The Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota
Last month I went to South Dakota. It was for a family reunion but, while I was there, I played tourist as well. One of the many sights in the Black Hills is the Crazy Horse Memorial. If you are not familiar with it, it is a sculpture of the indian chief Crazy Horse worked into the top of a mountain. It is on a even larger scale than Mt. Rushmore (the US presidents carved into a mountain).
I had long heard about this and thought it a wonderful project. Upon seeing it, and the associated visitors center and museum, I have radically changed my mind. It is nothing more than a tourist trap being operated under the guise of a good work.
This project has been underway since 1948. Yes, the progress is painfully slow but that is forgivable. What upset me is a combination of things ranging from the entrance costs to the contents of the so called museum.
The entrance fee is $10 per person. This gets you on the property and into the visitor center. You are still over a mile away from the actual carving. To get closer, you have to pay for a bus ride up to the mountain.
The visitor center is finished entirely of pine. It is huge and it is really nice if you like the natural finish. The contents of this so called museum are another matter. Much of it is on the same tackiness level as paintings of Elvis on velvet! While there are some real artifacts there and some good information about native Americans, much of the stuff there is pure junk that really degrades the experience. There are even little booths selling stuff throughout the museum. It is exactly what one would expect at a cheap tourist trap (but on a grander scale).
The brochures claim that the operation is funded primarily from admission fees. This is likely true but it is interesting to notice another source of income. Mining! This place is operated as a gravel mine. The debris is crushed and sold as it is from thousands of mines throughout the country. The biggest difference between this place and the other mines is that here the blasting is done artistically (at least in the area around the sculpture) and that the mine’s operations are supplemented by tourist fees.
What a rip off and insult to the American Indians.
How very disappointing. My son is studing South Dakota right now and we were so excited about the State because they now have the Craxy Horse memorial we were going to plan our summer vacation around that, but now I believe we are going to do something else. When are we going to stop exploiting the Native Americans? I don’t see our government giving them “special Young farmers” loans that the Asian comunity get which is was different than a white farmer gets and all the social service our “illegal alien friends” get. I don’t even know which language to speak half the time. You go to Miami and you canhardly find a merchant who speaks English. You can not even go to Subway to order a sandwhich unless you speak Spanish because the person behind the counte speaks ONLY spanish!! Way to sell out America!
Signed DiSCUSTED WITH MY LAZY CHEATING OPPERTUNISTIC GOVERNMENT!
Thank you for your infos.
Will be there in three weeks.
Elvis on velvet & Crazy Horse ? God forbid !!
Lewis,London,Canada.