Dreams and Dust in the Black Hills: Race, Place, and National Identity in America's "Land of Promise" Elaine Marie Nelson

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DEDICATION

I wish to dedicate this to my parents—and their parents—for instilling in me

a deep affection for family, tradition, history, and home.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I do not remember our first family vacation. My sisters and I were so used to packing up and hitting the road in the family station wagon (later a minivan), that our childhood trips blur together. Oftentimes we visited our paternal grandparents in Sidney,

Nebraska, or our maternal grandparents in Lincoln, Nebraska. But on special occasions we would take lengthy road trips that ended with destinations in the Appalachian

Mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, Yellowstone National Park, and Myrtle Beach. As an

―East River‖ South Dakotan, driving six hours west to visit the Black Hills was hardly as exciting as going to the beach. Although we created fun car games (can you really hold your breath all the way across the Missouri River?) and enjoyed the buffalo at Al‘s Oasis, a weekend getaway in the Black Hills was not terribly unique or exotic. It was, in fact, a place that a majority of South Dakotans regularly visited. Although we were technically tourists, we were also ―local‖. Or were we?

It was not until I became an adult and began studying the American West that I realized how significant the Black Hills region is to U.S. history. As a child, I did not understand that a raw myriad of issues involving Native American communities, the environment, and tourism were deeply embedded in my home state. In my years as a doctoral candidate, I jumped head-first into this project to try and untangle this web and gain a better understanding of the complex history of the Black Hills.

I want to begin these acknowledgments by thanking my parents, Angie and Gayle

Nelson, for showing me the world beyond South Dakota, for encouraging me to explore it, and for also giving me the opportunity to return home anytime I wanted. Moreover, thank you for supporting my goals and trusting my choices. I am also grateful to my

v grandparents, Herb and Dorothy Nelson, for showing constant interest in all that I do.

This achievement is even more exciting knowing that it is a proud moment for them, as well as for Lumir and Olga Hoffman. I only wish that the Hoffmans were here to help us celebrate. I have no doubt that Grandma would be ready with a fresh batch of Czech kolaches.

No one deserves more recognition for the timely completion of this dissertation than Professor Margaret Connell-Szasz. During my years at the University of New

Mexico she provided me with guidance and support necessary to my success in the program. I learned many things from Dr. Connell-Szasz‘s direction over the years. As the voice of reason, she exhibited unwavering patience, encouragement, and strength throughout my time as a doctoral student. Her knowledge of and dedication to the field of

American Indian history influenced this project immensely.

I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with both Professor

Connell-Szasz and Professor Ferenc Morton Szasz—to take courses with them, endure comprehensive examinations with them, and draft my dissertation under their tutelage. I am grateful to them for showing me how to be an effective teacher, scholar, and citizen.

Although Dr. Szasz was not present at the dissertation defense, he had a greater impact on me and on this project than, perhaps, he will ever know.

My dissertation committee members played vital roles in my years in the Ph.D. program at UNM. Dr. Paul Andrew Hutton provided me with employment, institutional knowledge, and sage advice that sparked my intellectual curiosity and encouraged me to appreciate the American West in ways that I had not imagined possible. Thank you for giving me a job at the Western History Association and for teaching me some of the

vi cardinal rules in life—cups need lids, mailing is not mindless, and pens like their caps.

Professor Cathleen Cahill‘s energy was contagious. As a committee member she never failed to challenge me, to push my scholarship in new and daring directions, and to be bold and confident in my research and writing. Dr. Cahill deserves credit for serving as an amazing role model for me and other women in the historical profession. I am also very grateful to Professor Don Fixico, the ―outside‖ reader on my dissertation committee.

He was a constant source of support to me and this project. Dr. Fixico‘s keen insight into the field of Native American history improved this dissertation tremendously. He has a way of asking questions that lead one to discovering unexpected conclusions.

Other UNM faculty and staff played roles in my years as a doctoral student. First,

I am thoroughly convinced that none of the history doctoral students would graduate were it not for the efficiency and organization of the department‘s administrative staff.

Yolanda Martinez, Dana Ellison, Helen Ferguson, and Barbara Wafer were always so helpful and patient. I also enjoyed getting to know Linda Kay Norris and Cindy Tyson.

They provided me with invaluable information during my years as a graduate assistant for the WHA and Center for the Southwest. At the University of New Mexico Press,

Clark Whitehorn, Maya Allen-Gallegos, and Elizabeth Albright taught me about the world of academic publishing. Professors Tim Moy, Virginia Scharff, Sam Truett,

Durwood Ball, Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, and Pat Risso demonstrated resiliency in their work ethic and devotion to the UNM history department and its students.

The graduate student community at UNM made my six years in the southwest more enjoyable. First, I must recognize the original members of the ―D-House‖—B. Erin

Cole, Meg Frisbee, and Sarah E. M. Grossman—also known as the founding members of

vii the M. Austin fan club. Thanks also to Lincoln Bramwell for being a steadfast friend and mentor from the first day I arrived on campus. It was so fun getting to know Jason

Strykowski, Sonia Dickey, Kent Blansett, Shawn Wiemann, Colin Snider, Chris Steinke,

Erik Loomis, Scott Meredith, Katie McIntyre, Alden Big Man, Richard Sanchez, Heather

Hawkins, Jacobo Baca, Brian Luna Lucero, Jim Ersfeld, Ben Reed, Jerry Wallace,

Rebecca Vanucci, Bryan Turo, Robin Walden, Donna Peterson, Ramona Caplan, Abe

Santillanes, Becky Ellis, Sue Schuurman, Jeff Pearson, and David Corcoran. Whether in the classroom, planning the ―H.A.H.A.‖ symposium, or at Two Fools Tavern, I learned so much from your experiences and friendships.

I continue to value the relationships I have developed with people outside of New

Mexico. I hold strong admiration for Leisl Carr Childers and Michael Childers, two of the best comrades I could have hoped for. Kurt Kinbacher, David Nesheim, Adam Kane,

Matt Deepe, Akim Reinhardt, Nathan Sanderson, Brian S Collier, Shannon Smith, María

Muñoz, Steven Sexton, and Denehsa Alexander are wonderful friends and constant sources of motivation. I am in awe of each and every one of you.

I could not have even started my research were it not for the expertise of Ken

Stewart and Nancy Tystand Koupal at the South Dakota State Historical Society. You were both so hospitable to me during my tenure in Pierre, and I look forward to my return! I am also in great debt to Jace DeCory, Suzanne Dixon, and Donovin Sprague who lent their time, knowledge, and expertise to me. Mike Runge at the Deadwood City

Archives was patient as I flipped slowly through the boxes of materials at the City of

Deadwood Historic Preservation Office. After David Wolff politely entertained my initial idea of doing a ―complete history‖ of the Black Hills, he and Suzanne Julin offered me

viii support and a list of valuable contacts. I was delighted to work with Tom Farrell at the

Wind Cave National Park Library. His willingness to open their archives for me proved to be very worthwhile. Many thanks also to Arlette Hansen (Adams House and Museum curator), Deborah Gangloff (Days of ‘76 Museum), Doris Peterson (University of South

Dakota Special Collections), Bobi Sago (Black Hills State University Case Library for

Western Historical Studies), and the staff of the Custer County Courthouse, Rapid City

Public Library, City of Hot Springs Library, and Deadwood City Library.

I am especially thankful to Ann Massmann, my UNM-Mellon Mentor, for being so gracious and supportive of me and my work on the Black Hills. I value all of our conversations about the field of Native American Studies—where it has been and where it is going in the future. Most of all, it was so fun to get to know Ann and I look forward to continuing our dialogue in the future! Peter Blodgett was most helpful at the

Huntington Library and a very enjoyable companion at the coffee cart. At the Newberry

Library, Scott Stevens, John Aubrey, and Diane Dillon provided me with excellent conversation and a great amount of assistance with my research. Mary Robinson at the

McCracken Library at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center deserves much gratitude for her knowledge of the William F. Cody Papers and her ability to navigate this collection with ease. Rick Ewig‘s familiarity with the outstanding collection of archives at the American

Heritage Center allowed me to take full advantage of the time I spent in Laramie. I also deeply appreciate all of the funding support from the following institutions and organizations: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Western History Association,

Huntington Library, Newberry Consortium for American Indian Studies, Cody Institute for Western American Studies, Western Writers of America, Western Association of

Women Historians, the UNM History Graduate Student Association, Organization of

American Historians, Immigration and Ethnic History Society, UNM Feminist Research

Institute, American Historical Association, American Heritage Center, Charles Redd

Center for Western Studies, and the Phi Alpha Theta History Honorary Society.

I would have never pursued graduate school were it not for my amazing teachers.

At the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Mark Ellis and Todd Kerstetter were the first to introduce me to the exciting field of the American West and encouraged me to get my

M.A. in history. Chuck Peek, Kate Benzel, John Damon, and Mike Benzel believed I should look at English graduate programs, but I think that, by now, they have forgiven me for going to ―the dark side.‖ At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln I was most fortunate to work with John Wunder, Mark Awakuni-Swetland, David Wishart, Margaret

Jacobs, Andy Graybill, Sue Rosowski, Tim Mahoney, and Victoria Smith. Outside of my home institutions, my work has benefitted from comments and feedback provided by

Sterling Evans, Walter Nugent, Charles Rankin, David Wrobel, Anne Hyde, Susan

Sessions Rugh, Linea Sundstrom, David Edmunds, Sherry Smith, Jeffrey Ostler, Paul

Hedren, and David Rich Lewis.

During the last several months of writing dissertation chapters, I benefitted from the community of scholars I found at the University of Minnesota, Morris. I appreciate all of the support provided by Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane, Jennifer Rothschild, Marynel Ryan

Van Zee, Roland Guyotte, Stephen Gross, Harold Hinds, Brooks Jessop, Brad Deane,

Jayne Blodgett, Bert Ahern, Becca Gercken, Brook Miller, Chrissy Kolaya, and Julie

Eckerle. Thank you for everything! I am so excited to begin teaching as a member of the

UMM faculty this fall, and look forward to participating in the intellectual community you have developed and fostered at the university and in the town of Morris.

I owe so much to my older sisters, Deanna Nelson and Kristen Kelley, for helping me get through graduate school. It is a bit of a mystery that the three of us ended up in

New Mexico, but I thank my lucky stars for having them close by. I may not have survived my doctoral program was it not for their unconditional love, support, and light- heartedness…and I certainly do not think I would have survived those long family vacations without them! My brother-in-law, Matt Kelley, nephew Josiah, and niece Bryna did more for my morale than they will ever know! I thank the Blansetts—Connie, Jewel,

Kevin, Holly, and Keith—for welcoming me into their family. I also hope to be a constant source of encouragement and support to my step-daughter, Kelie Blansett. I am so excited to have you as a part of my life!

I owe my final debt of gratitude to Kent Blansett—my best friend, my love, my partner, collaborator, and husband. Thank for entertaining my antics, my obsessions, and my tendency to retract into work. I must apologize for those moments when Luka and

Zoey took precedence, and I truly appreciate your ability to understand my adoration for the family pets. Your humor, acceptance, and unconditional love pulled me through every challenging moment during my years of graduate school. At the end of each day, our laughter reminds me of all that is possible and wonderful in life. Most of all, thank you for believing in me. Your smile lights up my world, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.

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DREAMS AND DUST IN THE BLACK HILLS: RACE, PLACE, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN “AMERICA’S LAND OF PROMISE”

Elaine Marie Nelson

B.A.E., English Education, University of Nebraska at Kearney, 2002 M.A., History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2004 Ph.D., History, University of New Mexico, 2011

ABSTRACT

Indigenous groups that occupied the Black Hills for thousands of years established economic, spiritual, and political connections to the region. Through these relationships, many indigenous people formed their tribal identities in association to this land. Many of these connections with the Black Hills continue to persist in Native

American tribes in the present-day. But decades of American western expansion changed indigenous relationships to the region. In 1868, the United States negotiated with the

Lakota people the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty, which established the Great Sioux

Reservation and legally guaranteed the Black Hills to the Lakota tribe. When the lure of gold and lust for expansion came to full realization in the northern plains during the

1870s, the Black Hills was no longer isolated from outsiders. As the Lakotas fought to maintain control of their territory, new groups of people identified it as their rightful land.

The massive influx of immigrant gold-seekers and settlers into the Black Hills ultimately led to the displacement of Lakotas from the region. Almost overnight, the Black Hills went from being a land promised to the Lakota Nation to a land of promise for

Americans.

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―Dreams and Dust in the Black Hills: Race, Place, and National Identity in

America‘s ‗Land of Promise,‘‖ reveals new insights about this transformation. Previous scholarship on Black Hills history has interpreted how military and federal forces affected this region‘s indigenous populations during the decades of western expansion.

The Lakota people, in particular, suffered through decades of despair and dispossession.

This dissertation introduces a fresh approach to inform the familiar narrative of Black

Hills history. ―Dreams and Dust‖ introduces another agent—the tourism industry—as another force that contributed to the struggles of the Lakotas. Beginning in the late 1800s, tourism sold a version of Black Hills history that manipulated Native people and their connections to this land. This successful industry continued to suppress Lakotas during the twentieth century. But the story of the Lakotas does not end in despair, dispossession, or annihilation. In the early 1900s, Lakota people began to defy the tourism industry.

They participated in Black Hills pageants, parades, and other performances, but they used these opportunities to their advantage. Lakotas turned the region‘s tourist attractions into platforms for asserting their rights to the Black Hills. Lakotas had faced years of forced removal, colonization, disease, starvation, and the suppression of their cultural traditions and ceremonies. Despite all of this, they still found their voice through the venues of

Black Hills tourism. Lakota participants in Black Hills tourism reshaped non-Indian opinions about the nature of their history, culture, and their relationship with the Black

Hills. These actions remain crucial components of the story of the Lakota people, their enduring relationship with the Black Hills, and their struggle for self-determination.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………….………... v

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………xiii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………....xv

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….1

CHAPTER ONE………………………………………………………………………..21 A Mountainous, Layered Cake: Land and Identity in the Black Hills Region up to 1868

CHAPTER TWO……………………………………………………...... 57 Destination Deadwood: A New Creation Story of the Black Hills, 1873-1890

CHAPTER THREE………………………………………………………………….…91 From Sacred Sites to Sight-Seeing: The Making of Black Hills Tourism, 1880-1927

CHAPTER FOUR……………………………………………………………………..128 Shaking Hands with History: The Rise of Heritage Tourism in the Black Hills

CHAPTER FIVE……………………………………………………………………...155 Posing for Profits: Tourism & Indigenous Communities in the Black Hills, 1920-1965

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………..193

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………..…197

INTRODUCTION

In 1948, Benjamin Black Elk left his home to mourn the death of his sixteen year- old son. He was heading out on horseback from his home in Manderson, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, ―wandering to mourn‖ in the Lakota way. His journey was slow and arduous. He led a lone pack horse, intending to track the path of his departed son so that his son‘s spirit might rest. For four days, Ben Black Elk retraced his son‘s footsteps and called to his spirit in the sacred He Sápa—the Black Hills. He slept under the stars and when he returned home, he was ―satisfied.‖1

Ben Black Elk had taken numerous trips into the Black Hills with his father

―Nicholas‖ Black Elk (Heháka Sápa), the famous Oglala Medicine Man and subject of

John G. Neihardt‘s 1932 publication Black Elk Speaks. For several years he accompanied his father during his interviews with Neihardt and served as the principal interpreter between them. But Ben Black Elk‘s journey to the Black Hills in 1948 was very different.

1 Esther Black Elk DeSersa, Clifton DeSersa, Aaron DeSersa, and Olivia Black Elk Pourier, Edited by Lori Holm Utecht and Hilda Martinsen Neihardt, Black Elk Lives: Conversations with the Black Elk Family (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000) 40-41; James R. Walker, Lakota Belief and Ritual (Lincoln: Bison Books, 1991), 141- 142. In Lakota Belief and Ritual, Short Bull made a statement that as part of their mourning ritual, Lakota ―give to the departing spirits what they need on the trail and in the spirit world. If we enrich the spirits with our gifts, they will go into the spirit world with pride and honor and all we give will be there for us when our spirits come there,‖ 142. The Lakota translations in this dissertation derive from the works of Albert White Hat, Eugene Buechel, and Paul Manhart. Some forms of the linguistic system (symbols, accents, etc.) of the Lakota language are not available through Microsoft Word. The spelling of Lakota words in this chapter (seen in italics) display only the symbols from the orthography that are available to the author. For Lakota language studies, see Albert White Hat, author, and Jael Kampfe, ed., Reading and Writing the Lakota Language (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999) and Eugene Buechel and Paul Manhart, eds., Lakota Dictionary: Lakota-English/English-Lakota, New Comprehensive Edition (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002). 1

Before he concluded his travels, he was unexpectedly interrupted. On a trail just outside the newly-completed Mount Rushmore National Monument, a group of tourists delayed him.2 For the tourists it was quite possibly their first exchange with a ―real‖ Indian, complete with an eagle feather and two braids that hung over his shoulders.3 ―Could you stand up there with the faces behind you?‖ one tourist asked. Black Elk said he would, and they said they would pay him.4

This event jump-started Ben Black Elk‘s career in South Dakota‘s booming tourism industry. Shortly thereafter he relocated his family from Manderson to Keystone,

South Dakota, every tourist season and posed with thousands of tourists in front of the presidential monument. Over the course of twenty years, he emerged as the most photographed American Indian in the world. For tourists, it was a privilege to meet a

―real‖ Indian in front of America‘s ―Shrine of Democracy.‖5 For Ben Black Elk, it was a

2 Although the sculpting of Mount Rushmore began in 1927, it was not completed until October 31, 1941. 3 DeSersa, Black Elk Lives, 78d. This page contains an image of Ben Black Elk on the day that he departed Manderson for the Black Hills. 4 DeSersa, Black Elk Lives, 41. ―Nicholas‖ Black Elk (Heháka Sápa) was a medicine man and healer from the Oglala Lakota tribe made famous as the subject of John Neihardt‘s Black Elk Speaks. Black Elk and John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1932). In his later years Ben Black Elk referred to his father as a Lakota Medicine Man. Ben Black Elk and Warfield Moose, Jr., ―Black Elk Speaks‖ Compact Disc (Yellow Spider Inc., 2002). Ben Black Elk was born in 1899 as the third son of Black Elk and Katie War Bonnet. War Bonnet passed away in 1903 and in 1906 Black Elk married Anna Brings White (also known as ―Brings White Horses‖). See Raymond J. DeMallie, Ed., The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985), 13-14 and 23. 5 Numerous reports claim that Ben Black Elk was photographed as much as 5,000 times a day in the 1960s and was photographed more than ―President Kennedy, Liz Taylor, or Rock Hudson.‖ The Milwaukee Sentinel, 25 September, 1963. See also ―Indian Photographed 5,000 Times In a Day,‖ The Calgary Herald, 15 August, 1963. Many historians have published scholarly works that dissect how Native Americans are imagined in the non-indigenous mind. Words such as ―real‖ or ―authentic‖ are 2 good way to earn a living. But more importantly, it offered him an opportunity to educate Mount Rushmore‘s tourists about his people‘s history of the ―heart‖ of Lakota lands—He Sápa, Paha Sápa or, the Black Hills.6 He felt it was significant to preserve his heritage and tribe‘s connection to the Black Hills. Of equal importance, he also used this venue to teach non-Natives about a different perspective of Black Hills history.

American tribes in the present-day. But decades of American western expansion changed indigenous relationships to the region. In 1868, the United States negotiated with the

Lakota people the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty, which established the Great Sioux

Reservation and legally guaranteed the Black Hills to the Lakota tribe. When the lure of gold and lust for expansion came to full realization in the northern plains during the

complicated terms often used to measure or define one‘s degree of ―Indianess‖ or measure indigenous identity. It is not my intention to reveal how non-Indians (in this case, tourists) identified what an American Indian looked like or how he or she acted. Rather, this chapter explores how indigenous people used the tourism industry for various beneficial reasons. For more discussions on authenticity, Native American populations, tourism, and colonial systems see Paige Raibmon, Authentic Indians: Episodes of Encounter from the Late Nineteenth-Century Northwest Coast (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005), 3, 124, 141. Raibmon‘s study claims authenticity is ―a powerful and shifting set of ideas that worked in a variety of ways toward a variety of ends,‖ and was ―not a stable yardstick against which to measure ‗the real thing,‘‖ 3. 6 The Lakota know the Black Hills as He Sápa, or Paha Sápa. These translate to mean ―Black Mountains‖ and ―Black Hills,‖ respectively. It is also referred to as ―Wamakaognaka E’cante‖—the ―heart of everything that is.‖ Translations from Frank Fools Crow, ―Introduction‖ in Tom Charging Eagle and Ron Zeilinger, Black Hills, Sacred Hills (Chamberlain: Tipi Press, St. Joseph‘s Indian School, 2004), n.p. In Buechel and Manhart, ―Wamákognaka‖ also means, ―Creation, the contents of the world, the whole of creation,‖ while ―icáŋte‖ means ―in or at the heart,‖ 340 and 102. 3

1870s, the Black Hills was no longer isolated from outsiders. As the Lakotas fought to maintain control of their territory, new groups of people identified it as their rightful land.

Americans.

―Dreams and Dust in the Black Hills: Race, Place, and National Identity in

The Lakota people, in particular, suffered through decades of despair and dispossession.

This dissertation introduces a fresh approach to inform the familiar narrative of Black

Black Hills tourism. Lakota participants in Black Hills tourism reshaped non-Indian opinions about the nature of their history, culture, and their relationship with the Black

Hills. These actions remain crucial components of the story of the Lakota people, their enduring relationship with the Black Hills, and their struggle for self-determination.

The Black Hills is an area, a mountain chain, a region, and a landscape that is, in one word, exceptional. It is physically located in the Great Plains in present-day western

South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. The Black Hills extends 120 miles north to south and 50-60 miles east to west and reaches 7,242 feet. Many physical features make the

Black Hills unique, including geologic landforms such as Bear Butte (Mató Páha),

Harney Peak (Wakíŋyaŋ Wahóhpi), Wind Cave (Wasúŋ Wicóniya Wakáŋ), the cathedral spires, ―Needles‖ rock structures, and Devils Tower (Mató Típila).7 Limestone formations create the region‘s canyons and caves, while ponderosa pine trees mask its landscape with dark shadows.

For centuries people have encountered this mountain formation. When moving north, east, south, or west across the plains, one will come in contact with the region—if not on purpose, then by mere accident. Upon approaching the Black Hills, the grassland sea gives way to a protruding land mass on the horizon and, quickly, the American Great

Plains become something other than ―plains‖-like. One can hardly avoid noticing the

7 Mató Páha (for Bear Butte) is a direct translation. It is also called ―Mató Wakáŋ‖ or ―Páha Wakáŋ‖, and is a prayer site for vision quests and fasting; Wakíŋyaŋ Wahóhpi (for Harney Peak) translates to ―Thunderbird‘s Nest,‖ and is a place to pray for ―no drought or illness and to give thanks for water/plants which are a gift from Wakinyan—Thunder and Lightening Beings‖; Wasúŋ Wicóniya Wakáŋ translates to ―Sacred Wind Breath‖ and also known as Maká Oníye (―Breath of the Earth‖). It is a place of emergence, both for the buffalo and for the people; Mató Típila directly translates to ―Bear Lodge‖ and signifies where the ―sacred Cannupa‖ (Sacred Pipe) came from and ―where Sun Dance was/is held.‖ All definitions of sacred sites courtesy of Jace DeCory ―Sacred Places Collection,‖ Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. 5 distinct ―island‖ shape on the Earth‘s surface.8 Through various social, cultural, economic, political, and spiritual interactions, this land has changed people. Likewise, people have significantly changed this land.9

To the east, the Black Hills meets up with South Dakota‘s Badlands National Park

(244,00 acres of sharply eroded buttes and spires within a prairie grassland), as well as the borders of the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota Tribe. To the west it is closely located to Wyoming‘s Big Horn Mountains and Laramie Range. Numerous communities contribute to the region‘s current population including the South Dakota towns of Hot Springs, Buffalo Gap, Edgemont, Custer, Hill City, Hermosa, Piedmont,

Keystone, Lead, Deadwood, Sturgis, Belle Fourche, and Rochford. Wyoming‘s

Newcastle and Sundance also fall within the region‘s boundaries. The only city in the region is Rapid City, South Dakota, the second-largest city in the state with a population of 60,000 and known as the ―gateway‖ to the Black Hills. Spearfish, South Dakota, is the next-largest town with 8,600 people—is located to the west and is a thriving college town. During two weeks out of the year, the state‘s largest population transforms nearly overnight in the community of Sturgis, South Dakota. Located north of the Black Hills, it attracts over 250,000 bikers every year as the ―Motorcycle Mecca‖ and host of the

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, every August.

The Black Hills has always exhibited unique features that made it a significant landmark to indigenous tribes, traders, explorers, frontier outlaws, mining corporations,

8 Sven G. Froiland, Natural History of the Black Hills and Badlands (Sioux Falls, SD: Center for Western Studies, 1990), 1. 9 The Black Hills exemplifies one of the cardinal rules for understanding regional history: ―If people have changed the land, the land has also changed the people,‖ James E. Wright and Sarah Z. Rosenberg, eds., The Great Plains Experience: Readings in the History of a Region (Lincoln: University of Mid-America, 1978), 9. 6 the federal government, settlers, tourism boosters, American presidents, and all who encountered it. The Black Hills land exudes a rough set of blueprints one might consult to gain a foundation for understanding particular episodes from U.S. history, especially the era of western expansion. The Black Hills story is, in fact, intrinsically linked to the contested legacy of the American West. Watson Parker, a noted Black Hills scholar, recognizes that the Hills ―contain a sampling of almost every kind of activity that was important in the development of the American West: Indian wars, explorations, gold rushes, cowboys and cattlemen, railroads, logging, a myriad of mineralogical enterprises, farmers and irrigation, tourists, state and national parks, museums, and most recently, gambling and winter sports.‖10 This dissertation reveals how the Black Hills region is inherently connected to the story of American western expansion. It is a land that symbolizes Native American self-determination, the tensions that exist in the contested history of the American West, and conflicting notions that defined American exceptionalism at the turn of the twentieth century.

The Black Hills played a significant role in shaping the history of U.S. expansion and federal Indian policy. A region embedded in the narrative of the West, it is the location of an internationally-recognized symbol of American democracy and freedom

(Mount Rushmore), and the home to the ―largest, deepest and most productive‖ North

American gold mine.11 The Black Hills has influenced a multitude of topics that interest historians studying the American West. Yet the Black Hills continues to elude scholars, writers and journalists whose research overlaps or pertains to the fields of mining, race,

10 Watson Parker, ―Foreword,‖ in Bob Lee, The Black Hills After Custer (Virginia Beach: The Donning Company/Publishers, 1997), 7. 11 Andrew Yarrow, ―Beneath South Dakota‘s Black Hills, New York Times, 9 August 1987. 7 and tourism, and religious, gender, and environmental history. Most scholarly narratives of the Black Hills begin in the 1850s and end with Wounded Knee in 1890. Some historians who push their research into the twentieth century jump ahead to discuss the

American Indian Movement‘s occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. Also known as

―Wounded Knee II‖ (even though AIM‘s presence in South Dakota was entirely different from the 1890 massacre of Lakota people), many scholars use it as an example to comment on the legacy of the Red Power movement. The legal issues surrounding the

Lakota Nation, the Indian Claims Commission, and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 are other events of twentieth century Black Hills history that attract attention.12 Further, ample copies of books retell Jack McCall‘s murder of Wild Bill Hickok, and appealing coffee table picture books that document Custer‘s 1874 expedition or the carving of

Mount Rushmore. These approaches leave a noticeable gap in the history of the Black

Hills.

Several scholars from a variety of fields have made significant contributions to the history of Black Hills indigenous populations, its environment, and more recently, its

12 Richard White notes that the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee Massacre marked a point in the history of the West that was ―Completing the conquest.‖ Nearly five hundred pages later he mentions the 1980 Lakota and Black Hills land case. See Richard White, ―It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own‖: A New History of the American West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993),104, 581. In his history of the American frontier, Ray Allen Billington focuses on the Black Hills as a final mining frontier in expansion of the West. See Ray Allen Billington, Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier (New York: MacMillan Co., 1949). Frederick Jackson Turner mentions the Black Hills as one of the last frontiers to achieve settlement in the 1880s. He observes that each of the frontiers—including the Black Hills—was ―won by a series of Indian wars.‖ Qtd. in Turner, ―The Significance of the Frontier in American History,‖ in Martin Ridge, ed., History, Frontier, and Section: Three Essays by Frederick Jackson Turner (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993), 64-65. Finally, Patricia Nelson Limerick does little to provide context to her brief discussion of the Black Hills land claim in her monumental work, Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1987), 334-335. 8 tourism. Linea Sundstrom‘s research on the region‘s archaeological findings led to numerous monumental publications on the ethnohistory of Black Hills indigenous people.

In Storied Stone: Indian Rock Art of the Black Hills Country and other works she has compiled detailed accounts of the diverse groups of people in the Black Hills and traced their movements, interactions, and cultures. Sundstrom‘s work is among the first to challenge common notions that indigenous people and modern Native American tribes did not inhabit the Black Hills region. Her research asserts that the region has long been sacred to the lives and religions of American Indians. Sundstrom‘s books and articles are also valuable for the task of mapping Black Hills sacred sites and places.

Jeffrey Ostler has also contributed significantly to the scholarship on Black Hills

American Indian tribes, in particular the Lakota or ―Sioux‖ tribes. Ostler‘s The Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground, is the most recent and most thorough history of the Lakota tribe and their relationship with the Black Hills region.

Building upon his earlier work in The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and

Clark to Wounded Knee, Ostler delivers detailed examinations of the significant historic events in the region leading up to the present day. His exhaustive synthesis of mostly secondary sources is both impressive and compelling. But, his work does not discuss at length the Lakota people and their connection to the Black Hills tourism industry.

Watson Parker, historian and author of Gold in the Black Hills and Deadwood:

The Golden Years (also the ―book on Deadwood‖ referred to above), discusses the explorations of the Black Hills in the 1800s, Custer‘s expedition in 1874, and the development of Deadwood up to the early 1900s. Parker‘s studies provided the basis for future accounts on the history of how gold transformed the region into a group of thriving

9 communities with varying political factors that shaped their formation during the nineteenth century. Other works focusing on this era include: Gold and Grass: The Black

Hills Story (Paul Friggens), The Black Hills After Custer (Bob Lee), Pioneer Years in the

Black Hills (Richard B. Hughes), Pioneer Days in the Black Hills (John S. McClintock),

Gold, Gals, Guns and Guts (Bob Lee), and The Black Hills and the Indians (Martin

Luschei). Liping Zhu recently edited Ethnic Oasis: The Chinese in the Black Hills, and is currently working on a book-length study of the Black Hills Chinese populations from the 1870s to the 1920s. His work will add a new dimension of racial relationships to the

Black Hills narrative.

Historian Richmond Clow has published widely on the Black Hills. His topics include gold milling, the Black Hills Forest Reserve, and the Sioux Tribe (The Sioux in

South Dakota History and Chasing the Glitter: Black Hills Milling, 1874-1959). Both

Ostler and Clow have published diverse studies on the relationships between the Black

Hills and its indigenous inhabitants outside the typical narrative of the Wounded Knee

Massacre and the Red Power Movement.

Suzanne Barta Julin‘s A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles: Black Hills Tourism,

1880-1942 (2009), presents an overview of the roots of tourism in the Black Hills. Julin is the only scholar to produce a book-length study of Black Hills tourism. She consulted numerous collections and compiled many valuable sources for her work, which is a monumental addition to the history of the Black Hills. Yet her study, like many pieces of

10 scholarship on tourism in America, does not discuss in detail the relationship between local tourism industries and Native populations.13

Tourism is one of the world‘s major industries. It employs millions of people, generates endless products and services, and offers—or forces—new opportunities to undeveloped areas. Tourism has profoundly influenced the growth and development of a multitude of cities and regional communities. Yet historical scholarship has only recently attempted to examine the cultural and economic effects of how this commercial enterprise influenced indigenous communities, and it rarely divulges discussions of gender. The most extensive historical studies of the tourism industry‘s relationship with

Native Americans focus on the American Southwest. Some of the major works include:

Erika Bsumek (Indian Made: Navajo Culture in the Marketplace, 1868-1940), Leah

Dilworth (Imagining Indians in the Southwest: Persistent Visions of a Primitive Past),

Hal Rothman (The Culture of Tourism, the Tourism of Culture: Selling the Past to the

Present in the American Southwest), Patsy West, (The Enduring Seminoles: From

Alligator Wrestling to Ecotourism), Christina Taylor Beard-Moose, (Public Indians,

Private Cherokees: Tourism and Tradition on Tribal Ground), Jessica Cattelino, (High

Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty), Mark David Spence, (Dispossessing

13 For scholarship on tourism in America and the American West see works by Marguerite S. Shaffer, See America First: Tourism and National Identity (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute, 2001), Susan Sessions Rugh, Are We There Yet? The Golden Age of American Family Vacations (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008), Hal Rothman, America’s National Monuments: The Politics of Preservation (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994), Anne Hyde, An American Vision: Far Western Landscape and the National Culture (New York: New York University Press,1991), David Wrobel and Patrick Long, eds., Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West (University Press of Kansas, 2001), Mark Daniel Barringer, Selling Yellowstone: Capitalism and the Construction of Nature (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), and Hal Rothman, Devil’s Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth-Century American West (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000). 11 the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks) and Phil Deloria,

(Indians in Unexpected Places). Additionally, Clyde Ellis, L.G. Moses, and Louis

Warren‘s work on Wild West Shows and Indian dances contribute to the scholarly conversations on tourism and American Indians.

One recently competed dissertation also adds to the current scholarship on the

Black Hills. Robert Wellman Campbell‘s work, ―A Black Hills Landscape History,‖ contributes a fresh perspective on the region‘s landscape and environment. Although

Campbell discusses early-day indigenous interactions with the Black Hills, he does not use primary sources—such as oral history—in any section of his study. Also, the project ends in 1900. Campbell, a graduate of the University of Kansas and a student of Donald

Worster, reveals certain strengths in his analysis of the environmental aspects of the

Black Hills. Hopefully Campbell will publish his dissertation and add to the recent conversations of how groups of Black Hills people influenced one another and ultimately shaped the region‘s legacy.

Indigenous history in the Black Hills resides in memoirs, personal accounts of

Lakota and Cheyenne histories and cultures, and studies of Black Hills sacredness. These include (but are not limited to) Tom C. Eagle (Black Hills: Sacred Hills), Ronnie Thiesz

(Standing in the Light: A Lakota Way of Seeing), Black Elk and John G. Neihardt (Black

Elk Speaks), Raymond DeMallie (The Sixth Grandfather), Thomas E. Mails (Fool’s

Crow), Edward Lazarus (Black Hills, White Justice), Joe Starita (The Dull Knifes of Pine

Ridge), and Kingsley Bray (Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life). The works of Philip Deloria

(Playing Indian and Indians in Unexpected Place) have already begun to affect discussions of how Black Hills Indians played a role in the region‘s tourist industry.

Vine Deloria (Red Earth, White Lies and Custer Died for your Sins), and Peter Nabokov

(Where Lightning Strikes Twice: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Spaces, and

Restoring a Presence: American Indians and Yellowstone National Park) address the intersections between indigenous peoples, geography, science and sacredness. The works of Robert Keller and Michael Turek (American Indians and National Parks) and Carter

Jones Meyer and Diana Royer (Selling the Indian: Commericalizing and Appropriating

American Indian Cultures) speak to the issues of roles of indigenous peoples and cultures in tourist markets.

Most of these scholars focus on the decades leading up to World War II; they do not explore the last half of the twentieth century and how it redefined the development of the Black Hills. Additionally, the bulk of these scholarly discussions isolate the Black

Hills from the broader narrative of American history. This affects how readers view the

Black Hills, for this perspective shows the region strictly as a place that may have significance in the Great Plains region or in the states of South Dakota and Wyoming, but not in its broader connection to America. Moreover, none of these historians attempted to combine their studies or sources into a cohesive history of the Black Hills and the dynamic people who shaped the region. Thus, the scholarship on the Black Hills has failed to investigate broader questions, such as how the intersection of race, environment, and tourism has influenced the development of the Black Hills.

Western historians whose works regurgitate the same handful of events from

Black Hills history serves to reinforce the idea that—besides the tired account of the sculpting of Mount Rushmore—the story of the Black Hills has been told over and over again. For example, after explaining my project to one notable western scholar he

13 responded, ―But there has already been a book written about Deadwood.‖ Since I conversed with this scholar in the spring of 2009, writers have probably added twenty books to the stack of material written related to nineteenth-century Deadwood as a result of the success of HBO‘s Deadwood series. This historian was partially correct—

Deadwood has been ―done.‖ But there is so much more to divulge about the Black Hills story.

Chapters

The Black Hills is the main character in this story. Its transformation from a seemingly isolated landform to an internationally-known landmark provides the thread connecting the many groups of people who appear throughout these pages. Therefore, the

Black Hills deserves an in-depth discussion regarding its creation, development, and human impact. This first chapter in ―Dreams and Dust‖ builds a foundation for understanding this very important place and the people who defined it. In order to fully comprehend the century-long battles over this contested land, it is necessary to go back, far back, in time.14

14 The Black Hills is both a landform and a landmark. The natural and geologic history of the Black Hills as a region makes it a landform. But human imprints on the landscape change it into a landmark. In his landscape study of Mount Timpanogos (―Timp‖) historian Jared Farmer explains that a landmark is ―a legible feature of the landscape where meaning is concentrated.‖ Landmarks can be manufactured (like Mount Rushmore), geomorphic (such as a Needles rock structure), or biological (like a large gathering of ponderosa pine trees). The Racetrack is an example of a landform that indigenous people perceptively changed into a landmark—having both cultural and physical meaning. Farmer continues, ―Metaphorically, all landmarks bear human inscriptions….hybrid creations in that they wouldn‘t exist without the human imagination….Seeing has consequences: ‗natural landmarks‘ equate to human marks on the land.‖ Jared Farmer, On Zion’s Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008), 4-6. 14

This chapter also examines the indigenous history of the Black Hills and how different groups developed different ties to the region, how they competed for and exchanged resources, and how tribal identities developed in connection to the landscape.

Human habitation dramatically transformed this landscape into a zone of cultural convergence, violence, and constant flux between competing empires. This section of the dissertation will serve as the foundation for building the Black Hills‘ layered past and legacy of conflicted identities.15

The region did not draw a steady flow of explorers, traders, or trappers until the mid-1800s. During the 1840s and 1850s, national expansion and the rhetoric of manifest destiny drew the Black Hills into the watchful eye of the federal government. In 1868, the

United States attempted to negotiate with the Lakota Sioux Nation the terms of the Ft.

Laramie Treaty, which established the Great Sioux Reservation and legally guaranteed the Black Hills to the Lakota Sioux Nation.16

15 Indigenous claims to the Black Hills include Kiowa, Lakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Arikara, Kiowa-Apache, Mandan, Crow, and numerous others. For a study on the sacred sites in the Black Hills see Linea Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills: An Ethnohistorical Review,‖ in Nancy Shoemaker, ed., American Indians (Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2001): 164-191 and Peter Nabakov, Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places (New York: Penguin Group, 2006), 206- 224. 16 The treaty of 1868 recognized Lakota sovereignty over much of what is presently South Dakota and North Dakota. This included the Black Hills region. The treaty also promised to prevent Americans from entering or settling on the land. Although the U.S. offered to purchase the Black Hills, the Lakota declined, stating that they were not for sale. In 1923, in a futile attempt to ―reimburse‖ the Lakota for their loss, the U.S. Court of Claims filed a claim which called for $700,000,000 to be compensated to the Native Americans for the removal of timber and mineral resources from the Black Hills. Again, the money was refused. See Edward Lazarus, Black Hills, White Justice: The Sioux Nation versus the United States, 1775 to Present (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 439-455 for complete text of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. See also Jeffrey Ostler, The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004) for a complete scholarly study of how 15

Chapter two reveals how quickly America staked its claim on the valuable land and resources of the Black Hills. In the years following the Panic of 1873, the region‘s mineral wealth brought hope to a crippled U.S. economy. The Chicago Inter-Ocean reported America‘s new ―Eldorado‖ on August 24, 1874, nearly one year after the Panic of 1873 sent shockwaves through the United States. Rumors of ―Precious Dust Found in

Grass Under Horses‘ Feet,‖ changed the country‘s financial outlook from gloomy to optimistic. One reporter noted, ―The American people need the country the Indians now occupy; many of our people are out of employment; the masses need some new excitement….‖17 The influx of immigrant gold-seekers and settlers into the Black Hills ultimately led to Native American displacement from the region.

The Black Hills gold rush of 1876 paved the way for the region‘s new identity as an epicenter of the American frontier. Historians, writers, and journalists often treat this event as the beginning of the familiar Black Hills ―creation‖ story. Prostitution, gambling, violence, mining and famous characters (such as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill

Hickock) collided with indigenous populations in the Black Hills region during this period. In reality, this romanticized version of the Black Hills‘ frontier era only lasted a few years. Yet its legacy shaped the development of the region indefinitely.

Following the tragedy of the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, Black Hills communities permanently altered their regional environment and identity. For example,

George Hearst‘s Homestake Mining Company yielded millions of dollars through the construction of the largest and deepest mine in the Western Hemisphere. But another

―colonialism as a political process‖ (p.5) shaped U.S. policies toward the Sioux Nation throughout the nineteenth century. 17 The Bismarck Tribune, 17 June 1874. 16 industry—tourism—slowly took shape in region. It did not take long for local and state boosters to exploit the ―myth of the West‖ for economic gain. By the end of the twentieth century tourism would replace gold mining as the leading industry in the Black Hills.

The third chapter in ―Dreams and Dust‖ will offer an overview of the development of the tourist industry in the Black Hills. When the value of gold decreased in the early 1900s, local Black Hills communities faced economic hardships and depopulated towns. At this point Black Hills locals realized that the mining industry did not provide the region with a steady, sustainable economy. Small-scale enterprises, such as the warm mineral springs and the Sylvan Lake resort attracted tourists to the Black

Hills. The creation of Wind Cave National Park (1903), Devil‘s Tower National

Monument (1906) and Jewel Cave National Monument (1908) also brought attention to the area. However, most tourists traveled to the region to experience its natural scenery and unique landscape features on their way to grander destinations such as Yellowstone

National Park. Eventually, South Dakota boosters recognized the need to accommodate these travelers and find ways to keep them (and their money) in the state. By the 1920s, the campaign to ―See America First‖ encouraged tourists to reconsider spending

―millions of dollars in Europe‖ and instead take part in a national movement to visit the scenic beauty offered by America‘s greatest wilderness areas. The promotion encouraged the widespread development of roads, resorts, and improved park accommodations within the National Parks. This marketing scheme successfully sold the ―built and natural

17 environment of the park…designed, shaped, and standardized into a packaged tourist experience.‖18

In compliance with this strategy, South Dakota State Historian Doane Robinson proposed that a national monument be carved on a mountainside in the Black Hills region. This idea changed tourism in the region forever. Initially, Robinson suggested that the moment celebrate the Black Hills‘ – and America‘s – western past through the sculpted faces of Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and John Colter. Eventually, George

Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt received top billing, and the local boosters garnered federal dollars to fund the ambitious monument.

