
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota, United States. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, named it the Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum. The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation. Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million visitors annually to the memorial park which covers 1,278 acres (2.00 sq mi; 5.17 km2). The mountain's elevation is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial Shrine of Democracy Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe | |
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![]() Mount Rushmore features Gutzon Borglum's sculpted heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln (left to right). | |
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Location | Pennington County, South Dakota |
Nearest city | Keystone, South Dakota |
Coordinates | 43°52′44″N 103°27′35″W / 43.87889°N 103.45972°W |
Area | 1,278 acres (5.17 km2) |
Authorized | March 3, 1925 |
Visitors | 2,440,449 (in 2022) |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | www |
Mount Rushmore National Memorial | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
U.S. Historic district | |
Built | 1927–1941 |
Architect | Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum |
NRHP reference No. | 66000718 |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
Borglum chose Mount Rushmore in part because it faces southeast for maximum sun exposure. The carving was the idea of Doane Robinson, a historian for the state of South Dakota. Robinson originally wanted the sculpture to feature American West heroes, such as Lewis and Clark, their expedition guide Sacagawea, Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud,Buffalo Bill Cody, and Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse. Borglum chose the four presidents instead.
Peter Norbeck, U.S. senator from South Dakota, sponsored the project and secured federal funding. Construction began in 1927 and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. After Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941, his son Lincoln took over as leader of the construction project. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941, and only Washington's sculpture includes any detail below chin level.
The sculpture at Mount Rushmore is built on land that was illegally taken from the Sioux Nation in the 1870s. The Sioux continue to demand return of the land, and in 1980 the US Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians that the taking of the Black Hills required just compensation, and awarded the tribe $102 million. The Sioux have refused the money, and demand the return of the land. This conflict continues, leading some critics of the monument to refer to it as a "Shrine of Hypocrisy".
History
"Six Grandfathers" to "Mount Rushmore"
Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills (Pahá Sápa) are considered sacred by Plains Indians such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota Sioux, who used the area for centuries as a place to pray and gather food, building materials, and medicine. The Lakota called the mountain "Six Grandfathers" (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe), symbolizing ancestral deities personified as the six directions: north, south, east, west, above (sky), and below (earth). In the latter half of the 19th century, expansion by the United States into the Black Hills led to the Sioux Wars. In the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the U.S. government granted exclusive use of all of the Black Hills, including Six Grandfathers, to the Sioux in perpetuity.
Six Grandfathers was a significant part of the spiritual journey taken in the early 1870s by Lakota leader Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa, also known as "The Sixth Grandfather") that culminated at the nearby Black Elk Peak (Hiŋháŋ Káǧa, "Making of Owls"). U.S. general George Armstrong Custer summited Black Elk Peak a few years later in 1874 during the Black Hills Expedition, which triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and Great Sioux War of 1876. In 1877, the U.S. broke the Treaty of Fort Laramie and asserted control over the area, leading to an influx of settlers and prospectors.
Among those prospectors was New York mining promoter James Wilson, who organized the Harney Peak Tin Company, and hired New York attorney Charles E. Rushmore to visit the Black Hills and confirm the company's land claims. During a visit in 1884 or 1885, Rushmore saw Six Grandfathers and asked his guide, Bill Challis, the mountain's name; Challis replied that the mountain did not have a name, but that it would henceforth be named after Rushmore. The name "Mount Rushmore" continued to be used locally, and was officially recognized by the United States Board of Geographic Names in June 1930.
Concept, design and funding
By the 1920s, South Dakota had become a U.S. state, and was a popular destination for road trippers visiting the Black Hills National Forest, Wind Cave National Park, and Needles Highway. In 1923, the Secretary of the South Dakota State Historical Society, Doane Robinson, who would come to be known as the "Father of Mount Rushmore", learned about the "Shrine to the Confederacy", a project to carve the likenesses of Confederate generals into the side of Stone Mountain, Georgia, that had been underway since 1915. Seeking to boost tourism to South Dakota, Robinson began promoting the idea of a similar monument in the Black Hills, representing "not only the wild grandeur of its local geography but also the triumph of western civilization over that geography through its anthropomorphic representation."
