Black Hills of South Dakota

[Buffalo]

South Dakota’s history reads like an adventure story. It’s a tale of Plains Indians, explorers and pioneers. From rolling plains to majestic mountains, a diverse landscape decorates South Dakota.

I love the photo of the baby buffalo :)


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[Buffalo]

Normally we have about 150,000 people living in an area about 120 miles long and 60 miles wide. You can see how outnumbered we become during the rally with around 500,000 visitors each year.......


I think that anyone who has lived in the area for a while is familiar with the sound of the rally. I must admit that I like the rumble when it begins, then I get tired of it, and I live out of town! As for bike noise there are some bikes that are way too loud. There is a point to when the motorcycle's exhaust is opened so free to allow such a loud noise that the motor cycle is actually loosing performance and not gaining it.

There are some issues from people on both sides of the fence. I know that there are some that think that if there is any noise at all coming from a bike it is too much noise. For those kind of people, I think that when their mouth is open there is too much noise coming from it also.


Lots of photos and info about Sturgis here... (http://www.sturgis.com)

http://www.sturgis.com/cart/images/yote.jpg

[Luvcats]

Buffalo! Nice to see you and what great pictures and info, thanks.

[Buffalo]

Nice to see you Luvcats :) I love living in the Black Hills a very special place...


Miles and miles of prairie are around you. Sounds in the distance become louder and louder. Soon thousands of big brown animals come into the draw below. Buffalo! The ground is shaking. There are many buffalo! Where have they all gone today?

Sixty million buffalo once lived in the Great Plains. Hunting killed millions of them. By 1889, when South Dakota became a state, the buffalo was nearly extinct. A few people acted to save them.

Today, once again thousands of buffalo live in South Dakota. Many people come just to look at them. Ranchers raise them for sale. The buffalo is a symbol of pride. It means strength for South Dakota. For American Indians, it is a sign of spiritual strength


There are many herds in South Dakota. A large herd lives in Custer State Park.About one thousand buffalo roam the park. New calves are born in the spring. The herd grows to fifteen hundred animals then. Each fall, park workers round up the animals. They vaccinate them. Then extra buffalo are sold to ranches or parks

http://www.sd4history.com/Unit3/images/Buffalo%20Roundup.jpg

South Dakota Buffalo Herds

Badlands National Park
600

Cheyenne River Indian Reservation
2,200

Crow Creek Indian Reservation
350

Custer State Park
1,500

Flandreau Indian Reservation
75

Lower Brule Indian Reservation
400

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
500

Rosebud Indian Reservation
133

Sinte Gleska University
91

Sisseton Indian Reservation
280

Standing Rock Indian Reservation
300

Wind Cave National Park
300

Yankton Indian Reservation
78

http://www.sd4history.com/Unit3/images/herd2.jpg

[paleryder]

I love the pics. Pretty country.

[Buffalo]

and one of the last frontiers still today :)

POKER ALICE
1851-1930


http://www.blackhillsvisitor.com/images/pokeralice.jpg

Poker Alice was the West's premier lady gambler for several decades. She stated "I would rather play poker with five or six experts than to eat." Alice Ivers was born in Sudbury, England. The only daughter of a schoolmaster, she was educated at a female seminary and instilled with strong middle-class values. The family eventually moved to Colorado, where Alice married mining engineer Frank Duffield. When he spent evenings at a card table, Alice refused to stay home. She began to sit in on games while Frank was at work, and quickly demonstrated an affinity for poker. When Frank was killed in a dynamite explosion, she turned to the poker tables for a living, thus she got the name Poker Alice.

Alice moved from one promising western community to another over the years. Like most professional gamblers, Alice went heeled, packing a .38 on a .45 frame. While dealing cards in Deadwood, South Dakota, the dealer at the next table was W. G. Tubbs, and one night a drunken miner pulled a knife on him. Alice deftly palmed her .38 and pumped a slug into the miner's arm, triggering a romance between Tubbs and herself. Alice Ivers Duffield married Tubbs in 1907, and the couple abandoned the tables for a homestead north of Deadwood.

