The South Dakota Badlands seldom fails to stir a sense of wonder to
those who encounter its surreal landscape for the first time. From a
distance, the eroded formations look like the ruins of an alabaster
city, but upon closer inspection, the sculptured terrain appears rough
and rugged. Within these pages of historic photographs, the remarkable
story of the Badlands unfolds. After the process of geological changes,
Indians came to the Badlands on seasonal hunting trips. In the mid
1800s, fur traders, fossil hunters, and freight haulers passed through
to places more hospitable. Cattlemen and homesteaders arrived in the
1890s, intent on staying, but most gave up and left. To preserve its
grandeur, Congressman Peter Norbeck and his associate Ben Millard worked
for many years to set aside thousands of acres of the unyielding land
for a national monument in 1939. The Badlands became a national park in
1978.