SCOUTING YESTERDAY | S.D. fossil find turned into T. rex tug-of-war

This week in South Dakota history: May 9-15

From Left Sue Hendrickson, Terry Wentz, Neal Larson, John Larson and Robert Tate with the skull of ‘Sue.’ (Peter Larson, Rapid City Journal)

The largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered found a new home a quarter century ago after first being unearthed a decade earlier in northwest South Dakota.

Dubbed ‘Sue,’ the paleontological wonder had been set for its first unveiling at the Field Museum in Chicago where it would be displayed as a permanent exhibit, according to the May 14, 2000, edition of the Argus Leader.

The event capped years of litigation that spotlighted the high-stakes market around rare dinosaur fossils.

Unearthed in 1990 by Sue Hendrickson — the skeleton’s namesake — while working with the private fossil-collecting company Black Hills Institute of Geological Research — both the fossils and the institute would spend years in the court system as a result of the discovery.

SCOUTING YESTERDAY: Dakota State's most wired award was two decades in the making