In 1910, Tubbs contracted pneumonia and died in Alice's arms during a blizzard. Alice drove his frozen corpse in a sled 48 miles to Sturgis, where she had to pawn her wedding ring to get the $25 to pay for her husband's burial. She then took a table in a gambling hall and resumed her old profession.

While she gambled in Sturgis, she hired George Huckert to tend her sheep. He continued to propose to her, and when his back wages totaled $1,008, she married him, saying, "It would be cheaper to marry him than pay him off. Alice spent her last years quietly in a Sturgis house that today is open to tourists. She passed away February 27, 1930 and was buried in the Sturgis cemetery. Female gamblers were not rare in the Old West, but the queen of them all was cigar-smoking, gun-totin' Poker Alice!"

[Buffalo]

http://www.southdakotamagazine.com/word/wp-content/earthwat.jpg

The Mammoth Site near Hot Springs is worth a visit if you’ve never been there. Kids will especially love it! Stand on the edge of discovery! - See an active paleontological excavation of Ice Age animals. A must for families with hands-on exhibits and newly expanded exhibit
http://www.mammothsite.com

[kim]

great pics buff...!

and - yeah - i love the rumble - at first - too - they come through here - on the way - to there - i rode along in the parade once - another time - a tornado came through - one of the rare ones that we get - ususally we don't - since we're in a pocket - but - that day - that storm - knocked down 1000's of our beautiful old trees - as well as - knocked over all the harleys - which by that time - had arrived at end of the parade - at the capitol square - they all fell over - like dominoes...!

great story - too - about - poker alice... :)

[Buffalo]

Edgemont Kid Has Hollywood Hit
‘Napoleon Dynamite’ producer is Sean Covel of Edgemont


http://www.southdakotamagazine.com/word/wp-content/napoleon1.jpg


Some young people say if you want to know what teens are thinking and feeling today, see the movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” which is gaining a cult-like fan base.

The star is a geeky, morose, anti-social, smart, sullen kid from a small town in the West. He’s not that likeable (as many teenagers can sometimes not be) but they say the movie is funny and enlightening in a weird way.

If you see bits of smalltown South Dakota in the movie, it’s because the producer, Sean Covel, grew up in Edgemont. He graduated from high school there in 1994 and went on to success in Hollywood. He lives in Encino, Calif.

Covel came back to Hot Springs for a showing of the film last fall. “My ego enjoyed the ride!” he said about his homecoming. My daughter talked with him last week when he was around the area... he told her that he was a big as nerd in school as the actor in the movie lol.. now he is rich nerd .. have you seen this movie??

[Buffalo]

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We’ve all seen a herd of horses, grazing quietly on green grass, dozing off in the sun or tending their foals. Although the herd might look peaceful, power and dominance overshadows almost all the actions of its members.

Within each herd is a dominant horse, and underneath the dominant horse there are several different social classes until you reach the bottom, the most submissive and pushed around horse. Everyone knows their status. Out in the pasture they have nothing but time, and mostly spend it eating and trying to improve their social standing. Just like teenagers in high school trying to fit in, horses try to be more popular and more dominant. Every day they battle to prove their worth - by displaying dominant posture, flicking their heads at other horses, and kicking and biting when they need to reinforce their social position.

If a new horse is introduced to the herd, it usually waits to be approached by the other horses and then is quickly shown its status. If that new horse was a dominant horse in its old herd, it will probably expect to be dominant in the new herd and a power struggle will determine the new leader.

[Buffalo]

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Survivors of the Little Big Horn (1948)
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Legendary South Dakota photographer Bill Groethe had the foresight to gather these eight Native Americans in 1948 for a picture. They were survivors of the Battle of the Little Big Horn which occurred June 25, 1876. Groethe, who will be featured in our May/June issue, took the picture at the State Game Lodge.

Some historical accounts based on interviews with warriors at the fight indicate that most if not all of the Indians had no idea the controversial Lt. Col. George Custer was part of the fight until it was over.