Robinson initially approached sculptor Lorado Taft, but Taft was ill at the time and uninterested in Robinson's project. Robinson next sought the help of then-U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck, who had established Custer State Park when he was Governor in 1919. Norbeck cautiously supported Robinson's plan, and Robinson began campaigning for it publicly. Some in the local community also supported Robinson's plan, but many opposed it vigorously.
On August 20, 1924, Robinson wrote to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of "Shrine to the Confederacy", asking him to travel to the Black Hills region to determine whether the carving could be accomplished. Borglum, who had involved himself with the Ku Klux Klan, one of the Stone Mountain memorial's funders, had been having disagreements with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, and on September 24, 1924, travelled to South Dakota to meet Robinson.
Borglum's original plan was to make the carvings in 150 metres (490 ft)-high granite pillars known as "The Needles" (Hiŋháŋ Káǧa). However, the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. Also, some in the Black Hills such as Cora Babbitt Johnson, protested against carving the Needles on environmental and religious grounds. On August 14, 1925, Borglum summitted Black Elk Peak while scouting alternative locations, and reportedly said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will march along that skyline." He chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to sunlight.
Borglum rejected Robinson's original plan of depicting characters from the Old West, such as Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud, Sacagawea, John C. Fremont, and Crazy Horse, and instead decided to depict four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The four presidential faces were said to be carved into the granite with the intention of symbolizing "an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans". The Lakota and other local indigenous communities objected to the overall plan as constituting desecration of their sacred lands, and to the racist and sometimes violent anti-indigenous policies of the four presidents depicted. For the Lakota and other tribes, the monument "came to epitomize the loss of their sacred lands and the injustices they've suffered under the U.S. government."
Senator Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson of South Dakota introduced bills in early 1925 for permission to use federal land, which passed easily. South Dakota legislation had less support, only passing narrowly on its third attempt, which Governor Carl Gunderson signed into law on March 5, 1925. Private funding came slowly and Borglum invited President Calvin Coolidge to an August 1927 dedication ceremony, at which he promised federal funding. Congress passed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act, signed by Coolidge, which authorized up to $250,000 in matching funds. The 1929 presidential transition to Herbert Hoover delayed funding until an initial federal match of $54,670.56 was acquired.
Carving started in 1927 and ended in 1941 with no fatalities.
- Mount Rushmore (Six Grandfathers) before construction, c. 1905
- Early model of the design
- Construction underway, with Jefferson leftmost, before unstable rock necessitated a design change
- Original mockup of the Mount Rushmore sculpture "before funding ran out"
- Construction of George Washington's likeness
- Closeup view of final sculptures
Construction
Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal 60-foot-high (18 m) carvings of United States Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory. The carving of Mount Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of "honeycombing", where workers drill holes close together, allowing small pieces to be removed by hand. In total, about 450,000 short tons (410,000 t) of rock were blasted off the mountainside. 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 Jefferson's figure was dynamited, and a new figure was sculpted to Washington's left.
The chief carver of the mountain was Luigi Del Bianco, an artisan and stonemason who emigrated to the U.S. from Friuli in Italy and was chosen to work on this project because of his understanding of sculptural language and ability to imbue emotion in the carved portraits.
The national monument is in an unincorporated area in Pennington County, adjacent to the town of Keystone.
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 Abraham Lincoln's on September 17, 1937. In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civil-rights 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. 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, 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 (2.4 m) gilded letters the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and seven other territorial acquisitions from the Alaska purchase to the Panama Canal Zone. In total, the entire project cost US$989,992.32 (equivalent to $21.2 million in 2024).
Nick Clifford, the last remaining carver, died in November 2019 at age 98.
Later developments
Harold Spitznagel and Cecil Doty designed the original visitor center, finished in 1957, as part of the Mission 66 effort to improve visitors' facilities at national parks and monuments across the country. 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.
