Crazy Horse Monument and Korczak Ziolkowski

Here are notes from 2 videos that my friend Clark loaned me about Crazy Horse and Korczak . I hope to see this monument some day.

Crazy Horse Monument link


Notes from "Carving Crazy Horse"

Korczak Ziolkowski worked it 1947 until he died 1982

"I am a storyteller in stone"

"... I said I'll carve the whole montains, then they knew I was crazy, nuts, wheels."
Sioux Chief Henry Standing Bear said carve it: "So the white man knew that the red man had great heroes also."

Those moneys that would comes here would funnel into a university, medical center

He arrived 3 May 1947 aged 40 years old, with $174 dollars,
He carved 741 steps, singlejacked blasting holes with an old Buda compressor,

"I'll tell you something I very, very, very seldom ever utter:
The world asks you one question, only one; The world asks you: Did you do the job? and in my book there's only one answer: YES
You don't answer I would have done the job if I had the money,
I would have done the job if people had been sympathethic or
understood what I was trying to do.
I would have done the job if I hadn't gotten hurt or crippled...
and God knows I've been crippled.
You don't even say I would have done the job if I hadn't died
I don't buy it, there's only one answer: YES.

When asked "where are your lands now?" Crazy Horse pointed and said:
"My lands are where my dead lie buried."
Korczak tells Crazy Horse's Story


"Drilling & Blasting, the Fine Art of Mountain Carving"

How to carve a mountain, step by step
1. Measure - Enlarge from scale model 34x, pointing machine, face 10,000 points
2. Survey Mountain
3. Computerize - fit model to mountain, how much rock can be safely taken off
4. Buffer Zone 20 feet thick
5. Confer Ruth Z - Korczak said, can't carve Crazy Horse from the grave.
Hardest decision, not going to carve horse's head, instead do face
6. Select Site Safety, geology, how much rock, can you clean up with machine
Move most amount of rock with least amount of explosives
7. Design Blast Drill pattern, tailor to site geology of mountain
Distance from grade, geology, dimension, vibration factor
Tonnage removed, pounds of explosives, number of borehole
Spacing/depth of boreholes, delays, manual or machine drilling
Personnel needed, Time to drill, weather, cost of the blast
> Ensure that blasters never take off too much rock
8. Prepare Site
9. Measure Site fix location and spacing of each borehole (laser level)
10. Equipment
11. Drill Holes The secret of good blasting is good drilling
pegmatite granite Casimir Z - Two kinds of rock, hard rock and heavy rock
12. Pick Explosives load and time, vibration models ensure vibration control
13. Load Holes
14. Seismographs geophones - vibration diagnostic to determine blast size
Permanent geophones (2) inside carving vibration @ finish grade
15. Survey Pinpoint boreholes, rock removal and vibration models, 3inch/sec
16. Photograph document drill pattern
17. Connect
18. Safety checks
19. Coordinate
20. Detonate
21. Inspect Site
22. Bulldoze one of most dangerous "Casimir and the flying cat"
"You got it in there, get it out"
23. Log Data
24. Follow up

I really enjoy the 5-fold spiral symmetry of Aloe polyphylla Schönland ex Pillans. It is a plant to ponder. It's also becoming increasingly rare in it's native alpine environment in Lesotho.

I viewed this plant at Paloma Garden near Wanganui, New Zealand (South Island) .

Some other Aloe polyphylla photos