Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Once Upon a Time, there was a mountain that looked like this:

and it was called "Six Grandfathers" by the Lakota Sioux.

In 1885, it was renamed "Mount Rushmore" after a lawyer, from New York- Charles Rushmore. Mr. Rushmore was in the Blackhills area, helping people with their mining claims. When he asked what the name of this mountain was, to be schmoozy*, they told him that since it didn't have a name, they'd call it Mount Rushmore.

 

(*Since I don't know how "schmoozy" translates, the dictionary says "To converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.")

 

The giant sculpture was an idea dreamed up by Doan Robinson, who was a South Dakota State Historian. He originally wanted to have something sculptured into the section of the mountains called the Needles, but when he invited the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, out to examine the possibilities, Borglum determined that the granite of the Needles was of poor quality and that the spires weren't strong enough (too thin) to support the sculptures, which were going to be of famous people, "parade of Indian leaders and American explorers who shaped the frontier." However, Borglum the four Presidents, to "elevate the memorial from a regional enterprise to a national cause". (http://www.travelsd.com/Attractions/Mount-Rushmore/History)

 

Construction began in August, 1927, and ended October 31, 1941. Although I can't tell, I guess if you are "in the know", it's obvious that the carving is not finished.

 

Anyway, a couple things happened: 1) Mr. Borglum passed away on March 6, 1941, and 2) World War II started and the government funding stopped. Lincoln Borglum (Gutzon's son) and crew continued working on the sculpture, until the money rand out, October 31. At that time, Lincoln ended the project, and there it continues till today. (That is, other than it's erosion rate of approximately 1 inch every 10,000 years.)

 

The Presidents are, from left to right: George Washington (1st president of the United States, commander of the Revolutionary War), Thomas Jefferson (3rd president, author of the Declaration of Independence ), Theodore Roosevelt (26th president, signed legislation to establish National Parks & Monuments, supported of the completion of the Panama Canal, and personal friend of Borglum's), and Abraham Lincoln (16th president, and previously discussed in my blog on November 17, 2012, "Springfield IL and Abraham Lincoln").

Some interesting facts about Mount Rushmore:

• 5,725 feet (1,745m) high in elevation
• each head is about 60 feet (18 meters) high (approximately the height of a 6-story building - or to compare, The Great Sphinx in Egypt is just over 66 feet tall
• the eyes are 11 feet wide each, and the pupil of each eye is a 12 inch shaft, giving the illusion of a sparkle
• the noses are 20 feet long (except Washington's, whose nose is 21 feet)
• the mouth is 18 feet wide.
• Lincoln's mole is 16 inches across (almost the size of a basketball hoop's diameter)

Additional details about the Presidents' accomplishments include:

 

 

Washington:

* Ironically, he's the only president who didn't live in Washington D.C.;

* that's his real hair! he never wore a powdered wig;

* when he was born, the Julian calendar was being used, so his birthdate was February 11, 1731 - however, in 1752, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, and he opted to acknowledge his birthdate as the equivalent date of February 22, 1732 (and why wouldn't he? that made him a year younger!);

* he raised and loved hound dogs, some of which he named True Love, Sweet Lips, Vulcan, Madame Moose, and Drunkard;

* he supposedly once owned of the largest whiskey distiller in Virginia;

* he joined the British Royal Navy when he was 14 years old...

 

Jefferson:
* He was known for the Louisiana Purchase, which pretty much doubled the land size of the United States;

* he commissioned the Lewis & Clark Expedition (topics for future discussions);
* he wrote his own epitaph for his tombstone, and didn't include that he'd been President;
* from France, he brought back a recipe for vanilla ice cream, which is now in the Library of Congress (here, supposedly, is the recipe)...

Roosevelt:* He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for helping negotiate a peace treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War;

* he officially named the President's House, "the White House" in 1901;

* he was the first President to ever fly in an airplane - in 1910, he flew in one of the Wright Brothers' planes, for 4 minutes;

* rumor has it that he skinny-dipped in the Potomac River (apparently this discussion is in his Autobiography, in which he states, "If we swam the Potomac, we usually took off our clothes.") He isn't the first President to do so, either;

* even though he hated being called "Teddy", he lent his name to a toy bear, thus the Teddy Bear was born!

