May is National Tourism Month and many visitors will be coming to South Dakota this season. The South Dakota Department of Agriculture published this 15-page guide ca. 1930-31. The contents of the guide promote visiting interesting sites around the state, plus several pages of “South Dakota Facts.” The facts listed include historical facts, population, and agricultural statistics. Here are a few quotes from the guidebook:
- Dakota was made a territory on March 2, 1861.
- The annual farm production of South Dakota is equal to the production of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts combined.
- South Dakota has 83,154 farms averaging 439 acres each.
- In 1930, we had 613,976 horses; mules, 19,689; cattle, 1,659,038; milk cows 448,673; and 1,502,964 hogs. We had 8,569,456 chickens, excluding chickens hatched after January 1, 1930.
- In 1929, we produced 3,11,662 bushels of flax from 669,157 acres. We produced nearly three million tons of hay in 1930.
- The population in South Dakota was 583,888 in 1910, 636,547 in 1920, and 691,008 in 1930.
- We produced the highest grade of alfalfa seed in the country, and it is in demand and shipped to every section of the world.
The front cover has a color image of a family camping at Sylvan Lake and the back cover a color image of The Badlands. Inside are color images of Rapid Canyon near Rapid City and the Cathedral Spires. Other image in the guidebook are black and white, and include Father Hoyt's Church, Yankton, the location where first Territorial Senate met, a strawberry patch near Nisland, Farmer's Coal Mine in Harding County, Pasque Flower--Floral Emblem of South Dakota and Department of Agriculture Exhibit at the International Stock Show, Chicago, 1930.