A group of rugged mountains of southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming rising to 2,208.8 m (7,242 ft) at Harney Peak. The Black Hills are a major recreational area.
Black Hills
| Dictionary: Black Hills |
A group of rugged mountains of southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming rising to 2,208.8 m (7,242 ft) at Harney Peak. The Black Hills are a major recreational area.
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Black Hills |
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| US History Encyclopedia: Black Hills |
Black Hills, a group of mountains in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The hills were formed by an upthrust of rock dating to the Archean geologic eon through the overlying strata to a maximum height of 7,242 feet above sea level. Harney Peak, the highest point, is the granite core of the upthrust. From the surrounding prairie through the foothills to Harney Peak, each stratum rises in regular order, from shales to gypsum, sandstone, schists, limestones, and granite. As they fold back, these layers afford an unusual opportunity to study the geological formations underlying the region.
The major rivers in the area include the Belle Fourche and the Cheyenne. Most of the forest and timberlands in South Dakota cover the Black Hills region and lie within the Black Hills National Forest. In addition, the area contains one of the nation's largest bison herds. The Black Hills region produces a number of minerals, including gold, silver, lead, copper, iron ore, tin, petroleum, salt, coal, mica, and gypsum.
The Black Hills became part of the Great Sioux Reservation by terms defined in the Laramie Treaty of 1868. However, gold was discovered in the hills in 1874 by miners accompanying General George Custer's expedition. The federal government sought to protect Indian rights to the Black Hills until a new treaty could withdraw those rights. When the Sioux refused to give up the Black Hills, the United States opened the region to gold miners, who rushed to Sioux land seeking the precious metal. The miners first assembled at Custer, South Dakota, where fifteen thousand passed the winter of 1875 to 1876. When gold was found in Deadwood Gulch, there was a stampede from Custer to the new diggings early in 1876, and Deadwood quickly became the most exciting and picturesque gold camp on the continent. The diggings at that time were entirely in placer gravel, but before autumn the Homestake gold mine had been established at Lead and had passed into the hands of San Francisco capitalists. The Homestake mine was developed and for over one hundred years yielded fabulous sums.
The invasion of gold miners led to the Black Hills War, the high point of which was the destruction of Custer's army by the Sioux and Cheyenne on the banks of the Little Bighorn River in June 1876. The Indians lost the war, however, and in 1877 the U.S. government forced a treaty of relinquishment and established a civil government in the region.
In 1925 the Black Hills were chosen as the site for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. This $1 million enterprise was a massive sculpture carved into granite on the southeast-facing side of Mount Rushmore, northeast of Harney Peak. The memorial depicts the heads of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It stands five hundred feet above the valley floor, and each president's head stands sixty feet tall. The region is also the site of Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave and Devils Tower National Monuments.
The Black Hills remain an area of conflict today. The Sioux continue to fight to regain lands taken by the United States in the 1870s. In 1973 a group of Oglala Sioux and American Indian Movement (AIM) activists seized the town of Wounded Knee and demanded that the U.S. Senate investigate reservation living conditions and honor treaties made in the past. In 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the Sioux be paid about $106 million compensation for the seizing of their Black Hills lands. This has complicated the issue for the Sioux, many of whom reject the reparations because they want the Black Hills returned to them.
Bibliography
Geores, Martha. Common Ground: The Struggle for Ownership of the Black Hills National Forest. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996.
Lee, Robert. Fort Meade and the Black Hills. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
Parker, Watson. Gold in the Black Hills. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966.
Peattie, Roderick. The Black Hills. American Mountain Series. New York: Vanguard Press, 1952.
—Doane Robinson
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Black Hills |
Black Hills, rugged mountains, c.6,000 sq mi (15,540 sq km), enclosed by the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne rivers, SW S.Dak. and NE Wyo., and rising c.2,500 ft (760 m) above the surrounding Great Plains; Harney Peak, 7,242 ft (2,207 m) above sea level, is the highest point in the Black Hills and in South Dakota. The mountains received their name from the heavily forested slopes that appear black from afar. Native Americans, white settlers, and railroad companies depended on wood from the Black Hills for fuel and building material. Gold was discovered in the hills in 1874 by an expedition led by Gen. George Custer, and the resulting gold rush drove out the indigenous population. White settlements grew rapidly after 1876, chiefly in such mining towns in South Dakota as Custer, Deadwood, Lead, Spearfish, and Rapid City, the largest city in the Black Hills. Gold is still mined in the area. Other important minerals found in the hills are uranium, feldspar, mica, and silver. The Black Hills are a major recreational area of the northern plains and a principal tourist spot. Most of the slopes are in two national forests. Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, and Custer State Park are attractions. The 6,000 ft (1,829 m) Mt. Rushmore, with its gigantic open-air sculpture of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt, is famous throughout the world (see Mount Rushmore National Memorial).
| Geography: Black Hills |
Mountains in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming.
