| Takes its name from Sundance Mountain. Sundance Mountain was named from the sun dances and tribal ceremonies that were held there. (WPA) Sundance Mountain is not shown as a separate feature on Bad Heart Bull's map but is known from other sources to have been a Lakota sacred site. According to Nicholas Black Elk, the Belle Fourche River was referred to as the Sun Dance River "in olden times" because it flowed near the old Sun Dance grounds and was only later referred to as the northern branch of the Good (Belle) River. A stream running through the Red Valley between Bear Lodge Butte and the Black Hills proper is still known as Sundance Creek. The importance of the traditional Sun Dance ground is also reflected in the name Sundance, Wyoming, and nearby Sundance Mountain. An account of the area around Sundance Mountain, written in 1886, refers to it as "a summer rendezvous of the Sioux who came there to hunt, gather berries, and hold their sun dance. (Sundstrom in Shoemaker) |
