Sanford to donate up to $5 million to Crazy Horse

Matching grant is expected to give workers a big boost to carving efforts over the next year.

By Journal staff | Friday, December 21, 2007

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By Steve Miller, Journal staff

The head of the horse on the giant Crazy Horse Memorial sculpture could begin emerging in the next couple of years as the carving is spurred by a $5 million matching grant from billionaire philanthropist T. Denny Sanford.

Crazy Horse officials announced the grant Thursday on the viewing veranda, saying Sanford has pledged to match dollar for dollar the donations from others toward completing the mountain carving begun by Korczak Ziolkowski and his wife, Ruth, nearly 60 years ago.

The total of $10 million would greatly accelerate the progress on the mountain carving, according to Dick Tobias, chairman of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation board of directors.

The Crazy Horse organization has already raised the first $1 million, according to campaign director Jim Hagen. Sanford has set a four-year limit to raise the remaining $4 million, according to a news release.

Nevertheless, $2 million is now available for additional work on the mountain throughout the next year. All of the money will go toward actual carving on the mountain, Hagen said.

Engineer Kevin Hachmeister said crews removed nearly 50,000 tons of rock from the mountain during the past year. With extra workers and equipment provided by the Sanford grant, the carving crews hope to move 100,000 tons of rock next year.

"Hopefully, people will start to see the horse's head in the next couple of years," Hagen said.

Hachmeister said workers are the key to speeding progress on the mountain. "This gives us an opportunity to reorganize our approach to moving rock," he said. "We've often said, 'If we just had more people, or if we just had this piece of equipment... .' Now here's our chance."

Hachmeister said the carving crew has eight people, and a few more will be added next year. The new workers likely will be used for more maintenance tasks, freeing up the experienced crew for direct work on the carving, he said. Over the next five years, with the additional money, the crew will more than double, he said.

The gift is the biggest ever given to the Crazy Horse memorial, officials said. The previous largest was $1.7 million, given by Illinois businessman Gerald Forsythe.

Sanford was not present at Thursday's news conference at the memorial.

But Ruth Ziolkowski, president and chief executive officer of Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, thanked him, saying, "His wonderful opportunity and his generous gift gives us an amazing chance."

Korczak Ziolkowski, who died in 1982, set off the first blast on the mountain carving in 1948. He had been approached nine years before by Lakota chief Henry Standing Bear, who asked him to carve a mountain memorial to Lakota leader Crazy Horse.

Tobias noted that Korczak early on laid down the principle of refusing government funds for the project.

"There were many people who thought that was a mistake, that we would never achieve success," Tobias said. "But time has proved them wrong and Korczak right."

The Ziolkowskis took no salary and paid no expenses from admissions to the memorial in the early years, making their living by raising cattle and hogs and selling lumber from a sawmill Ruth operated, according to Fred Tully, director of development for the Crazy Horse operation.

Tully read a letter from Gov. Mike Rounds, congratulating them on the Sanford donation. "For 60 years, Crazy Horse has worked to foster reconciliation between the races," Rounds wrote. "Crazy Horse is also a testament to perseverance. ... I want to encourage South Dakotans and visitors from around the world to join me in helping the memorial in matching this very generous gift."

Hagen said in-kind gifts such as equipment would qualify for matching money from Sanford.

Sanford, of Sioux Falls, was ranked 177th on Forbes list of the richest Americans in 2006, with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion. He owned First Premier Bank and later started credit-card company Premier Bankcard.

His previous donations include $400 million to Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health Systems in Sioux Falls and $70 million to the Homestake lab project.

"South Dakota has been good to me and it's time to give back, and I'm doing that through Crazy Horse," Sanford said in a news release. "I have long admired the years of dedication and hard, hard work by the family and their passion for Crazy Horse."

Crazy Horse Memorial now has 60 year-round employees, and the complex has expanded to include a welcome center with twin theaters, exhibit space for art and artifacts, conference and classroom facilities, and a research library; the Indian Museum of North America; the museum gift shop; sculptor's home-studio-workshop; and the Native American Educational Cultural Center.

Crazy Horse Memorial hosts events including Native American Day ceremonies, the Crazy Horse Volksmarch each June, the Gift From Mother Earth Celebration and the Crazy Horse Rodeo Stampede. Crazy Horse Memorial is a nonprofit, educational and cultural project honoring Native Americans. The mountain carving is 641 feet long and 563 feet high and is being carved in the round.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com