Black Hills, South Dakota
Korczak and Chief Henry Standing BearHis sculptor, Korczak, was born in Boston, Sept 6, 1908, the same day thirty one years earlier, that Crazy Horse had died from stab wounds. Korzczak Ziolkowski came to the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1947 at the request of the Sioux Indian Chiefs to build a memorial. He came alone at 38 years of age, carrying only $137 dollars in his pocket and his vision of what the memorial would be. He built a 741 wooden staircase to the mountain top (6,740 ft above sea level) and strategically inserted four sticks of dynamite and blasted off 10 tons. The first of millions of tons lay in front of him. He took then the equivalent of a paint brush, his gas powered jackhammer, and he began carving a mountain, telling the story of the spirit of Crazy Horse in granite, the warrior's left arm thrown out, pointing precisely to "my lands, where my dead lie buried."
Korczak died in 1982 at the age of 74, his life's work undone. Crazy Horse died in 1877 at the approximate age of 35. Their work goes on. Korczack's widow, sons and daughters, grandchildren, and extended family have carried on the project that the artist knew would take much longer than one man's lifetime to complete. Visitors welcome. Inspiration available.
A picture of the pictures...taken in 1999 by me.