Mount Rushmore is a 5,725 ft ( 1,745m ) high, granite mountain, situated in Keystone, Pennington County, South Dakota, U.S.A, which is world famous for it's monumental sculptures of four former U.S presidents.

The monument was the brainchild of state historian Doane Robinson, who wanted to immortalise the route taken by Black Elk, a Sioux medicine man / holy man, who took a spiritual journey through the Black Mountains which culminated at Harney Peak, the site at which the monument is located.

Robinson was a great advocate of bringing tourism into the state and hoped that his idea would be a viable enterprise for the economy of the local area.

The building of the monument was undertaken by U.S artist and sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who started work on the 60 ft ( 18m ) high sculptures in 1927.

Situated on the north west margin of Harney Peak in the Black Mountains,.it took Borglum and 400 workers until 1941 to complete the four heads of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

These particular presidents were chosen by Borglum becouse of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding it's territory and represents the first 150 years of American history..

Borglum had first been intent on sculpting full busts of the presidents, but lack of funds meant that only the statue of George Washington is a full bust, with the other presidents depicted by just their heads. 

  Men working on one of the heads.

A little known fact about the sculptures is that the head of Thomas Jefferson was originally planned to be located at George Washington's right, but Borglum was not happy with the proceedings and had the head blown up 18 months into the build, having to start the work all over again.

The list in order of completion was George Washington 1934. 

                                                       Thomas Jefferson 1936. 

                                                       Abraham Lincoln 1937. 

                                                       Theodore Roosevelt 1939. 

  Mount Rushmore.

The cost of the 14 year project came to $ 989,992,32, with most of the fundraising for the work done by John Boland who set up a trust to garner funds for the project, and Congressman William Williamson who appropriated money from congress for building materials.

In 1925 a national commission was inaugerated under the leadership of the then President, Calvin Coolidge who insisted that as well as a bust of George Washington, there should also be two Republican presidents and one Democrat president portrayed.

In 1933 a better infrastructure and trolley system were installed to take building materials up the mount and make life easier and safer for the workforce, which was funded by the National Park Services.

Before the work could be undertaken, 20 million tons of rock were blasted from off the mountainside.

Other than financial problems, the carving of the statues was an uneventful project, that went ahead with little problems, only a few minor injuries and no deaths.

Borglum had also started work on a cave behind the monuments in order to build a hall of Records, but again, due to lack of funds, this venture also failed to materialise, although an entrance to the cave has been excavated and 16 inscribed, porcelain panels are housed there, which is now on show to the public. 

 Gutzon Borglum.

Borglum never lived to see the completion of his venture, as he died from a pulmonary embolus in a Chicago hospital in 1941, but his son Lincoln, who had worked tirelessly along side his father throughout the build, saw the completion of the project..

The site was designated a National Park in 1966, and put on the register of the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1998 completion of a new visitor centre and Presidential Trail has meant that the park is now the biggest tourist destination in the state, attracting around 3 million visitors a year.

The monument has only ever been cleaned the once, in 2005, with the authorities preffering not to remove the lichen that grows on it, for fear of eroding the granite. 

The park is managed by the National Park Services, a bureau of the U.S department of the Interior.  

  Black Elk and his family circa 1888.

 Controversy has surrounded the sculptures since their conception owing to Sioux Amerindians taking offence at the seizure of the mountain after it had been granted to them in perpetuity since the signing of the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.

The Amerindians wanted the mount to be called Mount Crazy Horse after their native leader, depicting their own similar monument dedicated to him.

Another contoversy surrounding the sculptures is the idea that Borglum's choice of presidents typifies racial superiority, as the chosen subjects were all in office during periods of many Indian land aquisitions.

It has also been rumoured that Borglum him self was once an active member of the despised Ku Klux Klan. 

  The General Philip Sheridan memorial.

Gutzom Borglum is also famous for initiating, but not completing, the carved bas - relief memorial on Stone Mountain, near Atlanta. Georgia, the largest bas - relief carving in the world.

This monument, known as the Confederate Memorial, depicts Stonewall Jackson, Robert.E.Lee and Jefferson Davis riding on their horses.

Borglum initially etched out the original outline of the men and their horses, but did not actually sculpt the work, he left the project in 1924, but it was his work on this monument that made Doane Robinson his choice of sculptor for the Mount Rushmore project

His most famous work before the Mount Rushmore project was the statue of General Philip Sheridan located in Washington D.C.

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                                                                  © D.B.Bellamy. April 2010. 

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