KELO-LAND Centennial Gold Rush

The rush was a broadcaster's promotion, and the name on the bronze was then new geography. KELO-TV in Sioux Falls signed on May 20, 1953, as South Dakota's first television station; satellites at Florence in 1955 and Reliance in 1957 carried it to the Watertown and Pierre country, the region the station still calls KELOLAND. Its own 2023 retrospective puts this crowd at over 100,000, not the bronze's 150,000, and names the $10,000 winner as Lola Carlon, a mother of five; the plaque gives her only as Mrs. Floyd Carlon.

What the plaque says

KELO-LAND Centennial Gold Rush 1961 Dakota Territory was created in 1861 and got its first big impetus in 1874 when gold was confirmed in the Black Hills by General Custer. A hundred years later on August 27, 1961, a gold rush was created by Joe Floyd's KELO-LAND TV and Radio stations and the Dakota Territory Centennial Commission. 1439 capsules were planted in a 200' x 300' gold field. 1439 "pros- pectors" armed with gold shovels, won in a summer-long contest conducted by the KELO-LAND Stations, entered the gold field to dig for $35,000 in cash and merchandise prizes. In a separate field, governors of the 50 states or their substitutes dug on behalf of charity for $3500. On a signal from bandleader Lawrence Welk, the diggers unearthed their capsules and rushed for the "assay office" to claim their prizes. First prize of $10,000 was won by Mrs. Floyd Carlon of Sioux Falls. More than 150,000 people, largest crowd in the state's history, witnessed the "Gold Rush of 1961". Governor Archie Gubbrud, Senator Francis Case, Senator Karl Mundt, Representative Ben Reifel, former governor Joe Foss and other dignitaries attended. Climax of the Dakota Territory Centennial year, the event also included a Square Dance Festival, Amateur Talent Show, Boy Scout Camporee, Carnival, Fireworks Display, and appearances by TV stars Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Paul Brinegar and Clint Eastwood. Erected 1964 by KELO Television Stations and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ingalls Homestead and the De Smet Historic Homes — 8.6 mi
  The quarter section a mile from De Smet that Charles Ingalls filed on in 1880 and proved up in 1886, the house in town he built, and the cottonwoods he planted.

More markers nearby

• Harvey Dunn, N. A. — steps away
• Father Pierre Jean De Smet — 7.9 mi
• St. Petri Lutheran Church — 8.0 mi
• Wilder Homestead and Birthplace of Rose Wilder Lane — 8.6 mi