- Sacred to the Sioux. The opening of the Black Hills to settlement by whites in 1874 led to the Battle of Little Bighorn.
- Location of Mount Rushmore.
| Wikipedia: Black Hills |
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This article is about the region in South Dakota. For other places, see Black Hills (disambiguation).
The Black Hills, South Dakota, United States
The Black Hills (Pahá Sápa in Lakota, Moˀȯhta-voˀhonáaeva in Cheyenne) are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of trees in a sea of grass". The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest and are home to the tallest peaks of continental North America east of the Rockies.
The name "Black Hills" is a translation of the Lakota Pahá Sápa. The hills were so-called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they were covered in trees.[1]
Native Americans have a long history in the Black Hills. After conquering the Cheyenne in 1776, the Lakota took over the territory of the Black Hills, which became central to their culture. When European Americans discovered gold there in 1874, as a result of George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills Expedition, erstwhile miners swept into the area in a gold rush. The US government re-assigned the Lakota, against their wishes, to other reservations in western South Dakota. Unlike the rest of the Dakotas, the Black Hills were settled by European Americans primarily from population centers to the west and south of the region, as miners flocked there from earlier gold boom locations in Colorado and Montana.
Today, the combined population of the nearby reservations and Ellsworth Air Force Base create a unique diversity different from that of the rest of Wyoming or South Dakota. As the economy of the Black Hills has shifted from natural resources (mining and timber), the hospitality and tourism industry has grown to take its place. The major tourist spots include Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
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History
American Indians have inhabited the area since at least 7000 BCE. The Arikara arrived by 1500 AD, followed by the Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa and Pawnee. The Lakota arrived from Minnesota in the eighteenth century and drove out the other tribes. They claimed the land, which they called HeSapa (Black Mountains). Early European-American settlers found Paha Sapa (Black Hills or Bluff), easier to pronounce, as the term was less guttural. The mountains commonly became known as the Black Hills.
After the public discovery of gold in the 1870s, European Americans increasingly encroached on Lakota territory. The conflict over control of the region sparked the Black Hills War, the last major Indian War on the Great Plains. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie had previously confirmed the Lakota's (Teton Sioux) ownership of the mountain range. Both the Sioux and Cheyenne claimed rights to the land, saying that in their culture, it was considered the axis mundi, or sacred center of the world.
Although rumors of gold in the Black Hills had circulated for decades (See Thoen Stone and Pierre-Jean De Smet), it was not until 1874 that Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer of the 7th US Cavalry led an expedition into the Black Hills in 1874 and discovered gold in French Creek. An official announcement of gold was made by the newspaper reporters accompanying the expedition. The following year, the Newton-Jenney Party conducted the first detailed survey of the Black Hills. The surveyor for the party, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, was the first European American to ascend to the top of Harney Peak. This highest point in the Black Hills is 7242 feet above sea level.
During the 1875–1878 gold rush, thousands of miners went to the Black Hills; in 1880, the area was the most densely populated part of Dakota Territory. There were three large towns in the Northern Hills: Deadwood, Central City, and Lead. Around these were groups of smaller gold camps, towns, and villages. Hill City and Custer City sprang up in the Southern Hills. Railroads were quickly constructed to the previously remote area. From 1880 on, the gold mines yielded about $4,000,000 annually, and the silver mines about $3,000,000 annually.
Following the defeat of the Lakota and their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies in 1876, the United States took control of the region in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Lakota never accepted the validity of the US appropriation. They continue to try to reclaim the property.
On July 23, 1980, in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Black Hills were illegally taken and that remuneration of the initial offering price plus interest — nearly $106 million — be paid. The Lakota refused the settlement, as they wanted the Black Hills returned to them. The money remains in an interest-bearing account, which now amounts to over $757 million, but the Lakota still refuse to take the money. They believe that accepting the settlement would validate the US theft of their most sacred land.[2]
Geology
The geology of the Black Hills is complex. A Tertiary mountain-building episode is responsible for the uplift and current topography of the Black Hills region. This uplift was marked by volcanic activity in the northern Black Hills. The southern Black Hills are characterized by Precambrian granite, pegmatite, and metamorphic rocks that comprise the core of the entire Black Hills uplift. This core is rimmed by Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks. The stratigraphy of the Black Hills is laid out like a target, as it is an oval dome, with rings of different rock types dipping away from the center.