The fourth chapter outlines the most significant push toward establishing a successful tourist industry—based on ―heritage‖ tourism—in the Black Hills from the

1930s to the 1950s. To increase tourist‘s draw to the Black Hills, local organizations promoted Deadwood‘s colorful characters and the region‘s ties to American Indian populations. Communities employed brochures, newspapers, and promotional literature to advertise and reinforce a popular view of the ―Mythic West,‖ often associated with

Black Hills history. The Deadwood‘s Days of ‘76 event, for example, retold the town‘s frontier ―heritage‖ history in a way that appealed to tourists. Pageants recounted the nineteenth-century ―Indian wars,‖ while parades showcased the area‘s early saloon girls.

The romantic accounts of Indians and cowboys did little to provide historical context for the region‘s past, just as the glitzy saloon girl costumes revealed nothing about the darker side of Deadwood‘s nineteenth-century prostitution industry.

18 Marguerite S. Shaffer, See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880-1940 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001), 41, 46. 18

But heritage tourism does not have a purpose to sell real historical facts to tourists: instead, it sells them the thrill of experience. One of the most significant ways to become an economically successful tourist destination is to meet the expectations of tourists. Thus, Deadwood‘s tourism industry—as well as other Black Hills towns— commemorated a series of romantic symbols, stories, peoples, and places in order to meet their customer‘s demands. These celebrations appealed to American ideals of exceptionalism and to people who visited the Black Hills with a yearning to understand the history of the western frontier.

Although displaced from the region, Lakotas continued to recognize their connection to the Black Hills during the twentieth century through legal channels.

Eventually they used the region‘s successful tourism industry as another avenue for asserting their sovereignty in the Black Hills. The fifth chapter outlines the surge in new pageants, powwows, and exhibitions in the region that allowed Lakota performers a level of autonomy. These venues granted Lakota people creative license to ―authenticate‖ their own shows and exhibitions. Between 1920 and the 1960s, the Duhamel Indian Pageant,

Wind Cave National Park powwow, Custer State Park Encampment, Deadwood Days of

‘76, and Ben Black Elk‘s presence at Mount Rushmore reshaped the way the Black Hills tourist industry depicted indigenous communities. Native People no longer felt the need to work for popular tourist enterprises that forced them to ―play‖ Indians or victims or villains who had been ―conquered,‖ in accordance with the commercial narrative of the western past.19 Instead, Lakota dancers and entertainers began to reclaim and celebrate their culture within their indigenous homelands. Through cultural performances, they

19 L.G. Moses, Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883-1933 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), 279. 19 resisted assimilation and paved the way for future Lakotas to generate revenue in the new era of Native American tourism in South Dakota.

Black Hills travelers found the most compelling Indian attraction when they visited Mount Rushmore. There they met Benjamin Black Elk, dressed in his traditional regalia and posing for profits with travelers in front of America‘s shrine of democracy.

Each photograph of him with a tourist revealed the convergence of cultures in the Black

Hills. On the one hand, tourists and outsiders stood in front of what they believed to be the ultimate symbol of America‘s legacy of nationhood, patriotism, and excellence. On the other hand, Ben Black Elk stood in the center of his nation—the ―heart of everything that is‖ for the Lakota people. This identity continues to prevail in the current Black Hills identity. Many people came to identify Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills as a national symbol for the United States, while Native people, like Ben Black Elk, viewed the region as a mainstay of their own tribal identities.

CHAPTER ONE

A Mountainous, Layered Cake:

Land and Identity in the Black Hills Region up to 1868

The great race left blood on the ground. The four-legged and winged animals bled from their feet and salivated from their mouths until they completed four circular laps around the ―Heart of Everything That Is,‖ Wamákognaka icáɳte, or the Black Hills. The beginning of universal order—and the fate of two-legged humans—rested on how this race ended. If the winged creatures won, the two-legged beings would be allowed to

―gain continued life.‖ But if they lost, the four-legged beings would ―rub out‖ the two- legged. There was much at stake.1

The Heart of Everything That Is was central to the race. The creatures pounded the Earth so heavily that it rose higher and higher above the surrounding plains:

The race was hard and those who ran wore the covering off of their feet, leaving behind a trail of blood. As all of creation thundered around the Heart of Everything That Is two times, their running so shook the earth

1 Translations from Frank Fools Crow, ―Introduction‖ in Tom Charging Eagle and Ron Zeilinger, Black Hills, Sacred Hills (Chamberlain: Tipi Press, St. Joseph‘s Indian School, 2004), n.p. This story of the ―great race‖ is taken from Ronald Goodman, Lakota Star Knowledge: Studies in Lakota Stellar Theology (Mission, SD: Sinte Gleska University, 1992), 44-45. Numerous versions of this story exist in published form. One account, given by Nicholas Black Elk, states that the Great Race was the event where the Lakota received knowledge about the bow and arrow. Raymond DeMallie, ed., The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), 309-311. The story of the Great Race is also tied to Cheyenne traditions. Although the Cheyenne version of the Great Race is different from the Lakota‘s, it is similar in the fact that the outcome of the race would determine how ―everything will be done….The race gave mankind the right to use animal flesh for food and to be the master like the buffalo told him….Man was thankful that he won.‖ John Stands in Timber and Margot Liberty, Cheyenne Memories (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), 23-24. 21

that a strange swelling lifted beside and behind the special mountain. They circled around this uplifting of ground on the third and final time, but a few kept to the initial path. As they neared the finish line, the buffalo was leading the pack, then Magpie jumped on the back of buffalo and within a short stretch of the line, he flew across.2

Magpie, the winner, represented the winged creatures. Their victory earned them the right to determine the fate of the two-legged humans and allow them to exist in the universe.

The blood-stained Racetrack remained intact forever, reminding two-legged creatures that ―their right to existence was one with responsibilities to everything else in creation.‖

Today, it circles the periphery of the Heart of Everything That Is—the Black Hills—and is known as the ―Racetrack.‖3

Just as it stood at the center of the race, the Black Hills also remains central to understanding the history, culture, and lifeways of numerous indigenous tribes. For the

Lakota in particular, the Black Hills is known as He Sápa (Black Mountains), Paha Sápa

(Black Hills), or O’onakezin (place of shelter). It also remains Wamákognaka icáɳte, the

―heart‖ of creation or the contents of the world.4 Lakotas are emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and physically connected to the Black Hills and, as many argue, have been for

―hundreds, even thousands of years.‖5

Yet numerous indigenous people established similar connections to the Black

Hills over the course of several centuries. The region is known in other indigenous languages as, Pahésabe (―Black Hills‖ in the Omaha and Ponca language), Xṓ-kṓ-qòp

2 Goodman, Lakota Star Knowledge, 44. 3 Ibid., 45. 4 Fools Crow, ―Introduction‖ in Charging Eagle and Zeilinger, Black Hills, Sacred Hills. See also translations in Eugene Buechel and Paul Manhart, eds., Lakota Dictionary: Lakota-English/English-Lakota, New Comprehensive Edition (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002), 340 and 102. Here, ―Wamákognaka‖ also means, ―Creation, the contents of the world, the whole of creation,‖ while ―icáŋte‖ means ―in or at the heart.‖ 5 Charging Eagle and Zeilinger, Black Hills, Sacred Hills, n.p. 22

(―Black Rocks Mountains‖ in the Kiowa language), and Moxtavhohona (―Black Hills‖ in the Cheyenne language).6 In addition to the Lakota, the Mandan, Cheyenne, Crow,

Kiowa, Neishan Apache, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Sutaio, Arikara, Ponca, Shoshone, Padouca

Apache, and Comanche tribes lived in, settled nearby, migrated to, or relied on the Black

Hills land for centuries.7 As an intertribal landscape, the region held—and still holds—

6 The Omaha Tribe did not live in the Black Hills, but their close cultural and linguistic relationship with the Ponca is one explanation for how they became aware of the Black Hills. The modern Omaha spelling ―Pahésabe‖ is used here. The outdated linguistic spelling of this word is ―Pahe‘çabe‖. See Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, The Omaha Tribe (Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1911), 102; For ―Moxtavhohona‖ see John H. Moore: The Cheyennes in Moxtavhohona: Evidence Supporting Cheyenne Claims in the Black Hills Area (Lame Deer, Montana: Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Inc., 1981), 14; For ―Xṓ-kṓ-qòp‖ see William C. Meadows, Kiowa Ethnogeography (Ausin: University of Texas Press, 2008), 263. Another linguistic record of the Black Hills in the Kiowa language refers to the region as ―Sádalkáni K‘op‖ meaning ―manifold mountains‖ but referring to stomach rind. See James Mooney, Calendar History of the Kiowa (Washington: Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report 17, 1898), 156. 7 Indigenous names for these tribes include: ―Sahnish‖ or ―The People‖ (Arikara); ―Tsistsistas‖ or ―People‖ (Cheyenne); ―Absaroka‖ or ―Apsaalooke‖ or ―Children of the Large-Beaked Bird‖ (Crow); ―K‘oigu‖ or ―Principle People‖ (Kiowa); ―Newe‖ or ―People‖ (Shoshone); ―Numangkaki‖ or ―People of the First Man‖ (Mandan); ―Nemene‖ or ―Our People‖ (Comanche); and ―Hinanaeina‖ or ―The People‖ (Arapaho). Until recently, scholars have referred to the Neishan Apache as the Kiowa Apache or Plains Apache. Today they prefer ―Ná‘ishą‖ which means ―Stealers or Takers‖ in their own language. The Kiowas—with whom they were associated with for many generations— gave them this name. The ―Sutaio‖ are also known as the ―Suhtai‖. Scholars have used both versions to identify the name of the tribe that eventually became a group within the Cheyenne tribe. For tribal names see David J. Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004). 553-610. The word ―Lakota‖ is a linguistic name that is commonly used to identify the western dialect of the ―Teton‖ or western Sioux. Teton derives from the word ―Tetonwan‖ or ―western council fire‖. According to oral tradition, the Lakota/Teton people comprised of one of the seven council fires making up the ―Oceti Sakowin,‖ a ―loose regional confederacy‖ of the Lakota and Dakota people. The Teton Sioux/Lakota are further divided into seven tribes: Sicangu (or ―Brulé‖), Hunkpapa, Mnikowoju (or ―Minneconjou‖), Oglala, Itzipco (or ―Sans Arc‖), Sihasapa (or ―Blackfoot‖), and Oohenunpa (or ―Two Kettle‖). See Akim Reinhardt, Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics from the IRA to Wounded Knee (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2007), 8-9, William K. Powers, Oglala Religion (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1975), 25-27, and Vine Deloria, Jr., ―Spirits and 23 cultural significance. The Black Hills was a central meeting place where different tribes and nationalities came together for trade, ceremonial meetings, buffalo hunts, and prayer.

It was a place used for agricultural purposes and provided a healthy supply of timber, game, shelter, and other valuable resources for the tribes in the region. It is safe to say that indigenous peoples and cultures left lasting effects on the Black Hills land. On the same token, the Black Hills left similar impressions on these people. It became a meaningful place, where they learned how to connect to each other and the world around them.8

South Dakota Land,‖ in Thompson, ed., A New South Dakota History, 1-2. In Ruling Pine Ridge, Reinhardt mentions that the existence of the Oceti Sakowin is controversial and many scholars do not believe that the confederacy existed. For example, Elliott West states that the Lakotas divided into groups and then divided into smaller groups. ―These groups had no unifying political structure or leadership, although they recognized their kinship, cultivated shared traditions, and spoke closely related dialects.‖ Deloria asserts that it developed as an alliance: ―…the Seven Council Fires lived in the far north as small hunting bands that covered a large area and spoke the same language. Eventually, the seven largest bands became loosely confederated as the Seven Fires, or allies, for protection against more numerous and hostile neighbors.‖ See Elliott West, The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998), 65 and Deloria, ―Spirits and South Dakota Land,‖ 2. 8 The Black Hills exists within the larger region of the American Great Plains. The Black Hills is an anomaly of the plains because it does not possess the characteristics that scholars use as defining measures (―treeless, semiarid, grassland‖) to identify the boundaries of the Great Plains as a specific region in North America. I refer to the Black Hills as its own region (a sort of ―subregion‖ of the larger Great Plains region) because it is a unique place with an important story to tell. Although, metaphorically, it is an ―island‖ in a grassland sea, it is also a region that stands on its own within the Great Plains. This study uses the words and ideas of geographer David Wishart to support the effort to define a specific Black Hills region: ―Any region is both a real place and an intellectual concept. In that sense, a region is the equivalent of the historian‘s period: a region is the division of space into identifiable units, just as a period is the division of time into recognizable segments. Both are classification schemes, generalizations that aid in the understanding of complex reality. The challenge is to identify the characteristics of the human and physical environments that constitute a region and to establish boundaries for that distinctive portion of the earth‘s surface,‖ Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, xiii. For more defining characteristics of the Great Plains see Wright and Rosenberg, The Great Plains Experience, 15. 24

Many geologists, biologists, writers, anthropologists, and historians have simplified the Black Hills region, describing it as a ―smaller‖ mountain chain in the west, an ―island‖ in the American Great Plains, or a ―miniature version‖ of the Rocky

Mountains.9 Yet much like the region‘s human history, its geological history is layered, complicated, and began long ago. First, it is significant to note that, like the word

―black,‖ the name ―hills‖ falsely describes the mountainous terrain of the region. It is also crucial to keep in mind that the Black Hills is distinct from nearby mountain regions, which leaves little room for exact comparisons between it and the Big Horn Mountains,

Laramie Mountains, or other formations in the Rocky Mountain range of Colorado,

Wyoming, and Montana. There are four specific geological characteristics that make the

Black Hills a unique region: its central ―crystalline‖ core, limestone plateau, circular

Racetrack, and the hogback ridge.10

The region‘s central core is the oldest of its geological features. The mountains exposed in the Black Hills ―correspond in age to the oldest mountains‖ in the North

American continent.11 Geologists begin tracing their version of Black Hills creation with

2.5 billion-year-old granite. This ancient granite developed as millions of years of heating and cooling periods took place in the Earth‘s fresh water ocean (about 800 million years

9 See the works of Raventon, Island in the Plains, and Froiland, Natural History of the Black Hills. 10 Lewis and Clark referred to the Black Hills as ―black Mountain‖ in June 1804, Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Lewis and Clark Journals, An American Epic of Discovery: The Abridgment of the Definitive Nebraska Edition Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Members of the Corps of Discovery (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), 15 and 15 n. 45. Other early visitors include the French-Canadian fur traders Francois and Louis-Joseph La Verendrye (1743), and explorers Wilson Price Hunt, Jedediah Smith, and James Clyman. See David Wolff‘s essay, ―The Black Hills in Transition‖ in Harry F. Thompson, ed., A New South Dakota History (Sioux Falls: The Center for Western Studies, 2005), 290. 11 Froiland, Natural History of the Black Hills, 20. 25 ago). As this rock melted and recrystallized over and over again, different kinds of granites ―bent, twisted, and crumbled‖ and intertwined with various mineral-rich schists.12

The ocean continued to distort the granite, igneous rock, and other sedimentary materials that merged together over the course of more than 100 million years. This concoction of different granites and schists forms the Black Hills central mass, also known as the ―crystalline core‖. It is this geologic feature from which ―all sedimentary formations have been eroded‖ in the Black Hills. The erosion of the crystalline core left behind marvelous mountain formations seen today in the region‘s famous cathedral spires and ―Needles‖ rocks. The crystalline core also produced the resources that eventually led to the development of a very successful gold mining industry in the Black Hills during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.13

As Precambrian Time drew to a close, deep and heavy ocean waters created the upthrust of a single land mass. Again, millions of years of water pressure and weight caused the land to split, crack, and become separated by large bodies of water or, oceans.

Changes in climate, the development of—and transition from –vegetation and animal life led to the appearance of larger bodies of water. The split land masses submerged, emerged, and submerged again and again due to the forces of these new oceans.14

12 Raventon, Island In the Plains, 8. Many indigenous tribes also have stories that explain how the Black Hills formed. Geologic explanations are only one of many perspectives that account for how the unique Black Hills features developed over time. The Lakota story of the Great Race, however, is another perspective. This chapter integrates both indigenous and non-indigenous versions to exhibit the differing concepts of land, science, and ideas of ownership that later influenced the Black Hills. 13 Froiland, Natural History of the Black Hills, 17. 14 Raventon, Island In the Plains, 9. 26

During the Mississippean Period (350 million years ago), the second feature significant to the Black Hills geological make-up formed: the limestone plateau. During this period he Earth experienced a tropical climate and large quantities of lime deposits built ―up on the bottoms of the great inland warm-water seas.‖ This lime hardened into limestone. Ultimately it became known as the ―limestone plateau,‖ which makes up the greatest percentage of the Black Hills area. Developed from the Englewood, Pahasapa

(Madison), Deadwood, Whitewood, and Minnelusa formations, the limestone is mostly light shades of color (sometimes with a pinkish hue) that is exposed throughout the region. Caves in the Black Hills—such as the infamous Wind Cave and Jewel Cave—are located almost exclusively in the area of the Limestone Plateau.15

About one hundred million years passed before the third significant geologic feature of the Black Hills—the race track—developed. Mild climates caused plant life to move inland, the first oil and gas deposits left their mark in time, the number of fish increased, and a large portion of the North American continent lay underneath the surface of shallow seas. During the Permian period thick red ―strata‖ (layers of sedimentary rocks) began to trace a path around the periphery of the Black Hills. Between 250 and

700 feet thick, geologists explain that this ―Racetrack‖ or ―red valley‖ developed from the Spearfish formation. The Racetrack is one feature that makes the Black Hills distinct from other mountainous formations.16

The Earth remained busy as it entered the Jurassic Period. Land continued to rise; the Earth endured a drier climate; seas in the interior of the continental mass dried up and were reduced to the size of small lakes; seeded plants appeared; and animals developed

15 Ibid. 16 Ibid., 10. 27 on the land. In the Black Hills, the formations known as Sundance, Unkpapa, and

Morrison were created during this time. These, along with the Lakota and Fall River formations, combined with a white, chalky mineral known as gypsum. The end product created the region‘s fourth distinguishing geologic feature: the hogback ridge. This area twists its way around the Racetrack and records 120 million years of geologic activity from the Mesozoic Era. (In fact, many scientists and geologists refer to the hogback as the ―Mesozoic Rim‖ of the Black Hills.) Nineteenth and twentieth-century settlers in the

Black Hills eventually quarried the stone from the hogback ridge to build some of the most prominent communities in the region. Buildings on the main streets of Hot Springs,

Edgemont, and Spearfish serve as standing testaments to the benefits of the hogback ridge rock formations.17

From the end of the Cretaceous period into the Tertiary period, continental land masses endured 30 million years of ―modern mountain building.‖ Until this era, only large, broad elevated ridges existed. Mountain peaks and valleys did not exist. The forces of lava flows and volcanic activities deep within the Pacific Ocean caused major continental upthrusts on today‘s North and South American land masses. This ultimately resulted in the development of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. It was, more specifically, the ―Laramide Orogeny‖ phenomenon that created the Rocky

Mountains and, subsequently, the Black Hills. (Geologists identify the Black Hills as the

―eastern most outlying segment‖ of the laramide orogeny.) Originally, this section of the region elevated in a ―smooth, elliptical‖ domelike structure to the height of at least ten thousand feet. For 30 million years this massive dome formation eroded from the

17 Ibid., 10-12. 28 pressures of redistributed wind, water, and air.18 Known as ―updoming,‖ the result of this erosion now resembles a ―Layer cake.‖ During this transformation (which occurred in the

Paleocene and Eocene epochs) groups of igneous rocks intruded the ancient rock formations. The final product of the erosion and the igneous intrusions appears in the fingertip ridges, jagged mountains, steep valleys, and rugged terrain found in the central

Black Hills. This phenomenon created a chain of mountain peaks that run east and west, and later became significant to both indigenous sacred sites and the mining and tourism industries in the Black Hills.19

So here are the four major geologic formations that created the Black Hills as one of the most varied, unique mountain regions in the world: the central core, limestone plateau, Racetrack, and hogback ridge. These landforms maintained their significance during the waves of human migration, exploration, and development in the Black Hills.

The crystalline (central) core boasts the highest Black Hills altitude. Its ―prominent thrusts‖ now hold the major tourism sites of Harney Peak (7,242 feet), Terry Peak (7,071 feet), Bear Mountain—which includes the Needles region—(7,166 feet), and Custer Peak

(6,794 feet). The limestone plateau is also high, but mostly flat terrain. The caves that make the Black Hills famous (such as Wind Cave and Jewel Cave) are located within the plateau. Wind Cave is especially known for its display of the remarkable ―boxwork‖ or

―honeycomb‖ formations, and is also the fourth-longest explored cavern in the world.20

18 Ibid., 13. 19 For the discussion of ―updoming‖ see Froiland, Natural History of the Black Hills, 20. See also Raventon, Island In the Plains, 13. 20 Boxwork (or ―honeycomb‖) is created by deposits of the mineral calcite, which is a constituent of limestone. Ninety-five percent of the world‘s boxwork is found in Wind Cave—one of the oldest, ―longest and most complex caves in the world,‖ The Sierra 29

Circling these caves and the limestone plateau, the Racetrack is nearly treeless and without vegetation. At an altitude of 3,300 to 3,500 feet, it runs continuously around the periphery of the Black Hills proper. Its path varies from quite narrow to several miles wide. Along the Racetrack are the locations of numerous indigenous sacred sites. The hogback ridge—the outer Black Hills rim—fluctuates in altitude from 3,000 to 4,900 feet. Its inner slope (which faces the Racetrack) is heavily populated by ponderosa pine, while its outer slope (which descends into the Great Plains) has fewer trees. Streams of water eroded the hogback, forming numerous gaps that are found throughout the ridge.

The most significant—Buffalo Gap, Pte Tetiopa (doorway of the buffalo)—is a sacred place where indigenous tribes believed the buffalo first emerged onto the plains: ―Lakota legends say, that at one time, there was no such gap there. But, through the ages, as countless herds of hungry and thirsty animals came out…dash eastward to get to the cool waters….after countless years the sharp hooves of the stampeding herds have cut down a high ridge into a narrow gorge.‖21

Club Guides to the National Parks of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains (New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1984), 187-190. 21Some scholars believe that the Black Hills ―foothills‖ are a fifth geologic feature that make the region unique. According to Froiland, the foothills are located in-between the Racetrack and limestone plateau: ―In the southern Hills it consists of a broad rolling tableland, the Minnekahta Plains. In the northern and eastern Black Hills it is a narrower, more typical foothills area, marking the transition from plains to mountainous topography,‖ Froiland, Natural History of the Black Hills, 18. In his landscape study of the Black Hills, Robert Wellman Campbell also discusses the significance of the foothills in the Black Hills. See Robert Wellman Campbell, ―A Landscape History of the Black Hills,‖ Unpublished Dissertation Manuscript, University of Kansas, 2006. LaPointe, Legends of the Lakota, 85. Buffalo Gap (or ―Buffalo Gate‖) is identified as a gateway opening into the Black Hills from the plains. Buffalo Gap appears on a map of Lakota sacred places drawn by Amos Bad Heart Bull between 1890 and 1913. It was the place where bison herds ―entered the Black Hills in the fall and came out again in the spring.‖ It is also believed that Buffalo Gap was formed because of the large herds that entered the plains after originally emerging from Wind Cave. See Linea Sundstrom, ―The Sacred 30

Traces of human experiences reveal themselves throughout the unique formations of the Black Hills land. Mammoth and bison kill sites, spear points, dart points, rock art, and other archeological evidence suggest that humans occupied or traveled through the

Black Hills for over 13,000 calendar years. The region attracted diverse populations of people who interacted with each other, fought as enemies, formed alliances, traded goods, and exchanged ideas and knowledge, all while continuing divergent lifeways and traditions. They recorded their shadows, stories, and histories in the ancient rocks and eroded mountainsides throughout the region by creating petroglyphs. The rock art (which one can still see) shares overlapping threaded narratives that reveal much about this moment in the region‘s human past, further complicating the Black Hills story. From

1200 to 1700 A.D., different tribes inhabited the region and used it for multiple purposes.

Evidence reveals that the Black Hills was a meeting ground, an area where people sought shelter, farmed, lived, hunted, warred, worshiped, and traded. 22

Black Hills: An Ethnohistorical Review,‖ in Nancy Shoemaker, ed., American Indians (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 174-175. Bad Heart Bull‘s map was published in Amos Bad Heart Bull and Helen Blish, A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1968). 22 Linea Sundstrom, Storied Stone: Indian Rock Art in the Black Hills Country (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004), 12. It is safe to say that Black Hills dwellers never shared completely homogenous cultural, political, spiritual, or social practices. People with very diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds occupied the area, transforming it into an intertribal region. Archaeological artifacts reveal that groups with different living patterns and tools traveled and settled in the Black Hills during the time periods identified as ―Paleoindian,‖ ―Archaic,‖ and ―Prehistoric‖, but they also represent a broad array of tribes and people who migrated from numerous directions. The work of Sundstrom, the foremost Black Hills archaeologist, reveals: ―Few threads of continuity run throughout Black Hills prehistory. Instead, adaptations and patterns of interaction fluctuated according to a number of ecological and cultural factors….at other times, fairly isolated, localized cultures developed, only indirectly influenced by outside cultures. Ethnic and economic diversity also changed over time….the way people perceived the area changed as the resources and related technologies fluctuated,‖ Sundstrom, Culture History of the Black Hills with reference to adjacent areas in the northern Great Plains (Lincoln: J&L 31

The indigenous history of the Black Hills mirrors that of the region‘s geologic formation: complex, layered, and unique. These tribes coexisted in and around the Black

Hills in a manner similar to its mountainous ―layer cake‖: next to, across from, overlapping with, and located east, west, north, and south from one another, oftentimes even sharing the same space. Due to the multi-layered human history of the Black Hills, it is a difficult task to place tribes on a linear chronological timeline. Although it is tempting to arrange the puzzle pieces to create a picture of the region‘s past, this approach is not particularly necessary for understanding the Black Hills. It is far less important to identify the indigenous groups that arrived first to the region and much more imperative to decipher who arrived at all. A time period spanning several hundred years offers an historical saga of one of the most rich and diverse regions in the North

American continent.23

The earliest groups of people known to inhabit and migrate throughout the Black

Hills (up to 1700) lived in ways that promoted either agricultural, hunting, or foraging ventures. Tribes may have practiced a combination of these forms of living, yet they specialized and relied most heavily upon one of the three. For example, the Mandan,

Reprint Co., 1989), 108. For more discussions of these time periods, people, and cultures, see also the works of Karl Schlesier, The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987) and Karl Schlesier, ed., Plains Indians, 500-1500 A.D.: The Archaeological Past of Historic Groups (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994), 308-381. 23 In an effort to give Black Hills indigenous people more agency while discussing their relationship to the region and future colonial powers, it is nearly impossible to present their stories through a linear narrative. In the words of historian Pekka Hämäläinen, ―Instead of perceiving Native policies toward colonial powers simply as strategies of survival, it assumes that Indians, too, could wage war, exchange goods, make treaties, and absorb peoples in order to expand, extort, manipulate, and dominate….At its most fundamental level, [this approach] promotes a less linear reading of Indian-white relations in North America.‖ Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 7. 32

Arikara, Padouca Apache, and Ponca tribes momentarily settled in semi-horticultural villages in the Black Hills, mostly on the eastern slope of the region.24 The White River,

Cheyenne River, and Belle Fourche River are significant waterways that connected the

Black Hills to the Missouri River in the east. Planting beans, corn, and squash, these indigenous groups used the Black Hills land extensively. The crops provided them with major food sources that helped sustain their people for hundreds of years. In the centuries to follow, it allowed them to thrive as successful traders in the hub of economic activity that quickly surrounded the region.25

The experiences of the Mandan, Arikara, Padouca, and Ponca tribes were the beginning of many interactions among diverse groups of indigenous people—shaping the

Black Hills into an intertribal landscape. For example, around the calendar year 1300, a group ventured away from their Skidi Pawnee villages (then located along the Loup and

Platte Rivers in present-day Nebraska) and moved north into the territory that became

South Dakota. After they traced the course of the Missouri River, they established close cultural ties with the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes—successful farmers of the northern

24 The Padouca Apache reflected a consistent presence in the Black Hills for several centuries. Related to the Neishan or ―Plains Apache,‖ the Padoucas resided mostly in the southeastern area of the Black Hills. Although they benefitted from hunting bison, they also foraged for plant resources and participated in casual forms of farming and horticulture. The Padoucas are one example of a tribe where a culture thrived in the Black Hills region and became economically connected to the land. Schlesier, Plains Indians, 324-335, Sundstrom, Culture History of the Black Hills, 63-64, and Waldo Wedel, An Introduction to Kansas Archeaology (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of American Ethnology 174, 1959), 69-75. 25 Members of the Crow tribe also planted crops in the Black Hills. For a short time, they settled in the northern edges of the region near the Little Missouri River. However, they concentrated their efforts mostly on hunting. See Sundstrom, Culture History of the Black Hills, 70-71. For other horticultural tribal migrations see Schlesier, Plains Indians, 339- 361 and James Howard, The Ponca Tribe (Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institute Bureau of American Ethnology, 1965), 130-133. 33 plains. Known as the ―Sahnish‖ or, the ―People,‖ archaeologists and historians now recognize this former Pawnee group as the ―Arikara.‖ The Arikara maintained a level of kinship with their Pawnee relations, but formed a new tribal identity during their time in the Black Hills.26 Several centuries later, the Ponca tribe also traveled along river corridors to take advantage of rich soil lands surrounding the Black Hills eastern slope.

After centuries of travels with other Dhegíha people, they began interacting and trading regularly with new tribes.27

While some tribes found the Black Hills a resourceful land-base for agricultural endeavors, others thrived as avid hunters in the region. The existence of bison, in particular, lured many indigenous tribes to the Black Hills (such as the Comanche,

Shoshone, Kiowa, Neishan, and Crows, who were in the region throughout most of the eighteenth century). The Black Hills served as a sheltered oasis for bison herds to graze and flourish. With populations that consistently increased, these large herds provided meat, hides, and bones that the indigenous groups used in their everyday lives. They also benefitted from trading the animals with tribes residing north along the Yellowstone

River, east along the Missouri River, and south along the Republican and Platte Rivers.

Mass bison drives allowed for an abundant supply of the animal.28 The Vore Site—a large bison kill site—is a gorge in the Black Hills that indigenous people used for centuries leading up to their contact with Europeans. Located in the northwestern portion of the Black Hills (in present-day Wyoming), Native people rounded up herds in the

26 The Arikara are also known as the ―Ree.‖ West, The Contested Plains, 31. 27 The Ponca are Dhegíha-speaking people, along with the Omaha, Kansa (Kaw), Osage, and Quapaw tribes. The Ponca and Omaha people migrated together the longest out of the five groups before they separated. 28 For the hunting patterns of Shoshone, Comanche, Kiowa, Crow and Neishan people see Schlesier, Plains Indians and Sundstrom, Culture History of the Black Hills. 34 region and ―stampeded the buffalo into a steep-sided sinkhole and slaughtered them.‖

Some estimates suggest that anywhere from ten and twenty thousand bison died at the

Vore Site.29

The beginning of the eighteenth century witnessed a major transitional period for tribes and their living patterns of farming, hunting, or foraging. This heightened period of flux followed the introduction of the horse trade in the Black Hills. Two different networks brought the horses in great numbers to the region; with their extensive ties to the American Southwest, scholars credit both the Comanche and the Padouca Apache for their role in shaping this great change.30 The connections that Black Hills tribes established with Missouri River trade centers shifted their ecological and economic lifeways as they eventually had access to European commodities of guns and ammunition. By the early 1700s, the Black Hills transformed into an intertribal hub of activity, where diverse Native people from all directions—the Southwest, Great Basin,

Plains and Rocky Mountain regions—took advantage of trading these items.31

29 The Vore Site was used between 1450 and 1800. Colin G. Calloway, One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis and Clark (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), 41. In his discussion of the Shoshone in the Black Hills region, historian Pekka Hämäläinen states that these large killings were ―communal hunts‖ which ―absorbed a lot of time and energy and required careful planning…‖ His research reveals that the Vore Site was used approximately once per every twenty-five years.‖ Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire, 22. 30 Many scholars have produced studies that unfold the great changes caused by the introduction of horses and the horse trade into plains cultures. See John Ewers, The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture with Comparative Material from Other Western Tribes (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute, 1969), West, The Contested Plains, Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire, and Andrew C. Isenberg, The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). 31 W. Raymond Wood, ―Northern Plains Village Cultures: Internal Stability and External Relationships,‖ Journal of Anthropological Research v. 30 (1973) 1-16. 35

Horses also reshaped the political culture of the Black Hills. With horses serving as a valuable commodity, tribes turned their loose allegiances into stronger alliances to provide further protection for their horse herds and trade routes. Territorial possession grew more significant as the horse redefined travel, migration, settlement, farming, and hunting patterns, and even led to intertribal raiding and warfare. With the horse, indigenous people were less apt to rely on agricultural pursuits and instead focused on developing more efficient ways to hunt bison. While horses allowed for a greater ease of traveling and hunting, they also pressured tribes to acquire grazing lands. Both sides of the Black Hills hogback provided some grassland pastures for horse herds, but overall the region did not serve as an adequate place for year-round grazing purposes. Thus, indigenous use of the interior Black Hills—the crystalline core and limestone plateau— for economic purposes declined with the introduction of the horse.32

In addition to the horse trade, the interactions among different tribes and cultures significantly reshaped the political, economic, and cultural landscape of the Black Hills during the 1700s. The Arapaho, Padouca, Crow, Arikara, Cheyenne, Comanche, Hidatsa,

Sutaio, Shoshone, Mandan, Kiowa, Ponca, Neishan, and Lakotas all played roles in this transition. Although these tribes arrived at different times throughout the century, distinct divisions and alliances quickly emerged. In geographical terms, the Black Hills is

32 Before acquiring horses, the Cheyenne relied greatly on their agricultural pursuits. Once they adopted horses into their living patterns, they focused less on horticulture and more on hunting and the horse trade. John H. Moore discusses these economic and ecological changes in his in-depth studies on the Cheyenne tribe. See John H. Moore The Cheyenne Nation: A Social and Demographic History (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987) and The Cheyenne Tribe, New York: Blackwell Publishers, 1996). The Cheyenne also became leaders in the plains trading network. They ―turned into pure buffalo hunters, but also played the part of middlemen in procuring English goods from Hidatsa and passing them on to the Arapaho and other tribes,‖ Robert H. Lowie, Indians of the Plains, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954), 189. 36 sometimes broken into two distinct areas: the southern hills and the northern hills. One strong network of tribes in the Black Hills resided in the northern portion, while another alliance formed in the southern portion of the region. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Crow, Kiowa, Neishan, and Arapaho tribes comprised the northern allied group. These people consistently traded with the large and powerful Mandan and Hidatsa villages that reached north and east from the Black Hills on the Missouri River and the

Little Missouri River. The other alliance in the southern and southeastern Black Hills included the Comanche and Padouca tribes, who traded with the Ponca on the nearby

White River.33 As these alliances competed over regional resources—contact with trade centers, land for grazing, access for hunting bison and other game—it influenced their economic sustainability.

The introduction of horses and closer ties to European contacts significantly affected Black Hills tribes. But the advent of epidemic diseases that swept the Great

Plains brought even more changes to the region‘s demography. In 1781, smallpox swept through the horticultural villages on the Missouri River and its tributaries. Up to this time the Mandans, Hidatsas, Arikaras, and Poncas had served as powerful leaders of the region‘s trading centers. Smallpox instantly changed their roles in this lucrative

33 The Arikara tribe had a unique role in these alliances. At first they may have held allied connections with the Padouca and Ponca groups. But later they were close trading allies with tribes in the northern hills alliance, except for the Crow. They were enemies of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes because their thriving villages posed a threat to the success rate of Arikara trading ventures. See Moore, The Cheyenne Nation, 100-102, Jablow, The Cheyenne in Plains Indian Trade Relations, 1795- 1840 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, Monographs of the American Ethnological Society: 19, 1950), 51-58, and George Hyde, The Pawnee Indians (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1951), 39-83. It is also significant to point out that several of these tribes intermarried. There were many instances of Kiowa and Crow intermarriage as well as Comanche and Padouca partnerships. 37 enterprise. Strong numbers dwindled quickly, while illness and death forced these groups to retreat or relocate away from their disease-ridden villages. This culminated in a dramatic shift in the region‘s populace. The tribes occupying the northern Black Hills—

Kiowa, Arapaho, and Neishan—moved south to take advantage of the land where

Comanches, Padoucas and Poncas formerly resided. 34 During their migration they threatened the Ponca, who had been weakened by the same epidemic. The Ponca suffered economically because they had not formed strong trading ties to these new tribes in the southern Black Hills. Unable to make their seasonal hunting trips due to a hostile relationship with the Kiowa, the Ponca eventually left the area. They abandoned their villages on the White River and retreated to villages farther south and east, near the

Niobrara and Missouri Rivers.35

The Cheyenne narrowly missed the epidemic of 1781. The Cheyenne had occupied villages on the Missouri River during the 1760s and 1770s; later, they moved closer to the Black Hills and lived in several villages on a tributary of the Cheyenne

River. They farmed for a while, but as they acquired greater numbers of horses they turned to hunting bison, while also sharing the land and resources of the Black Hills region with other tribes. The Cheyenne grew stronger in their numbers and eventually occupied all the land between the Missouri River and Black Hills. They became a dominant leader in trading horses, hides, meat, and other commodities to tribes and non-

34 Groups of Crow went with the Kiowa on their migration to the southern hills, but the majority of them remained north and northwest of the Black Hills. See Robert H. Clark, ed., and Carroll Friswold, The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Three Eyewitness Views by the Indian, Chief He-Dog, the Indian-White, William Garnett, and the White Doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1976) 130. 35 Fletcher and LaFlesche, The Omaha Tribe, 78-81 and George Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk: A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1937), 15. The Comanche tribe had already begun their retreat farther south. 38 indigenous people around the Black Hills. Once the Kiowa, Neishan, and Arapaho migrated to the southern hills, the Cheyenne moved even closer to the Black Hills to inhabit the now-unoccupied northern hills. Like other indigenous groups, the Cheyenne established sacred connections with the region and, ultimately, the Black Hills became the center of their world.36 On their heels followed groups of Lakotas. Without strong

Mandan and Hidatsa villages on the Missouri River, the Lakotas (who had been slowly inching their way westward from Minnesota) no longer met any obstacles as they crossed the river.37

Native scholar and intellectual Vine Deloria, Jr., believes one ―must look back as far as tribal memories can be extended to discover how the people arrived‖ in the Black

Hills.38 In Lakota tradition, humans first emerged through Wind Cave. Lakota Studies instructor Karen Lone Hill (Oglala Sioux Tribe) believes that the ―Black Hills are the traditional birthplace of the Sioux Nation.‖ Lone Hill further asserts that after their emergence, Lakota people migrated outward and away from the Black Hills for thousands of years before they returned to the region in the late eighteenth century.39 To

36 There are conflicting reports about the Cheyenne missing the smallpox epidemic of 1781. In his letters, George Bent wrote that the Cheyenne had already left the Missouri River before smallpox arrived. Elliot West claims that ―a series of terrible epidemics, probably smallpox and measles, ravaged their whole population,‖ and so ―bands of Cheyennes began moving westward again, this time away from the Missouri.‖ See Bent in George Hyde, Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters, edited by Savoie Lottinville (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968), 16. West, The Contested Plains, 68. Around 1680, the Cheyenne began their migration from the upper Mississippi River. They settled on the Minnesota River in the 1700s and moved farther west to the James River (eastern North Dakota) in 1725. By the 1770s, they had settled near the Missouri River and along its tributaries. See West, The Contested Plains, 68-76. 37 Jablow, The Cheyenne in Plains Indian Trade Relations. 38 Deloria, ―Spirits and South Dakota Land,‖ 1. 39 Karen D. Lone Hill, ―Sioux‖ in Frederick E. Hoxie, ed., Encyclopedia of North American Indians: Native American History, Culture, and Life from Paleo-Indians to the 39

Lakota, Wind Cave is known as Wasúŋ Wicóniya Wakáŋ, which translates to ―Sacred

Wind Breath‖ and is also known as Maká Oníye (―Breath of the Earth‖).40 Lakota elder

David Chief relayed the following story: ―We Lakota, and our relatives here the Dakota, originated from sacred places on earth, according to our sacred traditional knowledge, the

Pte Oyate, we as buffalo people, came out from near the place where the holy winds blow out, very close to the Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, always known to us as the sacred ‗He

Sapa.‘‖41

The most commonly told migration of the Lakota/Dakota (or ―Sioux‖) people begins with their presence in the western Great Lakes region. Its popularity reflects its status as the first written evidence of Lakota existence according to European accounts.

French explorers, trappers, traders, and missionaries encountered a group they recognized as ―Nadouessioux‖ among other tribes—Anishinaabeg/Ojibwe, Fox, Pottawatami,

Ottawa, Huron—in the woodlands of the upper-Mississippi during the middle of the seventeenth century. The lure of western lands—more game for hunting and trapping— and conflict with the Cree and Ojibwe to the east pulled and pushed the Lakota people into a westward migration. By the late-1700s, they had reached the Missouri River, only hundreds of miles from the Black Hills. During their expansion, they alienated smaller tribes including the Omaha, Otoe, Iowa, and Missouri people. From their prior trade relationships they brought guns, ammunition, and other important commodities that

Present (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996), 590-593. James LaPointe also discusses Wind Cave‘s role in the emergence of the Lakota and the buffalo. See LaPoint, Legends of the Lakota, 19, 84-85. 40 This definition of Wind Cave‘s sacred value is courtesy of Jace DeCory ―Sacred Places Collection,‖ Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. 41 David Chief qtd. in James V. Fenelon, Culturicide, Resistance, and Survival of the Lakota (―Sioux Nation‖) (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998), 289. 40 provided them with a great advantage over other plains tribes. The Lakotas also benefitted from the smallpox epidemics that had weakened the Mandan, Hidatsa, and

Arikara villages. In the early 1800s more Lakotas moved into the Black Hills region.42

The Lakota presence in the Black Hills dramatically changed the region‘s political landscape. Hostility quickly emerged between the Lakota and the Kiowa. The Crow remained aligned with their Kiowa friends, while the Arapaho attempted to take a neutral stance (the Arapaho, Kiowa, and Crow had maintained a long-standing alliance up to the arrival of the Lakota). Initially, the Cheyenne remained loyal in their alliance with the

Kiowa, but this tenuous relationship did not last. Instead, the three tribes realized that they benefitted more from being allies than they did from being enemies.43 By the early

1800s, the Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne were fighting together against the Kiowa.

