Larry A. Smail's Blog

Mount Rushmore

I have been aware of Mount Rushmore since my youth five years ago. Well, we finally had the opportunity to see this great feat of workmanship.

The man who spearheaded this huge task of carving into a granite hill was Gutzon Borglum. His dream was to create a special place to share the American dream.  The actual work began in 1927 and was completed in 1941. Explosives and jack hammers and the work of around 400 workers made this happen. The president’s faces displayed in the carved hill’s side are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.            

Each face is sixty feet tall. For instance to demonstrate the size, Washington’s eyes are each 11 feet in length and his nose is 21 feet long. Now that is a honker!

More Black Hills!

Laurie and I walked a boardwalk that allowed us to walk under this huge undertaking. Of course, Laurie found what she had been looking for here…Black Hill Gold ear rings!

Crazy Horse was a Lakota Sioux born around 1842.his life witnessed the final push of the Sioux Nation. he would be pulled into the great conflict and take part of the infamous “Custer’s Last Stand” in June of 1876.

In the year of 1868 the Treaty of 1868 was signed with the Sioux and the United States Government. In effect it stated: “As long as rivers run and grass grows and the tree bear fruit, Pahu Sapa-the Black Hills of Dakota will forever be the sacred lands of the Sioux Indians.”

    When the treaty failed, Crazy Horse took up arms against the United States. After such events as Wounded Knee (The United States government massacred over 200 Sioux, mostly women and children and the elderly.) the great Sioux nation became a defeated nation….sad!

Upon their ceasing hostility against the whites, a soldier asked Crazy Horse, “Where are your lands now?” The great warriors response was, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.” He was stabbed by a soldier in 1877.

The Crazy Horse Memorial

A man named, Korczak Ziolkowski took on this huge task of creating the Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1948. The image of the chief’s head is complete and much preliminary terracing of the mountain. It will be many years until completion. This man died in 1982 and through private funding the work continues. The horse’s head has been outlined and the hammering and controlled blasts will someday move forward towards the final result. A museum,  is on site.

We had an opportunity to watch a Sioux in traditional clothing talk about the happenings and history of the Sioux, he preformed some native songs and dance as well.