Think of the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore comes to mind.
You can't help but feel a patriotic twinge as you gaze at the faces of four U.S. presidents carved into solid granite. If you're historically minded, you'll think of the struggles our country endured to establish a democracy.At the very least you'll wonder how anyone could chisel a mountain to resemble human faces.
But there's more to the Black Hills than Mount Rushmore, stunning as it is. It's the star attraction but there are a number of side shows worth taking in.
Deseret News staff photographer Ravell Call took his family to the Black Hills last summer on vacation. Among the highlights, in addition to Mount Rushmore, were Jewel Cave National Monument, and a side trip to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming where they stopped on their way home.
Crazy Horse Monument, a work-in-progress also in the Black Hills, depicts the famous Indian chief.
The Calls found that the area was an obstacle course of tourist traps. But some of them kept the kids entertained at a reasonable price.
Here's a rundown.
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore is symbolic of our country's ideals. According to the National Park Service, George Washington signifies the struggle for independence and the birth of our nation. Thomas Jefferson represents the idea of representative government. Abraham Lincoln symbolizes the permanent union of all the states and equality for all their citizens. Theodore Roosevelt denotes the 20th-century role of the United States in world affairs.
In 1923, South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson thought of carving colossal statues of romantic Western heroes like Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and John Colter on granite formations in an area known as "the Needles." Years passed before the memorial was authorized and funding was in place, but in 1924 Robinson asked sculptor John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum to visit the Black Hills.
Gutzon Borglum, born in St. Charles, Idaho, began painting as a young man. He studied art in France where he picked up an interest in sculpture. From 1903 on he worked only as a sculptor.
On his visit to South Dakota he concluded that "the Needles" wasn't an ideal site for a monumental sculpture. Instead, he chose Mount Rushmore because of its smooth granite surface and its magnitude, nearly 5,725 feet in height. The mountain dominated its surroundings and faced the sun most of the day.
Work began Aug. 10, 1927, the day President Calvin Coolidge dedicated Mount Rushmore as a national memorial. The subjects were to be four of the country's most significant presidents during the first 150 years of its history.
The project took 14 years to reach its present appearance. Delays from bad weather and lack of funds took their toll. Only about 61/2 years were spent on the actual carving.
It was an unconventional project and required unconventional tools. Instead of hammers and chisels, workmen used dynamite and drills.
Gutzon Borglum made scale models of each face. Workmen on the mountain took measurements from the models and enlarged them 12 times. They removed excess rock with dynamite and then drilled shallow holes in the surface at three-inch intervals. They used small drills or hammers and wedging tools to remove the remaining rock. The faces were smoothed with a small air hammer.
Gutzon Borglum died in 1941, but his son, Lincoln, who had worked closely with his father on the monument, continued until funds ran out later that year. No additional carving has been done on the monument since.
Think of it as Gutzon Borglum's unfinished symphony.
The sculptor's studio is open to the public from mid-May through mid-September and evening patriotic programs where the sculptures are highlighted with artificial light take place nightly in the amphitheater.
The visitors center is open year-round.
Accommodations are available in nearby communities. National Forest Service campgrounds are also nearby.
Early morning provides the best light in which to see Mount Rushmore, but the evening patriotic program, when the mountain is lit against the night sky, is worth your time, too.
"Rushmore was the main reason we went to the Black Hills and it was worth it," says Call. "But there were other things our family enjoyed."
Jewel Cave National Monument
Two South Dakota prospectors discovered Jewel Cave in about 1900. They heard wind rushing through a hole in the rocks in Hell Canyon. They enlarged the hole and found a cave full of sparkling crystals.
Thinking these were perhaps valuable minerals, they filed a mining claim. The crystals were not valuable, so they turned the cave into a tourist attraction. It failed.
The cave became a national monument in 1908 to protect the small but beautiful chamber.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. When the cave became a national monument, only a half-mile of passages was known. Since 1959, explorers have mapped more than 80 miles of underground chambers including rooms as large as 150 feet by 200 feet and passageways as long as 3,200 feet.
