Dakota’s Trip – Day 2

If yesterday started out as a celebration of American exceptionalism by first visiting Mount Rushmore, today started out telling the other side of that story by first visiting the Crazy Horse Memorial. Before coming to South Dakota,I sometimes wondered why  those four presidents were chosen for the monument. Here is the reason. And the museum explains this well. In summary, all were chosen because they made major contributions that helped form and shape our country – Washington founded our country, Jefferson grew our country, Lincoln preserved our country, and Roosevelt developed our country nationally and globally.

And so why did sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski begin building the Crazy Horse Monument in 1948, seven years after Mount Rushmore was completed? In summary, Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear wanted the world to remember indigenous heroes, specifically in response to the Nearby Mount Rushmore carving on sacred Black Hills Land.  One can argue that Native Americans – the Crazy Horse museum refers to these people as American Indians – shaped the foundational development of the United States through governance models (the Iroquois system which Ben Franklin studied extensively), agricultural systems including companion planting (corn, squash, and beans ) which early colonists adopted, and survival knowledge including the use of Native American trails and trade routes and using Native American plant medicinal knowledge.

I found the Crazy Horse memorial and museum to be educational, thoughtful, powerful, and moving. It is so much more than a huge sculpture on a rock which makes it worth the visit. However, all Lakota are not happy with it. Some in the Lakota Nation believe it should have never been built. They see that destroying a sacred mountain by carving a sculpture into it as wrong, no matter who the monument honors. In other words, two wrongs do not make it right.  So, there is controversy within the Lakota Nation. One of the biggest sticking points is that the memorial is a non-profit still run by the Ziolkowski family. And unlike Mount Rushmore, no federal funding has been used. Despite this, critics argue that Native American people should have more say in how it is run, even though it is a source of Native American education, scholarships and cultural programming.

While in the gift shop, I bought the book “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee”, which I had read about in the NYT. It takes the massacre of more than 150 Sioux at Wounded Knee in 1890, which has been traditionally presented as the end of Native American history and instead, uses it as a the beginning of a story of Native American resilience, identity and self-rule, despite efforts to erase that identity.

After the Crazy Horse Memorial visit, which I would highly recommend, I drove back into Custer State Park and drove the Wildlife Loop. I loved it. I saw Pronghorn, Bison, and other wildlife. The highlight for me was seeing hundreds of prairie dogs during my hike on Prairie Trail.  This hike was very different from my hike yesterday, Prairie Trail had panoramic vistas instead of majestic buttes, and was much flatter due to walking on extended elevated prairies. That said, there was plenty of elevation change to keep it interesting. 

After my hike, I drove through Wind Cave National Park, where I saw more Bison. The Prairie Dogs were so numerous that I think they should rename the Park. I drove into Hot Springs where I had lunch. This town, which I enjoyed walking through, also includes the Mammoth Site and Museum. Evidently the remains of 50 Mammoths and other animals from the ice age were found on this site, which was a sinking pool at the time.

Afterwards, I drove back to Custer, where I shopped and did a final hike up the mountain that overlooks the town.