After years of pressure, this strong plains alliance finally pushed the Kiowa out of the

Black Hills region permanently.44 Lakotas increased their numbers and, subsequently, their strong hold on the region. With the crippling of the Missouri River tribes due to disease, the Lakota and Cheyenne people dominated the waterways leading in and out of the Black Hills. They secured power in the trade networks and dominated bison hunting in and around the region. By 1825, Lakotas dominated the Black Hills region.45

42 West, The Contested Plains, 65-66. For a brief overview of Lakota migrations see also Jeffrey Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills (New York: Viking Penguin, 2010), 4-13. For a lengthier discussion see Albers, ―Home of the Bison,‖ 46-57. 43 As the Cheyenne attempted to push the Crow farther north, they established an alliance with the Lakota. This alliance was mutually beneficial. Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk, 24. See also Albers, ―Home of the Bison,‖ 49. 44 Their Comanche and Neishan alliances had already been moving south for several decades. 45 Their alliance with the Cheyenne and Arapaho remained intact, but these two tribes had migrated farther south of the Black Hills by 1825. Albers, ―Home of the Bison: An Ethnographic and Ethnohistorical Study of Traditional Cultural Affiliations to Wind Cave 41

The Black Hills remained an important component in the traditions of the tribes that no longer physically inhabited the area. In addition to migration patterns, lifeways, and alliances that formed and dissolved, most of the tribes that lived in the Black Hills or had traveled to the area at one time established sacred connections to landmarks and places throughout the region. In fact, Linea Sundstrom, Black Hills archeologist, asserts that the region held ―religious significance for much, if not all, of its human history.‖46

Tribes designated sacred value to locations in the Black Hills for many reasons. Some sacred sites commemorate places where heroes or tricksters played a role in shaping landforms. Other places are sacred because indigenous groups believe they are points where humans or animals emerged from the earth. Indigenous people also honor locations that culturally influenced their worldview: a place they worshipped, a place they gathered materials for prayer, a site where certain ceremonies took place, or a location where they sought wisdom from honored teachers and prophets. In the Black

Hills specifically, indigenous people attributed sacredness to three different kinds of places found within a landscape. According to Sundstrom, these places are 1) a region or area (like the places around Sundance Mountain), 2) a particular landmark (like Bear

Butte), and 3) a natural land formation (such as Wind Cave or warm water springs). Peter

Nabokov, American Indian Studies scholar, concludes that sacred places are found all throughout North America: the ―landscape is saturated with Indian memories and stories

National Park,‖ (U.S. National Park Service and the Department of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota, 2003), 57. 46 Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills,‖ 190. 42 that describe such beliefs….Indians played a part in the inner life of the land, and it responded as an influential participant in theirs.‖47

The Kiowa, Neishan, Lakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Arikara, Suhtai, Mandan, and

Crow tribes all identify certain Black Hills places or landmarks as sacred. The story of the Racetrack, for example, does not belong solely to the tradition of the Lakota people.

The Cheyenne also tell a story that recalls the universal two-legged and four-legged race, which determined a new order of the universe. However, in Cheyenne traditions, the race explains the origins of the Sun Dance. Another difference is that ―man‖ took part in the race: ―The main race would be between the young man and the buffalo, but all the animals took part on the buffalo‘s side except the magpie and the crow, who chose to run with the young man.‖ The magpie won the race, which meant that ―the young man had won the race.‖

The old men buffalo called his young man to come to them. ―Well, you have won,‖ they said. ―From now on everything will be done by the outcome of this race. You are on top now, above every animal and everything in the world. All we animals can do is supply the things you will use from us—our meat and skins and bones. And we will teach you how to give a Sun Dance.‖ So they all gathered at a place where a Sun Dance lodge was fixed and made ready, and the young man was taught to perform the ceremony. The place where that was held can still be seen in the Black Hills. And the path where the race was run is still there also, going right around the Hills….The Cheyennes have offered the Sun Dance every year since that time, remembering the Great Race and giving thanks to the Almighty for the way it turned out.‖48

47 Sundstrom, 184; Peter Nabokov, Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), xiii. For Nabokov‘s descriptions of sacred places see pages xi-xiii. Anthropologist Keith Basso also discusses sacred sites at length in his book, Keith H. Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996). Sundstrom also covers Black Hills sacred sites in her article, ―Mirror of Heaven: Cross-Cultural Transference of the Sacred Geography of the Black Hills,‖ World Archaeology, Vol. 28, No. 2 (October 1996), 177-189. 48 Stands in Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 22-24. 43

The Cheyenne tribe also believe that Bear Butte—―Nakoevë,‖ or ―Bear Peak‖—is a sacred and holy place. Long ago, the Cheyenne hero Sweet Medicine traveled to

Nakoevë in the Black Hills country where he received knowledge about the Four Sacred

Arrows. Inside, the mountain spirits gave him instruction about the arrows and provided him with wisdom for governing the Cheyenne people: ―They taught him first about the arrows, because they were to be the highest power in the tribe….He was taught the ceremony of renewing the arrows….learned next that he was to give the people a good government…and a good system of police and military protection…‖ Sweet Medicine was at Nakoevë for nearly four years ―before he was sent forth again to carry the laws to the people.‖49 The Cheyenne honor Nakoevë because, according to their traditions, significant events occurred there and ultimately influenced their tribal culture and politics. Even in the present day, Cheyenne ―medicine men return to Bear Butte in the

Black Hills where Sweet Medicine got the Arrows centuries ago,‖ and hold private ceremonies.50

The landmark known as ―Bear Butte‖ also holds sacred value within Mandan traditions. The Mandan tribe made annual pilgrimages to Bear Butte to commemorate the mountain and hold prayers. In their tribal knowledge, it was the landform of Bear Butte that protected their ancestors and saved their lives during a catastrophic flood.51 Other stories tell how the Kiowa people received knowledge and possession of taíme from the

49 Ibid., 36. See also Peter J. Powell, Sweet Medicine: The Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in Northern Cheyenne History (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987). 50 Ibid., 88. 51 Renate Schukies, Edward Red Hat, and Bill Red Hat, Red Hat: Cheyenne Blue Sky Maker and Keeper of the Sacred Arrows (Muñster: LIT Verlag, 1993), 288. 44

Crow tribe at Bear Butte. Taíme is a sacred object that is part of Kiowa religion and their practice of the Sun Dance.52 Near Bear Butte lies Bear Butte Lake, which holds sacred significance to the Neishan people. In their traditions, Bear Butte Lake is an entry point where one can reach the land of the dead. A tribal hero who is ―so highly revered that his name is seldom mentioned,‖ traveled through this entry point and returned to deliver ―the most sacred of…worship bundles‖ for the Neishan people.53

Known to some as ―Bear Lodge Butte‖, ―Bears Tipi‖, ―Bear‘s Lair‖ or ―Bear

Peak,‖ the Devils Tower landmark also holds sacred meaning to Native people who inhabited the Black Hills region.54 Kiowa writer and Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott

Momaday, for example, relays his grandmother‘s story of how Tsoa ai or ―Tree Rock‖ rose from the ground and into the sky, protecting seven sisters from a bear that was trying to kill them. He wrote, ―The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper….From that moment, and so long as the legend lives, the Kiowas have kinsmen in the night sky.‖ 55 ―Tree Rock‖ or ―Bear Lodge Butte‖ holds similar

52 Mooney, Calendar History of the Kiowa, 156 and Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills,‖ 183. 53 McAllister, J. Gilbert, ―Kiowa-Apache Social Organization,‖ in Fred Eggan, ed., Social Anthropology of North American Tribes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937), 162-163. In this account, the Neishan (or ―Kiowa Apache‖) hero is compared to ―the white man‘s Jesus.‖ Also, the ―land of the dead is much like this earth, except that there is never a scarcity of food.‖ Mildred P. Mayhall also discusses the Crow‘s gift of taíme to the Kiowas. See Mayhall, The Kiowas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971), 11. 54 Linea Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills: An Ethnohistorical Review,‖ in Nancy Shoemaker, ed., American Indians (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2001), 171-182. For references to ―Bears Tipi‖ see Shirley Rathbun, First Encounters: Indian Legends of Devils Tower (Spearfish, SD: Sand Creek Printing, 1982), 12-18. For lengthier discussions on the sacred value of Bear Lodge Butte, see Nabakov, Where the Lighting Strikes, 206-224 and Goodman, Lakota Star Knowledge. 55 Qtd. in N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1969), 8. ―Tsoa ai‖ is also recorded as ―T‘ Sou‘ a‘e‖ and translates 45 sacred beliefs and star knowledge for the Lakota, Crow, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Shoshone,

Comanche, Neishan, and Arikara people.56

The Racetrack, Bear Butte, and Bear Lodge Butte (Devils Tower), serve as only three examples of how the sacredness of the Black Hills region influenced the beliefs, worldviews, and identities of indigenous tribes who maintained a relationship with this land. Other sacred sites in the Black Hills include, but are not limited to, Harney Peak,

Hot Springs, Inyan Kara, Wind Cave, Buffalo Gap, Sun Dance Mountain, the ―northern‖

Black Hills, Rapid Creek, White Butte, and Gillette Prairie. Other elements and landforms in the Black Hills are sacred as well, including ―bodies of water, certain lakes, river locations, artesian springs and geysers, unusual rock formations, and locations of petroglyphs are considered to be holy places. To this, caves and other unique underground depressions can be added, as these certainly characterize some of the sites that tribal nations in the region regard as spiritually important.‖57 Gypsum—the white, chalky mineral found in the hogback ridge—is an example of how a natural element holds meaning. In the Cheyenne version of the Great Race, gypsum is the remains of the froth that came from the mouth of buffalo during the race.58

directly as ―aloft on the rock.‖ See John P. Harrington, ―Kiowa Memories of the Northland,‖ in D.D. Brand and F.E. Harvey, eds., So Live the Works of Men (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1939), 169-170. 56 For indigenous connections to Bear Lodge Butte/Devil Tower, see Gunderson, Devils Tower, 25-58. See also Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills,‖ 171-182. The Arikara account of the origins of Bear Lodge Butte can be found in Douglas R. Parks, compiler, Myths and Traditions of the Arikara Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), 146-152. The Arikara also share a tradition about Bear Lodge Butte that tells the story of ―When Bloody Hands Became an Eagle.‖ Parks, 347-352. 57 Albers, ―Home of the Bison,‖ 444. 58 Thomas Marquis and Ronald Limbaugh, Cheyenne and Sioux: The Reminiscences of Four Indians and a White Soldier (Stockton, CA: Pacific Center for Western Historical Studies, University of the Pacific, 1973), 30-31. 46

Following the physical absence of the Kiowa, Comanche, Neishan, and Padouca tribes, the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho presence in this corner of the world grew larger and more powerful. Through the horse and bison trade, access to Euro-American goods and resources, and raiding and warring with other plains tribes, the territorial advantages of these three groups expanded. Similar to the tribes who inhabited the region before and during their arrival, the Lakota, Arapaho, and Cheyenne people established intimate and sacred connections with areas, landmarks, and land formations in the Black

Hills. During the nineteenth century, it became clear to explorers and traders that tribes identified the Black Hills as more than just a location to gather for trading or hunting: they viewed it as a place central to their worldview, traditions, and lifeways. The intense cultural affiliations between these indigenous people and the Black Hills molded their future interactions with European and American explorers, the U.S. military, and the federal government.

Throughout the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, very few non-indigenous explorers and traders entered the Black Hills. During this time most of the traffic in the region took place on the Missouri River, which is located about two hundred miles away. There is no doubt that trappers and traders knew about the

Black Hills merely from their contact with different tribes in the area. However, the region lies off the beaten track of this major waterway, which left the Hills free from exploration and settlement by non-indigenous populations for many decades.59 But

59 Some scholars argue that Francois and Louis-Joseph La Verendrye (the ―Verendrye brothers‖), members of a French-Canadian fur trading family were the first non- indigenous people to enter the Black Hills around 1743. Lewis and Clark did not see the Black Hills but did refer to them as the ―Black Mountains‖ in their journals. During an expedition to the Pacific Northwest in 1811, Wilson Price Hunt and his men traveled 47 outside curiosity about the Black Hills slowly increased. As western expansion continued its course across the continent, the Black Hills region attracted attention from overland migrants on their way to Oregon and the Pacific coast. Although it eluded the radar of explorers, geologists and surveyors for several decades in the nineteenth century, by the mid-1800s the Black Hills no longer remained an isolated island in the Great American

Desert.

Non-indigenous activity in the Black Hills increased slightly in the 1830s. The establishment of fur trading posts in Fort Pierre and Fort Laramie (originally ―Fort

William‖) brought a number of adventurous trappers closer to the Black Hills.60 Their presence in the region had little effect on the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes during the early 1800s. Some of the winter counts recovered from this time period recorded good interactions between Lakotas and white settlers in the area. In 1801, the

―First good whiteman visited the Indians,‖ and in 1813, a ―friendly whiteman peddled his goods.‖ In 1820, a white man ―built his house on Sioux lands without permission,‖ but in

1821, ―The Sioux dragged logs by horses to build a house for a whiteman named

Joseph.‖ In 1824 ―The winter was so severe that the Sioux camped near a fine field of corn raised by a whiteman. He gave them corn to eat,‖ and in 1839, ―A white trader

north of the Black Hills. Jedidiah Smith‘s 1823 experience in the southern Black Hills ended with the attack of a grizzly bear, who grabbed Smith by the head. Smith survived, but one of his ears did not. See E. Steve Cassells, David B. Miller, and Paul V. Miller, Paha Sapa: Notes on the Cultural Resources of the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming (Custer, SD: Black Hills National Forest, 1984). 60 The Oglala Trading Post was the only fur trading post located in the Black Hills region, and it only existed for two years, from 1830-1832. Other forts farther away include Fort Pierre and Fort William (aka ―Fort Laramie‖). Some of the activities of fur trappers and traders brought them to the Black Hills. See David Wolff, ―The Black Hills in Transition,‖ in New South Dakota History, 290-291. 48 conducted his store in a tipi.‖ The different groups maintained relatively good working relationships through the 1830s.61

By the 1840s and 1850s, however, this had changed. The California gold rush attracted an onslaught of overland migrants across the plains. This massive influx of overlanders through the Great Plains region sparked a chain reaction of events that ultimately shifted the relationship between northern plains tribes and the surveyors, scientists, military soldiers, settlers, and U.S. government figures who swarmed into the region with their sights set on the Black Hills. California attracted the first of many waves of gold seekers whose pathways toward wealth and riches permanently changed the

Black Hills land and people.

The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 was the first major document that defined the

Black Hills as laying within the boundaries of land that belonged to the Lakota nation.

Tens of thousands of overlanders crossed the plains along the Platte River between 1849 and 1851, hoping to find wealth and riches in California. The massive groups of wagons and travelers left many imprints throughout the Great Plains, which increased tension among plains tribes.62 Those tribes living near the Black Hills region witnessed the presence of overlanders by noting decreased numbers of bison in the area (which were most likely frightened by the travelers) and over-used lands for livestock grazing.63 More

61 Roberta Carkeek Cheney, The Big Missouri Winter Count, (Happy Camp: Naturegraph Pub., 1979), 14-26. 62 Mormons heading West for the Great Basin and travelers destined to Oregon also passed through regions that affected the Black Hills tribes. Elliott West, The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), 76-77 63 Ibid., 72-76. 49 bouts of smallpox and cholera further affected tribes in the Black Hills region. One winter count recorded ―The second time many Sioux were killed by smallpox‖ in 1851.64

As tensions in the region increased, both groups—Native American tribes and overlanders—sought protection from the other. In 1849, the United States established a military post at Fort Laramie to appease the overland travelers. In 1851, the United States held a gathering of peace with tribes in the northern plains. The federal government viewed the conference as an attempt to dispel violence in the region, which would ultimately aid their greater goal of making the region safer for western expansion. On

September 8, 1851, a group of over ten thousand Native people, representing the Lakota,

Arapaho, Cheyenne, Arikara, Mandan, Gros Ventre, Crow, Assiniboine, and Shoshone tribes, met with interpreters and agents at Horse Creek (which ran south from the North

Platte River tributary), about fifty miles from Fort Laramie. Here the U.S. representatives presented the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, which mapped tribal territories, recognizing seventy-million acres of Lakota-owned land. Lakota territory stretched from the Missouri

River to the Powder River in present-day Wyoming. The Black Hills was the center of this vast area.65

The government‘s attempt to create boundaries for the tribes was a strategy to separate them and force them to ―cease hostilities among themselves.‖ The treaty also included the promise to protect tribes from overlanders and any ―damages‖ they brought to the trails they traveled. The government agreed to pay fifty thousand dollars in

64 Cheney, The Big Missouri Winter Count, 29. 65 ―Sioux‖ is listed on the treaty, not Lakota. For a summary of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 see Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 38-42. 50 annuities (for ―provisions, merchandize, domestic animals, and agricultural implements‖) per year for fifty years.66

But the treaty did not just give definition to Indian lands. It also laid the groundwork for how the federal government later took these lands from the tribes. Part of the stipulations ―recognized the right of the United States to establish roads and military posts in [indigenous] territory.‖67 Furthermore, the men behind the treaty deemed this an opportunity for the government to eventually ―save…these ill-fated tribes…by furnishing them the means, and gradually turning their attention to agriculture.‖68 Not long after the

Fort Laramie Treaty gathering, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Luke Lea (1850-1853) wrote, from his perspective, a hopeful report about how the ―history of the Indian‖ reveals ―abundant proof that he possesses all the elements essential to his elevation…and which only need the proper development and direction to enable him to tread with equal step and dignity the walks of civilized life.‖69

Following the treaty signing, northern plains tribes did not succumb to the government‘s hopes of being docile, controlled, and peaceful populations that never strayed outside their assigned ―borders.‖ In fact, the territories outlined in the Fort

Laramie Treaty of 1851 (and later in 1868) did not translate to the ground. Not all tribes agreed on these rigid borders. Indigenous viewpoints of territories, geo-political boundaries, or land ownership were very different from non-Native ideas. These concepts

66 This was later reduced to ten years—with the possibility of a five-year extension—by a Senate-proposed amendment that the tribes ratified. Francis Paul Prucha, The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, Volumes One and Two, Unabridged (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), Vol. 1, 343. 67 Ibid., 343. 68 Qtd. in Prucha, The Great Father, 343. 69 Francis Paul Prucha, ed., Documents of United States Indian Policy (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1975), 86. 51 remained conflicted before, during, and after decades of treaty drafts and negotiations related to tribal land ownership. Native American associations to the land were replicated in traditional forms of tribal governance and the practice of holding territory and wealth in common. Native perceptions of the land differed from the quartered-off parcels of land that non-Native societies held as individual property and wealth. Therefore, Non-native understandings of the right to property—as conveyed through the language found in treaties—conflicted with indigenous concepts of ―owning‖ the land.

Indigenous views of land are created around an idea of ―sacred‖ geography. This sacred geography is often distinguished by sacred directions, worlds, stories, stars, and ultimately serves as the foundation for religious expression and lifeways among indigenous tribes. The Black Hills are anything but exceptional in the realm of sacred cosmology. Geological formations play a vital role in Lakota ceremony, astrology, identity, and oral history.70 In the early twentieth century, these distinct connections informed the works of Lakota and Dakota writers and leaders including Ohieysa, Zitkala

Sa, Luther Standing Bear, and (Nicholas) Black Elk. In his seminal book, God Is Red

(1972), Vine Deloria, Jr., redefined the sacred geography of American Indian religion as being inextricably tied to the land. Deloria did not intend to create a strict polar binary between Native and non-Native views of the land. Instead he employed generalizations as a way to challenge misconceptions and create new understandings in regards to indigenous religious views in North America.71 Through prayer American Indians evoke

70 Ronald Goodman. Lakota Star Knowledge: Studies in Lakota Stellar Theology. (Mission: Sinte Gleska University, 1992) 1-65. 71 Deloria argues that early missionaries of the Christian faith erroneously believed that Native peoples prayed to many Gods and or spirits. These same missionaries or priests saw prayer as a one-way communication between God and the individual, rather than as a 52 sacred geography as a tie to creation and creator. This unique pattern recognizes God, or

―Creator,‖ as more complex, and more than a mere reflection of humanity in spiritual form. Deloria pinpoints this religious and cultural split as the dividing line between how the Earth (or sacred geography) is viewed by Native and by Non-native people.

By 1854 the ―Grattan Affair‖ had revealed the vulnerabilities of the 1851 treaty. It stood as an example for how the protocol for issues between the United States and Native

American tribes could be either dismissed or misinterpreted. The signing parties thought that the treaty would prevent disputes between indigenous and non-indigenous people in the northern plains. Instead, this event ―marked a dark turn in the relations between

Lakotas and the American government.‖72

complex action and language tied to creation. Language and action through prayer is evidenced in the rites of Sun Dance, purification, and other ceremonies. However, these early outsider observations about Native beliefs were tainted by Western worldviews which posited that the Christian God is definable as a distinct spiritual being, separate from Creation or the Earth. Deloria‘s scholarship argues that in Native worldview Creator is not separate from Creation, that this general understanding is a shared belief foundation for many American Indian peoples. Native peoples do not worship the animal or the mountain as a deity, but rather view all life as interconnected, as critical links to the divine. Vine Deloria, Jr., God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. (Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 1994). 72 Some scholars refer to the ―Grattan Affair‖ as the ―beginning of Sioux military resistance. Lakotas killed a cow, which belonged to a party of Mormons, for food. Lakotas offered restitution for the dead animal, but this did not resolve the conflict. Lieutenant John L. Grattan and twenty-nine men dispatched from Fort Laramie arrived at the Lakota camp. As the result of increased tension between the groups, shots were fired. Grattan and all of his men were killed. Also known as the ―Grattan Massacre,‖ scholars have interpreted this event in numerous ways. It is significant to understand that, when it occurred, Americans viewed the incident as a massacre because the death of the soldiers ―reinforced Americans‘ views of the Indians as savages.‖ From their perspective, the Lakotas were in the wrong. From the perspective of the Lakotas, they had attempted to resolve a situation in a way that was outlined in the 1851 treaty—either through restitution or through the direct dealings with an Indian agent. Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 44. 53

Following the Grattan Affair, General William S. Harney arrived in the northern plains in 1855 with hundreds of troops and avenged the deaths of the soldiers. On the morning of the Blue Water Creek incident, Harney told his men: ―There are those damned red sons of bithes, who massacred the soliders…last year, in time of peace. They killed your own kindred, your own flesh and blood. Now, by God, men, there we have them….Don‘t spare one of those damned red sons of bitches.‖73 At the end of the

―slaughter,‖ at least eighty-six Lakotas died—half of them were children and women.

Harney also took seventy women and children captive, many of whom were wounded,

―crying and moaning, horribly mangled by bullets.‖74 Less than two years later, members of an expedition named the highest peak of the Black Hills crystalline core after General

Harney—―Harney‘s Peak.‖

Just as this expedition entered the Black Hills in the summer of 1857, the Lakotas dispersed from a large council meeting held at Bear Butte to discuss the increased tensions with the U.S. Some estimates reveal that close to ten thousand Lakotas were present at the gathering and that it was possibly ―the largest council of Lakotas to that point in tribal history.‖ In choosing Bear Butte as the location of the meeting, the different Lakota band leaders ―hoped to receive a collective, tribal vision at a time of profound crisis.‖ One of their conclusions was that they agreed they could not give up any more territory, least of all the Black Hills.75

73 Qtd. in R. Eli Paul, Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854-1856 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004), 90. 74 Qtd. in Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 45. 75 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 46-47 and ―Lions Speaker Tells History, Mythology of Bear Butte,‖ Rapid City Journal, 15 June 1969. 54

During the two decades following the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, the Great Plains region also witnessed two more gold rushes (Colorado, 1858 and Montana, 1862), which attracted even greater numbers of overlanders and settlers. The Bozeman Trail even drew travelers through Lakota lands, because it dissected their territory during the Montana

Gold Rush in 1862 and 1863. The beginning of a national phenomenon—the transcontinental railroad—added even more movement and migration throughout the plains and continued to pressure indigenous populations. These events brought major changes to the tribes, who struggled to define how to retain their lifeways amidst waves of American society that persistently crept onto the plains. Intertribal relationships grew tense, as did indigenous interactions with whites.

While the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty allowed the federal government to justify the development of roads in Lakota territory, the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868 significantly shaped future relationships between Lakotas and the United States.76 This treaty revealed numerous contradictions, but it also made promises: to uphold territorial boundaries for tribal lands, to diffuse tensions and causes of war in the Powder River region, to allow hunting rights (as long as they were ―at peace and game lasts‖) and, most importantly, to prohibit ―all white people from‖ their permanent lands, generally outlined as ―country lying north of the [Niobrara River] and west of the Missouri River as far north as the mouth of the Grand River.77

76 The confirmations, provisions, and declarations regarding Lakota lands and legal rights in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty reveal many ambiguities. For detailed discussions of these complexities of the 1868 Treaty, see Lazarus, Black Hills White Lies and Jeffrey Ostler‘s in-depth examination in Lakotas and the Black Hills, 58-76. 77 Qtd. in Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 65-66. 55

The mid-1800s brought severe changes to northern plains tribes, especially those living around the Black Hills region. Several indigenous populations had formed their tribal identities around the unique geography found throughout the Black Hills. They established sacred sites, traditional practices, lifeways, and formed intertribal relationships in connection to this land. But these connections suffered under new laws—

American laws—that governed tribal land, and imposed conflicting ideas of indigenous ownership, culture, and social customs. Treaties, military conflicts, and federal policies reshaped the Black Hills and the people who knew it as their ―place of shelter.‖ The region rapidly emerged as contested space confounded by broken promises made to the

Lakotas and other tribes. Although it had once been a locale open to different trading and hunting networks, the new wave of settlement deemed the Black Hills a region ill-suited, restricted, closed, and off-limits to Native people.

CHAPTER TWO

Destination Deadwood:

A New Creation Story of the Black Hills, 1873-1890

It was the last summer before the storm. In June 1873, at the young age of nine, an Oglala Lakota boy named Black Elk had a vision about the future of his people. In the vision he was led into a tipi in the sky, where he was in the presence of the six grandfathers. Each grandfather represented one direction: the west, north, east, south

(also the ―center‖), the Great Spirit above, and the spirit of the Earth. The grandfathers provided the boy with gifts that included one cup of water, a bow and arrow, peace pipe, holy herb, and a flowering stick. Lastly, the sixth grandfather gave him the powers of the

Thunder Beings. The sixth grandfather told him, ―Boy, take courage, you wanted my power on earth, so you shall know me. You shall have my power in going back to the earth. Your nation on earth shall have great difficulties.‖ Black Elk remembered that the sixth grandfather initially appeared as a ―very old man,‖ before he came to recognize him: ―I stood there for awhile very scared and then as I looked at him longer I knew it was myself….he was a little boy nine years old.‖1

As Black Elk moved forward in his vision, the grandfathers taught him and showed him many things. He saw dusty lands, withered grass, instances where ―the earth

1 Raymond J. DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), 119. Black Elk‘s vision is also described in Jeffrey Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground (New York: Penguin Group, 2010), 76-79, and Black Elk and John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), 15. 57 was trembling with fear,‖ and a village with ―women, children, and men dying.‖2 The grandfathers told him to give his gifts to the people, so he gave the peace pipe and the flowering stick and the people ―all rejoiced.‖3 Then the grandfathers took Black Elk to the center of the earth (the top of a mountain later identified as ―Harney Peak‖) where he

―could see all colors of light flashing out of the mountains toward the four quarters. Then they took me on top of a high mountain where I could see all over the earth….On the east and north people were rejoicing, and on the south and west they were sick.‖4

When he awoke from the vision Black Elk knew he possessed the strength to defend his people and their land. He remembered what the grandfathers told him:

―Behold them who need help. You shall make them over in the future.‖ Fourteen months after his vision, Black Elk began to realize what the grandfathers‘ teachings would mean for his people. He spent the rest of his life protecting Lakota cultural ways and land rights.5

One year later, headlines of the Chicago Inter-Ocean announced:

―GOLD! The land of Promise—Stirring News from the Black Hills The Glittering Treasure Found At last…‖

2 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 120, 122. 3 Ibid., 120. 4 Ibid., 134. During an expedition into the Black Hills in 1857, Lieutenant G.K. Warren named the highest mountain peak ―Harney‘s Peak.‖ The name honored General William S. Harney who was a military commander in the northern plains region during that period and led the Blue Water Creek massacre against the Lakotas in 1855. See Lieut. G.K. Warren, Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nebraska and Dakota in the Years 1855- ’56-’57 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1875), 30. Black Elk later said that ―the highest peak in the Black Hills—Harney Peak—is the one to which the spirits took him in the vision to see the whole earth. The spirits had told him that the people would prosper there.‖ DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 163. 5 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 134. 58

On August 27, 1874, the newspaper reported that an expedition led by Lieutenant

Colonel George Armstrong Custer had discovered ―A Belt of Gold Territory Thirty miles wide‖ in the Black Hills. The news of ―Precious Dust Found in Grass Under Horses‘

Feet,‖ sent waves of excitement throughout the United States. The Panic of 1873 had crippled the country, leading to an economic depression and low morale for Americans.

But not long after this announcement their feelings of despair turned into dreams of wealth and glory. The discovery of gold dramatically transformed the fate of the Black

Hills. Overnight America saw this region as its new ―Land of Promise.‖6

Not everyone in the country celebrated these headlines. Between the Fort Laramie

Treaty of 1868 and Custer‘s expedition of 1874 into the Black Hills, Lakotas struggled with what they believed to be continual treaty violations. Tensions steadily increased as evidence of western expansion drew even closer to the Black Hills region. The decline of bison herds and the undelivered treaty promises of rations and other provisions strained indigenous tribes throughout the northern plains. The advent of a new gold rush in the area created more animosity in the region, especially between Lakotas and settlers, who illegally entered their lands between 1874 and 1877, ultimately displacing them.

For centuries indigenous tribes had viewed the Black Hills as a resourceful region that served trading networks and as a sacred place with shared spiritual landmarks. The gold rush reflected a larger political movement that reinforced American democratic traditions—free land, individual property, and a weak central government. These

American traditions fueled western expansion as it edged closer and closer to the Black

Hills. Territorial expansion, however, was not unique to Americans. Native tribes had

6 William E. Curtis, ―Gold,‖ Chicago Inter Ocean, 27 August 1874, 1. 59 long functioned in empirical ways by expanding territorial boundaries as conflict arose with other tribes over natural resources for economic sustenance. The Black Hills is one territory where tribal alliances fought for dominance over the land.

A series of events that occurred following the discovery of gold dramatically and permanently transformed the Black Hills. Beginning with the Fort Laramie Treaty of

1868, an endless round of skirmishes, attacks, and famous events occurred when the struggle over the Black Hills gained momentum. Custer‘s expedition of 1874, the Black

Hills gold rush, the birth of Deadwood, the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the rise, fall, and high-profile deaths of American and indigenous heroes, and the tragedy of the Wounded

Knee Massacre ultimately redefined the Black Hills as a contested battleground saturated in dispossession, greed, and bloodshed. Stimulated by the events of these twenty-two years, a powerful narrative emerged, and it would gain credence as the quintessential creation story for the Black Hills. This story is enlivened by a long list of distinguished characters, actions, and deeds that storytellers have long-associated with western expansion and the development of American national identity.

The culminating decades of the nineteenth century link the American West to this complicated Black Hills story. During this defining moment, the Black Hills stood as a central focal point within a parade of victory, defeat, fame, fortune, courage, peace, violence, and strength that marched across the northern plains. By 1890, so much drama had surrounded the Black Hills that many observers interpreted the Wounded Knee

Massacre as the final culmination of U.S.-Indian relationships. A legacy of violence, a legacy of the mythic west, and a legacy of conquest came to epitomize the story of the

Black Hills, where Ray Allen Billington claimed, ―The Wild West made its last glorious stand.‖7

This chapter traces an overview of the events and characters have become infamous symbols of this episode of American history. It also provides a framework for understanding how, in later years, local and state boosters plucked people and events from this moment of history to design the most successful industry in the Black Hills: tourism. In order to unfold the rise of tourism development in the region, it is crucial to first identify the history that later materialized into a commercial narrative of the Black

Hills. Tourism industry leaders not only told the fabricated creation story of the Black

Hills, they sold it to a willing audience.

While pioneers and prospectors busily built Black Hills communities from scraps of gold dust and the promise of the American dream, Lakota populations struggled to survive and maintain their hold on the Black Hills. In Black Elk‘s view, it seemed as though his first vision of death and destruction was coming true. But at the age of eleven

(in 1875) the Lakota boy returned to the Black Hills where he had a second vision. This time, his dream taught him that ―his duty‖ was to protect and preserve this land. As he grew older, Black Elk joined a whole host of Lakota leaders who spent their lives in a legendary fight to save He Sápa.8

In the fall of 1873, General Philip Sheridan had campaigned for the importance of sending an expedition into the Black Hills. The expedition would be the first major action to test the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. General Sheridan, famous for his

7 Ray Allen Billington, Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier (New York: MacMillan Co., 1949), 632. 8 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 78. 61 rigorous career in the Civil War, as well as his reputation as America‘s ―preeminent western soldier,‖ and his ―important role in national expansion,‖ proposed that the federal government allow the military to establish a post in the heart of the Black Hills.9

Sheridan‘s suggestion stirred controversy and did not immediately garner full support from all government agencies. Undaunted, military personnel viewed the proposed expedition as an indisputable right—even an American tradition—to send ―exploring parties‖ into ―unceded‖ lands.10 Sheridan himself selected a public face to lead the expedition into the country where ―dreamy stories have been told.‖11 He chose Lieutenant

Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

Like Sheridan, Custer held a reputation rooted in his role in the Civil War. But by

1874, people also knew him for his dynamic publicity skills, which attracted both newspapers and reporters. While serving as a booster for the Black Hills expedition,

Custer also used his leadership role to garner further national exposure. Ultimately the expedition secured a place for the Black Hills and Custer in the grand narrative of western expansion. The startling impact of the expedition permanently linked Custer to the Black Hills, which, afterward, ―would never again be the same.‖ The region dramatically changed the course of Custer‘s career and sealed his fate as a famous,

9 Paul Andrew Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985), xiii. 10 Donald Jackson, Custer’s Gold: The United States Cavalry Expedition of 1874 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), 23. Initially some of the government agencies believed that an expedition into the Black Hills violated the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. 11 Qtd. in Michael A. Elliott, Custerology: The Enduring Legacy of the Indian Wars and George Armstrong Custer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 155. 62 beloved, and fallen western hero. Likewise, Custer‘s trip into the region forever redefined the land, its people, and the role of the West in shaping American national identity.12

The ultimate goal of Custer‘s expedition into the Black Hills was ostensibly to locate a place for a U.S. military post. The expedition began on July 2, 1874. It lasted sixty days, and included nearly one thousand men and three women. One woman, Sarah

Campbell (―Aunt Sally‖), became a cook for the group but she also had the distinction of being the first African American woman to enter the Black Hills.13 A description of

Custer‘s crew dubbed the venture the ―largest and most colorfully constituted expedition in western history.‖14 In addition to Aunt Sally, a photographer, two engineers and two prospectors, three reporters, four scientists, a musical band, over sixty Arikara and Santee scouts, 110 wagons, 300 cattle, 700 mules, one thousand horses, and over 900 military men (ready to fight at the first sign of any indigenous threat) accompanied Custer. For

Custer himself, a run-in with the Lakotas was a highly-anticipated event. Before the

12 Bob Lee, The Black Hills After Custer (Virginia Beach: The Donning Company/Publishers, 1997), 13. 13 Sarah Campbell was born in Kentucky and as a small girl traveled with her mother, who worked as a steamboat cook on the Missouri River. She and her mother had been sold to Henry Choteau in St. Louis but after her mother died Campbell was later freed. She married and had two children and continued to ―work on steamboats plying the upper Missouri River. After her husband died in 1872, Campbell ended up in Bismarck near Fort Lincoln (which was the departure point for the Custer expedition) and worked as a cook, did laundry and even delivered babies, which led to her nickname, ―Aunt Sally‖. When Campbell heard the announcement of Custer‘s expedition to the Black Hills, she was intrigued: ―She‘d always joked to herself that the Black Hills must somehow be special to Black people,‖ so she was hired as a cook for the expedition. In 1876, Campbell returned to the Black Hills to work and she lived there until she died in 1888. Lilah Morton Pengra, Corporals, Cooks and Cowboys: African Americans in the Black Hills and Surrounding Areas (Buffalo Gap: Lilah Morton Pengra, 2006), 73-76. During the expedition she was reported as ―The most excited contestant in this chase after fortune,‖ and was quoted as saying, ―I wanted to see dose Brack Hills, but dey ain‘t no blacker dan I am…‖ Bismarck Daily Tribune, 9 September 1874, 3. 14 Lee, The Black Hills After Custer, 17. 63 expedition he wrote to a friend, ―The Indians have long opposed all efforts of white men to enter the Black Hills and I feel confident that the Sioux will combine their entire strength and endeavor to oppose our progress. I will have a well equipped force, strong enough to take care of itself...‖15

Custer and the members of his expedition entered the Black Hills from the north, where they experienced the beauty of the rustic hogback region. Once they had approached the sacred Inyan Kara Mountain, they were moving closer toward the central core of the hills. They encountered recent indigenous trails and camp sites and came in contact with Oglalas who had been hunting. Lush meadows, fields, and streams impressed the expedition, as did plentiful resources of game, timber, and water. Custer observed that ―wild game was so plentiful it was not necessary to slaughter any of the beeves brought along to feed the command.‖16 William Ludlow, the Chief Engineer of

Dakota Territory and data collector for the expedition, commented thoroughly on the beauty of the Black Hills landscape in his report. The vegetation was ―luxuriant and fresh,‖ while the ―high limestone ridges surrounding the camp had weathered into castellated forms of grandeur and beauty.‖ Ludlow noted topography that included grassy meadows, rolling prairies, cold and fresh springs, moist soil, and very tolerant

15 Qtd. in Brian Dippie, ―Custer: The Indian Fighter,‖ in The Custer Reader, edited by Paul Andrew Hutton (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992), 110. For detailed accounts of the expedition see Lee, The Black Hills After Custer, 17-18, Elliott, Custerology, 155, Jackson, Custer’s Gold, Herbert Krause and Gary D. Olson, eds., Prelude to Glory: A Newspaper accounting of Custer’s 1874 Expedition to the Black Hills (Sioux Falls: Brevet Press, 1974), and William Ludlow, Report of a Reconnaissance of the Black Hills of Dakota Made in the Summer of 1874 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1875). For Custer‘s official report of the expedition see Report of the Expedition to the Black Hills under Command of Brevet Major General G.A. Custer, 43rd Cong., 2 sess., Sen. Exec. Doc., 32. 16 Lee, The Black Hills After Custer, 19 64 temperatures.17 His report also incorporated geological observations on the granite core, the limestone plateau, and the Racetrack (a ―red-clay belt which encircles the hills‖).18

On one occasion Custer, Ludlow, and a few others climbed ―Harney Peak‖ where, one year earlier, a young Black Elk had stood in his vision to look out from the center of the earth. The men graced other notable mountain peaks with Euroamerican names:

―Terry Peak‖ (after Brigadier General Alfred Terry, Custer‘s commander) and ―Custer

Peak‖—obviously honoring Custer himself. Ludlow took credit for bestowing the names to the mountain peaks, but both he and Custer contributed to the colonialist custom=--the arbitrary renaming of landmarks in the region.19 Although indigenous tribes had already bestowed names on parts of the Black Hills landscape, their reasons for doing so differed from the expedition leaders. Tribal names for Black Hills places served cultural, spiritual, and economic purposes. In naming Bear Butte, for example, the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Crow,

Mandan, and Lakota tribes did not attempt to claim ownership of the landmark. Nor did they adopt a name that commemorated a specific individual from their respective tribes.

In naming Harney, Custer, and Terry Peaks, however, the late-nineteenth century expeditions claimed these landmarks as American places that honored specific military men who symbolized the strength required to conquer the region. This bestowing of

Euroamerican names would gain popularity during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially as tourism developed in the area. One further contribution to the creation story of the Black Hills, naming also served to reinforce this region as an

American landscape, not an indigenous landscape. Americans were claiming ownership.

17 Ludlow, Report of a Reconnaissance of the Black Hills, 13-14. 18 Ibid., 15-17. 19 Ibid., 14. 65

Even before the expedition ended, Custer reported that future exploration of the

Black Hills would ―confirm and strengthen the fact of the existence of gold‖ in the region.20 Paired with the belief that members of the expedition had actually discovered gold dust, this statement fueled a frenzy of exciting headlines. Some individuals in the expedition contradicted reports of gold fields in the hills, questioning whether enough gold existed to make further exploration worthwhile or if it existed at all. But the headlines outshone these doubts. For many, this gold discovery—whether mythical or not—marked the beginning of a new Black Hills identity: one that revealed the region as an oasis and a treasure-trove in the middle of a great desert. Although reports announced gold in the grass, Custer ironically never offered any assessment for a possible location of a military post in the Black Hills, even though this had been the original purpose of the expedition.

Custer‘s reports did, however, include various references to evidence of indigenous presence in the Black Hills. The St. Paul Pioneer and Chicago Inter-Ocean wrote about the Indian trails that the expedition crossed and followed throughout the region, and noted that they also ―passed several camps, lately occupied.‖21 William

Ludlow‘s report mentioned an ―old, deeply worn Indian trail‖ and gave particular sandstone an indigenous name—―Minne-lusa Sandstone, from the Indian name of the valley in which it was discovered.‖ It was widely reported that the expedition actually happened upon a band of Oglala Lakotas who had been hunting in the interior of the

Black Hills.22 Annie Tallant, an illegal settler in the Black Hills in 1874, later wrote that

20 Custer, Report of the Expedition to the Black Hills, 8. 21 Qtd. in Krause and Olson, Prelude to Glory, 61. 22 Ludlow, Report of a Reconnaissance of the Black Hills , 14, 38, 40 66 there was ample evidence that Native Americans ―frequently visited the foothills, for the purpose of supplying themselves with lodge poles,‖ but she limited their connection to it by claiming that they never ventured ―very far into the interior‖ because they held many superstitions about the land.23 Lieutenant Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, a member of an

1875 Black Hills expedition, made multiple references to the indigenous presence in the region. Members of the expedition named one area ―Indian Spring‖ because it was

―evidently a favorite resort of Indians, as many camps were found‖ there.24 Further, he noted that ―Spear-fish‖ Creek was a popular ―fishing-place of the Indians,‖ and he also recognized the ―Minne-catta‖ creek, meaning ―Warm Water‖ in the Lakota language.25

But these stories of indigenous relationships to the Black Hills were largely buried in reports; they were not publicized in newspapers nor was their significance explained to the public. One of the myths that emerged from these erroneous assumptions and developed into a major storyline of the Black Hills region insisted that indigenous populations did not use the Black Hills, did not live in the Black Hills or, as one explorer reported, did not even want the Black Hills. Custer also asserted that Indian populations did not occupy the Black Hills and, further, that it was ―seldom visited by them.‖26 Dodge drew a conclusion similar to Custer‘s. He stated that the Black Hills interior exhibited no evidence to support indigenous occupancy.27 In the words of Annie Tallant, the region was ―never the home of Indians.‖ Sometime later, she later added that the ―first pioneers‖

23 Annie D. Tallant, The Black Hills Or Last Hunting Grounds of the Dakotahs (Sioux Falls: Brevet Press, 1974), 82. 24 Richard Irving Dodge, The Black Hills: A Minute Description of the Routes, Scenery, Soil, Climate, Timber, Gold, Geology, Zoology, Etc. (Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, Inc., 1965), 26. 25 Ibid., 126, 67. 26 The Bismarck Tribune, 2 September 1874. 27Dodge, The Black Hills, 138. 67 in the Black Hills never found any proof that Indians lived there. ―The romantic mental picture drawn of the Black Hills, as the Indians‘ elysium,‖ she wrote, ―was completely dissolved.‖ From the settlers‘ points of view, ―the Black Hills with all their varied attractiveness possessed no charms for the red men, while to white men they would have been a veritable paradise.‖28 Dodge echoed this belief in his report, indicating that indigenous populations simply took the Black Hills for granted and had wasted its natural resources and its potential for development. According to popular opinion, if Native

Americans were not making proper use of the Black Hills, then they should cease claiming their ownership. One reporter noted, ―The American people need the country the Indians now occupy; many of our people are out of employment; the masses need some new excitement….‖29 Dodge even went as far as to report that Lakotas ―do not want it; the large majority would willingly give it to the whites.‖30

Despite clear evidence that Lakotas did not share these sentiments, Americans quickly turned their attention toward the center of the continent and focused their eyes steadily on the Black Hills and its prize: fortune. Dodge labeled the region the ―finest country‖ he had ever seen and predicted that it would quickly be ―crowned with palatial hotels‖ for tourists who came to explore its ―wonderful land.‖ He concluded that once it was ―rid of‖ its Indian populations, it would be ―an important and wealthy portion of the great American Republic.‖31 The only thing standing in the way of a complete American invasion of the Black Hills was the Lakota people and their treaty.

