Did Henry get his idea of a Crazy Horse monument from Mt. Rushmore?
Its a good bet he did. Dennis Compos, Henry Standing Bears grandson said, It was his dream. After they put Mount Rushmore there in the Black Hills, the Black Hills being our sacred land, my grandfather got the idea.(17) His half bother Luther was to have first surfaced the idea in one of his books, all of which were written at the time of the Rushmore carving. Henry even lobbied Gutzon Borglum to have Crazy Horse carved on Mt. Rushmore itself.(18) It is obvious that Borglum turned him down. Undaunted by Borglums rejection, Standing Bear continued his quest to get a monument carved, regardless of the sculptor. When writing to Ziolkowski in 1939 to request his sculpting services, he said, We do not believe that Borglum is the only living man that can do that kind of work.(19) Ziolkowski was intrigued by Standing Bears request. So much so that he spent three weeks with Henry on Pine Ridge in the spring of 1940 discussing the matter and learning about Crazy Horse and the traditional Indian
