People of the Land

People of the Land. Devils Tower National Monument. The Tower and Black Hills area have been a gathering place and home to many people. Archeological discoveries show that native people lived here 10,000 years ago. As time passed, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, Lakota, and Shoshone all developed cultural and spiritual connections with the Tower. They continue to hand down their beliefs from one generation to the next. , , The Great Race , Once the buffalo believed they were the most powerful creature. Humans thought this unfair. So the buffalo, humans, and all the animals held a race. Because humans only have two legs, four birds were chose to race for us. The race was long and hard. The animals ran, bleeding from their noses and mouths, staining the earth red. Their hooves pounded the earth so hard the racecourse sank and the land in the middle rose up to form the Black Hills. The magpie beat the buffalo for the humans. This is why the Indian people hunt and kill buffalo. , , Told by the Lakota of the origin of the red rocks that circle the Black Hills and the Belle Fourche River Valley at the Tower. , , (Map Caption) , This topographic map, from the 1859-60 Raynold’s Expedition, shows the Blacks Hills with Devils Tower labeled as Bear Lodge. , The race track can be seen today in the red rocks of the Spearfish Formation. The formation circles the perimeter of the Black Hills. , , (Photo Captions) , Spearfish Formation at Devils Tower National Monument , , Spearfish Formation at Wind Cave National Park