Crazy Horse

It's a beautiful blue sky day in the Black Hills of South Dakota, as I stand on the observation deck of the Crazy Horse Memorial, looking out at Thunderhead Mountain. This mountain of granite rock is being blasted, chiseled and carved, into a sculpture of the famous American Indian, named Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior. There is a smaller scale model of the sculpture, of how the mountain will eventually look, that sits on the deck, and it's about 15 feet high, and a pure white color. The observation area and museum are very busy and the visitors are milling about looking at the view and the exhibits, but it's a different kind of crowd and they seemed quiet and respectful.

This project was the dream of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and his family, and it was started in 1948. This massive sculpture will depict the upper body of Crazy Horse, his arm pointing to the east and the head and neck of his horse, and will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long. In comparison the carvings of Presidents on Mount Rushmore are 60 foot tall. The face of Crazy Horse is now completed and it's 87 feet high, and work continues on blasting and forming the rock. The Crazy Horse sculpture is a work of geometry, of lines, circles, triangles and curves, which is constantly evolving. A work of art, on an immense scale.

I spot something moving on the mountain just to the side of where the horses head is being carved, and at first I thought it was one of the workers on the mountain but it wasn't. It was an animal with 4 hooves, two black colored horns and its a whitish color; a wild mountain goat. The mountain goat is oblivious to his surroundings and he turns in a circle and lays down, only interested in taking a nap, in the shade of the cliff face, that eventually be formed into the nose of a horse. This is a place of refuge, on these high cliffs, where over the eons the mountain goats have sought refuge. Crazy Horse would approve of the presence of these magnificent animals.

Crazy Horse was born in 1840 and was killed in 1877, while a prisoner of the U.S. Government. Crazy Horse was a famed warrior that fought many battles with great distinction, and was known as leader and strategist in battle and he fought in many of the most famous engagements across the West including the Wagon Box fight, Fetterman fight, Battle of the Rosebud and the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Crazy Horse fought for the Indian People and his tribe against the U.S Government, so save their way of life, their land and hunting grounds. His most famous encounter was with the 7^th Calvary at the battle of the Little Big Horn or the Battle of Greasy Grass Creek as the Indians called it.

General Custer and his command of 210 soldiers were attempting to flank the Indian Village along the Little Big Horn River, but they first had to find a ford and a way around the steep cut banks. Before that could be accomplished the Indians attacked their flank and pushed the soldiers back up the hills, where they fought a desperate last stand. Crazy Horse led a flanking assault, with a large group of warriors, at a place now called Custer Hill, which effectively ended the battle, and swept Custer and 210 troopers to their death.

Crazy Horse was very resolute in his determination to fight for his people, and their lands, even in the face of impossible odds, but he would never give up his fight, to keep the Black Hills. I see the Crazy Horse Memorial as more than a massive granite sculpture, but a permanent marker, a mountain of art and protest, a hard rock heap of determination, that the Tribes will not give up their struggle for the Black Hills. The eyes of Crazy Horse look out over the Black Hills, in a timeless gaze, watching over the creeks, meadows and ponderosa pine forests. A steadfast and stalwart lookout.

The shadow of a warrior on a horse, rides the pine forest late in the afternoon and wedges across the landscape, as the wind howls and curls around Thunderhead Mountain. The crackle and sound of footsteps in pine litter breaking sticks. I take one last look at the sculpted mountain, and stand it awe of the man, and the monument.

North Country Prairie

Photo Credit: Claranne Baddeley

The wind blows across the prairie of North Dakota and the grass sways in emerald green waves, like an incoming tide sweeping in off the ocean. The only sound is the wind and the chattering of red-winged black birds down in the slough and the chirping of gophers, Richardson's Ground Squirrel.

My wife Louise and I are staying at the Baddeley Ranch, which originally was owned by her parents, Hazel and Lloyd Swensrud. Louise and her sister Claranne were raised on the farm. Claranne and her husband Charlie recently purchased the ranch and are raising horses, angus cattle and longhorns. Louise, Hazel and myself are spending a few days at the ranch visiting.

The ranch is nestled behind two small rounded hills, on the rolling prairie of North Dakota. About 10,000 years ago, continental glaciers swept north over this region leaving a landscape of undulating hills, small lakes and ponds. The soils are generally deep and laced with sand, gravel and rock and scattered large boulders called erratics are quite prevalent. Glacial debris.

Claranne gave me a couple of pictures of the ranch and the first one shows longhorn cattle with the ranch buildings in the background, on the wide open prairie. The second picture shows Claranne's husband Charlie and their daughter Linea, on horseback. Linea is riding a horse named the Ragin' Cajun, with a saddle that was owned by her grandfather. Charlie is riding a horse named Gone Physco. In the foreground of the picture is an old horse drawn one-bottom plow that Hazel and Lloyd used for farming, many years ago.

The prairie grass has gotten off to a slow growth this year after a hard winter, with lots of snow, which will make for smaller hay crops. The small ponds and lakes are brim full of water, which will make for great nesting habitat for ducks, geese, swans, red-winged blackbirds and shorebirds. In the fall the adult birds and their young will take flight to more moderate climates.

The weather is king, in the north prairie country, and the seasons dominate the activities of the local residents. Summer brings hay cutting and tending of crops followed by fall which is harvest time for wheat and other crops. Winter seems endless with arctic like conditions of frozen ground and snow followed by the miracle of spring with the regrowth of the grasses, new calves on the range, and brand-new flocks of baby ducks. The timeless cadence of life on the prairie.