Our Northwest Expedition officially began today, with our
welcome gathering and an American and Yankee RV Tradition … Root Beer Floats.
This is the first time that all caravaneers get together and learn a little bit
about our traveling companion for the next 38 days.
There are 16 rigs total in
this adventure, 32 people and I have not counted the 4 legged participants yet!
It is always interesting to learn about the other couples.
How they got started into this RVing lifestyle, what they did and their
passions.
As Rod always says ... the Adventure Continues!
This afternoon we caravanned in our vehicles to the Crazy
Horse Memorial. We learned so much, I will try not to bore you! Crazy Horse was born as a member of the Teton Sioux tribe on
Rapid Creek about 40 miles northeast of Thunderhead Mountain in the mid 1800’s.
Not much is known of the very early years of Crazy Horse. He would have grown
up with the traditional ways of the Lakota.
As with Native American tradition Crazy Horse was not originally named
Crazy Horse. He happened to start out in
this world as “Curly”, aptly named this because he had wavy hair. He would be called Curly until he earned his
father’s name, Tasunka Witco (Crazy Horse), by proving himself in battle. Contemporaries of Crazy Horse described him
as fairer skinned than the “typical” Native American of the time, with lighter
wavy hair than most. They also described
his character as introspective, Crazy Horse always thought before speaking.
Once Crazy Horse was old enough he would have set out on one
of the most important rites of passage to a Lakota warrior…the Vision Quest.
This rite of passage would have given Crazy Horse guidance on his path in
life. He would have gone alone into the
hills for four days without food or water and cried for a dream to the great
spirits. By the time Crazy Horse was in his mid-teens he was already a
full-fledged warrior. His bravery and
prowess in battle were well-known by the Lakota people. He rode into battle with a single hawk
feather in his hair, a rock behind his ear and a lightning symbol on his
face. In 1876 Crazy Horse led a band of Lakota warriors against
Custer’s Seventh U.S. Cavalry battalion.
They called this the Battle of the Little Big Horn or Custer’s Last
Stand. Custer, 9 officers and 280
enlisted men all lay dead after the fighting was over. According to tribes who participated in the
battle 32 Indians were killed. It was
after the Battle of the Little Big Horn that the United States Government sent
scouts to round up any Northern Plains tribes who resisted. This forced many Indian Nations to move
across the country always followed by soldiers until starvation or exposure
would force them to surrender. This is
how Chief Joseph and Sitting Bull were forced into submission.
In 1877, under a flag of truce, Crazy Horse went to Fort
Robinson. Negotiations with the US Military leaders stationed at the fort broke
down. Eye witnesses blame the breakdown in negotiations on the translator who
incorrectly translated what Crazy Horse said. Crazy Horse was quickly escorted
toward the jail. Once he realized that the commanding officers were planning on
imprisoning him, he struggled and drew his knife. Little Big Man, friend and
fellow warrior of Crazy Horse, tried to restrain him. As Crazy Horse continued
to free himself, an Indian infantry guard made a successful lunge with a
bayonet and mortally wounded the great warrior. Crazy Horse died shortly after
the mortal wound was inflicted. There are different accounts putting the date
of his death around midnight September 5, 1877.
It is a well-known fact that Crazy Horse refused to have his
picture or likeness taken. Crazy Horse
lived under the assumption that by taking a picture you were taking a part of
his soul and would shorten his life. The
popular response to photograph requests would be, “Would you imprison my shadow
too?” The likeness that Korczak Ziolkowski (pronounced Jewel-cuff-ski) created
for Crazy Horse Memorial was developed by descriptions from survivors of the
Battle of the Little Big Horn and other contemporaries of Crazy Horse the
man. Without Korczak there would be no Crazy Horse
Memorial. Its history revolves around his own extraordinary story. Although he
became most famous as a mountain carver, he was a noted studio sculptor and
member of the National Sculpture Society before he came west. Crazy Horse
represents only the second half of his life. Korczak said it was the collective
experience of the difficult first half of his life that prepared him for Crazy
Horse. It enabled him to prevail over the decades of financial hardship and
racial prejudice he encountered trying to create an American Indian memorial in
the Black Hills.
