Bearlodge Writers
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Sundance, WY
The town of Sundance was named
for nearby Sundance Mountain where the Lakota and their allies held a religious
ceremony each summer. Festivities lasted several weeks and centered around a
four-day period in which young men fasted, prayed, blew whistles made of eagle
bones, waited for visions, and danced around a ceremonial altar pole adorned
with an eagle nest and a buffalo skull. The sun dance was an important communal
and religious event, and forms of it are still practiced by some Plains Indian
groups.
Nestled in the western part of the Black Hills, Sundance was established in 1879. Population in 2000 was 1161. Primarily an agricultural community, the population is increasing due to the mineral boom in nearby Campbell County. Its scenic beauty, low taxes, schools and hospital make this a sought-after area in which to live.
Sundance is also the town
where Harry Longabaugh received his outlaw title of the Sundance Kid. He was
convicted of horse theft and served out his term in the local county jail, since
the state penitentiary was full. The county museum has some interesting
memorabilia highlighting the celebrated outlaw's career.
About The Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains
The
Black Hills form a unique landmass, sometimes called a “forested island
in a grassland seas.” Viewed from the plains, the Hills appear black
because of their heavy covering of ponderosa pine. An eagle-eye view of
western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming shows a teardrop-shaped
“island in the plains,” well separated from the Rocky Mountains to the
west. The Bear Lodge Mountains occupy the northwest third of the
teardrop, and at their northwestern edge rises Devils Tower—Mato Tipila,
or Bear Lodge.
Ancient uplift formed this geologic dome of crystalline granites and
basalts, and subsequent erosion around its central core exposed rings of
sandstones, shales, limestones and conglomerates. Caves lace the ground
beneath the Hills---passageways for spirits and stories, creation myths
and sacred chants. Here too is gold.
Geologically distinctive, the Black Hills embrace a unique biological
diversity. They gather bits of eastern deciduous forests like the bur
oak; ponderosa pine from the west; birches from the boreal forests of
Canada; yuccas from the southwest; the many grasses of the surrounding
prairie; as well as ancient native ferns, mosses, and orchids.
Like the plants drawn to these hills, so have the animals left their
footprints in the varied habitats--- mule deer and whitetails,
pronghorns, coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions, beavers and otters,
blue herons, eagles and crows, Canada geese. And the buffalo---bone and
flesh, sinew and spirit of Indian culture.
Waves of human immigration brought first the tribes of the Great Plains,
then explorers, hunters, gold seekers and miners, and settlers with
their horses, cattle, and sheep. All pressed footprints deep into the
dust, overlaid until only poetry can pattern their passing and catch
wingprints on the wind. So too do we leave our prints on the landscape
of the Hills.