A few years ago I received a letter from an Indian at Faith, S.D., who wrote that his older relatives told him, “… they couldn’t believe Custer could be so stupid to ride into a camp of so many Indians and try to kill them. The Indians said Custer cried when they killed him. After they killed Custer and his men, my grandmother with other young girls rode out to search for her pet horse, a stocking leg sorrel horse her father had given her and that some young man had taken to go to the fight. She said her pet horse was hard to catch so she had to catch another in the haste to get mounted and get ready for what ever had to be done for the approach (of other white soldiers). My grand mother said they found her horse wounded near where Custer was killed and it couldn’t get to its feet. She asked the young men to kill it, and they killed it. And she and the others broke camp and left. They went to Canada. She said they all felt so good when they crossed the border as they believed they would not be chased around and killed in Canada. They couldn’t believe the whites acted the way they did as the Indians were good to them and gave them what they wanted as Indians do.”

The victors get to write the history of battles. Usually white Americans have been the writers but in this particular battle the only eyewitnesses to survive were Native Americans.

South Dakota Swift Fox


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[kim]

this is great - buff - telling about your state - i enjoy it - a lot...

editing to add: no - i've not seen that movie - yet - but - knew some about it - and - plan on seeing it - sometime...

[Buffalo]

thanks im having fun :)

[Heartland]

Dang, now I want to move to South Dakota!

[Buffalo]

lol..get packin plently of room out here

Corn Palace
http://www.billandcarol.com/Vacation2001WebShow/images/290-Corn%20Palace%20Mitchell%20SD.jpg


At Mitchell South Dakota This unique visitor attraction is decorated with pictorial murals made entirely of naturally colored corn, grains and grasses! Now over 100 years old! Every year, the Corn Palace is redecorated on a new theme.

[Buffalo]

close up of corn palace

http://www.airyangel.com/travel/sd/corn%20palace2.jpg

[Buffalo]

never know what you may see in Sturgis lol... I know I have a thing for buffalo's :2gamecock

http://www.ptak.org/splats/02.08.badlands/1449_buffalo_bike_7903.jpg

[chynna]

Buff,
I'm enjoying hearing about your state and seeing the pictures. :)

[Eriu]

Hi ya Buff!!!

Great pics and love hearing about your state..but too cold for me!

:1kiss1:

[saabsister]

Wall Drug, the Corn Palace, and great scenery! I remember those from a trip to Yellowstone a couple decades ago.

[Buffalo]

Creation of the Buffalo Nation
"The Great Spirit Skan made us with bones from Stone, bodies from Earth, and souls from himself, Wind and Thunders. The gifts of Sun, Wisdom, Moon, and Revealer gave us life. A council of the spirits named us Pte Oyate - Buffalo Nation - and told us to care for the spirits.

One day Spider sent Wolf to the Underworld to tell Tokahe that life would be easier on the surface of the earth. Tokahe ignored the warnings of the holy man Tatanka, and led the people up through Wind Cave. Life there was hard, so Tatanka came to help - as a great, shaggy beast. Since then the people have lived here with the buffalo."


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[Buffalo]

The Black Hills are situated in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The average elevation of the region, which occupies an area of about 6000 sq mi, is about about 4000 ft). Harney Peak (7242 ft) in South Dakota is the highest point. To the northeast of Harney Peak is Mount Rushmore (5725 ft), also in South Dakota, site of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.On the slopes of the Black Hills are heavy stands of timber, mainly conifers. Nearly 1900 sq mi of the forested areas are preserved as a national forest. http://www.beulahlandestates.com/images/blackhillsmap.jpg

[Buffalo]

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[Sprat]

I love the Black Hills. It's paradise on Earth and the heart of the old west. All the romanticisms of the old west can be found here. We used to visit the Black Hills at least three times a year and often times more. It is as beautiful in the winter as it is in the summer. I think the only reason I haven't made the family live there is we wouldn't have any place to vacation to except maybe to where I live now.

[newslady]

Buff,

I love the pics and information about your state. I didn't know that Deadwood (or Yankton) really existed until I did some research after watching the HBO series of the same name.

