Seventeen miles from Mount Rushmore is where you will find the largest sculptural undertaking the world has ever known, with a height of 563 feet and a length of 641 feet.

However, the story is not so much about the vastness of the sculpture as it is about the people who brought it into existence. This story started back in 1939 when Chief Henry Standing Bear (1874-1953) wrote to Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski these words:

“My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also.” Chief Henry Standing Bear

Mount Rushmore was an inspiration as it was being sculpted just a few miles away. Chief Standing Bear, a Lakota leader, read about Korczak Ziolkowski who not only assisted Gutzon Borglum at Mount Rushmore in 1939, but also completed a sculpture that won first prize by public vote at the New York World’s Fair that same year,

This story, yet to be completed, is about Chief Standing Bear, wishing to honor the indigenous people of North America. It’s about Korczak Ziolkowski, a self learned sculptor who dedicated his life to leave a legacy to an honored people. It’s about Crazy Horse, born in 1840, and killed at Fort Robinson by an American soldier on September 6, 1877. Crazy Horse defended his people the only way he knew how, but only after he saw the Treaty of 1868 broken.

I can only share a snippet of this story and share how it touched my heart. The documentary playing at the visitor’s center was well worth the time. How lives can come together and dream, inspire, and create, shows what humans are truly capable of.

But here’s the thing, a lot of pieces came together over nearly a century of time. Korczak not only understood this is what it would take, but he insured his DREAM would continue for the Native Americans. He planned for his passing, and empowered future generations to continue the dream.

You see, sometimes plans have a way of coming together unexpectedly. A young woman, Ruth Ross, who was among students helping with a previous sculpture, came to volunteer at Crazy Horse in 1947. She carried cement to Korczak as he finished building the chimney in his Log Studio-Home, and she helped build the 741 step staircase up the mountain.

When Korczak came to begin his adventure, there was absolutely nothing there. No water, electricity, roads, or money. He had to begin with a tent and build adequate living quarters.

On Thanksgiving day, 1950, Ruth became Korczak’s wife. He was 42 and she was 24. They celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary in 1981, the year before his death.

Ruth and Korczak together had ten children. Their story is more than I can include in this post. I encourage you to read more here. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, make sure you do. The connection between Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial is a great lesson in history.

All of the children were free to leave. Seven remained to continue the dream. Ruth and her children, together with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation Board of Directors, guided Crazy Horse and its ongoing progress. As Ruth said “He left everything so we can carry on his work, and that’s just what we’re going to do. We’re dedicated to that. His whole life would be wasted if the Mountain Carving and the humanitarian goals are not completed.”

On May 21, 2014, Ruth passed away. Ruth was the face of hospitality at Crazy Horse Memorial for over 60 years. Today, progress of the Dream continues with second and third generation Ziolkowski Family members, the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation Board of Directions, and dedicated management and staff.

It is important to understand that Crazy Horse Memorial has been built up from a dream that would not be government funded. Korczak and Ruth ran a dairy farm to bring in income. Korczak refused to take any salary at Crazy Horse during his nearly 36 years of service. He is buried in the tomb that he and his sons blasted from a rock outcropping. For the tomb door he wrote his own epitaph and cut it from three-quarter-inch steel plate.

KORCZAK

Storyteller in Stone
May his remains be left unknown

Korczak so strongly believed in the humanitarian purpose of Crazy Horse that he twice turned down ten million dollars in potential federal funding for the project. He did not believe the government would carry out the important cultural and educational goals or complete the Mountain Carving, which he knew would take much longer than any one man’s lifetime. Just 17 miles away was the example of Mount Rushmore, where the sculptural work stopped the year its sculptor died. Four full figures were initially planned for Mt. Rushmore. Korczak believed Crazy Horse should be financed by the interested public not the government, which had broken its treaties with tribal people.

In 1949 Korczak established the nonprofit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, whose volunteer Board of Directors continue to guide the project today enthusiastically supporting Korczak’s many plans.

My lands are where my dead lie buried.
Crazy Horse

I gathered my information from the book “Carving A Dream, a Photo History of Crazy Horse Memorial”. The book was originally written by Robb DeWall and published in 1992. Robb was a historian and chief storyteller of Crazy Horse Memorial for nearly three decades. Robb passed away in 2006. During his lifetime Robb updated the book several tomes. The “Carving a Dream” story continues to be updated by Memorial staff since Robb DeWall’s passing.