Mount Rushmore

You can find the Mount Rushmore in South Dakota’s Black Hills Nation Forest. On the southeastern face of it, you will be able to see something interesting and phenomenal: Four gigantic sculptures that represent the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. It began in summer 1927 and was finally finished and completed in 1941 after 16 years. The project was leaded by sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who wanted to create a tribute in grand form of these four former presidents. Furthermore he said they were chosen, because they ‘commemorate the founding, growth, preservation and development to the United States.’ The government wanted to create new jobs while the depression in the 1920’s and create a new place to get visitors into South Dakota.

The memorial was first suggested by Doane Robinson, who was a Western history writer and New York lawyer. The mountain they chose had enough place for the sculptures and it was easy to build a terrace at the foot of the mountain, because it was on a certain horizontal level. The mountain itself is 5,725 feet high and the memorial covers two square miles. President Coolidge visited the black hills in summer 1927 and dedicated the mountain August 10, 1927. On this day while the president was visiting, workers began to build the sculptures. They worked with dynamite and hammers, blasting to specifications, then picking away and smoothing the rock. All together over 450.000 tons of rocks were moved. Over 360 workers, who were mostly miners, had been building the memorial. George Washington’s head, which was the first one, was completed in 1930, 3 years after the beginning; followed by Jefferson in 1936 and Lincoln in 1937. At last, Roosevelt was completed in 1939.

The workers had some principal to succeed in building a sculpture with a head. At first, rough carvers were trying to give the head a rough form. They were using dynamite and hammers. After this, which was the most...