Though part of the North American Cordillera, it is generally considered to be geologically separate from the Rocky Mountains.

[9][10] The peak's fire lookout tower and the staircase leading to it, as well as a nearby dam and pumphouse, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

In punitive retaliation for other Sioux raids, in September 1855 Harney's forces killed Sicangu warriors, women and children in what Americans called the Battle of Blue Water Creek in Garden County, Nebraska.

[15] He became known beyond the Lakota in part through the book Black Elk Speaks (1932), written by John G. Neihardt from long talks with the shaman.

[17][18] South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard opposed the name change, as did other state officials, and no action was taken in 2015.

[20] Black Elk Peak and the Black Hills were located within the Great Sioux Reservation established by the United States government in the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868; it covered most of the territory west of the Missouri River in South Dakota (the area now called West River).

The first American settlers believed to have reached the summit were a party led by General George Armstrong Custer in 1874, during the Black Hills expedition.

Black Elk was sharing much of his life and philosophy with Neihardt through long talks translated by his son.

[note 1] Neihardt recorded Black Elk's words about his vision as follows: "I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world," he is quoted as saying.

[26][27][28] American settlers used Black Elk Peak as a fire lookout tower in 1911, with a wood crate placed at the summit for a seat.

The federal Civilian Conservation Corps enlisted local men and completed construction of a stone fire tower in 1938, one of numerous projects in the state during the Great Depression.

In 1982, the lookout tower and its stairway, dam, and pumphouse were nominated by the USDA Forest Service for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.