Located 23 miles southwest of Rapid City in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the monument on Mount Rushmore was the brainchild of Doane Robinson. The method to his madness for creating the sculpture was to draw people from all over the country to South Dakota, the “gateway to the west”.
The landform now known as Mount Rushmore was originally named Six Grandfathers by the Lakota Sioux. Later, it was changed to Mount Rushmore for Charles E. Rushmore, an attorney from New York City who was in South Dakota on business in 1885. White settlers were also known to call the landform Cougar Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain and Keystone Cliffs.
Needing a sculptor to do the work, Robinson immediately contacted Gutzon Borglum. At that time, Borglum was in Stone Mountain, Georgia, working on a monument there. The two men met in 1924 and 1925 to discuss the project. Having studied under renowned French artist Auguste Rodin, Borglum was already one of America's most successful artists even before Mount Rushmore was a dream, much less a reality. His Mares of Diomedes was the first American work purchased by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to that, five of his statues are on display at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Having found the sculptor, Robinson now needed to obtain permission to change the natural appearance of a large mountain. Working with John Boland, Senator Peter Norbeck, Congressman William Williamson and President Calvin Coolidge, Robinson sought the support of Congress to fund the project. The end result was Congress agreed to match up to $250,000 and created the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission.
Located on the northeastern edge of Harney Peak Granite Batholith, Borglum chose this mountain due to its height (5700' above sea level), the soft grainy consistency of the granite, and the fact that it catches the sun for the greatest part of the day.
The four presidents who appear on Mount Rushmore are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. These individuals were selected due to the special parts they played in the founding, growth and preservation of the United States.
- Washington represents the struggle for independence and was given the most prominent location because of the large part he played in leading the United States to democracy.
- Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and in it expounded his idea of government by the people.
- Lincoln played a vital role in restoring the divided Union during the Civil War and wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. He believed in equality and a permanent uniting of all the states.
- Roosevelt was added by Broglum to represent the 20th century and his involvement with the Panama Canal, along with the promotion of business reforms and conservation.
Construction of the monument began on August 10, 1927 with President Calvin Coolidge in attendance. President Coolidge stated Mount Rushmore was “decidedly American in its conception, magnitude and meaning. It is altogether worthy of our country.”
With the help of 400 stone workers, Borglum began by using dynamite to blast away tons of rock. Sitting in ‘swing seats’, workers then made use of hammers, drills and jackhammers, among other tools, to do the finishing work. Though the project required 14 years to complete, the actual time spent working was six years. Efforts were hampered during those 14 years by weather and lack of funding.
In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6166 which put the project under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Borglum was infuriated by the action due to not wanting to be under ‘the watchful eye of the government.’ He kept on with his work until he died in 1941, just before the project was completed in March. The monument was dedicated on October 31, 1941.
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Interesting facts about Mount Rushmore:
The memorial covers an area of 1,278.45 acres and stands 5,725 feet above sea level.
Though there was an immense amount of dynamite used in the construction, no deaths resulted from the numerous explosions.
Initially, plans were for each president to be depicted from head to waist; however, lack of funding resulted in just the faces being created.
Each face is 60’ long from chin to forehead – the equivalent of a 6-story building.
The eyes are 11’ across, the noses 20’ long, and the mouths 18’ wide. The scale of the faces would equate to men who stand 465’ tall.
The estimated erosion rate is 1 inch every 10,000 years.
Original plans had Jefferson on Washington’s right; however, for some reason the idea did not work out. What had been done on Jefferson’s face over the previous 18 months was dynamited off and he was carved on the other side instead.
The final cost of the sculpture was $989,992.32. Located behind the carving is a cave which has been named ‘Hall of Records’. Originally intended to house the story of Mout Rushmore, the plan was scrapped due to lack of funding.
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