Harney Peak

Harney Peak
Hinhan Kaga (Lakota)
Harney Peak from Palmer Gulch (August 2006)
Highest point
Elevation	NAVD 88
Prominence
Listing	U.S. state high point
Coordinates
Geography
Harney Peak Pennington County, South Dakota, U.S.
Parent range	Black Hills
Topo map	USGS Custer
Climbing
First ascent	July 24, 1875 by Valentine McGillycuddy and party
Easiest route	hike, Trail 9

Harney Peak, or Hinhan Kaga is the highest natural point in South Dakota and the Black Hills. 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) WSW of Mount Rushmore. At 7,242 feet (2,207 m), it has been described by the Board on Geographical Names as the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Guadalupe Peak and Sierra Blanca also lie far to the east of the Continental Divide and are substantially higher, but the Rockies end north of the region of that latitude.

Hinhan Kaga

The natural point was originally called Hinhan Kaga by the Lakota Sioux. The peak was named in the late 1850s by Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren in honor of General William S. Harney, who was commander of the military in the Black Hills area in the late 1870s. Some modern-day Lakota have asked for a reinstatement of the original name of Hinhan Kaga. An argument put forth as a reasoning behind it is that the new name is offensive because General William Harney's men massacred Native American women and children during a battle in 1855.

History

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

Harney Peak is the site of the Sioux Native American Black Elk's "Great Vision" which he received when nine years old and the site to which he returned as an old man, accompanied by writer John Neihardt, who popularized the medicine man in his book Black Elk Speaks.

Neihardt recorded Black Elk's words regarding 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. "And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being."

Harney Peak was first used as a fire lookout tower in 1911, with nothing more than a wood crate placed at the summit. In 1920, a 12'x12' wood structure was built, and it was expanded to 16'x16' the following year. The Civilian Conservation Corps completed construction on the stone fire tower in 1938. Harney Peak fire tower was last staffed in 1967.

In May 2015 the South Dakota Board of Geographic Names recommended renaming Harney Peak Hinhan Kaga to remove the name of a soldier known for massacring Sioux women and children at the Battle of Blue Water Creek and to honor the original Lakota name for the mountain. At the end of the following month, the board reversed the recommendation that the peak be renamed stating that, "there was no public consensus on a new name." The recommendation will now go to a federal board.

Hiking

The summit can be reached from Sylvan Lake, Camp Remington, Highway 244, Palmer Creek Rd., Mount Rushmore, or Horse Thief Lake. From the trailhead at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, to the summit and back is about 7 miles (11 km). This is the shortest, least strenuous, and most popular route. No permit is required for use of the first portion of the trail. However, the United States Forest Service requires hikers to obtain a permit at a self-service kiosk located at the entrance to the Black Elk Wilderness area en route to the summit.

An old stone tower, once used as a fire lookout tower, is located at the summit. The ashes of Valentine McGillycuddy were interred near the base of the tower and a plaque reads, "Valentine McGillycuddy, Wasicu Wacan." Wasicu Wacan is Lakota for "Holy White Man." Note that "wacan" is commonly spelled "wakan" in some Lakota societies.

Gallery

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  Granite Knob and Harney's Peak, by William H. Illingworth, 1874

• 

  View from the top of the Harney Peak lookout tower.

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  Fire lookout tower at the summit.

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  A Mountain goat near the top of Harney Peak.

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  A man-made dam is located near the summit.

See also

• List of mountain peaks of North America
  • List of mountain peaks of the United States
    • List of mountains in South Dakota
    • List of U.S. states by elevation
• Black Hills