The first white person to stand atop Harney Peak is also the first and only person buried up there. His name was Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy and his is the highest grave between the Rockies and the Alps!
McGillycuddy ranks as one of the Old West's forgotten heroes. He arrived in the Black Hills as a combination mapmaker and surgeon with the 1875 Jenny Expedition. Just the year before, George Armstrong Custer had nearly reached the top of Harney, but could not mount the last rock rampart. McGillycuddy succeeded by felling a tall pine tree against the cliff and using it as a sort of ladder to the top.
On the same expedition McGillycuddy and two companions stumbled upon a bubbling thermal spring that spilled into a natural rock bathtub. They had unwittingly discovered the future site and namesake of the resort town of Hot Springs.
Over the years, McGillycuddy developed a special relationship with the Sioux Indians. He was one of the few white men Crazy Horse trusted. When Crazy Horse's wife became ill, the warrior sought the doctor's care at Fort Robinson, Neb. There, McGillycuddy witnessed but couldn't prevent the fatal stabbing of Crazy Horse. And he was at the mystic leader's bedside through out that long, last night.
In1878 McGillycuddy was named chief administrator of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Years later McGillycuddy moved to Rapid City, where he dabbled in banking, helped found Dakota Power Co. (now called Black Hills Power and Light), and built a home at South Street and Mount Rushmore Road that still stands.
After the tragedy at Wounded Knee, Dr. McGillycuddy volunteered medical care for the living victims. Many were Indian women and children. He had been recalled to Pine Ridge to seek a peaceful solution to tensions arising from the Ghost Dance movement.
And McGillycuddy wasn't done showing South Dakota his breadth of talent. He would serve as president of the School of Mines, Surgeon General of the territory, and as a delegate to the state's Constitutional Convention.
McGillycuddy eventually moved to California. In 1918, an influenza epidemic was sweeping America. When it reached California, the aging doctor grabbed his bag and ranged through the dozens of remote communities fighting the disease. When the epidemic reached Alaska, he went there, too.
In 1939, the 90-year-old McGillycuddy died quietly. Pine Ridge's flag was lowered to half-mast. The Forest service allowed construction of a crypt in Harney's stone lookout-elevation 7242 feet. And a pilgrimage of pioneers deposited his ashes behind a brass plaque. Thereon is listed his Indian name of Wasicu Wakan, (pronounced Wah-she-shoo Wah-con) which translates as "holy medicine man."
10/01/03