Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion | |
![]() The pavilion in 2021, with arch sculpture in foreground | |
Location | U.S. Highway 16 |
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Nearest city | Rockerville, South Dakota |
Coordinates | 43°58′21.5″N103°18′47.6″W / 43.972639°N 103.313222°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1934 |
Built by | Duhamel, Alex, Bud and Peter |
Architectural style | Polygonal |
NRHP reference No. | 95001475 [1] |
Added to NRHP | December 14, 1995 |
The Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion is a historic event venue on the south side of U.S. Highway 16 northeast of Rockerville, South Dakota, near the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. Built in 1934, it hosted the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant, a Lakota tourist performance created by Black Elk in 1927. The pageant ran every summer until its discontinuation in 1957. A major attraction in the 1930s, its purpose was to not only profit off of tourism to the nearby Black Hills and Mount Rushmore but also—according to Black Elk—to represent Lakota traditions in a respectful, authentic way. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 as a venue of enduring cultural and religious significance, and for its association with Black Elk.
Black Elk, a local Lakota medicine man and community leader, established the Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant around 1927; this was the first public Native American-created dance pageant in the United States, as those preceding it had been established by non-Native-owned Wild West shows. [2] Black Elk himself had toured internationally with Buffalo Bill in the late 19th century. [2] Black Elk aimed to preserve Lakota culture "and, at the same time, to teach non-Indian tourists that the Lakota were not savages and that their culture was a thing of beauty which deserved respect". [3] Black Elk had a close friendship with the Duhamel family from nearby Rapid City, and in its early years, the pageant was held at the Duhamels' general store. [3] Alex Duhamel, the patriarch of the family, had moved to Rapid City in 1879 and traded with the local Lakota, with whom he had formed a good relationship. In 1929, the Duhamels purchased the land on which the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns are located, just off South Dakota Highway 16; tourists traveling from Rapid City to Mount Rushmore had to drive past it, and the caverns themselves thus became a popular tourist stop. For the same reason, Black Elk deemed the entry road to the caverns as a good location for the pageant's theater. [3] Additionally, the caverns themselves and the greater Rockerville Gulch area are sacred and culturally significant to the Lakota. [2]
Alex Duhamel and his sons Pete and Bud helped build the pavilion, which was completed in 1934. [3] A tipi-shaped building was constructed outside the hall to be used for ticket sales. [4] A model of a traditional Lakota village, called the Sioux Indian Village, was also set up at this time next to the pavilion. Guests could walk through this village and interact with performers from the show; tribe members also sold their own wares here, which were available for purchase. [2] Sitting Bull's name was appended to the attraction in honor of the late chief; one of the pageant performers was his nephew, John Sitting Bull. [5]
Public performances were held twice daily—once in the morning and again in the evening—during the summer months from 1934 to 1957. Performers stayed at a private campsite on the grounds behind the village and proceeded from there to the pavilion, led by Alex and Peter Duhamel. Peter was also the original translator and emcee for the event. [3] The pageant consisted of traditional Lakota ceremonies, led by Black Elk himself, which included healing, holy pipe, burial, and mourning rituals. Dances included the Ghost Dance, Sun Dance, and a Rabbit Dance, the latter of which the public was invited to participate in. [2] New ceremonies were introduced for special occasions or to attract fresh publicity; an advertisement from 1940 promoted a "dog feed", in which the Lakota would roast and prepare a dog for a feast; and a "horse dance", which used horses to represent the four directions of the Earth. [6] At the end of each performance, a hat was passed around for donations, and those proceeds went directly to the performers. [5]
The 1883 Code of Indian Offenses had prohibited Native Americans—particularly the Lakota—from performing most of these rituals and dances, including the Ghost and Sun Dances, and was especially enforced after the Ghost Dance War and subsequent Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. Thus, when the Sioux Falls Dance Pageant began performing in 1927, its ceremonies were technically illegal under United States law, until the repeal of this ban later in 1934. [7] A 1940s advertisement claimed that the pageant had received "special permission" from the federal government to continue. [2]
Traveling shows were also performed in Rapid City and across the Midwest. Once a day during the summer months, a group of dancers would perform outside the Duhamels' downtown mercantile store or at Baken Park in Rapid City; the downtown performances were later canceled due to traffic concerns. Other cities where shows were performed included Omaha, Nebraska; and Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1938. [2] Chief Red Bear joined the group at their Cedar Falls shows; he and Black Elk also spoke about their experience at the Wounded Knee Massacre there. [8]
