1940 Souvenir Map of the Black Hills of South Dakota
DESCRIPTION
A wonderfully colorful celebration of the Black Hills at the dawn of modern automobile tourism, this pictorial map combines cowboys, gold mines, wildlife, Mount Rushmore, roadside attractions, and improved highways into an irresistible invitation to explore western South Dakota.
Touring the Black Hills
Published in 1940 by the Black Hills and Bad Lands Association and drawn by K. Pyle, the Souvenir Map of the Black Hills of South Dakota promoted one of the West's increasingly popular vacation destinations. Bold red highways guide motorists between Rapid City, Deadwood, Lead, Sturgis, Spearfish, Hot Springs, and Custer, while the legend distinguishes paved, gravel, graded-earth, and dirt roads. Illustrations transform the practical road map into a lively portrait of the region, combining cowboys, prospectors, stagecoaches, rodeos, and Wild Bill Hickok with automobiles, airplanes, and modern highways.
Major attractions include Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, the Needles, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Deadwood, Homestake Gold Mine, Sylvan Lake, Spearfish Canyon, Bear Butte, and the Badlands. Bison, elk, deer, and other wildlife fill the landscape, while the Days of '76, Gold Discovery Days, and regional rodeos emphasize the area's carefully cultivated mixture of Western history, scenery, and outdoor recreation.
Selling the American West
The reverse makes the map's promotional purpose even clearer. Beneath the headline “Why Not Have a Real Vacation this Year in the Mountainous Black Hills of South Dakota,” photographs advertise Mount Rushmore as a “Shrine of Democracy,” alongside Sheridan Lake, the Needles, Sylvan Lake Lodge, Spearfish Canyon, the Badlands, buffalo herds, and horseback riding. Issued as automobile ownership and improved highways were transforming American vacations, the map helped promote the Black Hills as an accessible destination for motorists and families.
Beneath this cheerful tourist imagery lies a more complicated history. The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota, whose rights to the region were recognized by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie before the discovery of gold led to an influx of miners and eventual federal seizure of the land. Pyle's map instead presents the region through Western adventure and tourism, with Native people appearing primarily through stereotyped imagery. The contrast makes the map an interesting record of how the history and identity of the Black Hills were being presented to American tourists during the first half of the twentieth century.
CONDITION
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