In the Black Hills of Dakota...

In the Black Hills of Dakota there lived a young boy named Rocky Racoon....oops that isn't right :)

The "Gold Rush" of the Black Hills of Dakota is a different story altogether from those of California and Nevada. Set in Sioux Indian territory, it was a secret that lasted an entire generation.

Back in 1848, Father DeSmet warned the Sioux that if the "white man found out about the yellow metal" in the Black Hills, the Indians would "lose their hunting grounds".  Six years later, Sir Gore (famed and wealthy British hunter) discovered that same yellow metal.  Since Gore was already rich and much more interested in hunting game than gold, he remembered the warning of gold discovery sacrificing his sacred hunting grounds.   So he simply gathered his expedition together and left before it became an issue with his men, taking the secret of the Black Hills gold with him back to merry 'ole England.

During the 1850s and 60s small frontier groups of settlers were successful in finding sizable quantities of gold in the Black Hills but for some reason not found in any other gold rush history, the secret carried only a few miles - leaving Dakota's Sioux annd the Great Manitou alone for over 20 years.

The US Government actually signed a treaty that declared the Black Hills holy and sacred land to the Indian tribes forever...sigh. Why is history full of treaties like this that no one ever meant? 

Next time...the secret gets out and the government plays dumb once again.