28 Tallant, The Black Hills Or Last Hunting Grounds of the Dakotahs, 81. 29 The Bismarck Tribune, 17 June 1874. 30 Dodge, The Black Hills, 138. 31 Dodge, The Black Hills, 149-151. 68

Once the announcement of gold hit the headlines, newcomers to the region posed major challenges to the U.S. treaty obligation to protect Lakota land rights. The course of events during the three years following the expedition (from the fall of 1874 to the summer of 1877) led to a host of issues that escalated the tension between the United

States and the Lakotas. Prospectors and mining parties illegally entered the hills from all directions, while additional government-sponsored expeditions continued to bring attention to the region and the mystery surrounding its actual mineral wealth. When the

Black Hills earned more attention, the region‘s indigenous populations faced more pressure and increased the conflicts in their relationships with the federal government.

The Army made several attempts to banish prospectors between 1874 and 1875.

For example, the Gordon Party arrived in the Black Hills from Sioux City, Iowa, on

December 9, 1974. Under the leadership of Charles Collins, Thomas Russell, and John

Gordon, the party was comprised of twenty-six men, one woman (Annie Tallant), and one young boy. They went to great lengths to stay hidden from army patrols once they trespassed into the Great Sioux Reservation, and managed to successfully avoid any military attention in the area for several months. However, military forces from Fort

Laramie removed members of the Gordon Party from the Black Hills in April 1875. That summer General George Crook evicted hundreds of other prospectors from the region.32

Ultimately, however, their efforts remained largely futile.

32 Watson Parker, Gold in the Black Hills (Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2003; first publication in 1966), 30-32. It is important to note that the Army‘s determination to evict Black Hills trespassers from the region resulted from their belief that removal of prospectors ―would soothe the Sioux and pave the way for negotiations aimed at obtaining the Black Hills,‖ Parker, Gold in the Black Hills, 127. 69

During these unsettling changes in the Black Hills, the federal government was designing a proposal to buy the Black Hills from the Lakotas. Their inability to negotiate the sale or rental of the Black Hills in the fall of 1875 led federal officials to conclude that the Lakota never intended to leave the region. They were right. Not one of the Lakota tribes wanted anything to disturb their connection to the Black Hills. Repeatedly they spoke about protecting the Black Hills from any mining parties who illegally entered this land following the Custer expedition. One agent reported that Lakotas were vehemently resistant to the thought that white men were present ―on their sacred ground.‖33 Lakotas believed they were justified in their anger over new fallout from the Custer expedition.

They felt that Custer expedition was emblematic of the federal government‘s blatant violations of the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 for allowing outsiders on their land. Why should they be expected to live up their end of the bargain if the President of the United States ―permits his white children‖ on their land without their consent?

While the federal government fumbled with its efforts to create new strategies for relinquishing Lakota rights to the Black Hills, members of the tribe attempted to reconcile issues of poverty, the disappearance of buffalo, and methods for protecting the

Black Hills region. Although they were not all working on a unified front, certain individuals emerged as leaders. Red Cloud, already well-known for his leadership among the Oglala Lakotas during the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, participated in a delegation to Washington, D.C., in May 1875. There, he and Spotted

Tail concentrated their discussion not on the Black Hills but on the poor conditions of the rations their people received. During the same summer, Hunkpapa leader Sitting Bull

33 Qtd. in Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 90. 70 organized a Sun Dance for his people, where he declared he would never sell the Black

Hills. Around the same time, the young leader Crazy Horse had a vision quest that revealed a grim outlook for his people. But he declared that he promised to protect the people‘s sacred land.34 Over the next several months, the three notable figures emerged as leaders who symbolized Lakota efforts to thwart any attempts to abolish or otherwise violate the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.

The United States government did not take their opposition lightly. The Allison

Commission (named after Iowa Senator William B. Allison) met with over five thousand

Yanktons, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Santees, and Lakotas on September 20, 1875, to discuss the lease or possible sale of the Black Hills. Throughout the heated discussions, the tribes rejected all monetary offers to purchase the Black Hills. In a final attempt to force the land sale, Senator Allison suggested that the federal government present one last price to the tribes and make a definitive statement that they must ―sell—or starve.‖35 In these early attempts, the Allison Commission did not accomplish its goal to purchase

Lakota lands. During the life span of the commission, General Crook and his men were still attempting to rid the Black Hills of illegal settlers and prospectors. Some Lakotas followed up their disregard for the commission with attacks on miners and mining parties in and around the Black Hills region.

But this impasse did not last long. In 1875 and 1876 the United States implemented a new plan for conquering the Black Hills: the government quietly agreed to stop patrolling illegal settlers and to allow miners and migrants to enter the region freely.

34 Kingsley M. Bray, Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), 191. 35 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 93. 71

Initially, President Ulysses S. Grant ordered military officials to ―protect the integrity of the Sioux reservation,‖ but ultimately the army ―was no longer to enforce it, thus allowing the whites to enter with impunity.‖36 The administration pretended to honor the boundaries of Lakota lands but, ―as General William Tecumseh Sherman wrote to a subordinate, if miners wanted to invade the Black Hills, ‗I understand that the President and the Interior Dept. will wink at it.‘‖37 It quickly became clear to outsiders that troops no longer regulated the Black Hills, and they arrived in mass numbers. If all worked accordingly, Lakotas and Cheyennes would attack the encroaching settlers and spark tension with the military. Then, it would all end in a campaign that would annihilate

―hostile‖ or ―nontreaty‖ Lakotas. At the opportune moment, the government would make a final pitch to the Lakotas: ―sell the Black Hills at a nonnegotiable price‖ or ―threaten them with starvation if they refused.‖38 To some extent, the government‘s plan worked.

But an unexpected Lakota victory at the Battle of the Little Big Horn soon confounded the entire country.

Fewer moments from American history are as prevalent as the image of Custer‘s last stand. This imagined scene of the famous Colonel fighting gallantly with the cavalry on top of a hill near the Little Big Horn River has emerged as a ―symbol of Indian-white conflict, of ‗civilization‘ battling ‗savagery,‘ of America‘s frontier identity.‖39 The news of Custer‘s defeat and death caught the country by surprise. As one historian argues, the

36 Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army, 299. 37 Lazarus, Black Hills White Justice, 83. 38 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 94. 39 Colin Calloway, ed., Our Hearts Fell to the Ground: Plains Indian Views of How the West Was Lost (New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin‘s Press, 1996), 133. 72 headlines ―rained on the biggest parade of the century.‖40 The country‘s leaders immediately identified the loss as ―unnecessary,‖ and Custer‘s defiance as

―superabundant courage.‖41 Details of the battle made their way across the country by telegraph just as Americans were celebrating in Philadelphia the centennial of the

Declaration of Independence. The timing could not have been worse—or better—for the morale of the country. Americans forgave Custer‘s actions and the utter dismay at his death quickly turned into nostalgia. Custer became an instant American hero. People admired his sacrifice, which came to symbolize American progress and spirited struggles.

The United States was ―blinded by the shining image of the spotless soldier alone on a wilderness hilltop, surrounded by a fiendish foe. It was so perfect, so sublime, and it belonged to them alone as yet another facet of what made America unique.‖42 Custer‘s last stand was mythic, yet it was also inherently connected to the issues surrounding the

Black Hills land claim over three hundred miles away.

Although short-lived, the feeling of victory was sweet for Lakotas and

Cheyennes. Their version of the Battle of the Little Big Horn—known as the ―Greasy

Grass‖—did not find a place in the early narrative of the Custer myth. Lakota and

Cheyenne versions of the battle, which remained obscure for many years, do not support the elaborate images that have been extracted from the event. For example, Iron Hawk,

Hunkpapa Lakota, later told a story that refuted the image of a great frontier battle. At the age of fourteen he reflected on a different memory from the event. He saw: ―something funny. Two fat old women were stripping a soldier, who was wounded and playing dead.

40 Hutton, ―From Little Big Horn to Little Big Man: The Changing Image of a Western Hero in Popular Culture,‖ in Hutton, The Custer Reader, 387. 41 Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army, 318. 42 Hutton, The Custer Reader, 318. 73

When they had him naked they began to cut something off that he had, he jumped up and began fighting with the two fat women….another woman rushed up and shoved her knife into him and he died really dead. It was funny to see the naked Wasichu fighting with the fat women.‖43 Another account by the wife of Spotted Horn Bull (Hunkpapa Lakota) relayed the horror she experienced during the chaos of the battle:

―I cannot remember the time. When men fight and the air is filled with bullets, when the screaming of horses that are shot drowns the war-whoop of the warriors, a woman whose husband and brothers are in the battle does not think of the time….Then the men of the Sioux nation, led by Crow King, Hump, Crazy Horse, and many great chiefs, rose up on all sides of the hill….the soldiers fired many shots, but the Sioux shot straight and the soldiers fell dead. The women crossed the river after the men of our village, and when we came to the hill there were no soldiers living and Long Hair lay dead among the rest. There were more than two hundred dead soldiers on the hill…they took no prisoners that day.‖

These images may have appealed to Native listeners, but did not evoke emotions of national pride as did the image of Custer‘s sacrifice atop a hill. In the American mind the

Indians were the villains of the story, they were the brutal savages who had slain

America‘s golden-haired hero. This was the dominant image that prevailed in the Black

Hills story. Custer may have died at the Little Big Horn, but his death—as well as his reputation as an American hero—would forever be connected to the Black Hills. His legacy is stamped all over the Black Hills landscape, and his name alone holds title to

Custer City, Custer Peak, Custer County, Custer Battlefield Hiway, and Custer State

Park. It was not long before Custer and the Black Hills had become synonymous, and the region gained a new purpose to serve as a ―permanent memorial‖ that would ―revere and perpetuate‖ the name of this fallen hero. During the next century billions of people would

43 Iron Hawk quoted in Black Elk and Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks, 94. 74 visit the Black Hills, in part to walk in Custer‘s footsteps, memorialize his death, and celebrate his heroic role in the most dramatic turn of events during western expansion.44

Custer was not the only hero to rise from the ashes of the Little Big Horn battlefield. Although already well-known as strong Lakota leaders, Sitting Bull and Crazy

Horse would gain infamy for their role in this series of nineteenth century events. The battle permanently connected these two indigenous leaders and it illustrated how they, along with other Lakotas including Red Cloud, American Horse, Gall, and Black Elk, played vital roles in the struggle over the Black Hills. The heroic courage they exhibited during this time period is still remembered—albeit romanticized—in the Black Hills story.45

After this dramatic victory over Custer and his command, an angered country and an irritated congress sought revenge. They set forth an aggressive campaign that targeted

Lakotas and Cheyennes, along with their land rights in the Black Hills. Congress passed legislation stipulating that the Lakotas reside strictly on reservation lands and reliquish their unceded claims, a territory that included the Black Hills. In return, the United States would allocate rations and other supplies to the Lakota groups residing at different agencies. Although some Lakotas had been victorious at the Little Big Horn, they still faced very little prospects for hunting or sustaining themselves on the plains without government assistant. Lakotas saw themselves in a very difficult situation, one that

44 W.D. Fisher in ―The Elgin Motor Club News‖, March 1922, South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel, Box #3550A, Folder 8: Custer Battlefield Highway Association,‖ SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 45 Some scholars have actually used the Little Big Horn Battle as the premise for comparing the lives of Crazy Horse and Custer as two American heroes. See Stephen E. Ambrose, Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors (New York: Doubleday, 1975). 75 threatened their very survival. Most Lakotas refused to sign. Others, like Red Cloud and

American Horse, only did so with the understanding that the government would remove the military from their lands, or they believed that the government would help support their people in the coming decades. Some insisted that they be compensated for the land.

Every Lakota band was different, just as every individual in these bands held different points of view on the subject. In the end, 230 Native people—representing the Santees,

Yanktonais, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Lakotas—signed the document. This figure was well below the required minimum (three-quarters of the adult male population) for ceding any future tribal lands according to the 1868 treaty. Ultimately, only ten percent of

Lakota adult males signed the agreement.46

Some Lakotas still wanted to pursue a military campaign during the months immediately following their Little Big Horn victory. But by the spring of 1877, a large percentage of the tribe already reported to various agencies in the plains. Refusing to follow the direction of others, Sitting Bull led many of his people north in pursuit of buffalo herds and survival. For several years they took refuge on the north side of the

―medicine line‖—the U.S. and Canadian border.47 On May 7, 1877, Crazy Horse and nine hundred of his followers surrendered at the Oglala agency near Fort Robinson in

Nebraska. It was a moment that reflected his earlier vision which showed him, ―in vivid, concrete images….Lakotas reduced to poverty, forced upon reservation charity.‖48 The

United States saw this as the last stage of ―completing the conquest‖ against the Lakota

46 See a brief summary of these events in Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 99-102. 47 ―The ‗medicine line,‘ as Indians called it, had for some five years had the power to transform his people‘s social and political status.‖ See Beth LaDow, The Medicine Line: Life and Death on the North American Borderland, (New York: Rutledge, 2001), xv. 48 Bray, Crazy Horse, 191. 76 people in the race to win the Black Hills.49 For the Lakotas, it indicated the ―end of an era,‖ but it also clearly signaled the beginning of a new fight to protect and maintain their connection to He Sápa.50

Once it had become clear that the military no longer regulated the Black Hills, miners and settlers from around the country swarmed to the region. By the time Custer had met his death in June 1876, more than fifteen thousand migrants had arrived in the

Black Hills. Immediately they organized new communities named Custer, Deadwood,

Central City, Ingleside, Elizabethtown, and Gayville. These are only a few of the towns that were the first to boom in the Black Hills interior. Some of them did not last, while others prevailed over the ―bust.‖ In only a few short months Deadwood emerged as the most famous of all frontier towns in the American West.

For many enthusiasts, Deadwood was the only destination in the Black Hills.

Thousands of Americans swarmed into the mining district of Deadwood Gulch beginning in 1876, including the eccentric individuals whose lives remained connected to

Deadwood, even in death. James Butler ―Wild Bill‖ Hickok, a well-known gunman, scout, and lawman, arrived in town about July 12, 1876, just following the fall of Custer at the Little Big Horn.51 While in Deadwood, Hickok hoped to gamble, prospect for gold, and make enough money to reunite with his wife (who at the time was in Ohio). But

Hickok‘s life in Deadwood did not gain attention. Instead, it was his death. After Jack

McCall shot him in the back of the head during a poker game on August 2, 1876, Wild

49 Richard White, ―It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own‖: A New History of the American West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 104. 50 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 103. 51 Joseph G. Rosa, Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter: An Account of Hickok’s Gunfights (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003), 158. 77

Bill Hickok emerged as another character in what became the story of fallen heroes in the

Black Hills. Like Custer, Hickok had spent less than sixty days in the region. Yet his legendary reputation as a western hero was forever connected to the Black Hills and shaped the identity of the region indefinitely. People promptly traveled from near and far to pay respects to Hickok‘s grave. Upon arrival, they would ask, ―Where‘s Wild Bill?‖ to which locals learned to respond, ―Well, yesterday he was up to the cemetery, but I don‘t know where he is today.‖52

Another individual who brought fame to deadwood was Martha Cannary, infamously known as ―Calamity Jane.‖ She arrived on the same wagon train as Wild Bill.

This seemed to ensure their destiny to be recognized as Deadwood‘s most famous couple.

Although the two never entered into a relationship that amounted to anything beyond friendship, as Wild West heroes they brought much attention to the town. Ultimately,

Calamity Jane‘s wish to be buried next to Hickok (she died in 1903) was a storyline that helped Deadwood‘s tourism industry manufacture a romantic legend that speculated on their status as lovers. Clearly designed as a ploy for attracting tourists, this episode from

Deadwood‘s past is deeply imbedded in the story that makes the Black Hills the greatest living drama of the American west—complete with a ―truly remarkable cast of frontier characters.‖53

In January of 1878, George Hearst organized the Homestake Mining Company to the tune of $2,500,000. The mere existence of the Homestake Mine in Lead, South

Dakota, Deadwood‘s ―twin city‖ located less than five miles away—set the fate for the

52 Watson Parker, Deadwood: The Golden Years (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991), 154. 53 Lee, The Black Hills Before Custer, 33. 78 two towns. One community constantly depended upon the other. The economic survival of both cities, throughout the nineteenth century and during much of the twentieth century, was at the mercy of the price of gold.

Deadwood continued to grow in the 1880s, despite an 1879 fire that destroyed the city. In 1890, citizens experienced a major event: the arrival of the railroad.54 To many men and women, the railroad signaled the point at which Deadwood could leave its

―wild‖ days in the dust and move into the future as a modern town located in the newly established state of South Dakota. The railroad brought notions of permanency and prosperity, and, as one scholar concludes: ―Deadwood and Lead lost their frontier pasts and came to resemble urban centers.‖ Or did they? It is a popular misconception that

Deadwood left its ―rough and tough‖ western reputation in the past once it was connected by rail. Even though Wild Bill was buried nearly fifteen years earlier and the mining boom had subsided, the town still accommodated elements from its early years of settlement, including gambling, strips of saloon halls, and prostitution. In the 1920s, when the price of gold dropped, the city of Deadwood realized that its ―Wild West‖ past would have to be emphasized in order to sustain its economic future in the industry of heritage tourism.

During the late 1870s and 1880s, Lakotas were, for the most part, confined to their agencies in Dakota Territory. Many of them had not accepted the idea that they were permanently dispossessed from the Black Hills, so they continued to pursue the land issue in non-violent ways. One resolution was to campaign for the establishment of an agency in the Black Hills. Crazy Horse was a leading proponent of this course of action. He

54 Fremont, Elkhorn, and MO Valley RR in December 1890; the Burlington in January 1891. 79 believed that a Black Hills agency had been promised to his people. But misunderstandings clouded these communications and in the midst of increased tensions among Lakota leadership and hasty government actions, Crazy Horse was arrested. On

September 5, 1877, before officials detained him, Crazy Horse was killed. The

―embodiment of resistance, a man who had signed no treaty, posed for no photograph, farmed no land, and never considered himself anything but free,‖ was physically gone.

While his people received his death as a major disappointment, Crazy Horse‘s life and death remained a ―compelling symbol of resistance.‖55

The next decade brought many turbulent years for Lakotas. Impoverished conditions plagued the agencies, where food was scarce and drought and disease, constant companions. Government policies promulgated in the 1880s suppressed religious activities and cultural practices that had been crucial to Lakota lifeways for centuries. The U.S. restricted hunting and other off-reservation activities that allowed them to trade with other tribes, collect plants for ceremonies and medicine, and make trips to sacred places in the Black Hills. Soon, everything began to give way to the dominating pillars of assimilation—such as western schooling and farming—in order to speed up the ―civilization‖ process for the Lakotas. These new regulations even restricted

Lakotas from butchering their own cattle (a practice that paralleled the ways they had butchered bison and allowed them to preserve some aspect of this tradition). Although the government initially issued live cattle to the people, they eventually just handed over the meat because they viewed that practice as more ―civilized.‖56

55 Bray, Crazy Horse, xvi. 56 United States federal policies toward Native Americans between the late 1800s and the 1930s centered on ideas of assimilation and the suppression of indigenous cultures, 80

Lakotas also experienced religious persecution. The Sun Dance fell under heavy scrutiny from government officials and missionaries, who thought it was representative of their notions of savagery. They threatened starvation for the Lakotas who persisted in the ceremony. During the early 1880s, the Sun Dance disappeared from the public eye and moved underground.57 The restriction of ritual and ceremony delivered another excruciating blow to the Lakotas. These traditions had shaped their way of life for generations and had long given them hope for sustaining their well-being. But in one sweep government agents deemed the ceremonies as backward and unfitting activities that hindered the Lakotas from moving toward the modern, assimilated life. Not participating in the ceremonies, however, made the people feel empty and, in some cases,

―nonhuman.‖ Even after their religious practices were attacked, they faced even deeper cultural cuts when their singing, dancing, and traditional gathering were no longer allowed. Since Lakotas faced very few options for recourse, they resorted to establishing treaties that would enable them to survive these conditions.58

religions, languages, and traditional lifeways. This was enforced through a campaign to require Native people to adopt the education, land ownership practices, and behaviors exhibited by mainstream Americans. Assimilation policies attempted to ―civilize‖ Native Americans to prepare them to become American citizens. See Frederick E. Hoxie, A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880-1920 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984). 57 Although agents believed that many indigenous tribes stopped practicing their dances and ceremonies, many of them just moved them underground. The Omaha Tribe, for example used round frame lodges as ―dance lodges‖—structures they utilized for secret society dances that were forced underground during the assimilation era in the late 1800s. In order to avoid government and missionary persecution for practicing their rituals, Omahas constructed dance lodges throughout the reservation as a place to maintain their culture. The lodges were inconspicuous in that they meshed with the architecture of the surrounding countryside. See Mark Awakuni-Swetland, Dance Lodges of the Omaha People: Building From Memory (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008). 58 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 114. 81

The same year that the federal government prevented Lakotas from holding the

Sun Dance ceremony, Buffalo Bill Cody‘s Wild West Show began touring. In its first year, in 1883, the general manager of the show claimed that William F. ―Buffalo Bill‖

Cody created the show with the purpose of introducing audiences (mostly in the East) to the western frontier. He stated:

There is probably no field in modern American history more fascinating in the intensity of its interest than that which is presented in our rapidly extending frontier. The pressure of the white man, the movement of the emigrant train…our railways…the military power of the General Government, have, in a measure, broken down the barriers behind which the Indian fought and defied the advance of civilization; but the West, in many places, is still a scene of wildness, where the sternness of law is upheld at the pistol point and the white savage and outlaw has become scarcely less dangerous than his red-skinned predecessor.59

The Wild West Show placed a romantic, highly-dramatized version of the story of the frontier on display. The show included staged races, sideshows, a parade, and performances by a variety of ethnic groups and western characters. Annie Oakley and

Frank Butler demonstrated their shooting skills, experienced riders thundered into the arena, and reenactments of ―Custer‘s Last Stand,‖ and an ―Indian attack‖ of the

―Deadwood Stagecoach‖ gained mass appeal. The U.S. Calvalry, cowboys, and Native

American performers added to the host of ―colorful‖ characters who toured with Cody for decades. Cody‘s show epitomized ―a defining cultural memory—or dream—of

59 This statement was taken from one of the programs for the Wild West Show during the 1890s. A disclaimer accounting for the ―closure‖ of the frontier is written for the programs that were printed later, which reads: ―This last, while perfectly true when written (1883), is at present inapplicable so fast does law and order progress and pervade the Grand West.‖ Buffalo Bill‘s Wild West Program, William F. Cody Papers (MS6), Series VIA, Box 2, Folder 1, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming. [Hereafter cited as ―BBHC‖] In 1893, the show changed its official name to ―Buffalo Bill‘s Wild West and the Congress of Rough Riders of the World.‖

America‖60 For thirty-three years he aimed to ―make the public acquainted with the manners and customs of the daily life of the dwellers in the far West of the United States, through the means of actual and realistic scenes from life.‖61

Cody‘s Wild West Show perpetuated a mythic story of the frontier, not an ―actual and realistic‖ rendition of events. Much of the show portrayed episodes from Black Hills history—the Deadwood Stage Coach, Battle of the Little Big Horn, and Indian wars.

Cody chose these moments from the region‘s past, dramatized each story (and even inserted himself into the sagas), and told his audiences that the shows were ―re- productions of those now historic scenes of frontier life…I am proud to own that their patriotic and educative value has been generously recognized and rewarded by my fellow countrymen in America.‖ Cody contributed greatly to people‘s understanding of a mythic west that had existed in the Black Hills. While he touted the shows as ―educational,‖ crowds flocking to them actually walked away with a clouded perception of the reality of western expansion.62

Much of the Wild West Show program showcased various acts that highlighted indigenous people. These actors performed an attack on the prairie schooners, a war dance, an attack on the Deadwood Stage Coach, an attack on a settler‘s cabin and other exhibitions that included dancing, singing, and riding horses. In order to demonstrate

60 Louis S. Warren, Buffalo Bill Cody’s America: William Cody and the Wild West Show (New York: Alfred A. Knopf , 2005), xi. 61 Wild West Show Program, William F. Cody Papers (MS6), Series VIA, Box 2, Folder 1, McCracken Research Library, BBHC. A thorough study of Cody‘s Wild West Shows may be found in Paul Reddin, Wild West Shows (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999). 62 Wild West Show Program, William F. Cody Papers (MS6), Series VIA, Box 3, Folder 1, McCracken Research Library, BBHC. 83 these events as authentic, Cody recruited thousands of indigenous people to participate in the Wild West Shows during their thirty-three years in business.63

In an effort to escape the dire conditions of their reservations, many Lakotas welcomed any excuse to leave. Cody provided indigenous people in Dakota Territory with a remarkable opportunity. As performers in his Wild West Show, Native people could leave their reservations to travel, see the world, sing, dance and perform their culture in front of live audiences. Already facing religious and cultural suppression,

Lakotas viewed Cody‘s touring show as a way out of these draconian regulations. It gave them ―a chance to escape reservation travel restrictions, see the larger world, and make decent money.‖64

Sitting Bull became one of the favorite characters in Cody‘s Wild West Show.

Having returned from Canada with his people in 1881, he was out of favor with government agents who argued that the famed leader should not be allowed to leave. But

Cody was persistent in his efforts to persuade Sitting Bull to join the touring show. From his perspective, ―If we can manage to get him our ever lasting fortune is made.‖65 With permission finally granted, Sitting Bull toured with the show in 1885, leading audiences to marvel at his presence. In the public‘s view he was still the Lakota ―savage‖ responsible for killing Custer—the great American hero. However, crowds ―loudly and repeatedly cheered‖ for Sitting Bull when, at the beginning of each exhibit, he rode into the arena on his horse. Although many still scorned him for being a strong resistant figure

63 ―The Land of the Far West,‖ The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 14 May 1887 in the William F. Cody Papers (MS6), Series VIG, Box 3, Folder 17, Item #2762, McCracken Research Library, BBHC. 64 Warren, Buffalo Bill Cody’s America, 358. 65 Ibid., 219. 84 during the ―Indian wars,‖ others preferred to see him performing in the East rather than

―promoting scalping expeditions in the far west.‖66

In 1886, Black Elk also saw Cody‘s Wild West Shows as an opportunity to leave the reservation. He later recalled his disappointment with life on the reservation: ―At that time the people began to settle down and some of them were living in square houses and some of them were living in tipis….So far I looked back on the past and recalled the people‘s ways. They had a way of living, but it was not the way we had been living.‖

Black Elk ―wanted to see the great water, the great world and the ways of the white men.‖ He had wanted to see his people ―go back on the good road,‖ but did not feel that he could do anything to help put them in that direction. So he decided, ―I was going away from them to see the white man‘s ways. If the white man‘s ways were better, why I would like to see my people live that way.‖67

Black Elk‘s traveling experiences with the Wild West Show were mixed. His trip across the ocean was one of great ―despair‖ due to a storm that proved so intense he

―dressed for death.‖ At one point, when the ship‘s crew and passengers had to throw dead buffalo and elk carcasses off the boat, he ―felt very sad, because right there it looked as though they were throwing part of the power of the Indian overboard.‖68 During his performances he observed that he ―enjoyed the Indian part of the shows that we put on…but I did not care much about the white people‘s parts.‖ 69 One scholar concluded that ―Black Elk enjoyed performing his part; but he disliked the roles played by the whites….playing warriors triumphant...How then could he revel in ‗playing‘ Indian if

66 Ibid., 254. 67 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 245. 68 Ibid., 248. 69 Ibid., 246. 85 that part called for him constantly to be defeated?‖ On the other hand, it could be argued that he enjoyed the experience as opposed to the actual story he told during the Wild

West Show performances: Black Elk‘s enjoyment ―came…in the adventure of it all, in recreating brave deeds, and in getting paid for it.‖70 Whether or not Black Elk enjoyed his tour with Buffalo Bill Cody is less important than the fact that he learned many things during his time away from the Lakotas.

Ultimately Black Elk chose to leave the show and return home. At times he felt that his ―people were just altogether lost, because I was a long ways from home. I wondered about their future and about the vision and I thought I had just lost my people.‖

He felt ―alone‖ on the earth in what he was doing.71 While he was away on the tour,

Black Elk had a vision that enabled him to return to his community. In his ―spirit journey‖ he was ―happy now, because I had been wanting to come home for a long time.

I could see the rivers and towns below me and I was coming back I could recognize the country. I could see the Black Hills and Harney Peak. I was coming right over Pine Ridge and was going to descent. The people were all gathered here and there was quite an excitement.‖72 And when the young man eventually arrived home, his vision proved to be true. People were delighted to see him. ―My mother [was] overjoyed to see me back, and

I was crying for joy. I was supposed to be a man, but my tears came out anyway. Black

Elk had seen and experienced so much during his years away, he ―had lots to tell.‖73

When Black Elk returned to his people much had changed and conditions in the tribe

70 Qtd. in 70 L.G. Moses, Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883- 1933 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), 45-46. 71 DeMalle, The Sixth Grandfather, 246. 72 Ibid., 253. 73 Ibid., 255. 86 seemed worse than before he had departed. ―Before I went some of my people were looking well, but when I got back they all looked pitiful. There had been quite a famine….people were all talking about the land they had sold…as a result of a treaty.‖74

By the time he returned, members of his tribe had traveled to Nevada to learn the teachings from a new ―Messiah.‖

In 1889, a northern Paiute man named Jack Wilson, ―Wovoka,‖ had a vision. In this vision he was told to deliver a message to his people. The message said to ―be good and love one another, and not fight, or steal, or lie.‖ He saw ancestors who taught him songs and dances that would revitalize hope and culture throughout many indigenous populations. His vision instructed him to give the dance to his people and tell them, ―You must not fight. Do no harm to anyone. Do right always.‖ This nonviolent message became identified as the Ghost Dance, and it served as a great hope for the Lakota people. After they received Wovoka‘s teachings, dance, and songs, the Lakota shared it among their communities. Through their participation in the Ghost Dance they saw possibility for their people and felt optimism for their way of life. Some of the visions of

Ghost Dancers forecast the return of the buffalo and the reappearance of their ancestors.

One of the messages of the Ghost Dance was that Lakotas would be reunited with older generations that had fallen.75

74 Ibid., 256. 75 For in-depth description of the Ghost Dance see James Mooney, The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890: Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1892-93, Part II (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1896), Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: And Indian History of the American West (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), and Rex Allen Smith, Moon of Popping Trees: The Tragedy at Wounded Knee and the End of the Indian Wars (New York: Reader‘s Digest Press, 1975). 87

Another tenant of the Ghost Dance was that a white cloud would appear and eliminate all the white people on Earth. The buffalo would follow this cloud and return to the people. Then, they would live as they had in the earlier days, have plenty to hunt, and to eat, and maintain their traditions. By 1889, Lakotas were mourning the loss of even more lands from the illegal dealings of another government commission. Once they were forced to deal with the pressures of the allotment process emanating from the Dawes Act, and an additional restriction on their beef supplies, Lakotas felt they had little to hold on to or hope for. So many Lakotas—but not all of them—chose to learn and practice the dance. Black Elk viewed this as his opportunity to help his people. ―The more I thought about it, the stronger it got….It was all from my vision….Again I recalled Harney Peak in the Black Hills [the center of the earth]. And I remembered my vision that the spirits had said to me: ‗Boy, take courage, they shall take you to the center of the earth‘….And I recalled my six grandfathers. They told me through their power I would be intercessor on earth for my people.‖76

For non-Lakotas in Dakota Territory, the Ghost Dance appeared to be a ―craze.‖

For these outsiders, the Ghost Dance delivered a message that was fearful, and planted the seed for a large-scale uprising among Lakotas. The image that white people would be wiped out was indeed controversial and evoked a grave concern among U.S. agents, officials, and the military who were present on the reservations. These Americans believed the nonviolent message bore a very violent overtone. But for the Lakota people, the Ghost Dance offered another opportunity for them to fight to retain He Sápa…it symbolized the last hope for cultural restoration and unification for their people.

76 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 258-259. 88

On the morning of December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was shot in the back of the head. During the moment when tribal police officers detained him at the request of the agent at Standing Rock reservation, Sitting Bull was killed. Controversial accounts still cloud the reports covering his death. But as a staunch supporter of the Ghost Dance, this leader‘s death meant that much hope for his people had diminished. Lakotas again felt under attack, and many witnessed their dreams die with Sitting Bull.

After Sitting Bull‘s death many of his people fled the scene and joined Big Foot‘s band of Ghost Dancers nearby. Although Big Foot opposed assimilation efforts and was a proponent of the Ghost Dance, he was known as having a ―moderate disposition‖ and was viewed among his people as a mediator. Fearing an assault as a result of Sitting

Bull‘s death, Big Foot and his people fled south to Pine Ridge to seek a safe haven with

Red Cloud and other non Ghost Dancers. Ultimately they hoped to maintain peace with the military. But the United States Seventh Cavalry (Custer‘s old regiment) stopped Big

Foot and his people near Wounded Knee Creek. After disarming the Lakota group on the morning of December 30, 1890, a gun accidentally fired a shot. What ensued became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. In the end, 25 soldiers died, along with approximately 285 of the 400 Lakotas in Big Foot‘s group (170-200 of the dead were women and children). Big Foot himself was also killed.77

The tragedy at Wounded Knee Creek symbolized many things. Some believed it marked the end of the Indian wars, while others viewed it as the last event in the closing

―stages‖ of the frontier. Some interpreted the event as the end of the Lakota nation.

However it is viewed, the Wounded Knee massacre has been assessed as one of the most

77 Ostler, Lakotas and the Black Hills, 122-123. 89 significant moments in the history of the United States and in its relationship with indigenous people. For the Black Hills tourism industry, which, in 1890, was in its early stages of development, it epitomized the ultimate moment signaling America‘s claim over the region. For eager promoters and boosters, the Black Hills creation story had finally culminated in a dramatic finale, a concluding chapter of violence, myth, and the ultimate conquest of the Lakota people. Although Lakotas appeared to outsiders as a diminished and defeated people, among themselves they quietly continued to fight for and protect their connection to He Sápa.

CHAPTER THREE

From Sacred Sites to Sight-Seeing:

The Making of Black Hills Tourism, 1880-1927

William B. Rogers, a rancher in Wyoming during the late-1880s, always swore that he would climb it, and conquer it. On numerous occasions he admitted his ambitions to his brother-in-law, who simply laughed at the idea. ―Yes,‖ he responded, ―and you‘ll break your neck, too.‖ This was in the summer of 1890, the same year that Wyoming entered statehood. Rogers schemed, planned, and dreamed for three years until finally, he was ready to make his ascent to the top of what he called Devils Tower.1

Promoters scheduled a grand event on July 4, 1893, to showcase his brave act.

This, Rogers thought, ―was the best time to draw a crowd.‖ For days, hundreds of people traveled from all over the region to attend. Printed announcements advertised the affair as

―the rarest sight of a lifetime,‖ where ―Old Glory will be flung to the breeze.‖ Women from Deadwood, South Dakota, made Rogers his wardrobe for the big event—a hand sewn Uncle Sam costume. After suiting up, Rogers grabbed his American flag and began to climb at ten-o‘clock in the morning. Two hours later he pounded the flag into the massive rock and waved his arms. William Rogers had done it. He had climbed to the top of the famous geologic structure, ―Devils Tower.‖ The audience erupted into applause and their Independence Day ensued with food, spirits, music, and dancing. Later, when

1 Qtd. in Mary Alice Gunderson, Devils Tower: Stories in Stone (Glendo, WY: High Plains Press, 1988), 73. 91 strong winds blew the flag to the ground, promoters divided and sold pieces of it as souvenirs from the historic celebration.2

Yet others had little cause to celebrate the Devils Tower exhibition. Lakotas—and other Native people—viewed the same unique structure as a place to honor.3 Known as

―Hill of the Bear‘s Lodge‖ or ―Bear Lodge Butte,‖ the rock is sacred to Lakota identity and the tribe‘s relationship with the Black Hills. It is the site where they meet for the Sun

Dance and the place that holds an historical heroic role in the legends of the tribe. Lakota beliefs about Bear Lodge Butte especially convey their inextricable relationship between land and national identity. Sacred sites similar to Bear Lodge Butte exist throughout the

Black Hills landscape.

2 Ibid., 76-80. This event was a scheme to make money to expand ranch land that belonged to William Rogers‘ neighbors, Willard and Dollie Ripley. Willard Ripley and Rogers together built a ladder out of oak, ash, and willow limbs that were cut into 2.5- foot pegs and then nailed into the side of the rock. Stories that recount this event have recorded anywhere between 800-867 feet as the height of the tower that Rogers climbed. For other accounts of early explorations of Devils Tower see also Gunderson, Devils Tower: Stories in Stone, Jeanne Rogers, Standing Witness: Devils Tower National Monument, A History (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2007), Ray H. Mattison, History of Devils Tower: The First National Monument (Devils Tower, WY: Devils Tower Natural History Association, 1973), and John D. Dorst, Looking West (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 192-215. 3 Devils Tower is also known as ―Bears Tipi‖, ―Tree Rock‖, ―Bear‘s Lair‖ or ―Bear Peak.‖ Linea Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills: An Ethnohistorical Review,‖ in Nancy Shoemaker, ed., American Indians (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2001), 171-182. For references to ―Bears Tipi‖ see Shirley Rathbun, First Encounters: Indian Legends of Devils Tower (Spearfish, SD: Sand Creek Printing, 1982), 12-18. For the Kiowa story about ―Tree Rock‖ see N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1969), 8. For lengthier discussions on the sacred value of Bear Lodge Butte, see Peter Nabakov, Where the Lighting Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places (New York: Penguin Books, 2007), 206-224 and Ronald Goodman, Lakota Star Knowledge: Studies in Lakota Stellar Theology (Mission, SD: Sinte Gleska University, 1992). The rock holds similar sacred beliefs and star knowledge for the Lakota, Crow, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Shoshone, Comanche, Pawnee, Blackfoot, Kiowa-Apache, and Arikara people. For more indigenous connections to Bear Lodge Butte/Devil Tower, see Gunderson, Devils Tower, 25-58. See also Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills: An Ethnohistorical Review,‖ 171-182. 92

By the end of the nineteenth century, white settlement restricted Lakotas from these landmarks. The massive influx of immigrant gold-seekers and settlers into the region ultimately led to indigenous displacement from this land. The successful mining industry, the oppression of assimilation policies and the strict enforcement of tightening federal policies confined Lakota people to their reservations. The development of the

Black Hills tourism industry in the late-1800s placed even further limitations on Lakota access to sites where they had traditionally prayed or held ceremonies.

The Fourth of July event at Bear Lodge Butte or Devils Tower, which drew between 700 and 800 people, occurred during some of the most formative years of the newly-developed Black Hills tourism industry in South Dakota and Wyoming. 4 In its infancy local entrepreneurs ran tourist attractions and mostly garnered interest from people living close to the region.5 Yet the years between the late-1870s to 1927 also offer insight into how this lucrative enterprise gained a strong foothold in efforts to change the region. This chapter traces landmarks where local, state, and federal individuals and organizations altered the Black Hills historical narrative and transformed indigenous sacred sites into profitable enterprises. Those entrepreneurs who created the early tourist

4 Rogers, Standing Witness, 37. Some accounts reported as many as 3,000 attendees. See ―Devil‘s Tower First Climbed Thirty-Four Years Ago, July 4,‖ Rocky Mountain News, July 24, 1927. 5 Suzanne Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles: Black Hills Tourism 1880-1941 (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2009), 7-39. In the first chapter Julin offers an overview of the Black Hills tourism industry through the First World War. On page 39 she writes, ―Black Hills tourism from 1880 to 1918 formed a framework for what would become a vital regional industry.‖ Although I agree with this statement, our research diverges into different topics. Julin examines how private enterprise and public policy were the forces that shaped Black Hills tourism, but does not trace the consequences that these forces had on Native Americans during the time period. I argue that, in these formative years, tourism was another form of colonialism that further subjugated indigenous people and threatened their cultural, political, and legal claims to the Black Hills region. 93 attractions redesigned, manipulated, and controlled the Black Hills landscape in ways that military forces and other economic endeavors had not yet attempted. In this time period, the tourism industry commodified or invalidated Native American (especially the Lakota tribe‘s) cultural and legal claims to the Black Hills. This further jeopardized Lakota connections to the region by restricting their access to sacred sites.

During this process, the industry exploited the new narrative for the region, which emphasized that the Black Hills was not stolen, nor did it belong to the ―Great Sioux

Nation‖. Instead, the industry announced that the Black Hills symbolized discovery and freedom in the United States. As this story emerged as a prevalent narrative, it emphasized the independence that resulted from America ―conquering‖ the Black Hills land and its people. The pure spectacle of Uncle Sam climbing Devils Tower on July 4,

1893, reinforced these patriotic notions and created the impression that Devils Tower, like the Black Hills, had ―at last been conquered.‖6 The story appealed to ideals defined by American exceptionalism—such as democracy and freedom—that, by the 1890s,

Americans had embraced as part and parcel to the formation of their national identity.7

6 Mattison, History of Devils Tower, 12. 7 Frederick Jackson Turner presented his most famous work, ―The Significance of the Frontier in American History,‖ on July 12, 1893, eight days after Rogers‘ climb to the top of Devils Tower. Turner based his essay on a statement from the 1890 U.S. Census, which reported that the frontier was ―so broken into isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line.‖ Qtd. in Turner, ―The Significance of the Frontier in American History,‖ in Martin Ridge, ed., History, Frontier, and Section: Three Essays by Frederick Jackson Turner (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993), 59-91. Turner argued that the frontier was a major force in the development of national identity and character. The ―frontier,‖ Turner wrote, was the point between savagery and civilization that changed and progressed as the U.S. expanded its geo- political border. Often contested as a ―place,‖ a ―line‖ or a ―concept,‖ scholars continue to debate the proper use of the frontier in relation to ―the West.‖ In his later works, Turner attempted to provide a stronger definition of the frontier. See Turner, ―The Significance of Section in American History,‖ in Ibid., 93-116. 94

Ultimately, the tourism industry continued to vanquish Lakota people from the region; simultaneously it succeeded in packaging the Black Hills as the perfect landscape to showcase and earn a profit from re-telling the history of the American West.

