Mount Rushmore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the mountain. For the 1960s rock band, see Mount Rushmore (band).

Mount Rushmore National

Memorial
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)

Sculptures of George Washington, Thomas

Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham
Lincoln (left to right)

Location
Nearest city
Coordinates

Pennington County, South

Dakota, United States
Keystone, South Dakota
435244.21N
1032735.37WCoordinates:

435244.21N
1032735.37W

1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi;

5.17 km2)
Established March 3, 1925
Visitors
2,185,447 (in 2012)[1]
Governing body National Park Service
Mount Rushmore National
Website
Memorial
Area

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of
Mount Rushmore, a granite batholith formation in the Black Hills in Keystone, South
Dakota, United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln
Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four United
States presidents: George Washington (17321799), Thomas Jefferson (17431826),
Theodore Roosevelt (18581919), and Abraham Lincoln (18091865).[2] The entire
memorial covers 1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi; 5.17 km2)[3] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above
sea level.[4]
South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the
likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to
promote tourism in the region. Robinson's initial idea was to sculpt the Needles; however,
Gutzon Borglum rejected the Needles site because of the poor quality of the granite and
strong opposition from Native American groups. They settled on the Mount Rushmore
location, which also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure.
Robinson wanted it to feature western heroes like Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud,[5] and
Buffalo Bill Cody,[6] but Borglum decided the sculpture should have a more national focus
and chose the four presidents whose likenesses would be carved into the mountain. After
securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of "Mount Rushmore's great
political patron", U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck,[7] construction on the memorial began in
1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon
Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although
the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of
funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.[8]
Mount Rushmore has become an iconic symbol of the United States, and has appeared in
works of fiction, and has been discussed or depicted in other popular works. It attracts over
two million people annually.[1]

Contents

1 History

2 Ecology

3 Geography
o 3.1 Geology
o 3.2 Soils
o 3.3 Climate

4 Tourism

5 Conservation

6 Controversy

7 In popular culture

8 Legacy and commemoration

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

History

Mount Rushmore before construction, circa 1905.

Black Hills and Badlands

Sculpture

Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse

Geologic formations

Badlands

Needles

Devils Tower

Bear Butte

Spearfish Canyon

Mountains

Black Elk Peak

Caves

Wind Cave

Jewel Cave

Parks, forests, and grassland

Custer State Park

Black Hills National Forest

Wind Cave

Black Elk Wilderness

Buffalo Gap National Grassland

Lakes

Sylvan

Pactola

A model at the site depicting Mount Rushmore's intended final design

See also: Construction of Mount Rushmore
Originally known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers",[9] the mountain was
renamed after Charles E. Rushmore, a prominent New York lawyer, during an expedition in
1885.[10] At first, the project of carving Rushmore was undertaken to increase tourism in the
Black Hills region of South Dakota. After long negotiations involving a Congressional
delegation and President Calvin Coolidge, the project received Congressional approval. The
carving started in 1927, and ended in 1941 with no fatalities.[11]

As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was part of the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took
in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of military
campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that
is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie (see section "Controversy"
below). Among American settlers, the peak was known variously as Cougar Mountain,
Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain, and Keystone Cliffs. It was named Mount
Rushmore during a prospecting expedition by Charles Rushmore, David Swanzey (husband
of Carrie Ingalls), and Bill Challis.[12]
Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 to promote
tourism in South Dakota. In 1924, Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum to travel
to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished. Borglum had been
involved in sculpting the Confederate Memorial Carving, a massive bas-relief memorial to
Confederate leaders on Stone Mountain in Georgia, but was in disagreement with the
officials there.[13]

Construction of the Mount Rushmore monument

The original plan was to perform the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles.
However, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. He
chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed
maximum exposure to the sun. Borglum said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will
march along that skyline."[14] Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Commission on March 3, 1925.[14] President Coolidge insisted that, along with Washington,
two Republicans and one Democrat be portrayed.[15]
Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers[16]
sculpted the colossal 60 foot (18 m) high carvings of U.S. presidents George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 130
years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role
in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory.[14][17] The carving of Mount

Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of "honeycombing", a

process where workers drill holes close together, allowing small pieces to be removed by
hand.[18] In total, about 450,000 short tons (410,000 t) of rock were blasted off the
mountainside.[19] The image of Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to appear in the
area at Washington's right, but after the work there was begun, the rock was found to be
unsuitable, so the work on the Jefferson figure was dynamited, and a new figure was
sculpted to Washington's left.[14]
In 1933, the National Park Service took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction. Julian
Spotts helped with the project by improving its infrastructure. For example, he had the tram
upgraded so it could reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the ease of workers. By July 4,
1934, Washington's face had been completed and was dedicated. The face of Thomas
Jefferson was dedicated in 1936, and the face of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated on
September 17, 1937. In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civilrights leader Susan B. Anthony, but a rider was passed on an appropriations bill requiring
federal funds be used to finish only those heads that had already been started at that time.[20]
In 1939, the face of Theodore Roosevelt was dedicated.
The Sculptor's Studio a display of unique plaster models and tools related to the
sculpting was built in 1939 under the direction of Borglum. Borglum died from an
embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. Originally, it
was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist,[21] but insufficient funding
forced the carving to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the
Louisiana Purchase commemorating in eight-foot-tall gilded letters the Declaration of
Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial
acquisitions from Alaska to Texas to the Panama Canal Zone.[17] In total, the entire project
cost US$989,992.32.[22] Unusually for a project of such size, no workers died during the
carving.[23]

Side view of George Washington from rocky terrain at Mount Rushmore

Entrance to the site

On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. A 500-word essay giving the history of the United States by Nebraska student
William Andrew Burkett was selected as the college-age group winner in a 1934
competition, and that essay was placed on the Entablature on a bronze plate in 1973.[20][24] In
1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore.[25]
In a canyon behind the carved faces is a chamber, cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock,
containing a vault with sixteen porcelain enamel panels. The panels include the text of the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, biographies of the four presidents and
Borglum, and the history of the U.S. The chamber was created as the entrance-way to a
planned "Hall of Records"; the vault was installed in 1998.[26]
Ten years of redevelopment work culminated with the completion of extensive visitor
facilities and sidewalks in 1998, such as a Visitor Center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum,
and the Presidential Trail. Maintenance of the memorial requires mountain climbers to
monitor and seal cracks annually. Due to budget constraints, the memorial is not regularly
cleaned to remove lichens. However, on July 8, 2005, Alfred Krcher GmbH, a German
manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines, conducted a free cleanup
operation which lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over 200 F (93 C).[27]

Ecology

The Black Hills opposite Mount Rushmore.

Aerial NW direction view of Mount Rushmore National Memorial from a helicopter.

The flora and fauna of Mount Rushmore are similar to those of the rest of the Black Hills
region of South Dakota. Birds including the turkey vulture, bald eagle, hawk, and
meadowlark fly around Mount Rushmore, occasionally making nesting spots in the ledges

of the mountain. Smaller birds, including songbirds, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, inhabit
the surrounding pine forests.[28] Terrestrial mammals include the mouse, least chipmunk, red
squirrel, skunk, porcupine, raccoon, beaver, badger, coyote, bighorn sheep, bobcat, elk,
mule deer, yellow-bellied marmot, and American bison.[28][29] The striped chorus frog,
western chorus frog, and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area,[30] along with several
species of snake. Grizzly Bear Brook and Starling Basin Brook, the two streams in the
memorial, support fish such as the longnose dace and the brook trout.[citation needed] Mountain
goats are not indigenous to the region. Those living near Mount Rushmore are descendents
of a tribe that Canada gifted to Custer State Park in 1924, which later escaped.[28][31][32]
At lower elevations, coniferous trees, mainly the ponderosa pine, surround most of the
monument, providing shade from the sun. Other trees include the bur oak, the Black Hills
spruce, and the cottonwood. Nine species of shrubs grow near Mount Rushmore. There is
also a wide variety of wildflowers, including especially the snapdragon, sunflower, and
violet. Towards higher elevations, plant life becomes sparser.[32] However, only
approximately five percent of the plant species found in the Black Hills are indigenous to
the region.[33]
The area receives about 18 inches (460 mm) of precipitation on average per year, enough to
support abundant animal and plant life. Trees and other plants help to control surface
runoff. Dikes, seeps, and springs help to dam up water that is flowing downhill, providing
watering spots for animals. In addition, stones like sandstone and limestone help to hold
groundwater, creating aquifers.[34]
A study of the fire scars present in tree ring samples indicates that forest fires occur in the
ponderosa forests surrounding Mount Rushmore around every 27 years. Large fires are not
common. Most events have been ground fires that serve to clear forest debris.[35] The area is
a climax community. Recent[when?] pine beetle infestations have threatened the forest.[29]

