14. Cultural peculiarities of Great Plains and Mountains states

Colorado – the Rocky Mountains - the Great Divide. Mesa Verde National Park. Denver – the Queen City of the Plains.

Oklahoma – sooner state. Oil boom in 1920. Prince Tower, built by F.L.Wright in Bartlesville.

Arizona – abundance of cacti, cowboys, Indians. Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest. Arizona State University in Phoenix – one of the last works of F.L. Wright.

Texas – second largest state. Oil boom in 1901.

Dakota (North and South) – «Here is where the map should fold» J. Steinbeck wrote. Annual Dakota Cowboy Poetry Reading in Medora. The Mount Rushmore National Monument and the Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills.

New Mexico – the mixture of Spanish, Indian and American cultures. Santa Fe – the oldest capital city in the U.S. G. O’Keeffe Museum in Abiqiu.

Wyoming – the state of National Parks: Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Elk Refuge. The first pioneers: Bill Buffalo, J. Bridger.

Montana – here are homes of Gary Cooper (actor), J. Will (writer), Ch. Russell (painter), E. Knievel (sculptor). Glacier National Park. Ch. Russell Museum in Great Falls.

Idaho – Crystal Falls Cave, Lava Hot Springs. Boise’s Basques culture. Appaloosa horse.

Utah – Mormon state.

Nevada – one of the most thinly populated states. Las Vegas – adult Disneyland.

Kansas – the breadbasket of the nation.

1. What is the role of Great Planes and Mountains in the life of America?

2. Why did the Great Plains become America’s cattle country?

3. Where was gold found?

4. Describe the wonders of this region.

Corn Palace Festival

When the citizens of Mitchell in South Dakota inquired how much it would take to hire John Philip Sousa’s band to play for a week, his manager told them that they couldn’t afford it. They persisted. $7,000, Sousa’s representative wired back, thinking that would stop the nonsense. In 1904, that was more than most musicians made in a year. But Mitchell guar­anteed that amount, even delivering it in cash to a dubious Sousa when he arrived by train.

The appearance of the renowned bandmaster, and the publicity he received for performing in this far-flung outpost for a solid week, elevated the Corn Palace Festival into a major American event. It had started in 1892 as a way for civic boosters to get Mitchell some publicity and show off the richness of its soil. The town was then and still re­mains at the cent­er of the Mid­west’s - most pro­ductive corn belt. The farms of east­ern South Dakota pace the country in terms of productivity.

The festival worked so well that for a time a statewide movement tried to get the capital transferred here from Pierre. That plan fell short, but the Corn Palace kept getting bigger. It started out as a rather plain building that was easily adorned. But the present structure, a Moorish fantasy of domes and minarets, is covered with some three thousand bushels of corn and grass in the harvest season. Much of it is dyed and ar­ranged to form designs, with each festival having a different theme. During the rest of the year, the Palace, which seats about 4,500 people, is used for civic and athletic functions.