After the outbreak of World War II, the deaths of both Alex and Peter Duhamel in 1941, and Black Elk's death in 1950, interest in the pageant waned. Bud Duhamel had taken over operations after the deaths of his father and brother. Black Elk had retired some years prior to his death, and it became difficult for the Duhamels to find Lakota who were willing to perform after his departure from the show. The Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant eventually closed in 1957. Bud Duhamel continued to operate the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns until 1998; the caverns themselves were open to public tours until 2015. [2] Today, the dance pavilion is used as storage space. [3] On December 14, 1995, the pavilion was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its cultural and religious significance, contribution to Lakota history, and its association with Black Elk. [3]
The Duhamel Sioux Indian Pageant was well-received by tourists, who often sold out the venue. The opportunity to meet Native Americans enticed white tourists from across the country. [7] The Duhamels' personal business in Rapid City also saw an increase in sales due to the name association. The pageant was so successful and the economic opportunities so promising that many Lakota began performing in new cultural events in communities across the Black Hills—such as Deadwood, Hot Springs, Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State Park―and even began selling entry to their campsites. [7] [2]
The pageant and associated tourism provided a good source of income for the dancers during the Great Depression, which had heavily damaged the Black Hills' economy and left local families struggling, including many Lakota. [2] Employment opportunities were already limited for Native Americans, who had not been allowed to leave their reservations without special permission until the 1920s. Most buildings there lacked water and electricity, and food was scarce. Land on the reservations was usually of poor quality for farming. The pageants, parades, and other tourist attractions in the Black Hills created a respite from poverty. [7]
Anywhere from 25 to 50 Lakota participated in each performance and the greater Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns property; bands with a confirmed presence included the Sicangu, Oglala, and Hunkpapa. Performers often brought their families to live with them at the campsite during the summer, and these family members would often work in other roles at the pavilion or the caverns. Primary accounts from employees themselves say that the Lakota performers were respected and never mistreated. [2] Additionally, the sale of their own homemade goods and crafts in the mock village area generated additional income for the performers and their families. The pageant provided an outlet for the Lakota to perform the ceremonies that had been suppressed for decades by the United States government. Lakota could also now afford to visit, and live at, sites that were culturally and spiritually important, such as the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns, the nearby Wind Caves, and the Black Hills themselves. [7]
However, offensive language and stereotypes were often used to promote the show as an exotic spectacle. Although Black Elk had authored the show, he could not control the language used for its publicity. [2] Newspaper and radio advertisements exploited the public's perception of Native traditions as "savage" and violent, and implied that the performers were of a bygone time. [2] One newspaper advertisement from 1940 read, "The soft beat of the tom-tom mingled with the savage war cry of the last savage will make your blood tingle." [6]
The pavilion is an octagonal theatre in the round, constructed out of white vertical wooden boards and on a poured concrete foundation. All eight sides have large swinging double doors that provide multiple entry points. The low-grade conical roof is supported by a central hexagonal column and tie beams that run the length of the ceiling. An octagonal cupola sits atop the roof; both are topped with asphalt shingles. The inside features five large murals depicting local places of interest created by Sicangu artist Godfrey Broken Rope. The inside has remained unchanged since 1957, when the audience bleachers were removed. The tipi structure that was used for ticket sales was demolished in the early 1990s. [3]
A 60-foot-tall (18 m) sculpture, crafted from three wooden arches, sits just south of the pavilion. [2] The arches were originally intended to be installed in the Keystone Wye bridge in 1967 but were rejected after they fell off of a truck en route to the construction site. Although deemed structurally sound, the South Dakota Department of Transportation decided to take no chances and retired the potentially-damaged load. These arches were to be part of a proposed Rushmore Memorial Arch Park, [9] at a different location along U.S. 16, where they would encompass and bring attention to a memorial to five key people behind the creation of Mount Rushmore. [10] The arches were put up, and visible into the 1980s, but the memorial park itself was never completed. [11] The structure, known as "The Arches", was moved to its present-day location during the 1990s. [12]
South Dakota is a landlocked state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota Sioux tribe, which comprises a large portion of the population with nine reservations currently in the state and has historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the 17th largest by area, but the 5th least populous, and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Pierre is the state capital, and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 213,900, is South Dakota's most populous city. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". South Dakota is bordered by North Dakota to the north, Minnesota to the east, Iowa to the southeast, Nebraska to the south, Wyoming to the west, and Montana to the northwest.
