the black hills had been made a permanent indian reservation by the 1867 laramie treaty , but when the custer expedition of 1874 'found gold among the roots of grass , '' a stampede of fortune- hunters began flooding into the hills and trespassing on some of the indians ' most sacred lands. ; i 've been told by the sioux that `` when the white man found gold in the black hills it was like striking oil under the floor of the vatican . ''