If you're driving on Interstate 90 from Rapid City to Sioux Falls, you might want to take a short side trip to Pierre, the state capital, mainly to see the Capitol itself. Restored to their original luster are marble staircases, Victorian leaded glass and scagliola columns. Look for the flaming fountain nearby on Capitol Lake—it's fed by natural gas.
Pierre is also the site of the huge Oahe Dam, and it's just north of where Lewis and Clark had their now-famous encounter with the Teton Sioux. If you have a yearning to see where the buffalo thundered in Dances With Wolves, enter the Triple U Ranch, northwest of Pierre, where parts of the movie were filmed.
Two Native American reservations are less than an hour's drive southeast of Pierre. The Lower Brule Reservation is the headquarters of the Lower Brule Sioux. They operate the Golden Buffalo Casino on the reservation. Across the Missouri River is the Crow Creek Reservation. The Lode Star Casino is in the reservation town of Fort Thompson.
In the town of Chamberlain, 10 mi/16 km south of the reservation, the Akta Lakota Museum displays Native American heritage and artwork. It's on the grounds of St. Joseph's Indian School.
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