Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, sacred land of the Lakota Indians, had long been the destination for prospectors. In 1874, Gen. George Armstrong Custer conducted an expedition into the Black Hills confirming rumors of gold. The findings of the expedition were widely publicized and the gold rush began. Unable to stem the tide of prospectors seeking their fortunes, the federal government opened Black Hills Native American land to settlement in 1877. During the rush, from 1874 to 1879, unknown numbers of mines were worked and more than 400 mining camps and towns sprang up in the gulches overnight. When the mines played out, most of the settlements died. Black Hills Gold Rush Towns looks at the mining towns that once flourished.