A Brief History Lesson

I woke up particularly excited about the day I had planned yesterday.   One of the sights I was most looking forward to seeing on this trip was that of Mt. Rushmore.  I can’t explain why exactly.  But similar to the Statue of Liberty I always found Mt. Rushmore to be one of those great symbols of America that everyone should see in their lifetime.

The sculpted figures of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt are carved into the granite of the Black Hills looking down upon the small town of Keystone, South Dakota below.  The figures were sculpted by Gutzon Borglum , the same individual that carved Stone Mountain in Georgia and a bust of Lincoln that sits in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C.

This undertaking was extremely controversial.  The Black Hills were home to the Lakota Indian tribe who viewed the land as sacred and protested Borglum's plans.  Here is how the mountain appeared prior to the carvings.

Each face is approximately 60 feet high and carved with intricate perfection and detail.  The undertaking took 14 years to complete and Borglum died before it was finished.  If you look at his model, you will see that he intended to carve the Presidents down to their waist.  

Borglum was unaware prior to his death that this would be impossible.  The type of granite that existed at that level of the mountain never would have been able to withstand the carvings.

When I arrived, the next guided tour was two hours away.  I therefore opted for an audio self-guided tour for $4.00, well worth the money.  It walked along the Presidential trail which was the closest you could be to the monument.  

(That is not your imagination, by the way, there were people on top of Washington's head as work was being performed.)

Borglum envisioned that there would be a Hall of Records preserved within the mountain.  He feared that people centuries from now would be unaware of the importance of these figures.  The Hall of Records, a time capsule where replicas of important American documents have been stored, was completed by his daughter in 1998.   

After my tour, I met the last known living individual who worked on the carving of Rushmore. Men would climb every day to the top of the mountain and made 50 cents an hour.  In the 14 years, there were no fatalities of any Rushmore worker.

 

Just a short 25 minute drive from Mt. Rushmore is Crazy Horse.  It ended up being an equally inspiring visit.  Crazy Horse, a member of the Lakota tribe was born in the Black Hills.  He defended his people and their way of life, before being stabbed in the back under a flag of truce.  The sculptor of Crazy Horse, Korczak Ziolkowski, originally from Boston, had worked on Mt. Rushmore and was contacted by the Lakota Chief Standing Bear to sculpt a figure honoring North American Indians of all tribes.  

My dad and his friend the Chief would have loved this visit!

Korczak started by sleeping in a tent at the top of the mountain and using only the most basic of tools.  He began in 1948 and worked alone for the first ten years of the project.  The sculptor died in 1982 and the top picture shows the point at which he left Crazy Horse and the progress that was made in the following 10 years.  

 The sculptor’s family have continued the progress.  The face of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998.   

Here is how Crazy Horse will appear when completed.  

It will stand 563 feet high and 641 feet long, the largest statue in the world.  The face is nine stories high. To give you an idea of the enormity of the sculpture, when finished all four Presidents heads on Mt. Rushmore would fit into the head and hair of Crazy Horse.  

Here is how Crazy Horse appears currently.

 

Shortly before his death, Korczak Ziolkowski was given an honorary degree at Black Hills State University.  In his speech he talked about the direction his life had taken and shared these words:

“It is said that when legends die, the dreams end; when the dreams end, there is no more greatness.  My friends, never let your dreams end.”