Impression Evergreen

General Custer fell here After destroying Custer's entire battalion, the warriors raced south across the ridges to engage the last remnant of the Seventh Cavalry. Lying flat on the ground, the soldiers formed a perimeter of defense around a natural depression scooped out of the summit of their hilltop refuge. They managed to hold off a determined siege throughout the evening and into the darkness. Many of the spooked men recalled how down in the Indian village there was a celebration of dancing and singing that lasted all night. Desperate cries from captured soldiers who were being tortured below filtered eerily through the hills. Troopers who chose to hide in the timber rather than retreat, somehow worked their way back up to the relative safety of rejoining their comrades. By first light the next morning, the conflict resumed and the remaining 300 or so soldiers continued to hold the high ground. Incredibly, a group of volunteers even snuck down a steep ravine all the ...

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota Concealed in a celestial wilderness of rock and pine, Mount Rushmore is a magnificent monument sculpted from smooth granite. Commissioned by the Federal Government to create the massive memorial, artist Gutzon Borglum began blasting in 1927. Borglum chose to depict the featured presidents because of the unique ideals each seemed to possess. George Washington represents the struggle for independence while Thomas Jefferson the idea of government by the people. Abraham Lincoln was included because he believed in equality and the permanent union of the states. Theodore Roosevelt appears due to his progressive thoughts on the role of the United States in contemporary world affairs. After Gutzon Borglum’s death combined with a lack of further funding, the project was declared complete in 1941. The work looks unfinished but rough hewn edges give the piece a certain sketchiness that blends into the environment. Upon entering the complex, a grand boulev...

Horse My parents have a small ranch in Western Nebraska where they raise and train horses. This is a picture of an Appaloosa called Lakota. My dad is an authority on Native American Horsemanship and chose the name to honor the extraordinary riders from the Buffalo Nation . By age four Sioux children had mastered riding and how to stand on a horse's bare back. As they grew stronger, the youngsters were taught to shoot arrows and practiced hitting targets from horseback. Mastering such skills became invaluable to the horsemanship required to survive in later years. The Lakota Sioux were a nomadic tribe of plains Indians who relied almost completely on the bison herds to obtain the necessities of life. In 1823 Prince Frederick of Wurtemberg witnessed the hazardous Indian technique for hunting buffalo and was dully impressed: "The Indians are extremely bold and daring riders. This is shown especially in their hunting of the buffalo. In this dangerous work it is often hard...