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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 02, 2008, 07:58 AM:
(and, I did)
Crazy Horse Memorial Turns 60 Though Project Is Far From Finished
Monday , June 02, 2008
CRAZY HORSE, S.D. —
Sixty years after the first blast signaled work had begun on the world's largest mountain carving, the project is far from finished.
The carved face of Crazy Horse has been completed and a welcome center and museum are open, but the carving of the Lakota warrior's body, his horse, and a planned university and medical training center for American ****** students are still years away.
Ruth Ziolkowski, widow of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who started the memorial on June 3, 1948, won't predict when it will be done.
"To picture it 60 years from now, I'd like to think we had the first building, at least, for the university so that we'd actually have some students here," she said.
"I'd like to see the museum enlarged and over at the foot of the mountain where it needs to be. I'd like to see the horse's head finished and polishing Crazy Horse's body and doing all of the finish work on it."
Ziolkowski took over the project when her husband died in 1982 and shifted the focus to Crazy Horse's face, which was dedicated 10 years ago at the 50th anniversary and has helped draw more attention to the project. The sculpted head stands 87 feet high.
The invitation to undertake the carving came from Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, who was prompted by Gutzon Borglum's carving of nearby Mount Rushmore to seek a memorial for ****** heroes.
Crazy Horse was a famed Lakota warrior and leader who played a key role in the 1876 defeat of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana. He died a year later after being stabbed in Nebraska.
"What Mount Rushmore represents to Americans is what Crazy Horse represents to American ******* ," said Robert Cook, a cultural specialist at the memorial and president-elect of the National ****** Education Association.
"Crazy Horse represents the values of American ****** tribes — of bravery, respect generosity, wisdom. So by being on this memorial he represents some of those struggles that he fought for a long time ago, of protecting our land base and our treaties. We're still in those fights today."
Seven of the Ziolkowski's 10 children and several grandchildren work at the memorial, which draws more than a million visitors to the southern Black Hills annually. It brings in millions of dollars every year, mainly through admission fees. The family has held to Korczak's admonition to refuse government help and instead rely on private enterprise.
The foundation started its first national fund drive in 2006 to raise more than $26 million toward the mountain carving's completion and expand cultural and educational programs at the memorial. In December, billionaire T. Denny Sanford, a Sioux Falls banker, pledged a $5 million matching grant, the largest ever. And in April, the memorial's scholarship fund topped $1 million in contributions to native students.
To prepare for the first explosion in 1948, Korczak Ziolkowski used hand tools to drill the holes. Now, a team of workers uses high-tech, expensive equipment to create the larger-than-life art work.
Rich Barry, one of the engineers, said that just as the project has evolved over 60 years, so have the challenges.
"Imagine starting back in 1948 going up there with a hand drill and a hammer and starting to blast away on the mountain and finding anybody believing that you're going to even do it," he said.
"Now all of a sudden people have really come around. It's very rare that someone says, 'Aw, it's never going to happen."'
Now the biggest challenges lie in figuring out how to carve the other parts of the sculpture in relation to the face and contending with the natural fractures in the rock — especially on the outstretched arm, Barry said.
"We will do much like orthopedic surgeons do. We'll pin blocks together to hold them together to meet the artistic intent," he said.
Two blasts on the mountain will mark Tuesday's 60th anniversary. The first will duplicate the initial 10 tons of rock blasted from the carving on June 3, 1948, and the second will be larger.
"We're going to recreate that blast and also do one typical of the size we do now so that you can see the 'then' and the 'now,"' Ruth Ziolkowski said.
[ June 02, 2008, 08:02 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
Posted by Rich (Member # 112) on June 02, 2008, 03:09 PM:
Nice photo's Leonard, thanks for posting them. The last photo looks very similar to that Crazy horse carving don't ya think? Without the glasses, wrist watch and ball cap, I would have SWORN it was a digitally remastered photo of old Crazy horse himself. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Posted by CCP (Member # 913) on June 02, 2008, 04:20 PM:
Is this the effect you were looking for Leonard ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posted by TRnCO (Member # 690) on June 02, 2008, 05:25 PM:
The wife and I are thinking about jumping on the motor bike and driving up there this summer. We've never been. What else is there to do/see up there. Any neat out of the way/rustic places to stay?
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 02, 2008, 06:46 PM:
Well, you could spend at least a half a day at Wall Drug, and The Reptile Gardens is worth a visit, in Rapid City. Drive through the Badlands Nat. Park and there is a shitload of wildlife to see in Hardey(sp?) County Thousands od bison and pronghorns. Sturgis is a sort of biker shrine about the first week in August. A lot of open spaces. Everybody waves.
Gooc hunting. LB
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 02, 2008, 06:54 PM:
This is a 1:32 scale of what the finished monument will look. I "think" they said it will be 247ft high, compared to 60ft for the faces on Mount Rushmore? The finished face is 83 ft. to give you some idea of the scale and the challenge.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Crow Woman (Member # 157) on June 02, 2008, 07:44 PM:
TRnCO... Devil's Tower is right around there as long as you might be taking a trip to Sturgis. And don't forget to stop in Deadwood! A really cool town with cheap hotel rates and alot of the old store fronts were rebuilt after the big fire there to their original appearance. You can stop into Saloon No. 10 right past the Holiday Inn where Wild Bill Hickcock was gunned down. As you walk through the door, immediately look back up over head and see the supposedly death chair that Calamity Janes family donated back the the Saloon, that Wild Bill was setting in when he met his maker. Take a stroll a little down across the street and see where his killer was stopped after the shooting or just stroll across the street from the saloon to a marvelous Bar-b-que pit with the most awesome food!
You can even take a gold rush tour just outside of Deadwood if that interests you. And of course Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse are just a spit away.
Lots of rich spirit and history in that town and the outskirts of it as well.
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