Born in Boston of Polish descent, Korczak was orphaned very
young and grew up in the foster home system. As a boy he was badly mistreated,
but he learned to work very hard. On his own at 16, Korczak took odd jobs to
put himself through a Technical School, after which he became an apprentice
patternmaker in the shipyards on the Boston waterfront. Although he never took
a lesson in art or sculpture, he studied the masters and began creating plaster
and clay studies. In 1932 he carved his first portrait, a marble tribute to
Judge Frederick Pickering Cabot, the famous Boston juvenile judge who had
befriended and encouraged the gifted boy and introduced him to the world of
fine arts. A childhood dream came true when he was
asked to assist Gutzon Borglum at Mount Rushmore during the summer of 1939.
Media reports about Korczak’s World’s Fair prize and work at Rushmore prompted
Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to start writing to the sculptor, appealing to
him to create a memorial to American Indians. The two eventually met and even
toured potential carving sites.
At age 34, he volunteered for service in World War II. He
landed on Omaha Beach and, later, was wounded. At war’s end, he was invited to
make government war memorials in Europe. However, he decided to accept the
invitation of Chief Standing Bear and other supporters and dedicated the rest
of his life to Crazy Horse Memorial. He arrived in the Black Hills in 1947. He
worked on the project until his death on October 20, 1982, at age 74. During
his nearly 36 years of working on the mountain, he refused to take any salary
at Crazy Horse Memorial. He is buried in the tomb that he and his sons blasted
from a rock outcropping at the base of the mountain. He wrote his own epitaph
for the tomb door, and cut the letters from steel plate.
When he arrived at Crazy Horse, Korczak, almost 40,
willingly had dedicated the rest of his life to keeping his promises to the
American Indian people. The last thing he expected was to get married and have
10 children. The turn of events made him equally happy and proud, and Crazy
Horse became a family story. Several of the children — five boys and five girls
— have names reflecting their Polish ancestry of which the Boston-born sculptor
was very proud. The
self-taught sculptor also was a teacher at heart, and he schooled his family in
every aspect of Crazy Horse, including the special skills of mountain carving. The
boys grew up helping their father on the mountain, the girls assisting their
mother in the ever expanding visitor complex. Everyone helped with the dairy
farm, the lumber mill and the multitude of other year-around activities at
Crazy Horse, where, since 1947, the construction has never stopped.
As they reached adulthood, the Ziolkowski sons and daughters
demonstrated that Korczak and Ruth imparted to their family not only knowledge
and skill, but also a deep love of the Crazy Horse dream. All were free to
leave, but seven remained involved in the project. The second generation of
Ziolkowskis began writing a new chapter of the unique Crazy Horse story when
Korczak died October 20, 1982. The torch was passed, Ruth and her children, who
together with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation board of directors, guided
Crazy Horse and its ongoing progress. It was Ruth who, after much thought,
study and research decided to shift the carving efforts from the horse's head
to Crazy Horse's face. This decisive move allowed the public to see progress
after Korczak and renewed faith in the project. Ruth also oversaw a time of
great expansion to the offerings at Crazy Horse Memorial. Under her direction,
the new wing of the Indian Museum of North America was built, which now houses
over 11,000 Native American artifacts from tribes across North America. Ruth
was instrumental in starting The Indian University of North America Summer
Program in 2010 which is continuing to further the educational efforts of the
Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. Ruth was a dreamer who had the determination
to make those dreams come true.
On May 21, 2014 the Ziolkowski matriarch Ruth Ziolkowski
passed away. Ruth's passion, persistence, vision and leadership was and will
always be an inspiration to us all. Ruth was the face of hospitality at Crazy
Horse Memorial for over 60 years. In that time she made many friends which she
was always truly appreciative of. It is now up to the Ziolkowski children and
grandchildren with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation board of directors and
staff to continue the great progress of the Crazy Horse dream.
We rode to the base of the monument in a yellow school bus
and learned many
Interesting facts about the monument. The head is 87’ tall.
