Site Report: The Crazy Horse Solution

In 1948, a few years after the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed, the Crazy Horse Memorial was started. Located about 17 miles from Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial was conceived by Chief Henry Standing Bear to honor Native Americans. He convinced Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to design and carve the sculpture in the likeness of Crazy Horse, a renowned war leader of the Oglala band of Lakota Sioux.

After copious site preparation, Reynolds Rigging and Crane Service dispatched a Tadano AC 7.450-1 all-terrain crane to the Crazy Horse site to erect the Liebherr tower crane. PHOTO: REYNOLDS RIGGING AND CRANE SERVICE

Ziolkowski and his wife Ruth spent the rest of their lives working on the memorial, the world’s largest mountain carving. Ruth Ziolkowski directed the completion of Crazy Horse’s face in 1998, which at 87.5 feet tall is some 27 feet taller than the heads of the presidents on Mount Rushmore.

A delegation from Liebherr Cranes and Morrow Equipment attended the dedication that included demonstrations and jobsite tours.

The completion of Crazy Horse has been slow going due to the size and scope of the mountain carving and the inherent difficulties of sculpting a rock mountain. But the Ziolkowski family has persevered, creating the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation (CHMF) that includes a Visitor Center, museum and university. Today the “in progress” carving is a leading U.S. tourist attraction.

At ConExpo in 2023, Caleb Ziolkowski, grandson of Korczak and Ruth Ziolkowski and Chief Mountain Officer of the CHMF, met with Morrow Equipment’s Peter Juhren about how a large-scale tower crane could greatly escalate the progress to complete Crazy Horse. Juhren was immediately inspired and excited.

After the dedication ceremony the mountain glowed amid the lights of the new tower crane.

“From the beginning, I was intrigued by the energy and passion of Crazy Horse,” Juhren said. He visited the monument later that year. He knew that a tower crane would be a game changer for the project. Two years later, a Liebherr 1000 EC-H tower crane was erected, bringing new efficiencies to the jobsite.

Dedication ceremony

On August 21, 2025, the Foundation hosted an engaging evening event that included local dignitaries, donors, several generations of the Ziolkowski family as well as representatives from Morrow Equipment, Liebherr, Reynolds Rigging and Crane Service and Robotics Solutions, to name a few. The “Dedication Ceremony of the Crane & Robotic Arm” featured a program titled “The Next Chapter,” which will likely see rapid progress in the sculpting of the revered mountain monument.

Chief Mountain Officer Caleb Ziolkowski highlighted some of the interesting correspondence between his grandfather Korczak Ziolkowski and Chief Henry Standing Bear about the sculpture.

Tours of the monument and demonstrations were led by the Foundation team, allowing participants to see the intricate carving process up close. After dinner and presentations by Foundation board members, the new tower crane and custom robotic arm were dedicated to the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. Lights on the tower crane blinked on and off, painting the mountain in a beautiful purple glow.