Created with its twin, North Dakota, on 2 November 1889, South Dakota ranks 15th in size with 77,047 square miles. Its land includes exceptional corn land in the southeast, grass land in the west, wheat land in the north, and productive land all over. 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 the richest "100 mile square" minerally in the world. Mount Rushmore, "The Shrine of Democracy," is visited by hundreds of thousands annually, and the Badlands are weirdly beautiful and undeniably bad. The state annually ranks in the first ten states in the production of wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, grass, and cattle, and the Homestake Mine is the greatest gold producer in the western hemisphere. South Dakota is 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 symbolic of life in South Dakota.