Lot of great history about the west, how it was settled, etc., in your state.

[Buffalo]

Hot news in the Black Hills this week. Wing Tsue building in Deadwood knocked down. I have seen the building myself and was in good shape. It was the last remaining building of Deadwoods chinatown days and Deadwood is known for being a historic town filled with old buildings reminescent of mining days. The contractor was supposed to destroy the buildings on both sides but went and demolished the Wing Tsue building too. Did he destroy it on purpose ? I think the guy who tore it down is nuts. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/01/06/news/local/news01.prt

[Buffalo]

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/content/articles/2006/01/06/news/local/news01_thumb.jpgIn 2004, 67 descendants of pioneer Chinese merchant Fee Lee Wong gathered for a family reunion in Deadwood. Many of them posed for a photo in front of the Wing Tsue building, built by Fee Lee Wong in 1896. The building was demolished over Christmas weekend.
(Photo courtesy of the Wong family)DEADWOOD




- Deadwood City Attorney John Fredrickson said a stop-work order is in effect at the site of the demolished Wing Tsue building on Deadwood’s Main Street. The building’s owner cannot haul more rubble away unless the work is supervised by an archaeologist, he said.

There are concerns that historic Chinese artifacts — the Wing Tsue building was Deadwood’s last architectural remnant of the city’s once-thriving Chinese district — could be disturbed, damaged or hauled to the dump, Fredrickson said.

“He’s not supposed to turn a shovel of dirt until he has an archeologist on-site,” Fredrickson said.

Fredrickson said he continues to research what legal action the city can take against the owner, Gene Johner of Spearfish. The building was torn down over the Christmas weekend — in violation, city officials claim, of permits that had been issued.

Under current city ordinances, owners of property in the Deadwood Historic District must have a “certificate of appropriateness” — a document issued by the city Historic Preservation Commission that outlines the scope of work that can be done — before modifying a historic building’s appearance.

The ordinance allows the city to levy fines of as much as $200 a day until the problem is corrected. But in this case, there’s nothing left to correct. Can the property owner be forced to build a replica of the building? Fredrickson said he’s still looking into that issue.

Fredrickson said the city also is considering asking the State Gaming Commission to somehow sanction Johner for tearing the building down. He’s a partner in the nearby Deadwood Gulch Casino.

Johner has not publicly commented; calls to the Deadwood Gulch Casino and to his home in Spearfish have not been returned.

The razing of the building, at 568 Main St., has caused a huge uproar in Deadwood and beyond the Black Hills. Mayor Francis Toscana sent out a news release this week to stem the fallout.

“It’s important that all South Dakotans understand that not only are we angry, upset and outraged at the demolition of the last remaining vestige of Deadwood’s Chinatown, we are equally committed to ensuring, first, that this will not happen again, and secondly, that any violation of state statutes and city ordinances is prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he wrote.

In addition, Deadwood’s historic preservation officer Jim Wilson announced his retirement this week.

Meanwhile Lance Rom, head of Quality Services, the archaeology firm hired by Johner to do archaeology work at the site, issued a statement this week outlining his company’s role — or lack of a role — in the demolition.

The city of Deadwood requires property owners to hire a professional archeologist to assess any project that disturbs ground that could potentially yield artifacts — and a better understanding of Deadwood’s history.

The archeologist must assess the site and write a plan to explore the archaeology of the location before work is done. Depending on the site, the plan can range from a full archaeology dig to merely having an archeologist on hand while crews dig.

Rom said he prepared a detailed plan for the site and faxed it to Johner on Dec. 23. (There were two buildings side-by-side, and Johner apparently had approval to dismantle the neighboring structure but not the Wing Tsue, according to city documents.)

According to Rom’s account, Quality Services archeologists were at the site the day before, Dec. 22. At the end of the day, he wrote, “The Wing Tsue was intact and in no apparent danger of falling down.”

Rom said he was told by Johner that crews weren’t working Dec. 23 because of the weather. Rom said he planned to send archeologists to the site on Dec. 27, two days after Christmas, but said he was told by Johner that workers were taking the week off. Rom said he found out on Dec. 28 that the building was already gone.