By 1800, British and European upper-class elites had become common visitors to the United States. After touring the European continent for two hundred years, they viewed America as a new and logical place to explore. As a young country, the United

States hosted a world of possible destinations. Europeans toured factories, cities, attended church services, and quite possibly spa resorts in the northeastern states. As early as

1760, Euro-Americans traveled to spas outside eastern cities for purposes of improving their health. During these excursions they also began to marvel at the scenic landscapes of the countryside. But as the eighteenth century drew to a close, most Americans traveled across their own country largely for purposes of socialization and to meet the demands of professional responsibilities. Tourists in America existed, but the country did not yet have an industry to support them.8

This changed in the early 1800s with the growing popularity and expansion of resort hotels and health spas. White Sulphur Springs (West Virginia), Hot Springs

(Arkansas), The Ballston Spa (New York), Saratoga Springs (New York), and Yellow

Springs (Ohio) offered rejuvenation and scenery to upper-class populations. In 1820,

New England‘s ―fashionable tour‖ provided the same class of people with ―experiences

8 Dona Brown, Inventing New England: Regional Tourism in the Nineteenth Century (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995), 18-19, 23; Billy M. Jones, Health-Seekers in the Southwest, 1817-1900 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967), 18. See additional discussions of tourism and the hospitality industry in A.K. Sandoval-Strausz, Hotel: An American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), 88, and Catherine Cocks, Doing the Town: The Rise of Urban Tourism in the United States, 1850-1915 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). 95 unlike any they had encountered elsewhere.‖ These tourists found themselves amazed by the scenic beauty surrounding the Hudson River, the Catskills, and Niagara Falls.9 By

1830, scenic travels and the ―genteel elite‖ dominated American tourism. As citizens of a young republic, these tourists used travel to create relationships with their new country‘s landscape. They saw travel as one way to better understand their culture and identity as a nation.10 Scenic tourism was the catalyst that served to fulfill these desires. Travelers could also ―turn to nature‖ to escape the commercialization, urbanization, and industrialization that overshadowed their social worlds.11

In the mid-1800s, tourists continued to yearn for the experience of romantic, scenic, and natural landscapes. More pragmatic in its approach, the growing tourism industry, based largely on regional—not national—tourism, viewed this phenomenon as a business. The ―Business of scenery‖ offered tourists the opportunity to experience or, consume, the natural world…but it would cost them. Transactions for supplies, travel expenses, and lodging fees became part of the tourism industry where ―all experiences were for sale.‖12 During the 1870s and 1880s, tourism became more popular and, in some cases, more accessible. As a result, it emerged as a more expansive commercial enterprise and continued to strengthen as an industry that sold a very specific product: experience.

Entrepreneurs and businesses at the forefront of the tourist industry expanded their offers to provide unique, special experiences that tourists could acquire in order to attain

9 Brown, Inventing New England, 23-31. 10 John F. Sears, Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century (New York: University of Oxford Press, 1989), 4-10. 11 Brown, Inventing New England, 5-9. 12 Ibid., 5-6. 96 satisfaction and fulfillment.13 Black Hills tourism was a late-bloomer to this highly lucrative industry, but certain individuals quickly grasped the notion that the region could be sold as a marketable product.

The first ―experience‖ Black Hills settlers promoted led to the commodification of an area that was particularly sacred to Lakota people. Lakotas recognize the southern region of the Black Hills as ―land of the bubbling waters.‖14 One stream, the Mnikata or,

―warm waters‖ stream, was particularly valuable to the Lakotas and numerous other tribes—it was a sacred place used for prayers.15 The water was a gift to the people from their Great Spirit, so they called it ―holy water or holy place.‖16 As a sacred site, it had healed generations of Lakota people. Rumors of the healing waters passed from various indigenous people to the geologists, explorers, and engineers who traveled the region up to the mid-1800s. Walter P. Jenney and Henry Newton provided the first written record of these thermal waters in a report based on their U.S.-commissioned scientific expedition of 1875. During his travels with the Jenney and Newton Expedition,

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Irving Dodge described the area, ―called by the Indians

Minne-catte, or Warm Water Creek….remarkable for a fine cascade, the water rushing in

13 Sears, Sacred Places, 10; Brown, Inventing New England, 12. 14 James LaPointe, Legends of the Lakota (San Francisco: The Indian Historian Press, 1975), 45-46 and Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills,‖ 173. Jace Decory (Standing Rock) discusses these sacred warm springs as ―an area where our medicine people went to rejuvenate themselves …share medicines…[and] communicate with one another.‖ Jace DeCory interview by D. L. Nelson, 22 July 2009, Spearfish, South Dakota. 15 Sundstrom, ―The Sacred Black Hills,‖ 173. 16 Edward Kadlecek and Mabell Kadlecek, To Kill an Eagle: Indian Views on the Death of Crazy Horse (Boulder: Johnson Books, 1981), 148; see also Amos Bad Heart Bull and Helen H. Blish, A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), 289-290. 97 an almost unbroken sheet over a precipice fifty feet high.‖17 When Black Hills settlers moved to the area, only two years passed before several individuals made land claims near the pools of warm waters in the southern Hills region.18

In 1880, Joe Larive and John Davidson began selling public baths in the warm springs on the land they had bought. Colonel William Thornby, writer for Deadwood‘s

Black Hills Pioneer, was the first settler to make a claim on one of the warm water ponds.

At the time of Larive‘s arrival in the area, he was suffering from rheumatism. Another settler suggested that Larive try to heal his ailments in Thornby‘s hot water springs.

Larive was impressed with the springs, so he and Davidson moved next to the site and built a residence there. Upon discovering Larive and Davidson on his claim, Thornby stated, ―I found them there, and in a joking way they told me they had jumped my spring….I was feeling very generous, and told them they could have the spring if they would hold it. I thought they could make some money out of it...‖ Thornby wrote frequently about the warm water springs area, which attracted further attention.19

When Larive and Davidson moved to the area, they were relocating from the Pine

Ridge reservation with their Lakota wives. They erected two cabins and two teepees, which offered quite a ―picturesque scene‖ to onlookers and travelers. While the teepees

17 Richard Irving Dodge, The Black Hills: A Minute Description of the Routes, Scenery, Soil, Climate, Timber, Gold, Geology, Zoology, Etc. (Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, Inc., 1965, reprinted version), 67. For Jenney and Newton‘s account see The mineral wealth, climate and rain-fall, and natural resources of the Black Hills of Dakota (Washington, D.C.: Department of Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, 1876). 18 Native People attempted to keep the Mnikata secret from explorers and settlers, but to no avail. Jake Herman tells this story, ―The Sacred Black Hills as told by Jake Herman‖ on the Oglala Lakota College website: http://wiki.olc.edu/index.php/Lakota_Stories. 19 Qtd. in Annie D. Tallent, The Black Hills or Last Hunting Grounds of the Dakotahs (Sioux Falls, SD: Brevet Press, 1974), 492-493. See also Suzanne Julin, ―South Dakota Spa: A History of the Hot Springs Health Resort,1882-1915,‖ South Dakota Historical Collections, v. 41 (1982), 205. 98 may have been erected purely out of conventional reasons, their charm clearly helped the business. Even though their business was small, Larive and Davidson‘s operation quickly drew attention to this area.20

One year later, in 1881, five men from Deadwood, South Dakota, established the

Hot Springs Town-Site Company. Unlike other Black Hills settlers, Rudolphus D.

Jennings, Alexander S. Stewart, Erving G. Dudley, L.R. Graves and Fred T. Evans, these partners had no motives for discovering gold or undergoing farming or ranching occupations. They founded the company with the sole purpose of developing the mineral- rich warm springs into a health resort Mecca of the northern plains. Within a decade, their plan was well underway. Hotels, resorts, spas, and bath houses grew quickly in the town of Hot Springs and the surrounding communities of Minnekahta and Cascade. In

1891, Fred Evans, one of the partners, built the ―Plunge,‖ a building that covered a natural mineral pool. Evans‘ ―Plunge‖ offered more than just healing waters; it existed mostly to entertain guests through a recreational and social atmosphere. A year later he built the Evans Hotel—―Palace Resort Hotel of the West‖—to accommodate tourists.21

The Hot Springs Town Site investors developed more than just the town—they also played significant roles in building the foundation for Black Hills tourism.

As early as 1886, Hot Springs boosters urged all Americans to ―Bathe in the hot springs of Dakota, drink its waters and be healed.‖ In their promotional ―plea‖, they

20 Tallent, The Black Hills, 492. 21 Qtd. in Julin, ―South Dakota Spa,‖ South Dakota Historical Collections vol. 41 (1982), 223-225. Evans‘ ―Plunge‖ is now called ―Evans Plunge.‖ 99 claimed that, ―Health is the most precious boon the world has to offer.‖22 In the minds of

Hot Springs entrepreneurs, the whole world should experience the town‘s healing waters.

It was, after all, advertised as the ―Carlsbad of America,‖ where visitors ―enjoy a climate superior to any found elsewhere in the United States.‖23

To push their agenda even further, town boosters exploited Lakota connections to the area. They adopted indigenous words for businesses, naming the first hotel the

―Minnekahta‖ hotel with nearby Mennekahta Bath House, and romanticized some of the springs, dubbing one ―Indian Springs.‖24 Another Hot Springs promotional booklet advertised the area as the ―choiciest treasure of [the Black Hills] to the dusky Red

Man.‖25 One traveler encountered the commonly advertised ―moccasin-shaped tub‖ that was once ―used by natives.‖26 In later years, the story of ―Battle Mountain‖ perpetuated the myth that a legendary fight between the Cheyenne and Lakota tribes took place at

Battle Mountain in Hot Springs. The winner of the battle would inherit the right to occupy the area of the warm water springs. Non-Native storytellers of the battle claimed that ―details of the contest and the number of casualties are lost in antiquity, but tradition

22 Hot Springs of Dakota (International Press Bureau of Kansas City, Missouri, 1886). Quoted from the reprinted version that appears in ―Indians used S.D. Springs Ages Before Whites Came,‖ Hot Springs Star, n.d. 23 Black Hills Pioneer, September 21, 1881; ―Carlsbad of America‖ was written on a promotional brochure from 1900, South Dakota State Historical Society Vertical Files: Hot Springs, South Dakota II, South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre, South Dakota. [Hereafter cited ―SDSHS‖.] 24 Ron Bender, ―Water had greatest impact on Fall River County history,‖ Rapid City Journal, May 9, 1976. Here it was reported that in Hot Springs ―Names of the bathhouses were as romantic as the Indian legends about the healing properties of the water. Indian Springs was the first…‖ 25 The Hot Springs of Dakota (International Press Bureau of Kansas City, Missouri, 1886). Quoted from the reprinted version that appears in ―Indians used S.D. Springs Ages Before Whites Came,‖ Hot Springs Star, n.d. 26 John M. White, The Newer Northwest (St. Louis: John M. White, 1894), 50, 43. 100 says that the battle was long and hot, and that both the day and surviving warriors were worn out when at length the Cheyennes confessed themselves worsted by a sullen withdrawl.‖27 However, evidence for the actual occurrence of the event is lacking. There is no mention of this conflict on Battle Mountain in Cheyenne or Lakota winter counts, oral traditions, or written records.28

Although some Hot Springs advertisements credited Native Americans with being the ―original‖ discoverers of the warm springs, entrepreneurs relegated them to characters in the area‘s ―ancient‖ history. Such promotional literature failed to recognize the significance that the Hot Springs area still held within Lakota culture. Instead the brochures portrayed Native People in the past tense, as if they had no future in the Black

Hills and lacked any claim to the region. While Hot Springs developers wanted the springs to be accessible to the world, the springs they portrayed did not include the

Lakota people. During this time, tourism vendors decided that indigenous people and their cultural beliefs best served this Black Hills industry by their absence. Even though the Lakotas may have been the region‘s ―original inhabitants,‖ advertisements and promotions portrayed the story that placed them in the past, not the future, of the Black

Hills.

Some souvenir books went so far as to invalidate any indigenous claims to the region. In 1902, one booster emphasized, ―a new civilization had been born for the Black

Hills. They had not dug for themselves great fortune, but had carved for themselves a

27 Badger Clark, When Hot Springs Was a Pup (Hermosa, SD: Lame Johnny Press, 1976, reprinted from 1927), 7. 28 Patricia Albers, ―Home of the Bison: An Ethnographic and Ethnohistorical Study of Traditional Cultural Affiliations to Wind Cave National Park,‖ (U.S. National Park Service and the Department of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota, 2003), 54. 101 great name in the picturesque hillsides.‖ This promoter believed that the Black Hills belonged to America: He said, ―The world took up the cry ‗Eureka!‘ and the beginning of the end had come to the red man‘s fictitious claim to ‗the richest one hundred miles square in the world.‘‖29 This narrative celebrated and promoted a new identity found within the Black Hills landscape. As the tourism industry gained strength and control and piqued the interest of Americans during the twentieth century, it routinely created new identities for the region.

Tourists‘ desire to experience their ―ideas about wilderness as scenic play ground, national symbol, and sacred remnant of God‘s original handiwork‖ drew more Americans as participants in luxurious travels in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.30

In this era, tourists specifically targeted Yellowstone National Park (1872), Yosemite

National Park (1890), and Glacier National Park (1910) as the most popular scenic destinations in the American West. While some easterners visited the Black Hills first, before moving on to these more popular sites, the region still remained off the radar.

Limited access to the Black Hills during the 1880s and 1890s reflected its relative isolation from major railway lines and adequate roads.31

Limited travel could, however, also be indicative of people‘s attitudes and fears directed toward Lakota tribes in the area. Both before and after the Wounded Knee

Massacre of 1890, many stories focused on the violent nature of the region‘s indigenous people. Hot Springs is located about sixty miles from Pine Ridge, and residents in the

29 John I. Sanford, The Black Hills Souvenir; a pictorial and historic description of the Black Hills (Denver: Williamson-Haffner engraving co., 1902), 23-24. 30 Mark David Spence, Dispossession of the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 71. 31 Glacier National Park was first designated a forest reserve in 1897. 102 area ―became increasingly fearful…the worst thing about the Indian scare was its possible effect on the resort business in Hot Springs.‖ In 1890, the Hot Springs Star tried to convince its readers that the reports of the ―building of an Indian war were the result of unreliable correspondents from outside papers who were trying to sensationalize the situation and that this was having a bad effect on Hot Springs: ‗Our hotels are depopulated, business ventures are abandoned or held in abeyance, travel on the railroad has been almost entirely suspended.‘‖32 In a similar situation, Indian ―scares‖ influenced the number of people who visited Yellowstone National Park. According to one historian,

―Early park officials quickly realized that even the slightest fear of Indian attack could prevent tourists from experiencing all the benefits and enjoyments that Yellowstone had to offer the American people.‖33 But for some tourists, this was an element that added excitement to their National Park experience. In Yosemite, Indians became ―attractions that added a historic, cultural element to the wonders of nature—another thread in the story.‖34

At the end of the century, the bath houses in Hot Springs competed with nearby

Sylvan Hotel Resort on Sylvan Lake. In 1891-1892, Theodore Reder, who held mineral claims in the Black Hills, created Sylvan Lake. It is located inside the present boundaries of Custer State Park. After Reder constructed a dam that later formed the lake, he and his wife, Elizabeth Reder, built a hotel resort adjacent to it. The hotel appealed to visitors for decades. The serene setting of the lake (offset from most roads) provided tourists with the

32 Qtd. in Suzanne Julin, ―South Dakota Spa: A History of the Hot Springs Health Resort, 1882-1915,‖ South Dakota Historical Collections vol. 41 (1982), 238. 33 Spence, Dispossession of the Wilderness, 56. 34 Mark David Barringer, Selling Yellowstone: Capitalism and the Construction of Nature (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 19. 103 chance to consume nature‘s gifts, while also socializing and enjoying its recreational opportunities of hiking, swimming, and fishing.35

However, by 1900, neither Hot Springs nor Sylvan Lake served as the greatest attractions for Black Hills tourists. Instead, the Black Hills natural scenery drew great attention from outside the region. Dramatic mountain vistas, cathedral spires, breathtaking views of ponderosa pines and inspirational rock formations attracted tourists who wished to experience unique natural formations. In 1903, Congress established Wind

Cave National Park and, three years later, Devils Tower National Monument.36 In 1907, the United States designated boundaries for The Black Hills National Forest, and in 1908, it listed Jewel Cave as a National Monument. The year 1912 saw the creation of Custer

State Park, at the time, the second-largest state-protected park in the United States.37

Like Devils Tower, Wind Cave had long been a sight-seeing attraction before it fell under federal protection. Two families ran tours through the cave and advertised it to tourists in Hot Springs as ―an exciting day trip.‖38 In a run of promotional stunts, the families staged a mind-reader at the cave, unearthed a petrified man from the grounds, and—to attract national attention—put cave specimens on display at the World‘s

Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893.39 During the 1880s, they also explored the cave and labeled its various underground chambers: ―Confederate Cross Roads,‖

―Cliff Climber‘s Delight,‖ ―Capital Hall,‖ ―Swiss Scenery,‖ and the ―Postoffice‖ were

35 Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 32-33. 36 Wind Cave National Park was the first cave to be preserved as a National Park. Devils Tower was the first National Monument established. 37 Like Glacier National Park, the Black Hills National Forest began as a forest reserve in 1897. 38 Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 15. 39 Kathy S. Mason, ―Adapting to Endure: The Early History of Wind Cave National Park, 1903-1916,‖ South Dakota History 32.2, 149-164. 104 some of the names.40 Like Hot Springs and Devils Tower, the tourism industry created a new narrative for Wind Cave, one of discovery and national significance. While Lakotas viewed it as a place of emergence, both for the buffalo and for their people, tourists viewed it as a place to descend into explore, and they gladly paid for this experience.41

At the turn of the century, Lakotas began to voice their claims regarding their displacement from the Black Hills. In 1891, a report from Pine Ridge describes the initial organization of the ―Oglala Council.‖ This large group of Lakota elders met monthly, the supervisor wrote, in order to ―discuss the old treaties…and make life as unpleasant as possible for the agent and other employees.‖ The council held hundreds of these meetings in the 1890s and into the 1900s, which gave the elders an opportunity to talk about the

Black Hills treaty. Although settlers had swallowed up their land, ―the loss and the injustice were still very much alive.‖42In 1892, over seven hundred Lakotas signed a petition that outlined their request for ten million dollars for compensation of their loss of the Black Hills. Ten years later ―several Oglalas at Pine Ridge‖ asked their agent for permission to travel to the nation‘s capital to meet with leaders from the Office of Indian

Affairs. The agent dismissed them with the attitude that the American Indians should

40 ―A Tour Through Wind Cave,‖ Hot Springs Weekly Star, September 25, 1891. The preferred story about who discovered Wind Cave told of how a cowboy heard a strange whistling from the bottom of a canyon. ―As he approached the hole for closer inspection the wind was coming out so hard that it blew his hat off….upon telling his friends they decided he was drinking,‖ Edward Freeland to Mr. Disney, Wind Cave National Park Library, Wind Cave National Park Historical Files, Box 2: Years of Growth, 1931-1946, Folder 25: Miscellaneous. 41 To Lakota, Wind Cave is known as Wasúŋ Wicóniya Wakáŋ, which translates to ―Sacred Wind Breath‖ and is also known as Maká Oníye (―Breath of the Earth‖). This definition of Wind Cave‘s sacred value is courtesy of Jace DeCory ―Sacred Places Collection,‖ Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. 42 Qtd. In Edward Lazarus, Black Hills, White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States, 1775-Present (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 123. 105 move ahead with other matters instead of opposing ―nearly everything proposed that may be of future benefit to their people.‖43 However, their request was partially met when they met with Eben W. Martin, a South Dakota congressman, in both 1902 and 1903. During their meetings with Congressman Martin, Lakotas ―emphasized the high value they had placed on the Black Hills‖ during the years of treaty negotiations with the federal government. The tribe did not want to ―take back the Black Hills and drive the white people away.‖ They were entirely aware of the wealth that the region‘s gold mining industry generated. Lakotas believed that ―the government had a moral obligation to provide current and future generations‖ with a share of these dollars especially because they were living in poverty-stricken conditions that left them starving.44

By 1895, George Hearst‘s Homestake Mining Company production and investments totaled over three million dollars, but yielded over four million dollars.45

Hearst used the Homestake Mine ―to found his empire,‖ which would also ―buy

Anadonda and Mexican silver mines, and eventually help establish the William Randolph

Hearst publishing empire.‖46 Since 1875, ―over a billion dollars in gold has come from the Black Hills…the majority of it from the Homestake Company, whose annual output of gold was roughly an average of $6,000,000 a year through the 1930s.‖ (This is based on the price of ore yielding $4-$6 dollars per ton.)47 During the same decade, South

Dakota was only second to California for total gold production in the United States. But

43 Qtd. in Jeffrey Ostler, The Lakotas and the Black Hills, 129. 44 Qtd. in Ibid., 130. 45 Bev Pachan, ―The Homestake…A Midas Touch,‖ 32-36. George Hearst Biographical File, SDSHS. 46 ―Homestake Still Means Paydirt After a Century of Mining,‖ Travel News, February 1980. Homestake Mining Company II Vertical File, SDSHS. 47 Pachan, ―The Homestake…A Midas Touch,‖ 32-36. 106 during the 1950s, the state ―took the lead, producing twenty percent of all the gold recovered in the United States,‖ and this was due to the Homestake Mining Company, located in the heart of the Black Hills.48

In the early 1900s, the controversial subject surrounding Lakota lands claims to the Black Hills and compensation for land loss concerned South Dakotans, especially those living in the region itself in the western part of the state.49 Some non-Natives in the region noted, ―Since being excluded from the Hills the Indians have continued to look with covetous eyes on their lost possession.‖50 South Dakota state historian Doane

Robinson wrote, ―The Truth About the Hills Treaty‖ in a letter to the Rapid City Journal editor. He claimed that ―the government acted in good faith and the Indians had nothing to complain about.‖51 A year later in 1911, Charles Burke (then Chairman of the House

Committee on Indians Affairs and also a native-born South Dakotan) retorted, ―It is unfortunate that anyone is disposed to encourage the Indians to believe that there is merit in their claim [to the Black Hills] as it only excites them.‖52 As Lakotas continued to build their case for the Black Hills, tourism continued to reshape the region to meet the industry‘s demands. More and more people in the state of South Dakota viewed the Black

Hills as a place where, someday, thousands of tourists would be attracted to the region.

48 Richmond L. Clow, Chasing the Glitter: Black Hills Milling, 1874-1959 (Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society, 2002), 15. 49 Martha E. Geores, Common Ground: The Struggle for Ownership of the Black Hills National Forest (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996), 69. 50 Rapid City Journal, April 20, 1910. 51 Qtd. in Geores, Common Ground, 70. 52 Sioux City Journal, May 1911. 107

With the creation of the new parks, boosters focused on ways to persuade travelers to pass through the Black Hills instead of bypassing them.53

In the late 1910s and 1920s, the luxury of touring the country became more accessible to those who did not have the same means as upper-class Americans. Once

Henry Ford ensured that the price of automobiles was reasonable, tourism in the United

States dramatically increased. Efforts to rebuild the natural landscape also encouraged greater numbers of cars on the road. The maintenance of improved highways and the construction of new roads, campsites, and accommodations allowed for a greater number of travelers. The campaign to ―See America First‖ encouraged tourists to reconsider spending ―millions of dollars in Europe‖ and instead take part in a national movement to visit the scenic beauty offered by America‘s greatest wilderness areas. The promotion resulted in the widespread development of roads, resorts, and improved park accommodations within the National Parks. This marketing scheme successfully sold the

―built and natural environment of the park…designed, shaped, and standardized into a packaged tourist experience.‖54

Only fifteen thousand automobiles were registered in the state of South Dakota in

1913. That figure increased to more than a hundred thousand by 1919. The South Dakota

―Good Roads Law‖ (1911) and the creation of the state Highway Commission in 1913

53 Doane Robinson to George Ayers, 25 August 1912, Doane Robinson Papers, 1880- 1946: Black Hills, Box #3360A, Folder #41, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. [Hereafter cited ―DR Papers‖.] The campaign to ―See America First‖ resulted in the widespread development of roads, resorts, and improved park accommodations within the National Parks. This marketing scheme successfully sold the ―built and natural environment of the park…designed, shaped, and standardized into a packaged tourist experience.‖ See Marguerite S. Shaffer, See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880-1940 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001), 41, 46. 54 Marguerite S. Shaffer, See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880-1940 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001), 41, 46. 108 appealed to automobile travelers and explains this increase in car ownership.55 The tourism industry justified highway construction in the Black Hills because roads played an essential role in the campaign to make the region accessible to the world. As early as

1912, State Historian Doane Robinson exhibited foresight in the future of the Black Hills industry when he wrote, ―While there will ultimately be undoubtedly a great deal of tourist travel through the Hills to points beyond, the bulk of it will always be those who reach the Hills over one or the other road…for the express purpose of seeing the Hills.‖56

And, as others pointed out, ―Good roads and economy go together.‖57 The Black and

Yellow Trail (from Chicago to Yellowstone) was the first of many roads constructed through the Black Hills which would ―immediately become one of the most famous transcontinental highways….rich in historic sentiment...‖58

The Black and Yellow Trail was soon followed by the construction of the Custer

Battlefield Hiway, completed in 1920. The memorial highway association specifically named the road after the late general because, as its members stated, ―The name of

General Custer is known to every boy and girl and every man and woman…throughout

55 Elizabeth Eiselen, ―The Tourist Industry of a Modern Highway: U.S. 16 in South Dakota,‖ Economic Geography vol. 21 no. 3 (July 1945), 222. The Good Roads Law and South Dakota State Highway Commission are discussed in more detail in Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 27-28. 56 Doane Robinson to George Ayers, 25 August 1912, Doane Robinson Papers, 1880- 1946: Black Hills, Box #3360A, Folder #41, South Dakota State Historical Society Manuscript Collections, South Dakota State Historical Society. [Hereafter cited as ―SDSHS Manuscript Collections‖ and ―SDSHS‖.] 57 E.C. Issenhuth, Highway Commission Value of Good Roads, 1913, South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel: #3550A, Folder 2: Highway Commission, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 58 Minutes of the annual meeting of the Chicago, Black Hills and Yellowstone Park Highway Association, June 29-30, 1920, South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel, Box #3550A, Folder 10: Chicago, Black Hills, and Yellowstone Park Highway Association, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 109 the United States…there is no better way to revere and perpetuate the name of this great hero, than to establish a permanent memorial of him….‖59 In a letter to the widow of

General Custer, South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck informed Elizabeth Bacon Custer that, in Norbeck‘s words, the ―perpetuation of General Custer‘s name is a matter of personal satisfaction to the entire country…the [highway]…is destined to become one of the very prominent highways of the Nation.‖60

As previously discussed, Custer‘s name appears frequently throughout the Black

Hills: Custer city, Custer County, Custer State Park, Custer Peak and (for the duration of its existence) Custer Battlefield Hiway. This resulted from earlier efforts to bestow the names of western heroes throughout the Black Hills and, of course, is significant in the naming of the four faces carved on Mount Rushmore. Other national figures memorialized in the landscape include Grace Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge, Peter Norbeck and George S. Mickelson. Tourist attractions also used the names of Native American leaders, such as Crazy Horse (Crazy Horse Memorial), Sitting Bull (Sitting Bull Crystal

Caverns), and Black Elk (Black Elk Wilderness Area) to invoke interest in the region.

However, these names were largely tied into advertising schemes for the tourism industry, as opposed to being used for the purpose of ―memorializing.‖

The Custer Battlefield Highway‘s national advertising campaign mirrored that of

Hot Springs. Its strategically-named highway became another element in the Black Hills

59 ―Hiway‖ was the spelled version that the Custer Battlefield Hiway Association used. W.D. Fisher in ―The Elgin Motor Club News‖, March 1922, South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel, Box #3550A, Folder 8: Custer Battlefield Highway Association,‖ SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 60 Peter Norbeck to Elizabeth Bacon Custer, September 23, 1920, Peter Norbeck Papers, Box 95, Folder 2, Special Collections, I.D. Weeks Library, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota. [Hereafter cited ―Norbeck Papers, I.D. Weeks Library, USD.‖] 110 tourism experience that appealed to nationwide sentiments about America‘s frontier. It encouraged visitors to travel in Custer‘s legendary and heroic footsteps, while selling itself as a ―route with…crying papooses.‖ This image drew tourists who sought to visit and experience the lands of a ―conquered‖ race.61

Advertisements depicting Native Americans in the West during this era relied heavily on these images because they appealed to thoughts of grandeur about the romantic, adventurous history of the American frontier.62 The highways, railroads and newspapers all contributed to the tourism industry‘s tactic to exploit the memory of indigenous people in the Black Hills. One promotional magazine sold the region as the

―Mecca for the northern Indians‖ where ―The regular routes of their wanderings have been followed by the best arteries of commerce…with the…development of commercial activities, we are still traveling the same routes.‖ Furthermore, ―We may renew our health and may get fascinating enjoyment and perhaps even revive the courage to go out and meet adversaries in business or professional life, just as the Indians got the renewal of their health and courage to go out and meet adversaries with the scalping knife.‖63 In an article about the ―mystical meaning‖ of the Black Hills, one reporter from the Belle

Fourche Northwest Post wrote that in the ―Pa-Ha-Sa-Pa….Here the Red man wooed and hunted, little thinking of the morrow, lived in plenty, as the hand of Nature poured her

61 ―The Historical Trail to the Two Big Parks,‖ Custer Battlefield Hiway Travel Brochure, ca. 1922, South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel Collection, Box #3550, Custer Battlefield Highway Association, Folder 8, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 62 This was a popular trend often associated with Fred Harvey and the American Southwest. See Peter J. Blodgett, ―Welcome to Wonderland: Promoting Tourism in the Rocky Mountain West, 1920-1960‖ (PhD dissertation, Department of History, Yale University, 2007), 49-50. 63 ―The Black Hills of South Dakota‖ promotional magazine, December 1920, Black Hills Promotional Materials 1920s and 1930s Vertical File, SDSHS. 111 largess rich upon him…[he] lived and moved and had his being, in the heart of Pa-Ha-Sa-

Pa.‖64 In an effort to reinterpret the history of America‘s conquest of the west, boosters, entrepreneurs, and journalists continued to relegate to the past tense indigenous people‘s relationship to their lands. ―Gone are now the ancient Tribesmen—gone the Chief who gave his people Pa-Ha-Sa-Pa,‖ intoned the Post.65 By making them nostalgic symbols of the area‘s ―ancient‖ history and mythical past, writers of Black Hills tourism publicity again squashed the idea that Lakotas held a stake in the region‘s future. Instead, these promotions reinforced the idea that the region‘s Native American tribes were frozen in time within the Black Hills wilderness past. In this selective tourism industry, indigenous people only served as a selling point. They symbolized a great obstacle that had been subdued, defeated, and overcome to justify the settlement of the Black Hills. Meanwhile,

Lakotas struggled with this justification as they continued to fight for the Black Hills.

The remote location of Wind Cave National Park kept it relatively isolated from traffic going through the Black Hills. While it struggled to maintain an active role in the region‘s tourism industry during the early 1900s, the state of South Dakota focused its resources on developing a new state game reserve. The reserve eventually turned into

Custer State Park, which would become the largest state parks in the United States.

Through Peter Norbeck‘s major investment of time and energy, he transformed the small game reserve into a major tourist attraction. Custer State Park played ―a more significant role in the development of Black Hills tourism than did any of the federally designated‖

64 Julian H. Pearson, ―Legend of the Brooding Hills,‖ Belle Fourche Northwest Post, 29 October 1925. 65 Ibid. 112 lands (such as Wind Cave National Park).66 Norbeck was a progressive ―self-made‖ man and influential South Dakota politician. In 1908, he became a state senator in Spink

County and was reelected twice. After he served as the lieutenant governor for two years, the people of South Dakota elected him as their governor in 1916. In 1920, he was elected to the United States Senate.67

In 1913, the state of South Dakota passed legislation that created a state game preserve in the Black Hills. The federal government granted the state jurisdiction over an eight-by-twelve mile area of land where the wild game would be preserved. The initial purpose of the preserve was to provide a safe-haven where birds, fish, and other animals could thrive within a protected environment. But some promoters believed that tourists would also thrive in the park. South Dakota state forester George Roskie ―noted that it was also a potential attraction for the ‗hundreds‘ of midwestern tourists who visited the

Hills each year.‖68 Norbeck also saw potential for the area to someday attract hundred—if not thousands—of tourists.

In 1914, the reserve received nationwide attention when rangers introduced three dozen buffalo to the park from James ―Scotty‖ Philip‘s ranch in central South Dakota.

Most historical accounts credit Scotty Philip (―The Buffalo King‖) as the man who saved the buffalo from extinction. Other accounts claim that Frederick Dupuis or, as Donovin

Sprague (Cheyenne River) refers to him, ―my great-great-great grandfather,‖ saved these

66 Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 24-25. 67 Gilbert C. Fite, Peter Norbeck: Prairie Statesman (Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2005, reprinted from 1948), 28-53. 68 Qtd. in Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 27. 113 animals.69 But according to Sprague it was actually Dupuis‘ wife, Good Elk Woman, who warned her husband that ―the buffalo are going to be gone.‖ Good Elk Woman taught her husband, a French-Canadian man, ―the significance and sacredness of the buffalo‖ to her people, the Lakota. So Dupuis saved five calves after one of the last great buffalo hunts of the nineteenth century. By the time of Dupuis‘ death in 1898, the family had increased its herd to over seventy-five buffalo. In 1901, Douglas Carlin, the son-in-law of Good Elk

Woman and Dupuis, sold the family‘s herd to nearby ranch owner Scotty Philip. Upon

Philip‘s death in 1911, over four hundred bison existed. A few years later state officials bought three dozen buffalo from his ranch and used them as the foundation for the herds in the newly-established Custer State Park.70

Good Elk Woman‘s foresight and her husband‘s commitment to save the buffalo were significant to the future of the Lakota people and culture. But their actions also proved very valuable to the tourist industry of the Black Hills. The park‘s herd of buffalo became very influential in shaping the Black Hills tourist industry and was a highlight of

69 ―Dupuis‖ has also been spelled ―Dupruis,‖ ―Dupris,‖ and ―Dupree‖. Good Elk Woman (Minnicoujou) was also known as ―Mary Ann‖ Dupuis. 70 Scotty Philip is also known as ―The Buffalo King‖ and is commonly credited for saving the buffalo from extinction. Although he did not play an initial role in saving the buffalo, his later actions reveal that he played a hand in preserving Dupruis‘ herd. Nancy Veglahn writes about the first possible encounter between Philip and the Dupruis family. Upon admiring the small herd, he became acquainted with Pete Dupruis, Frederick and Good Elk Woman‘s son. The men discussed the ―economics of fattening and selling beef cattle‖ and Pete Dupruis admitted that he liked buffalo meat ―better than beef. See Veglahn, The Buffalo King: The Story of Scotty Philip (New York: Charles Scribner‘s Sons, 1971), 97-98. Later, ―Scotty thought a lot about that little buffalo herd. There were very few buffalo left anywhere now, and little, if any, effort was being made to preserve them from extinction. That seemed like a crime of the greatest magnitude‖ to him. After hearing about Pete Dupruis‘ death, Philip bought the family‘s herd. Wayne C. Lee, Scotty Philip: The Man Who Saved the Buffalo (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1975), 225- 226. For a discussion of the operations of Dupruis and Philip, see Sebastian Felix Braun, Buffalo, Inc.: American Indians and Economic Development (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008), 36-38. 114 tourist‘s trips to the region. The buffalo went hand-in-hand with enticing visitors to experience, ―the real West, yesterday‘s land of buffalo and boom towns….Here, history is recent, fun is fresh!‖71 The mere sight of buffalo evoked excitement and notions of

American pride for tourists. After all, the ―story of how the buffalo was saved from extinction is one of the great dramas of the Old West. More profoundly, it is a story of the transition from the Old West to the New—a transition whose battles are still fought bitterly to this day.‖72 The tourism industry exploited the buffalo to evoke feelings of nostalgia from tourists. For travelers to the Black Hills, these animals symbolized the legacy of western expansion, the ―conquest‖ of the frontier, and they also informed

American National identity.

But these buffalo are crucial to indigenous identity and culture for different reasons. According to Lakota writer Joseph Marshall, buffalo were created for Lakota livelihood. The ―abundance of bison meant strength and prosperity, and the Lakota were grateful for that wealth….For that they honored the sacrifice of the bison in their songs and dance.‖73 Buffalo were given as a gift and for centuries indigenous people honored the creature. The destruction of buffalo herds in the mid-1800s was tragic to Plains Indian tribes. Marshall explains that for his people the disappearance of the herds epitomized the federal assaults on their culture.74 Yet the survival of the sacred animal is emblematic of

71 Chicago Sunday Times, 21 April 1957. 72 Michael Punke, Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West (New York: Harper Collins, 2007), xvi. Punke credits George Bird Grinnell with saving the buffalo from extinction. He does not mention how Dupuis, Philips, Custer State Park, or Good Elk Women played major roles in preserving some of the last herds of buffalo. 73 Joseph M. Marshall III, The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Learning (New York: Penguin Press, 2002), 49, 103. 74 Marshall, The Lakota Way, 171. 115

Native strength and endurance. ―It‘s unimaginable to me,‖ Sprague declares, ―to think what our society would be like without tatáŋka [buffalo]…it‘s part of our whole world.‖75

In 1911, nearly one hundred members representing the Lakotas, Arapahoes, and

Santees met as an ―inter-reservation organization‖ to continue their efforts to save their world. At the meeting, they added to their grievances against the federal government.

That same year, Henry Standing Bear and Charles Eastman helped others organize the

Society of American Indians. This organization ―began lobbying Congress for legislation allowing the Court of Claims jurisdiction over Indian claims. In 1914 a Lakota commission met with South Dakota senators and representatives to voice their concerns.

Although the Office of Indian Affairs initially created numerous roadblocks targeting this request, the new commissioner of Indian Affairs complied. It appeared that he was tired of repeated complaints and believed it ―better to allow them their day in court.‖76 Even though the tribes met several challenges during their attempt to officially file their criticisms surrounding the Black Hills land claim, they slowly achieved a break-through.

75 Donovin Sprague interview by D. L. Nelson, 28 July 2009, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer, South Dakota. The South Dakota Hall of Fame inducted Frederick Dupuis in 1986 for the act of saving the buffalo with the help of his family. This source claims the hunt took place on the Grand River in 1883. See South Dakota Hall of Fame website, http://www.sdhalloffame.com/html/bio.cfm?inductee_id=135. Others argue that this event took place in 1881 or 1882. For 1881 see Harold P. Danz, Of Bison and Man: From the Annals of a Bison yesterday to a Refreshing Outcome from Human Involvement With America’s Most Valiant of Beasts (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 1997), 121. Dupuis was also known ―from the Grand River to the White‖ River for his buffalo barbecues in the 1880s. One of these events took place as part of a ten-day celebration in honor of their daughter‘s marriage. It was reported that ―a hundred whites and about five hundred Indians were there for some or all of the ten days.‖ Qtd. in Lee, Scotty Philip, 156-157. 76 Ostler, The Lakotas and the Black Hills, 131-132. 116

In 1920, Congress allowed them to seek and hire an attorney in order to properly file with the Court of Claims. In June 1923, their lawyer, Ralph Case, submitted their claim.77

During the 1910s, Native people also began to offer comments on the way that movies portrayed them. After the filming of ―The Indian Wars‖ (a Buffalo Bill Cody

Production) in the Black Hills, Lakotas from Pine Ridge responded with angst: ―The

Sioux Indians of the Pine Ridge agency are mad. They feel that they have been injured and insulted by the moving picture…and are preparing to frame a protest at a meeting at which thousands of the Sioux will be in attendance.‖ This publicity most likely angered citizens in South Dakota‘s Black Hills region during a time when they worked to attract—not detract—tourists. The report continued:

And a committee of red men is to be sent to Washington to protest to the government against the acceptance as authentic of a ―movie‖ film of the Battle of Wounded Knee, the last battle between the whites and reds. The Indians say the ―movie‖ people distorted the fact of the battle to such a degree that the prowess of the red men is belittled, and that while the film which has just been made on the reservation may be a splendid thing in itself, it does not represent the battle which it purports to show. And since a copy of the film is to be placed in the department at Washington, thus making it really an official record of the last big battle, the Indians oppose it.78

This was one of the earliest records of Native people voicing loud concern over the ways that Americans portrayed them.

In the same month that they filed the Black Hills claim (June 1923), South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson received an inquiry from Hollywood, California, that read: ―Will you kindly let me know where I can get any information about Calamity Jane or Wild Bill Hickok….There is talk down here of building a monument to one or both of

77 Ibid., 136. 78 ―Sioux Have Grievance,‖ Plain Talk, 18 December 1913. 117 these people.‖ In a very long letter, Robinson provided the gentlemen with details about the lives of these frontier heroes. He abruptly closed his sentiments with a statement that was alarmingly aggressive: ―There is no more reason why a monument should be built for either [Hickok or Calamity Jane] by Californians than there is for South Dakotans to erect a monument to Fatty Arbuckle. I trust that the silly people who are responsible for the ‗talk‘ soon find some more worthy thing to occupy their time.‖79 Less than five months later, Robinson wrote a letter to sculptor Loredo Taft inquiring if he would be interested in carving a ―massive sculpture…of some notable Sioux as Redcloud, who lived and died in the shadow of [Harney Peak in the Black Hills].‖80 Although Indians were already part of the ―lore and legend‖ of the region‘s natural scenery, tourism boosters, like Robinson, wanted to make them visible through monument or written description. He also believed that since Native Americans no longer existed in the Black

Hills, that they should be commemorated through a stone memorial. Robinson may have had feelings of remorse regarding the vanishing Indian, for ―reminiscers often expressed a tinge of regret over the presumed ‗pass[ing] away [of] the luckless red man who yet calls this his home.‘‖ By acknowledging such guilt, Robinson only fueled the ―myth of the vanishing American.‖81

Over the next several months Robinson and other interested parties eventually chose Gutzon Borglum to sculpt what Robinson called the ―most majestic monument in

79 Luke Cosgrave to Doane Robinson, 31 June 31 1923, DR Papers, 1880-1946: Box #3360B, Folder #54, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 80 Doane Robinson to Luke Cosgrave, 23 July 1923, DR Papers, 1880-1946: Box #3360B, Folder #54, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 81 Qtd. in David M. Wrobel, Promised Lands: Promotion, Memory, and the Creation of the American West (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 179. 118 the world‖ that would ―commercially…be of tremendous value to the Black Hills.‖82

Robinson believed that tourists needed something to admire other than scenery. He wrote,

―We are not getting the most possible out of the Hills.‖ Tourists, he thought, would be induced to stay in the region ―if the points of interest are properly played up to them.‖83

In addition to sculpting Red Cloud, Robinson pitched ideas to include other notable western figures (―Lewis and Clark, Fremont, Jed Smith, [Jim] Bridger, Sa-kaka- wea…and Cody,‖ to showcase the role that the Black Hills played in the exploration, conquest, and development of the American West.84

The final plan, a colossal-size sculpture depicting four notable presidents, appealed to Robinson‘s economic interests for the state. He believed and rejoiced in the thought that it was a perfect ad campaign: ―a national shrine,‖ he said, ―to which not only

South Dakota and Americans, but all the world will come in admiration and reverence.‖

Furthermore, ―The moment Borglum sets chisel in [the Black Hills] a stream of gold will

[pour] into South Dakota perhaps quite equal to the output of the Homestake [Mine].‖85

Finally, in a letter to Senator Peter Norbeck, Robinson also noted that after the carving begins,

We have accomplished a publicity; a grip upon American consciousness that we have spent much money to secure unavailingly….Money cannot buy the good advertising this thing will give us….Senator we simply

82 Doane Robinson to Mrs. Johnson 7 December 1924, and Doane Robinson to Editor, Deadwood Pioneer Times, 6 February 1924, DR Papers, 1880-1946: Box #3363A, Folder 149: Mount Rushmore Correspondence 1923-1925., SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. [Hereafter cited ―Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS.‖] 83 Doane Robinson to Lee Morford, 11 February 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 84 Doane Robinson to Loredo Taft, 26 January 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 85 Doane Robinson to Mrs. B.C. Yates, 18 October 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 119

cannot afford to fail in getting this thing started, and South Dakota will bless us for it as soon as they at once realize its significance.86

Robinson‘s initial ideas for Mount Rushmore simply revolved around South Dakota‘s basic need for a great advertising campaign to sell the Black Hills.

