A Day at Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Mountain

I've seen pictures of Mount Rushmore since I was a kid but I'd never been there. It's something every American citizen should see, (along with Washington DC). If memory serves, it took about 14 years to complete it. In addition to the mountain itself, there are any number of exhibits about Borglum, the sculptor and designer of the monument. We didn't bother to view those because the information is all readily available on the internet.

I spoke with my sister who visited there a year or so ago and she told me she liked Crazy Horse Mountain better, so I was quite eager to go there. Several years ago, I read a book, The Heart of Everything That Is. It was about the struggle between the Indians and white settlers in what is now the Dakotas. And although the book focused on Red Cloud, Crazy Horse was a key figure in the book and I was interested to go and learn more.

The folks at Crazy Horse Mountain are very proud of the fact that unlike Mount Rushmore, they have not accepted any federal funds. (I don't know whether they were offered and turned down or whether they just weren't offered.) And that's not the only difference between the two mountains.

Mount Rushmore is a national monument. Entry is free but there is a nominal parking fee - $5 for seniors. At Crazy Horse, they say the parking is free but there is a charge for admission. Oddly the charge for admission is based on the number of people in the vehicle and there is no break for seniors. It cost us $22 to go in.

I was a bit disappointed with Crazy Horse. It was so far away you couldn't see it very well. They were more than happy to take you up to it by bus for a fee in excess of $100 each. That wasn't happening. (It turns out that there was a bus trip to the base of the mountain for $4 each but that one wasn't obvious. Lesson learned - do your research before rather than after the visit.)

My other issue is that the exhibits in the museum were more about the sculptor and his family than about Crazy Horse. Which I suppose parallels Mount Rushmore in that much is made of the sculptor,

When completed, or perhaps I should say, if completed (it was started in 1948) it will be the largest sculpture in the world. The scale of it is mammoth. It even includes his horse! But right now about all that's complete after close to 70 years is Crazy Horse's face. It's supposed to be a memorial to all Native Americans. However, I didn't see much evidence of tribal support. I got the impression that this started as the dream of Chief Henry Standing Bear and the dream was transferred to Korczak Ziolkowski and since Korczak died in 1982 the dream now belongs to his family. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like to have seen more about Crazy Horse and less about Ziolkowski. But that's just me. Both mountains are worth a visit.