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BLACK HILLS

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 22 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

BLACK HILLS , an isolated See also:group of mountains, covering an See also:area of about 6000 sq. m. in the adjoining corners of See also:South Dakota and See also:Wyoming, U.S.A. They rise on an See also:average some 2000 ft. above their See also:base, the highest See also:peak, Harney, having an See also:altitude above the See also:sea of 7216 ft. They are drained and in large See also:part enclosed by the See also:North (or Belle Fourche) and South forks of the See also:Cheyenne See also:river (at whose junction a See also:fur-trading See also:post was established about 1830) ; and are surrounded by semi-arid, alkaline plains lying 3000 to 3500 ft. above the sea. The See also:mass has an elliptical shape, its See also:long See also:axis, which extends nearly N.N.W.-S.S.E., being about 120 M. and its shorter axis about 40 M. long. The hills are formed by a See also:short, broad, anticlinal See also:fold, which is See also:flat or nearly so on its See also:summit. From this fold the stratified beds have in large part been removed, the more See also:recent having been almost entirely eroded from the elevated mass. The edges of these are now found encircling the mountains and forming a See also:series of fairly continuous rims of hogbacks. The carboniferous and older stratified beds still See also:cover the See also:west See also:half of the hills, while from the See also:east half they have been removed, exposing the See also:granite. Scientific exploration began in 1849, and systematic See also:geological investigation about 1875. See also:Rich See also:gold placers had already been discovered, and in 1875 the See also:Sioux See also:Indians within whose territory the hills had until then been included, were removed, and the lands were open to See also:white settlers. Subsequently See also:low-grade See also:quartz mines were found and See also:developed, and have furnished a notable part of the gold See also:supply of the See also:country (about $100,000,000 from 1875 to 1901). The output is to-See also:day relatively small in comparison with that of many other See also:fields, but there are one or two permanent gold mines of See also:great value working low-grade ore.

The See also:

silver product from 1879 to 1901 was about $4,154,000. Deposits of See also:copper, See also:tin, See also:iron and See also:tungsten have been discovered, and a variety of other See also:mineral products (See also:graphite, See also:mica, See also:spodumene, See also:coal, See also:petroleum, &c.). In See also:sharp contrast to the surrounding plains the See also:climate is subhumid, especially in the higher Harney region. There is an abundance of fertile See also:soil and magnificent grazing See also:land. A third of the See also:total area is covered with forests of See also:pine and other trees, which have for the most part been made a See also:forest-reserve by the See also:national See also:government. Jagged crags, sudden abysses, magnificent canyons, forests with open parks, undulating hills, See also:mountain prairies, freaks of weathering and erosion, and the enclosing lines of the successive hog-backs afford scenery of remarkable variety and See also:wild beauty. There are several interesting See also:limestone caverns, and Sylvan See also:Lake, in the high mountain See also:district, is an important resort. See the publications of the See also:United States Geological Survey (especially Professional See also:Paper No. 26, Economic Resources of the See also:Northern Black Hills, 1904), and of the South Dakota School of Mines (Bulletin No. 4, containing a See also:history and bibliography of Black Hills investigations) ; also R. L. See also:Dodge, The Black Hills: A See also:Minute Description .

(New See also:

York, 1876).

End of Article: BLACK HILLS

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