Chiefs and presidents

Sunday, August 26, 2007

MURDO, SOUTH DAKOTA — This morning, before we left our campground in Wyoming, we exchanged addresses and phone numbers with our neighbouring campers, Herb and Hannah, from Florida (originally from Kentucky). Every now and then you meet folks who become friends in a matter of a few minutes of conversation, and even though our respective travels take us in different directions, there’s always a hope of meeting again and continuing what you’ve started.
Shortly after our departure this morning, we crossed the state line into South Dakota. Almost immediately our terrain changed from flat, scrubby fields to winding mountain roads among beautiful pine forests and enormous rock formations, all of which were part of the Black Hills National Forest.
Our destination was two-fold; we were headed to Custer, where the sculpture of Crazy Horse is located, and after that, we were going to visit Mount Rushmore. The route through the black hills of South Dakota was very picturesque. The land is still full of dark red soil that the wind erodes from the hilltops in the open areas, exposing streaks of rust colour against the yellow grasses and pale green sagebrush.
The rocks are a dark grey, and they are very high, jutting into the sky like great, dark knobs, rounded at the top and creased deeply with crevices. Perhaps because of these formations, and the dark pine trees that grow densely around them, the name of Black Hills was chosen.
After emerging from the steep winding road through the forests, we came to Custer, a busy little town with motels, theme parks such as the Flintstones and the wild west, and lots of cowboy atmosphere. The signs pointed us toward the Crazy Horse Monument, which we got to just before lunch. This enormous sculpture was begun in 1949 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski. He accepted the invitation of several Lakota chiefs to carve this monument, when they learned he had won first prize at the New York World’s Fair for his brooding sculpture of Paderewski.
We learned, from the short film they presented at the Visitor Centre, that he started the work all by himself, with an ancient compressor and a precarious staircase he had built on the face of the mountain. He had to climb around 700 steps to get to the top and work away with his jackhammer, but the compressor would often sputter and die in mid-climb, forcing him to go back down and rev it up again. Some days he climbed the stairs eight or nine times!
The sculptor and his wife Ruth had10 children, five of each, and seven of them continue to work on the project today, although Korczak passed away in 1982. They have never accepted public funds to support their work, preferring contributions and the free enterprise system.
The figure of Crazy Horse, when completed, will show the chief in a full war bonnet, naked to the waist, pointing out over the head of his horse at the land before him. "My lands are where my dead lie buried" is the statement this famous chief made in answer to a white man’s question, "where are your lands now?" when his people had been consigned to reservations and the era of the Sioux had ended.
We wandered through the beautiful visitor centre, an enormous building with vaulted ceilings and expansive floors of golden knotty pine, where Native clothing with beautiful beaded designs are on display and current Aboriginal handicrafts are available for viewing and purchase. We could have spent a lot more time there than we had.
After a quick lunch, we drove the additional 17 miles to Mount Rushmore. This involved more climbing of winding roads among great rocks and trees. As we drove to the RV parking area, we got our first glimpse of the magnificent sculptured heads of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln on the rock face above the park! They are really impressive.
Built at the base of the mountain is a granite reception area with large pillars, and a promenade area where all the flags of the 50 states and six territories are on display. At the end of the promenade is a viewing platform where you can gaze on the rock face and snap photos. I have seen this mountain in pictures, movies and even animated cartoons all my life, so it was a particular delight to see the real thing at last.
Despite our two sightseeing activities today, we were able to make quite a bit of distance, and are now close to the eastern state line between South Dakota and Minnesota. Along the highway to Murdo we saw billboards of an old 1880 pioneer town where you could see props from the movie Dances with Wolves, some of which was filmed around here. We will have to watch that film again and look for familiar scenery!