In 1939, he wrote to Polish-American sculptorKorczak Ziolkowski.
Ziolkowski had worked on Mount Rushmore under Borglum for a brief time and was intrigued by the project.
So he went about executing his vision alone, working without electricity, water, or roads.
Photo:Stock Photosfrom James Dalrymple/Shutterstock
To reach the top, he used a 741-step wooden staircase.
But still, he was not deterred.
At that point, his widow Ruth Ziolkowski took charge of the project.
Photo:Jonathunder via Wikipedia
Given that no government funding is involved in the sculpture, it was a smart move.
Towering 87 feet high, Crazy Horse’s head is far larger than the 60-foot portraits at Mount Rushmore.
When finished, it will stand behind India’s Statue of Unity as the second-largest sculpture in the world.
Photo:Osservastro/CC BY-SA
Currently, the non-profitCrazy Horse Memorial Foundationis run by Ziolkowski’s daughter, sculptor Monique Ziolkowski.
She took over after the death of Ruth in 2014.
The Crazy Horse Memorial, however, is not withoutcontroversy.
