The Crazy Horse Memorial

The Monument to Crazy Horse

I bicycled across America in 2006, from California to Washington, DC. I didn't have a strategy or a path; all I wanted was to face the sun every evening and have it at my back in the morning.

I could go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted, with leisure and freedom. I made the decision to visit the Crazy Horse Memorial one day.

The Crazy Horse Memorial's description

The Crazy Horse Memorial, one of the most famous Native American warriors, is an as-of-yet unfinished monument cut out of a South Dakota mountainside in the Black Hills.

The Crazy Horse Memorial's past

As a member of the Sioux resistance to the advance of white American settlers on the northern Great Plains, "Crazy Horse," also known as Tasunke Witco, is one of the most famous Native American warriors. Crazy Horse was highly respected by both his adversaries and his people due to his fighting prowess and involvement in a number of well-known conflicts, including the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

Standing Bear, a Ponca chief, discovered in 1933 that a memorial honoring his maternal cousin Crazy Horse was going to be built at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Standing Bear explained in a letter to James Cook, who was in charge of the project, that he and numerous other Lakota leaders had founded the Crazy Horse Memorial Association and were now advocating for a carving of Crazy Horse in the revered Black Hills, which they believed to be the only location suitable for such a memorial.

Standing Bear was resolved to honor his people in the Black Hills and said that a Native American monument should be built to rival nearby Mount Rushmore in size and scale. Standing Bear eventually came across artist Korczak Ziókowski (who had also worked on Mount Rushmore). The work began in 1948 and is continuing under progress today.

The description of Crazy Horse provided by Little Bighorn Battle survivors and other of his contemporaries served as the basis for the picture that was sculpted of him. Standing Bear declared during the dedication ceremony that the memorial will promote intercultural understanding and aid in mending bridges between Native and non-Native Americans.

Today's Crazy Horse Memorial

When the Crazy Horse Memorial is finished, it will be the largest sculpture in the world. It is sometimes referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the World" in progress due to its height of almost 171 meters. Comparatively, Crazy Horse would be slightly over halfway covered by the Mount Rushmore presidents' heads stacked on top of one another!

The memorial is intended to honor the ideals that Native Americans stood for as well as Crazy Horse. But because the Crazy Horse project is different now than it was originally intended, the memorial has generated some debate and conflict within the Native American community.

The carving of Crazy Horse's left hand, forearm, right shoulder, hairline, and a portion of his horse's head will take place in the following phase (5–10 years).

Approaching the Crazy Horse Memorial

The memorial's entry is located along US Highway 16/385 in the Black Hills of southwest South Dakota, 9 miles south of Hill City and 4 miles north of Custer. The memorial is accessible year-round and is located 17 miles southwest of Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Jerry is an American writer and author. He lives in a condo adjacent to Río de la Plata, where he resides with his beautiful Argentine wife, Alejandra, their rescue dog Revi, and rescue cat named Mandhu -- Cat-Mandhu, get it?