Precambrian
The 'bulls eye' of this target is called the granite core. The granite of the Black Hills was emplaced by magma generated during the Trans-Hudson orogeny and contains abundant pegmatite. The core of the Black Hills has been dated to 1.8 billion years. There are other localized deposits that have been dated to around 2.2 to 2.8 billion years. One of these is located in the northern hills. It is called Elk Creek Granite although it has been metamorphosed into gneiss. The other is called the Bear Mountain complex, and it is located in the west central part of the hills.
Making a concentric ring around the core is the metamorphic zone. The rocks in this ring are all very old, as much as 2.0 billion years and older. This zone is very complex, filled with many diverse rock types. The rocks were originally sedimentary, until there was a collision between the North American continent and a terrane. This collision, called the Trans-Hudson Orogeny, caused the original rocks to fold and twist into a vast mountain range. Over the millions of years, these tilted rocks, which in many areas are tilted to 90 degrees or more, eroded. Today we see the evidence of this erosion in the Black Hills, where the metamorphic rocks end in an angular unconformity below the younger sedimentary layers.
Paleozoic
The final layers of the Black Hills consist of sedimentary rocks. The oldest lie on top of the metamorphic layers at a much shallower angle. This rock called the Deadwood Formation is mostly sandstone and was the original source of gold found in the Deadwood area. Above the Deadwood Formation lies the Englewood Formation and Paha Sapa limestone, which is the source of the more than 200 caves found in the Black Hills, including Jewel Cave and Wind cave. The Minnelusa Formation is next and is composed of highly variable sandstones and limestones followed by the Opeche shale and the Minnikata limestone.
Mesozoic
The next rock layer, the Spearfish Formation forms a valley around the hills called the red valley. It is mostly a red shale with beds of gypsum. These shale and gypsum beds as well as the nearby limestone beds of the Minnikata are used in the manufacture of cement at a cement plant in Rapid City. Next is the shale and sandstone Sundance Formation, which is topped by the Morrison Formation and the Unkpapa sandstone.
The outermost feature of the dome stands out as a hogback ridge. The ridge is made out of the Lakota Formation and the Fallriver sandstone, which are collectively called the Inyan Kara Group. Above this, the layers of rocks are less distinct and are all mainly grey shale with three exceptions: the Newcastle sandstone; the Greenhorn limestone, which contains many shark teeth fossils; and the Niobrara Formation, which is composed mainly of chalk. These outer ridges are called cuestas.
Cenozoic
The preceding layers were deposited in a horizontal manner. All of them can be seen in core samples and well logs from the flatest parts of the Great Plains. It took a period of uplift to bring them to their present topographical levels in the Black Hills. This uplift called the Laramide orogeny began around the beginning of the Cenozoic and left a line of igneous rocks through the northern hills superimposed on the rocks already disscused. This line extends from Bear Butte in the east to Devils Tower in the west. Evidence of Cenozoic volcanic eruptions, if this happened, has long since been eroded away.
The Black Hills also have a 'skirt' of gravel covering them in areas, which are called erosional terraces. Formed as the waterways cut down into the uplifting hills, they represent the former locations of today's rivers. These beds are generally around 10,000 years old or younger, judging by the artifacts and fossils found. A few places, mainly in the high elevations, are older, as old as 20 million years, according to camel and rodent fossils found. Some gravels have been found but for the most part, these older beds have been eroded away.
Biosystems
As with the geology, the biology of the Black Hills is complex. Most of the Hills are a fire-climax Ponderosa Pine forest, with Black Hills Spruce (Picea glauca var. densata) occurring in cool moist valleys of the Northern Hills. Oddly, this endemic variety of spruce does not occur in the moist Bear Lodge Mountains, which make up most of the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills. Large open parks (mountain meadows) with lush grassland rather than forest are scattered through the Hills (especially the western portion), and the southern edge of the Hills, due to the rainshadow of the higher elevations, are covered by a dry pine savannah, with stands of Mountain Mahogany and Rocky Mountain Juniper. Wildlife is both diverse and plentiful. Black Hills creeks are known for their trout, while the forests and grasslands offer good habitat for American Bison, White-tailed and Mule Deer, Pronghorn, Bighorn Sheep, mountain lions, and a variety of smaller animals, like prairie dogs, Yellow-bellied Marmots, and Fox Squirrels. Biologically, the Black Hills is a meeting and mixing place, with species common to regions to the east, west, north, and south. The Hills do however, support some endemic taxa, the most famous of which is probably White-winged Junco (Junco hyemalis aikeni).
