One of the most iconic American art pieces celebrates four iconic figures from American history. Mount Rushmore’s presidential faces look over South Dakota’s majestic Black Hills. Meanwhile, another nearby mountain reveals the face of another historical figure, a native of the region, Crazy Horse.
My friend and I visited these ginormous sculptures last summer. After visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park, it was fun to see his face tucked away in the corner of Mount Rushmore. And, after learning more about the significance of the Black Hills to the indigenous people of the region at Devils Tower, the Crazy Horse Memorial carried more meaning for me.
Mount Rushmore
The faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln stoically look out from the mountain side. This idea, of a historian to draw tourists to South Dakota, paid off. Annually, more than 2 million people visit the site. Gutzon Borglum began sculpting the colossal project in 1927. The project ended prior to completion in 1941 because funding was diverted for WWII.
Borglum directed the work from his studio on site where a model of what he hoped to create shows visitors his vision. He and his team removed more than 400,000 tons from the mountain to make the faces appear.
The Presidential Trail
Many people just go and look at the monument from the main amphitheater. If you have the time and energy, walk the Presidential Trail. This short hike takes you by the studio and up under the faces with many great perspectives of the sculpture. Interpretive signs line the trail sharing information about the presidents and the process of creating their likenesses.
Not Without Controversy
Despite its presidential presence, Mount Rushmore is not without controversy. The land he chiseled it into was granted to the Lakota Sioux as part of their reservation in 1868. However, when gold was discovered a few years later, White settlers began moving in, and eventually the federal government removed the Black Hills from the Sioux people’s reservation.
Even with this history, tribal representatives agreed to the location. The historian who proposed the idea in the first place wanted historical figures that represented the history of the region including Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, Crazy Horse, Buffalo Bill, and others. Borglum wanted something less regional.
Crazy Horse Memorial
The original vision of Mount Rushmore will probably never be completed, but nearby workers continue to blast rock off a mountain as they work on another colossal sculpture. In the late 1930s, Standing Bear, a Lakota chief, tried to convince Borglum to add Crazy Horse to Mount Rushmore because he was “the only one worthy to place by the side of Washington and Lincoln” as one of the great heroes of the “red man.”
Borglum didn’t respond, but Korczak Ziolkowski, one of Borglum’s assistants on Rushmore accepted the commission to carve Crazy Horse into the Black Hills. Work began on this monument in 1948. The federal government offered funding a couple of times in the early days of the project, but Standing Bear refused relying on private donations instead. The foundation created to fund Crazy Horse’s creation still operates today as the work continues on the mountain.
Visiting the Memorial
Ziolkowski’s wife continued the project after his death, and his family continues today. The site includes the Indian Museum of North America and a Native American cultural center with great views to see the sculpture in progress. There are buses that take guests up close to the mountain for an additional fee. And, if you go at the right time of the year, you can pay to go up on the mountain and walk on top of Crazy Horse’s arm under his face.
There’s no telling when they’ll complete the monument, which will show Crazy Horse on his horse with arm outstretched. But, it will be interesting to continue watching. Unfortunately, this monument isn’t without controversy either. Some of the hero’s descendants say Crazy Horse would not approve. Other Native Americans think the monument pollutes the landscape. Even with the controversy, the monument draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Those visitors learn about Native American culture. Even if there is a lot of emphasis on the sculptor, visitors cannot leave the place without more appreciation of the indigenous peoples of the Black Hills and their stories
