Of all the Plains states, South Dakota has the most to offer visitors, principally in the pine-covered Black Hills mountain range. A sacred site to the Sioux, to white settlers it represented something very different - a rich source of gold. Deadwood is the most famous of the gold rush towns that sprang up illegally. Once home to the hell-raising Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok, it’s now a perfectly preserved National Historic Landmark.
Southeast of here stands the iconic Mount Rushmore, where the faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln stare out sternly, oblivious to the crowds of snap-happy tourists. Worth seeing, too, are the crystal-lined Jewel Cave, the lunar landscape of the Badlands National Park, and the wildlife haven that is Custer State Park, with its 1,500-strong herd of wild buffalo and "begging burros" – hungry donkeys that hustle tourists for food shamelessly.
Some 80km away in Wounded Knee, where the Sioux were massacred, the Wounded Knee Museum in Wall recounts the sad story.
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