Lewis and Clark Expedition (continued): The Sioux, Part 5, Black Hills

The Black Hills of South Dakota were a sanctuary and meeting point for mostly Sioux (Lakota), Cheyenne and Kiowa indigenous inhabitants of the northern plains in the West during the 19th century.  The nearby Bad God’s Tower (Devils Tower) on the Wyoming side of the border was sacred ground and a geological wonder.  Indian, miner, military, settler collisions in this area, including the Badlands, fostered a Great Sioux Reservation and some of America’s most enduring legacies, both good and bad.  Lewis and Clark’s Expedition to the Pacific and Return, 1804-1806, introduced a new “Father” to the indigenous tribes of the still largely unexplored northwestern North America.  The Sioux already were on the ascendent as aggressor and most populus among the plains inhabitants of the Dakota Territory. (HD, best if viewed on computer or TV screen).