Geography
Geology

Mount Rushmore, showing the full size of the mountain and the scree of rocks from the
sculpting and construction.
Mount Rushmore is largely composed of granite. The memorial is carved on the northwest
margin of the Black Elk Peak granite batholith in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so the

geologic formations of the heart of the Black Hills region are also evident at Mount
Rushmore. The batholith magma intruded into the pre-existing mica schist rocks during the
Proterozoic, 1.6 billion years ago.[36] Coarse grained pegmatite dikes are associated with the
granite intrusion of Black Elk Peak and are visibly lighter in color, thus explaining the
light-colored streaks on the foreheads of the presidents.
The Black Hills granites were exposed to erosion during the Neoproterozoic, but were later
buried by sandstone and other sediments during the Cambrian. Remaining buried
throughout the Paleozoic, they were re-exposed again during the Laramide orogeny around
70 million years ago.[36] The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome.
[37]
Subsequent erosion stripped the granite of the overlying sediments and the softer
adjacent schist. Some schist does remain and can be seen as the darker material just below
the sculpture of Washington.
The tallest mountain in the region is Black Elk Peak (7,242 ft or 2,207 m). Borglum
selected Mount Rushmore as the site for several reasons. The rock of the mountain is
composed of smooth, fine-grained granite. The durable granite erodes only 1 inch (25 mm)
every 10,000 years, thus was more than sturdy enough to support the sculpture and its longterm exposure.[14] The mountain's height of 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level[4] made it
suitable, and because it faces the southeast, the workers also had the advantage of sunlight
for most of the day.

Soils
The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by brown to dark grayish brown, well drained
alfisol soils of very gravelly loam (Mocmount) to silt loam (Buska) texture.[38]

Climate
Mount Rushmore has a humid continental climate (Dwb in the Koeppen climate
classification). It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in
the area can withstand a low temperature of no less than 20 F (29 C).[39]
The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but
strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer.[40]

[hide]Climate data for Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 1981-2011 normals

Month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record
high F
(C)

68 68 78 85
93
99 100 99 97 86 75 67 100
(20) (20) (26) (29) (34) (37) (38) (37) (36) (30) (24) (19) (38)

Average
50.7
71.0 79.1 78.1 67.8 54.9
36.3 36.7 43.2
60.7
42.9 35.3 54.7
high F
(10.4
(21.7 (26.2 (25.6 (19.9 (12.7
(2.4) (2.6) (6.2)
(15.9)
(6.1) (1.8) (12.6)
(C)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Daily
27.5 27.8
61.1 69.0 67.9 58.0
26.7
33.9 41.4 51.1
45.7 34.5
45.4
mean F (2.5 (2.3
(16.2 (20.6 (19.9 (14.4
(2.9
(1.1) (5.2) (10.6)
(7.6) (1.4)
(7.4)
(C)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

18.7 19.0 24.6

51.3 58.9 57.7
26.0 18.1
Average
32.0 41.6
48.2 36.5
36.0
(7.4 (7.2 (4.1
(10.7 (14.9 (14.3
(3.3 (7.7
low F (C)
(0) (5.3)
(9) (2.5)
(2.2)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

38 29 12 1
Record
14
27 35
(39 (34 (24 (17
low F (C)
(10) (3) (2)
)
)
)
)

1 12 31
33 19
38
(17 (24 (35
(1) (7)
(39)
)
)
)

Average
0.70 1.19 2.23 4.22 3.41 2.90 1.99
1.68 0.62 0.43 21.56
precipitati 0.38
1.81
(17.8 (30.2 (56.6 (107.2 (86.6 (73.7 (50.5
(42.7 (15.7 (10.9 (547.6
on inches (9.7)
(46)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
(mm)

Average
5.8 7.9 10.4 10.8
snowfall
1.2 0.1 0.0
(14.7 (20.1 (26.4 (27.4
inches
(3) (0.3) (0)
)
)
)
)
(cm)

Average
precipitati
4.3
on days (
0.01)

4.7

6.3

8.2

6.2 5.8 52.4

0.0 0.6 3.6
(15.7 (14.7 (132.9
(0) (1.5) (9.1)
)
)
)

11.9 12.6 11.4 9.3

7.4

6.8

4.4

4.2

91.5

Average
snowy
3.9
days ( 0.1)

3.8

3.9

3.1

0.6

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.3

1.4

2.7

3.4

23.1

Source #1: [41]

Source #2: [42]

Tourism
This section requires expansion. (January 2014)
Historical visitor count[1]
Year
Visitors
1941
393,000
1950
740,499
1960
1,067,000
1970
1,965,700
1980
1,284,888
1990
1,671,673
2000
1,868,876
2010
2,331,237
Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top
tourist attraction.[43] In 2012, 2,185,447 people visited the park.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s,
Siouxan Benjamin Black Elk was the "Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore", posing for
photographs with thousands of tourists. He became one of the most photographed people in
the world.[44]

Conservation

Laser scan data showing Abraham Lincoln.

The ongoing conservation of the site is overseen by the US National Park Service.[45]
Physical efforts to conserve the monument have included replacement of the sealant applied
originally by Gutzon Borglum, which had proved ineffective at providing water resistance
(components include linseed oil, granite dust and white lead). A modern silicone
replacement was used, disguised with granite dust.
In 1998, electronic monitoring devices were installed to track movement in the topology of
the sculpture to an accuracy of 3 mm. The site has been subsequently digitally recorded
using a terrestrial laser scanning methodology in 2009 as part of the international Scottish
Ten project, providing a record of unprecedented resolution and accuracy to inform the
conservation of the site. This data was made accessible online to be freely used by the
wider community to aid further interpretation and public access.[46]

Controversy
Mount Rushmore is controversial among Native Americans because the United States
seized the area from the Lakota tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876. The Treaty of Fort
Laramie from 1868 had previously granted the Black Hills to the Lakota in perpetuity.
Members of the American Indian Movement led an occupation of the monument in 1971,
naming it "Mount Crazy Horse". Among the participants were young activists,
grandparents, children and Lakota holy man John Fire Lame Deer, who planted a prayer
staff atop the mountain. Lame Deer said the staff formed a symbolic shroud over the
presidents' faces "which shall remain dirty until the treaties concerning the Black Hills are
fulfilled."[47]
In 2004, the first Native American superintendent of the park, Gerard Baker, was appointed.
Baker has stated that he will open up more "avenues of interpretation", and that the four
presidents are "only one avenue and only one focus."[48]
The Crazy Horse Memorial is being constructed elsewhere in the Black Hills to
commemorate the famous Native American leader as a response to Mount Rushmore. It is
intended to be larger than Mount Rushmore and has the support of Lakota chiefs; the Crazy
Horse Memorial Foundation has rejected offers of federal funds. However, this memorial is
likewise the subject of controversy, even within the Native American community.[49]

In popular culture

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) dangle precariously from
the sculpture of George Washington in the 1959 film North by Northwest

Mount Rushmore commemorative stamp of 1952

Main article: Mount Rushmore in popular culture
Because of its fame as a monument, Mount Rushmore has been depicted in multiple places
in popular culture. It is often depicted as a cover for a secret location; shown with faces
removed, modified, or added; or parodied. The memorial was also famously used as the
location of the climactic chase scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 movie North by
Northwest.

Legacy and commemoration

On August 11, 1952, the U.S. Post Office issued the Mount Rushmore Memorial
commemorative stamp on the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Mt. Rushmore
National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota.[50] On January 2, 1974, a 26-cents
airmail stamp depicting the monument was also issued.[51]

See also

List of colossal sculpture in situ

South Dakota portal

References
Notes
1.
"Park Statistics". National Park Service. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. December 6, 2005.60 SD Web Traveler, Inc.
Retrieved April 7, 2006.

