How a broken 1868 treaty and fake gold reports turned sacred Sioux “center of the universe” into Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore and Sacred Sioux land

Four giant faces stare out from what the Lakota called Six Grandfathers Mountain. This wasn’t just any hill. It was the heart of Sioux sacred land, protected by an 1868 treaty that promised it would stay theirs forever.

Then came Custer’s gold rush in 1874. The government abandoned its promises, stole the Black Hills, and let sculptors carve presidents into ancestral spirits. The Supreme Court later called it theft, but the damage was done.

Here’s what really happened at this famous landmark you can tour.

The Sacred Mountain Had Six Faces

The Black Hills rose from the Great Plains like a dark island, their pine-covered slopes earning the Lakota name Paha Sapa. At the heart of this sacred range stood a granite mountain the Lakota called Six Grandfathers, representing ancestral spirits of the six directions.

Originally called Cougar Mountain for the mountain lions prowling its peaks, the site was renamed around 1870 after a powerful vision by Lakota medicine man Black Elk. The Lakota controlled this territory and returned annually to perform religious ceremonies at their spiritual center.

America Signed Papers Promising Forever

On April 29, 1868, U.S. officials and Sioux leaders signed the Fort Laramie Treaty at the Wyoming fort. The document recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, “set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people.”

Any future treaty attempting to take reservation land would need signatures from three-fourths of all adult Sioux men. This remarkable agreement marked the only time America negotiated peace entirely on Native terms after Red Cloud’s successful war against the government.

Custer Marched Into Forbidden Territory

Just six years later, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer violated the treaty completely. On July 2, 1874, he led nearly 1,000 soldiers from Fort Abraham Lincoln straight into the forbidden Black Hills.

His expedition included newspaper reporters, civilian miners, scientists, and a 16-piece military band. While officially searching for fort locations, Custer’s real mission was investigating gold rumors during America’s economic depression.

By July 22, his blue-uniformed columns had penetrated deep into Lakota sacred territory.

Miners Found Gold in Sacred Creek

On August 2, 1874, miners Horatio Ross and William McKay panned enough gold flakes from French Creek to claim a miner could earn $150 daily. Custer immediately dispatched glowing reports to the New York Times, boasting of gold “right from the grass roots down.”

Scout Lonesome Charlie Reynolds carried these reports to Fort Laramie, where telegraph lines spread the news nationwide. Within days, the Bismarck Tribune proclaimed “GOLD!” and predicted the Black Hills would become America’s new El Dorado.

Gold Fever Brought Illegal Invasion

By fall 1874, over 15,000 desperate fortune-seekers had flooded Dakota Territory, with hundreds illegally crossing into the protected Black Hills. The government initially tried removing trespassing miners but soon abandoned enforcement while publicly promising to honor treaty obligations.

By late 1875, roughly 4,000 white Americans were unlawfully living throughout the sacred mountains, establishing mining camps and towns. President Grant secretly decided the Army would stop preventing white settlement.

Little Bighorn Victory Triggered Punishment

The government then delivered an ultimatum: all remaining Sioux must report to reservations by January 31, 1876, or face military action. When this impossible winter deadline passed, war erupted across the Plains.

On June 25, 1876, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors annihilated Custer and his 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. Congress retaliated by passing “Sell or Starve” legislation, cutting food supplies to any tribes that had fought against Custer’s forces.

## Congress Seized Land Without Required Consent

Facing starvation, Sioux leaders had little choice when a federal commission arrived in 1876 carrying a pre-written agreement demanding the Black Hills. Only 10 percent of adult Sioux men signed the document, far short of the three-fourths required by treaty.

On February 28, 1877, Congress passed legislation implementing this fraudulent agreement anyway, effectively destroying the Fort Laramie Treaty. The 1877 Act stripped over 7 million acres from the Great Sioux Reservation, including the entire Black Hills.

Sacred Sites Became Government Property

By 1877, most surviving Native Americans had surrendered to reservations or fled to Canada as refugees. Sacred landmarks like Wind Cave, Devil’s Tower, Black Elk Peak, and the Six Grandfathers Mountain now belonged to white settlers and the federal government.

The Sioux recognized this as complete treaty betrayal, but Congress provided no legal mechanism to challenge the theft until 1920. Traditional Lakota spiritual practices and connections to ancestral lands faced systematic government destruction.

Sculptor Began Carving Sacred Mountain

Fifty years later, the desecration reached its peak. On October 4, 1927, sculptor Gutzon Borglum began dynamiting the sacred Six Grandfathers Mountain to create Mount Rushmore.

For fourteen years, Borglum and 400 workers blasted away 450,000 tons of sacred granite to carve 60-foot presidential heads. Borglum had worked closely with the Ku Klux Klan while carving Confederate generals at Stone Mountain, Georgia.

For the Lakota, watching four presidents who had championed anti-Indian policies get carved into their most sacred mountain represented the ultimate violation.

Supreme Court Finally Called It Theft

The Sioux fought back through the courts. In 1920, tribal lawyers gained permission to sue the United States, claiming the government had stolen the Black Hills without just compensation.

After decades of legal battles, Congress authorized a fresh review in 1978. On June 30, 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled definitively that the 1877 Act constituted illegal taking under the Fifth Amendment.

The Court awarded $17.1 million for the original land value plus 103 years of interest, totaling $102 million.

Tribal Leaders Refused All Money

The Sioux immediately rejected the settlement, declaring through tribal resolutions that “the Black Hills are not for sale.” They demanded return of the stolen land itself, not money.

As the refused settlement continued earning compound interest, it grew to over $1 billion by 2011, yet the Sioux maintained their principled stand. Today, Mount Rushmore stands as what Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier calls “a greater reminder to the Great Sioux Nation of a country that cannot keep a promise.”

Visiting The Aktá Lakota Museum & Cultural Center

The Aktá Lakota Museum in Chamberlain preserves Lakota history including the Black Hills seizure story. You can explore the “Broken Promises” exhibit in the museum’s West section, which covers treaty violations and traditional land loss through maps and artifacts.

The museum displays historical items showing life before and after government interference. Free admission gets you access to English-Lakota descriptions throughout all exhibits year-round.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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