Rather late in life, Neihardt published a third and final novel, When the Tree Flowered (1951). It is a fictional Indian autobiography that at least one of his biographers considers his best prose work. The novel is based on material from the Pine Ridge Reservation; its title will remind the reader of the symbolic flowering stick or tree depicted in Black Elk's vision that the Sioux used ceremonially in the sun dance. A little understood aspect of Neihardt's work in later life is his experimentation with paranormal phenomena, related to his interest in spirituality.
John Neihardt died in 1973. Two years before his death, an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show provoked the most viewer response in the history of the show. In 1961, an act of the legislature installed a bust of Neihardt, sculpted by his wife Mona Martinson, in the Nebraska Capitol rotunda, when the governor proclaimed the first Sunday in August John Neihardt Day. His daughter Hilda has published recent (1991) editions of his work.
