Black Hills

The Black Hills are mountains in the United States.

They rise up from the flat plains. Many green trees grow there. This makes the hills look dark from far away.

These hills are a sacred place. Native tribes have lived here for a long time.

They call the hills the Black Mountains.

Long ago, people found gold in the hills. This brought many miners to the area.

They built towns to live in.

Today, many people visit to see the sights. Some go to see the big stone faces. Others go to see the deep caves.

It is a very special place to explore.

The Black Hills are mountains in the United States.

They rise up from the Great Plains. Most of the hills are in South Dakota. Some parts reach into Wyoming. The hills look dark from far away. This is because they are covered in evergreen trees.

These hills are a sacred place. The Lakota people call them Pahá Sápa. They call them the Black Mountains.

Many tribes lived here a long time ago. Some people lived here as far back as 11,500 BC.

In 1874, people found gold in the hills.

This started a gold rush. Many miners came to live there. They built towns like Deadwood and Lead. The US government took the land from the Lakota. This led to a war in 1876.

Today, many people visit the hills for fun.

You can see Mount Rushmore there. People also visit deep caves and big parks. Some people go to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August. It is a very busy time for the area.

The Black Hills are a special mountain range in North America.

They rise up from the wide Great Plains. Most of the hills sit in western South Dakota. Some parts of the range also reach into Wyoming. The hills look dark from a long distance away. This is because they are covered in many evergreen trees. The highest point in the range is Black Elk Peak.

This peak is the highest point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

The shape of the hills comes from very old rocks. Long ago, the earth pushed these rocks upward. This is called an upwarping. After that, streams washed away the higher parts of the mountains. This left the landscape we see today. The rocks are laid out like a target or a bull's eye. The center is made of very old granite.

Around this center, there are rings of different types of rocks. These rings dip away from the middle of the dome.

Indigenous tribes have a very long history in this land. The Lakota people call the hills Pahá Sápa, which means Black Mountains.

They consider this area a sacred center of the world. Other tribes like the Cheyenne and Arapaho also lived here. Scientists found tools that show people were in the area as far back as 11,500 BC. These tools belonged to a group called the Clovis culture. The land has changed over time with many floods and droughts.

In 1868, the US government signed a treaty with the Sioux. This treaty said the Black Hills would belong to them forever. However, George Armstrong Custer led an expedition there in 1874. His team found gold in French Creek.

This started a huge gold rush with many miners. The US government later took the land after the Great Sioux War of 1876. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled the land was taken illegally. The Lakota people have refused the money offered for the land. They want the Black Hills to be returned to them.

Today, the Black Hills are a popular place for visitors.

People visit the Southern Hills to see Mount Rushmore. They also visit Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave. The Northern Hills have places like Deadwood and Spearfish Canyon. Every August, many people go to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

The economy has changed from mining and timber to tourism. Now, many people come to enjoy the nature and the history.

The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range in North America.

It rises from the Great Plains in western South Dakota and extends into Wyoming. The range appears dark from a distance because it is covered in evergreen trees. It contains the Black Hills National Forest. The highest point in the range is Black Elk Peak. This summit is also the highest point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

The geology of the region is quite complex. The current landscape is the result of an upwarping of ancient rock. This upwarping was a mountain-building episode that caused the land to rise. After the land rose, stream erosion removed the higher portions of the mountain mass. This process created the topography seen today. The rock layers are arranged like a target or a bull's eye. This shape is an oval dome where different rings of rock dip away from the center.

The center of this target is known as the granite core. This core was formed by magma during the Trans-Hudson orogeny. The granite in this core is approximately 1.8 billion years old. Some localized deposits in the northern hills are even older, dating to 2.2 or 2.8 billion years. Surrounding the core is a metamorphic zone. This zone contains rocks that were originally sedimentary. A collision between the North American continent and another landmass called a terrane caused these rocks to fold and twist. This event was the Trans-Hudson Orogeny.

Indigenous tribes have a very long history in this region. Scientists use carbon-dating to study the age of tools found there. These tools show a human presence dating back to 11,500 BC with the Clovis culture. Many tribes, including the Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, and Arapaho, have lived in the area. The Lakota people arrived from Minnesota in the 18th century. They displaced other tribes and called the land Pahá Sápa, or Black Mountains.

To the Lakota and Cheyenne, the hills are the axis mundi, or the sacred center of the world.

The history of ownership changed significantly in the 19th century. In 1868, the US government signed the Fort Laramie Treaty. This treaty established the Great Sioux Reservation and promised the Black Hills to the Sioux forever. However, in 1874, George Armstrong Custer led an expedition to the area. His team discovered gold in French Creek.

This discovery triggered a massive gold rush. Following the Great Sioux War of 1876, the US government took control of the hills. The Lakota were forcibly relocated to smaller reservations.

Legal battles over the land continued for many years. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians. The Court decided the land had been illegally seized. The government was ordered to pay the initial price plus interest. This amount was nearly $106 million. The Lakota people refused to accept the money. They want the land returned rather than receiving payment. As of 2011, the award with interest was worth about $1 billion.

Today, the economy of the Black Hills has shifted. It has moved away from mining and timber toward tourism and hospitality. Locals often divide the region into the Southern Hills and the Northern Hills. The Southern Hills feature Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, and Jewel Cave. It also contains Custer State Park, the largest state park in South Dakota.

The Northern Hills include Spearfish Canyon and the historic town of Deadwood. Every August, the area hosts the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. In 2015, the 75th anniversary of the rally saw over one million visitors.