South Dakota
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Downtown Rapid City at the Festival of the Presidents |
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Comparing foot sizes with the big chief |
Crazy Horse Memorial (Note) |
Model of what is to be! |
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Friends Lisa and Mike |
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The 4 of us! |
Where the buffalo roam |
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Prong-horned antelope |
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Lois' friend up close and personal (with window shut) |
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Prairie Dogs |
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Badlands layered formations |
Great archaeology site |
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Promise from the missile people |
Control Room (Note) |
ICBM Rocket |
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a project to carve a likeness of Crazy Horse into the mountain as a tribute to all American Indians. The project when completed will include a medical training center and the American Indian Museum. This project was started in 1948 when the Chief Henry Standing Bear, of the Lakota tribe, contacted noted sculptor Korzak Ziolkowski. Korzak had some experience in this type of mountain carving while working on the earlier project to carve the heads on Mt. Rushmore. Korzak felt that this project should be a nonprofit, educational effort so the funding has always been slow coming and the work has almost all been done by Korzak and his family members. Korzak died in 1982 and his family has continued the work on the memorial. (Back to Top)
Mt. Rushmore was built between 1927 - 1941, a tribute to Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. The idea for the sculpting came from the South Dakota State Historian, Doane Robinson. He originally preferred figures of western personalities like Lewis & Clark, Buffalo Bill Cody and others. The selected sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, convinced the authorities that it would have a more national significance if the figures were presidents. The figures were not completed to the sculptor's original models because of funding issues, the escalation of WWII and Borglum's death in 1941. Over 450,000 tons of rock were removed to form the figures. Mt. Rushmore has become an icon of American culture. (Back to Top)
The Badlands National Park is 244,000 acres of prairie and spectacular rock formations. The formations that have been created by erosion for millions of years have also provided an archeological treasure. Many fossils still continue to be discovered and the erosion continues. The colors are similar to the Painted Desert, but a little more muted. (Back to Top)
The Minuteman Missile site is under construction and will give people in the future a glimpse into the time of the Cold War. These sites were manned 24/7 and could send a 1.2 megaton nuclear warhead Russia that would travel over the north pole and arrive at its target in 30 minutes. Luckily for the world, none of the missiles were ever launched. (Back to Top)