Jewel Cave turned out to be one of the world's most extensive underground passages. Much of it remains open only to scientific researchers.
But some of the most beautiful sections are open to the public on ranger-guided tours
There are three tours: the scenic tour, the historic tour and the spelunking tour. Tickets for the scenic and historic tours are available at the visitor center the day of the tour. Reservations are recommended for the spelunking tour and can be made up to two months in advance by writing Jewel Cave National Monument, Route 1, Box 60AA, Custer, SD 57730, or calling (605) 673-2288.
The scenic tour takes approximately 11/4 hours and covers about a half-mile. This is a moderately strenuous trip with 700 stairs to climb. It is conducted several times a day from May to September.
The historic tour takes 13/4 hours and follows the path of the early Jewel Cave explorers. Passages are lighted with candle lanterns and you begin at the cave's historic entrance in Hell Canyon. It is considered moderately strenuous with many steep stairs and requires bending and crawling. Wear your old clothes. It's offered several times a week from mid-June to late August.
The spelunking tour is about four hours and takes you through an undeveloped portion of the cave. The Park Service provides headlamps and hard hats but you should have gloves, old clothes and ankle-high boots with lug soles. You need to be able to crawl through an 81/2-by-24-inch concrete block tunnel. Children 15 years old and younger are not eligible. 16- and 17-year-olds must have their parents' written permission.
Devils Tower National Monument
Devils Tower is across the border in Wyoming. It's a relatively easy trip on your way to or from the Black Hills. The tower is the core of a volcano that has been exposed by millions of years of erosion. Talus at the base is broken columns that have fallen off the tower. Several nature trails wind throughout the area with views of the Belle Fourche River Valley. This national monument is open year round. Its campground and picnic area are open seasonally.
Don't underestimate the time you should spend there. "We just drove in and looked at it," says Calls. "I wish we had taken time to walk clear around it, to feel the power of it, the size of it."
Other attractions
The area is full of places to unload your money. The Call children chose to visit these:
- Reptile Gardens. Located five miles south of Rapid City on the highway to Mount Rushmore, it has four different wildlife shows; exhibits with many different animals, including alligators, crocodiles and giant tortoises and mini-horse rides. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $3.75 kids 6-14. Children under 6 are admitted free. "The kids liked it a lot. They got to pet a small alligator," says Call.
- Bear Country U.S.A. Located eight miles south of Rapid City on the highway to Mount Rushmore, this is a drive-thru wildlife park. There are buffalo, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, wolves, wild turkey and dall sheep. Babyland has a collection of the park's offspring and smaller species of animals in a zoolike setting.
"It cost us $25 for the carful," says Call. "We spent an hour driving through. It was fun, but we enjoyed Rushmore and Jewel Cave more. I got a little bummed because a bear stood up against my car and scratched it a little as he pulled his paw down."
Here are a few places the Calls didn't visit.
- Museum of Geology on the campus of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City. Located in the O'Harra Building, there are several items of distinction here. A meterorite collection features the McMurchie meterorite that fell through a barn roof and struck a John Deere Corn Planter in 1956. Displays feature several extinct reptiles including a sea lizard from the late Cretaceous period and the only Tyrannosaurus Rex skull ever excavated in South Dakota. It has a mineral collection, too. The best news, however, is that admission is free.
- Custer State Park has three scenic drives: Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road, and Wildlife Loop Road through the bison range. Wildlife that can be found in the park include elk, deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep and prairie dogs.
- Crazy Horse Monument is a mountain-carving-in-progress. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski undertook this project at the invitation of Lakota Chief Henry Stand-ing Bear. Ziolkowski died in 1982, but the project is under way under the direction of his widow, Ruth. Open to the public is the sculptor's home and studio and an Indian Museum. There's an admission fee.
- Wind Cave National Park, 10 miles north of Hot Springs on U.S. 385, is a multilevel cave with unique formations. There's an admission fee.