ATTRACTIONS CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL®
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Photo ©Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation
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Carving a Dream
Be a part of history in the making as you visit Crazy Horse Memorial—the world’s largest Mountain Carving in progress. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski had been asked by Chief Henry Standing Bear through written correspondence to come to the sacred Paha Sapa (Black Hills) to carve a memorial in the likeness of Lakota Warrior, Crazy Horse, honoring all Indigenous peoples of North America. Crazy Horse had been killed at Fort Robinson in 1877. In his letter to Korczak, Henry Standing Bear wrote, “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also.” In May of 1947, Korczak started the project with only
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Located north of Custer at 12151 Avenue of the Chiefs, Crazy Horse Memorial is hard to miss as you drive along Highway 16/385.
$174. Labor-intensive tasks included hand-drilling holes for the dedication blast and the countless blasts that followed. Later, he built a 741-step staircase, which he climbed several times daily— often to restart “Buda,” the air compressor at the bottom that powered his drill. Despite weather that could make work difficult, Korczak continued the monumental endeavor yearround (weather permitting). A Family Legacy
From the beginning, Ruth (Ross) Ziolkowski supported Korczak
