CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, S.D. (AP) - A national effort to raise $26.5 million for the Crazy Horse mountain carving is off to a good start.

At the Dynamite and Dreams campaign kickoff Saturday night, officials announced that $8.2 million already has been pledged for the world's largest sculpture.

Ruth Ziolkowski, Crazy Horse Memorial president, said the pledges will mean more people can be hired to work on the mountain so visitors see more progress faster.

Then she invoked the words of her late husband, Korczak Ziolkowski, who started the granite carving of Sioux warrior Crazy Horse in 1948 near Custer.

"However, we will be remembering that Korczak told us to go slow so we do it right," Ruth Ziolkowski said.

Among pledges, gifts and challenge grants reported at the banquet were:

3 $1.75 million in stock donated by Gerald Forsythe, CEO of Index Industries.

3 $500,000 from Caterpillar Foundation, announced by administrator Maryann Morrison. Another $250,000 matching challenge from the heavy equipment maker to its dealers could push the total to $1 million.

3 $500,000 in a matching grant from the Messengers of Healing Winds foundation.

Caterpillar's Morrison urged others to join the campaign. "This is a story of hard work, of doing something without government funding. This is an American story. And it makes us proud, as an American-born company, to help," she said.

The multiyear campaign is designed in phases, and money raised will help hire more people to work on the 641-foot long, 563-foot high carving, Crazy Horse Memorial said in a release. Work now focuses on the 22-story-tall horse's head.

Also, the funding will help build the memorial's first employee dormitory to house young people who would like to work at Crazy Horse.

Some of the funds will be designated to build upon endowment money for long-term operations, which include plans for a university and medical training center, the release said.