Interesting Mount Rushmore Facts

Mount Rushmore, a mountain in the Black Hills of Keystone, South Dakota, is a sculpture of four famous presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It was carved into the granite rock over many decades and attracts around 3 million visitors yearly, according to the National Park Service. 

Also in the national park is the Avenue of Flags, representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. In the summertime, the monument is lit up at night.

History of Mount Rushmore National Park 

Mount Rushmore National Park was the brainchild of Doane Robinson, known as the “Father of Mount Rushmore.” His goal was to create an attraction to draw people from all over the country. Robinson contacted Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor working on the Stone Mountain, Georgia, monument.

Borglum, who identified the site as the ideal location for a grand monument, met with Robinson between 1924 and 1925. This was due to the cliff's height above the surrounding area; its composition of granite, which would be slow to erode; and the fact that it faced southeast, to take advantage of the rising sun each day. Robinson worked with John Boland, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, Rep. William Williamson, and Sen. Peter Norbeck to gain support in Congress and the funding to proceed.

Congress agreed to match up to $250,000 of funding for the project and created the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission. Work began, and by 1933 the Mount Rushmore project became part of the National Park Service. Borglum did not like having the NPS oversee the construction. However, he continued to work on the project until he died in 1941. The monument was deemed complete and ready for dedication on October 31, 1941. The eventual cost was nearly $1 million.

Despite its ideal location, Mount Rushmore was built on land that was sacred to the Indigenous peoples who lived there. To this day, many consider the construction of the monument a desecration of the land. "The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota Sioux, the original occupants of the area when white settlers arrived," notes PBS on its "American Experience" website. The U.S. government in an 1868 treaty "promised" the Lakota Sioux land that included the Black Hills and the site where the Mount Rushmore monument now sits, PBS notes. Yet Congress did not even consider this fact when granting funds for the project.

Choosing the 4 Presidents on Mount Rushmore

Borglum made the decision about which presidents to include on Mount Rushmore. According to the National Park Service, here was his reasoning:

• George Washington: He was the first president and represented the foundation of American democracy.
• Thomas Jefferson: With the Louisiana Purchase, he greatly expanded the nation. He was also the author of the hugely influential Declaration of Independence. 
• Theodore Roosevelt: He represented the industrial development of the U.S. and was widely known for his conservation efforts. 
• Abraham Lincoln: As the president during the U.S. Civil War, he represents the preservation of the nation above all costs. 

There was pushback about the choice of figures to represent on the monument. Even the "Father of Mount Rushmore" had concerns, as PBS notes:

"At the outset of the project, Gutzon Borglum had persuaded...Robinson the presidents would give the work national significance, rejecting Robinson's initial suggestion that the sculpture honor the West's greatest heroes, both Native Americans and pioneers."

Indeed, PBS further explains that "in 1939 Sioux Chief Henry Standing Bear invited sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski...to carve a memorial to the Sioux nation in the Black Hills." Though Ziolkowski died in 1982, that project—the Crazy Horse Memorial, a sculpture of the famous Sioux chief Crazy Horse—is still under construction today and "is the world’s largest mountain carving in progress," according to the Crazy Horse Memorial website. There is currently no timeline for completion, but the hand, arm, shoulder, hairline, and the top of the horse's head are expected to be complete by 2037.

Carving Done With Dynamite

With 450,000 tons of granite that needed to be removed, the sculptor found out early on that jackhammers couldn't take care of the job fast enough. He employed a munitions expert to insert charges of dynamite into drilled holes and blasted the rock off when the workers were off the mountain. Eventually, 90% of the granite removed from the rock face was done with dynamite.

Changes to Mount Rushmore's Design

During the production of Mount Rushmore, the design went through nine changes.

Entablature

What appears isn't exactly how the sculpture was conceived by sculptor Borglum, who also had plans for wording to be etched into the rock face, called the Entablature. It was to contain a brief history of the United States, highlighting nine important events between 1776 and 1906, carved into an image of the Louisiana Purchase. Given issues over the wording and funding and the fact that people wouldn't be able to read it from a distance, that idea was scrapped.

Hall of Records

Another plan was to have a Hall of Records in a room behind Lincoln's head that could be accessed via a staircase at the base of the mountain. On display would be important documents in a room decorated with mosaics. It was discontinued in 1939 due to a lack of funding. Congress told the artist to concentrate on the faces and get it done. A tunnel remains, housing porcelain panels with background about the building of the monument, the artist, and the presidents. It is inaccessible to visitors due to the lack of a staircase.

More Than Heads

Mockups of the design include the four presidents from the waist up. Funding was always an issue, and the directive was to stick with the four faces.

Jefferson Was Moved

Thomas Jefferson was originally started on George Washington's right, and the carving of Jefferson's face began in 1931. However, the granite there was full of quartz. Workers kept blasting the quartz, but after 18 months realized the location was not working. His face was dynamited off and carved on the other side.

Carving the Monument

Mount Rushmore's workers hung from a 3/8-inch steel cable in bosun's chairs as they worked with jackhammers, drills, and chisels, and carried dynamite. To their credit, no one died during Mount Rushmore's construction—or the mountain's destruction, as the case may be. A crew of 400 worked on the sculpture.

Facts About Borglum

Art Background

Gutzon Borglum studied in Paris and became friends with Auguste Rodin, who influenced the young artist. Borglum was the first American sculptor to have his work purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Stone Mountain

Although Borglum had begun the sculpture on Stone Mountain, Georgia, he never finished it. He left on bad terms and his work was cleared away from the mountain face. Another sculptor, Augustus Lukeman, was called in to finish the sculpture.

Tempestuous Boss

Borglum was often away during the sculpting of Mount Rushmore. While it was being completed, he also made a sculpture of Thomas Paine for Paris and Woodrow Wilson for Poland. His son supervised the work on the mountain during his absence.

Borglum was known for his mood swings and was continuously firing and rehiring people. His energy for the project and persistence, through many years of trials and issues with funding, eventually led to the project's completion. Unfortunately, he died seven months before Mount Rushmore was complete, so his son finished it.

Origin of the Mountain Name

The mountain took its name—incredibly—from a New York attorney there on business who asked the name of the location in 1884 or 1885. A local man with the group looking at the mountain informed him that it didn't have a name but said, "We will name it now, and name it Rushmore Peak," according to a letter from Charles Rushmore, the lawyer who was in the area for a client researching a mine.

Additional References

• “Native Americans and Mount Rushmore.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, pbs.org.
• “Quick Facts.” Crazy Horse Memorial®, crazyhorsememorial.org.