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. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore.
In 2004, Gerard Baker was appointed superintendent of the park, the first and so far only Native American in that role. Baker stated that he will open up more "avenues of interpretation", and that the four presidents are "only one avenue and only one focus."
Proposals to add additional faces
In 1937, when the sculpture was not yet complete, a bill in Congress supporting the addition of women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony failed. When the sculpture was completed in 1941, the sculptors said that the remaining rock was not suitable for additional carvings. This stance was shared by RESPEC, an engineering firm charged with monitoring the stability of the rock in 1989. Proposals of additional sculptures include John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, and Ronald Reagan in 1985 and 1999 – the latter proposal receiving a debate in Congress at the time.Barack Obama was asked about his own potential addition in 2008 and he joked that his ears were too large.
Donald Trump has on occasion expressed interest in his own addition to the mountain. During a 2017 rally in Ohio, Trump said, "I'd ask whether or not you some day think I will be on Mount Rushmore ... If I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake news media will say, 'He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore.' So I won't say it." South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, described the potential addition as Trump's "dream" in 2018. On January 28, 2025, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) introduced a bill, H.R. 792, in the House of Representatives to add Trump's likeness to the monument.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an August 2024 interview that President Joe Biden is a “Mount Rushmore kind of president” and stated his likeness should be added to the monument.
Tourism
Year | Visitors |
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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 |
2020 | 2,074,986 |
Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top tourist attraction. 2,185,447 people visited the park in 2012.
The popularity of the location, as with many other national monuments, derives from its immediate recognizability; "there are no substitutes for iconic resources such as the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, or Mount Rushmore. These locations are one of a kind places". However, Mount Rushmore also provides access to a surrounding environment of wilderness, which distinguishes it from the typical proximity of national monuments to urban centers like Washington, D.C., and New York City.
In the 1950s and 1960s, local Lakota Sioux elder Benjamin Black Elk (son of medicine man Black Elk, who had been present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn) was known as the "Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore", posing for photographs with thousands of tourists daily in his native attire. The South Dakota State Historical Society notes that he was one of the most photographed people in the world over that 20-year period.
Hall of Records
Borglum originally envisioned a grand Hall of Records where America's greatest historical documents and artifacts could be protected and shown to tourists. He managed to start the project, but cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock before work stopped in 1939 to focus on the faces. In 1998, a repository was constructed inside the mouth of the cave housing 16 enamel panels with biographical and historical information about Mount Rushmore as well as the texts of the documents Borglum wanted to preserve there. The repository consists of a teakwood box inside of a titanium vault placed in the ground with a granite capstone.
Conservation
The ongoing conservation of the site is overseen by the National Park Service. 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, in 2005 Alfred Kärcher, 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). Other efforts to conserve the monument have included replacement of the sealant applied originally to cracks in the stone by Gutzon Borglum, which had proved ineffective at providing water resistance. The components of Borglum's sealant included linseed oil, granite dust, and white lead, but a modern silicone replacement for the cracks is now 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 three millimeters. The site was digitally recorded in 2009 using a terrestrial laser scanning method as part of the international Scottish Ten project, providing a high-resolution record to aid the conservation of the site. This data was made publicly accessible online.
Ecology
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, golden eagle, bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, swallows and white-throated swifts fly around Mount Rushmore and nest in the ledges of the mountain. Smaller birds, including songbirds, nuthatches, woodpeckers and flycatchers inhabit the surrounding pine forests. 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. The striped chorus frog, western chorus frog, and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area, 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 descendants of a herd that Canada gifted to Custer State Park in 1924, which later escaped.
At lower elevations, coniferous trees, mainly the ponderosa pine, surround most of the monument. 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. However, only approximately five percent of the plant species found in the Black Hills are indigenous to the region.
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.
