Internet History
Mount Rushmore National Memorial"
The story of Mount Rushmore National Memorial is one of ambition, engineering, politics, and controversy.
Here is how It Started:
In the early 1920s, a South Dakota historian named Doane Robinson wanted to attract tourists to the state. He proposed carving giant figures into the granite cliffs of
the Black Hills.
He hired sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who envisioned something much grander than local western heroes. Borglum chose four U.S. presidents who he believed represented key
stages in the nation’s history:
George Washington — birth of the nation
Thomas Jefferson — growth through the Louisiana Purchase
Abraham Lincoln — preservation of the Union during the Civil War
Theodore Roosevelt — industrial growth and America’s emergence as a world power
Construction began in 1927.
About 400 workers helped carve the mountain. Surprisingly, no workers were killed during the project, despite the dangerous conditions.
Workers used Dynamite to remove most of the rock, Jackhammers and drills for shaping, and fine chisels for details.
Over 450,000 tons of granite were removed.
A Near project Disaster.
The original plan included carving the presidents from the waist up and adding a large written history of America. Funding ran out during the Great Depression, so the
project was never completed as originally envisioned.
Borglum died in 1941 before the monument was finished. His son, Lincoln Borglum, supervised the final work.
Native American Controversy.
The monument sits in the Black Hills, land sacred to the Lakota Sioux and other Native peoples.
The U.S. government had previously recognized the Black Hills as Sioux territory, but gold discoveries led to federal seizure of the area. Because of this history, many Native
Americans view Mount Rushmore as a symbol of broken treaties and lost land.
Here are some memorial Facts:
Washington’s face is about 60 feet tall.
The mountain is named after New York lawyer Charles E. Rushmore, who visited the area in 1885.
More than 2 million visitors come each year.
Behind Lincoln’s head is a hidden chamber called the Hall of Records containing historical documents and information about the monument.
One of the most remarkable facts is that what appears to be a simple sculpture is actually a colossal engineering project, each presidential face is roughly as tall as a
six-story building.
