Crazy Horse Memorial

Mention Mount Rushmore and everyone will know it... Well... either that or the mountain with 4 Presidents' Head... :-) Mention Crazy Horse and 99%, if not 100% of you will go "Huh?!"... "Kuda Gila?". Crazy Horse is not literally a horse that has gone off his bonkers but in fact, one of the great native Indian war leaders alongside Geronimo and Sitting Bull... Ha Ha... Who??!!

Although these great people from American History were from different tribes; Oglala, Apache & Sioux respectively, they share a common goal... Fighting for their tribe's survival and ancestral lands in the face of the onslaught of the white settlers. You can get an idea of what these people were faced with from movies such as Dances With Wolves and Geronimo.

Anyway, it was during my University days that I drove down to South Dakota with a few of my friends and it wasn't till we went to Mount Rushmore that we heard of this ongoing project to carve another monument dedicated to the American Indians similar to Mount Rushmore. I have always been in awe of native american indian culture so before you knew it we were driving up the road to the the monument's visitor centre.

Like Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial is being carved out of a granite hill... Think it's easy? Think again. They use dynamites and precision engineering. Work commenced on the face in 1987 and 10 years later, they have just completed the face of Crazy Horse. Long way to go. But I think it's really interesting that you are able to see it in progress. They have a Web Cam at the visitor centre that will allow you to see the progress of the carving so check it out at the official Crazy Horse Memorial Web Site.

If you have the opportunity to visit the monument, don't miss it...