Hmmm 2nd time I saw it was 7 years ago. Don't remember if they were working on it or not. I assume they were.

1st time I saw it was about 28 yrs ago.

Does that help any Lixy?

From what I've heard about it over the years, a big factor in what's holding up the completion of the project (other than the usual lack of funding) is the hugely ambitious scale of the project...supposedly, you could fit all 4 heads from Rushmore onto Crazy Horse's forearm, or something along those lines...in any case, it IS a really big dig, & as was pointed out, takes some finesse in terms of controlled demo work to blast away the excess w/o taking off too much...

I've been checking the progress on this monument for quite some time now. A friend told me about it around '97/'98 and I check the site every few months to see how things are coming. It's damn cool!

What great pictures.I would love to see it when it is complete some day.Very impressive. I'd like to also see the Marx Brothers in granite.

Oh man! I am SO glad you guys are diggin' this! It's something close to both Mr. Lixy's and my hearts! He being a blaster, and me of [partial] native American decent.

Oldfart...Make me stop doing that! I dunno how...but you gotta find a way to make me stop it! *giggle*

rockintime...I hear ya hun! Though I abhor long drives anymore (driving back and forth to Fla. 3 x's killed my yippee's)...I'm thinking a planned trip isn't out of the question in our very near future vacations!

fredchabotnick...They musta had something done on it when you saw it, since it's been going on since 1948. Maybe, like some of the other's said, it just wasn't visually defined as yet. Looking pretty cool now though, huh?

Steph...Mr. Lixy told some stories about back in the day, and how they used to "drill" holes to prep the rock for blasting. One guy would hold a "pin" and another would hit it with a sledge hammer. The first guy would spin the "pin" really fast as the second guy raised the hammer and brought it down again for another hit. Can you imagine being the guy holding the pin? Holy Fuck, what trust! Was wondering if that's how this monument got started? Lixer Elixer? Oh shit...don't make me feel a need to change my nick! Glad you are loving the site! :x:

soda...That helps...TYVM hun! Was just curious as to with each time you saw it...had it changed much? Sorry to badger you, but you are from there and have seen it twice on diverse occasions! I suppose I could find a "time-line" thread...but I love the banter here!

scotz...Yep! The scale in comparison to Mt. Rushmore is quite an endeavor to take on. And...all the monies come from private funding and that's gotta be painstaking too! Also heard that at one point a native American group wanted to halt the image forever, thinking it was disrescpecting Crazy Horse and the Indian nation...and that to capture an image is to steal a soul. Tis the reason during the frontier times, Indians didn't want their picture taken. This monument has a very interesting story behind it, indeed!

Aqua...If you ever get out that way to see it...ya know that Fla. and Pa. are only a hop, skip and jump from there! Hell...visit the whole east coast...K? :thumb:

lakritze...From what I can tell...it won't be done till around 2010. Unless, for some strange reason, they step up the process and shoot for an earlier date! OMG...the Marx Brother's would be a very...um...interesting monument too! LMFAO!



Try some other links for more info peeps! I don't remember the count but there is tons of other info out there on the www! I just typed in Crazy Horse Memorial and found a zillion links!

Again...so glad you are enjoying something near and dear to my heart!

Crazy Horse was an answer on "Jeopardy" last night, too. It was quick and I wasn't paying a lot of attention -- it was something about him being killed on the way to bring his sick wife somewhere? I'm suspecting you'll know more deets, Ms. Elixir. :D :x:

I'm sure they had something done. I probably wasn't paying attention since it would have been on road trip. With my family. Through SD. While I was a teenager. So I bet I missed or didn't appreciate a lot of things.

It's cool Lixy.

There is also a Big Bust of Sitting Bull up across the river by Mobridge. We use to party there in high school. Bad thing was someone always had a shotgun and would blow his nose off. Last I heard they quit repairing it. *very sad* I hate peeps that destroy things.

Strangely, that reminds me of a quote from Emo Phillips..."She had a face like the Sphinx...they both had their noses shot off by French Legionnaires..."

Here ya go Steph!


Crazy Horse
Tashunca-uitco
(1849-1877)
Celebrated for his ferocity in battle, Crazy Horse was recognized among his own people as a visionary leader committed to preserving the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life.

