Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Country: United States  Region: North America
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Mount Rushmore National Memorial Info

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a United States National Memorial located in the American state of South Dakota, in the vicinity (35 miles) of Rapid City. Featuring the monumental faces of four former Presidents of the United States of America, blasted and carved from the white rock, Mount Rushmore represents an iconic destination for many travellers to the area.

Overview

Mount Rushmore depicts the faces of four former U.S. Presidents (from left to right):
 ▪  George Washington, first president
 ▪  Thomas Jefferson, third president
 ▪  Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth president
 ▪  Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president
The four, 60-foot granite faces of Mount Rushmore National Memorial draw more than three million visitors each year, and that's just for each head!
The first blast on the mountain occurred in 1927. Under the direction of sculptor Gutzon Borglum, 400 workers labored through hot summers and cold winters to create the sculpture, nearly 500 feet up the side of the mountain. More than 90 percent of the mountain was carved using dynamite. The fine details of the faces were achieved with a jackhammer. Operators hung from the top of the mountain in bosun chairs held by steel cables. Despite the dangerous work, during the 14 years of construction, not a single person died. The memorial was officially declared complete on October 31, 1941.
However, Gutzon Borglum’s vision was not totally completed – original plans included head-to-waist depictions of the presidents. When Borglum died suddenly in July 1941, his son, Lincoln, tried to continue his father’s work, but funding ran out as America entered World War II. Visitors wanting to see a model of Borglum’s original dream can view it at the Sculptor’s Studio located at the Memorial.
Another part of Borglum’s grand vision was for a Hall of Records to be carved into the canyon behind the faces. Borglum envisioned a majestic room that held important documents like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Borglum started blasting the hall, but never finished it.
On August 9, 1998, Borglum’s Hall of Records was somewhat completed when a repository was placed in the floor of the hall entry. Inside a titanium vault are sixteen porcelain enamel panels inscribed with the story of Mount Rushmore, the reasons for selecting the four presidents and a short history of the United States. The Hall of Records is not accessible to visitors, but is left as a record for people thousands of years from now.


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