 McGeveran, William A. Jr. et al. (2004). The World Almanac and Book of Facts
2004. New York: World Almanac Education Group, Inc. ISBN 0-88687-910-8.
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota (November 1, 2004). Peakbagger.com. Retrieved
March 13, 2006.
'!, episode 5x08 "Mount Rushmore", May 10, 2007
"Making Mount Rushmore | Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. Retrieved October 31,
2012.
"Biography:Senator Peter Norbeck". American Experience: Mount Rushmore. PBS.
Retrieved July 20, 2013.
"Mount Rushmore". American Experience TV's Most Watched History Series.
PBS. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
"Untold Stories Discussion Guide: Baker and Mount Rushmore" (PDF). The
National Parks: America's Best Idea. PBS. p. 2. Mount Rushmore a rocky outcropping
the Lakota had called 'The Six Grandfathers,' named for the earth, the sky, and the four
directions
Belanger, Ian A.; Kennedy, Sally; Allison; McMeen, Melissa; Arnold, John (April
21, 2002). "Mt. Rushmore presidents on the rocks". Archived from the original on May
14, 2006. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
"Mount Rushmore National Memorial Frequently Asked Questions". National Park
Service. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
Keystone Area Historical Society Keystone Characters. Retrieved October 3, 2006.
"People & Events: The Carving of Stone Mountain". American Experience. PBS.
Retrieved March 17, 2010.
Carving History (October 2, 2004). National Park Service.
Fite, Gilbert C. Mount Rushmore (May 2003). ISBN 0-9646798-5-X, the standard
scholarly study.
"Carving History". National Park Service. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
Albert Boime, "Patriarchy Fixed in Stone: Gutzon Borglum's 'Mount Rushmore',"
American Art, Vol. 5, No. 1/2. (Winter Spring, 1991), pp. 14267.
"Honeycombing process explained from". nps.gov. June 14, 2004. Archived from the
original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
"Geology Fieldnotes". nps.gov. January 4, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
American Experience "Timeline: Mount Rushmore" (2002). Retrieved March 20,
2006.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Tourism in South Dakota. Laura R. Ahmann.
Retrieved March 19, 2006.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Outdoorplaces.com. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
"Text of 1934 Essay - History of the United States" (PDF).
"George Bush: Remarks at the Dedication Ceremony of the Mount Rushmore
National Memorial in South Dakota". The American Presidency Project. July 3, 1991.
Retrieved November 1, 2012.
"Hall of Records". Mount Rushmore National Memorial web site. National Park
Service. June 14, 2004. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved July 4,
2007.
"For Mount Rushmore, An Overdue Face Wash". Washington Post. July 11, 2005.
Retrieved March 17, 2010.

 "Enjoy Wildlife......Safely." (PDF). National Park Service. National Park Service.

Retrieved January 4, 2014.
Freeman, Mary. "Mount Rushmore, South Dakota for Tourists". USA Today. Tysons
Corner, VA: Gannett Company. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Amphibians". National Park Service. National Park Service. Retrieved January 4,
2014.
"Nature & Science- Animals". NPS. November 26, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
"Mount Rushmore- Flora and Fauna". American Park Network. 2001. Archived
from the original on December 12, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
"Nature & Science Plants". NPS. December 6, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
Nature & Science- Groundwater. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.
Nature & Science- Forests. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.
Geologic Activity. National Park Service.
Irvin, James R. Great Plains Gallery (2001). Retrieved March 16, 2006.
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/
"USDA Hardiness Zone Finder". The National Gardening Association. National
Gardening Association. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Weather History". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. June 23,
2004. Archived from the original on July 8, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
"Monthly Averages for Mount Rushmore Natl Memorial, SD". The Weather
Channel. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"NOWData NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Popular South Dakota Attractions >>South Dakota". southdakota.com. Retrieved
March 21, 2015.
Kilen Ode, Jeanne (1984). South Dakota History. 14. South Dakota Historical
Society Press.
"Caring For A Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July
8, 2013.
"Mount Rushmore National Memorial". CyArk. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
Matthew Glass, "Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore," Journal of
the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 2. (Summer, 1994), pp. 265283.
David Melmer (December 13, 2004). "Historic changes for Mount Rushmore".
Indiancountrytoday. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved March 17,
2010.
Lame Deer, John (Fire) and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions. Simon
and Schuster, New York, New York, 1972. Paperback ISBN 0-671-55392-5
"3c Mt. Rushmore single". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved July 1,
2014.
1.

Scotts United States Stamp catalogue, 1982. Scott's Publishing

Company. 1981. ISBN 0-89487-042-4., p. 289.

Further reading

Larner, Jesse. Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered New York: Nation Books,
2002.

Taliaferro, John. Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create
Mount Rushmore. New York: PublicAffairs, c2002. ISBN 9781586482053. Puts the
creation of the monument into a historical and cultural context.

Coutant, Arnaud, "Les Visages de l'Amrique, les constructeurs d'une dmocratie

fdrale", Mare et Martin, 2014 (ISBN 9782849341605). French Study about the
Four Presidents, Life, presidency, influence about American political evolution.
http://www.mareetmartin.com/livre/_les-visages-de-l-amerique

The National Parks: Index 20012003. Washington: United States Department of

the Interior

"Making Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. APN Media. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

Dobrzynski, Judith H. (July 15, 2006). "A Monumental Achievement". Wall Street
Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

Buckingham, Matthew (Summer 2002). "The Six Grandfathers, Paha Sapa, in the
Year 502,002 C.E.". Cabinet Magazine. Immaterial Incorporated. Retrieved
January 27, 2013.

"Luigi Del Bianco: chief stone carver on Mount Rushmore, 19331940". Lou Del
Bianco. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

"Caring For A Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July
8, 2013.

External links

Media related to Mount Rushmore National Memorial at Wikimedia Commons

Mount Rushmore National Memorial travel guide from Wikivoyage

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National symbols of the United States

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Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming

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Categories:

IUCN Category V

Mount Rushmore

National Memorials of the United States

Black Hills

Landforms of Pennington County, South Dakota

Landmarks in South Dakota

Monuments and memorials in South Dakota

National Park Service areas in South Dakota

Outdoor sculptures in South Dakota

Protected areas of Pennington County, South Dakota

Mountains of South Dakota

Buildings and monuments honoring American Presidents

Granite sculptures in South Dakota

Rock formations of South Dakota

Symbols of South Dakota

Monuments and memorials to Abraham Lincoln

Monuments and memorials to George Washington

Abraham Lincoln in art

George Washington in art

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Thomas Jefferson

Great Sioux War of 1876

1941 sculptures

Mountain monuments and memorials

Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in South

Dakota

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Mount Rushmore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the mountain. For the 1960s rock band, see Mount Rushmore (band).

Mount Rushmore National

Memorial
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)

Sculptures of George Washington, Thomas

Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham
Lincoln (left to right)

Location
Nearest city
Coordinates

Area
Established
Visitors

Pennington County, South

Dakota, United States
Keystone, South Dakota
435244.21N
1032735.37WCoordinates:

435244.21N
1032735.37W
1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi;
5.17 km2)
March 3, 1925
2,185,447 (in 2012)[1]

Governing body National Park Service

Mount Rushmore National
Website
Memorial

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of
Mount Rushmore, a granite batholith formation in the Black Hills in Keystone, South
Dakota, United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln
Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four United
States presidents: George Washington (17321799), Thomas Jefferson (17431826),
Theodore Roosevelt (18581919), and Abraham Lincoln (18091865).[2] The entire
memorial covers 1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi; 5.17 km2)[3] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above
sea level.[4]
South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the
likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to
promote tourism in the region. Robinson's initial idea was to sculpt the Needles; however,
Gutzon Borglum rejected the Needles site because of the poor quality of the granite and
strong opposition from Native American groups. They settled on the Mount Rushmore
location, which also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure.
Robinson wanted it to feature western heroes like Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud,[5] and
Buffalo Bill Cody,[6] but Borglum decided the sculpture should have a more national focus
and chose the four presidents whose likenesses would be carved into the mountain. After
securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of "Mount Rushmore's great
political patron", U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck,[7] construction on the memorial began in
1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon
Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although
the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of
funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.[8]
Mount Rushmore has become an iconic symbol of the United States, and has appeared in
works of fiction, and has been discussed or depicted in other popular works. It attracts over
two million people annually.[1]

Contents

1 History

2 Ecology

3 Geography
o 3.1 Geology
o 3.2 Soils
o 3.3 Climate

4 Tourism

5 Conservation

6 Controversy

7 In popular culture

8 Legacy and commemoration

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

History

Mount Rushmore before construction, circa 1905.

