CRAZY HORSE, S.D. – As thousands of hikers made their way up the granite slopes of the Crazy Horse Memorial for the first Volksmarch of 2025, they were greeted not only by sweeping views of the Black Hills but also by a striking new addition to the monument’s skyline: a massive tower crane stretching 270 feet into the air near the summit.

The crane’s presence is a visual signifier of deeper changes happening behind the scenes at the world’s largest mountain carving—changes that aim to speed up progress on a project that has been under construction for more than 75 years.

“One of the major dictators of how you carve a mountain is where you can get equipment to, where you can get rock from, how easy it is to move that rock, and where you can get people,” said Caleb Ziolkowski, the memorial’s chief mountain officer.

The newly installed tower crane represents a game-changer in that equation. According to Ziolkowski, a single load from the crane can lift the equivalent weight of all the stone removed during the entire first year of excavation in the 1940s—a major leap forward in efficiency and capability.

“Every single square foot we’re carving has to be a little different from the square foot next to it—or maybe even a lot different,” he explained. “We’re busy trying to find ways to approach that task of making every piece unique, making it look artistic, making it look beautiful, and at the same time, finding ways to do it at a massive scale.”

The memorial, envisioned as a tribute to the Lakota leader Crazy Horse and Native American heritage, has long been a symbol of perseverance, but progress has historically been slow. With limited funding and a commitment to remain independent from federal support, every advance in construction has required significant planning and innovation.

In that spirit, the crane isn’t the only high-tech tool now in use. A new robotic arm—described as a mix of industrial engineering and science fiction—has been deployed to assist with precision carving.

Joey Meboe, an automation engineer working on the project, operates the robotic system that uses a diamond-tip, 32-inch circular saw to make calculated cuts in the stone.

“It will be using a 32-inch circular saw with a diamond-tip blade, and it will be making horizontal passes across the rock,” Meboe said. “I see it as, the statue is in there, we’re just trying to uncover it. Each piece of machinery we get helps us speed up that process a little bit faster.”

The combination of the tower crane and robotic arm is expected to drastically accelerate progress on the massive sculpture, which, when completed, will depict Crazy Horse riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial, which began in 1948 under sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, has grown into a multi-generational effort involving his descendants and a dedicated crew of engineers, artisans, and Native American leaders.

Despite the complexity of the task, the team remains committed to honoring the vision behind the work. As thousands of visitors attend events like the seasonal Volksmarch, they not only witness progress but become part of the living history unfolding on the mountainside.

This year’s summer Volksmarch attracted thousands of hikers, many of whom reached the summit—passing beneath the very crane now working to accelerate the vision they were there to admire. The next Volksmarch is scheduled for September 28, and with the new equipment in place, future visitors may see an even more dramatically transformed mountain than those who visited just months earlier.

Originally reported by C.J. Keene in SDPB.