A reverent and simple definition of the Black Hills as understood by the Lakota people. The narration is in a free verse as spoken so eloquently by the Sioux. Truly a refreshing and natural explanation of why the "Hills" are sacred to the Lakota people.  It was only with great difficulty that Miss Blish was able to persuade Mrs. Pretty Cloud to allow her to use the book on a year-to-year basis for a modest annual fee between 1927 and 1940. Alternating between her teaching position in Detroit high school and graduate work at the University, Miss Blish spent her vacations interviewing informants, chiefly He Dog and Short Bull on the Pine Ridge Reservation, often accompanied by John Calhoff, the official agency interpreter. Her major advisor at the University, Professor Hartley Burr Alexander, chairman of the Department of Philosophy and a noted student of Indian art and religion, took a keen interest in her project of analyzing and interpreting the pictographic history; and through his help she received two grants from the Carnegie Institution.

When Mrs. Pretty Cloud died in 1947, the ledger book, a cherished personal possession, was buried with her, following Sioux custom.