Black Hills and Badlands

Sculpture

Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse

Geologic formations

Badlands

Needles

Devils Tower

Bear Butte

Spearfish Canyon

Mountains

Black Elk Peak

Caves

Wind Cave

Jewel Cave

Parks, forests, and grassland

Custer State Park

Black Hills National Forest

Wind Cave

Black Elk Wilderness

Buffalo Gap National Grassland

Lakes

Sylvan

Pactola

A model at the site depicting Mount Rushmore's intended final design

See also: Construction of Mount Rushmore
Originally known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers",[9] the mountain was
renamed after Charles E. Rushmore, a prominent New York lawyer, during an expedition in
1885.[10] At first, the project of carving Rushmore was undertaken to increase tourism in the
Black Hills region of South Dakota. After long negotiations involving a Congressional
delegation and President Calvin Coolidge, the project received Congressional approval. The
carving started in 1927, and ended in 1941 with no fatalities.[11]

As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was part of the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took
in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of military
campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that
is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie (see section "Controversy"
below). Among American settlers, the peak was known variously as Cougar Mountain,
Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain, and Keystone Cliffs. It was named Mount
Rushmore during a prospecting expedition by Charles Rushmore, David Swanzey (husband
of Carrie Ingalls), and Bill Challis.[12]
Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 to promote
tourism in South Dakota. In 1924, Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum to travel
to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished. Borglum had been
involved in sculpting the Confederate Memorial Carving, a massive bas-relief memorial to
Confederate leaders on Stone Mountain in Georgia, but was in disagreement with the
officials there.[13]

Construction of the Mount Rushmore monument

The original plan was to perform the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles.
However, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. He
chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed
maximum exposure to the sun. Borglum said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will
march along that skyline."[14] Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Commission on March 3, 1925.[14] President Coolidge insisted that, along with Washington,
two Republicans and one Democrat be portrayed.[15]
Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers[16]
sculpted the colossal 60 foot (18 m) high carvings of U.S. presidents George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 130
years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role
in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory.[14][17] The carving of Mount

Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of "honeycombing", a

process where workers drill holes close together, allowing small pieces to be removed by
hand.[18] In total, about 450,000 short tons (410,000 t) of rock were blasted off the
mountainside.[19] The image of Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to appear in the
area at Washington's right, but after the work there was begun, the rock was found to be
unsuitable, so the work on the Jefferson figure was dynamited, and a new figure was
sculpted to Washington's left.[14]
In 1933, the National Park Service took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction. Julian
Spotts helped with the project by improving its infrastructure. For example, he had the tram
upgraded so it could reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the ease of workers. By July 4,
1934, Washington's face had been completed and was dedicated. The face of Thomas
Jefferson was dedicated in 1936, and the face of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated on
September 17, 1937. In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civilrights leader Susan B. Anthony, but a rider was passed on an appropriations bill requiring
federal funds be used to finish only those heads that had already been started at that time.[20]
In 1939, the face of Theodore Roosevelt was dedicated.
The Sculptor's Studio a display of unique plaster models and tools related to the
sculpting was built in 1939 under the direction of Borglum. Borglum died from an
embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. Originally, it
was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist,[21] but insufficient funding
forced the carving to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the
Louisiana Purchase commemorating in eight-foot-tall gilded letters the Declaration of
Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial
acquisitions from Alaska to Texas to the Panama Canal Zone.[17] In total, the entire project
cost US$989,992.32.[22] Unusually for a project of such size, no workers died during the
carving.[23]

Side view of George Washington from rocky terrain at Mount Rushmore

Entrance to the site

On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. A 500-word essay giving the history of the United States by Nebraska student
William Andrew Burkett was selected as the college-age group winner in a 1934
competition, and that essay was placed on the Entablature on a bronze plate in 1973.[20][24] In
1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore.[25]
In a canyon behind the carved faces is a chamber, cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock,
containing a vault with sixteen porcelain enamel panels. The panels include the text of the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, biographies of the four presidents and
Borglum, and the history of the U.S. The chamber was created as the entrance-way to a
planned "Hall of Records"; the vault was installed in 1998.[26]
Ten years of redevelopment work culminated with the completion of extensive visitor
facilities and sidewalks in 1998, such as a Visitor Center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum,
and the Presidential Trail. Maintenance of the memorial requires mountain climbers to
monitor and seal cracks annually. Due to budget constraints, the memorial is not regularly
cleaned to remove lichens. However, on July 8, 2005, Alfred Krcher GmbH, a German
manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines, conducted a free cleanup
operation which lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over 200 F (93 C).[27]

Ecology

The Black Hills opposite Mount Rushmore.

Aerial NW direction view of Mount Rushmore National Memorial from a helicopter.

The flora and fauna of Mount Rushmore are similar to those of the rest of the Black Hills
region of South Dakota. Birds including the turkey vulture, bald eagle, hawk, and
meadowlark fly around Mount Rushmore, occasionally making nesting spots in the ledges

of the mountain. Smaller birds, including songbirds, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, inhabit
the surrounding pine forests.[28] Terrestrial mammals include the mouse, least chipmunk, red
squirrel, skunk, porcupine, raccoon, beaver, badger, coyote, bighorn sheep, bobcat, elk,
mule deer, yellow-bellied marmot, and American bison.[28][29] The striped chorus frog,
western chorus frog, and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area,[30] along with several
species of snake. Grizzly Bear Brook and Starling Basin Brook, the two streams in the
memorial, support fish such as the longnose dace and the brook trout.[citation needed] Mountain
goats are not indigenous to the region. Those living near Mount Rushmore are descendents
of a tribe that Canada gifted to Custer State Park in 1924, which later escaped.[28][31][32]
At lower elevations, coniferous trees, mainly the ponderosa pine, surround most of the
monument, providing shade from the sun. Other trees include the bur oak, the Black Hills
spruce, and the cottonwood. Nine species of shrubs grow near Mount Rushmore. There is
also a wide variety of wildflowers, including especially the snapdragon, sunflower, and
violet. Towards higher elevations, plant life becomes sparser.[32] However, only
approximately five percent of the plant species found in the Black Hills are indigenous to
the region.[33]
The area receives about 18 inches (460 mm) of precipitation on average per year, enough to
support abundant animal and plant life. Trees and other plants help to control surface
runoff. Dikes, seeps, and springs help to dam up water that is flowing downhill, providing
watering spots for animals. In addition, stones like sandstone and limestone help to hold
groundwater, creating aquifers.[34]
A study of the fire scars present in tree ring samples indicates that forest fires occur in the
ponderosa forests surrounding Mount Rushmore around every 27 years. Large fires are not
common. Most events have been ground fires that serve to clear forest debris.[35] The area is
a climax community. Recent[when?] pine beetle infestations have threatened the forest.[29]

Geography
Geology

Mount Rushmore, showing the full size of the mountain and the scree of rocks from the
sculpting and construction.
Mount Rushmore is largely composed of granite. The memorial is carved on the northwest
margin of the Black Elk Peak granite batholith in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so the

geologic formations of the heart of the Black Hills region are also evident at Mount
Rushmore. The batholith magma intruded into the pre-existing mica schist rocks during the
Proterozoic, 1.6 billion years ago.[36] Coarse grained pegmatite dikes are associated with the
granite intrusion of Black Elk Peak and are visibly lighter in color, thus explaining the
light-colored streaks on the foreheads of the presidents.
The Black Hills granites were exposed to erosion during the Neoproterozoic, but were later
buried by sandstone and other sediments during the Cambrian. Remaining buried
throughout the Paleozoic, they were re-exposed again during the Laramide orogeny around
70 million years ago.[36] The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome.
[37]
Subsequent erosion stripped the granite of the overlying sediments and the softer
adjacent schist. Some schist does remain and can be seen as the darker material just below
the sculpture of Washington.
The tallest mountain in the region is Black Elk Peak (7,242 ft or 2,207 m). Borglum
selected Mount Rushmore as the site for several reasons. The rock of the mountain is
composed of smooth, fine-grained granite. The durable granite erodes only 1 inch (25 mm)
every 10,000 years, thus was more than sturdy enough to support the sculpture and its longterm exposure.[14] The mountain's height of 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level[4] made it
suitable, and because it faces the southeast, the workers also had the advantage of sunlight
for most of the day.