Even as a young man, Crazy Horse was a legendary warrior. He stole horses from the Crow Indians before he was thirteen, and led his first war party before turning twenty. Crazy Horse fought in the 1865-68 war led by the Oglala chief Red Cloud against American settlers in Wyoming, and played a key role in destroying William J. Fetterman's brigade at Fort Phil Kearny in 1867.

Crazy Horse earned his reputation among the Lakota not only by his skill and daring in battle but also by his fierce determination to preserve his people's traditional way of life. He refused, for example, to allow any photographs to be taken of him. And he fought to prevent American encroachment on Lakota lands following the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, helping to attack a surveying party sent into the Black Hills by General George Armstrong Custer in 1873.

When the War Department ordered all Lakota bands onto their reservations in 1876, Crazy Horse became a leader of the resistance. Closely allied to the Cheyenne through his first marriage to a Cheyenne woman, he gathered a force of 1,200 Oglala and Cheyenne at his village and turned back General George Crook on June 17, 1876, as Crook tried to advance up Rosebud Creek toward Sitting Bull's encampment on the Little Bighorn. After this victory, Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull and on June 25 led his band in the counterattack that destroyed Custer's Seventh Cavalry, flanking the Americans from the north and west as Hunkpapa warriors led by chief Gall charged from the south and east.

Following the Lakota victory at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and Gall retreated to Canada, but Crazy Horse remained to battle General Nelson Miles as he pursued the Lakota and their allies relentlessly throughout the winter of 1876-77. This constant military harassment and the decline of the buffalo population eventually forced Crazy Horse to surrender on May 6, 1877; except for Gall and Sitting Bull, he was the last important chief to yield.

Even in defeat, Crazy Horse remained an independent spirit, and in September 1877, when he left the reservation without authorization, to take his sick wife to her parents, General George Crook ordered him arrested, fearing that he was plotting a return to battle. Crazy Horse did not resist arrest at first, but when he realized that he was being led to a guardhouse, he began to struggle, and while his arms were held by one of the arresting officers, a soldier ran him through with a bayonet.

TY for your interest everyone!

*smacks scotz upside the head* BAD scotz!

LMFAO!

they just had an article about this today in the sioux falls ,SD paper..
heres the link to the story

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbc.../606040340/1001

I was there three summers ago. We did not get to spend much time in the Black Hills due to Sturgis bike rally. Not realizing that they would take over the whole area - and surround area too, we were only able to spend 2 day there. We did get to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We left and headed east to the Bad Lands then onto Sioux Falls. What I remember most about the trip - I did not know there were so many Harley's! Miles and mile of them all driving two abreast to the Black Hills. If anyone is thinking of going, find out when Sturgis is happening. Everything is booked for miles and miles around starting about a week before the event and then I would give it a week or two after. There is a lot of beer consumed, and you know the saying, 'The Great Outdoors is your Urnial'.

I saw it the first time in 1989 and again in 2001. I couldn't get any closer than the highway and using glasses it still didn't look like much. The pictures on the web site are a much better view.
Thanks for showing the links.

I lived out in the Black Hills when I was a kid, and celebrated my 10th birthday at a restaurant that had huge windows so you could see Crazy Horse. It was big news at that time that there was a hole through the mountain where the arm was supposed to span.

There was one point in my life that i was sick of the attractions out there, because every single time that we had family or friends visit, we would make the "tourist" rounds...I saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, reptile gardens, Keystone, off-rally time Sturgis, the Mammoth Site, and Crystal Cave 10 times one summer...eh, my brothers and I had a better time playing with the yuccas and trying to play swords with them, or playing our on version of tour guide LMAO! I took swimming lessons at The Evans Plunge, the largest naturally heated indoor pool.

Last time that I was by it was for the Rally in '98, and that was just a drive by look and I remember that it looked pretty much the same as it did for my 10th birthday.....my! it has changed!

the only blasting that i ever heard while i was out there, was (i think) the Homestake Gold Mine, once when we were near it, and then when they were constructing the By-pass around Hot Springs. They had to blast through the mountains to try an make a fairly level highway for the truckers.

Seeing the pictures has really brought back the memories....those were some of my more idyllic childhood years :D Thanks Lix!