Name: Sundance

 

County: Crook

 

Authority Name: Sundance (Wyo.)

 

GNIS Entry

 

Longitude:  1042233W

Latitude: 442423N

 

Legal Description:

 

Elevation: 4737/1444

(ft/m)

 

Feature Type: Populated Place

 

Origin of Name:

Takes it name from Sundance Mountain. Sundance Mountain was named from the sun dances and tribal ceremonies that were held there. 

Source: WPA

 

Sundance Mountain is not shown as a separate feature on Bad Heart Bull's map but is known from other sources to have been a Lakota sacred site. According to Nicholas Black Elk, the Belle Fourche River was referred to as the Sun Dance River "in olden times" because it flowed near the old Sun Dance grounds and was only later referred to as the northern branch of the Good (Belle) River. A stream running through the Red Valley between Bear Lodge Butte and the Black Hills proper is still known as Sundance Creek. The importance of the traditional Sun Dance ground is also reflected in the name Sundance, Wyoming, and nearby Sundance Mountain. An account of the area around Sundance Mountain, written in 1886, refers to it as "a summer rendezvous of the Sioux who came there to hunt, gather berries, and hold their sun dance.

Source: Sundstrom in Shoemaker

 

Other Names: 

 

Alternative Spellings:

 

History:

Sundance Post Office was established on August 17, 1882 with Philemon J. Foulboeuf as postmaster.

Source: Wyoming Post Offices

 

The county seat of Crook County, 24 miles southwest from Aladdin and 28 miles north from Upton, the nearest railroad point. Daily stages from Moorcroft and Aladdin. Located at the foot of the Bear Lodge Mountain Range and Sundance Mountain with an elevation of 6,000 feet. Here the Indians were wont to hold the sun dance, which gives the name to the town. The tourist gets an excellent view of the "Devil's Tower," rising 1,280 feet from the Belle Fourche River with a flat top of an acre and a quarter. There is a heavy growth of timber on the mountains in the neighborhood of Sundance; coal and minerals of various kinds are found. There is a deposit of marble at Black Buttes, 10 miles away. Good schools and churches, excellent water.  

Source: Wyoming State Business Directory, 1910-11 

 

Stories:

 

Maps:

1:24000 Quadrangle: Sundance West

 

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