 

 Lincoln:
* He was the tallest President at 6'4 (7 feet tall with his stovepipe hat on - which, by the way, he apparently used as a filing cabinet);

* an 11 year old girl wrote him a letter, recommending that he grow a beard - he did, becoming the first President with a beard;

* he was the first President photographed at his inauguration (John Wilkes Booth is actually in the background of the picture;

* a man named Edwin Booth once saved his son Robert's life, by pulling him to safety after he'd fallen - Edwin was John Wilkes Booth's older brother;

* he's the only President that holds a patent - he invented a device for keeping boats buoyant in shallow water;

* he only had about 18 months of formal education - the rest was self-taught;

* he had a pet turkey named Jack

 

I had the privilege of meeting a man named Don "Nick" Clifford while at Mount Rushmore. He was one of the workers on Mount Rushmore from 1938-1940.

 

 

 

Nick was born in 1921 and grew up in the little town of Keystone. He and his 4 siblings started working at an early age to help their mother support their family. Starting at age 7, he delivered the local paper, chopped firewood, and milked cows. By age 14, he managed the local pool hall - cleaning, running errands, selling concessions, and racking pool balls. When he was 17 years old, he was recruited by Lincoln Borglum in 1938, to come to work at Mount Rushmore, primarily because Lincoln wanted him on their company baseball team ~ and the rest is history!

Sunday, we'll be en route to Rapid City, SD.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Seven years after the completion of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial was started. Mount Rushmore (which we'll discuss in the next blog) took about 14 years to complete (well, as complete as it will be - more later on that). Crazy Horse is still being worked on.

 

What's the difference in delay? The main delay is financial - Mount Rushmore had government funding and sponsorship, whereas Crazy Horse is privately funded, funded by donations and by admission fees to the location.

 

In 1939, Chief Henry Standing Bear (Lakota tribe leader) wrote a letter to Korczak Ziolkowski, asking him to carve the monument. He said in his letter: ""My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes also."

 

Ziolkowski was a self-taught artist, born in Boston, in 1908. At one point, he assisted Gutzon Borglum on the sculpting of Mount Rushmore, and had a good understanding of working with the stone of the Black Hills, in South Dakota.

 

So, when Chief Standing Bear approached him, he accepted!

 

The Black Hills were chosen by the Chief and other Native American elders, because they are considered sacred land. Then, the challenge was finding the right dimensions, the right type of stone, etc. Once completed, the sculpture will be 641 feet (195 meters) long by 563 feet (172 meters) high! Crazy Horse's head will be 87.5 feet (27 meters) high, and the horse's head will be 219 feet (67 meters) high!!

 

Rather than try to carve an exact image of the man who avoided being photographed, Korczak said, “Crazy Horse is being carved not so much as a lineal likeness but more as a memorial to the spirit of Crazy Horse — to his people.”

 Ziolkowski died in 1982 but he passed on the commission to his wife (Ruth), saying "“You must work on the mountain-but go slowly so you do it right.”

 

The family still are those directly involved in the sculpting and the continuous progress, to finish.

 

The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of the http://crazyhorsememorial.org/ site explains why Crazy Horse was chosen for the honor: "He is a hero not only because of his skill in battle, but also because of his character and his loyalty to his people. He is remembered for how he cared for the elderly, the ill, the widowed and the children. His dedication to his personal vision caused him to devote his life to serving his people and to preserving their valued culture."

Talking about the Memorial is easy, it turns out, when you compare it to talking about the man! I feel I must disclaim - there is so much information about Crazy Horse, and some reports disagree with other reports, so - this is my understanding. If you hear or read or know otherwise, please don't be offended - and I'd be more than happy to be corrected!

 

In the meantime: Crazy Horse was born sometime around 1840, in the Oglala Lakota tribe, and was named "Cha-O-Ha", which means ("In the Wilderness" or "Among the Trees".) His father (Crazy Horse II) was Oglala Lakota and his mother (Rattling Blanket Woman) was Miniconjou Lakota.

