High in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a monumental tribute to Native American heritage is taking shape, both in granite ...

The Crazy Horse monument in March 2012. When finished, it is expected to be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. It is the largest mountain carving in progress. Image: Matthew Staver/Landov ...

CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, S.D. -- A new milestone has been accomplished on the Crazy Horse mountain carving in progress in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Workers this month completed blocking out ...

By the late 1990s, the face of Crazy Horse had emerged from the mountain carving. The last decade has been spent roughing out the horse's head — it's 22 stories high.

In the 1940s, Jadwiga's father, Korczak Ziolkowski, was an award-winning sculptor working as an assistant on the carving of Mount Rushmore. He began the Crazy Horse project in 1948 and died in 1982.

CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL - A night blast on the Crazy Horse mountain carving is planned for Thursday, June 26, at Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer. The blast will be about 9 p.m., weather permitting.

Korczak worked virtually alone on the mountain for years and died in 1982, 16 years before the first part of the carving -- the giant face of Crazy Horse -- was completed in 1998.

In 1998, Crazy Horse's completed face was unveiled. Seemingly overnight, a chimerical project had become real, bringing streams of tourists intent upon learning more about Indian history.

At 8:45 p.m., there will be a program on the viewing deck followed by the spectacular "Legends in Light" multimedia laser light show. The 563-foot Crazy Horse mountain carving will come to life as ...