic night. Some areas were declared unlivable and residents still aren't allowed to repair or rebuild in them. What happened?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: flood and dam failure

As much as 15 inches of rain fell steadily in some places, causing a 500-year rarity of a disaster. Rapid Creek as well as Battle, Bear Butte, Boxelder and Spring Creeks became swollen with water and debris, and Canyon Lake Dam also failed in the night, adding to the water. The floodplain has been enlarged and turned into golf courses, parks and other green space, in the hopes that the next 500-year flood will be less disastrous.

8. Settlers came for the attractive land in South Dakota, and one woman chronicled her family's life doing that, with books like "The Long Winter," "Little Town on the Prairie," and "These Happy Golden Years." Who was the author?

From Quiz South Dakota History

Answer: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder's family traveled around several upper midwest states, but she or her family spent time near De Smet, South Dakota, and several of her books are about life in Dakota Territory.

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