The demolition also shocked the descendants of Fee Lee Wong. The pioneer Chinese merchant came to Deadwood during the 1876 gold rush and, 20 years later, built the two-story building to house his Wing Tsue Emporium.

Wong’s great-granddaughter, Edith Wong of San Luis Obispo, Calif., organized a 2004 family reunion in Deadwood. Sixty-seven descendants of Fee Lee Wong attended. Many of them gathered for a group photo in front of the building.

During the 2004 reunion, Edith Wong and other family members formally asked the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission to take all necessary steps to preserve the Wing Tsue building.

Contacted by telephone in California this week, Edith Wong said the reunion was part of an effort to complete a family history started by her father, Kam Leung Wong. He died in October 2000.

Edith Wong said she had toured the building in 2000 and 2002. The inside walls were decorated with Chinese symbols, she said. At one point, she confirmed, family members had talked briefly with a previous owner of the building about buying the building.

During this week’s telephone interview, Edith Wong asked where the Wing Tsue’s building materials had been taken. She hoped that some of the Wing Tsue bricks could be salvaged and saved as family mementos.

[bluekazoo]

Buff, this is a great thread ... love the pictures and the stories ...

I took that same 'family trip' that saabs did, and even tho I was just a kid, I've always remembered Rapid City (Reptile Gardens), the Corn Palace, the Badlands, and the Black Hills ... I have a very clear mental image of climbing the hill to Boot Hill in Deadwood, and buying a souvenir cowboy hat at Wall Drug (which I later chased down the middle of the road in the Powder River Pass one state over, lol) ...

You live in a beautiful part of the country ...

[Buffalo]

Thanks for the kind words folks, We do love it here in the Black Hills... sometimes it is easy to forget about the poverty in the plains. I was pleasantly surprised to see KELO TV have a coverage story of helping the people living on the Pine Ridge reservation who have no heat. The story showed a number of people probably 40 to 50 with their pickups and chainsaws chopping timber loading it and hauling it to Pine Ridge to help the people living there.

Two things strike me on a positive note. The people of one ethnic group crossing over the line to help another ethnic group and they were doing it out of the goodness of their heart.And the thing that makes me most happy, there is no government program involved. It is just people helping people.

Why do the residents of Pine Ridge reservation have no heat?

I think the reason the people on the Pine Ridge Rez have no heat is that the economy being so poor right now on the reservation and energy assistance ran out of funds early .. A lot of people cannot afford to buy propane with the price of propane having gone up this winter and so some have turned to burning wood as it is easier to get and not as costly. Of course some have always used wood burning stoves as an alternative way of heating but, some cannot cut the wood themselves because of health reasons so they have to buy it from others or hire someone to cut it which costs also.. And December was a really cold month with temperatures in the 0-5 degree range most of the month.. That is why a lot have no heat mostly because of the cost ..


Something anyone can do is donate to the friends of pine ridge fund that PTI propane has available. It's just a group fund that helps to cover the cost for Pine Ridge residents that aren't able to pay for their propane. Here's a web page that will explain how you can help.

http://www.friendsofpineridgereservation.org/difference/utilityhelp.shtml

[Buffalo]

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/content/articles/2006/01/07/news/outdoors/337outdoors_thumb.jpg

High livin’ in the Hills
By Dick Kettlewell/Journal staff
The wind seemed relentless, whipping and beating across the face of this granite dome in the central hills ... like a blacksmith’s hammer on his anvil. The wind’s anvil.

Everywhere, the cold extended its grip over the stone pitch projecting above the ponderosa pine forest floor — even in areas blown free of snow. Crevices and fissures, cut through the sections of rock over the ages by wind and ice, also are paths around and across the harsh setting.

Over these paths pass the few creatures able to inhabit this austere ecosystem throughout its entire cycle of seasons — some small mammals such as mink and weasel, a few deer, and mountain goats, the object of my search this morning. About 50 yards ahead on the rising slope is a small group of the white beasts — one large billy, two nannies and two yearling kids.