A 2016 investigation by the U.S. Geological Survey found unusually high concentrations of perchlorate in the surface water and groundwater of the area. A sample collected from a stream had a maximum perchlorate concentration of 54 micrograms per liter, roughly 270 times higher than samples taken from locations outside the area. The report concluded the probable cause of the contamination was the aerial fireworks displays that had taken place on Independence Days from 1998 to 2009. The National Park Service also reported that at least 27 forest fires around Mount Rushmore in that same period (1998 to 2009) have been caused by fireworks displays.
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. The area is a climax community with an equilibrium such that a pine beetle infestation would threaten the forest.
Geography
Geology
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. 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.[citation needed]
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. The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome. 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.[citation needed]
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 long-term exposure. The mountain's height of 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level made it suitable, and because it faces the southeast, the workers also had the advantage of sunlight for most of the day.
It is not possible to add another president to the memorial, because the rock that surrounds the existing faces is not suitable for additional carving, and because additional sculpting could create instabilities in the existing carvings.
Soils
The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by well drained alfisol soils of very gravelly loam (Mocmount) to silt loam (Buska) texture, brown to dark grayish brown.
Climate
Mount Rushmore has a dry-winter humid continental climate (Dwb in the Köppen 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).
The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer.
Climate data for Mount Rushmore National Memorial (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1962–present) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 70 (21) | 68 (20) | 78 (26) | 85 (29) | 93 (34) | 99 (37) | 100 (38) | 99 (37) | 97 (36) | 86 (30) | 75 (24) | 68 (20) | 100 (38) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 57.8 (14.3) | 57.3 (14.1) | 65.2 (18.4) | 72.9 (22.7) | 81.5 (27.5) | 89.2 (31.8) | 92.7 (33.7) | 90.9 (32.7) | 87.2 (30.7) | 77.0 (25.0) | 65.4 (18.6) | 57.2 (14.0) | 94.0 (34.4) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 36.8 (2.7) | 36.3 (2.4) | 44.2 (6.8) | 50.2 (10.1) | 59.6 (15.3) | 71.1 (21.7) | 78.7 (25.9) | 77.5 (25.3) | 69.1 (20.6) | 55.0 (12.8) | 44.4 (6.9) | 36.6 (2.6) | 55.0 (12.8) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 27.8 (−2.3) | 27.3 (−2.6) | 34.8 (1.6) | 41.0 (5.0) | 50.6 (10.3) | 61.5 (16.4) | 68.9 (20.5) | 67.8 (19.9) | 59.4 (15.2) | 45.9 (7.7) | 35.7 (2.1) | 28.2 (−2.1) | 45.7 (7.6) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 18.8 (−7.3) | 18.4 (−7.6) | 25.4 (−3.7) | 31.8 (−0.1) | 41.5 (5.3) | 51.9 (11.1) | 59.1 (15.1) | 58.0 (14.4) | 49.6 (9.8) | 36.8 (2.7) | 27.0 (−2.8) | 19.8 (−6.8) | 36.5 (2.5) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | −5.8 (−21.0) | −4.2 (−20.1) | 3.8 (−15.7) | 15.3 (−9.3) | 26.9 (−2.8) | 39.8 (4.3) | 48.1 (8.9) | 45.9 (7.7) | 32.2 (0.1) | 17.2 (−8.2) | 6.8 (−14.0) | −2.2 (−19.0) | −12.6 (−24.8) |
Record low °F (°C) | −38 (−39) | −29 (−34) | −16 (−27) | 1 (−17) | 14 (−10) | 27 (−3) | 40 (4) | 33 (1) | 19 (−7) | −4 (−20) | −12 (−24) | −31 (−35) | −38 (−39) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.48 (12) | 0.76 (19) | 1.35 (34) | 2.62 (67) | 4.80 (122) | 3.58 (91) | 3.59 (91) | 2.29 (58) | 1.76 (45) | 1.80 (46) | 0.59 (15) | 0.50 (13) | 24.12 (613) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 7.2 (18) | 8.9 (23) | 9.6 (24) | 13.1 (33) | 1.5 (3.8) | 0.2 (0.51) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.9 (2.3) | 4.9 (12) | 6.4 (16) | 6.6 (17) | 59.3 (151) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 5.1 | 6.1 | 6.7 | 9.7 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 12.4 | 10.5 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 101.5 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 4.5 | 4.9 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 26.5 |
Source: NOAA |
In popular culture
