Crazy Horse

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Even Americans have no idea about this place. I was shocked when someone I knew from my travels said. “Oh South Dakota so you went to Mt Rushmore!”

“Yeah but that was nothing compared to Crazy Horse.”



“What’s that?”



When you’ve spent money to hire a car it’s sometimes hard to take the keys out of the ignition and just walk but in South Dakota there’s a reason to. Hiking up one of Native Americans sacred mountains is the perfect excuse and enables the possibility to understand a bit more the original people that occupied the land. So too Crazy Horse, the Native Indian who is being immortalized further south in spectacular fashion that will put Mount Rushmore to shame if it hasn’t already.



The sacred mountain is past Sturgis a biker’s town with everything Harley. A lone mountain is a few miles down along the plain and for $4 based on honesty system (this time I paid) enters you to the foot of the mountain. The car has made me lazy and it was hard to put one foot after the other but I felt it could be special. My book says that it is where Crazy Horse and others saw visions. Sacred then, it still is to the natives living here.



The start of the hike has many coloured ribbons around the trees and a jagged stone path that weaves around the mountain and can create some problems with footing. At various points there are areas strictly for the natives. There was a bird that was hiding behind a stone that covered the sacred area. It would pop in and out and chirp at me. There is a special atmosphere here, a moment with nature. A breeze constantly brushes your face and silence general dominates the sound waves. I felt it had a spiritual feel.



I waited a while for the bird to reappear saying to myself, ‘If it comes back and chirps it will be nature’s way of allowing me in’… It didn’t come back. I continued the hike, with the sun out under blue sky.



Even though I don’t normally believe it, but maybe it was some spirits talking to me because it was here I felt sympathy toward the natives and a slight resentment toward the European. With my travels in Africa this trip and the current EU crises I’ve started to not see Europe as the be all and end all of the way of life and white America is an extension of European culture. With the big guns in Europe bullying the smaller nations to prop up to their level in unrealistic time. There previous thirst to discover and conquer, to control as well as assist.



I don’t have a problem with it really because what’s done is done. But now we have to put up with hearing crap like Global warming and how we have to change the way we live without really changing the way we live. And than when some white person goes all out and becomes one with nature they get ridiculed. I ridicule at times.



Obviously those last two paragraphs don’t explain my thoughts well and I won’t go into it too much now because this story is not really about that. The point is, is it really was a thinking hike about life in general. Thoughts were coming in and out of the brain whether they were right, wrong or corrected. It was happening because there was no one there. Just me, the mountain, a few birds flying around and a constant breeze that cooled down the blazing sun for an October day.



I started to think about what I’ve seen so far in America. They do have the occasional Native American Art Museum but there is no Indian monument in the big cities its always the white man. It is no wonder there is such a race problem here……..



I also thought of what Australia would have been like if the Aboriginals were more violent towards the English when they arrived and for the next century what Australia would have been like?



If the inland of Australia were more prosperous instead of just desert, would the aborigines have the same fate instead of the ‘stolen generation?’ (Although some people would like to point out Tasmanian Aborigines.) Is it possible too that the quite nature of the aboriginal helped mould our generally easygoing nature that the world renown’s us for? I’ll leave that for some University student to spend three years on his or her Natives and Colonies Physiology paper.



When you get to the top a slight rush that all hikes give you happens and the view is worth it. Looking southeast the plains go to the horizon and there are slight markings that indicate the great migration when prospectors traveled from the east out west.



The motivation to do this hike was an attempt to capture what it was like in this land as a native Indian. Pretty much impossible but I figured the quite nature of that hike helped establish something prior to visiting the Crazy Horse Monument.



In 1939 Korczak Ziolkowski a Polish/American sculpture had finished his apprenticeship at Mount Rushmore. An Indian chief called Henry Standing Bear approached Ziolkowski and requested him to build a sculpture that represented his people. White America was immortalized but no native. Native Americans had warriors, heroes too.



They chose Crazy Horse whose story is heroic in his efforts to fight off the great migration of white America. Born around 1840-45 and died Sep 5 1877 – Crazy Horse was a leading figure in taking up arms against the US government.



Famously leading a war party at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Prior to that fight he was in Battle of the Hundred in the Hand and the Wagon Box Fight. His fighting was mainly during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. Delaying cavalry in the Battle of Rosebud from joining up with General Custer. He is said to be the finest of fighters in most battles.



To build this monument Ziolkowski started on his own and chose Thunderhead Mountain. A large mountain made of a rock I can’t remember the name of. It was chosen because it provides a shine and reflection unlike most rock. Depending on the light the mood of Crazy Horses face changes. From happy when the suns out to a more serious look when cloud cover comes.



Because of the rock summers have a high lightning strike rate. But to begin with the mountain was solid rock with no shape. To expose the mountain it was time to blow up the mountain and in 1948 the monument began. When complete the monument will be 641 ft (195 m) wide and 563 ft (172 m) high. It is still incomplete.



The beauty of this monument is that Ziółkowski and his family have refused to accept Federal funding of any form. Instead they have relied on public funding. Twice he put down 10 million dollars by the government saying that it should be made through public interest not forced into funding it.