Soils
The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by brown to dark grayish brown, well drained
alfisol soils of very gravelly loam (Mocmount) to silt loam (Buska) texture.[38]

Climate
Mount Rushmore has a humid continental climate (Dwb in the Koeppen climate
classification). It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in
the area can withstand a low temperature of no less than 20 F (29 C).[39]
The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but
strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer.[40]

[hide]Climate data for Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 1981-2011 normals

Month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record
high F
(C)

68 68 78 85
93
99 100 99 97 86 75 67 100
(20) (20) (26) (29) (34) (37) (38) (37) (36) (30) (24) (19) (38)

Average
50.7
71.0 79.1 78.1 67.8 54.9
36.3 36.7 43.2
60.7
42.9 35.3 54.7
high F
(10.4
(21.7 (26.2 (25.6 (19.9 (12.7
(2.4) (2.6) (6.2)
(15.9)
(6.1) (1.8) (12.6)
(C)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Daily
27.5 27.8
61.1 69.0 67.9 58.0
26.7
33.9 41.4 51.1
45.7 34.5
45.4
mean F (2.5 (2.3
(16.2 (20.6 (19.9 (14.4
(2.9
(1.1) (5.2) (10.6)
(7.6) (1.4)
(7.4)
(C)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

18.7 19.0 24.6

51.3 58.9 57.7
26.0 18.1
Average
32.0 41.6
48.2 36.5
36.0
(7.4 (7.2 (4.1
(10.7 (14.9 (14.3
(3.3 (7.7
low F (C)
(0) (5.3)
(9) (2.5)
(2.2)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

38 29 12 1
Record
14
27 35
(39 (34 (24 (17
low F (C)
(10) (3) (2)
)
)
)
)

1 12 31
33 19
38
(17 (24 (35
(1) (7)
(39)
)
)
)

Average
0.70 1.19 2.23 4.22 3.41 2.90 1.99
1.68 0.62 0.43 21.56
precipitati 0.38
1.81
(17.8 (30.2 (56.6 (107.2 (86.6 (73.7 (50.5
(42.7 (15.7 (10.9 (547.6
on inches (9.7)
(46)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
(mm)

Average
5.8 7.9 10.4 10.8
snowfall
1.2 0.1 0.0
(14.7 (20.1 (26.4 (27.4
inches
(3) (0.3) (0)
)
)
)
)
(cm)

Average
precipitati
4.3
on days (
0.01)

4.7

6.3

8.2

6.2 5.8 52.4

0.0 0.6 3.6
(15.7 (14.7 (132.9
(0) (1.5) (9.1)
)
)
)

11.9 12.6 11.4 9.3

7.4

6.8

4.4

4.2

91.5

Average
snowy
3.9
days ( 0.1)

3.8

3.9

3.1

0.6

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.3

1.4

2.7

3.4

23.1

Source #1: [41]

Source #2: [42]

Tourism
This section requires expansion. (January 2014)
Historical visitor count[1]
Year
Visitors
1941
393,000
1950
740,499
1960
1,067,000
1970
1,965,700
1980
1,284,888
1990
1,671,673
2000
1,868,876
2010
2,331,237
Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top
tourist attraction.[43] In 2012, 2,185,447 people visited the park.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s,
Siouxan Benjamin Black Elk was the "Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore", posing for
photographs with thousands of tourists. He became one of the most photographed people in
the world.[44]

Conservation

Laser scan data showing Abraham Lincoln.

The ongoing conservation of the site is overseen by the US National Park Service.[45]
Physical efforts to conserve the monument have included replacement of the sealant applied
originally by Gutzon Borglum, which had proved ineffective at providing water resistance
(components include linseed oil, granite dust and white lead). A modern silicone
replacement was used, disguised with granite dust.
In 1998, electronic monitoring devices were installed to track movement in the topology of
the sculpture to an accuracy of 3 mm. The site has been subsequently digitally recorded
using a terrestrial laser scanning methodology in 2009 as part of the international Scottish
Ten project, providing a record of unprecedented resolution and accuracy to inform the
conservation of the site. This data was made accessible online to be freely used by the
wider community to aid further interpretation and public access.[46]

Controversy
Mount Rushmore is controversial among Native Americans because the United States
seized the area from the Lakota tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876. The Treaty of Fort
Laramie from 1868 had previously granted the Black Hills to the Lakota in perpetuity.
Members of the American Indian Movement led an occupation of the monument in 1971,
naming it "Mount Crazy Horse". Among the participants were young activists,
grandparents, children and Lakota holy man John Fire Lame Deer, who planted a prayer
staff atop the mountain. Lame Deer said the staff formed a symbolic shroud over the
presidents' faces "which shall remain dirty until the treaties concerning the Black Hills are
fulfilled."[47]
In 2004, the first Native American superintendent of the park, Gerard Baker, was appointed.
Baker has stated that he will open up more "avenues of interpretation", and that the four
presidents are "only one avenue and only one focus."[48]
The Crazy Horse Memorial is being constructed elsewhere in the Black Hills to
commemorate the famous Native American leader as a response to Mount Rushmore. It is
intended to be larger than Mount Rushmore and has the support of Lakota chiefs; the Crazy
Horse Memorial Foundation has rejected offers of federal funds. However, this memorial is
likewise the subject of controversy, even within the Native American community.[49]

In popular culture

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) dangle precariously from
the sculpture of George Washington in the 1959 film North by Northwest

Mount Rushmore commemorative stamp of 1952

Main article: Mount Rushmore in popular culture
Because of its fame as a monument, Mount Rushmore has been depicted in multiple places
in popular culture. It is often depicted as a cover for a secret location; shown with faces
removed, modified, or added; or parodied. The memorial was also famously used as the
location of the climactic chase scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 movie North by
Northwest.

Legacy and commemoration

On August 11, 1952, the U.S. Post Office issued the Mount Rushmore Memorial
commemorative stamp on the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Mt. Rushmore
National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota.[50] On January 2, 1974, a 26-cents
airmail stamp depicting the monument was also issued.[51]

See also

List of colossal sculpture in situ

South Dakota portal

References
Notes
1.
"Park Statistics". National Park Service. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. December 6, 2005.60 SD Web Traveler, Inc.
Retrieved April 7, 2006.

 McGeveran, William A. Jr. et al. (2004). The World Almanac and Book of Facts
2004. New York: World Almanac Education Group, Inc. ISBN 0-88687-910-8.
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota (November 1, 2004). Peakbagger.com. Retrieved
March 13, 2006.
'!, episode 5x08 "Mount Rushmore", May 10, 2007
"Making Mount Rushmore | Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. Retrieved October 31,
2012.
"Biography:Senator Peter Norbeck". American Experience: Mount Rushmore. PBS.
Retrieved July 20, 2013.
"Mount Rushmore". American Experience TV's Most Watched History Series.
PBS. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
"Untold Stories Discussion Guide: Baker and Mount Rushmore" (PDF). The
National Parks: America's Best Idea. PBS. p. 2. Mount Rushmore a rocky outcropping
the Lakota had called 'The Six Grandfathers,' named for the earth, the sky, and the four
directions
Belanger, Ian A.; Kennedy, Sally; Allison; McMeen, Melissa; Arnold, John (April
21, 2002). "Mt. Rushmore presidents on the rocks". Archived from the original on May
14, 2006. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
"Mount Rushmore National Memorial Frequently Asked Questions". National Park
Service. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
Keystone Area Historical Society Keystone Characters. Retrieved October 3, 2006.
"People & Events: The Carving of Stone Mountain". American Experience. PBS.
Retrieved March 17, 2010.
Carving History (October 2, 2004). National Park Service.
Fite, Gilbert C. Mount Rushmore (May 2003). ISBN 0-9646798-5-X, the standard
scholarly study.
"Carving History". National Park Service. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
Albert Boime, "Patriarchy Fixed in Stone: Gutzon Borglum's 'Mount Rushmore',"
American Art, Vol. 5, No. 1/2. (Winter Spring, 1991), pp. 14267.
"Honeycombing process explained from". nps.gov. June 14, 2004. Archived from the
original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
"Geology Fieldnotes". nps.gov. January 4, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
American Experience "Timeline: Mount Rushmore" (2002). Retrieved March 20,
2006.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Tourism in South Dakota. Laura R. Ahmann.
Retrieved March 19, 2006.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Outdoorplaces.com. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
"Text of 1934 Essay - History of the United States" (PDF).
"George Bush: Remarks at the Dedication Ceremony of the Mount Rushmore
National Memorial in South Dakota". The American Presidency Project. July 3, 1991.
Retrieved November 1, 2012.
"Hall of Records". Mount Rushmore National Memorial web site. National Park
Service. June 14, 2004. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved July 4,
2007.
"For Mount Rushmore, An Overdue Face Wash". Washington Post. July 11, 2005.
Retrieved March 17, 2010.

 "Enjoy Wildlife......Safely." (PDF). National Park Service. National Park Service.

