Four Presidents and a Crazy Horse walk into a Saloon

The soils surrounding the Black Hills are stained red for good reason, as these are lands that have witnessed thousands of years of cyclical dispute, conquest, eventual peace and subsequent wrongdoing. The hopes and dreams of indigenous peoples, homesteaders and prospectors have all met their fates here, with few emerging as victorious in the long run. Legends of great valour, daring and darstardly deeds still breathe in the mountains, valleys and pioneer towns today.

We are exploring Custer State Park, Mt Rushmore National Monument, and the cartoonish remains of the famed Wild West town of Deadwood. Statues and monuments abound to bring to life the rich stories of post-colonial America, traditional memories of life before, and the fraught clash of cultures that occurred in between. For us though, there are three stories that really stand out:

#1. Crazy Horse

As the dynamite exploded and the jack hammers chattered on nearby Mt Rushmore, Chief Sitting Bull reflected on the history of his people, and became determined that a vast monument to their courage and honour should also be hewn in stone. In consultation with other tribes, it was decided that Crazy Horse, a Sioux warrior who was never known to be photographed or to sign a treaty, should become the iconic representation. In 1948, Polish sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was recruited to begin the epic task of carving a 641 foot long and 563 foot tall “story in stone” into the mountain. He never got to see the stern and determined face that now stares out from the granite, but his 10 children, and now grandchildren, are carrying on his legacy which is estimated to take another 75 years to complete. Even in its incomplete state, Crazy Horse Monument and the even crazier stories behind it are a must to see and experience.

#2. Wild Bill Hickok

Of all the rogues, renegades and regular Joes to descend on the frontier town of Deadwood, Wild Bill Hickok was always destined for infamy. Tall, lithe and with a talent for staying alive by remaining dead calm in shootouts, Hickok had already become a legend by the time that he moved to the Black Hills. After entertaining himself and the ladies of the town for a while, Wild Bill’s legend was cut short by Jack McCall in a poker game at Nutall & Mann’s No. 10 Saloon, shot in the back of the head while allegedly holding the now infamous ‘dead man’s hand’ of black aces and eights, and a nine of diamonds.

While getting a little over developed and commercialised, there is still plenty of the original old town charm about, with stories brought vividly to life by the Deadwood Alive actors troop. It’s an atmosphere best savoured over some local brews at one of the many saloons.

#3. Mt. Rushmore National Monument

Clearly a pilgrimage for the patriotic, Mt Rushmore is still an impressive presence over the landscape. In time it will be dwarfed by Crazy Horse, but the four presidential portraits carved into the hard granite are themselves very commanding. It does look a little like Theodore Roosevelt was late to this particular party and that he is photobombing the moment, and it is partly true. Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln were already being carved in situ when a weakness in the rockface forced the artist, Gutzon Borglum, to move Roosevelt in between the other stately figures.

It was Gutzon who decided to change the original idea of carving Wild West figures into the mountain, with the motivation being to attract tourists to this far flung region than to honour the highest office. The ruse clearly worked, as Mt Rushmore remains one of the highest visited sites in the US. For our money though, Crazy Horse wins through as the best attraction.

Reflections on the week

Colonisation is a pretty blunt instrument that tends to work to benefit the new arrivals to a land, and the long story of union advancement of the early colonies westward is a mixed tale of treaties made and broken, attempts of assimilation, but ultimately the systematic destruction of indigenous cultures by both church and state. It’s heartening to see that there is a quiet resurgence and interest about the original inhabitants’ stories and culture, but to us it is obvious that there is a major chasm yet to cross, and old hurts yet to be healed. The New Zealand story of colonisation is far from perfect, but the richness and spirit of the Maori culture is much more alive and present everyday there than what is evident here, and the whole country is richer for it.

What could America look like if it moved beyond a John Wayne western understanding and portrayal of the original inhabitants of these vast, wild and wonderful lands?