Comments on: The Unfinished Tribute to Crazy Horse

By: atwitsend

atwitsend — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:46:44 +0000

I have visited and what caught my eye was a picture of the Pope, then I started to see who is involved, the same enemies of all people, the Jesuits and the vatican hiding behind the cloth and hospitality. I agree no Indian would want the sacred land blown up. even some of the Native people cannot see who is their enemy history is not all lost, the Native Americans need to know Just like people who fled Europe knew who was the enemy. cast them out.
touching display but the lies have to stop.

By: em

em — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:04:00 +0000

i lived in wyoming in ’03/’04 and saw Crazy Horse again then for the first time since ’87 when it was just a sketch on the mountain side.
the little museum they have there is really interesting, though i wish it were a little bigger.

that whole area is interesting, if not a little sad. all the history, and all the bloodshed. that’s manifest destiny for you. :(

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Jeez, David, have you ever had anything GOOD to say about America?

By: Emmie

Emmie — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:24:00 +0000

I saw Crazy Horse first shortly after the face was finished, I was impressed but I don’t think you really get a sense of the scale unless you take the hot dusty bus ride to the base, it’s so far away from the visitor center. I saw it again a year or two ago. My father and I stopped at the ticket booth and asked the guy if it had changed much (since it costs $20 to see it, I thikn Rushmore is $11 and we were on a tight budget) he assured us that it had changed dramatically. Nope. One piece of rock near the hand was blasted away and the space under the arm was more defined. Not $20 worth of change. Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed and facinated by the monument, but I feel like he lied to us.

Rushmore on the other hand never ceases to take my breath away.

By: Mandi

Mandi — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:37:00 +0000

I’m a South Dakotan (I live about half an hour from Crazy Horse), and I have one more paradox for you. Crazy Horse, and the Lakota Sioux, believed so much in not disturbing nature, that when they died, they asked not to have their bodies buried. Crazy Horse himself, legend says, had his body thrown off a cliff. I think it’s pretty clear what his opinion of the monument would be.

I would venture to say that the majority of Western South Dakotans dislike the monument, largely due to the “paradoxes” you mentioned. We see them more as hypocricies, however.

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:15:00 +0000

I had a chance to visit both carved mountains in South Dakota in the late 90s. Chance took me past Crazy Horse first, and Rushmore second. After the scale, fluidity, and vision presented at Crazy Horse, Rushmore was completely underwhelming. The Crazy Horse visit was also much more intimate — Rushmore seemed like a plastic tourist trap next to the rustic visitor center at the unfinished monument. It’s really something to see it in person.

By: Chad Cloman

Chad Cloman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:49:00 +0000

When I was young, back in the early ’70s, my sister and I got miniature statues of the finished design. Guess this is one project that’ll never be finished.

By: Dianne

Dianne — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:22:00 +0000

I went by this monument in 1987?? The only progress was a hole through the rock (underneath the future arm..)

I hadn’t seen it since then really – I guess I thought they’d be further along with it….

I wonder when it’ll be done….

By: anaximander

anaximander — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:20:00 +0000

I visited this sculpture right about when they finished the “face” (the celebration would be a few weeks after we were passing through) and I cannot think of a more phenomenal experience. Every summer, at least the last time I checked, they hold a volksmarch, where you can go right up to the sculpture. I still have the 2 large rocks we purchased from the blasting remains (a unique way to get donations)

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:26:00 +0000

I saw the Crazy Horse sculpture back around 1977 or ’78. The head, if I remember correctly, was barely carved yet. There was a sign by the road showing what the completed sculpture would look like. Saying that the carving will be completed during the 22nd century seems about right, considering the scale and few workers.