South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population
South Dakota Highway 71 South Dakota Highway 71 South Dakota Highway 71 (SD 71) is a state highway in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of South Dakota. It travels from the Nebraska state line, where it continues as N-2/N-71, through the Black Hills National Forest, to U.S. Route 18 Bypass (US 18 Byp.) in Hot Springs. The road was originally a part of SD 87. It became SD 71 in 1962. SD 71's southern terminus is at the Nebraska border in Black Hills National Forest where it has the same number. In the forest, the route meets the terminus of South Dakota