His feather will be 44’ tall. His arm with pointed finger will be 263’ long.
The horse’s head will be 219’ tall and the overall height and length will be
563’ tall and 641’ long. It is a huggggge monument!
In this picture you can see the outline of part of the
horses head in white paint. Those painted lines are 6’ wide, yet they look like
they were drawn with a piece of chalk!
We enjoyed a buffet dinner at the Laughing Water Restaurant
and the Crazy Horse complex. Laughing Water Restaurant takes its name from an
area creek with headwaters at the bottom of Crazy Horse Mountain. It runs south
to the town of Custer where it joins French Creek. During the drought of the
1930s, Laughing Water Creek was one of the few in the area that did not dry up.
People from miles around would bring their wagons and barrels to fill them with
water.
The Indian Museum of North America is home to a large
collection of art and artifacts reflecting the diverse histories and cultures
of the American Indian people. The museum, designed to complement the story
being told in stone on the Mountain, speaks powerfully to present and future
generations about Native American Indian life. The museum collection started
with a single display donated in 1965 by Charles Eder, Assiniboine-Sioux, from
Montana. Mr. Eder’s impressive collection remains on display to this day.
The Museum was designed and built by Korczak Ziolkowski and
his family in the harsh winter of 1972-73, when no work was possible on the
mountain. The museum incorporated Korczak’s love of wood and natural lighting,
being constructed from ponderosa pine, harvested and milled at Crazy Horse
Memorial. The original wing of the museum was dedicated on May 30, 1973. In the
early 1980’s Korczak planned a new wing of the museum to accommodate the
growing collection of artifacts. He did not live to see his plans realized,
instead his wife Ruth Ziolkowski and 7 of their children made sure the new wing
was built. The structure was built in the winter of 1983-84 and funding came in
large part from a $60,000 check left in the Crazy Horse Memorial contribution
box in 1983. The contributor said they were moved by the purpose of Crazy
Horse, Korczak, and his family’s great progress and by the sculptor’s reliance
on free enterprise and refusal to take federal funds.
The museum displays presently encompass the upper level of
the Welcome Center, the old wing of the museum and both levels of the Native
American Educational and Cultural Center. Upwards of ninety percent of the art
and artifacts have been donated by generous individuals, including many Native
Americans. I loved the beads collection that was donated and all the beaded
items on display.
The tipi was the primary choice of residence for many of the
Great Plains tribes. Accordingly, “tipi” is the Lakota word for dwelling,
housing, building or residence. Because it was easy to deconstruct, pack up,
and transport, the tipi proved an invaluable part of the nomadic lifestyle of
Great Plains tribes.
Traditionally, women were primarily responsible for
preparing the hides of which the tipi was constructed as well as the day to day
care of the tipi once it was completed and in use. Likewise, men were most
often responsible for decorating the outside of the tipi once it was finished.
Working within such traditional gender roles, Paha Ska painted the tipi that is
currently on display in the museum.
Well-known Oglala Lakota artist Orville Francis Salway, or
Paha Ska as he was named by Ben Black Elk, lived most of his life in the Black
Hills area. The colorful images on the Paha Ska tipi depict the intricate
vision of Lakota Holy Man, Nicholas Black Elk. In many ways, Paha Ska utilizes
this piece of art to interpret, preserve, and share an important story of Black
Elk’s spiritual vision. In addition to the tipi, many of Paha Ska’s other art
works are on display throughout the museum.
The design on the tipi is detailed and each drawing has
meaning. The men on each side of the door are praying to the spirits. There are 16 riders doing a horse dance, they are in groups
of four, representing north, south, east and west. North is represented by white
horses, South has buckskin horses, East has sorrel (red) horse and West has
black horses.
Outside the museum are several other sculptures and memorials.
An Eagle.
A 9-11 Memorial.
The Fighting Stallions.
The Nature Gates, which was the last project the kids finished with their father. It is representative of all the animals of the Black Hills, living or extinct. Quite a precious piece!
There is a laser light show after dark, but the day of touring, had us all tired out! Good night!
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