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South Dakota Postage Stamps
State Flower:
American Pasqueflower
State Bird:
Ring-necked Pheasant
State Tree:
Spruce
State Flag:
South Dakota's State Seal, encircled by sunbeams, shows the state's many industries: farming, ranching, dairying, mining, manufacturing and lumbering. The steamboat on the Missouri River represents transportation and trade while the state's beautiful Black Hills appear off in the distance. In 1992 the new state nickname, "The Mount Rushmore State," was added to the flag.
Famous Person:
Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Burke, a.k.a. Calamity Jane, was a frontierswoman who gained notoriety in the 19th century from magazine writers bent on glorifying the West. Her life is one of courage and ingenuity. Both her mother and father died while the family was moving out west on a wagon train. She was to fend for herself in a strange land at a very young age. She worked as a cook, a dance-hall girl, a bawd and a bullwhacker -- whatever was necessary to scrape by. Following news of gold strikes, she moved to Deadwood in 1876 when she was about 24. Her famous love affair with Wild Bill Hickok, if it existed at all, must have been a short one, as he died the same year she moved to Deadwood. (Rumors were that she knew him earlier in 1873, had an illegitimate child by him and met up with him again in Deadwood.) Whatever the case, in 1891 Calamity married Charley Burke. In 1895 she left him to begin touring in the Wild West Shows. Six years later she was fired for her erratic behavior and alcoholism. She moved back to Deadwood and died in 1903. She wished to be buried next to Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood. Whether or not they were lovers in life, they are linked forever in death. Hickok now lies side by side with Calamity Jane for eternity.
    
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