Mount Rushmore has been depicted in multiple films, comic books, and television series. Its functions vary from settings for action scenes to the site of hidden locations. Its most famous appearance is as the location of the final chase scene in the 1959 film North by Northwest. It is used as a secret base of operations by the protagonists in the 2004 film Team America: World Police, and the secret underground city of Cíbola is located there in the 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In the Phineas and Ferb episode Candace Loses Her Head, both Phineas and Ferb sculpt Candace's face on the monument for her 15th birthday. In some films, the presidential faces are replaced with others; examples include the 1980 film Superman II and the 1996 film Mars Attacks! where the villains add their faces to the monument, and the 2003 film Head of State where the newly elected president's face is added. In works showing attacks on landmarks to signify the scope of a threat, Mount Rushmore is a common target; examples include the aforementioned facial replacements in Superman II and Mars Attacks! as well as natural disasters in works like the 2006 miniseries 10.5: Apocalypse and terrorist attacks as in the 1997 film The Peacekeeper. An atypical representation of the monument appears in the 2013 film Nebraska, where instead of being treated with reverence it is criticized for being unfinished.
Land dispute
The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) had granted the Black Hills to the Lakota people in perpetuity, but the United States took the area from the tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876. Members of the American Indian Movement led an occupation of the monument in 1971, naming it "Mount Crazy Horse", and Lakota holy man John Fire Lame Deer planted a prayer staff on top of the mountain. Lame Deer said that the staff formed a symbolic shroud over the presidents' faces "which shall remain dirty until the treaties concerning the Black Hills are fulfilled."
The 1980 United States Supreme Court decision United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians ruled that the Sioux had not received just compensation for their land in the Black Hills, which includes Mount Rushmore. The court proposed $102 million as compensation for the loss of the Black Hills. This compensation was valued at $1.3 billion in 2011, and – with accumulated interest – nearly $2 billion in 2021. In 2020, Oglala Lakota Nation citizen and Indigenous activist Nick Tilsen explained that his people would not accept a settlement, "because we won't settle for anything less than the full return of our lands as stipulated by the treaties our nations signed and agreed upon."
Construction on the Crazy Horse Memorial began in 1940 elsewhere in the Black Hills. Ostensibly to commemorate the Native American leader and as a response to Mount Rushmore, if completed it would be larger than Mount Rushmore. The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation has rejected offers of federal funds. Its construction has the support of some Lakota chiefs, but it is the subject of controversy, even among Native American tribes.
Legacy and commemoration
Borglum titled his sculpture at Mount Rushmore as the Shrine of Democracy, but the illegal seizure of the Black Hills where the memorial is located has led to some critics to refer to it as the "Shrine of Hypocrisy".
On August 11, 1952, the U.S. Post Office issued the Mount Rushmore Memorial 3-cent commemorative stamp on the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. On January 2, 1974, a 26-cent airmail stamp depicting the monument was also issued. In 1991 the United States Mint released commemorative silver dollar, half-dollar, and five-dollar coins celebrating the 50th anniversary of the monument's dedication, and the sculpture was the main subject of the 2006 South Dakota state quarter.
In music, American composer Michael Daugherty's 2010 piece for chorus and orchestra, "Mount Rushmore", depicts each of the four presidents in separate movements. The piece sets texts by George Washington, William Billings, Thomas Jefferson, Maria Cosway, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. By contrast, the song, "Little Snakes", by Protest The Hero, "addresses the violent colonial history involved in the sculpting of Mount Rushmore", critiquing the monument as a symbol of colonialism, referencing the genocide of indigenous peoples and the ownership of slaves by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
The Washington Nationals baseball club uses large foam rubber depictions of the "Rushmore Four" in both their marketing campaigns and in a series of in-stadium promotions such as the Presidents Race.
