| On June 3rd, 1948, a blast rocked the Black | | | | then rotating the drill and banging it again |
| Hills of South Dakota. Ten tons of stone were | | | | until the hole is finished. It is a |
| dislodged from the mountainside and tumbled | | | | labor-intensive effort and a single man might |
| to the earth below. Earlier that day, a man | | | | only drill six to eight feet over the course |
| named Korczak had ascended the mountain and | | | | of a day.Over the following years more than |
| single-jacked four holes at 6,740 feet above | | | | eight million tons of rock would be blasted |
| sea level.Single-jacking is the practice of | | | | away. What was once a silent silhouette in |
| placing a drill-bit against hard rock, | | | | stone began to take on a new shape. |
| slamming it with a four-pound sledge hammer, | | | | |