In 1877, an act of Congress opened up the Black Hills to white settlement. Prior to that, the region had been off limit, or at least it was meant to be that way. The United States Government had made some attempts to keep non-Indians out of the Hills, but the attempts were seldom successful.
Those attempts became increasingly difficult after 1874, when gold was discovered, or at least publicly acknowledged, in the Hills. As the Gold Rush began to boom, the Hills would be flooded with those seeking their fortune, or searching for a new life.
By the time the Hills officially opened to settlement, around 10,000 people would be living in the Hills, and by 1880, Lawrence County, which encompassed most of the Northern Hills, would be the most populated county in Dakota Territory.
The opening of the Hills would raise a number of questions, as well as a number of issues. One interesting discussion that this opening would start was, what do we do with the Black Hills region now?
Eldorado
The opening of the Hills would create an exceptionally messy situation for the U.S. Government. They were still bound by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which set aside the Black Hills for the Lakota, who the country was also at war with. At the same time, the government officially recognized that the Black Hills were now property of the United States. From a legal standpoint, the Hills were in a sort of limbo, and truly was part of the wild west.
Adding to the chaos was the fact that there was virtually no representation for the Black Hills either in National or Territorial affairs. By the time the Hills opened, the territorial legislature had adjourned, and since the sessions were biennial, nearly two years were set to pass before those in the Hills could be recognized on a larger level.
For many in the Hills, this lack of representation was not acceptable. Quickly, complaints would begin to be made that the laws of Dakota Territory didn’t sit well with them. That since much of the Territory was based on agriculture, it did not suit a mining culture.
There was also a vast distance between the Hills and the governmental center of the Territory in Yankton. Traveling from the Hills to Yankton would take an entire week, which would cause those attending a Court session, or conducting legal business, to take at least two weeks off, just for travel.
Because of these hardships, those in the Black Hills almost instantly started to petition to have their area transformed into a new territory. And that territory would be named Eldorado.
This territory would be set up as a mining territory, where the laws would suit such an environment. Or so it was said. Many of the demands instead were skewed more towards private interests, and personal schemes. But there were true benefits that were proposed as well.
First and foremost, the Hills would have not only representation of those in the area, but it would take some burden off them as well. By creating a new territory, they could have three judges right at home. And when the legislature would convene, they could more actively promote laws that would benefit and suit mining districts.
At a glance, it would seem to make sense that the Black Hills would form a territory. The population of the area was larger than Wyoming, and Lawrence County was the largest county in Dakota Territory.
Besides population, they also had money. It was expected that by 1878, the Black Hills would be producing more than a million dollars’ worth of gold a month, which was more than what all of Colorado was yielding.
The Hills also were rich with timber, and other natural resources, allowing the cities in the area to quickly be built up and expand. This in turn lent itself to many of the towns in the Hills to being able to build a variety of different buildings and businesses.
For many, both within and outside of the Hills, creating the territory of Eldorado just seemed to make sense. As some would report on it, that the Hills would become a new territory almost seemed like a forgone conclusion.
So certain that Eldorado would become a reality that an election had been held that appointed Dr. C.W. Meyer as a Representative of the Hills, who would be sent off not only to Yankton, but also to Washington.
Dissent
Not everyone was supportive of the Black Hills becoming their own separate territory though. Some would see it largely as a money grabbing scheme pushed by wealthy private interests who were only looking at growing their wealth and power.
In retort, those advocating for a new territory claimed that the dissent was based on wealth and power as well. In particular, that the Black Hills separating would destroy South Dakota’s chance of becoming a state in the near future, which those in Yankton were secretly plotting for. The claim would also be made that the Hills were the only source of revenue for the Dakota officials.
But there would be much more to the dissent. There was more going on in Dakota Territory than just the Black Hills being opened. Out of Bismarck, there were growing talks about splitting the territory in two; creating a new Territory in the west called Lincoln, and leaving the eastern part as Dakota. Such a proposal would be introduced to the Senate by a senator from Nebraska.
The split was part of a scheme by those in Bismarck that sought to make their town the capitol of Dakota Territory, and if that failed, making them a capitol anyway they could. But such a division flew in the face of years of work to create a division running east to west, splitting north from south. Such a division made sense, as it would be the way that the railroads would travel, and thus formed more connected areas.
When the Black Hills opened, the complaints coming from the area about how the laws and policies were burdensome lent itself to those in Bismarck, and their goals. Bismarck, after all, would be a stopping point for those looking for gold in the Hills. This would intimately tie the two together.
However, as many would point out, the laws in Dakota Territory were not all that different from those in California during their gold rush, which was able to flourish. The laws overall were generally seen as fair and logical.
The division would also be against the wishes of a majority of those in the state. Those pushing for the split did so in very clever manners, but they were also in the minority, and largely fueled more by their own interests than what would be best for the territory.
Quite possibly the largest objection though was that diving the Territory into an east and west section made very little sense overall. By splitting east and west, it would have bound together very disconnected areas, that had very different interests. And that were not connected in effective manners.
That the division of the Territory should be along the 46th parallel was what most saw as logical. It was the plan that had the most backing, both in Congress and in the Territory itself, because it made sense from a commercial and social perspective. It was the natural way in which the two areas were already divided.
It would become clear that those looking to a division into an east and west section were doing so not for the benefit of the whole, but for their own selfish reasons.
Statehood
Even though the creation of a new territory for either the Black Hills itself, or with the inclusion of the western half of Dakota Territory, would quickly be seen as not only illogical, but improbable, it did bring up a series of other questions. What to do with the Black Hills, and the impact they had when they opened, was still in the air.
With the Territory of Eldorado having been written off, a short-lived movement grew that sought for the Black Hills to join Wyoming. Nothing would come of the proposal.
A movement that wouldn’t quickly go away though was a serious fight for statehood. Specifically separating the northern part of the Territory from the south, and creating two states: Pembina and Dakota, or North and South Dakota respectively.
With the Black Hills opening, and the population in the southern part of the territory having grown considerably, the area had finally broke through the 60,000 population threshold, which historically was what was needed to become a state.
The proposal for statehood would begin as early as 1877, and was tied in with talks of the Black Hills opening. What the Black Hills seemed to highlight was that some shift was needed, and a number of proposals would be put forward.
Dividing into a northern and southern state would be given a great amount of fuel as well from the Black Hills opening up and their attempt at forming a new territory. With interests in Bismarck so aggressively fighting for an east/west split with the Black Hills being on their side, or for the capitol to be moved to their own city, a great amount of resentment was created.
Those in Bismarck would create a good deal of dislike for Yankton, while also putting the Black Hills in many people’s good gracious, as the picture that was being painted was that Yankton was subjecting and using the Hills for their own nefarious purposes.
While the Bismarck scheme would eventually fade away, the resentment between north and south would not. Bad blood had been created, and it would only grow. The very idea of continuing to be one unified region just was not an option. Two states were a must, and South Dakota would begin that journey by attempting to get what they thought was their right. But statehood would be a long road, as they would have to sit and wait until North Dakota could reach the necessary population to become a state of their own.