Some have criticised it as exploitative of Sioux culture and Crazy Horse's memory as well as desecrating sacred ground. But the museum complements Chief Henry Standing Bear and Ziolkowski for their vision for the future. And despite it the thought of giving in to western ways of immortalizing. It is visionary because it guarantees the natives won’t be forgotten, even enhanced.



There are grand plans once it finishes, whenever that is. An Indian University, Medical Training Centre, Avenue of the Chiefs with sporting facilities. For the time being there is a museum, which covers substantially the life of the natives.



There is a white molded sculpture of what the monument is going to look like. It is 1/34^th scale and can be seen at the museum. It was sculptured by Ziolkowski and the actual sculpture for the monument is measured via this mould and measurement is calculated to fit the measurement of the rock from this sculpture.



From the museum they provide a bus ride down for a closer look, which is an old looking bus. The driver tells stories about how the land was purchased with Ziolkowski own money and initiative. He bought land, cut down the trees, sold the logs than with that money invested in more land near the NP and over time negotiated a transfer of land with the government.



The monument is going to be sculptured both sides (or as they say “on the round”) and on the opposite side to the museum there is an old run down shack that is part of the land of a friend of Ziolkowski’s. He had no siblings and gave the land to the foundation in his will.



Donations are how it works and it still is a family run job. His children worked on the monument and when Ziolkowski passed away to continued his legacy. When I was there the face was complete and work on the arm started. The statue will eventually depict Crazy Horse on horse back, hair flowing, pointing out toward his land in the Black Hills. His famous quote is "my lands are where my dead lie buried."



I left highly inspired by Ziolkowski work - if you have a dream you can achieve it. I’ve never actually had that experience so profound before. There is a sense of enjoyment too of the thought if I can survive another 40 years of this life it maybe complete – at least one side will be.



Mount Rushmore was next and what a horrific decision that was. I strongly advise everyone to do Mt Rushmore first because even an incomplete Crazy Horse makes Mt Rushmore look like play dough. It covers not even Crazy Horses face in size and it’s a shame because obviously it is something.



The must see viewpoint is around the corner called Profile View. It shows George Washington on side profile and if you are looking to save a bit of cash it gives you an idea on the detail going into these rock sculptures.



A good drive between the two is through Custer NP where buffalo roam around. There is also a great viewpoint on the opposing mountain of Mount Rushmore. Whilst there, some people saw I was wearing a Minnesota Wild jersey and yelled out “Go Wild!” to me. She turned out to be a Minnesota tourist with her kids. Than a kid yells out “Mummy! Did you see that car? It’s from Rhode Island!!”



As I drove off after the viewpoint of the 4 presidents another guy looks down at the number plates and has this smirk on his face. The day before in Wyoming a guy yells out “Hey! Where are you from?” Like in disbelief that someone from Rhode Island would venture west of Chicago or north of the border.



Keystone is the closest town to Mount Rushmore and there was a museum of Presidential Wax. I didn’t go in but it would have been interesting to see if they had, I don’t know President #14 Franklin Pierce. I wonder what he looks like? But South Dakota is expensive as a solo traveler most things cost to see and the petrol to get here is not cheap. Actually Minnesota was the most expensive I’d fill up, $3.69 a liter.



South Dakota was so worth the effort. I would suffer from lack of sleep and constant driving but I wouldn’t change it. I was disappointed it only lasted 3 days but as I hit West Nebraska the scenery continued and so to the history of the natives.



Eventually in 1877 Crazy Horse decided to surrender and went to Fort Robinson in Crawford West Nebraska. Here is where his life ended when the most popular account is he was fatally wounded by a military guard whilst resisting imprisonment. You can visit the area, which is only a few hours south of the border and even now it’s an outpost climax.



It’s in two sections, the barracks and where the officers lived which is pretty large houses. A 30 second drive south (yes not walking that) is the 3 wooden barracks used to keep the Indian prisoners and it was here where the fatal wound occurred. Once the natives were ‘tamed’ Fort Robinson became the worlds largest military remote depot and in WWII was a K-9 corps training Centre and German Prisoner of War camp.



No other place so far have I been able to capture a sense of North American Indian culture than whilst I traveled through South Dakota. It does enable you to see what they had to give up for the white European’s desire to discover, and white America to conquer. The issue really like with the aboriginals in Australia is what has happened, happened. Can’t change it but what we can do is to make people more aware of the history and improve the lives of the natives now and in the future.



Most people will look on with pride on Mount Rushmore but Crazy Horse will provide inspiration to many. Once complete the sense of achievement to build and complete a monument of this magnitude will be a clear-cut the man made wonder of the world. It will also provide a symbol that others apart from the white man can be courageous, smart and a warrior. If there every is a few days to dedicate in USA. A trip to cover Crazy Horses steps is one.

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Comments

[Kevin]

Crazy Horse
Thanks for the post! Its crazy how many people dont know about crazy horse and its incredible future. Thanks for sharing!