Mount Rushmore & The Badlands
Mount Rushmore National
Memorial. The four presidents carved in stone
side by side, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln,
and Theodore Roosevelt. Over three million
visitors a year from around the world come to
visit this memorial located in the black hills
country of South Dakota. It has become a symbol
of freedom and a hope for people from all
cultures and backgrounds. The purpose of the
memorial is to communicate the founding,
expansion, preservation, and unification of the
United States with colossal statues of
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore
Roosevelt." Gutzon Borglum
Badlands National Park is located in southwestern
South Dakota,. The park itself spans 244,000 acres
of eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires. Principle
vegetation in the park is mixed prairie grass. The
park contains some of the world's riches fossil beds
dating back as far as 35 million years and contains
the evolution history of such animals as horse,
sheep, rhinoceros and pig.The park is now co-managed
with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and includes the sites
of 1890's Ghost Dances.