Standing in an open crack between two large sections of stone, I pull myself, on my belly, to a flat, snow-covered ledge to where I have laid my camera attached to a large telephoto lens. The going is slow and ponderous, part of the acceptance made by one who chooses to venture into the region during this time of year. The rock is laden with potential pitfalls. Sheer ice hidden under snow awaits one injudicious placement of my feet or hands. More than once, I have paid for a lackadaisical moment with bruises, scrapes and expensive camera repair bills.

As always, the goats are watchful of my approach — but more in a curious way than fearful. Because of their incredible climbing abilities, they seem to know instinctively that they can, if necessary, easily leave me behind. They go back to the business of feeding — brushing away snow to get at the small lichens growing on the granite.

The goats’ area is exposed to periodic blasts of the penetrating wind, though they are indifferent to it — and with good reason. At nearly 6,000 feet, this altitude is the lowest on the continent at which these creatures thrive. Most live in the remote Rocky Mountain high country of Montana, Idaho and British Columbia, where winter is frequently longer than the other three seasons combined.

Carefully making my way up the slippery surface, I am reminded of a passage from “The Big Sky,”A.B. Guthrie’s great novel about mountain men in early Montana: “They keep to the high peaks, they do, the tip top of the mountains, in the clouds and snow. ... Not many’s seen a live one. A man has to climb some for that, he does now.”

I settle down onto my knees on the snowy surface between 30 and 40 feet from the goats and begin the morning’s work — photographs.

[Buffalo]

Prostitution in Deadwood


Courtesy of the Adams Museum & House

The earliest record of prostitutes arriving in Deadwood occurred in July 1876 when Charlie Utter’s famous wagon train arrived. The women were accompanied by two madams with the intriguing professional monikers Madam Dirty Em and Madam Mustachio. According to one account, when the prostitutes arrived in town, miners lined up along the street and cheered. Prostitution was to become an industry in Deadwood that endured through the years almost without interruption until 1980, when the State’s Attorney’s Office, along with the local and federal law enforcement, closed the last four brothels in town.

It was difficult for a woman to make a living in the American West of 1876 if she did not have the protection of a father or husband. Single women often turned to prostitution as their only option. In some instances unsuspecting women were lured West by offers of the chance for adventure and the promise of respectable employment, only to find themselves penniless and virtually enslaved in dance halls or brothels.

Early Deadwood boasted a variety of entertainment establishments such as the Bella Union, the Melodeon, the Green Front, and, most infamous of all, the Gem Theater. Women pressed into service charged men to dance, hustled drinks and, in curtained areas and private boxes, sold sexual favors. It was not uncommon for customers to find their pockets picked and valuables stolen at the end of a long evening.

Prostitution in Deadwood was largely confined to the Badlands district on Lower Main at the north end of town. Saloons and theaters occupied the first floor while brothels opened for business on the floors above. By 1900 the Badlands occupied an entire block of two-story brick buildings on the west side of Main Street, from the Mansion House on the corner of Wall Street (where the Fairmont Hotel now stands) to the end of the block.

Most of the women who found themselves in this profession remain anonymous. It was a temporary and brutal existence. Longevity in this business was perhaps just 2 or 3 years. Violence was common, and prostitutes had little protection from abuse and battery at the hands of their customers and employers. According to pioneer John S. McClintock, a Gem Theater prostitute named Tricksie shot a man through the front of his skull for beating her up. The attending doctor put a probe through the man’s head, amazed that he survived the gunshot.

Drug use and alcoholism was rampant as a means of escape. Opium and its derivatives, laudanum and morphine, were the drugs of choice. Suicides were common, often the result of deliberate overdoses by mixing laudanum and alcohol. Deadwood doctor F.S. Howe, who frequently administered to the prostitutes, always took his stomach pump when summoned to the Badlands in the middle of the night.

[kim]

upsetting about that historical building...

- great articles and pics...

[kim]

p.s. thanks for the link to pine ridge - too - been following that for years - i met leonard peltiers brother back in the early 80's...

[kim]

edit - missing apostrope...

