FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Nov. 15, 2007
CONTACT:  Jeff Mammenga, (605) 773-6000, Jeff.Mammenga@state.sd.us

SDSU-NDSU football trophy being displayed at Cultural Heritage Center

PIERRE, SD -- Fans of the South Dakota State University-North Dakota State University football rivalry may want to visit the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center this Friday from 12-1 p.m.

The Dakota Marker Trophy, given annually since 2004 to the winner of the SDSU-NDSU football game, will be on display.

The trophy was created in 2004 by the NDSU chapter of Blue Key National Honor Society and is co-sponsored by the SDSU Student Association. With both NDSU and SDSU making the switch to Division 1-AA in 2004 and the long history between them, nothing seemed more fitting than a little bait for the rivalry. The trophy was unveiled Oct. 5, 2004, standing over 2 feet tall and weighing 230 pounds with the base.  

Each year the Bison and the Jackrabbits square off to decide where the Dakota Marker will call home for the next 365 days. This Saturday's game, the 94^th meeting of the North Dakota State and South Dakota State football teams, will decide which school will get to stand in the spotlight for the next year and which school gets to stare at a vacant trophy case. 

This is also a big game because it's for the Great West Conference championship. This will all occur with the Dakota Marker series 2-1 in favor of NDSU. North Dakota State holds a 51-37-5 lead in the all-time series with North Dakota State winning 41-28 in Fargo last season. The Bison have won 10 of the last 13 meetings. 

The Cultural Heritage Center, headquarters of the South Dakota State Historical Society, is a fitting place for the Dakota Marker Trophy to be displayed because the trophy is a scaled down replica of what was used to indicate the border between North and South Dakota when the Dakota Territory was split into two states along the Seventh Standard Parallel in 1889.

Charles Bates of Yankton signed a contract and used granite monuments made in Sioux Falls to mark the boundary. Each monument stood 7 feet tall, was 10 inches square at the top and was placed every half-mile. The north side of each monument was inscribed with the initials "N.D.", and "S.D." was placed on the south side. It took Bates the summers of 1891 and 1892 to install the 720 monuments and finish the Dakota border marker project. Many of these monuments still stand today.