Pole Bending Horses for Sale near Rapid City, SD

About Rapid City, SD

The public discovery of gold in 1874 by the Black Hills Expedition, led by George Armstrong Custer, brought a mass influx of European-American miners and eventual settlers into this region of the Dakota Territory. Rapid City was founded in 1876 by a group of unsuccessful miners trying to create other chances; they promoted their new city as the "Gateway to the Black Hills"; it was originally known as "Hay Camp." The "Gateway" nickname is shared by neighboring Box Elder. In February 1876 John Richard Brennan and Samuel Scott, with a small group of men, laid out the site of the present Rapid City. It was eventually named for the spring-fed Rapid Creek that flows through it. The land speculators measured off a square mile and designated the six blocks in the center as a business section.