The Lakota are a Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux, they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western Dakota (Wičhíyena). Their current lands are in North and South Dakota. They speak Lakȟótiyapi—the Lakota language, the westernmost of three closely related languages that belong to the Siouan language family.
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples. Collectively, they are the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or "Seven Council Fires". The term "Sioux", an exonym from a French transcription ("Nadouessioux") of the Ojibwe term "Nadowessi", can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or to any of the nation's many language dialects.
Rapid City is the second most populous city in South Dakota after Sioux Falls and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western South Dakota, on the Black Hills' eastern slope. The population was 74,703 as of the 2020 census.
Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement.
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota, United States. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture, called Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively. Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million visitors annually to the memorial park which covers 1,278 acres. The mountain's elevation is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.
Badlands National Park is an American national park located in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects 242,756 acres of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. The National Park Service manages the park, with the South Unit being co-managed with the Oglala Lakota tribe.
The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, was the deadliest mass shooting in American history, involving nearly three hundred Lakota people shot and killed by soldiers of the United States Army. The massacre, part of what the U.S. military called the Pine Ridge Campaign, occurred on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, following a botched attempt to disarm the Lakota camp. The previous day, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside approached Spotted Elk's band of Miniconjou Lakota and 38 Hunkpapa Lakota near Porcupine Butte and escorted them five miles westward to Wounded Knee Creek, where they made camp. The remainder of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, led by Colonel James W. Forsyth, arrived and surrounded the encampment. The regiment was supported by a battery of four Hotchkiss mountain guns. The Army was catering to the anxiety of settlers who called the conflict the Messiah War and were worried the Ghost Dance signified a potentially dangerous Sioux resurgence. Historian Jeffrey Ostler wrote in 2004, "Wounded Knee was not made up of a series of discrete unconnected events. Instead, from the disarming to the burial of the dead, it consisted of a series of acts held together by an underlying logic of racist domination."
Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk, was a wičháša wakȟáŋ and heyoka of the Oglala Lakota people. He was a second cousin of the war leader Crazy Horse and fought with him in the Battle of Little Bighorn. He survived the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. He toured and performed in Europe as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota, with a small portion of it extending into Nebraska. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was created by the Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888. in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border. It consists of 3,468.85 sq mi (8,984 km2) of land area and is one of the largest reservations in the United States.
Black Elk Peak, formerly known as Harney Peak, is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the Midwestern United States. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills National Forest. The peak lies 3.7 mi (6.0 km) west-southwest of Mount Rushmore. At 7,244 feet (2,208 m), it is the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Though part of the North American Cordillera, it is generally considered to be geologically separate from the Rocky Mountains.
The Ghost Dance War was the military reaction of the United States government against the spread of the Ghost Dance movement on Lakota Sioux reservations in 1890 and 1891. The U.S. Army designation for this conflict was Pine Ridge Campaign. White settlers called it the Messiah War. Lakota Sioux reservations were occupied by the U.S. Army, causing fear, confusion, and resistance among the Lakota. It resulted in the Wounded Knee Massacre wherein the 7th Cavalry killed over 250 Lakota, primarily unarmed women, children, and elders, at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. The end of the Ghost Dance War is usually dated January 15, 1891, when Lakota Ghost-Dancing leader Kicking Bear decided to meet with US officials. However, the U.S. government continued to use the threat of violence to suppress the Ghost Dance at Lakota reservations Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock.
Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns was a limestone cave complex nine miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota on the way to Mount Rushmore and by the Wind Cave National Park. From 1934 to 2015, the cave was open for the public to tour daily from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.
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The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to 7,244 feet (2,208 m), is the range's highest summit. The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest. The name of the hills in Lakota is Pahá Sápa. The Black Hills are considered a holy site. The hills are so called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they are covered in evergreen trees.
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SD Nelson was born Stephen D. Nelson at the United States Army Station Hospital in Fort Knox, Kentucky. He is an American illustrator and author of many children's books including Black Elk’s Vision, Gift Horse, The Star People and Buffalo Bird Girl. Nelson's work has been praised as “stirring, inspirational, original and beautifully illustrated”. His books have received the American Indian Library Association – Honor Book Award 2016.; the Spur Award – Western Writers of America 2004, 2006 ; the Notable Book Award – American Library Association 2001, 2011, and the Bluebonnet Master List Award – Texas Library Association 2011.
John Sitting Bull was an American farmer, circus performer and actor. He was the stepson of the Lakota leader Sitting Bull.