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Things to do in Rapid City
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Museum of Geology
The museum is found in the Black
Hills of South Dakota, in the city of Rapid City on the campus
of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology where world
class exhibits of rare fossils and minerals can be viewed freely
by the public. It is an educational museum with numerous family
events that will educate, inform and thrill you with wonderful
examples of ancient discoveries made in the state and region.
The museum is 125 years old this year, and was begun in 1885,
when construction of the prep building of the school of mines
and technology was started. The same day as the construction,
Mr. G. E. Bailey offered the Board of Trustees his collection of
magnificent fossils and minerals containing over 5000 specimens.
Of course the offer was enthusiastically accepted and the
cabinet, as they were called back then, was shipped to the
school from Cheyenne. After that, there were many exciting
additions added to the collection, and over the years, various
labeling and mixing techniques soon covered the basic
collection. In 1899, Cleophas C. O'Hara went into the Badlands
and soon the School of Mines Canyon was discovered and named
with a marvelous alligator snout becoming the first collectible
found for the school and is still shown today. The entire
collection was moved to the main building in 1903 so as to
better preserve and maintain this awesome collection. In 1923,
Glenn L. Jepsen, a geology student that was very interested in
fossils went to a dig for the summer with the American Museum of
Natural History in western Nebraska; looking for fossils and
whatever else could be found. Glenn brought back the Agate
Springs rhino slab that is on exhibit in the museum and it was
the first time the museum was opened to the public. Over the
years, more fabulous specimens were added to the collection,
some from the White River Badlands, Hot Springs, the Hell Creek
Formation by Camp Crook, Nebraska, and the Big Pig Dig in the
Badlands.
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Bear Country USA
This spectacular attraction,
8 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota, was started in 1972,
by Pauline and Doc Dennis Casey with 11 black bears, a big bull
elk, 3 buffalo and a wolf. Pauline and 5 of their 7 children
still operate the park, but it has grown to include so many more
animals. It is set on 250 acres of magnificent Dakota
grasslands, where visitors can drive around a three mile track
and experience these fantastic animals up close and oh so
personal. They now have the biggest collection of black bears in
the entire universe and you will so these lovable bears doing so
many funny things that you will want to come back again and
again. The Casey's have made incredible habitats for their
animals, so that you will have a better chance to see their play
and antics, while also giving the animals a natural place to
live, breed and enjoy their lives. The 200 plus black bears are
thrilling to see and to watch, as well as the young cubs and
pups that are born here. The bear cubs arrive in late January,
with their mothers still in hibernation, and stay with them
eight weeks before being taken away sometime in March, so that
the cubs will have a better chance of living, they can be
managed and marketed. Out in the wild, only 40% of these
adorable little creatures will survive, while here in the park
it is raised to 98%. Their "human imprinting" at an early age
helps them when the bears are grown and need vaccinations, or
moving them around. By doing this humane thing, zoos, wildlife
parks and movie studios come here looking for animals for their
use. Since the size of the animal population has grown, and not
the area where they are kept, enclosures are renovated and
landscaped often, keeping the animals natural habitats as close
to the wild as possible. Their new Wildlife Center is the
perfect place for showcasing the beautiful animals, and gives
those visiting a much better opportunity to see them close and
enjoy their special ways of having fun and playing around. The
center houses young bobcats, skunks, foxes, badgers, wolf pups,
black bear cubs, mountain lions and coyotes. The park practices
its own schedule of conservation by rotating the grazing areas
of the animals and a special mix of grasses that include crested
wheat grass, buffalo grass and brome. Native shrubs and trees
have been planted to add aesthetic value, as well as act as
buffers from the harsh winter winds, and water is irrigated by
the numerous ponds and watering holes that is also used by the
animals. Waterfowl and chickens run free and the eggs from the
chickens are used in the animal enrichment food in their
babyland. They also have timber wolves, arctic wolves, bighorn
sheep, striped skunk, beaver, Rock Mountain goat, badgers,
reindeer, grizzly bears, porcupine, bobcats, black bear,
buffalo, raccoon, red fox, river otter, mountain lion, Canadian
lynx, coyote and elk.
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Chapel in the Hills
Chapel in the Hills is a
stave church that was built in 1969, in Rapid City, South
Dakota, and is an exact copy of the Borgund stave church in
Norway. Stave churches are medieval wooden churches that were
constructed using the post and beam method of construction that
was an older type of timber framing. The wall frames are made
with vertical boards, and the load-bearing posts, are called
stafr in Old Norse, and have been the reason that these
fashioned buildings were called staves. The only remaining stave
churches are found in Norway, except one, but they were quite
common during the medieval times. The only church not in Norway
is in Sweden, at Hedared, built in the 15th century; with
another that was down in Norway and relocated and rebuilt in
Germany. The Chapel in the Hills was built for the radio
ministry of the Lutheran Vespers; and has a special ministry
that belongs to the South Dakota Synod that is part of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Also at the site, you
will see a log cabin that was built by a gold prospector from
Norway, and is now a museum; and a stabbur or grass-roofed house
that is both the gift shop and visitor center. The chapel was
the dream of Dr. Harry R. Gregerson, preacher and originator of
the Lutheran Vespers radio hour, who wanted a place to put his
ministry so that it would grow and affect as many listeners as
possible. This was in the 1960s, when so many disgruntled people
were protesting all over the country about anything that could
affect them. He soon realized that the perfect place to build
such a dream house would be in the beautiful Black Hills of
South Dakota, but as to what kind of structure it should be took
more thought and meditation. Many of the residents of South
Dakota were from Norway, so a suggestion as to the type of
building was settled as a stave church, making those from around
the state and elsewhere would feel at home in this marvelous
building. The Borgund stave church in Norway was built around
1150, and is the most complete and preserved example of a stave
church in the world and would make the chapel have a better
cultural history with the community. The funding was to come
from Mr. Arndt E. Dahl, a Rapid City resident, who only wanted
to glorify God, and some memorial to his parents, his father
being the Rev. Anton A. Dahl, a pioneering pastor himself. All
the land, the buildings and even the landscaping was donated by
Arndt and it is a place that must be visited and enjoyed, if
only for the serenity and peace that emanates from the awesome
forests and grasslands around the chapel. The chapel was
dedicated in 1969, and became the home of the Vespers radio
program until 1975, when it was moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota
and has since undergone a name change; although still praising
God in over 200 stations around the world every week.
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