South Dakota (part 1)

George, Matt's uncle, suggested that we visit the Crazy Horse memorial in the Black Hills. My mom just kept suggesting that we say ‘hi’ to Rocky Raccoon.

We hadn’t heard about the memorial, and didn't know any specifics about Crazy Horse but it became our first stop in South Dakota. It was AMAZING.

Driving into the state we kept seeing signs for the monument, and decided to check it out at night instead of the next morning so we could also see if there were campsites open in the National Forest. I was also really interested in driving with a purpose - about 3 hours into driving on 85 south I went brain dead. We got into Crazy Horse around 5:30, just before dark not knowing what to expect at all. We pulled in, a little put-off by the $10 per person entrance fee, and saw a profile of a face in the side of a mountain, a extended protrusion with a hole in it, and some large painted lines at the end of it. We caught the last bus to the base of the mountain (its an active blasting zone, so no private cars are allowed), and this is what we learned:

Crazy Horse was a chief and warrior of the Lakota. His men fought Custer after Andrew Jackson opened up the black hills to Europeans because of gold, breaking a treaty that stated “as long as water runs and the sun shines” or something to that effect, the black hills will be the Lakota’s.

Crazy Horse is considered a hero because he never signed a treaty, and refused to live on a reservation. He was killed by a dagger to the back while in a U.S. Fort negotiating some sort of truth. They never fully explained his death, but I heard it described as an accident and as a traitorous act.

Standing Bear, another Native American chief invited Korczak, a polish sculptor who was helping with Mt. Rushmore to build a memorial in the black hills as a tribute to North American Indians to “remind the white men that they had heros also.” The Black Hills were one of the most sacred places for Native Americans. “Crazy Horse Memorial” is going to consist of not only the sculpture of Crazy Horse on the side of the mountain but also of a the Native American Educational and Cultural Center as well as a University.

The memorial is not yet finished, and probably won’t be in any of our lifetimes. It is vastly larger than Mt. Rushmore. The head of Crazy horse is 4 times as tall as the heads at Mt. Rushmore (roughly), and it will have Crazy Horse’s upper body sitting on a horse, pointing east, as well as the whole horse. A full 3D sculpture. Honestly, it puts Mt. Rushmore to shame.

We looked around the museum, mostly about the memorial itself, and waited until it got dark and the laser light show - Legends in Light. Luckily we caught the last day of this show!