The Rosebud Sioux Tribe reached a deal to buy a sacred site in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The tribe agreed to buy about 2,400 acres for $9 million. The land includes Pe' Sla, an important site for the Sioux Nation.

“We have come together as a nation,” President Cyril Scott, who was recently sworn into office, told the Associated Press. “Rosebud is ready to secure this land for our people.”

The tribe already made an earnest payment of $900,000 to the owners of the land, Leonard and Margaret Reynolds. The remaining $8.1 million is due in November.

The Indian Land Tenure Foundation helped the tribe with the earnest payment. “The real issue in all this is, you’ve got probably among the least well-off tribes in the country and a piece of land that is absolutely central to their culture ... and trying to put together a sum of money that is not insignificant,” Cris Stainbrook told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader. “We weren’t going to let them fall short.”

The Last Real Indians also led a fundraising effort over the Internet that has brought in more than $330,009.

Get the Story:
Tribe signs deal for Black Hills land (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 9/11)
Rosebud Sioux’s bid accepted for land in South Dakota considered sacred by tribes (AP 9/10)

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