The auction of nearly 2,000 acres of Black Hills land considered sacred by Native American tribes has been canceled at the owners' request.
Brock Auction Co. planned to sell five tracts of land owned by Leonard and Margaret Reynolds on Saturday. But Bruce Brock, president of Brock Auction Co., Inc., confirmed Thursday afternoon that the auction was off. Brock declined to comment further.
The auction was canceled on the direction of the owners' representative, according to a statement on the Brock Auction website.
Tribal officials were just getting word of the cancellation Thursday afternoon and had no idea why the auction was called off.
"We're on pins and needles," said Chase Iron Eyes, owner of Last Real Indians, a website and organization raising money to buy the land. "We're nervous. We don't know if it's good or bad or what it is."
"It could be good and it could be bad," said Rodney Bordeaux, president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. "We just don't know what the family wants. That's kind of the unknown. We'll just have to wait and see."
The Rosebud Sioux Tribe had raised nearly $250,000 to buy the land, according to the tribe's website. The tribe also had pledged another $1.3 million toward the purchase of the land, which has an estimated value between $6 million and $10 million.
As long as the family does not replace the auction with a private sale, the move could give tribes a chance to plan how to buy the land or block the sale, said Donna Salomon, spokeswoman for the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
"It's good news, but on the other hand, we're kind of like why?" Salomon said.
Tribes of the Great Sioux Nation consider the site key to their creation story, and members feared new owners would develop the land they call Pe' Sla. Leonard Little Finger, a language teacher in Oglala, said he has taken groups of schoolchildren to the site to discuss tribal customs, and he hopes to be able to keep doing so in the future.
The auction cancellation gives tribes time to come up with alternatives to a land auction, Little Finger said.
"I just hated the possibility that a special sacred site was going to be coming into a money-making situation," he said. "If the family has canceled that sale, there's still the possibility of a resolution."
Contact Ruth Moon at 394-8415 or ruth.moon@rapidcityjournal.com (SOURCE)
Ranch land near Deerfield Lake considered holy by the Great Sioux Nation will not be sold at auction Saturday as originally planned. The land is owned by Leonard and Margaret Reynolds of Hill City.
I hope is it for good!!! This land must be given back to its rightful owners - the Lakota people!!!
I also hope that it is for good. Congratulations to the Lakota nation from Denmark
Sacred land should " never" be taken away from America Indians! This needs to be out inain stream media. I'm sure there are many Many American people that would help secure this land however necessary (donations etc.).
If the land must be sold, let it be sold or given back to the people it belongs with. And I don't mean to the highest bidder either. I don't know the history of how Leonard and Margaret Reynolds got the land, or how long they've owned it. But THEY need to do the right thing and not tack on extra dollar signs just because they can.
All lands stolen from the people should be given back,There should be some honor in there words writen so long ago.
This is sacred land to all not only American Indians but also all of Aboriginal people from Canada and to also other Nations as well. I always say if people try to make money from Sacred land. NOTHING will ever work regardless of what they try to make of that land. Just leave as is. Happy it's cancelled for now, but whats up with that....PIPES PEOPLE. Just saying!!!!!!
-PLEASE- MR.+MRS.REYNOLDS,
ACCEPT MY BLESSING OF LOVE IN ABUNDANCE.
THIS IS A BREATH TAKING MOMENT IN TIME...
IMAGINE HOW UPLIFTED THE HEARTS and SOULS
WOULD BE- *OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTHS*
.. SOULS THAT CRY OUT IN ANGUISH ..
-PLEASE BE MERCIFUL
Maybe someone going to put s railway through and enslave some minorty to build it.
Dear Mr and Mrs Leonard and Margaret Reynolds of Hill City, We appeal to your good heart and pray you work with the people!! Lets do something right for once and return that land to the Ancestors their children who are the rightfull owners.
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard and Margaret Reynolds of Hill City. I am calling on your highest values and your capacity to do what is right for all involved. Right now, it is very clear that if the Lakota tribes are granted more time, support will come from all over the world. It is already pouring in. In every continent this information is starting to circulate and good people everywhere want to see the Sioux be custodians of their own Sacred Lands.
It's good the sale was canceled but the resulting state of limbo is frightening. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are compassionate and forward thinking enough to realize what an opportunity this is for the people of America to do something that approaches "honorable" for Native Fellow Americans. I too, believe that with enough press and web effort their selling price or an even higher amount could be raised to facilitate returning this most important piece of heritage to it's rightful owners. I can't believe if the story of this piece of land and it's history were really known nation wide that hundreds of thousands of people would not donate at least $1.00 to this cause. Then there's the rest of the world to consider. It's a shame the government can't or won't step in and right the wrong that it perpetrated so long ago. It truly would open the floodgates of retribution and beg the question of setting things right with other tribes as well. I doubt the government is willing to face that. Putting the case to America and the world seems the best thing to do. It's a matter of healing hearts, righting wrongs and recognizing the need for fostering spirituality on the planet.
I agree with Charles Horn..give it back to the people it was taken from. I would like to know more about this peice of land and how Mr.& Mrs. Reynolds aquired it. I have made 3 trips to South Dakota, and I feel something pulling my at my soul when I gaze at all the beauty of the Black Hills. Maybe it's the indian blood in my veins, but I feel at peace when I am there. I feel that if the tribes want to buy it back, then let them, but it would be a far better thing to just give it to them !! We restore historic houses and monuments for the white people's heritage, why can't we keep the sacred land for the indian nations? If someone knows any info on this, please send it to me at rebelsoul56@yahoo.com Thank You !!
I am a Reynolds and i will see to it that if sold it stay with my native people this is where it belongs
Land that has been in the family for years is not given away it is sold as it has value obviously or there wouldnt be such lucrative offers i ask you if given the land for free would you give it back at no charge i think not oh but you are giving your opinion on something that does not belong to you this is part of the Reynolds family as it has been for decades so consider that nothing is free everything in this life has a cost and a consequence and we are Native American the Indians live across the ocean in India
What kind of connection can you feel to land if you don't know who you are and are not proud of it as your responses are anonymous? You will never be handed this land and you cannot keep what you don't own.This land has been honored as ceremonies have been held on it for years and the auction was cancelled.