Custer State Park/Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse

 

Custer State Park is located in the southern Black Hills (one of our favorite areas so far).   Much to do which is shown in pictures below.   I wanted to give a quick history lesson on Mt. Rushmore and how it came to be.  In the early 1920's a historian, Doane Robinson, wanted to find a way to attract tourism to South Dakota.   Originally he wanted to have western figures carved in Needles (named after large distinct eroding granite pillars in the Black Hills).   He approached the rock sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, but he was currently sculpting Stone Mountain with Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson and declined.   Shortly later, Gutzon got into an argument with creators of Stone Mountain and left to come to South Dakota to look at Doane's dream.   The original spot (picture of sight below) was not conducive to sculpting the rock and Gutzon didn't think western figures would be appropriate.   He decided on Mt. Rushmore and the four Presidents based on their legacy's that helped shape America.  If you look at the picture above, the original sculptor was supposed to go down to their waist but the rock as they went lower was of a different color and opted to stay with head shots.   The only one that has anything lower is Washington that shows his lapel.  

We also visited another sculptor in progress, Crazy Horse.    It started in the 1940's and has a much bigger ambition of carving the whole side of a mountain.  So far the only thing completed is Crazy Horse's face.   All of this is being funded privately with no money from the government as the Indian Nation has decreed.   Of course, it's $30 per car to come in the area which has museum and other artifacts.   The place was packed so I don't think they are hurting for funding.   FYI, Mt Rushmore was $10 for parking

Before and after of what Crazy Horse will look like.  I pulled the finished statue from website to show how far they have gotten in 60+ years.  In comparison, Mt Rushmore figures are probably a 10th of what this finished product will be.  That's a lot of dynamite!

Saw a few animals.  Custer has two separate wildlife loops that are wild open plains the animals can roam freely.   The Burros where used to help back in the day with hauling supplies and eventually set free in the area.  

Didn't see much Tatanka (Buffalo) in the park but supposedly they are doing very well and every September are herded up to sell to farmers and meat processors to keep the population manageable.   Bison Burger anyone! 

Above is the original site, Needles, for the western figures idea.  To the right is one of 3 rock tunnels that were VERY TIGHT.  I had to pull in both side mirrors to get thru this one.  Below is Mt Rushmore going on Iron Mountain Road that gave us some nice views on our way to the monument.

Above is a picture of the Black Hills, Custer Park from our campsite.  To the right I woke and looked outside to see what I thought was early morning.   When I checked my watch, it was 2 am.  That is actually the moon in the night time sky.  It was crazy bright.