Mount Rushmore Beginnings

I have a wonderful book called Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati. It tells, well like the title says, the beginnings of ordinary things. On this July 4th I would like to tell you the story of how Mount Rushmore began. In 1885 when New York lawyer Charles Rushmore was surveying the mountain range on horseback with a guide. Mr. Rushmore asked the guide what was the name of the mountain. The guide joked with him and said it never had a name but from now on we’ll call it Rushmore. He may have just been kidding but the name stuck. When Charles Rushmore gave a gift of five thousand dollars he became one of the first contributors to the presidential memorial. The idea to change the mountain into a tourist attraction came from South Dakota historian Doane Robinson. In 1923 he told the state his plan to increase tourism and strengthen its economy. However, the plan he had in mind was to carve three western legends into the mountain. They were Kit Carson, Jim Bridger and John Colter. The state liked the idea. They commissioned Idaho born sculptor John Gutson de la Mothe Borglum. With that name he sounds like he was from France instead of Idaho. His most recent claim to fame was sculpting Robert E. Lee on Stone Mountain in Georgia. When he accepted the job he had another idea. Instead of carving Western legends he thought it should be the faces of four influential American Presidents.
Construction was very dangerous due to the weather and how inaccessible it was except by foot or horseback. Mr. Borglum said that since it faced southeast it gave maximum sunlight for construction and since it was inaccessible it protected the monument from vandals.
A lot of surface rock had to be blasted away. They had to blast away 30 feet of rock before they could start on George Washington’s chin. One hundred and twenty five feet had to be blasted away before they could start on Theodore Roosevelt’s forehead.
In 1941 construction of the monument was completed fourteen years after it had begun. It of course had George Washington “Father of the Nation”, Thomas Jefferson “The Expansionist”, Theodore Roosevelt “Protector of the Working Man” and Abraham Lincoln “Preserver of the Union.”
Construction was essentially completed when Borglum died on March 6, 1941 at age 74. His son added the finishing touches.
The above photo I got from this E-Bay auction.