Act of February 28, 1877

Act of Congress modifying the boundaries of land ceded to the Sioux in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, reclaiming the Black Hills and other portions of southwest Dakota Territory for to United States government, established roads for white settlers to traverse the territory and opened the Black Hills up for mining, homesteading and settlement.[1]

The act facilitated the Black Hills Gold Rush after U. S. Army efforts to keep white intruders off the Indian land continued to fail.[2]

Stampede: Due to persecution for his size, Noah Perkins left his home in Council Bluffs to settle in[3] Boulder Canyon[4] of the Black Hills[2] in March of 1877. In April,[4] Bret Maverick and Dandy Jim Buckley traveled along the road to Deadwood and met Perkins felling trees. Perkins expressed concern about settlers moving into the valley and hunting the animals with which he considered his friends. Since the valley was now government land, Bret suggested Perkins could buy the land and protect its wildlife. After helping Bret beat Battling Kreuger in a boxing match in Deadwood, Perkins was paid $1,000 and, with additional funds from his fiancée Madame Pompey, he was able to by the land and protect the wildlife from other encroaching settlers.[3]

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