Monday, 7/7/69
We left Buffalo, Wyoming early am.. clear day and road empty. We stopped at Wyodak, Wyoming open pit coal mine..
first time we've seen one.. a vein right under farm land! (The Wyodak Mine sits on top of one of the largest coal reserves in the United States -- the Powder River Basin).
We drove east through Wyoming
our Wyoming traverse.. (click on Map)
and crossed into South Dakota and the lovely town of Spearfish. We found city park.. did a little food shopping.. small selection and produce inferior, and high prices !!
Lunch in park, kids played in stream.. then onto the Black Hills country.. Lovely, small towns full of "frontier" history. Stopped in Hill City for boys to play on an 1880 steam engine.
Then onto the "Crazy Horse Monument being carved in the Black Hills (5 miles north of Custer
on US highway 16) by Korczak Ziolkowsky, a sculptor and engineer.
Model and actual mountain in distance. (1996) Korczak and daughter
It’s a memorial for the North American Indian and when completed the mountain carving will be 641 feet wide by 563 feet high. We got to tour the sculptor’s studio/home and see the mountain where he and his
sons are working. We were so impressed by this single unbelievable feat. Eventually there will be an Indian University on the land for Indians and museum beside the huge monument (see picture/brochure). Still awestruck, we entered Custer State Park. Paid $3.00 fee (a shock to pay since most nights we’ve camped free of charge). Showers 25 cents and they were freezing! We backed up right next to Collidge Stream. Boys played in it for two hours. I made fine spaghetti, salad, garlic bread dinner. Boys back in stream. Many kids around so good time had by all. We’re all very relaxed. Getting used to different weather conditions than California and enjoying ou
r trip immensely! Howard and I spent the quiet evening planning our next adventurous tour!the face in 1996 and approx how it was when we were there in 1969
7/7/69, Custer State Park, South Dakota
