Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Traveling by car on I-90 from Milwaukee to Seattle, myself and two associates were fortunate enough that we had extra time from our business for some site-seeing.

We reached Rapid City, SD at night and drove the approximate 30 miles to reach the Memorial the next day. This was my first time seeing Mount Rushmore in person.

Our travels took place in the Fall.

On August 10, 1927 Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated. At the dedication ceremony President Coolidge gave a speech and promised federal funding for the project.

The Four Faces:

Theodore Roosevelt was a conservationist, setting aside five National Parks, eighteen National Monuments, and millions of acres of National Forest for America.

Abraham Lincoln not only preserved the Union, but also secured congressional approval of the 13th amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.

Thomas Jefferson's greatest achievement as President was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France, doubling the size of the United States. He drafted the Declaration of Independence based on the assertion that a government rests upon the consent of the governed.

George Washington earned the title "Father of our Country" in recognition of his leadership in the cause for independence. He was the first President of the United States.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began drilling into the 5,725-foot mountain in 1927. Creation of the "Shrine of Democracy" took 14 years and cost of 1 million dollars.

Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota

Crazy Horse Memorial, the world’s largest sculpture, now in progress, is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota on US Highway 16/385 just 17 miles southwest of Mount Rushmore. The work was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski at the request of Native Americans. Korczak died in 1982. His wife Ruth and their family continue the project working with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. (www.crazyhorse.org)

The photo above shows a small sculpture in the foreground of what the final Memorial will look like. The first photo on the right shows a white outline which details the horse's head. The width of that line is 6 feet.

Crazy Horse joined forces with Sitting Bull and on June 25, 1876 led his band in the counterattack that destroyed Custer's Seventh Cavalry.

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Photography by Charles Peifer