October 25, 2010 - Crazy Horse - Black Hills, South Dakota

Today we visited Crazy Horse, near Hill City in the Black Hills of South  Dakota.

At Crazy Horse the world’s largest sculpture is in progress as the focal point of a non-profit, educational and cultural Memorial honouring the North American Indian. It began in 1947 when sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908-1982) arrived in the Black Hills to accept the Indian’s invitation to carve the mountain. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear’s invitation said “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has heroes too. “ When he started work on the mountain he was almost 40 and had only $174 left to his name. Over the years he battled financial hardship, racial prejudice, injuries and advancing age. A strong believer in the free enterprise system, he felt Crazy Horse should be built by the interested public and not the taxpayer, twice he turned down offers for federal funding, the Memorial is not a federal or state project. Since his death in 1982, the project is being continued by his wife Ruth and their large family.


"My lands are where my dead lie buried" - Crazy Horse