Even though the final monument consisted of the faces of American presidents,

Robinson, Borglum, Norbeck, and others incorporated Native Americans into their efforts to promote the project. It is very likely that they invited Nicholas Black Elk to attend the dedication of Rushmore Mountain to the national memorial. On October 1,

1925, the ceremony included soldiers from Fort Meade, a band, and a large group of citizens from Black Hills communities. Photographs of ―historical representatives‖ included one American Indian man in full regalia. One photograph has the man on one side of a rock on top of the mountain standing across from a young woman, dressed in a modern manner. The photo‘s caption reinforced the goal of the image to show, ―The past and the present looking out upon America from the top of Mount Rushmore.‖87 Even though the carving itself had not begun, ―the ceremony was held there to publicize the project and attempt to gain popular support.‖88

Not everyone supported the sculpture. Opposition to the national monument emerged from both eastern and western South Dakota. Writing from the department of history and political science at South Dakota State College in Brookings (located in eastern South Dakota), Gertrude S. Young thought that the first announcement of the

86 Doane Robinson to Peter Norbeck, 18 December 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 87 Doane Robinson, ―Inception and Development of the Rushmore Idea,‖ The Black Hills Engineer, Vol. XVIII, No. 4 (November 1930), 338-340. 88 Raymond DeMallie believes that the man in the photograph was Nicholas Black Elk: ―he probably attended the dedication of Mount Rushmore as a national memorial.‖ DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 25. 120 project (which was initially supposed to be located in the Needles rocks) was a misprint.

―Surely,‖ she wrote to Robinson, Gutzon Borglum ―would not venture to mutiliate [sic] the exquisite and perfect beauty of the Needles or of the majestic rocks around Harney.

Some of us, although motorists ourselves, have deplored the scar on the Needles caused by the state highway; please assure us that there is to be no further injury.‖89 Robinson impatiently replied, ―Of course you had not thought the matter through or you would not have written.‖ He had no idea why South Dakotans would oppose the project. ―You are quite aware that to the ordinary individual scenery, however lovely has but a brief appeal, but the touch of human interest will draw him again and again….Mr. Bruglum [sic] plans to put enduring human interest,‖ permanently, in the Black Hills.90 Young got the last word when she replied to Robinson, ―personally I am not convinced of the desiribility

[sic] of the plan.‖91

Cora B. Johnson, a writer for the Hot Springs Star, was the leading voice of opposition that emerged from the Black Hills and western South Dakota. She resented

Robinson for justifying the monument as a Black Hills attraction that the town of Hot

Springs would benefit from, and ―reap a harvest of gold forever.‖92 She dismissed the project, and wrote to Robinson:

I cannot truthfully say that I believe I can ever feel at all differently about any piece of carving no matter how inspired…whether actually carved on one of the Needles or on some other rock that would be visible to those

89 Gertrude S. Young to Doane Robinson, 16 October 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 90 Doane Robinson to Gertrude Young, 17 October 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 91 Gertrude S. Young to Doane Robinson, 20 October 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 92 Doane Robinson to Hon. A.T. Johnson, 2 December 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 121

who look at that most awe-inspiring scene. Any human touch in the way of ornamentation or whatever you might call Mr. Borglum‘s conception would forever ruin, in my eyes, the effect which is now so absolutely cosmic….As to the consideration of increased revenue from tourists looking for the unique, I think we would have less commendation from them than we would have disapprobation. And even though it would draw more people here than will the natural grandeur of that scene, I would still oppose it. There are some things, you know, that can‘t be done for money if you want to keep your self respect.93

Robinson, clearly irritated and dismissive of Johnson, replied, ―I long ago learned not to argue with a lady. I only ask you just how you hope to justify yourself to posterity? The greatest artist in the world has proposed to bring to you the must [sic] majestic monument in the world, and ye would not [sic].‖94 The two became enemies. Robinson complained about the ―dribble of foolishness coming out of the Black hills‖ in opposition to the monument because it was negative publicity for the project.95 Norbeck did his best to support Robinson and Mount Rushmore by pointing out that the rhetoric emerging from

Black Hills communities was hypocritical and ironic, especially after the region‘s development stemmed from the mining, logging and other industries that left their impression on the land in the decades following white settlement in the nineteenth century. He said that it was the Native American tribes, ―and they alone, who insisted that the Black Hills should be left as the Lord made them. A great deal of mutilation has been

93 Cora B. Johnson to Doane Robinson, 6 December 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 94 Doane Robinson to Cora Johnson, 7 December 1924, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 95 Doane Robinson to Peter Norbeck, 20 January 1925, Folder 162, DR Papers, Early MR Correspondence, SDSHS. 122 done the last forty years and the people [in the Black Hills] seem perfectly willing some more shall be done, just so it is not called ‗art.‘‖96

The conception and construction of Mount Rushmore National Monument was the major turning point in the Black Hills tourism industry. As part of an ambitious marketing scheme, Senator Norbeck persuaded President Calvin Coolidge to formally dedicate the monument during his summer vacation in the Hills in 1927. In his formal address he declared: Mount Rushmore is ―American in its conception, in its magnitude, in its meaning…it is a picture of hope fulfilled…the spirit of patriotism… independence…self government…freedom and…economic justice.‖97

While South Dakota‘s indigenous tribes waited patiently for the outcome of the claim that they filed with the Court of Claims in 1923, a team of boosters and opportunists busily campaigned for financial support for the carving of Mount Rushmore

National Monument. Borglum finally chose a location for the sculpture, not far from

Harney Peak, on a mountain Lakotas knew as the ―Six Grandfathers.‖98 During the

1920s, the tribe, along with their lawyer (Ralph Case) believed their land claim issue would be settled by the end of the decade. But the Court of Claims instead took nineteen years to make the decision to ultimately dismiss the case. In comparison, it took the

United States Congress less than four years to approve the national monument and after sixteen year (and nearly one million dollars), Mount Rushmore reached its completion on

October 31, 1941.

96 Peter Norbeck to Robinson, 28 January 1925, Box 130, Norbeck Papers, I.D. Weeks Library, USD. 97 ―Address of Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, Delivered at the Beginning of the Carving of the National Memorial on Rushmore Mountain,‖ August 10, 1927, Calvin Coolidge Biographical File, SDSHS Biographical Files, SDSHS. 98 Jace DeCory interview by D. L. Nelson, 22 July 2009, Spearfish, South Dakota. 123

The activity surrounding Mount Rushmore created much hustle and bustle both in and around the Black Hills. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the monument in 1936 for the dedication of the Thomas Jefferson sculpture, he was shocked by the size of the monument. ―I had seen the photographs, I had seen the drawings,‖ he said. Yet he ―had no conception…not only of its magnitude, but also of its permanent beauty and importance.‖99 In his speech he supported the monument as a ―Shrine for

Democracy,‖ and observed that it is ―an inspiration for the continuance of the democratic republican form of government, not only in our own beloved country, but, we hope, throughout the world.‖100

President Roosevelt visited the monument for twenty minutes on August 30,

1936. He informed Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, and others that he would not speak at the event. However, Borglum pressured him into commenting on the monument, so the

President said a few words. The event was also supposed to include a lengthy ceremony including Lakotas and their ―adoption‖ of the President. However, due to the President‘s time constraints, Borglum had to cut the Native Americans from the program. Nicholas

Black Elk, who had achieved national recognition four years earlier with the publication of Black Elk Speaks, was ―disappointed‖ by the news that he would not be performing for the President.101

99 Rapid City Daily Journal, 1 September, 1936. 100 ―President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills,‖ in a promotional booklet from 1945. The booklet was from ―An Invitation Dedicated to the purpose of The United Nations‖ for their permanent, capital in the Black Hills Country,‖ in ―Black Hills Promotional Materials,‖ Vertical Files, South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre, South Dakota. [Hereafter cited ―SDSHS‖.] 101 See John Taliaferro, Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore (New York: Public Affairs, 2002), 325. 124

President Roosevelt‘s speech and short trip to the hills ignited the tourism industry yet again. Nine years had passed since President Coolidge‘s summer vacation in the Black Hills—and only George Washington‘s sculpture was completed. But with the help of federal funding, work on the other three of the president‘s profiles reached completion within five years of President Roosevelt‘s visit. Beginning in the 1940s when

American patriotism was at its height in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, advertising campaigns and clever marketing schemes featured Mount Rushmore and the

Black Hills as the greatest symbol of democracy, freedom, and American pioneer spirit.

After the war, the tourism industry gained national and international fame for the region.

One early promoter wrote that the Black Hills were ―as free to one as to another, and it is only as an individual or a nation has put their own labor upon it that they may hold any claim above others.‖102 Not only did tourism succeed as a major economic industry in the Black Hills, it also drastically transformed the indigenous landscape.

While Lakotas fought for the recognition of their claims, South Dakota tourism worked against their cultural connections to their Black Hills. By the late 1920s, Mount

Rushmore represented how this industry exploited the history of the frontier and capitalized on its relationship to national identity. These ideas, mirrored in early promotions of the region, reveal how the tourism industry forced the Black Hills landscape to adopt a new identity, as a ―symbol of an American ideal.‖103

In the decades following the gold rush, a handful of locals in the Black Hills immediately recognized the possibilities for drawing tourists. While Americans in the late-nineteenth century continued to witness the growth of industrialization throughout

102 Sanford, The Black Hills souvenir, 24. 103 Rapid City Daily Journal, 9 August 1959. 125 the country, places like the Black Hills offered a respite—a secluded corner of the world to escape, relax, and rejuvenate, especially for those fortunate enough to travel. The

Black Hills contained natural splendors that attracted visitors to experience or, consume, the wonders of America‘s diverse landscapes. Yet tourists yearned for more than a stroll through pined forests or enjoying picnics next to waterfalls. Tourist enterprises simply could not rely on the natural environment to please its patrons. Instead, the industry believed it had to create distinct opportunities for them. The outcome of these creations offered the prospect for tourists to develop a unique relationship between themselves and the lands they yearned to see, feel, and consume. These relationships also influenced the way that Americans in the late-1800s felt about themselves, their lands and their country.

National identity derives from these experiences, experiences which reveal how tourists placed symbolic values on the lands they visited.104

After 1927, the Black Hills had emerged on the national scene. President Calvin

Coolidge‘s announcement that he would spend his summer in the Black Hills that year changed the region‘s tourism industry indefinitely. President Coolidge‘s anticipated residence shared the excitement of the newly-approved Mount Rushmore National

Monument. Boosters viewed this as a chance to show the world that the Black Hills was not only America‘s greatest stomping ground for the ―wild west;‖ it was also the modern landmark of national pride. Soon the Black Hills earned free advertising through national articles about the ―legendary promised land‖ and headliner images of Calvin Coolidge

―dressed-up ‗western style‘‖ at a rodeo.105 During his summer vacation, Lakotas adopted

104 See Sears, Sacred Places, 215, 4, 5, 105 ―The Black Hills, Once Hunting Grounds of the Red Men,‖ National Geographic Vol LII No. 3 (September 1927), 305. 126

President Coolidge. This was one of the most exciting stories to emerge from the

President‘s visit. Labeled as a lovely ―Indian Princess,‖ Rosebud Yellowrobe (daughter of Lakota leader Chauncey Yellowrobe) adorned ―A war bonnet gorgeous in feathers, beads and strands of colored lamb‘s wool is the crown‖ upon President Coolidge when he became ―a chief of the Sioux Indians.‖106 These overt images and stories launched a new campaign to promote the Black Hills, and within a few months the world became acquainted with the region and its Native American people.

106 ―President Coolidge Is to Be Adopted in the Sioux Tribe,‖ The American Indian, July 1927. 127

CHAPTER FOUR

Shaking Hands with History:

The Rise of Heritage Tourism in the Black Hills

On December 31, 1931, Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought a store-front property on the main street of Wall, a small town located north of South Dakota‘s Badlands. As a trained pharmacist with a degree from the University of Nebraska, Ted and his wife hoped to operate a successful pharmacy. But the odds were against them. The Great

Depression hit South Dakota with great force in the early 1930s and the town of Wall,

―the geographical center of nowhere,‖ was most likely the worst place to begin any new business venture. Apart from 300 residents, a few old buildings, a depot, a water tank, and a few trees, there ―was nothing in Wall to stop for.‖1 Motorists on the highway drove swiftly by on their way to (or on their way from) visiting the Black Hills. Dorothy, formerly a school teacher, remembered, ―I had a washing machine but no place to put it.‖

The Husteads were too poor to run their Model A Ford and owned only three tires.

Cardboard usually substituted as window glass in the front of their store. Amazingly, the

Husteads survived some of South Dakota‘s worst years of drought, blizzards, and depression, but their shop did not thrive and almost closed on several occasions.2

One particularly hot Sunday afternoon in 1936, Dorothy watched the cars ―swish, swish, swish‖ along U.S. Highway 16 between the Black Hills and the Badlands. She

1 Dana C. Jennings, Free Ice Water: Story of the Wall Drug (Aberdeen, SD: North Plains Press, 1975), 26. 2 Ibid., 28. 128 thought to herself, ―It‘s too bad—they‘re so thirsty and here we sit with all the ice in the world and no customers.‖ She began thinking about a way to let motorists know about their supply of ice at the Hustead Drug Store. Dorothy told her husband that they should hang a sign to advertise this. Even though Ted ―thought it was corny and laughed,‖ he looked at the highway and decided that his wife was probably right. They quickly changed their store‘s name to ―Wall Drug‖ and posted the eye-catching sign, ―FREE ICE

WATER WALL DRUG.‖3 The first sign ―drew in a steady stream of tourist traffic…the

Husteads erected more and more of them, ensuring their share of the tourists business and success for their drugstore.‖ They later remembered, ―For hours we poured gallons of ice water, made ice cream cones and gave directions. When the travelers started on their way again, refreshed and ready for new adventures, they gave us hearty thanks.‖4

After it gained popularity and recognition, the Husteads expanded Wall Drug to offer tourists more than just ―REFRESHING! FREE ICE WATER!‖ and ―FIVE CENT

COFFEE!‖ They expanded the drugstore to include gift shops and restaurants. Traveling families made leisurely stops to eat, shop, and experience a place embellished with the themes from the Wild West. Children and adults enjoyed photographic opportunities enhanced by numerous statues found throughout the entrances, hallways, gardens, and grounds surrounding Wall Drug. These wooden carvings included statues of a ―Cowboy

Orchestra,‖ a stoic Annie Oakley, sultry saloon girls, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance

Kid, a ―Chuck Wagon Quartet,‖ and an old mining prospector.5 The phenomenon of Wall

3 Ibid., 40-42. 4 ―Wall and Water,‖ Guideposts Magazine, 1982. 5 For more details on the history of Wall Drug see Jennings, Free Ice Water. Signs for Wall Drug can now be found throughout the world: ―G.I.s tacked up Wall Drug signs as they made their way through Europe in World War II. The same thing happened in 129

Drug‘s clever marketing scheme invited numerous carloads of tourists to enjoy a short encounter with the Wild West. Although located fifty miles east of the Black Hills, the

Husteads labeled Wall Drug the ―unofficial entry‖ to the Black Hills. The Wall Drug signs quickly became a staple of Black Hills tourism.6

Following President Coolidge‘s summer vacation in the Hills and the dedication of Mount Rushmore in 1927, tourism in the region expanded on a nationwide scale. The presidential carvings also drew visitors from all over the country in greater numbers than ever. But these visitors wanted to do more than just watch sculptors carve history into a mountain. They wanted to have an authentic experience of Black Hills history. In the minds of tourists, this ―experience‖ included encounters with Indians, cowboys, and other elements of the Wild West that they had seen in the highly-publicized images from

President Coolidge‘s time in the Black Hills. Communities in the region did not want to miss out on any economic boost they might receive from tourists looking to spend money on a particular experience. So, they joined the chuck wagon. In order to financially benefit from visitors, commercial clubs and citizens in many Black Hills towns adopted a

Korea and Vietnam. The store is covered with photographs of tourists, soldiers and scientists displaying Wall Drug signs everywhere from Antarctica to the Taj Mahal. The drugstore has even paid for advertising sign in Amsterdam, Paris and London.‖ Slogans now include, ―BE A WALL FLOWER,‖ ―HAVE YOU DUG WALL DRUG?,‖ WALL- EYED AT WALL DRUG,‖ and the famous bumper sticker, ―WHERE THE HECK IS WALL DRUG?‖ See ―In South Dakota: Buffalo Burgers at Wall Drug,‖ Time Magazine, August 1981. 6 The advent of Wall Drug also shows how the Black Hills region grew during this period—not physically, but conceptually. The town of Wall, South Dakota, is located an hour from the Black Hills. But it, along with Badlands National Park and some towns in Wyoming and Nebraska attempted to capitalize on their close proximity to the Black Hills region. Some attractions succeeded in latching on to the popularity of the Black Hills. For example, the Black Hills and Badlands Association developed in 1939 with a mission to promote both the Black Hills and the Badlands as a packaged experience. Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 165. 130 frontier theme as a way to attract tourists. The industry of ―heritage tourism‖—as seen on display at Wall Drug—gained momentum and popularity in the Black Hills during this time.

The years between 1927 and the 1950s is a period that marks a major shift from the industry‘s agenda to sell the Black Hills as a mythic, scenic, and ancient landscape.

Wall Drug is an attraction that exemplifies the major changes that occurred in the Black

Hills tourism industry beginning in the late 1920s. This chapter examines how the tourism industry changed the ways that it marketed and sold the Black Hills between

1927 and the 1950s. These changes include the development of heritage tourism, the automobile‘s rise in popularity, new advertising schemes, and how the industry shifted its focus on Native Americans and their relationship to the Black Hills.

The phenomenon of Wall Drug also revealed the rising significance of the automobile to tourists, and particularly to touring families. Beginning in the 1930s, the family car challenged the Black Hills tourism industry to offer roadside attractions that appealed to both children and adults. This chapter also discusses how new businesses in the Black Hills region, like Wall Drug, offered something for the entire family to enjoy.

Although these businesses added new dimensions to Black Hills tourism, they continued to reinforce old stereotypes that portrayed the region as a wonderland of ancient relics and mythic legends. Without an increased reliance of the automobile, the town of Wall,

South Dakota, may not have grown beyond 300 residents. Places like Wall Drug ―found salvation‖ in the Black Hills tourism industry.7

7 Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 165. 131

Finally, this chapter of the dissertation reveals how the tourism industry also changed its portrayal of Native people. Prior to the 1930s, boosters marketed the Black

Hills as a place symbolic of the disappearance of a ―conquered race.‖ But after newspapers captured the image of President Coolidge with the Lakota woman Rosebud

Yellow Robe, visitors to the Black Hills expected similar encounters. The industry soon realized that tourists were interested in the country‘s frontier heritage which, in their mind, highlighted Native Americans. While this chapter traces a period of thirty years, it follows a thematic—as opposed to a chronological—narrative.

Between the 1930s and the 1950s, the tourism industry relied heavily on the image of Native Americans to advertise and sell the Black Hills experience. Although

Black Hills communities began employing heritage tourism as early as the 1920s, it gained mass appeal during the postwar years when it used new—and more widespread media—of marketing and advertising. While capitalizing on ―the attractions and interest of the past,‖ heritage tourism portrayed western history, and especially Black Hills history, ―in pastel colors, sketching a cheery and inconsequentially quaint past.‖8 This approach did not limit its targets to the region‘s indigenous history. It also exploited the

Black Hills creation story that emerged through the nineteenth century rhetoric of

Custer‘s Last Stand, the gold rush, outlaws, and the ―conquest‖ of the region‘s American

Indian tribes. The industry‘s heritage tourism relied on the symbols and characters from this period of history to attract greater numbers of tourists and family vacationers to the

Black Hills.

8 Patricia Nelson Limerick, ―Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West,‖ in Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West, David M. Wrobel and Patrick T. Long, Eds. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001), 56. 132

Wall Drug is one attraction that capitalized immensely on tourists‘ interests of

Native people. The drugstore showcased life-size wooden statues of ―Indian Chiefs,‖ offered children a ride on a stuffed buffalo (marketed as a ―free attraction!‖), lured visitors to the view the ―Red-Dog Saloon‖ where they exhibited Indian mannequins outside of a tavern, and invited kids to play in the Indian camp, ―with life-size animated figures and tepees‖ in the Wall Drug ―Back Yard.‖9 Tourists could also purchase local crafts, such as ―beaded work from Indians on the Rosebud Reservation.‖10

In the 1920s, Deadwood emerged as the most successful example of heritage tourism in the Black Hills. In the 1920s Deadwood faced economic challenges. World

War I impacted Black Hills gold companies and their communities, and ―escalating labor costs and inflation took a heavy toll‖ on Deadwood and its ―twin city,‖ Lead. The towns were forced to create a new economy to help them survive the slump, and they saw tourism as a ―viable option.‖11 Deadwood‘s Fourth of July celebrations that began in

1922 quickly became the annual Days of ‘76.

Deadwood‘s Days of ‘76 celebration was one of the earliest and most impressive examples of heritage tourism in the Black Hills. The commercial club and local boosters created an event that commemorated an elaborate version of the town‘s frontier days. The

Days of ‘76 events retold Deadwood‘s western heritage in ways that appealed to tourists and confirmed ―Deadwood‘s place as a ‗real‘ western town.‖12 Pageants recounted the

9 Wall Drug Pamphlet, South Dakota Tourism Collection, Box #8581, SDSHS Manuscript Collections. 10 There is no way of knowing if the goods sold at Wall Drug between 1930 and the 1950s were actually made by Native people. Dallas Times Herald, 6 July 1955. 11 Wolff, ―The Black Hills in Transition,‖ in New South Dakota History, 310. 12 Kevin Britz, ―Deadwood‘ Days of ‘76: The Wild West Show as Community Celebration,‖ South Dakota History, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2010), 52. 133 nineteenth-century ―Indian wars,‖ while parades showcased the area‘s early saloon girls.

The romantic accounts of Indians and cowboys did little to provide historical context for the region‘s violent and conflicted past, just as the glitzy saloon girl costumes revealed nothing about the darker side of Deadwood‘s nineteenth-century prostitution industry.

But heritage tourism does not exist to sell the historical facts to tourists: instead, it sells them the thrill of experience. Deadwood‘s citizens quickly discovered the recipe for creating a successful tourist destination: the meet and exceed the expectations of tourists.

Thus, Deadwood‘s tourism industry commemorated a series of romantic symbols, stories, peoples, and places in order to appeal to their ―customer‘s‖ demands.

As Deadwood‘s tourism industry slowly expanded, the 1930s were especially kind to the Black Hills region. Where the Great Depression crushed South Dakota‘s economy, Deadwood, Lead, and other surrounding communities actually flourished. The young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, trails, and buildings which helped improve the infrastructure of the region‘s recreation and tourism industries. The price of gold also increased in 1934, which caused a dramatic boost in the area‘s mining prospects.13

Deadwood citizens and organizations took the Days of ‘76 celebration very seriously. The older generation of residents ―viewed their history as the story of stalwart pioneers who overcame the challenges of the wilderness and advanced civilization.‖14

This group of individuals believed it was their duty to preserve this moment of

Deadwood‘s history, as well as the ―personal values of hardiness, determination,

13 Peggy Sanders, The Civilian Conservation Corps in and around the Black Hills (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). 14 Britz, ―Deadwood‘ Days of ‘76,‖ 53. 134 individualism, ingenuity, and sheer hard work‖ that represented the town‘s people.15

Hosting a heritage-based celebration met both economic necessities and nostalgic desires:

―The growing realization that its early past could be turned into a distinctive celebration spurred‖ the people of Deadwood to create such an event that honored this heritage.16

In many cases, Deadwood boosters took creative license to stretch the town‘s heritage in ways that were not authentic to its history. For example, the city hired a man named Richard Clarke to re-create himself into the modern-day personae of ―Deadwood

Dick.‖ Citizens in Deadwood borrowed this character from Edward Wheeler‘s Dime

Novel saga and appointed Clarke (a former railroad worker) to play the part of Deadwood

Dick to enhance the city‘s Days of ‘76 celebration. ―Clarke‘s rustic appearance and ability to spin a believable tale soon endeared him to tourists,‖ and he lived the life of

Deadwood Dick for their entertainment. When he died in 1930, he was a ―local hero,‖ and ―the city blurred the line between legend and reality for the sake of tourism.‖17

American Indians became a focal point of the Days of ‘76 and a major draw for tourists who expected to see them. But Deadwood‘s celebration also showcased the following: a reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok and the trial of his killer—

Jack McCall, appearances of Calamity Jane, Hickok, Custer, and Deadwood Dick

(portrayed by Clarke), parade floats that included wagons and stagecoaches, period costumes, mining prospectors, cavalry men from nearby Fort Meade, and cowboys who competed in a rodeo. Perhaps the most dedicated group of Deadwood citizens who participated in the Days of ‘76 was the ―More Whiskers Club,‖ an organization of men of

15 Ibid., 54. 16 Ibid., 61. 17 Julin, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 155-156. 135 all ages who stopped shaving, ―so that they would resemble the burly goldseekers of

1876.‖ To encourage participation, the club challenged men to ―swear to give up shaving until the Days of ‘76 event was over. Club leaders offered prizes as incentives.‖ They lobbied for men to ―Be loyal to your town….Help make the More Whiskers Club a big success, which will in turn greatly assist in making the ‗Days of ‗76‘ celebration a success.‖18

The Deadwood Days of ‘76 celebration enjoyed great popularity and success between the 1920s and 1960s. Even after thirty years of recreating events around the same stories and characters, it remained a thrilling event for tourists of all ages. In 1950, one reporter wrote a rave review of the event:

―Oh, no! The living past was moving by – vital and significant, a heritage presented in the authentic values of antiquated modes and viewpoints on which the present thrives….Instead of automatic applause, the spectators quieted, attentive to detail most of them had never seen before and recognized only from tales their grandparents told. Deadwood had carefully preserved the tangible evidence of its historic struggle for existence, and here it came—horse-drawn, rusty, stained by the years, moth-eaten….Wild Bill Hickok and his companions in his fatal poker game…Poker Alice smoking a long cigar…. General Custer and his cavalry staff in faded blue uniforms….‗Civilization Advances‘ reads the sign carried by a lad in cowboy jeans and sombrero…‖19

The reporter was especially impressed by the ―Indians, real Indians, some of them over

90 years old.‖ As a member of the audience he observed, ―A four-year-old Indian boy, bells on his heels, tapping out a jingling accompaniment to a popular tune played by the

Rapid City band just ahead of his family group.‖20

18 Qtd. in Britz, ―Deadwood‘ Days of ‘76,‖ 68. 19 ―Minneapolis Writer Finds Deadwood Parade Is Best,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal, 6 August 1950. 20 Ibid. 136

Ultimately, the Days of ‘76 joined a host of other Black Hills community celebrations that took place every summer. The Belle Fourche Roundup, the Alfalfa

Palace celebration in Rapid City, Spearfish‘s American Legion picnic, the Hot Springs

Water Carnival and boat races, Hill City‘s Golden Spike Parade, the automobile races in

Sturgis, and Custer‘s Gold Discovery Days.21 Yet the people of Deadwood believed their community stood apart from other Black Hills towns because of its ―frontier moment— the brief period of disorder,‖ which defined its development in the late 1870s.22 The town capitalized on this heritage and promoted Deadwood as a place in the Black Hills where the ―pages will be turned back in the history of one of the most colorful towns of the Old

West….It‘s Wild, It‘s Western, It‘s Real.‖23

Lead, South Dakota, Deadwood‘s ―twin‖ city located less than three miles away, benefitted from Deadwood‘s successful heritage tourism industry. But the town of Lead

(the home of Homestake Mining Company) did not wish to exploit its history as a frontier mining town. It is actually an example of a Black Hills community that chose to showcase the town as modern, civilized, and sophisticated. In short, the people of Lead did not wish to mirror Deadwood‘s efforts to attract visitors. The city of Lead chose to operate tours of its town and the Homestake Mining Company in a fashion that directly opposed Deadwood‘s approach to tourism. But by highlighting Homestake as the main attraction, Lead inadvertently showcased the influential role the town played in western expansion and the legacy of the gold mining industry in the Black Hills. When tourists

21 ―Once-Fierce Sioux Add Color to Black Hills,‖ 1956. Tourism Collection Promotional Material, SDSHS, and Deadwood Daily Pioneer-Times, 26 June 1924. 22 Britz, ―Deadwood‘ Days of ‘76,‖ 61. 23 Rapid City Daily Journal, 28 July 1957. 137 visited Lead and Homestake, tour guides provided them with a narrative that celebrated the discovery of gold in the Black Hills.

One advertisement for Lead tourism beckoned visitors to, ―Come and see

Homestake!… take a leisurely look over the greatest gold mine in the world. The

Homestake works are not out in the barren mountains, but within easy reach of your hotel, and can be seen in about a day.‖24 Guided Tours through the mine, which had begun in 1920, slowly grew in popularity. (Unlike the Days of ‘76, Lead did not attract tourists in great numbers until the 1950s.) The Lead Civic Association, which organized the tours, hired college-age women to serve as the tour guides, and gave all proceeds to the city of Lead. The female guides directly contradicted what Lead locals thought that tourists expected from the mining town: ―men with a brace of guns strapped to them and expect general lawlessness.‖25 Instead of playing up on its connection with Deadwood‘s history, the tour meant to ―educate, to inform and to satisfy‖ visitors at the Homestake operations, to ―provide employment for local girls…who are furthering their education by attending college,‖ and to ―provide financial assistance‖ to Lead‘s recreation and education sectors and local charities.26 Tourists may have been slightly disappointed to see that citizens were ―sober and very well dressed‖ in the town of Lead, where ―best of order prevails everywhere.‖27 Tourists took surface tours that guided them through the history of the ―Open Cut‖ mine, the drill shop, several different mine shaft operations, the

Blacksmith Shop, the drilling exhibit, the ―Yates Hoistroom,‖ and the foundry and

24 ―Suggestions to Tourists: Some of the Sights to be Enjoyed in and Around Lead,‖ Lead, SD, Vertical File, SDSHS. 25 Ibid. 26 Sharp Bits, Published by Homestake Mining Company, Vol. 6, No. 7 (August 1955), 2. 27 ―Suggestions to Tourists: Some of the Sights to be Enjoyed in and Around Lead,‖ Lead, SD, Vertical File, SDSHS. 138 various mills located around the grounds. The tour advertised the culminating event:

―Finally, you may be interested in the largest cyanide plant in the world, handing about

4,000 tons of ore every twenty-four hours.‖28

Homestake recorded 438 tourists as the largest number of surface tours given in one day during the summer of 1946. Within eight years that number had sky-rocketed to

1,153 surface tours in one August day during 1954.29 Likewise, the number of tourists in

1945 (812) increased to 23,177 tourists in 1955.30 Tourists learned about the history of the mine, its investments, the sophisticated process of gold mining, and information about the town of Lead. These scripted tours did not, however, discuss the darker side of the

Homestake Mining Company—its tense history with labor unions and employee strikes, the environmental depredation caused by the mining industry (such as the presence of cyanide poisoning in creeks throughout the area), and how strip mining influenced Native

American connections to the Black Hills sacred lands. Lakotas viewed Homestake

Mine‘s ―Open Cut‖ operation as an open wound on the Earth‘s surface.

To maintain a positive image in the region, however, the Homestake Mine invested in other tourism ventures in the Black Hills. One of its more famous contributions was to the Mount Rushmore monument. Following a benefit concert starring Mary Garden, the famous Scottish opera singer, Homestake Mine hosted a private dinner underground for Garden, Gutzon Borglum, and other area social leaders.

The ―Garden Party‖ dined in a discreet location 2,000 feet below the surface in one of

Homestake Mine‘s underground operating rooms. The level was ―cleaned and lit for the

28 Ibid. 29 Sharp Bits, 17. 30 Ibid., 14. 139 festive occasion. Long tables were installed and Cornish pasties were served. Young

Homestake engineers, geologists and surveyors were called into service as waiters.‖ It was the ―first and only time‖ that anyone every served a formal meal in the deep underground gold mine.31

During the 1930s and through the 1950s, numerous ―roadside‖ attractions lured tourists away from destinations like Deadwood and Lead. Another famous stop close to

Wall Drug was the ―Indian Village,‖ located only a few miles from the drugstore. When tourists ventured off of United States Highway 14 to explore Wall Drug, more signs directed motorists to take an alternative route after leaving the Black Hills—a scenic detour through the eerily beautiful eroded buttes of South Dakota‘s Badlands. On the way to the Badlands, Black Hills travelers visited the Indian Village south of Wall Drug on

U.S. Highway 16A. Although the setting for an Indian village was stark in comparison to the lush forests of the Black Hills, the Badlands still offered an impressive backdrop for teepees and staged Indian villages. Teepees and wooden cabins added more substance to the vast surroundings of the Badlands buttes.32 The Badlands National Monument was established in 1929 and became Badlands National Park in 1939. Tourism entrepreneurs quickly erected the Cedar Pass visitor‘s center in the Badlands as a place for travelers to

31 Rapid City Journal, 15 June 1969. In 1926 Homestake made its first contribution to the monument project, totaling $5,000. See David B. Miller, Gateway to the Hills: An Illustrated History of Rapid City, (Windsor Publications, 1985), 71. 32―Partial views of the Indian Village,‖ ―Mother and two daughters from Lower Brule Reservation to be seen at the Indian Village,‖ and ―Sioux Indian Chief and Squaw at native tepee.‖ All of these are scenes on postcards from the author‘s collection. Lakotas from Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, Rosebud, and Pine Ridge reservations posed at the Indian villages in regalia for photos with tourists. But these exchanges will be discussed in the following chapter. 140 lodge, eat, and pull over to take photographs. At Cedar Pass, a tourist could also enjoy eating and ―Indian Taco‖ for the first time.

Places like Wall Drug, the Badlands, and the Highway 16A Indian Village became landmark attractions that were important parts of the Black Hills experience for tourists. These attractions could not have survived if tourists had not become more and more dependent on the automobile or, ―the family car,‖ to carry them from site to site.

Automobile ownership especially increased following World War II.33 Between 1948 and

1970 the percentage of family-owned cars increased from 54 percent to 82 percent. In

1947, Ford advertised the purchase of a care as a family decision. ―FORD‘S OUT

FRONT WITH ALL THE FAMILY!‖ ad campaign stressed that each member of a family should provide input during the process of buying a car. After all, the ―family car was a home on wheels, an extension of the domestic space, and thus represented a sense of security‖ for families on vacations. Moreover, a family‘s car was ―a cocoon‖ that

―increased their sense of security while they traveled to unfamiliar places.‖34

By the 1950s, Ford adopted various western themes in its ads that emphasized its product as essential for all families traveling on vacations. For example, Ford invited customers to consult them ―in a Pow Wow‖ with questions about cars. One advertisement promoted a Ford car as a ―Big Chief of the Low-Price Tribe.‖35 Families were led to believe that purchasing a particular car would help enhance their vacation in the great

American West. Without tourists‘ increased reliance on cars, thousands would have missed out on places like Wall Drug the Badlands, and the Indian exhibit. The

33 This increase is partly due to the fact that no cars were manufactured from 1942-1945. 34 Ford advertisement qtd. in Susan Sessions Rugh, Are We There Yet? The Gold Age of American Family Vacations (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008), 19. 35 Qtd. in Rugh, Are We There Yet?, 21. 141 automobile industry‘s focus on Native images benefitted the Black Hills tourism industry‘s marketing scheme that emphasized American Indians as a major highlight of the region‘s heritage.

Rapid City, the official ―gateway to the hills,‖ especially profited from the numerous roadside attractions that dominated the highway between Rapid City and

Mount Rushmore. These sites reinforced popular views that the Black Hills was a land of ancient ruins leftover from a conquered civilization. Creative individuals used all kinds of strategies to ―trap‖ tourists in a situation where they might be likely to spend some of their vacation money. For example, The ―Petrified Forest,‖ which opened in 1930, offered guided tours through an area that contained a vast quantity of petrified wood.

Tourists could browse through a museum, hike through various paths, or purchase

―specimens of petrified logs and wood and souvenirs made of pieces of wood and plaster.‖36 Another roadside attraction near Rapid City was the ―Hidden City,‖ which lured travelers off the road to venture into the remnants of a ―settlement of some lost civilization.‖ The site owners justified their belief in the authenticity of this ancient village by pointing to a twelve-hundred foot wall of natural sandstone that formed a corner shape. They asserted that this structure was a man-made foundation leftover from a building in ruins. In the 1940s, an evaluation of the site exposed it as fraudulent: ―the dinosaur bones at Hidden City were in fact the remains of a marine reptile brought in from another location, and a touted three-toed-horse skeleton was actually the skeleton of a modern dog.‖37

36 Juline, A Marvelous Hundred Square Miles, 142. 37 Ibid. 142

Tourists ―traps‖ like the Hidden City increased steadily in the Black Hills area, gaining profit from the dubious practice of mystifying credulous travelers. In 1935, the

Rapid City Chamber of Commerce supported the development of ―Dinosaur Park,‖ which included sculptures of five dinosaurs—a ―companion piece to Mount Rushmore.‖

Located on a hill overlooking the town, the Works Progress Administration funded the park, which was ―based loosely on the existence of dinosaurs in the nearby Badlands.‖38

In 1937, a young man named Earl Brockelsby opened a site called ―Reptile Gardens,‖ located close to Dinosaur Park in Rapid City. The attraction emerged from Brockelsby‘s tendency to bring his pet snakes with him to local tourist parks. He quickly gained attention for ―his ease in handing rattlesnakes,‖ so he turned it into a profitable enterprise.

The first day it opened, he earned thirty cents.39

While Rapid City‘s tourist attractions did not emphasize an over-the-top display of western heritage, it was very successful in attracting families. In order to compete with places like Deadwood and Wall Drug, the city offered tourists more lodging, camping, and eating options. It quickly ―assumed the role of gatekeeper for the growing number of tourists to the Black Hills‖ following the First World War.40 Unlike Deadwood, Rapid

City worked tirelessly to separate the city from the reputation it carried from its early days, when it was known as a cow town. Rapid City (along with the Black Hills) benefitted from ―the prosperity generated by the nation‘s economic participation‖ both during and after World War I. Following the war, the town devoted itself to supporting

38 Ibid., 157. 39 Miller, Gateway to the Hills, 121. During the first year Brockelsby earned $2099.67, but his expenses totaled $2384.91. Even though the business appeared to be successful in its early years, Brockelsby ―didn‘t get out of debt until 1980.‖ 40 Britz, ―Days of ‘76,‖ 59. 143 armistice celebrations, which attracted numerous travelers. As the town ―emerged from the war confident of its future,‖ Rapid City emphasized its role as a progressive community in the Black Hills region. Promotional literature served to ―cast off its image as a cow town.‖ City boosters claimed that ―cowboys were once ‗a dominant feature in the social and business life of Rapid City,‖ but they were adamant that ―now a cowboy on the streets of this city is as rare a sign as one would be on Broadway, New York.‖41

Promoting this tame and controlled environment appealed to families with younger children. Black Hills advertisements succeeded in targeting families between the

1940s and 1960s. They invited them to vacation in a place ―where the Old West still lives in a surprisingly noncommercial setting and come in whatever degree of wildness you and the wife and the kids can take…Pass buffalo along the highway and dine on them at night…Watch Indian dances…and [sing] cowboy songs around a campfire,‖ all on a reasonable budget of $160 for a family of four. This offer was also contingent upon the family‘s willingness to sleep in cabins, camp, or have picnic lunches in order to curb extra costs.42 Rapid City flourished with these kinds of accommodations, and it quickly emerged as a major player in the Black Hills tourism industry. By 1948, ―its eighty-three tourist camps and its numerous tourist homes and hotels entertained 6,000 guests.43‖ By the early 1950s, the city portrayed itself as the leading tourist city in the Black Hills, with

―eighty-five motels, four hotels, and fifty-two restaurants. Half of the town‘s population of almost 30,000 could be housed in its own motel and hotel rooms.‖44

41 Miller, Gateway to the Hills, 67. 42 Rugh, Are We There Yet?, 99-100. 43 Miller, Gateway to the Hills, 97. 44 Ibid., 88. 144

But Native Americans emerged as the dominant attraction in the Black Hills.