Tourism and economy
The region is home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Harney Peak (the highest point east of the Rockies), Custer State Park (the largest state park in South Dakota, and one of the largest in the US), Bear Butte State Park, Devils Tower National Monument, and the Crazy Horse Memorial (the largest sculpture in the world). The Black Hills also hosts the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally each August. Started in 1940, the 65th Rally in 2005 saw more than 550,000 bikers visit the Black Hills; the rally is a key part of the regional economy. Motorcycle riders are also attracted to the Black Hills simply for the many miles of awe-inspiring scenery.[3]
The George S. Mickelson Trail is a recently opened multi-use path through the Black Hills. It follows the abandoned track of the historic railroad route from Edgemont to Deadwood. The train used to be the only way to bring supplies to the miners in the Hills. The trail is about 110 miles in length, and can be used by hikers, cross-country skiers, and bikers. The cost is two dollars per day, or ten dollars annually.
Today, the major city in the Black Hills is Rapid City, with an incorporated population of over 70,000 and a metropolitan population of 125,000. It serves a market area covering much of five states: North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. In addition to tourism and mining (including coal, specialty minerals, and the now declining gold mining), the Black Hills economy includes ranching (sheep and cattle, primarily, with buffalo and ratites becoming more common), timber (lumber), Ellsworth Air Force Base, and some manufacturing, including jewelry (Black Hills Gold Jewelry), cement, electronics, cabinetry, guns and ammunition. In many ways, the Black Hills functions as a very spread-out urban area with a population (not counting tourists) of 250,000. Other important Black Hills cities include Belle Fourche, a ranching town; Spearfish, home of Black Hills State University; Deadwood, a historic and well-preserved gambling mecca; its twin city of Lead, home of the now-closed Homestake Mine (gold); Keystone, outside Mount Rushmore; Hill City, a timber and tourism town in the center of the Hills; Custer, a mining and tourism town and headquarters for Black Hills National Forest; Hot Springs, an old resort town in the southern Hills; Sturgis, originally a military town (Fort Meade, now a VA center, is located just to the east); and Newcastle, center of the Black Hills petroleum production and refining.
Climbing
In 1961, John Gill climbed a route on the Thimble (Needles). It was an unrehearsed and unroped 30-foot 5.12a free-solo climb (or V4 or V5 highball)[clarification needed], and is considered one of the great classics of modern climbing.
Black Hills in popular culture
- Several major motion pictures have been filmed in the Black Hills including North by Northwest, How the West Was Won, A Man Called Horse, Lakota Woman and Dances with Wolves, as well as National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
- The Black Hills have been the setting of portions of movies, including Walt Disney's The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Devil's Tower and several movies based on Louis L'Amour novels.
- Steven Spielberg's Into the West includes the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. The *Black Hills are the setting for the popular HBO series Deadwood.,
- The film Calamity Jane included the song "The Black Hills of Dakota."
- The song "Rocky Raccoon" by The Beatles, makes a reference to "the black mining hills of Dakota."
- Pain of Salvation's song "Black Hills", refers to the dispossession of the Lakota, on their One Hour by the Concrete Lake album.
- In the fantasy book World War Z, the people of the Black Hills attempt to secede from the United States.
See also
- Black Hills Central Railroad
- Cypress Hills (Canada)
- Devils Tower National Monument
- JoAnn Tall
- The Needles
- Scenic roads in the Black Hills
- Pine Ridge Reservation
References
- ^ Black Hills National Forest - Frequently Asked Questions
- ^ Giago, Tim (2007-06-03). "The Black Hills: A Case of Dishonest Dealings". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-giago/the-black-hills-a-case-o_b_50480.html. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
- ^ Joe Berk (January/February 2009). "Riding the Black Hills". Motorcycle Classics. http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/touring-destinations/ride-the-black-hills.aspx. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
External links
- Gold Claims maps 1877 map showing gold claims in the Black Hills
- National Forest Federal Website Black Hills National Forest
- Wind Cave Federal Website Wind Cave National Park
- Jewel Cave Federal Website Jewel Cave National Monument
- Mount Rushmore Federal Website Mount Rushmore National Memorial
- 1980 Supreme Court Case: United States v. Sioux Nations of Indians, 448 U.S. 371
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Harney Peak (mountain)
- Chopper Madness: Bikers USA - Sturgis (2005 Sports & Recreation Film)
- Crazy Horse (Sioux leader)
- Rapid City
- Lead (city, South Dakota)
- Mount Rushmore (Geography)
- Bike Blast U.S.A.: Sturgis (2000 Sports & Recreation Film)
- Black Hills Corporation (Public Company)
- Miniconjou (Native American people)
- Oglala (Native American people)
- Roy Bucko (Actor, Western/Action)
- Take the Black Hills Home with You (2005 Travel Film)
- Easyriders Video Magazine (1991 Sports & Recreation TV Series)
- hogback (in geography)
