The Badlands Wall
The wall is more than sixty miles long. It is the geologic feature around which park boundaries were drawn. The Loop Road follows the Wall, sometimes dipping to the lower prairie, then climbing back to the rim.
Anywhere a wagon could be worked up and down the Wall was called a pass by homesteaders. Getting a team and wagon through one of the steep, uneven passes was not to be undertaken lightly.
Today, daily, thousands of people easily negotiate the passes in pickups and automobiles.
Lower Photo
In the 1920s when some of the more successful homesteaders had cars, even they had problems with the passes. No one dared tackle Badlands roads in wet weather without a shovel at hand to dig Model-T's out of ruts and mudholes.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Natural Features.
Location. 43° 47.15′ N, 101° 54.11′ W. Marker is in Interior, South Dakota, in Jackson County. It can
this page online
Regionally, this marker is on South Dakota’s Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation, in West River, and in the Badlands. It is also in the American Lewis & Clark Corridor, on the prairies, and on the Northern Plains. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Ruperts Land and also the Louisiana Purchase.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Mako sica (approx. 1.9 miles away); Anatomy of a Badland (approx. 1.9 miles away); Typical Sod House Homesteader (approx. 2½ miles away); Badlands Oasis (approx. 2.7 miles away); Civilian Conservation Corps Camps (approx. 2.8 miles away); Cliff Shelf Nature Trail (approx. 2.9 miles away); Saddle Pass Trail (approx. 4.1 miles away); A 75-Million-Year Walk
Another marker is no longer nearby. Closer than You Imagined (was approx. 3.3 miles away but has been confirmed missing).
More about this marker. Marker is in Badlands National Park and requires an entrance fee or annual pass.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on July 30, 2011, by Bill Pfingsten of Bel Air, Maryland. This page has been viewed 1,613 times since then and 55 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on July 30, 2011, by Bill Pfingsten of Bel Air, Maryland.
