Because of reports of pine timber and mineral wealth in the Black Hills, Faulk wanted to exclude that area from any future Indian reservation and to open it to white settlement. General William T. Sherman said that whites had no right to enter and occupy the Black Hills; since, the Indians had not ceded the area. In 1868, a group of entrepreneurs planned to invade the Black Hills without military protection. Officially, Governor Faulk said that he did not sanction this invasion; while, his rhetoric actually encouraged it. Because of his efforts to open the Black Hills to white settlement, Faulk was popular with entrepreneurs and adventurers in Dakota Territory.
