Mount Rushmore

Doane Robinson (1856–1946), the superintendent of the South Dakota State Historical Society, had a vision. He wanted to see a massive mountain memorial carved from stone, one so huge that it would make the state a tourist attraction. In 1923, he began campaigning for this memorial, sending letters and giving presentations to various special interest groups. Some agreed that such a memorial would attract visitors, who would in turn spend money in the state. Others thought the idea was ridiculous.

Robinson turned to U.S. senator Peter Norbeck (1870–1936) of South Dakota, who had the respect not only of his peers in the Senate, but also the rural farmers and ranchers of South Dakota who voted him into the Senate. Norbeck liked Robinson's idea and urged him to find a sculptor who could handle such a major project.

Robinson wrote to sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941), one of America's foremost artists, in August 1924. Borglum accepted Robinson's offer and arrived in South Dakota the following month. The sculptor immediately informed Robinson and Norbeck that he would not immortalize regional heroes because he believed a commission of this scope should aspire to memorialize people more relevant to American

history. Together, the three men selected four U.S. presidents: George Washington (1732–1799; served 1789–97), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826; served 1801–9), Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65), and Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919; served 1901–9). In the trio's estimation, these four figures best represented the birth and development of the nation as well as the pursuit of individual liberty.

The long wait

Borglum began searching for the site to carve his sculpture. After dismissing some sites as inappropriate, Borglum and his party climbed Harney Peak, the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and the Swiss Alps. It was there that Harney declared “American history shall march along that skyline.” The cliff he had chosen was called Mount Rushmore. Made of granite and almost without fracture, the cliff had southeastern exposure, which would give it direct sunlight for most of the day.

Congress passed federal legislation allowing a mountain carving in Harney National Forest, and a similar bill was passed on the state level in 1925. More funding was needed, however, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Months passed as environmentalists worried that the project would deface the mountainside and others wondered publicly how God's masterpiece of nature could be improved upon. As 1926 dawned, most citizens in South Dakota dismissed the idea of the sculpture altogether.

President Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933; served 1923–29) chose the Black Hills of South Dakota as his summer vacation spot in the spring of 1927. The three-week break in the mountains gave Borglum and Norbeck time to convince the president to formally dedicate Mount Rushmore. On August 10, Coolidge referred to the coming sculpture as a national shrine and pledged to use federal dollars to support the endeavor.

Labor of love

Borglum hired nearly four hundred local workers to help with the project. Over the course of on-again, off-again work from 1927 to 1941, these men built roads, generated power, set dynamite charges, performed delicate finishing work, and provided a variety of services. Those workers discharging dynamite were among the most skilled, and the majority of them were miners. Ninety percent of the 450,000 tons of granite removed from Mount Rushmore were taken out with dynamite. Remarkably, no one died on the work site, and only a few men suffered injuries.

Borglum paid his dynamite employees $1.25 an hour, which was more than they made in the mines. The crew had to deal with extended layoffs, however, due to lack of funds and harsh weather.

Borglum died in March 1941, just seven months before completion of the sculpture. His son spent those seven months putting the finishing touches on the masterpiece, and on October 31, 1941, he made the last refinement. Mount Rushmore on that day looked as it does in the twenty-first century.

Lasting legacy

Mount Rushmore is the biggest work of art in the world. Each face measures 60 feet tall, and the entire carving covers nearly 1,300 acres. The sculpture cost just under $990,000. Thomas Jefferson originally appeared on Washington's right, but when the granite cracked, he was blasted off the mountain and rebuilt to Washington's left. According to records kept by the National Park Service, Mount Rushmore attracts around two millions tourists each year.