 

I could go on and on (and want to, but I'm too easily distracted) about Crazy Horse's family and the names of some. Their names are so curious though! One is his cousin, Touch the Clouds, who was almost 7 feet tall ~ this name makes sense to me! He had an auntie named "Good Looking Woman" (how beautiful was she, to earn that name!?), and another auntie who was called "They Are Afraid of Her." (He named his only daughter after her, but the poor little thing only lived to be 2 or 3 years old.) Then, I wondered: which name would I rather have - "Good Looking Woman"? or "They Are Afraid of Her"? and I can't decide - I think it might come down to WHY they were afraid of her?? Another family member was a woman called "Kills Enemy"! It sounds like he came from a family of very strong women! (Well, not sure about Good Looking Woman, but the other two, for sure.)

 

As far as interesting family names, Crazy Horse's mom nicknamed HIM "Curly Light Hair"....? His little brother was called "High Horse" (I'm not making that up!!) and his step-grandfather's name was "Corn". 

 

Crazy Horse ("Tasunke Witko" in Oglala) was victorious in many battles - not only against other tribes (like the Arikara, Blackfoot, Crow, Pawnee and Shoshone), but also the US military.

 

Included in that is the Great Sioux War (1876-1877). Crazy Horse, along with approximately 1,500 Lakota and Cheyenne came up against General George Crook and his 1000 cavalry & infantry, and his 300 Crow and Shoshone allies, in the Battle of the Rosebud.

 

This delay prevented Crook from joining General Custer's forces, in the Battle of Little Big Horn, and contributed to Custer's absolute defeat. (More on the Battle of Little Big Horn will be coming in a subsequent blog...and as far as Crazy Horse is concerned - his part is vague, but apparently, according to reports and quotes, he was the "bravest" and the "greatest".) 

 

However, on January 8, 1877, after fighting a major battle at Wolf Mountain in the Montana Territory, Crazy Horse decided to surrender to protect his people. It was winter, and they were hungry and cold. They went to Fort Robinson, Nebraska.

On May 5, 1877, he (along with Little Big Man and others) met with First Lieutenant W.P. Clark to take their first steps toward surrender. Crazy Horse went to live at the Red Cloud Agency, near Fort Robinson.  

In August 1877, news came that the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph in Idaho had broken out of their reservation and were escaping to Canada, through Montana. Lieutenant Clark asked Crazy Horse and Touch the Clouds to join the army against the Nez Perce, and they refused, stating that part of their surrender is that they promised to remain peaceful. (Smart men!)

Trouble was brewing at the Red Cloud Agency, and General Crook was ordered to come to Fort Robinson. Someone told Crook that Crazy Horse said that he was going to kill Crook during a meeting that had been called, involving the Oglala leadership. Crook then ordered Crazy Horse's arrest.

 

Crazy Horse fled to Spotted Trail Agency nearby, but later agreed to return to Fort Robinson with a Lieutenant J.M. Lee. Touch the Clouds and other Indian scouts also went along. Once they arrived, Lieutenant Lee had to (against his will) turn Crazy Horse over to "the Officer of the Day". Lee went to the post commander, Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley for help. But Bradley had actually received orders to arrest Crazy Horse and had him taken "under the cover of darkness" to Division Headquarters. He was then turned over to Captain Kennington, who took him to the post guardhouse. 

 

Wikipedia says "Once inside, Crazy Horse struggled with the guard and Little Big Man and attempted to escape. Just outside the door, Crazy Horse was stabbed with a bayonet by one of the members of the guard. He was taken to the adjutant's office, where he was tended by the assistant post surgeon at the post, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, and died late that night."   

 

This is a very sad story.   

 

At the Memorial, Crazy Horse's arm is extended and pointing. This is to symbolize the answer to the question: "Where are your lands now?" to which Crazy Horse is quoted as saying, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

 

.....
There are some who are opposed to the Memorial, and I thought that the discussions and debates were interesting and that those opposed have valid points. But, from the perspective a tourist who didn't know anything before, other than what is in standard history books and movies, I found it fascinating, and I have researched and researched, not only this man, but also have learned (to a very small degree, I'm sure) more about the culture and art of the people.  

 

Wednesday, we'll talk about Mount Rushmore.