Retrieved January 4, 2014.
Freeman, Mary. "Mount Rushmore, South Dakota for Tourists". USA Today. Tysons
Corner, VA: Gannett Company. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Amphibians". National Park Service. National Park Service. Retrieved January 4,
2014.
"Nature & Science- Animals". NPS. November 26, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
"Mount Rushmore- Flora and Fauna". American Park Network. 2001. Archived
from the original on December 12, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
"Nature & Science Plants". NPS. December 6, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
Nature & Science- Groundwater. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.
Nature & Science- Forests. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.
Geologic Activity. National Park Service.
Irvin, James R. Great Plains Gallery (2001). Retrieved March 16, 2006.
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/
"USDA Hardiness Zone Finder". The National Gardening Association. National
Gardening Association. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Weather History". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. June 23,
2004. Archived from the original on July 8, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
"Monthly Averages for Mount Rushmore Natl Memorial, SD". The Weather
Channel. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"NOWData NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Popular South Dakota Attractions >>South Dakota". southdakota.com. Retrieved
March 21, 2015.
Kilen Ode, Jeanne (1984). South Dakota History. 14. South Dakota Historical
Society Press.
"Caring For A Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July
8, 2013.
"Mount Rushmore National Memorial". CyArk. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
Matthew Glass, "Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore," Journal of
the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 2. (Summer, 1994), pp. 265283.
David Melmer (December 13, 2004). "Historic changes for Mount Rushmore".
Indiancountrytoday. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved March 17,
2010.
Lame Deer, John (Fire) and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions. Simon
and Schuster, New York, New York, 1972. Paperback ISBN 0-671-55392-5
"3c Mt. Rushmore single". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved July 1,
2014.
1.

Scotts United States Stamp catalogue, 1982. Scott's Publishing

Company. 1981. ISBN 0-89487-042-4., p. 289.

Further reading

Larner, Jesse. Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered New York: Nation Books,
2002.

Taliaferro, John. Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create
Mount Rushmore. New York: PublicAffairs, c2002. ISBN 9781586482053. Puts the
creation of the monument into a historical and cultural context.

Coutant, Arnaud, "Les Visages de l'Amrique, les constructeurs d'une dmocratie

fdrale", Mare et Martin, 2014 (ISBN 9782849341605). French Study about the
Four Presidents, Life, presidency, influence about American political evolution.
http://www.mareetmartin.com/livre/_les-visages-de-l-amerique

The National Parks: Index 20012003. Washington: United States Department of

the Interior

"Making Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. APN Media. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

Dobrzynski, Judith H. (July 15, 2006). "A Monumental Achievement". Wall Street
Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

Buckingham, Matthew (Summer 2002). "The Six Grandfathers, Paha Sapa, in the
Year 502,002 C.E.". Cabinet Magazine. Immaterial Incorporated. Retrieved
January 27, 2013.

"Luigi Del Bianco: chief stone carver on Mount Rushmore, 19331940". Lou Del
Bianco. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

"Caring For A Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July
8, 2013.

External links

Media related to Mount Rushmore National Memorial at Wikimedia Commons

Mount Rushmore National Memorial travel guide from Wikivoyage

Official website
[show]

National symbols of the United States

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Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming

[show]

George Washington
[show]

Thomas Jefferson
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Abraham Lincoln
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Theodore Roosevelt
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[show]

Protected areas of South Dakota

Categories:

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Mount Rushmore

National Memorials of the United States

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Mount Rushmore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the mountain. For the 1960s rock band, see Mount Rushmore (band).

Mount Rushmore National

Memorial
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)

Sculptures of George Washington, Thomas

Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham
Lincoln (left to right)

Location
Nearest city
Coordinates

Area
Established
Visitors

Pennington County, South

Dakota, United States
Keystone, South Dakota
435244.21N
1032735.37WCoordinates:

435244.21N
1032735.37W
1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi;
5.17 km2)
March 3, 1925
2,185,447 (in 2012)[1]

Governing body National Park Service

Mount Rushmore National
Website
Memorial

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of
Mount Rushmore, a granite batholith formation in the Black Hills in Keystone, South
Dakota, United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln
Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four United
States presidents: George Washington (17321799), Thomas Jefferson (17431826),
Theodore Roosevelt (18581919), and Abraham Lincoln (18091865).[2] The entire
memorial covers 1,278.45 acres (2.00 sq mi; 5.17 km2)[3] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above
sea level.[4]
South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the
likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to
promote tourism in the region. Robinson's initial idea was to sculpt the Needles; however,
Gutzon Borglum rejected the Needles site because of the poor quality of the granite and
strong opposition from Native American groups. They settled on the Mount Rushmore
location, which also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure.
Robinson wanted it to feature western heroes like Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud,[5] and
Buffalo Bill Cody,[6] but Borglum decided the sculpture should have a more national focus
and chose the four presidents whose likenesses would be carved into the mountain. After
securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of "Mount Rushmore's great
political patron", U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck,[7] construction on the memorial began in
1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon
Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although
the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of
funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.[8]
Mount Rushmore has become an iconic symbol of the United States, and has appeared in
works of fiction, and has been discussed or depicted in other popular works. It attracts over
two million people annually.[1]

Contents

1 History

2 Ecology

3 Geography
o 3.1 Geology
o 3.2 Soils
o 3.3 Climate

4 Tourism

5 Conservation

6 Controversy

7 In popular culture

8 Legacy and commemoration

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

History

Mount Rushmore before construction, circa 1905.

Black Hills and Badlands

Sculpture

Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse

Geologic formations

Badlands

Needles

Devils Tower

Bear Butte

Spearfish Canyon

Mountains

Black Elk Peak

Caves

Wind Cave

Jewel Cave

Parks, forests, and grassland

Custer State Park

Black Hills National Forest

Wind Cave

Black Elk Wilderness

Buffalo Gap National Grassland

Lakes

Sylvan

Pactola

A model at the site depicting Mount Rushmore's intended final design

See also: Construction of Mount Rushmore
Originally known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers",[9] the mountain was
renamed after Charles E. Rushmore, a prominent New York lawyer, during an expedition in
1885.[10] At first, the project of carving Rushmore was undertaken to increase tourism in the
Black Hills region of South Dakota. After long negotiations involving a Congressional
delegation and President Calvin Coolidge, the project received Congressional approval. The
carving started in 1927, and ended in 1941 with no fatalities.[11]

As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was part of the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took
in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of military
campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that
is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie (see section "Controversy"
below). Among American settlers, the peak was known variously as Cougar Mountain,
Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain, and Keystone Cliffs. It was named Mount
Rushmore during a prospecting expedition by Charles Rushmore, David Swanzey (husband
of Carrie Ingalls), and Bill Challis.[12]
Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 to promote
tourism in South Dakota. In 1924, Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum to travel
to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished. Borglum had been
involved in sculpting the Confederate Memorial Carving, a massive bas-relief memorial to
Confederate leaders on Stone Mountain in Georgia, but was in disagreement with the
officials there.[13]

Construction of the Mount Rushmore monument

The original plan was to perform the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles.
However, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. He
chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed
maximum exposure to the sun. Borglum said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will
march along that skyline."[14] Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Commission on March 3, 1925.[14] President Coolidge insisted that, along with Washington,
two Republicans and one Democrat be portrayed.[15]
Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers[16]
sculpted the colossal 60 foot (18 m) high carvings of U.S. presidents George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 130
years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role
in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory.[14][17] The carving of Mount

Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of "honeycombing", a

process where workers drill holes close together, allowing small pieces to be removed by
hand.[18] In total, about 450,000 short tons (410,000 t) of rock were blasted off the
mountainside.[19] The image of Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to appear in the
area at Washington's right, but after the work there was begun, the rock was found to be
unsuitable, so the work on the Jefferson figure was dynamited, and a new figure was
sculpted to Washington's left.[14]
In 1933, the National Park Service took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction. Julian
Spotts helped with the project by improving its infrastructure. For example, he had the tram
upgraded so it could reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the ease of workers. By July 4,
1934, Washington's face had been completed and was dedicated. The face of Thomas
Jefferson was dedicated in 1936, and the face of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated on
September 17, 1937. In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civilrights leader Susan B. Anthony, but a rider was passed on an appropriations bill requiring
federal funds be used to finish only those heads that had already been started at that time.[20]
In 1939, the face of Theodore Roosevelt was dedicated.
The Sculptor's Studio a display of unique plaster models and tools related to the
sculpting was built in 1939 under the direction of Borglum. Borglum died from an
embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. Originally, it
was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist,[21] but insufficient funding
forced the carving to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the
Louisiana Purchase commemorating in eight-foot-tall gilded letters the Declaration of
Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial
acquisitions from Alaska to Texas to the Panama Canal Zone.[17] In total, the entire project
cost US$989,992.32.[22] Unusually for a project of such size, no workers died during the
carving.[23]

