Black Hills

This article is about the region in South Dakota. For other places, see Black Hills (disambiguation).

Black Hills

Black Hills, South Dakota, United States
Highest point
Peak Harney Peak
Elevation 7,242 ft (2,207 m)
Coordinates 43°59′N 103°45′W / 43.983°N 103.750°W / 43.983; -103.750Coordinates: 43°59′N 103°45′W / 43.983°N 103.750°W / 43.983; -103.750
Dimensions
Area 5,000 sq mi (13,000 km2)
Geography
Map of the USA highlighting the Black Hills in South Dakota
Black Hills
Country United States
State South Dakota
Geology
Orogeny Trans-Hudson and Laramide
Age of rock Precambrian and Paleozoic
Type of rock Shale, sandstone and limestone
Satellite image with shaded relief map of Black Hills in west South Dakota

The Black Hills (Lakota: Ȟe Sápa, Cheyenne: Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva, Hidatsa: awaxaawi shiibisha[1]) are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States.[2] Harney Peak, which rises to 7,244 feet (2,208 m), is the range's highest summit.[3] The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest. 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.[4]

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. In 1868, the U.S. government signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, exempting the Black Hills from all white settlement forever. However, when European Americans discovered gold there in 1874, as a result of George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills Expedition, miners swept into the area in a gold rush. The US government reassigned the Lakota, against their wishes, to other reservations in western South Dakota. Unlike most of South Dakota, 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.

As the economy of the Black Hills has shifted from natural resources (mining and timber), the hospitality and tourism industries have grown to take its place. Locals tend to divide the Black Hills into two areas: "The Southern Hills" and "The Northern Hills". The Southern Hills is home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Harney Peak (the highest point in the United States east of the Rockies), Custer State Park (the largest state park in South Dakota, and one of the largest in the US), the Crazy Horse Memorial (the largest sculpture in the world), and the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, the world’s largest mammoth research facility. Attractions in the Northern Hills include Spearfish Canyon, historic Deadwood, and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, held each August. The first Rally was held on August 14, 1938 and the 75th Rally in 2015 saw more than 1 million bikers visit the Black Hills. It is a key part of the regional economy. Devils Tower National Monument, located in the Wyoming Black Hills, is an important nearby attraction and was the United States's first national monument.[5]

History

Human habitation has been established for 7000 BC. The Arikara arrived by AD 1500, followed by the Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa and Pawnee. The Lakota (also known as Sioux) arrived from Minnesota in the 18th century and drove out the other tribes, who moved west.[6] They claimed the land, which they called Ȟe Sápa (Black Mountains). The mountains commonly became known as the Black Hills.

Gold miners in the Black Hills.
Abandoned cabin near Dewey in the southern Black Hills.

François and Louis de La Vérendrye probably travelled near the Black Hills in 1743.[7] 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 ownership of the Teton Sioux mountain range. Both the Sioux and Cheyenne claimed rights to the land, saying that in their cultures, 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 there 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 7,242 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 the 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.

Inyan Kara is a sacred mountain to Lakota.

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.[8]

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 as of 2015 amounts to over $1.2 billion, but the Lakota still refuse to take the money. They believe that accepting the settlement would allow the U.S. Government to justify taking ownership of the Black Hills.

In 2012, United Nations Special Rapporteur James Anaya conducted a 12-day tour of Native Americans' land, to determine how the United States is faring on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, endorsed by the administration of President Barack Obama in 2010. Mr. Anaya met with tribes in seven states on reservations and in urban areas, as well as with members of the Obama administration and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Mr. Anaya tentatively recommended the return of lands to some tribes, including the Black Hills to the Sioux. His full official report with recommendations was due in September 2012.[9][10][11]

Geology

Gold-quartz placer nugget, found near Lead. About 1 cm wide.

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 granite core of the Black Hills rises 7,244 feet (2,208 m) at Harney Peak.

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 French 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.

The angular unconformity between the Deadwood Formation and the underlying Precambrian rocks near Rapid City.

"Making a concentric ring around the core is the metamorphic zone. The rocks in this ring are all very old, as much as 2 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 Pahasapa 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 Minnekahta limestone.

Mesozoic

The next rock layer, the Spearfish Formation, forms a valley around the hills called the Red Valley and is often referred to as the Race Track.[12][13] It is mostly red shale with beds of gypsum, and circles much of the Black Hills. These shale and gypsum beds as well as the nearby limestone beds of the Minnekahta 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

Fallingrock cliff in Dark Canyon. The rock is of Paleozoic age but is capped with a Cenozoic gravel terrace.

The preceding layers were deposited in a horizontal manner. All of them can be seen in core samples and well logs from the flattest 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 discussed. 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 pediments. 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, American marten, red squirrels, northern flying squirrels, 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). Some other endemics are Cooper's Rocky Mountain snail, Black Hills subspecies of red-bellied snake, and a Black Hills subspecies of southern red-backed vole. Some birds that are only in the Black Hills and not the rest of South Dakota are pinyon jay, gray jay, three-toed woodpecker, black-backed woodpecker, American dipper, ruffed grouse, and others.

Regions of the Black Hills

The northern Black Hills approximate Lawrence and Meade Counties and are roughly equivalent to the Northern Hills District of the Black Hills National Forest.[14] The central Black Hills (the Mystic District of the Black Hills National Forest) are located in Pennington County west of Rapid City. The southern Black Hills are in Custer County and are administered in the national forest's Hell Canyon District. Finally, Wyoming's Black Hills follow the Bearlodge District, approximately Weston and Crook Counties.

Geologically separate from the Black Hills are the Elk Mountains, a small range forming the southwest portion of the region.

Tourism and economy

Black Hills opposite Mount Rushmore
Homestake Mine in 1889

The region is home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Harney Peak, 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 Black Hills also hosts the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally each August. The rally was started in 1940 and the 65th Rally in 2005 saw more than 550,000 bikers visit the Black Hills. It is a key part of the regional economy.

The George S. Mickelson Trail is a recently opened multi-use path through the Black Hills that 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 almost 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 bison and ratites becoming more common), timber (lumber), Ellsworth Air Force Base, and some manufacturing, including 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 and towns include:

Photo gallery

Panorama of the southern Black Hills.
Panorama of the southern Black Hills.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hidatsa Lessons Vocab2". Hidatsa Language Program. Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  2. ↑ "Black Hills". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  3. ↑ "Harney". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  4. ↑ "Black Hills National Forest — Frequently Asked Questions". United States Forest Service.
  5. ↑ Mattison, Ray H. (1955). "The First Fifty Years". National Park Service. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  6. ↑ "The Buffalo War". Public Broadcasting Service.
  7. ↑ "History of the Black Hills". U.S. National Park Service.
  8. ↑ Eyanopopi: The Heart of the Sioux. Irwindale, California: Centre Communications. 1988. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  9. ↑ "UN official calls for US return of native land". BBC News Online. May 5, 2012.
  10. ↑ "U.S. must heal native people's wounds, return lands: U.N.". Reuters. May 4, 2012.
  11. ↑ "US should return stolen land to Indian tribes, says United Nations". The Guardian. May 4, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Red Valley". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  13. ↑ "Black Hills National Forest — Environment". http://www.gorp.com. Retrieved 2010-07-27. External link in |work= (help)
  14. ↑ Fs.usda.gov

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