―American families love the old West,‖ said H.P. Dison from the office of the South

Dakota Department of Highways. He reported: ―The savage monotone of the tom-tom and the eerie wail of the reed pipe…will again be heard this summer….Now the once- fierce Sioux Are welcoming thousands of visitors to Black Hills celebrations….Coming from nearby reservations, [they]…revive old tribal customs, ceremonies and dances during the summer months. Many live in skin tepees as did their ancestors and some have revived the almost-forgotten skills of bead and quillwork and leathercraft.‖45 But Dison also wanted traveling families to be rest-assured, for ―The present-day Indians no longer believe the Black Hills are sacred ground….They are glad to greet visitors, have their pictures taken and tell of the days when their tribes rule the prairies.‖ Even though,

―South Dakota‘s Indians have made great strides in learning the ways of the white man,‖ they rarely turn down the opportunity to perform their ―once-sacred dances and ceremonies for visitors….Possibly the Black Hills are one of the few areas left in the country where the tribal dances can be seen in all the color and pageantry that is characteristic of true Indian life.‖46

Black Hills marketing tactics attempted to make visitors feel that the invitation to tour the region came directly from the area‘s Native American tribes. Many advertisements used the catchphrase, ―AH ITI PO! In the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Translation from the Sioux Indians ‗Come Pitch Your Tent‘…the storied Black Hills are

45 Peoria Journal Star, 27 April 1958. 46 Ibid. 145 holiday land for all America.‖47 The industry wanted tourists to believe that the region offered them something ―that you can‘t see anywhere else in the world and this is where the Black Hills has an edge on many of the famed tourists spots.‖48

One ad screamed, ―EXSIGHTMENT! The one vacationland that has everything for the entire family! Come on up where the mountainwest spells real adventure and exsightment! The sights are super…the adventures are boundless. RODEOS,

PAGEANTS, INDIANS, COWBOYS. Fantastic, contrasting scenery. Nationall-famous family attractions. Excellent all-type accommodations. This year see…South Dakota‘s

BLACK HILLS. This year come on up to REAL EXSIGHTMENT!‖49 In 1956 alone one could choose from the following events to attend during their vacation in the Black Hills:

Hill City Heart of the Hills Celebration, Black Hills Roundup in Belle Fourche Wall

Drug Anniversary (a Birthday Celebration and Rodeo), Sturgis Rodeo, Miss South

Dakota Talent and Beauty Pageant in Hot Springs, Hot Springs Boat Races, Custer‘s

Gold Discovery Days Pageant and Rodeo, Western South Dakota Horseback Trail Ride in Rapid City, Pine Ridge—Sioux Indian Sundance, Days of ‘76 Celebration in

Deadwood, Motorcycles & the Black Hills Motorcycle Classic Races in Sturgis, Range

Days and Horse Show in Rapid City, Devils Tower Golden Anniversary Celebration (in

July 14-22 the ―Tower will be climbed every day‖), and other ―dramatic entertainment‖ including the Trial of Jack McCall, Black Hills Passion Play, Meller Drammer Theater

47 South Dakota Department of Highways, 1958 newspaper ad, ―Black Hills Tourism Clippings, 1958-1960,‖ South Dakota Tourism Scrapbook, H85-002, Box #FB027 48 San Francisco Examiner, 15 May 1960. 49 Unknown publication, magazine advertisement from author‘s collection, August 1960. 146

(Rockerville), and the Black Hills Play House in Custer State Park.50 It was very clear to the 1950s Black Hills tourists that the region is, ―Crammed with the color of the real old west: It starts with the first ten-gallon hat you see! You know at once—this is the real

West, yesterday‘s land of buffalo and boom towns, cattle drives and rustlers, Hickok and

Custer and Indian wars. Here, history is recent, fun is fresh! Thrill to top-rated rodeos, real Indian celebrations.‖51

But the most eye-catching Black Hills advertising campaign can be credited to one man. On June 3, 1948, sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski (―Core-chock Jewel-kuff-ski‖) blasted rock away from Thunderhead Mountain to begin his plan to carve the face of the famous Lakota leader Crazy Horse. The sculpture (located fifteen miles from Mount

Rushmore) would serve as a memorial for the Lakota people in a manner similar to the presidential faces on Mount Rushmore serving as a memorial to Americans. Ziółkowski said that the carving was the idea of Lakota man Henry Standing Bear. In a letter to

Ziółkowski, Standing Bear wrote, ―My fellow Chiefs and I would like the White Man to know the Red Man had great heroes, too.‖52

It sounded like a nice idea. But there were several immediate problems surrounding the sculpture. First, there was no image of Crazy Horse‘s face that the sculptor could consult for his carving. It is widely known that Crazy Horse never posed for a photograph, painting, or sketch. Ziółkowski claimed that the carving would be

Crazy Horse, when in fact it would the image of a face that actually did not exist. Second,

50 ―Once-Fierce Sioux Add Color to Black Hills,‖ 1956. Tourism Collection Promotional Material, SDSHS. 51 Chicago Sunday Times, 21 April 1957. 52Rob DeWall and Joseph Swastek, Korczak: Storyteller in Stone: Boston to Crazy Horse September 6, 1908 October 20, 1982 (1996), 25. 147 many Lakotas disapproved of the sculpture. For example, Ben Black Elk‘s granddaughter claimed that he did not support it, and that, at one point, he ―climbed Thunderhead

Mountain in the early days and fasted and prayed that the Crazy Horse monument would never be built.53 Third, many Lakotas claimed that, even if the tribe had wanted a sculpted monument symbolizing their great leaders and extraordinary history, they would never have chosen to locate it in the Black Hills. They would never contribute to the pattern of defacing the Black Hills land in the ways that strip-mining, logging, and the tourism industries had already done.

Ziółkowski ignored these claims and remained very positive in his rhetoric about the Crazy Horse Memorial. He declared it would be much larger than Mount Rushmore, boasting a 641-foot-long by 563-foot-high statue of Crazy Horse on top of his horse with an outstretched arm pointing to the Black Hills.54 Ziółkowski used the Lakota leader‘s words as a slogan, ―My lands are where my dead lie buried‖ as a way to tell about the tribe‘s history—the ―story being told on the mountain.‖55 The Crazy Horse dedication ceremony on June 3, 1948, included South Dakota Governor George T. Mickelson,

Henry Standing Bear, Will Robinson, Esther Van Wagoner Tufty (Washington News

Bureau and White House correspondent), and five known survivors of the Little Big Horn

Battle: Iron Hawk, Callous Leg, Pemmican, Black Elk and High Eagle. In a press release,

Ziółkowski, claimed that 250-400 Indians would also be present and in their colorful full

53 Taliaferro, Great White Fathers, 384. 54 The carving would be large enough to hold all of Mount Rushmore in just the face of Crazy Horse. 55 DeWall and Swastek, Storyteller in Stone, 27. 148 regalia.56 At the event, Little Big Horn veterans High Eagle and Comes Again were present, but not in their regalia. One image from the ceremony shows approximately fifteen Lakotas present in ―a small clearing‖ at the foot of Thunderhead Mountain, a number very low from the expected 250.57

That same year, Black Hills locals begged the question, ―who was Crazy Horse?‖

In order to explain the legend of Crazy Horse to the citizens of Custer, South Dakota, the

Custer Chronicle compared the U.S. occupation of the Black Hills with the actions of

Adolph Hitler: ―In 1874 Custer…entered the Hills, discovered gold and proclaimed it to the world. The adventuresome of a nation in a most romantic movement, despite the efforts, sometimes not too determined, of the military, moved into the Hills.‖ But, ―after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, a Treaty…was entered into. This has been the source of endless controversy. One thing is certain, the U.S. took over the Black Hills as a ‗coup accompli,‘ with as much certainty as Hitler took over the Sudenten and then negotiated with a beaten race for its occupancy.‖58 Following this article, news about the carving spread nationwide. The Denver Post compared the sculpture to the Sphinx, also calling it a monument to ―the Sioux Indian chief who whipped General Custer at the battle of Little

Big Horn.‖ If Ziółkowski finishes the statue, the paper reported, the ―Egyptian Sphinx will be dwarfed to a house cat.‖ Ziółkowski declared, ―I don‘t necessarily think that

56 ―Expect Many Notables Here for Crazy Horse Dedication,‖ n.d., Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS. 57 ―Sculptor Begins Crazy Horse Memorial,‖ Minneapolis Tribune, n.d., Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS. 58 ―Who Was Chief Crazy Horse?‖ Custer Chronicle, May 1948. Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS. 149

Crazy Horse was the greatest Indian chief, or that the Indians were the greatest race of men, but they are a part of the history of this country and deserve a lasting monument.‖59

Thirty years after the dedication, the carving still did not have a face. In a second burst of press releases that attempted to promote the memorial, Ziółkowski prided the monument on the fact that it had never received federal funding and did not accept any government contributions. The enterprise was, literally, a one-man operation.

Newspapers portrayed Ziolkowski as a ―dreamer‖ who had a ―dream of immortality.‖

During the first thirty years he had blasted more than six million tons of rock from the

Thunderhead Mountain to achieve his goal to sculpt the ―largest piece of sculpture in the world.‖ ―All this is a little much to grasp—a 30-year dream of such massive proportion in a tribute to right a wrong—a giant symbol.‖ The report continued, ―And the people say he‘s crazy—a maniac. A promoter and a chiseler—in more ways than one.‖ Korczak responds, ―When anybody calls me the most egotistical son-of-a-bitch they‘ve ever met, I just tell them it‘s a compliment. I ask you to believe in me that I can carve that mountain.‖ People in Custer, South Dakota, call him the ―fool on the hill.‖60 Ziółkowski came to the Black Hills with $174 in his pocket and ―a vision.‖ Now he has more than

$174. ―The tourists come—over a million of them last year—to pay $4 a carload to stand and gaze at what Korczak hath wrought.‖ Although his project was a controversial way to make money, Ziółkowski claimed good intentions. The idea of the sculpture is to ―turn the monument over to the Indians as a tourist attraction, to collect money for an Indian

59 ―South Dakota Statue to Dwarf Famed Sphinx,‖ Denver Post, 12 November 1949. 60 ―South Dakota man giving his life to build monument to Custer‘s foe,‖ The Seattle Times, 17 December 1978. 150 university and medical center. Korczak‘s workrooms are in his self-constructed 61-room house…The price for a look at the house is $4‖ per tourist.61

Another newspaper profile on Ziółkowski (which simultaneously served to promote the memorial) argued that Ziółkowski is ―like his name. Powerful, craggy, indecipherable.‖ But at the same time, he is, ―Poetic, rhythmical, lilting, filled with subtle nuances.‖ People have called him a ―Crazy Polack,‖ a ―Defacer of mountains,‖ and an

―Indian Lover‖ (the last of which, in South Dakota, is considered a bad thing). But

Ziółkowski said that his intentions were admirable compared to those of his fellow South

Dakotans. He was educated on ―the words of the treaties….knows the story of Crazy

Horse and the Sundance….knows Custer [the town] and the pimply adolescents with their mail order rifles who talk in the drive-ins about ‗gonna get me an Indian.‘‖

Ziółkowski knew many things about Native people and believed the tourists ―should all know it—and reflect on it. He knows that Rushmore tells part of the story of America, but Crazy Horse will tell another side. Americans have to know, have to be reminded of both sides.‖62

Many viewed the sculptor‘s words as simply waxing poetic. After all, his proceeds don‘t go to the tribe and he exploited one of the Lakota tribe‘s revered leaders for capital gain—a leader whose image was never photographed, sketched, or recorded.

And now his profile will stand 563 feet high. But more important to Ziółkowski than

Crazy Horse‘s face was the horse‘s head. ―That‘s going to be majestic. No one knew what Crazy Horse looked like, there are no pictures of him, or drawings, so he will be symbolic. But the horse, to see that head coming out of that mountain the veins and

61 ―He‘s carving a mountain,‖ Green Bay Press-Gazette, 7 September 1975. 62 Ibid. 151 muscles, the life…‖63 In the end, Ziółkowski thought the project represented ―simple justice,‖ and ―could be a landmark in White-Indian relationship.‖64 Others viewed it clearly as a marketing scheme: ―No one can possibly conjecture what effect the Crazy

Horse publicity has on the overall publicity given the Black Hills….One man, whose business is publicity, summed it all up in this brief statement. ―If, in the end Crazy Horse never amounted to anything but a gigantic cut in a granite mountain, the national publicity that it has secured has been worth a million dollars a year to the Black Hills.‖65

By the 1950s, the Black Hills won America‘s contest to build the bigger and better sculpture. Everyone knows or has seen an image of Mount Rushmore National

Monument. And a great number of people have heard about Crazy Horse Monument. It is also common knowledge that the sculptures are nestled deep within the interior of the

Black Hills region, only fifteen miles apart. But in 1962, representatives from both Mount

Rushmore and Crazy Horse pushed their grandiose sculptures one step further. They wanted to give the famous faces words and allow them to speak for themselves. U.S.

Senator Karl E. Mundt from South Dakota proposed the idea that each of the presidents on Mount Rushmore be wired for sound. Ziółkowski jumped on the idea and thought it would a great idea for Crazy Horse to do the same. But, he said, he ―would need an interpreter,‖ because Crazy Horse would be speaking in the ―Sioux‖ language.66 Such a spectacle begged the question, if President Thomas Jefferson had something to say to

63 Ibid. 64 ―Who Was Chief Crazy Horse?‖ Custer Chronicle, May 1948. Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS 65 ―Crazy Horse,‖ The Wi-Iyohi, monthly bulletin of the SDHS, December 1, 1957, Vol XI, no. 9. 66 ―Voices urged for presidents at Rushmore,‖ The Press-Courier, 22 January 1962 (Oxnard, California). 152

Crazy Horse, what do you think it would be? Better yet, what do you think Crazy Horse would say?

In 1957 newspapers throughout the United States printed a striking advertisement.

It invited potential tourists to ―Vacation in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota!‖ It urged those with an adventuresome spirit to ―Fish, golf, ride and sight-see through the unmatched scenery of the highest mountains east of the Rockies.‖ The promotion featured youngsters panning for gold in a creek, which appealed to families who wanted to share such experiences and also to see ―Mount Rushmore, the famed Black Hills

Passion Play,‖ and the ―nearby Badlands.‖ It also enticed the nostalgic to visit the Hills to learn about the region‘s history: ―Here the warlike Sioux fought their last battles, here the

Gold Rush made immortal Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Deadwood Dick. Come, this summer where the West still lives.‖ Finally, the ad promoted the Black Hills of South

Dakota as a place where one could ―Shake Hands with History.‖ The large profile of a war-bonneted Native American man next to these words evoked the feeling that he was, in fact, extending a personal invitation.67

Two years later the Rapid City Daily Journal claimed that tourists asked ―weird questions.‖ A young girl from Palestine, Texas, contacted the newspaper explaining that she had seen the advertisement described above. She was very excited for such an opportunity to visit the Black Hills! She thought it would be a grand event to ―shake hands with history,‖ and added, ―I would like for you to tell me where he [―history‖] lives as I want to shake hands with him when I come.‖68

67 ―Shake Hands with History,‖ unidentified newspaper publication, 1957, author‘s collection. 68 ―Tourists Ask Weird Questions,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal, 18 November 1959. 153

Without automobiles, intense marketing campaigns, and the rise of heritage tourism, families all over America would have missed a chance to ―shake hands with history‖ in the Black Hills. Following the First and Second World Wars, the Black Hills tourism industry relied more heavily on the advertisement of American Indians. This approach to tourism contrasted sharply with the nineteenth-century boosters who used the conquest narrative (which eradicated indigenous claims to the Hills) as a selling point to tourists. It also differed from the industry‘s effort in the early 1900s to lament the complete disappearance of American Indians from the region. Although it took them several decades, the tourism industry realized that Native people attracted just as many tourists to the Black Hills as did Mount Rushmore. As tourism continued to thrive in the region, Native people on nearby reservations eventually participated in the industry.

American Indians people played a tremendous role in shaping Black Hills tourism just through their involvement in dances, parades and other performances between the 1920s and the 1950s. Tourist attractions attempted to define Native Americans through heritage tourism. But for several decades it was actually Native people who defined the tourism industry.

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CHAPTER FIVE

Posing for Profits:

Lakotas and the Black Hills Tourism Industry

In 1936, after Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum removed Lakotas from performing at the unveiling ceremony of Thomas Jefferson, Nicholas Black Elk (Heháka

Sápa) was notably ―disappointed.‖ However, as a consolation, Borglum invited him and a group of Oglalas to the mountain, allowing them access in order to perform a ceremony on the mountain top. Black Elk‘s son, Ben, and sister-in-law, Emma, accompanied him that day. They ―rode in a crude wooden gondola seven hundred feet up the mountain.‖

Once they reached the top, Nicholas Black Elk ―prayed to the six grandfathers.‖ Ben

Black Elk translated the following for reporters. He said his father:

―prayed for the preservation of his people and for ‗unity of my people and the whites in the name of brotherhood,‘ that Borglum and his men be protected in their work. He also called the attention of the gods to the need of rain, and asked that ‗greenness and abundance‘ be forthcoming. He called for preservation of the greatness of the memories of the men whose granite likenesses are being carved on the mountain, and asked that their greatness be carried on through ‗changes of nations and races.‘‖1

The ceremonial performance and words of Black Elk (Heháka Sápa) taught non-Native audiences that ―old-time Lakota religion was a true religion, not devil worship.‖2 During his later years and long after Nicholas Black Elk passed away, Ben said that his father

1 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 65-66. 2 Ibid., 66. 155 was ―quite a man.‖ In fact, he said he was ―the best teacher I ever had.‖3 Twelve years later Ben Black Elk began his career posing seven hundred feet from where his father had prayed—at the bottom of Mount Rushmore.

This chapter traces indigenous participation in Black Hills tourist ventures from the early 1900s through 1960. Tourism offered Black Hills tribes—particularly Lakotas, new opportunities for economic gain. Beyond the individual financial gains, Native

People eventually assumed leadership roles and asserted their own image into the region‘s tourist industry. Through their direct involvement, indigenous people in the

Black Hills—especially Lakotas—attempted to educate non-Indians about their history and to dispel myths or romantic stereotypes about their heritage. By serving as creators, directors, and performers, Lakotas who participated in the Black Hills tourism industry found themselves in a position to exert a greater influence over the information delivered to their audiences. More importantly, they used these venues to celebrate their culture and reassert their social and spiritual self-determination over the Black Hills. Performing in the Black Hills during the months of the tourism season also afforded them the chance to return and live in their sacred lands. Coincidentally the tourism industry that reshaped the

Black Hills landscape to attract tourist dollars, finally allowed Native People to practice their ceremonies and preserve their heritage in their precious He Sápa. In so doing, they publicly resisted U.S. assimilation efforts that had prohibited such ceremonies, as well as federal policies that (more often than not) prohibited them from living in these lands.

3 Ben Black Elk, ―Black Elk Honor Song, Ben Black Elk Vision,‖ in Ben Black Elk and Warfield Moose , Jr., Ben Black Elk Speaks Audio CD (Mesa, AZ: Yellow Spider, Inc., 2002), Track 3, 5:25 and Track 3, 2:32. 156

An historical analysis of indigenous pageants, powwows, and photo tourism in the

Black Hills during the first half of the twentieth century reveals that each of these labor ventures carved out a unique industry and also spawned a political awakening within the region. The struggle by Native People to reassert their political control or sovereignty over the Black Hills in the twentieth century was tested early on in the economic forces of commercial tourism. This chapter attempts to dissect the intricate intersections linking tourism, landscape, culture, and race to reveal the growth of Native self-determination in the struggle over the Black Hills.

While the Black Hills tourism industry created spaces that appealed to a particular class of Americans, it subsequently segregated many populations from participating in these experiences. The Black Hills was no exception to this phenomenon.

The federal subjugation of the region‘s indigenous people made it nearly impossible for them to be included in the early years of Black Hills tourism activities. Between 1877 and into the early 1900s, racial prejudices, reform movements, and assimilation policies restricted fluid mobility for Native People on the nearby reservations of Pine Ridge,

Rosebud, Standing Rock, and Cheyenne River. These communities were only allowed to move within the Black Hills under strict guidelines. They were, for the most part, limited to ―passing through‖ towns for business or going ―over the hill‖ to the federal court located in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota. Several decades passed before the tourist industry incorporated indigenous people into the regional narrative. Even with the advent of indigenous tourism in the 1920s, Black Hills communities had done very little to reconcile the region‘s legacy of violence and conquest.

157

Instead, white entrepreneurs and promoters exploited the romanticism of Native

Americans in the Black Hills, and remolded them into symbols of the area‘s ―ancient‖ history past. Boosters reintroduced Native People into the environment to entice the imaginations of travelers. The popular view that Native People and nature co-existed in a

―Wonderland‖ wilderness persisted.4 Similarly, the manager of the Sylvan Lake Hotel designed the resort‘s interior with a Native American theme, ―with spearhead and arrow motifs incorporated into the architectural features….dining room walls were painted with a 174-foot mural featuring designs similar to Sioux winter counts.‖5 In the 1930s, the hotel also hired Native American women to serve as waitresses and fulfill other domestic roles at the resort. One advertisement, attempting to lure visitors to the resort, promised

―Ten Little Indian Girls Who Wait on You at Sylvan Lake Hotel.‖6

Advertisements depicting Native Americans in the West during this era—a popular trend often associated with Fred Harvey and the American Southwest—relied heavily on Native People to encourage thoughts of grandeur about the romantic,

4 During the early 1880s the Northern Pacific Railway designed ―Wonderland‖ pamphlets and brochures to promote Yellowstone Park. Not only did this literature celebrate ―novel landscapes along the Northern Pacific line,‖ it also portrayed ―national images of soaring eagles, noble savages, and Lady Liberty.‖ The marketing scheme wanted to entice visitors into believing that, ―As a Wonderland, Yellowstone always remained just on the edge of civilization....‖ Shaffer, See America First, 50, 52. 5 Jessie Y. Sundstrom, Pioneers and Custer State Park: A History of Custer State Park and Northcentral Custer County (Custer: Jessie Sundstrom, 1994), 101-102. Myra K. Peters, Sylvan Lake Hotel manager for over thirty years, also ―lectured her guests one night a week on native American arts….Because of [her] interest in the Native Americans, she was adopted into one of the Sioux tribes and given the name ‗Lady of the Lake.‘‖ Qtd. in Sundstrom, Pioneers and Custer State Park, 102. 6 Sundstrom, Pioneers and Custer State Park, 102; ―The Beautiful Black Hills Tourist Guide, 1932,‖ Black Hills Promotional Materials Vertical File, SDSHS. 158 adventurous history of the American frontier.7 To promote the organization‘s highway, the Custer Battlefield Hiway Association hired White Eagle, a Lakota man from Gillette,

Wyoming, to act as the official spokesman for the highway. On September 29, 1920,

White Eagle personally surveyed the Custer Battlefield Hiway for purposes of promoting it to the public. Riding a horse from Hardin, Montana, to Omaha, Nebraska, he arrived in

Omaha on December 12, 1920, after traveling 900 miles. Shortly thereafter, he traveled to New York City to interview Elizabeth Bacon Custer, widow of the General. White

Eagle told her that as a result of the popularity of automobiles, ―more families were using the scenic highway to camp in national parks and visit historic sites.‖8 White Eagle‘s high-profile position with the Custer Battlefield Hiway enabled the Association to draw more tourists onto its route.

While some Black Hills locals emphasized indigenous inhabitants as relics from antiquity, others garnered more business by promoting the tribes as violent symbols of the Black Hills. First scripted in 1923, the Custer Women‘s Civic Club in Custer, South

Dakota created the ―Pageant of Paha Sapa‖ as a performance during the Gold Discovery

Days celebration, which took place each year in the month of July. The pageant featured

Native Americans in various parts of the program, including a village of ―primitive

7 Peter J. Blodgett, ―Welcome to Wonderland: Promoting Tourism in the Rocky Mountain West, 1920-1960‖ (PhD dissertation, Department of History, Yale University, 2007), 49-50. 8 ―The Historical Trail to the Two Big Parks,‖ Custer Battlefield Hiway Travel Brochure, ca. 1922, South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel Collection, Box #3550, Custer Battlefield Highway Association, Folder 8, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. See Popular Mechanics Magazine vol. XXXV (1921), 844-845, and Shirley A. Leckie, Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993), 292. It was also reported that White Eagle was deaf as a ―result of illness at the age of 12,‖ and conversed with Mrs. Custer using ―a pencil and pad.‖ New York Times, 10 July 1921. 159

Indians,‖ an ―Indian Love Call,‖ and a vicious Indian attack where Indians were engaged in burning a wagon and ―killing the family.‖ In the pageant, the Lakotas represented stereotypes: they were ―ancient,‖ ―harmonious with nature,‖ ―romantic,‖ or ―villainous.‖

According to the pageant writers, these tribes were only connected to the land through

―fanciful tales‖ void of true meaning and, at the most basic level, myths. ―The American

Indian…made up in his child-like imaginative mind fanciful tales and legends which explained, satisfactorily to him, the workings of the universe. It was not hard for him to imagine himself a brother to the majestic pine and spruce….‖9

The Dark Canyon Resort, located south of Rapid City, also portrayed violent episodes from the Black Hills history. The non-Indian owner of Dark Canyon directed a pageant employing Native performers who reenacted an Indian attack on a pioneer family—an incident based on events that occurred in nineteenth-century Iowa. To the stereotypical beat of drums, the Indian performers killed the settlers, scalped them, and held a scalp dance in which the dancers each let out ―blood-curdling screams.‖10

Designed for the purposes of entertainment, the northern plains and Black Hills legacies

9 ―Part II, Pageant of Paha Sapa,‖ Gold Discovery Days Papers, Custer County Courthouse Special Collections, Custer, South Dakota; ―Gold Discovery Days: The Pageant, July 30 1950,‖ Pageant Program, Gold Discovery Days Papers, Custery County Courthouse Special Collections, Custer, South Dakota. For more on the Pageant of Paha Sapa see Sundstrom, ―The Pageant of Paha Sapa,‖ 3-26. 10 ―People Expect Too Much from God, Sioux Declares,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal, 16 July 1926; ―Indian Pageant Pleases Crowd,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal, 19 June 1926; ―Pageant Given to Large Crowd,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal, 21 June 1926. Unfortunately, this time period reveals the racist views that existed toward Native Americans throughout the state of South Dakota. Settlers of the state still harbored strong resentment toward Lakota (Sioux) Tribes, which largely stemmed from the Ghost Dance and the aftermath of the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. Over the course of the twentieth century, many of these feelings improved toward the acceptance of indigenous people. Yet the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 drastically changed these views. Today, the emotion of this event remains raw in the minds of many South Dakotans, especially those residing near the Black Hills region. 160 of conflict and violence gained mass appeal. Some audiences demanded an encore of the scalp dance. It was, after all, their idea of how the western frontier looked.11 Pageants enacted in Custer and at the Dark Canyon Resort employed Native Americans, and thus stimulated economic opportunities for Lakotas from various reservations. During these early years of regional tourism, however, the performances that visitors demanded left little opportunity for Native dancers to execute their own traditions and interpretations of historical events.

After the President Coolidge‘s 1927 summer vacation in the Black Hills, the region experienced an economic boom driven by a surge in new pageants, powwows, and exhibitions that allowed Lakota performers a level of autonomy. These venues gave

Lakota people creative license to ―authenticate‖ their own shows and exhibitions.

Between 1920 and the 1960s, the Duhamel Indian Pageant, Wind Cave National Park powwow, Custer State Park Encampment, Deadwood Days of ‘76, and Ben Black Elk‘s presence at Mount Rushmore reshaped the way the Black Hills tourist industry depicted indigenous communities. Native People no longer felt the need to work for popular tourist enterprises that forced them to ―play‖ Indians or victims or villains who had been

―conquered,‖ in accordance with the commercial narrative of the western past.12 Instead,

Lakota dancers and entertainers began to reclaim and celebrate their culture within their indigenous homelands. Through cultural performances, they resisted assimilation and

11 Uses of violence in pageants about the American frontier was not uncommon. For a lengthier discussion of the use of Indians in advertisements in the tourist industry see dissertation by Blodgett, ―Welcome to Wonderland: Promoting Tourism in the Rocky Mountain West, 1920-1960,‖ 49-52. 12 L.G. Moses, Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883-1933 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), 279. 161 paved the way for future Lakotas to generate revenue in a new era of Native American tourism in South Dakota.

Since the 1870s and 1880s, federal policies had prohibited Native Americans from dancing. These restrictions had also banned tribes from practicing any ceremonies that officials viewed as backward or counter-productive to their assimilation into

American society. Following the Ghost Dance ―scare‖ of 1890, the government deemed these traditions of cultural expression especially illicit for Lakotas in South Dakota.

Although a few events occurred where communities asked Lakotas to dance in the Black

Hills for various occasions, generally the government did not permit these activities.

Donovin Sprague (Cheyenne River), formerly the Director of Education at Crazy Horse

National Monument, remembers hearing stories about the time when it was ―okay to come back to the hills‖ after the region was ―taken away.‖ Some of the communities—

Rapid City in particular—―were being founded…they always wanted dancing…so some of our people did start coming out [to dance].‖13 At the annual stock growers convention in 1904, community leaders in Rapid City, South Dakota, devoted portions of the program to ―Indian events including a pony race and a war dance. The second day began with a grand Indian parade and welcoming ceremony,‖ and the third day also included various ―Indian performances.‖ An especially unique part of these performances included

―the Indian rescue race. Indians were expected to ride out and rescue a wounded comrade.‖14 In 1907, the city again invited Native Americans to participate in the town‘s great railroad jubilee, ―probably the biggest celebration the community had experienced

13 Donovin Sprague interview by D. L. Nelson, 28 July 2009, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer, South Dakota. 14 David B. Miller, Gateway to the Hills: An Illustrated History of Rapid City (Northridge, CA: Windsor Publications, 1985), 46-49. 162 up to that time.‖ During the celebration, ―Traditional Indians flanked the ‗As We Found

It, 1876,‘ side of the Great Welcome Arch. The other side, labeled ‗What We Made It,

1907,‘ offered displays of the marvels of the modern world.‖15

One of Sprague‘s stories marks the beginning of a cultural awakening among the

Lakotas.16 In the summer of 1906, over four hundred Utes from Utah left the Uintah

Reservation because of the undesirable living conditions. After a long journey, soldiers from Fort Meade, near Sturgis, South Dakota, confronted the Utes and escorted them back to the fort in the northern Black Hills. Eventually, federal and state officials agreed to lease some land for the Utes on the Cheyenne River Reservation.17 Many of Sprague‘s relatives told him stories about the Utes in South Dakota: ―Wounded Knee Massacre had happened so none of our people were allowed to dance. Everything was underground— dancing, sun dance, ceremonies—and nobody would think about dancing.‖ The Utes did not share this collective memory. ―So…it was the fourth [of July]. Soldiers—the

Calvary—started up a band [at the agency]…here these Utes didn‘t know this history, so they got over there by the American flag and they started dancing all around it. And they

[the agent and soldiers] thought, ―wow, that‘s cool…they‘re patriotic.‖ Sprague laughs and pauses before he continues, ―But our people looked, and they joined in. And the soldiers and agent let them dance. They thought, this is great letting them dance by the

15 Ibid., 41. 16 Donovin Sprague interview by D. L. Nelson, 28 July 2009, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer, South Dakota. 17 Unfortunately, the Utes were forced to leave the Black Hills the following year in 1907. For an account of the Utes in South Dakota, see Robert Lee, Fort Meade and the Black Hills (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991), 176-189. 163 flag…it was always before they didn‘t dance by an American flag.‖18 The symbolism of the American flag behind the Native dancers evoked illusions of patriotism and national pride. In the past, federal agents and soldiers had deemed dancing and cultural expression as ―savage,‖ uncivilized, and un-American. But on this occasion, the U.S. officials at

Cheyenne River reservation showed leniency toward the indigenous performers.

However, not all federal agents agreed that Lakota dancing could promote patriotic notions, nor should Native dancers—like those at Cheyenne River—be encouraged to engage in such performances. Indigenous participation in dancing, Wild

West shows, and pageants did not support governmental plans to establish ―modern‖ lifestyles. In fact, U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles H. Burke (a South Dakota native and the commissioner from 1921-1929) wished to discourage these activities. In reference to a community celebration in South Dakota, Burke observed that town boosters purposely lured nearby Natives to attend the event. Locals ―got out handbills and particularly invited the Indians, and in big type the bills read: 'Free admission; free water; free beef; come early;' etc. in order to induce the Indian to come, as an attraction of course to bring a crowd to the town.‖ Although these South Dakota towns exploited

Native People for capital gain, they were also encouraging indigenous communities to dance, perform, and culturally express themselves—activities they had not been allowed to practice for decades. Burke pressed the issue further: ―They go to those places and they get this free beef and they have a good time and they do a little dancing on the side, and

18 Donovin Sprague interview by D. L. Nelson, 28 July 2009, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer, South Dakota. 164 they will stay just as long as there is anything to eat….‖19 Also, according to a 1925 article in South Dakota‘s Sunshine State and Progress Magazine, such appearances

―presented ‗the wrong idea of the Indian‖ and severely disrupted federal policies that attempted to situate Native Americans within a ―modern community life.‖20 By the turn of the twentieth century, the federal government had met the tourism industry head-on, arguing that: traditional Native performances hindered the ultimate goals of assimilation policy, even at the expense of earning capital gain for non-Native communities. With no resolution to this conundrum, the involvement of Lakota people in Black Hills pageant and dancing venues was about to expand throughout the region.

The Duhamel Sioux Indian Parade and Pageant that opened in the mid-1920s serves as an early example of a Black Hills tourist attraction featuring performances directed exclusively by an American Indian. Black Elk (Heháka Sápa)—Ben‘s father— wrote the script and organized the pageant to highlight Lakota perspectives, culture, and tradition, but the pageant also provided a foundation for future Indian-directed pageants and dances held throughout the Black Hills. Like other tourism industries that actively recruited indigenous participation, this particular enterprise involved Lakotas exclusively

19 Commissioner Burke, Testimony to U.S. Congress on 1924 Interior Department Appropriation Bill, 141. 20 ―Protest Indians as Spectacles,‖ The Sunshine State and Progress Magazine, Vol. VI, No. 3, May 1925, p. 47. ―The opposition to these activities was strongly stated in this 1925 magazine article consisting of a written ―protest‖ by superintendents of eight reservations in South Dakota who opposed the appearances of Indians at ―rodeos, round- ups and fairs.‖ Such participation, the superintendents stated, interfered with the program outlined by U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles H. Burke—a South Dakota native—that encouraged Indians to become diversified farmers,‖ in Suzanne Julin, ―Native Americans and the Days of ‘76,‖ unpublished report on the history of Deadwood‘s Days of ‘76, 2003, page 7. Used with permission of the author and the Days of ‘76 Museum, Deadwood, South Dakota. 165 in a form of labor connected to a market that encouraged—rather than discouraged— celebration of their heritage and traditions.21

The Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant emerged from a partnership between Black

Elk and Alex Duhamel. Duhamel was a local businessman and owner of the Duhamel

Cowboy and Indian Trading Post in Rapid City. During decades of trade with the Oglala

Lakotas, the Duhamel family had established a close partnership with many people from the Pine Ridge community. For decades the Duhamels had relied on barter, accepting

―craft items in exchange for supplies.‖22 Duhamel was also well-versed in the Lakota language.23 During the mid-1920s, Black Elk ―had an idea for a Lakota pageant,‖ and he suggested that Duhamel sponsor such an event for tourists in Rapid City.24 According to

Bud Duhamel, son of Alex Duhamel, ―Nick really wanted people to understand his people, that‘s why he did the pageant.‖25 Further, Black Elk expressed his desire to be in the Black Hills, explaining to Duhamel, ―I always want to come back to Holy Land.‖26

Finally, Black Elk may have sought to create a pageant that directly challenged the

21 Patsy West, Enduring Seminoles: From Alligator Wrestling to Ecotourism (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998) 18. 22 David O. Born, ―Black Elk and the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant,‖ North Dakota History v. 61 no. 1 (Winter 1994): 24. The majority of this article is based on Born‘s interviews with Alex Duhamel‘s son ―Bud‖ Duhamel as well as Charlotte Black Elk, great-granddaughter of Nicholas Black Elk. 23 Dale Lewis, Duhamel: From Ox Cart to Television (Rapid City, SD: Francis A. ―Bud‖ Duhamel, 1993), 117. 24 David O. Born, ―Black Elk and the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant,‖ 24n. Other discussions of the Duhamel Indian Pageant appear in Sundstrom, ―The Pageant of Paha Sapa,‖ 18-19 and DeMallie, Ed., The Sixth Grandfather, 63-66. 25 Qtd. in Born, ―Black Elk and the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant,‖ North Dakota History, 24. 26 Qtd. in Lewis, Duhamel, 118. 166 violent misrepresentations performed in other shows, such as Dark Canyon Resort pageant and the Pageant of Paha Sapa in Custer.27

Black Elk was the driving force behind the pageant. Although it began as a collaboration between ―old friends,‖ it was clear that Black Elk had the freedom to make important decisions about the program.28 Duhamel offered him the creative license to write the pageant and hire the Native performers. Black Elk also exercised complete control over the content displayed at the pageant and ―determined which dances would be performed.‖29 A tightly controlled performance, it was strictly dedicated to honoring

Lakota culture and tradition. As anthropologist Ray DeMallie has observed, it was

―educational rather than sensational.‖30 Black Elk saw the pageant not only as a way for him and many of his Oglala friends to find gainful employment, but also as a way to educate the white tourists….it was also a clear manifestation of Black Elk‘s attempt to preserve some of his traditional ways ….‖31

The pageant, which took place every morning and evening, between May and

September lasted almost an hour. In the evening, the pageant was performed twice. The program sometimes staged as many as seventeen acts, which integrated Lakota speeches, prayers, burial and healing customs, and religious and social ceremonies—including both

27 It is also important to note that Black Elk had experience in pageant and powwow performances. For a few years he had traveled with Buffalo Bill‘s Wild West show both in the United States and in Europe. Rita Napier has observed that ―Black Elk enjoyed performing his part; but he disliked the roles played by the whites….playing warriors triumphant....How then could he revel in ‗playing‘ Indian if that part called for him constantly to be defeated?‖ Qtd. in Moses, 45-46. Moses has concluded that Black Elk‘s enjoyment ―came…in the adventure of it all, in re-creating brave deeds, and in getting paid for it,‖ 46. 28 Lewis, Duhamel, 117. 29 Born, ―Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant,‖ 25. 30 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 64. 31 Born, ―Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant,‖ 24. 167 a pipe ceremony and a mock reenactment of the Sundance. Lakota also performed the

Omaha War Dance and the Buffalo Dance. The Rabbit Dance encouraged tourists from the audience to participate directly in the pageant. The result was ―Interesting, historical, educational, glamorous, colorful, excitement…no fairy tales or mythical acts.‖32

It is crucial to keep in mind that during the 1920s the U.S. government continued to enforce major restrictions on American Indian religious freedom. The Indian Religious

Crimes Code forbade ―sun dance, scalp dance, and war dance…practices of so-called

Medicine Men.‖33 Nearly every ceremony the Lakotas performed in the Duhamel Pageant between 1927 and 1934 violated the laws restricting the practice of Native American religions as outlined in the Indian Religious Crimes Code. These pageants provided a crucial outlet for altering popular misperceptions about indigenous traditions. Although many of them were ―illegal,‖ the performances at the Duhamel pageant make it clear that

Black Elk designed the program for educational and cultural purposes. But he also had a clear political motivation. Black Elk used the Duhamel Indian Pageant as an opportunity to openly practice these ceremonies. The pageant also gave him a venue to demonstrate to tourists ―that the Lakota‘s were not savages and that their culture was a thing of beauty,‖ not something to fear or shame. He restored traditions that the federal government had prohibited during the reservation era and forbidden in the aftermath of the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. In so doing, Black Elk was

32 Lewis, Duhamel, 127-128. The pageant also included a parade and dance in downtown Rapid City. It is, however, unclear if the parade event occurred daily. See DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 64-65 and Born, ―Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant,‖ 25. 33 Lee Irwin, ―Freedom, Law, and Prophecy: A Brief History of Native American Religious Resistance,‖ American Indian Quarterly Vol. 21, No. 1 (Winter 1997): 36. 168 resisting the federal goal of assimilation, carried out through policies designed to force

Native People to abandon their traditions.

Lakotas took pride in dancing in the pageant. Renowned Lakota writer Luther

Standing Bear observed: ―the Indian wants to dance! It is his way of expressing devotion, of communing with unseen power, and in keeping his tribal identity. When the

Lakota heart was filled with high emotion, he danced. When he felt the benediction of the warming rays of sun, he danced….When his heart was filled with pity…he danced.‖34

Although he was not specifically directing these comments toward the Duhamel Pageant,

Standing Bear‘s observations reveal his people‘s sentiments toward the act of dancing during this restrictive era. For Lakotas who participated in the pageant, the chance to openly showcase their dancing—after many decades of cultural suppression—was satisfying.

Every spring, Black Elk‘s friends and relatives migrated to the Black Hills and held performances throughout the tourist season. Some Lakotas ―en route‖ to the Black

Hills collected their children, who were enrolled at local boarding schools. The children accompanied their families to the pageant and participated in the program.35 Individuals and families alike camped during the summer in groups of secluded teepees provided by the Duhamels. The Duhamels also supplied Lakota entertainers with provisions of food, water, and wood, as well as tips from tourists and a remarkable 25 percent share of the

34 Luther Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978), 257. 35 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 63. 169 daily proceeds.36 Other Lakotas earned additional income by selling traditional Lakota artworks or crafts at the campground. These were all free-market exchanges negotiated directly between the artist and buyer, without the interference of the Duhamel‘s.37 Bud

Duhamel claimed that ―the pageant rarely broke even, but ‗it satisfied the Indians and it satisfied us, so what the heck!‘ ‖38

And satisfying it was. Tourists flocked in large numbers to see the ―42 fullblood, old time Ogalalla Sioux‖ perform.39 As Luther Standing Bear observed, ―there is no attraction that brings people from such distances as a certain tribal dance, for the reason that the white mind senses its mystery, for even the white man‘s inmost feelings are unconsciously stirred by the beat of the tomtoms.‖40 Visitors thoroughly appreciated the pageant. ―After the performance the tourists mingled with the Indians, visited in the village, and had an opportunity to examine the costumes and accoutrements closely…Many tourists enjoyed the Duhamel pageant as an introduction‖ to the lives of

36 There was a ―small charge‖ required at the ticket gate of the pageant, ―Bud Duhamel: A Gentle Man,‖ Duhamel Biographical File, SDSHS and Born, ―Duhamel Indian Pageant,‖ 26. 37 Born, ―Duhamel Indian Pageant,‖ 27. 38 Born, 26. It should also be noted that the mere existence of the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant attracted business to the Duhamel Trading Post in Rapid City. The pageant may not have generated significant revenue, but it was very beneficial to the Duhamel‘s business. According to Bud Duhamel, the money earned from the pageant was used to fund the food and supplies given to the Native Americans throughout the summer. 39 ―Dog Feed and Omaha War-Dance,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal, 20 July 1935. Although Nicholas Black Elk held control over the content performed in the pageant, he was not involved in dictating how the event was advertised. This newspaper article discusses at length the event of a ―Dog Feed‖ by reading, ―You see the dog singed, prepared for feast, cooked and eaten during this weird ceremony….‖ This is evidence of continued attempts by non-Indian enterprises to both romanticize and play upon the stereotypes of people indigenous to the Black Hills region. 40 Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle, 257. 170

Native Americans.41 Other audience members hoped to take more away from the event than just introductory knowledge. Visitors such as Gladys and Reginald Laubin—a non-

Indian couple who claimed to be ―America‘s foremost interpreters of Indian dances‖— traveled a great distance to the Black Hills. As students of Indian dance, arts, and crafts, the couple ―visited the pageant in order to talk with Black Elk and the other old men‖ and to witness the pageant. 42 Black Elk also viewed the pageant as a venue for healing tensions in the region and promoting cultural understanding. Bud Duhamel insisted that the pageant taught audiences that ―Lakota culture was as complex and as spiritual as

[non-Indian religion], and that it deserved respect.‖43 It was ―no fake deal they did just for show,‖ he said.44

For more than thirty years of the Duhamel Pageant, Lakotas performed on over seven-hundred acres of land owned by the Duhamels. Located approximately nine miles south of Rapid City, the land possessed ―extensive and unique caverns,‖ which Black Elk and the Duhamels named ―Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns,‖ paying tribute to the famous leader. Sitting Bull‘s people, the Hunkpapa Lakota, had ―traditionally camped when making their annual trips to cut jack pines

41 DeMallie, The Sixth Grandfather, 64. 42 Ibid. See also Reginald and Gladys Laubin, Indian Dancers of North America: Their Importance to Indian Life (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977), 296. For recent studies on the Laubins, see Clyde Ellis, ― ‗More Real than the Indians Themselves‘: The Early Years of the Indian Lore Movement in the United States,‖ Montana The Magazine of Western History v. 58 no. 3 (Autumn 2008). 43 Born, ―Duhamel Indian Pageant,‖ 29. 44 Qtd. in Born, ―Duhamel Indian Pageant,‖ 29. 171 for tipi poles‖ on the land surrounding the caverns.45 Now, by economic necessity and in an effort to defend their cultural property, Lakotas placed themselves on the center stage of the Black Hills tourist economy. Through the market, Lakota communities transformed their commercial and practical landscape. During the summer months between the 1920s and the 1960s, they were once again living in their traditional and legal homelands.

The Duhamel Indian Pageant also encouraged Native Americans to participate in the Black Hills tourist industry in other venues. The opportunities for economic gain, cultural preservation, and celebration of tribal heritage appealed to neighboring indigenous communities, ranging from Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing

Rock, and Lower Brule Reservations, to Cheyennes and Crows from nearby Montana. In the 1930s and 1940s, further venues like this pageant sprang up throughout the region.

