As you travel east or west along U.S. Highway 212 across eastern South Dakota, a town rises up out of the undulating farm land. You have reached Gettysburg ... South Dakota, that is. As a dryly humorous billboard proclaims, it is: "Where the battle wasn't."
As you descend into the Missouri River valley going west on U.S. Highway 14, a city creeps over the bluffs. You have entered Pierre, South Dakota’s state capitol city.
If you head west across the northeast corner of South Dakota on U.S. Highway 12, a large city rises from the prairie 96 miles out of Milbank, SD. That city is known as Aberdeen. Aberdeen? Why that? It came about thanks to the president of a railroad -Alexander Mitchell, head of the Milwaukee Road- having been born there. When the town was platted next to the Milwaukee's tracks, it was named after his home town.
When I first visited South Dakota in 1994, my parents toted along a big guidebook for the state. In addition, we had a Mobil Travel Guide that covered the state. Having them were good ideas, given how tourist-oriented the state is, especially in the western half centered around the Badlands and the Black Hills.
