The previous owners, listed as Lower Brule Farm Corp., kept 40 acres where a pair of mobile homes sit, described as a ‘retreat center’ for people coming to Bear Butte, along with property containing a main ranch house on Nine-Mile Road east and north of Bear Butte.

“There is a man who lives there and his family is going to continue to live there,” said Teri Ausdal Arneson of Arneson Auction Service.

Two years ago, the Northern Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes formed a consortium with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota to purchase approximately 270 acres west of Bear Butte for more than $1.1 million, or about $4,200 an acre, from a private landowner.

Prior to the 2016 auction, the Northern Cheyenne tribe already owned more than 500 acres around the mountain, which holds cultural significance to many tribes.

In addition, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe owns property at the northwest corner of Bear Butte.

Gifford said the price per acre varies from one auction to another.

“It’s kind of hard telling at an absolute auction. It can go one way or another. I think the land probably brought what it was worth for the people that bought it,” Gifford said.