Echoing the Duhamel pageant, Lakota communities embraced the opportunity for economic gain with the freedom to determine their own dances and terms of performance. By the 1930s, Native People had gained a controlling stake in the Black

Hills pageant economy.46

45 Born, ―Duhamel Indian Pageant,‖ 25. This was noted by the author of the article, based on his interviews with the Duhamel family. In Lewis, it is recorded that John Sitting Bull, son of Sitting Bull said, ― ‗Years ago my father, coming off the east prairies…camped in this area of the three entrances of the caverns….The Indians cut their tepee poles from the slim jack pines, then returned to the prairie to follow the buffalo herds,‘‖ 105. John Sitting Bull is also recorded as Sitting Bull‘s adopted son or nephew. 46It is important to note that the Native Americans did NOT have control over the way that these performances were advertised. By working through non-Indian business owners, they were unable to determine how they—as dancers and performers—were promoted to tourists. During the 1950s, the majority of advertisements alluded to ―colorful‖ Indians who were ―colorfully clad‖ and performed their ―colorful‖ cultures. This was a change in earlier advertisements which represented Black Hills Indians as antiquities of the past or savages on the warpath. 172

During the Great Depression, Lakota families migrated to the Black Hills during the summer to perform in powwows, exhibitions, and parades in Hot Springs, Wind Cave

National Park, Custer State Park, and Deadwood. They danced, held performances, sold their own arts and craftwork and earned money from tips and entrance fees to their village encampments. In nearly every case, National Park Service, State Park officials, local organizations and enterprises, and land owners like the Duhamels provided them with food and land for camping.47

During the tourist season, many Lakotas left their reservations and spent the summer in He Sápa. The Black Hills tourist industry provided them with a reason to break away from their dire living conditions over the summers. Escaping the poverty, chaos, and dismal environment on their reservations proved an attractive option for many of the performers. Indigenous populations throughout America were ―hard-pressed and cash-starved,‖ so ―dancing for money made complete sense‖ to them.48 Life on the Pine

Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where homes still lacked electricity, running water, or plumbing, was especially dismal. In 1929, faced with starvation, many Oglala Lakotas resorted to eating horse meat. Charlie Black Horse testified that Pine Ridge was in ―very bad shape. We are starving and most of the people here look black; they get that way

47 Community celebrations such as the Hill City Golden Spike Parade, Hot Springs Water Carnival, and Belle Fourche Round Up also included Native communities as a highlight of their festivities. The Rodeo circuit was also very popular with indigenous communities. Rodeos took place in Belle Fourche, Deadwood, and Custer, South Dakota. Rodeo in the twentieth century became a venue to perform and compete, and drew Native participants from around the country—much like the powwow circuit. 48 Clyde Ellis, ―Five Dollars a Week,‖ in Brian Hosmer and Colleen O‘Neill, eds., Native Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2004), 194. 173 from eating too much horsemeat…I am eating horses and I have only four or five left….I eat so much horsemeat I hear the horses go neigh-neigh-neigh in my sleep.‖49

Between the 1920s-1940s, employment opportunities—especially for Native people on South Dakota reservations—were grim. Although federal officials expected them to join the laboring workforce and become farmers, South Dakota‘s Native

American population had limited options because their reservations had very little fertile land. In theory, agriculture promised an avenue of earned income, but in reality, 75 percent of South Dakota reservation lands were ―designated as ‗non-tillable grazing lands.‘‖ In the 1930s, only 10 percent of the annual income for people living in these communities came from farming, crop production, livestock, and gardening.50 Moreover, state reports on Native conditions discovered that ―all land west of the [Missouri River in

South Dakota] with the exception of the Black Hills has soils which probably contain a certain degree of….selenium poisoning,‖ clearly a severe ―handicap for the Indian agriculturist.‖51 The land that the federal government forced Northern Plains American

Indians to live and work on was, in fact, unworkable.

49 Qtd. in Lazarus, Black Hills, White Justice, 152. In his history of four Lakota generation, Joe Starita discusses how the tourist season attracted Lakotas to the Black Hills and away from their reservations for the summer. Many individuals who performed and danced for money returned home, ―often struck by the poverty they saw on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a bleakness temporarily obscured by a summer of dancing in the free- spending tourist resorts of the Black Hills,‖ Joe Starita, The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995, 269. 50 South Dakota State Planning Board, Indians of South Dakota: A Preliminary Report (Brookings, SD: State Planning Board Central Office, 1937), 3-4. 51 Ibid., 18. The only other occupation for income listed in 1933 is the selling of arts and crafts on the reservation, and it totaled the lowest amount of earned income. Ibid., 39. ―Unearned‖ income—as opposed to ―earned‖ income—was income that accrued from ―land sales, land and mineral leases, interest, annuities, and benefit funds—most of these sources representing a liquidation of Indian assets,‖ Ibid., 4. 174

In 1928, The Problem of Indian Administration (commonly known as the Meriam

Report) revealed the complete failure of U.S. Federal Indian Policy. The publication provided a comprehensive overview of conditions on reservations, treatment in boarding schools, as well as health care, land allotment, and employment.52 It also reported that per capita income for Native North Americans was between $100 and $200, while the national average was approximately $1,350.53 In South Dakota, ―19,944 Indians on six reservations had, in 1933, an average income of $67.07 per capita.‖54 This figure reveals the nature of living conditions on Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and other reservations statewide, and it suggests why members of these communities left during the summers of the Great

Depression. For Lakotas, the opportunity to live in the Black Hills provided a vacation from the reservation. Food, supplies, water, and campgrounds were plentiful, as was the chance to make some money.

On June 22, 1937, Edward D. Freeland, Superintendent of Wind Cave National

Park, submitted a request to the Director of the Park Service outlining his idea to sponsor an Indian encampment at Wind Cave. ―Each summer a fairly large number of Indians from the Pine Ridge Agency…make an extended trip through the Black Hills, participating in the Hot Springs Water Carnival, the Gold Discovery Days…the Days of

‘76…and enjoying a month or two in the hills away from the reservation.‖ Freeland

52 For a lengthier discussion of the political impact of the Meriam Report see Margaret Connell-Szasz, Education and the American Indian: The Road to Self-Determination Since 1928 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1974). 53 Ellis, ―Five Dollars a Week,‖ in Native Pathways, 194. The Meriam Report also revealed that the infant mortality rate of Native Americans was ―more than double that of the general population, a death rate from tuberculosis seven times the national average, and an illiteracy rate that ran as high as 67 per cent in one state.‖ See Frederick E. Hoxie, A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880-1920 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), 242. 54 Ibid., 26. 175 continued, ―it would be a suitable gesture for the Service to encourage this group of

Indians to camp in the park…‖ Freeland‘s idea was simple and sincere. He saw the event as an opportunity that would benefit the Native community, Wind Cave‘s tourist revenue, and, most of all, the National Park Service‘s reputation regarding its relationship with local tribes. He wrote, ―In addition to repaying the Sioux Indians in a very small measure for the loss of their favorite summer hunting grounds, such an encampment would add much color to the summer season here and should give the park some excellent publicity.‖55

On July 18, 1937, over fifty Lakotas camped for a long weekend in Wind Cave

National Park.56 During this time, they held dances and powwows on campgrounds two miles north of Wind Cave—a site that remained sacred to Lakota origin stories.57 Tourists drove from various Black Hills vacation sites to witness their performances and enjoyed watching the war dance and coyote dance. The rabbit dance was also a favorite because it directly engaged ―visitors and rangers from the park.‖58

During their residence in the area, the National Park Service presented the Lakota with a buffalo taken from the park‘s herd. Although park officials did the killing

55 Freeland also said the event could reflect those similar to Blackfeet events at Glacier National Park. Freeland to Arno B. Cammerer, 22 June 1937, Folder 25, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, Wind Cave National Park Historical Files, Wind Cave National Park Library, Hot Springs, South Dakota [Hereafter cited as ―WCNP‖ and ―WCNPL‖]. 56 The number ―twenty‖ is more indicative of extended families, as opposed to the idea of ―nuclear‖ families. 57 Wind Cave is an opening large enough for a man to enter the earth below. ―On certain stormy days, this hole in the earth makes a breathing sound. We had a legend that from here the buffalo came. It is said that they came forth from this cave no large than ants, but grew to full size in a very short time,‖ Charging Eagle and Zeilinger, Black Hills: Sacred Hills, n.p. 58 Hot Springs Star, n.d. (July), Folder 8, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 176 themselves, the Wind Cave park officials eagerly granted Lakotas permission to butcher the animal according to traditional ways.59 This event drew considerable attention from visitors. The Lakota community handled the entire sophisticated and detailed process of slaughtering a buffalo. This included skinning the hide, drying the meat, hanging the jerky, and cooking the animal, attracting the ―interest of many tourists.‖ Once they had cooked the meat, Superintendent Freeland praised the result, reporting it ―was tender and tasted like pot roast….The Indians enjoyed the ceremony and divided the meat with the tourists.‖60 The seventy-five carloads of tourists who came to witness the butchering process of the buffalo learned a great deal about this aspect of Lakota culture. For instance, in their report, Wind Cave National Park officials noted that ―eating raw liver with gall on it is supposed to promote long life,‖ and one Lakota elder mentioned that

―there would be no sickness in the tribe this winter because of the buffalo meat.‖61 ―Good medicine in the Black Hills,‖ was how Chief Dan Blue Horse (Tosanke Hiŋto) described the event.62 On the final evening of the encampment, the people showed their appreciation to the Park by bestowing Superintendent Freeland with the name Tatáŋka

Wicasa, meaning ―Buffalo Man.‖ Freeland noted, ―the encampment was a thorough

59 Park service regulations stipulated that the killing of Park animals was to be conducted by Park officials. The National Park Service required that Wind Cave National Park receive special permission to kill the buffalo, for it was not until February 2, 1938 that the Secretary of the Interior approved the sale, donation, or disposal of surplus buffalo and elk at the Park. H.R. 8773, Report No. 1936, February 3, 1938, Folder 8, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 60 ―Report of the First Annual Encampment in Wind Cave National Park of Oglala Sioux Indians from Pine Ridge Reservation, 1937,‖ Folder 9, Years of Growth, 1931-1946, Box 1, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. Lakotas also divided the Buffalo among their families to use throughout the year. 61 Edward Freeland, Report of the First Annual Encampment in Wind Cave National Park of Oglala Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Folder 8, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 62 ―‗Good Medicine in Black Hills,‘‖ Hot Springs Star, 22 July 1937. 177 success both from the standpoint of the Indians and the park.‖63 The Hot Springs Star reported that the event should become an annual celebration, so that ―more and more of the former owners of the Black hills may be blessed with the ‗good medicine‘ of buffalo meat.‖64

The Wind Cave Indian Encampment was so successful that the park organized an identical event in the summer of 1938. The Park did not charge admission for those wishing to attend the camp‘s events, however, a hat was ―passed by the Indians for the customary silver collection.‖ In the second year, over sixty Oglala Lakotas participated.

The Park Service again provided them with buffalo (two of them), and they performed dances and ceremonies for guests who visited the camps. The Hot Springs Star reported that ―As many Hot Springs people as can find the time, should make it a point to see the

Indian encampment,‖ and it continued to boost the event as ―worthy of repetition each year. In time it should become one of the major events of the Black Hills….to the tourists from farther east, [Indians] are an exciting survival of the days before the white man took over the best part of the country. To these visitors, an Indian has become a picture-book memory or a colorful figure on the motion picture screen.‖65 The Wind Cave National

Park Indian Encampment emerged as a venue where Lakota performed their traditions with pride, and shared exchanges with tourists who sought to learn about Black Hills‘ indigenous people.

63 Edward Freeland, Report of the First Annual Encampment in Wind Cave National Park of Oglala Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Folder 8, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 64 ―‗Good Medicine in the Black Hills,‘‖ Hot Springs Star, 22 July 1937. 65 ―See the Indians,‖ Hot Springs Star, July 1938, Folder 8, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 178

The encampment, however, was short-lived. When Freeland requested the second encampment in 1938, the Director of the National Park Service granted permission for the 1938 encampment, but refused to allow the event to take place in years thereafter.

―Although we feel that a gesture of friendship towards the Sioux Indians as coming from the National Park Service is highly desirable and commendable, we are frankly fearful that the establishment of the encampment ceremony at Wind Cave National Park was a mistake.‖ Director Arno Cammerer provided a list of reasons for his decision, which included: his belief that granting the Lakotas one to two buffalo each summer would result in requests for ―similar privileges by fish and game‖ or other organizations and the park service would be embarrassed if it refused future requests. Additional reasons included the perceived difficulties of ―policing‖ the event, great numbers of people, and the ―wear and tear‖ on the campground (especially with horses grazing, bonfires, and tents being pitched). Director Cammerer mentioned that he was allowing the second encampment only ―because of the embarrassment it might cause‖ Superintendent

Freeland if it was to be cancelled.66

This decision startled and disappointed Superintendent Freeland. In a response letter to Director Cammerer he pleaded his case and attempted to provide solutions to the

Director‘s concerns regarding the encampment, but his protest was in vain. The community of Hot Springs, Wind Cave National Park, and the Oglala community from

Pine Ridge shared his disappointment. In a letter to Freeland, written in February 1939,

Charles Eagle Louse, the interpreter during both years of the encampment, expressed his excitement to ―make the jerk meet again this summer.‖ He also paid a compliment to

66 Arno B. Cammerer to Edward D. Freeland, 29 March 1938, Folder 8, Box 2, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 179

Freeland when he told him that everyone in his community asked him about the ―Buffalo

Man‖ (Freeland). Louse observed that ―Mr. Freeland is one of the best honest man in the

Black Hills. He likes the indians and treat them right.‖67 Louse was no doubt upset to hear that a future encampment would not take place.

During their summers in the Black Hills, Lakotas also migrated toward Custer

State Park. Some accepted a role in the ―Pageant of Paha Sapa‖—performed in Custer as a celebration of ―Gold Discovery Days.‖ A more desirable venue, however, was an encampment on the shores of Stockade Lake in Custer State Park.68 The Lakota Village at Stockade Lake resembled aspects of the Duhamel Indian Pageant. Although the camp was located within the boundaries of Custer State Park, ―white people ha[d] no part in the actual operation of the village.‖69 The state government sponsored this activity and provided necessary provisions to Native vendors. Without Lakota vendors and

―entertainers,‖ officials at Custer State Park faced the prospect of losing tourists to other indigenous attractions in the towns of Custer, Hill City, or Rapid City. They promoted the

Lakota performers as ―proud Sioux…who in colorful regalia perform authentic Indian

67 Charles Eagle Louse to Edward D. Freeland, 17 February 1939, Folder 9, Box 1, Years of Growth, 1931-1945, WCNP Historical Files, WCNPL. 68 Although the Pageant of Paha Sapa employed Native American actors, Lakota participation in the event waned by the 1950s. See Sundstrom, ―Pageant of Paha Sapa,‖ Great Plains Quarterly, 10. 69 ―Sioux Erect Village At Stockade Lake,‖ Rapid City Daily Journal 28 June 1941. Ironically, ―Stockade Lake‖ takes its name from the Gordon party from Iowa who illegally entered the Black Hills in 1874 and were removed by military escort in 1875. They built a stockade—now known as the ―Gordon Stockade‖—to protect them from storms and from possible attacks from Indians. The Lakota village erected at Stockade Lake in 1941 was located across the lake from the Gordon Stockade. 180 dances in celebration of ceremonies which punctuated Indian life and livelihood during the centuries when they were sole owners of the area.‖70

Some Native people continued to live on the reservation during the summers but took advantage of living in close proximity to Badlands National Park. One Native man became particularly famous for posing for photographs near his teepee across from the

Cedar Pass Visitor‘s Lodge in Badlands National Park. His name was Dewey Beard

(―Iron Hail‖), and he was the Badlands‘ equivalent to Mount Rushmore‘s Ben Black Elk.

―He‘s a good camera subject….Beard poses obligingly for camera-equipped tourists….Visitors often get in the picture, too (it proves they actually met Beard).‖71

For many years Dewey Beard and his wife Alice posed for snapshots with tourists who drove near Cedar Pass Lodge in the Badlands. Dewey Beard‘s interactions with tourists were similar to Ben Black Elk‘s, except that his backdrop did not include carved presidential faces. Instead it was the high-rise of eroded sedimentary rocks in the shades of red, orange, purple, gray, tan, and white. He also had a teepee set up for the benefit of curious tourists. While some thought the atmosphere played second fiddle to the Mount

Rushmore ―shrine,‖ the Badlands location still provided a profit-worthy location for

Dewey Beard.

Unlike Ben Black Elk, Dewey Beard talked to tourists about how he was one of the last survivors of the Little Big Horn Battle. He offered his name, age, and his recollections of the famous Lakota victory. Although a seemingly harmless exchange of

70 Custer State Park brochure, 1956, South Dakota Tourism Collection, Box 8581, SDSHS Manuscript Collections, SDSHS. 71 ―Dewey Beard—Scenic Sioux,‖ Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, 15 May 1955. The article also mentions that Dewey Beard and his wife ―have been familiar figures for four years in a row at the North west Sportsmen‘s show in Minneapolis.‖ 181 information, many individuals in the state of South Dakota doubted Dewey Beard‘s story was authentic, for his age appears to be a matter of who was telling the story and when.‖72 Will G. Robinson (son of Doane Robinson and his replacement as the Secretary of the South Dakota State Historical Society) seemed particularly offended by individuals who worked to ―capitalize on their romantic past‖ to benefit from the tourism industry.

Robinson was mostly concerned with the discrepancies of Dewey Beard‘s correct age. He was very bothered by the fact that he could not pinpoint his exact year of birth (was it

1862? 1863? 1866?). He found it unforgiveable if Dewey Beard claimed to have fought at the Little Big Horn Battle if he was only ten, fourteen, or fifteen years of age: ―…I was sure he was not as old as he said he was and that I had my doubts about his being at the

Little Big Horn and certainly if he was, not in the capacity of a warrior.‖ Robinson thought that ―Dewey has been played up by White Men, the Black Hills and Bad Lands

Association—and perhaps it is only they who attributed to him an age of ninety-eight to make it look like he was a brave and not just a mere boy‖ at the 1876 battle. The state secretary did not seem to have patience for ―the ‗OLD‘ Indians‖ who ―told so many different stories so many different times that they actually didn‘t know the truth from romance.‖73

Others were not concerned with such details. Byron Painter, an employer at the

Badlands Cedar Pass Lodge, got to know Dewey Beard from working in close proximity to him between the 1930s and 1950s. ―He was the finest and most honest men I‘ve ever

72 Will G. Robinson, ―Dewey Beard,‖ Dewey Beard Biographical File, SDSHS. 73 Will G. Robinson to Byron E. Painter, 14 November 1955, Dewey Beard Biographical File, SDSHS. Robinson‘s research lists the 1886 census at Cheyenne River Reservation (where Dewey Beard was listed as being twenty years of age), the 1904 census from Pine Ridge Reservation (where he was listed as forty-two years old), and a 1936 event when, under oath, the Native American man stated that he was seventy-three. 182 known. In the long summer evenings at the Pass, we used to sit out by Dewey‘s teepee and talk….I don‘t think Dewey ever claimed to have been a brave in the fight, but he was certainly there.‖ Painter concluded, ―I would take Dewey‘s word for anything he said.‖74

Tourists learned more from Dewey Beard than just a story about Custer‘s Last

Stand. In August of 1941, Robert Haldane, Jr., recalled meeting the Native American man when he was a young boy on a family vacation in South Dakota:

My dad stopped for gas at Cedar Pass….Nearby was a tipi. Being an energetic and uninhibited young thirteen year old, I ran to the open flap and right in! As always, eight year old Betty was right behind me. On a post at the back of the tipi was a buffalo headpiece….I thought it must be a medicine-man's headgear. Drawn to it, my curious fingers were soon on it. Suddenly, a tall Lakota Sioux in full chief's headdress was beside me. He took the buffalo headpiece and placed it on my head! Betty then asked, "What can I wear?" The chief looked around, spotted some porcupine- quill "beads" and put them around her neck. By then, our Dad was approaching, looking a bit apprehensive. The Indian handed him a card introducing himself as follows: "Dewey Beard, 79 years old, full-blooded Sioux Indian.75

Then Haldane‘s parents snapped a picture of the three and then one of just Dewey Beard.

It cost them twenty-five cents. Haldane reminisced, that Dewey Beard ―changed forever my perception of "wild Indians"….And I had only brushed, in this brief contact, the moving history and amazing facts of this man's life.

74 Byron E. Painter to Will G. Robinson, 5 November 1955, Dewey Beard Biographical File, SDSHS. An Associated Press release quoted Robinson as saying that he did not think Dewey Beard was even at the Little Big Horn Battle. This sparked the exchange of letters between Painter and Robinson and forced the State Secretary to provide research to back up his claim. The case of Dewey Beard also raised the level of awareness concerning ―authenticity‖ in the Black Hills. 75 Robert Haldane, Jr., Room for the Indians (Mesa, AZ: Father John Publications, 1999). This book, unavailable in print form, is more of an online memoir. It consists of five chapters, an epilogue, bibliography, footnotes section, and several photographs. The book is edited by John L. Haldane and transcribed by Delphine E. Haldane. The section on Dewey Beard is an excerpt from Chapter Two, ―From Sea to Shining Sea,‖ and can be found here: http://members.cox.net/fj.publications/RoomII.htm 183

Competition for Lakota entertainers empowered the stakes of Native tourism in the Black Hills. Throughout the region, Indians charged tourists an entrance fee to purchase ―authentic Sioux articles.‖ The Bureau of Indians Affairs, under the new regulations of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (1935) negotiated the set prices of the arts and crafts ―by standards agreed upon by the United States Indian bureau and the arts and crafts board of the department of interior. Nothing but recommended, authentic merchandise will be sold.‖ The demand for Lakota-made products reflected tourists‘ desires for similar souvenirs throughout the rest of the country. Commenting on the popularity of Indian-made souvenirs, historian Leah Dilworth asserts that, ―Tourists buy souvenirs from Indians arranged in a ‗living exhibit,‘ who look just like Indians seen on picture postcards…In the cultural as well as monetary economy of tourism, shopping is an important activity. It drives the economic engine of the industry, but it also recapitulates a powerful cultural narrative of exploration, contact, and exchange with alien beings.‖76 Opportunities for cultural exchanges with Lakotas throughout the Black

Hills served as a huge draw for tourists attempting to experience the ―West‖ at its best.

Other summer events that included Native People often took place in Custer State

Park. For example, in 1941, the park hosted a reunion of survivors from the Battle of the

Little Bighorn, and it also held buffalo hunts for Lakotas. Although it is unclear how

76 Leah Dilworth, ―‗Handmade by an American Indian:‘ Souvenirs and the Cultural Economy of Southwestern Tourism,‖ in Hal K. Rothman, ed., The Culture of Tourism, the Tourism of Culture: Selling the Past to the Present in the American Southwest (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003): 108-109. 184 many years the Stockade Lake encampment ensued, it is obvious that the Park also hoped to provide its guests with entertainment and performances from the area‘s local tribes.77

The prospect of spending an entire summer in the Black Hills attracted the area‘s indigenous populations because they sought economic gain, a chance to escape the reservation, and an opportunity to celebrate their culture before visitors who often traveled hundreds and thousands of miles to reach the region. Being in the Black Hills also had spiritual significance. A large number of places throughout the region held sacred meaning of the Lakota people. Treaty boundaries and land dispossession in the late 1800s had confined Native People in South Dakota to their reservations and restricted them from going to places in the Black Hills that held great value for them.

Jace DeCory (Standing Rock), professor of American Indian Studies at Black Hills State

University in Spearfish, South Dakota, explains how she teaches about ideas of sacred places to her Native and non-Native students. She asks them to think about a place…―what area makes you feel like, if you couldn‘t go there anymore, you couldn‘t breathe.‖ She continues, ―the Black Hills are like that to us. He Sápa is like that to us as

Lakota people.‖78 After Native People had endured decades of restricted access to the

Black Hills, the tourist season finally welcomed Lakotas back to their sacred land—the

―heart of everything.‖ Living and migrating through the hills provided them a chance to revisit these sacred places.

77 ―Battle of the Little Bighorn Reunion,‖ photograph, Jace DeCory Collection, ―Sacred Places,‖ Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota. On several occasions I attempted to access Custer State Park records. Each time I was told they no longer have records that are accessible to the public for research purposes. 78 Jace DeCory interview by D. L. Nelson, 22 July 2009, Spearfish, South Dakota. 185

In many cases, however, this proved difficult. Ben Black Elk‘s journey to mourn his son, for example, had been interrupted by tourists visiting Mount Rushmore. DeCory tells how the healing waters of the hot springs were no longer accessible to her people.

By the late 1890s, the Hot Springs indoor family water park ―Evans Plunge‖ had transformed some of these springs exclusively into a tourist destination. The Lakota knew these springs as ―an area where our medicine people went to rejuvenate themselves…share medicines…communicate with one another…well, they can‘t do that anymore. You know, what are they gonna do, go meet at Evans Plunge and sit and watch all the tourists [while they] pray?‖79 Likewise, Donovin Sprague (Cheyenne River), laments the restrictions caused by tourism. ―It‘s sad,‖ he said, ―because Wind Cave is our

Creation point…once it‘s deemed a tourist attraction…they put the door on there and you‘ve got to pay admission to go in there.‖80 Similar restrictions now limit Native right of entry to Bear Butte, Devils Tower, and Harney Peak. During a time when Natives faced strict policies regarding their access to the Black Hills, the tourism industry of the

1920s-1940s offered Lakotas the opportunity to revisit, move, and live throughout the region. At the same time, tourism and tourists often interrupted indigenous prayers and other ceremonies during their visits to the sacred places of He Sápa.

By the 1940s and 1950s, the Deadwood‘s Days of ‘76 celebration had become a huge success, that led attendees and communities in the region to applaud the event for its inclusion of Black Hills indigenous people. South Dakota‘s Native people from nearby reservations had participated in this event since its first show in 1924. It celebrated ―all

79 Ibid. 80 Donovin Sprague interview by D. L. Nelson, 28 July 2009, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer, South Dakota. 186 the phases of the frontier…Indian dances, a reproduction of the Custer massacre, placer mining, faro games and roulette wheels, sham battles between soldiers and Indians, a hold-up of the stage-coach, furnish entertainment afternoon and evening.‖81 For many years, hundreds of Indians participated in the festivities, which included a parade, concerts, contests, and a rodeo competition.

Again, Oglala Lakotas from the Pine Ridge Reservation thoroughly looked forward to the event. Henry Standing Bear wrote to A.A. Coburn (Secretary of the

Deadwood Commercial Club), ―let me know if you are to have another celebration this summer….I am going to call a big council and I think it would be a good idea to call it at

Deadwood…in connection with the celebration.‖82 The Days of ‘76 Committee paid the

Natives daily for their involvement in the three-day event. Men received $1.00 per day, women earned $.75, and children received $.50 each day. In addition, the city of

Deadwood provided them with campgrounds and provisions.83

In order to remain competitive in the Black Hills tourist market, Lakotas believed it was necessary for them to protect their income and benefits to prevent any enterprises from taking advantage of them for laboring purposes. In 1942, a petition full of signatures from the Pine Ridge Reservation outlined Lakota grievances in their Days of ‘76 participation. The signers ―would take part in the event only under a contract approved by

Superintendent Roberts and would select their own leaders.‖ Furthermore, some individuals were ―unhappy with the management of the event, and the rations provided.‖

81 ―Deadwood‘s ‗Days of ‗76‘ Pictures Vanished West,‖ promotional flyer, Days of ‘76 Papers, Deadwood Centennial Archives, Deadwood City Library, Deadwood, South Dakota. [Hereafter cited as ―DCA‖ and ―DCL.‖] 82 Henry Standing Bear to A.A. Coburn, 25 April 1929, Days of ‘76 Papers, DCA, DCL. 83 A.A. Coburn to Ed Rentz, n.d., Days of ‘76 Papers, DCA, DCL. 187

The Days of ‘76 Committee quickly responded that it was ―surprised to hear of the dissatisfaction and promised that the group would do anything they could to insure the success of Native American appearances at the celebration.‖84 Knowing that their involvement in the event was a crucial attraction for tourists, Native People assumed a significant stake in the success of the Days of ‘76. Due to tourists‘ interests in Black

Hills Natives, Lakotas assumed a major role in the region‘s tourist industry. As a result, many Lakota retained the right to negotiate their terms of agreement with local employers.

During the 1950s, the town of Hot Springs, South Dakota, produced the ―Crazy

Horse Pageant.‖ It was a performance that told, ―the story of the conquest of the West from the Indians‘ point of view.‖85 Its finale included the Native American victory at the

Battle of the Little Big Horn. Performed four nights weekly during the tourism season, the pageant included over 200 Native performers in the setting of an outdoor amphitheater. It was advertised as the ―World‘s Largest Pageant.‖ Lakota participants insisted that the pageant included various aspects from this particular era, including a council meeting, and that it showcased their victory at the Little Big Horn in a realistic manner.86 The Crazy Horse Pageant gained credibility because of its large cast of Native performers. ―The Crazy Horse Pageant is different from any Indian pageant you‘ve ever seen….It tells the story of the great Sioux nation in both its finest hour and its darkest moment – and of its greatest leader, the visionary Crazy Horse, and it tells it from the viewpoint of the Sioux….The Crazy Horse Pageant is a memorable and moving

84 Julin, ―Native Americans and the Days of ‘76,‖ 19-20. 85 South Dakota 1966 Vacation Guide, Tourism Collection, H2007-044, Box #8581, SDSHS Manuscript Collections. 86 The Omaha World Herald, n.d., Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS. 188 experience and there is no other like it in America.‖87 Even though one newspaper admitted that ―It is not often that a nation likes to relive its defeats,‖ the pageant was a very popular even in the Black Hills. It was an opportunity for Native people to preserve the legacy of one of their greatest victories. It may have also been satisfying for them to show Custer and his troops come to ―a sad end four nights a week‖ during the summer in the Black Hills.88

By the 1950s, when Ben Black Elk began his career at Mount Rushmore, he was following a three-decade trend of Lakotas interpreting their own history in the Black

Hills for the benefit of white tourists. During this decade, magazines and newspapers around the world wrote about ―the Indian‖ at Mount Rushmore. The Cedar Rapids

Gazette reported how ―Ben Black Elk, full-blooded Sioux Indian and one of the country‘s most photographed Redmen, tells children the story of the famous stone carvings.‖89 One couple advised, ―At Mount Rushmore look for Ben Black Elk….He‘ll gladly pose for you….snap the kids‘ picture with [him].‖90 Ben Black Elk‘s career at Mount Rushmore earned him international fame. Like his father, who had participated in the Duhamel

Indian Pageant, and other Lakotas who performed throughout the Black Hills, Black Elk not only took pride in the fact the he could economically sustain himself, but he also took the opportunity to preserve his culture in the heart of sacred Lakota lands. ―I belong to the Teton Sioux…sometime[s] in my speeches I say I‘m Black Elk and this is the home

87 ―The Conquest of the West—from the Viewpoint of the Sioux,‖ Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS. 88 The Denver Post, n.d. and The Minneapolis Tribune, n.d., Crazy Horse Memorial Vertical File, SDSHS. 89 Cedar Rapids Gazette, 13 April 1958. 90 Clarence and Ruth Morgan, ―We‘re going back to the Black Hills!‖ Household Magazine, June 1954. 189 of my people, Lakotas. With the sky our father and the earth our mother we have come a long, long ways through the centuries guided by the Great Spirit.‖91

Black Elk earned approximately twenty-five to fifty cents per posed photograph.

Although the National Park Service prohibited him from charging a fee, Black Elk averaged fifty to sixty dollars in tips each day during 1957, and he posed for thousands of photographs during the tourist season.92 Black Elk posed with the permission of the park service, and during a park renovation in the early 1950s, the National Park Service

―designed a special spot where Black Elk could pose.‖ Of course, to create a ―natural setting‖ the architect also left a tree in the background.93 Donovin Sprague observes that

Ben Black Elk did ―a lot of things for our people and was a very sincere person. And I think people did learn a lot from him, and I know they learned who the Black Hills belonged to‖ when they conversed with him.94 People who visited with Black Elk took more from him than just a snapshot—they took a piece of cultural understanding with them when they left Mount Rushmore.

Mount Rushmore National Monument—a site filled with symbolic notions of

American democracy and patriotism—represented how the Black Hills tourist industry capitalized on the national pride connected to the history of the western frontier. The characteristic heroic moments from this era in American history have continued to inform

91 Ben Black Elk interview by South Dakota Bicentennial Commission, 3 July 1972, Rapid City, South Dakota. 92 Jack Cannon, ―Most-photographed Indian,‖ Picture Magazine, Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, 25 August 1957. 93 Dick Kitchen, ―Most Photographed Indian in the World,‖ Dakota Midland News Service 28 July 1963. See also ―Ben Black Elk Photographed as Fifth Face at Mt. Rushmore,‖ Travel News, South Dakota Department of Highways, 1972. 94 Donovin Sprague interview by D. L. Nelson, 28 July 2009, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer, South Dakota. 190 and define national identity.95 Ben Black Elk, and others like him who engaged American interest in the frontier to tell another story, was a ―firm believer in the preservation of his

Indian heritage,‖ but he also benefitted significantly from Mount Rushmore‘s status as a tourist hot-spot.

Ben Black Elk‘s earned reputation as the ―Fifth Face‖ on Mount Rushmore made him an icon to Natives and non-Natives alike. Jace DeCory (Standing Rock) remembers,

―I was raised in a family where…we looked upon him as more of an…icon…he was trying to share his history with people…to let people know there was still Indians here.‖

She chuckles, ―that we are still here.‖ DeCory also believed that ―monetary compensation‖ was a motive for Lakota performers like Ben Black Elk, and this causes

―some people to call them sell-outs…big-shot[s]…[and] show-off[s].‖ She said, however, ―part of that…is like a sharing of culture, a sharing of beliefs and trying to be a cultural mediator. I think that was part of it, too.‖96 Ben Black Elk‘s presence at the

Mount Rushmore National Monument is yet another example of how Native tourism in the Black Hills influenced this lucrative enterprise and undermined its message of

American conquest.

Visitors from around the world identified Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills as a national symbol for the United States. Native people, like Ben Black Elk, viewed the region as a mainstay of their own tribal identities. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries reveal the Black Hills as a contested ground entrenched in conflicting ideas of politics, land ownership, and sovereignty rights. Although displaced from the region, Lakotas

95 William Cronon, Forward to Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place by Coll Thrush (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007), viii. 96 Jace DeCory interview by D. L. Nelson, 22 July 2009, Spearfish, South Dakota. 191 maintained an enduring relationship to the Black Hills. Even after decades of cultural annihilation, Lakota dancers and entertainers used the tourism industry as a venue to preserve their connections to the Black Hills. Through performances, they exercised their voice, resisted assimilation and paved the way for a strong movement of self- determination for future Lakotas generations.

192

CONCLUSION

A photograph taken of Ben Black Elk at the base of Mount Rushmore National

Monument is more than a snapshot from someone‘s summer vacation. It is an image that captures a piece of a story that is more intricate than the presidential carvings and more animated than Black Elk‘s smile. The Black Hills is not just a place full of sculptures, tourists, and Lakotas. Upon closer examination, the Black Hills is a land conflicted by interpretations of prevalent themes that are highlighted in the celebratory narrative of

American history. These themes, including manifest destiny, expansion, and democracy commonly showcase the region as a symbol of American exceptionalism, conquest, and freedom. But these explanations do little to shed light on the significant cultural connections that indigenous people (especially the Lakotas) have maintained with the

Black Hills. Even after decades of despair and dispossession, their relationship with the

Black Hills tourism industry adds more dimension to this region‘s story. For decades, the tourism industry provided a venue in which Lakotas could reinforce their sovereignty and celebrate their heritage during their struggle for self-determination in twentieth century

America.

The Black Hills is the central piece of this story. Its transformation from an isolated landform to an internationally-known landmark provides the thread connecting the many groups of people who have appeared in these pages. ―Dreams and Dust‖ begins with a geological examination of the Black Hills region and discusses the characteristics that make it unique in both location and appearance. The formation of the Black Hills lies

193 at the core of this study because the unique qualities of this region attracted the indigenous peoples who lived within its sheltering embrace. Generation after generation defined the Black Hills as a valuable hunting ground, a location for trading and exchanging goods and ideas, a place for prayer and ceremony, and a landscape embedded in tribal history. After Native peoples had established physical, intellectual, and spiritual connections with the Black Hills, this land became central to the tribal identities and oral traditions of numerous indigenous groups. Even today the landmarks exemplified by

Devils Tower, Bear Butte, and Wind Cave retain immense significance to the culture and lifeways of the tribes linked with the Black Hills. During the nineteenth century, it became clear to explorers and traders that tribes identified the Black Hills as more than just a location to gather for trading or hunting: they viewed it as a place central to their worldview, traditions, and lifeways. The intense cultural affiliations already in place between these indigenous people and the Black Hills molded their future interactions with European and American explorers, the U.S. military, the federal government, and the tourism industry.

Once General Custer‘s expedition of 1874 discovered gold in the heart of the hills, newcomers to the region posed a challenge to the U.S. treaty obligation to protect

Lakota land rights, as specified by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. A new Black Hills narrative emerged during the late nineteenth century. It emphasized the Black Hills gold rush, the fall of several western heroes, and the ultimate ―conquest‖ of Lakotas during the

Wounded Knee Massacre. These events seemed to replace indigenous views of the Black

Hills, and they also conflicted with the ways that the region‘s original inhabitants identified these lands. For Americans, the Black Hills quickly became the ―stuff of which

194 great dreams are made. Their rich and fertile valleys, abundant game, and mineral wealth excited all who visited them or heard the garbled tales of Indians and mountain men. By all accounts, they were an earthly paradise beyond the far frontier, the epitome of the

American dream.‖1

Through the commodification of Native land and culture, the new tourism industry in the Black Hills exploited Native Americans, relegating them to the role of mere relics fixed within the untamed wilderness of the myth of the American frontier. By the turn of the century, the narrative of manifest destiny seemingly encapsulated in the

Black Hills appealed to American ideals of exceptionalism. When the Mount Rushmore gained momentum, it proved a catalyst for the campaign to develop a sophisticated tourism industry in the Black Hills. The tourism industry eagerly eradicated Native claims to the Black Hills in ways [heretofore] unimagined by the U.S. military and federal forces did not. By removing them from the Black Hills narrative (or by relegating them to the status of ―ancient tribesman‖), tourism loomed as yet another obstacle for them to overcome in their fight to preserve their relationship to the Black Hills.

By the 1930s, the Black Hills tourism industry had begun to entice tourists by advertising elements of the Wild West history to entice tourists. New marketing campaigns celebrated Wild Bill Hickok, Deadwood Dick, and Calamity Jane, side-by- side with prostitution, panning for gold, roadside attractions, and Native relics. By commodifying the memory of the experience, communities like Deadwood, Custer, and

Hot Springs empowered their economies. Heritage tourism became the new hype for tourists—particularly families—who were drawn to the colorful attractions outside the

1 Watson Parker, ―The Exploration of the Dakota Black Hills,‖ (Norman: University of Oklahoma, Unpublished M.A. Thesis, 1962). 195 shadows of Mount Rushmore National Monument. During this the 1930s-1950s, the tourism industry in the Black Hills finally realized the importance of including Native people as part of these ―colorful‖ experiences. Hence, the tourism industry tried to define

Native Americans—especially Lakotas—and their relationship with the Black Hills, but they failed. Ultimately the Native peoples succeeded in defining the tourism industry.

Between 1920 and the 1960s, the Duhamel Indian Pageant, Wind Cave National

Park powwow, Custer State Park Encampment, Deadwood Days of ‘76, Crazy Horse

Pageant, and Ben Black Elk‘s presence at Mount Rushmore reshaped the way the Black

Hills tourist industry‘s depiction of indigenous communities. During their performances at tourist attractions, Lakotas revealed own understandings of tribal culture. Future, they demonstrated their relationship with the region, and their people‘s struggle for the Black

Hills, which had begun in the late nineteenth century. When Lakotas asserted their views and performed according to their own terms, they provided audiences with Native perspective of western expansion. Their version related a story of hope, survival, and the rise of Native self-determination in the fight to retain the Black Hills.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries reveal the Black Hills as a contested ground. Throughout these years the Black Hills has been the focal point of the federal government versus Native peoples and of tenuous human interactions reflecting differing world views, ideas of ownership, treaty and sovereignty rights, and definitions of national identity. As a persistent overlay for this battleground, the tourism industry provided yet another venue to showcase how these conflicting concepts persisted in the Black Hills.

The Black Hills remain a place like no other in America.

196

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Badger Clark Manuscript Collection. Case Library for Western Historical Studies. Black Hills State University. Spearfish, South Dakota.

Biographical Files. South Dakota State Historical Society. Pierre, South Dakota.

Black Hills Federation of Women‘s Clubs. Case Library for Western Historical Studies. Black Hills State University. Spearfish, South Dakota.

Centennial Archives. Deadwood City Library. Deadwood, South Dakota.

Deadwood City Archives. Deadwood City Archives and Historic Preservation Office. Deadwood, South Dakota.

Doane Robinson Papers. South Dakota State Historical Society. Pierre, South Dakota.

Gold Discovery Days Papers. Custer County Courthouse Special Collections. Custer, South Dakota.

Grace Raymond Hebard Collection. American Heritage Center. University of Wyoming. Laramie, Wyoming.

Herbert Myrick Collection. The Huntington Library. San Marino, California.

Jace DeCory Sacred Places Collection. Black Hills State University. Spearfish, South Dakota.

Mary Jester Allen Collection. McCracken Research Library. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Cody, Wyoming.

Mrs. Alphonso Reeves Diary. The Huntington Library. San Marino, California.

Papers of John C. Lockwood. The Huntington Library. San Marino, California.

Peter Norbeck Papers. Special Collections, I.D. Weeks Library. University of South Dakota. Vermillion, South Dakota.

South Dakota Tourism and Highway Travel Manuscript Collection. South Dakota State Historical Society. Pierre, South Dakota.

Special Collections, Adam House and Museum Archives. Deadwood, South Dakota.

197

Tourism Pamphlets and Postcards. Collection of the Author.

Vertical Files. City of Hot Springs Library. Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Vertical Files. South Dakota State Historical Society. Pierre, South Dakota.

William F. Cody Papers. McCracken Research Library. Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Cody, Wyoming.

Wind Cave Historical Files. Wind Cave National Park Library. Hot Springs, South Dakota.

NEWSPAPERS

Belle Fourche Northwest Post Bismarck Tribune Black Hills Pioneer Black Hills Weekly Calgary Herald Cedar Rapids Gazette Chicago Inter-Ocean Chicago Sunday Times Custer Chronicle Custer Weekly Chronicle Dakota Midland News Service Dallas Times Herald Deadwood Daily Pioneer Times Deadwood Pioneer Times Denver Post Green Bay Press-Gazett Hot Springs Weekly Star Hot Springs Star Huron Evening Huronite Indianapolis Times Lead Daily Call Milwaukee Sentinel Minneapolis Sunday Tribune Minneapolis Tribune New York Times Omaha World-Herald Peoria Journal Star Philadelphia Inquirer Pierre Capitol Journal Plain Talk Press-Courier Rapid City Daily Journal

198

Rocky Mountain News Salt Lake City Tribune San Francisco Examiner Seattle Times Sioux City Journal Sioux Falls Press Sioux Falls Argus Leader Sturgis Tribune Time Magazine Travel News Wi-Iyohi

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