[kim]

arrrgh - i really need edit - sorry for messing up your wonderful thread...

[Buffalo]

http://www.southdakotaphotography.com/Images/rochford/rochfordsunset1c.jpg


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[Buffalo]

http://www.gonativeamerica.com/lakesd.jpg


Enter the sacred circle on this expansive journey into Lakota culture. This odyssey traverses the wide open prairie, shining mountains, rolling plains and mighty rivers of the Lakota Nation, the landscape of the dreamers and the dreams. We follow the history of the Lakota people through great leaders such as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse, and attempt to appreciate the historic and contemporary realities of the Tetonwan Oyate.



We begin by entering He Sapa Wakan – The Heart of Everything That Is – the sacred Black Hills, Holy Land of the Lakota people. In the Black Hills we seek out Tatanka, the buffalo, and in sight of one of the last free herds of buffalo we will explore the spiritual and physical significance of the buffalo to the Lakota people. At Wind Cave we will learn of Lakota genesis, and at the Place of the Thunders, Hinhan Kaja Paha, we ascend the highest point in the Black Hills upon which Black Elk experienced much of what embodied the story of his life as told in Black Elk Speaks. At the Bear's Lodge (Devils Tower) we hear ancient tribal explanations of the sacred rock’s creation, before standing before the sacred mountain, Inyan Kara.



Traveling north to the band of Crazy Horse’s mother, the Minneconjou Lakota of the Cheyenne River Reservation, we visit the area where Pte San Win, the White Buffalo Calf Woman, brought the Sacred Pipe to the Lakotas and the knowledge of the Seven Sacred Rites. With tribal members, we discuss the significance and sanctity of the pipe. Continuing north, we reach the Standing Rock Reservation of the Hunkpapa Lakota, the band of Sitting Bull and Gall, whom are among the great leaders we will discuss. We explore the life and legacy of Tatanka Iyotake, the great Hunkpapa Lakota patriot and visionary – Sitting Bull. From his birthplace on the Standing Rock Reservation, to his resistance of white encroachment and inspiring leadership, we visit the sites and discuss the events that shaped the life of Sitting Bull.



We continue south, to Fort Pierre on the Missouri River, before reaching the land of Red Cloud, the Oglala Lakota Nation, and take the Chief Red Cloud trail on the way to Wounded Knee. Amidst the incredible landscape of Mako Sica, the Badlands, we hear the perspectives of Lakota ambassadors whose ancestors gave all to protect Lakota culture: from the arrival of the Europeans, to ‘Red Cloud’s War’ of 1866 and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre. From historic Fort Laramie we enter the Powder River country and examine ‘Red Cloud’s War’ – we follow that epic struggle over the Bozeman Trail and follow in the footsteps of legends.

[Buffalo]

http://www.gonativeamerica.com/Spirit-Of-The-Wolf.jpg

[Buffalo]

http://www.lakotamall.com/kili/images/drummers-c100-an.gif

Lakota Nation Radio (http://www.lakotamall.com/kili/)

[Buffalo]

Folklore says the Black Hills of South Dakota were formed when gentle giant Paul Bunyan, mourning the death of his monumental ox, Babe, created the hills as a ceremonial covering for his friend. The Black Hills, whatever their geological source, were first discovered in 1775 by Standing Buffalo, an Oglala Sioux. He named the range "Paha Sapa"—mountains that are black—because from a distance, the pine-covered slopes appear blue-black.

Deadwood, South Dakota, resting at the foot of the Black Hills at 4,537 feet above sea level, is about as close as you can get today to the Old West. The region was the staging ground of numerous Indian wars, culminating in 1876 with the Battle of Little Big Horn, the infamous end of George Custer. Deadwood, born the same year as Little Big Horn, became home to notorious gamblers, such as Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, Preacher Smith, and Poker Alice—most of whom you can find buried at Deadwood's Mount Moriah Cemetery. In memory of its prelaw past, a bust of Wild Bill by Korczak Ziolkowski—creator of the Crazy Horse monument near Mount Rushmore—stands in the heart of downtown Deadwood.

