Dr. Lilias Jarding has written an excellent piece on the history of gold mining, and the current gold rush, in addition to uranium and rare earths mining issues that is happening now in the Black Hills, published by the SD Standard Now (Much appreciated!)
Lilias writes: As of the end of January, 148,000 acres of the Black Hills were under active mining claims. This is 12.3% (now of the entire Black Hills National Forest.
“The Claims cover most of northern Lawrence County starting a few miles south of Spearfish and go from the Wyoming border to about 10 miles east of Deadwood, and the rare earths minerals project is 10 miles north of Sundance in the Bear Lodge mountains.”
All of this territory was reserved to the Lakota under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Four years later, the 1872 Mining Act (150 years old in May!) gave anyone the right to stake mining claims on federally controlled lands.
Click on the linked article below to read more. And consider donating to the SD Standard for helping us get the word out.
There’s a second gold rush underway in the Black Hills. Its impacts could produce environmental disaster for the region
If you haven’t been out in the Black Hills lately, you may have missed the fact that there’s a gold rush – one that could have far-reaching negative impacts on outdoor recreation, agriculture, tourism, water, cultural resources, and our state’s…
Black Hills Clean Water Alliance 