A Rapid City man believes he may own the only photograph of acclaimed Lakota leader Crazy Horse. This week, public television's "History Detectives" brought their research hounds to the Black Hills to interview several sources, including family members.

"This is a fun story to do," producer Elyse Luray said Wednesday.

The "History Detectives" started researching six weeks ago in the extensive photo archives of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The program investigates facts, myths and mysteries connected to interesting objects, family legends and local folklore, she said.

According to historian and author Donovin Sprague, an American Indian Studies instructor at Crazy Horse Memorial and Black Hills State University, the photograph belongs to Tim Giago, former publisher and editor of Indian Country Today and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

About nine months ago, the two men talked about authenticating the photograph, taken by Alexander Gardner in the 1870s, and translating a message written in Lakota on the back.

Sprague, who had worked with "History Detectives" on two other occasions, pitched the idea to one of his contacts last summer. They agreed to begin researching it, he said.

"We want the viewer to know if it is Crazy Horse," Sprague said.

He directed the research team to the Case Collection at the E.Y. Berry Library -Learning Center at BHSU in Spearfish, and to the state archives in Pierre. He also contacted Oglala Lakota College instructor Wilmer Mesteth about translating the message on the photograph.

"It's significant in the world of history," Sprague said.

Aside from the Smithsonian archivists, Luray has been in touch with local and state museum officials and local historians. The details uncovered have helped determine the age and circumstances surrounding the photograph.

"We depend on local historians throughout the country," she said.

They include Doug War Eagle, Floyd Clown Sr., Don Red Thunder and Delmar Clown, all of Dupree, and all descendents of Crazy Horse. On Wednesday, the men showed the "History Detectives" crew a catalogue of documents, census rolls, probate records, an artist's sketch and family photographs.

"I brought pictures of the relatives through his mother's side," War Eagle said.

War Eagle said one of his great-grandmothers, Black Shawl, married Crazy Horse.

"He had a daughter, Afraid of Her, who died of whooping cough in 1870. He didn't go to the (Fort Laramie) treaty meeting in 1868 because of his daughter's birth," missing an official group shot of Native American leaders in attendance, War Eagle said.

War Eagle and Floyd Clown Sr. said the only known image of Crazy Horse is a sketch by a Mormon missionary, which the family has passed down from generation to generation.

"There are no photographs," War Eagle said.

They were at Crazy Horse Memorial for the "History Detectives" interview. There, memorial foundation president and chief executive officer Ruth Ziolkowski pointed out an exhibit for Tasunke Witko - "Crazy Horse" in Lakota. On the wall are six photographs submitted by various historians and people who claim the images are of Crazy Horse. Each photograph is of a different man.

The story and verifiable facts accompany each picture. "One of them is of a 60-year-old man, which we know isn't him," Ziolkowski said.

The Lakota leader's birth date is not known and his death date, Sept. 5 or 6, 1877, at Fort Robinson, Neb., is debated. Historians say he was 34 to 37 years old.

Another photo is from a colored postcard, "and he's ancient." Ziolkowski said that her sources agreed that Crazy Horse never wore a war bonnet, which eliminates another photograph. That leaves the possibility that he might be in one of the three remaining photographs - or Giago's picture.

Although named for Crazy Horse, the memorial isn't taking sides.

"It isn't up to us to tell people who is Crazy Horse," she said.

Her husband, Korczak Ziolkowski, partly based his mountain carving of Crazy Horse on descriptions by the warrior's friends and colleagues. She and Korczak met five survivors of the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn at the mountain's first blast in 1948, and Korczak talked to them extensively, she said.

"Not one of them believed there was a photo of Crazy Horse," Ruth Ziolkowski said.

Yet, she isn't entirely convinced that there isn't a photograph in existence.

The Ziolkowskis befriended state historian Will Robinson, and during a visit to his Pierre office, realized he had hundreds of photographs of Native Americans neatly filed in his office. In discussing Crazy Horse, she said he once opened a filing cabinet drawer filled with photographs.

"If there is (a photo,) I have it. Only I don't know which one it is," he told them.

The findings of the "History Detectives" will air this summer.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.