By 1905, the Wild West began to domesticate itself, and gambling was outlawed in South Dakota. But in 1989, South Dakotans voted to allow limited gaming to return to Deadwood, with the stipulation that a major chunk of the tax money would go to that ghost town's historic restoration and preservation. As a result Deadwood lives again as a National Historic Landmark.

Modern-day Deadwood hosts eighty gaming halls, forty-eight restaurants, sixteen motels, and convention facilities for 400. Beyond its casinos, Deadwood is conveniently located for access to the Black Hills National Forest, 1.25 million acres strong. Home to bison, deer, elk, coyote, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep, the forest's human activities include a long list of favorite pastimes: fishing, boating, cycling, swimming, camping, hunting, horseback riding, and hiking.

With 300 miles of snowmobile tracks and 250 miles of cross-country trails, the Black Hills Forest is a snow-lover's paradise. The Terry Park and Deer Mountain Ski Areas are within a twenty-mile radius. And those hills not only are beautiful; they also help keep the temperatures mild. (It seldom reaches above 90° in summer and winters are not nearly as harsh as they can be on the neighboring plains.)

A short car-trip away from Deadwood is Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, Badlands National Park, Devil's Tower, and Harney Peak, the highest mountain east of the Rockies. Nearby Rapid City, also founded in 1876, is the county seat and home to Ellsworth Air Force Base. It's the second-largest city in South Dakota, and its major economic activities include mining, lumber, and agriculture. Locals report that cost of living in Deadwood is low while good jobs in the gaming and tourism industry are plentiful.

[Buffalo]

Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo
One of the Top Five - Planning to draw Large Crowd

By Black Hills Today

Black Hills, South Dakota -- Since its beginning in 1958, the Black Hills Stock Show, Rodeo and Wrangler Bullfight has evolved into a premier midwinter event, drawing over 250,000 people each year to Rapid City. Since its beginning in 1958, the Black Hills Stock Show has evolved into a premier midwinter event. Along with Houston, Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Denver, the Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo is considered one of the top five indoor PRCA rodeos in the nation.

For ten days every winter, the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City suspends all other activities to host, in partnership with the Central States Fair Board and Sutton Rodeos, one of the largest and finest stock shows in America.

Several miles of steel fencing and an arena full of dirt (just over 1,000 tons of it) turn the normally spotless Rushmore Plaza Civic Center facility into an upscale, giant barn. The 2006 BHSS also marks the third Stock Show to use the fabulous new indoor Events Center at the Central States Fairgrounds for horse shows and other events. The Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo drew people from the Midwest, Canada, and Mexico in 2005. The largest year ever was in 2000, when crowds swelled to over 300,000.

Annual favorites include the horse sale Friday and Saturday; Youth Day; The World's Smallest Rodeo, the Stick Horse Rodeo; North American Sheep Dog Trials and Mutton Bustin'; the South Dakota High School Challenge Rodeo featured teams of high school rodeo cowboys and cowgirls; Super Stallion competition; Ranch Rodeo; three nights of the PRCA Bull Riding National Tour; Bucking Horse, Bull, and Buffalo sales; Stockman's Banquet and Ball; and the Old West Collector's Auction.

Approximately 300 vendors set up during the trade show, selling everything from fine arts to front-end loaders. It’s an important marketplace both for stockmen and businessmen in the area.

This huge event literally has something for everyone, and any rodeo performance you choose to attend during the stock show promises to be first class rodeo entertainment!

In 1978, the Central States Fair joined with Sutton Rodeos to offer a schedule full of cowboy pageantry and competition. The 2006 event will feature 7 PRCA rodeos, a ranch rodeo, Wrangler bullfight matches, and the Miss Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo Queen Contest.

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association named the BHSS Rodeo the Indoor Rodeo of the Year in 2002 AND 2003! Longtime producers Jim and Julie Sutton received the coveted national awards, a testimony to their hard work in producing the events during the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo.

This years event will mark the 48th year. Full event listings can be seen on Black Hills Today events page or by going directly to www.BlackHillsStockShowandRodeo.com

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