"Peter Rosen came to the hills in 1882 and served as pastor of St. Ambrose in Deadwood." -Black Hills Gold Rush Towns (2010)
"Considered the only authentic history of the early times in the Black Hills country." - Catholic Heritage in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (1964)
"Peter Rosen became so interested in the Black Hills that he wrote an excellent book about them." - Longhorns Bring Culture (1961)
"Pa-Ha-Sa-Pah is a large and authoritative history of the South Dakota." - History of South Dakota (1904)

Arriving in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1882, with the most imposing task of Christianizing its inhabitants and the nearby hostile tribes, Rev. Peter Rosen (1850-1906) would serve as a missionary for 7 years in the Black Hills, before eventually writing the authoritative history of the hills in his 1895 book "Pa-ha-sa-pah: Or, The Black Hills of South Dakota."

While living in Deadwood Rosen became interested in Black Hills history, and started collecting any writing he could to gain a comprehensive acquaintance with its history. His collection would include local newspapers, books, government reports, church records, the writings of Fr. Pierre DeSmet, and pioneer and soldiers' stories heard on his travels around the Hills.

Rev. Rosen's book "Pa-ha-sa-pah, or, The Black Hills of South Dakota" is a series of six books published as a single volume, with the first three comprising the Native American history in the Black Hills, including Black Hills mythologies, and long associations with the 'Hills. Early French, Spanish, and American explorations, as well as gold discover, early settlement, conflict with hostile tribes make up the remainder of the comprehensive history.


In describing mining camps around the Black Hills, Rosen writes:

"When a company of men find a new gold-gulch and begin to work at it, they call the village which grows up there a camp, and give it some name which is just as likely to be absurd as it is to be appropriate. Golden Gate, Sheep's Tail, Potato Gulch, Ruby, Black Tail, and Go-to-Hell Gulch, Two-Bit, and dozens of other comical names are examples. The miners hastily throw up little log cabins, six or eight logs high, covered with a roof of poles and dirt, and having nothing better than the hard tramped earth for floor."

Regarding the wild days of Deadwood, Rosen notes that "saloons multiplied astonishingly, and gambling was carried on without limit and without regard to hours — in fact all hours, day and night, were alike—and 'always open.' ... The years 1876 and 1877 were characterized by much lawlessness and a considerable number of men were killed in the frequent quarrels. The town was full of gamblers and shooting was a common pastime...."

In describing one desperate battle pitting Sitting Bull's warriors against General Crook's troops, Rosen writes:

"Crazy Horse, with three hundred lodges, was about twenty miles away.... He made a demonstration against the command between three and four o'clock p. m. with a large force of warriors. Quick as a flash of lightning the men formed a magnificent skirmish-line around the camp and inclosed the village, prisoners, horses, and captured ponies; the onslaught of the enemy was greeted with ringing cheers. The men in their eagerness did some wild shooting at the beginning, but they soon set to steady work, forgetting that they were hungry and wet. Crazy Horse made persistent efforts to find a weak place ..."

In the Black Hills, Rev. Rosen had to share the ups and downs of a new mining country, but stood at his post for nearly eight years, and no man in any sphere of life could have worked harder than he did. A friend of the poor, the orphans and the homeless, he was charitable almost to a fault. Many a broken down miner or poverty-stricken tenderfoot was indebted to him for a safe return to home. The work done in the Black Hills and the affection he had gained in the hearts of his people remained for many years.