Day Fifty Two

Mount Rushmore & Crazy Horse

Mount Rushmore is much smaller than I imagined, but it is an amazing feat. 90% of the sculpture was created with dynamite. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was extremely knowledgeable about how much and where to place the dynamite to achieve his desired result. His persistence with the sculpture is admirable. Where Washington’s face is currently, is where Jefferson was supposed to be. Halfway through creating Jefferson’s face in that location, Gutzon realized the stone was not quite right for the face’s structure. He recreated Jefferson’s face in the second position.

Gutzon’s son, Lincoln, finished Mount Rushmore as his father died before its completion.  Below is what Gutzon envisioned the completed Mount Rushmore to look like.

Crazy Horse is much larger than Mount Rushmore. In fact, the faces of Mount Rushmore would all fit in the space behind Crazy Horse’s head. Surprisingly, the Washington Monument is shorter than Crazy Horse.

Korczak Ziolkowski is the sculptor behind Crazy Horse. As you can see the monument is still in production. Korczak has since passed and seven of his ten children are continuing to carry out the project. Hopefully, it will be finished in my lifetime. This is what the finished result should look like.

The site of Crazy Horse is very sacred to the Native Americans. A group of Native American dancers performed daily at the monument. It was moving to watch their dances and listen to their words.

Now starts a leg of travel to Niagara Falls.

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