Side view of George Washington from rocky terrain at Mount Rushmore

Entrance to the site

On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. A 500-word essay giving the history of the United States by Nebraska student
William Andrew Burkett was selected as the college-age group winner in a 1934
competition, and that essay was placed on the Entablature on a bronze plate in 1973.[20][24] In
1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore.[25]
In a canyon behind the carved faces is a chamber, cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock,
containing a vault with sixteen porcelain enamel panels. The panels include the text of the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, biographies of the four presidents and
Borglum, and the history of the U.S. The chamber was created as the entrance-way to a
planned "Hall of Records"; the vault was installed in 1998.[26]
Ten years of redevelopment work culminated with the completion of extensive visitor
facilities and sidewalks in 1998, such as a Visitor Center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum,
and the Presidential Trail. Maintenance of the memorial requires mountain climbers to
monitor and seal cracks annually. Due to budget constraints, the memorial is not regularly
cleaned to remove lichens. However, on July 8, 2005, Alfred Krcher GmbH, a German
manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines, conducted a free cleanup
operation which lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over 200 F (93 C).[27]

Ecology

The Black Hills opposite Mount Rushmore.

Aerial NW direction view of Mount Rushmore National Memorial from a helicopter.

The flora and fauna of Mount Rushmore are similar to those of the rest of the Black Hills
region of South Dakota. Birds including the turkey vulture, bald eagle, hawk, and
meadowlark fly around Mount Rushmore, occasionally making nesting spots in the ledges

of the mountain. Smaller birds, including songbirds, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, inhabit
the surrounding pine forests.[28] Terrestrial mammals include the mouse, least chipmunk, red
squirrel, skunk, porcupine, raccoon, beaver, badger, coyote, bighorn sheep, bobcat, elk,
mule deer, yellow-bellied marmot, and American bison.[28][29] The striped chorus frog,
western chorus frog, and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area,[30] along with several
species of snake. Grizzly Bear Brook and Starling Basin Brook, the two streams in the
memorial, support fish such as the longnose dace and the brook trout.[citation needed] Mountain
goats are not indigenous to the region. Those living near Mount Rushmore are descendents
of a tribe that Canada gifted to Custer State Park in 1924, which later escaped.[28][31][32]
At lower elevations, coniferous trees, mainly the ponderosa pine, surround most of the
monument, providing shade from the sun. Other trees include the bur oak, the Black Hills
spruce, and the cottonwood. Nine species of shrubs grow near Mount Rushmore. There is
also a wide variety of wildflowers, including especially the snapdragon, sunflower, and
violet. Towards higher elevations, plant life becomes sparser.[32] However, only
approximately five percent of the plant species found in the Black Hills are indigenous to
the region.[33]
The area receives about 18 inches (460 mm) of precipitation on average per year, enough to
support abundant animal and plant life. Trees and other plants help to control surface
runoff. Dikes, seeps, and springs help to dam up water that is flowing downhill, providing
watering spots for animals. In addition, stones like sandstone and limestone help to hold
groundwater, creating aquifers.[34]
A study of the fire scars present in tree ring samples indicates that forest fires occur in the
ponderosa forests surrounding Mount Rushmore around every 27 years. Large fires are not
common. Most events have been ground fires that serve to clear forest debris.[35] The area is
a climax community. Recent[when?] pine beetle infestations have threatened the forest.[29]

Geography
Geology

Mount Rushmore, showing the full size of the mountain and the scree of rocks from the
sculpting and construction.
Mount Rushmore is largely composed of granite. The memorial is carved on the northwest
margin of the Black Elk Peak granite batholith in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so the

geologic formations of the heart of the Black Hills region are also evident at Mount
Rushmore. The batholith magma intruded into the pre-existing mica schist rocks during the
Proterozoic, 1.6 billion years ago.[36] Coarse grained pegmatite dikes are associated with the
granite intrusion of Black Elk Peak and are visibly lighter in color, thus explaining the
light-colored streaks on the foreheads of the presidents.
The Black Hills granites were exposed to erosion during the Neoproterozoic, but were later
buried by sandstone and other sediments during the Cambrian. Remaining buried
throughout the Paleozoic, they were re-exposed again during the Laramide orogeny around
70 million years ago.[36] The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome.
[37]
Subsequent erosion stripped the granite of the overlying sediments and the softer
adjacent schist. Some schist does remain and can be seen as the darker material just below
the sculpture of Washington.
The tallest mountain in the region is Black Elk Peak (7,242 ft or 2,207 m). Borglum
selected Mount Rushmore as the site for several reasons. The rock of the mountain is
composed of smooth, fine-grained granite. The durable granite erodes only 1 inch (25 mm)
every 10,000 years, thus was more than sturdy enough to support the sculpture and its longterm exposure.[14] The mountain's height of 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level[4] made it
suitable, and because it faces the southeast, the workers also had the advantage of sunlight
for most of the day.

Soils
The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by brown to dark grayish brown, well drained
alfisol soils of very gravelly loam (Mocmount) to silt loam (Buska) texture.[38]

Climate
Mount Rushmore has a humid continental climate (Dwb in the Koeppen climate
classification). It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in
the area can withstand a low temperature of no less than 20 F (29 C).[39]
The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but
strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer.[40]

[hide]Climate data for Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 1981-2011 normals

Month

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record
high F
(C)

68 68 78 85
93
99 100 99 97 86 75 67 100
(20) (20) (26) (29) (34) (37) (38) (37) (36) (30) (24) (19) (38)

Average
50.7
71.0 79.1 78.1 67.8 54.9
36.3 36.7 43.2
60.7
42.9 35.3 54.7
high F
(10.4
(21.7 (26.2 (25.6 (19.9 (12.7
(2.4) (2.6) (6.2)
(15.9)
(6.1) (1.8) (12.6)
(C)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Daily
27.5 27.8
61.1 69.0 67.9 58.0
26.7
33.9 41.4 51.1
45.7 34.5
45.4
mean F (2.5 (2.3
(16.2 (20.6 (19.9 (14.4
(2.9
(1.1) (5.2) (10.6)
(7.6) (1.4)
(7.4)
(C)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

18.7 19.0 24.6

51.3 58.9 57.7
26.0 18.1
Average
32.0 41.6
48.2 36.5
36.0
(7.4 (7.2 (4.1
(10.7 (14.9 (14.3
(3.3 (7.7
low F (C)
(0) (5.3)
(9) (2.5)
(2.2)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

38 29 12 1
Record
14
27 35
(39 (34 (24 (17
low F (C)
(10) (3) (2)
)
)
)
)

1 12 31
33 19
38
(17 (24 (35
(1) (7)
(39)
)
)
)

Average
0.70 1.19 2.23 4.22 3.41 2.90 1.99
1.68 0.62 0.43 21.56
precipitati 0.38
1.81
(17.8 (30.2 (56.6 (107.2 (86.6 (73.7 (50.5
(42.7 (15.7 (10.9 (547.6
on inches (9.7)
(46)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
(mm)

Average
5.8 7.9 10.4 10.8
snowfall
1.2 0.1 0.0
(14.7 (20.1 (26.4 (27.4
inches
(3) (0.3) (0)
)
)
)
)
(cm)

Average
precipitati
4.3
on days (
0.01)

4.7

6.3

8.2

6.2 5.8 52.4

0.0 0.6 3.6
(15.7 (14.7 (132.9
(0) (1.5) (9.1)
)
)
)

11.9 12.6 11.4 9.3

7.4

6.8

4.4

4.2

91.5

Average
snowy
3.9
days ( 0.1)

3.8

3.9

3.1

0.6

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.3

1.4

2.7

3.4

23.1

Source #1: [41]

Source #2: [42]

Tourism
This section requires expansion. (January 2014)
Historical visitor count[1]
Year
Visitors
1941
393,000
1950
740,499
1960
1,067,000
1970
1,965,700
1980
1,284,888
1990
1,671,673
2000
1,868,876
2010
2,331,237
Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top
tourist attraction.[43] In 2012, 2,185,447 people visited the park.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s,
Siouxan Benjamin Black Elk was the "Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore", posing for
photographs with thousands of tourists. He became one of the most photographed people in
the world.[44]

Conservation

Laser scan data showing Abraham Lincoln.

