South Dakota, created with North Dakota on 2 November 1889, covers 77,047 square miles and ranks fifteenth in size. Its land includes exceptional corn land in the southeast, grass land in the west, wheat land in the north, and productive land throughout the state. Its lowest point, Big Stone, is 979 feet above sea level, and its highest, Harney Peak, at 7,247 feet, is the highest point in the U.S.A. east of the Rockies. The Black Hills, called "The American Alps," are scenically unsurpassed and are described as the richest "100 Square Miles" minerally in the world. Mount Rushmore, "The Shrine of Democracy," is visited by hundreds of thousands annually, and the Badlands are presented as weirdly beautiful and undeniably bad. The state ranks annually among the first ten states in the production of wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, grass, and cattle, and its Homestake Mine is identified as the greatest gold producer in the western hemisphere. South Dakota is characterized as economically, physically, and recreationally a state of infinite variety with a well-balanced economy. First visited by white men, Verendrye, in 1743, it was for a century a fur traders paradise with a most romantic history. Its motto, "Under God the People Rule," is presented as symbolic of life in South Dakota.