10-4-1927

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                                 10-4-1927

       Work begins on Mount Rushmore

On this day in 1927, sculpting begins on the face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota. It would take another 12 years for the impressive granite images of four of America’s most revered and beloved presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt–to be completed.

The monument was the brainchild of a South Dakota historian named Doane Robinson, who was looking for a way to attract more tourists to his state. He hired a sculptor named Gutzon Borglum to carve the faces into the mountain. According to the National Park Service, the first face to be chiseled was George Washington’s; Borglum first sculpted the head as an egg shape, his features added later. Thomas Jefferson’s image was originally fashioned in the space to the right of Washington, but, within two years, the face was badly cracked. Workers had to blast the sculpture off the mountain using dynamite. Borglum then started over with Jefferson situated on the left side of Washington.

Washington’s face was the first to be completed in 1934. Jefferson’s was dedicated in 1936–with then-president Franklin Roosevelt in attendance–and Lincoln’s was completed a year later. In 1939, Teddy Roosevelt’s face was completed. The project, which cost $1 million, was funded primarily by the federal government.

Borglum continued to touch up his work at Mount Rushmore until he died suddenly in 1941. Borglum had originally hoped to also carve a series of inscriptions into the mountain, outlining the history of the United States

[Fun Engineer 859]

One of the most impressive national monuments we have visited.  I'm sure at the time it made sense to blast and carve a mountainside but today it is environmentally insensitive and wrong, but that's history and we learn from it. Mount Rushmore however, has drawn attention to the beautiful state of South Dakota and the surrounding areas of the Black Hills, the Badlands and Custer State Park and recognized these outstanding men who forever changed our nation. We spent a week trailer camping in the area back in 2005 and it was one of the best trips ever.  I highly recommend a trip out to the Black Hills area.  Here's a few of our pictures.

Thanks Richard.

 

Edited October 4, 2016 by Fun Engineer

[Aldon 4,828]

Ditto. 

[DougC 2,643]

It's amazing how good it still looks with the weather beating on it for all those years.