The ongoing conservation of the site is overseen by the US National Park Service.[45]
Physical efforts to conserve the monument have included replacement of the sealant applied
originally by Gutzon Borglum, which had proved ineffective at providing water resistance
(components include linseed oil, granite dust and white lead). A modern silicone
replacement was used, disguised with granite dust.
In 1998, electronic monitoring devices were installed to track movement in the topology of
the sculpture to an accuracy of 3 mm. The site has been subsequently digitally recorded
using a terrestrial laser scanning methodology in 2009 as part of the international Scottish
Ten project, providing a record of unprecedented resolution and accuracy to inform the
conservation of the site. This data was made accessible online to be freely used by the
wider community to aid further interpretation and public access.[46]

Controversy
Mount Rushmore is controversial among Native Americans because the United States
seized the area from the Lakota tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876. The Treaty of Fort
Laramie from 1868 had previously granted the Black Hills to the Lakota in perpetuity.
Members of the American Indian Movement led an occupation of the monument in 1971,
naming it "Mount Crazy Horse". Among the participants were young activists,
grandparents, children and Lakota holy man John Fire Lame Deer, who planted a prayer
staff atop the mountain. Lame Deer said the staff formed a symbolic shroud over the
presidents' faces "which shall remain dirty until the treaties concerning the Black Hills are
fulfilled."[47]
In 2004, the first Native American superintendent of the park, Gerard Baker, was appointed.
Baker has stated that he will open up more "avenues of interpretation", and that the four
presidents are "only one avenue and only one focus."[48]
The Crazy Horse Memorial is being constructed elsewhere in the Black Hills to
commemorate the famous Native American leader as a response to Mount Rushmore. It is
intended to be larger than Mount Rushmore and has the support of Lakota chiefs; the Crazy
Horse Memorial Foundation has rejected offers of federal funds. However, this memorial is
likewise the subject of controversy, even within the Native American community.[49]

In popular culture

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) dangle precariously from
the sculpture of George Washington in the 1959 film North by Northwest

Mount Rushmore commemorative stamp of 1952

Main article: Mount Rushmore in popular culture
Because of its fame as a monument, Mount Rushmore has been depicted in multiple places
in popular culture. It is often depicted as a cover for a secret location; shown with faces
removed, modified, or added; or parodied. The memorial was also famously used as the
location of the climactic chase scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 movie North by
Northwest.

Legacy and commemoration

On August 11, 1952, the U.S. Post Office issued the Mount Rushmore Memorial
commemorative stamp on the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Mt. Rushmore
National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota.[50] On January 2, 1974, a 26-cents
airmail stamp depicting the monument was also issued.[51]

See also

List of colossal sculpture in situ

South Dakota portal

References
Notes
1.
"Park Statistics". National Park Service. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. December 6, 2005.60 SD Web Traveler, Inc.
Retrieved April 7, 2006.

 McGeveran, William A. Jr. et al. (2004). The World Almanac and Book of Facts
2004. New York: World Almanac Education Group, Inc. ISBN 0-88687-910-8.
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota (November 1, 2004). Peakbagger.com. Retrieved
March 13, 2006.
'!, episode 5x08 "Mount Rushmore", May 10, 2007
"Making Mount Rushmore | Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. Retrieved October 31,
2012.
"Biography:Senator Peter Norbeck". American Experience: Mount Rushmore. PBS.
Retrieved July 20, 2013.
"Mount Rushmore". American Experience TV's Most Watched History Series.
PBS. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
"Untold Stories Discussion Guide: Baker and Mount Rushmore" (PDF). The
National Parks: America's Best Idea. PBS. p. 2. Mount Rushmore a rocky outcropping
the Lakota had called 'The Six Grandfathers,' named for the earth, the sky, and the four
directions
Belanger, Ian A.; Kennedy, Sally; Allison; McMeen, Melissa; Arnold, John (April
21, 2002). "Mt. Rushmore presidents on the rocks". Archived from the original on May
14, 2006. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
"Mount Rushmore National Memorial Frequently Asked Questions". National Park
Service. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
Keystone Area Historical Society Keystone Characters. Retrieved October 3, 2006.
"People & Events: The Carving of Stone Mountain". American Experience. PBS.
Retrieved March 17, 2010.
Carving History (October 2, 2004). National Park Service.
Fite, Gilbert C. Mount Rushmore (May 2003). ISBN 0-9646798-5-X, the standard
scholarly study.
"Carving History". National Park Service. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
Albert Boime, "Patriarchy Fixed in Stone: Gutzon Borglum's 'Mount Rushmore',"
American Art, Vol. 5, No. 1/2. (Winter Spring, 1991), pp. 14267.
"Honeycombing process explained from". nps.gov. June 14, 2004. Archived from the
original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
"Geology Fieldnotes". nps.gov. January 4, 2005. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
American Experience "Timeline: Mount Rushmore" (2002). Retrieved March 20,
2006.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Tourism in South Dakota. Laura R. Ahmann.
Retrieved March 19, 2006.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Outdoorplaces.com. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
"Text of 1934 Essay - History of the United States" (PDF).
"George Bush: Remarks at the Dedication Ceremony of the Mount Rushmore
National Memorial in South Dakota". The American Presidency Project. July 3, 1991.
Retrieved November 1, 2012.
"Hall of Records". Mount Rushmore National Memorial web site. National Park
Service. June 14, 2004. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved July 4,
2007.
"For Mount Rushmore, An Overdue Face Wash". Washington Post. July 11, 2005.
Retrieved March 17, 2010.

 "Enjoy Wildlife......Safely." (PDF). National Park Service. National Park Service.

Retrieved January 4, 2014.
Freeman, Mary. "Mount Rushmore, South Dakota for Tourists". USA Today. Tysons
Corner, VA: Gannett Company. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Amphibians". National Park Service. National Park Service. Retrieved January 4,
2014.
"Nature & Science- Animals". NPS. November 26, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
"Mount Rushmore- Flora and Fauna". American Park Network. 2001. Archived
from the original on December 12, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
"Nature & Science Plants". NPS. December 6, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
Nature & Science- Groundwater. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.
Nature & Science- Forests. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2006.
Geologic Activity. National Park Service.
Irvin, James R. Great Plains Gallery (2001). Retrieved March 16, 2006.
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/
"USDA Hardiness Zone Finder". The National Gardening Association. National
Gardening Association. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Weather History". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. June 23,
2004. Archived from the original on July 8, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
"Monthly Averages for Mount Rushmore Natl Memorial, SD". The Weather
Channel. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"NOWData NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
"Popular South Dakota Attractions >>South Dakota". southdakota.com. Retrieved
March 21, 2015.
Kilen Ode, Jeanne (1984). South Dakota History. 14. South Dakota Historical
Society Press.
"Caring For A Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July
8, 2013.
"Mount Rushmore National Memorial". CyArk. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
Matthew Glass, "Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore," Journal of
the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 2. (Summer, 1994), pp. 265283.
David Melmer (December 13, 2004). "Historic changes for Mount Rushmore".
Indiancountrytoday. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved March 17,
2010.
Lame Deer, John (Fire) and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions. Simon
and Schuster, New York, New York, 1972. Paperback ISBN 0-671-55392-5
"3c Mt. Rushmore single". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved July 1,
2014.
1.

Scotts United States Stamp catalogue, 1982. Scott's Publishing

Company. 1981. ISBN 0-89487-042-4., p. 289.

Further reading

Larner, Jesse. Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered New York: Nation Books,
2002.

Taliaferro, John. Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create
Mount Rushmore. New York: PublicAffairs, c2002. ISBN 9781586482053. Puts the
creation of the monument into a historical and cultural context.

Coutant, Arnaud, "Les Visages de l'Amrique, les constructeurs d'une dmocratie

fdrale", Mare et Martin, 2014 (ISBN 9782849341605). French Study about the
Four Presidents, Life, presidency, influence about American political evolution.
http://www.mareetmartin.com/livre/_les-visages-de-l-amerique

The National Parks: Index 20012003. Washington: United States Department of

the Interior

"Making Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. APN Media. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

Dobrzynski, Judith H. (July 15, 2006). "A Monumental Achievement". Wall Street
Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

Buckingham, Matthew (Summer 2002). "The Six Grandfathers, Paha Sapa, in the
Year 502,002 C.E.". Cabinet Magazine. Immaterial Incorporated. Retrieved
January 27, 2013.

"Luigi Del Bianco: chief stone carver on Mount Rushmore, 19331940". Lou Del
Bianco. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

"Caring For A Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July
8, 2013.

External links

Media related to Mount Rushmore National Memorial at Wikimedia Commons

Mount Rushmore National Memorial travel guide from Wikivoyage

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