Dakota Marker

The Dakota Marker is the trophy awarded to the winner of the annual college football game played between the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Bison, located in Fargo, North Dakota and the South Dakota State University (SDSU) Jackrabbits, located in Brookings, South Dakota. Both schools are members of the Division I Championship Subdivision Missouri Valley Football Conference.

The Dakota Marker is a model replica of the quartzite monuments that were used to delineate the border between North and South Dakota when Dakota Territory was split into 2 states along the Seventh Standard Parallel. On June 4th, 1891, Charles Bates signed a contract and used quartzite monuments made in Sioux Falls to mark the boundary. Each monument stood seven feet tall and ten inches square at the top and were placed at half-mile intervals. The monuments were inscribed with the initials "N.D." on the north side and "S.D." on the south side. It took the Yankton, South Dakota man the summers of 1891 and 1892 to install the 720 monuments and finish the Dakota border marker project.

The trophy itself was the brainchild of Adam Jones, then President of the NDSU Chapter of Blue Key National Honor Society.

The trophy was unveiled to the public on April 21, 2004 at a ceremony just outside Hankinson, North Dakota, a small community that lies adjacent to the North Dakota/South Dakota border.

The trophy is sponsored by the NDSU chapter of Blue Key National Honor Society and the SDSU Student Association.

The Dakota Marker's inscription includes the following: N.D. to represent North Dakota, S.D. to represent South Dakota, and 190 M to represent the distance in miles between Fargo, ND and Brookings, SD.


Read more about Dakota Marker:  History

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