See also
- List of colossal sculpture in situ
- List of tallest statues
- List of national memorials of the United States
- List of statues of George Washington
- List of statues of Thomas Jefferson
- List of statues of Abraham Lincoln
- List of sculptures of presidents of the United States
- Presidential memorials in the United States
- Crazy Horse Memorial, another large sculpture in the Black Hills
- Young Mao Zedong statue, a large relief carved of granite, although not carved into the rock
- Atatürk Mask, a large relief sculpture, although not carved into the rock
References
- "Annual Park Ranking Report for Recreation Visits in: 2022". National Park Service. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- Rosenberg, Jennifer (January 16, 2021). "10 Things You Didn't Know About Mount Rushmore". ThoughtCo. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
- Roberts, Sam (June 28, 2016). "An Immigrant's Contribution to Mount Rushmore Is Recognized, 75 Years Later". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
- Andrews, John (May 2014). "Slight of Hand". South Dakota Magazine. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived August 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. December 6, 2005.60 SD Web Traveler, Inc. Retrieved April 7, 2006.
- "Why These Four Presidents?". nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
- 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". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved March 13, 2006.
- !, episode 5x08 "Mount Rushmore", May 10, 2007.
- "Making Mount Rushmore | Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- Pekka Hamalainen, "Lakota America, a New History of Indigenous Power", (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019), p. 382.
- "Senator Peter Norbeck". American Experience: Mount Rushmore. PBS. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
- "Complete Program Transcript . Mount Rushmore". American Experience. PBS. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
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- Harmanşah, Ömür (2015). "Six Grandfathers: Landscapes and Power". Place, Memory, and Healing: An Archaeology of Anatolian Rock Monuments. Routledge. p. 16. doi:10.4324/9781315739106. ISBN 978-1-317-57571-9.
- Morton, Mary Caperton (September 3, 2020). "Mount Rushmore's Six Grandfathers and Four Presidents". Eos. 101. doi:10.1029/2020eo148456. ISSN 0096-3941. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
- Neihardt, John Gneisenau (1985). The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6564-6.
- Saum, Bradley (2017). "Black Elk". Black Elk Peak: A History. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6050-8.
- Saum, Bradley (2017). "Introduction". Black Elk Peak: A History. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6050-8.
- Saum, Bradley (2017). "Custer". Black Elk Peak: A History. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6050-8.
- Thomas, William (2010). Mount Rushmore. Chelsea House Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-60413-515-2.
- "BBC will showcase story of 'Piano Man'". Tampa Bay Times. March 2, 2006. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
- Koestler-Grack, Rachel A. (2005). Mount Rushmore. Abdo Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-61714-362-5.
- Saum, Bradley (2017). "Mountain Monument". Black Elk Peak: A History. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6050-8.
- Fite, Gilbert C. (1975). "Gutzon Borglum: Mercurial Master of Colossal Art". Montana: The Magazine of Western History. 25 (2): 2–19. ISSN 0026-9891. JSTOR 4517975.
- "Timeline – Mount Rushmore National Memorial". National Park Service. November 29, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- "Doane Robinson". National Park Service. January 25, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- Boime, Albert (Winter–Spring 1991). "Patriarchy Fixed in Stone: Gutzon Borglum's 'Mount Rushmore'". American Art. 5 (1/2): 142–67. doi:10.1086/424112. S2CID 191573145. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
- "Carving History". National Park Service. August 2, 2004. Archived from the original on October 10, 2006.
- Michael Patrick Cullinane (2017). Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost: The History and Memory of an American Icon. LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-6674-1. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
- "People & Events: The Carving of Stone Mountain". American Experience. PBS. Archived from the original on April 13, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
- "Native Americans and Mount Rushmore". PBS. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
- "Historical Letters and Legislation". National Park Service. May 23, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
- "Memorial History". National Park Service. May 23, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
- "Mount Rushmore National Memorial Frequently Asked Questions". National Park Service. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived May 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Outdoorplaces.com. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
- "Rare Photos From The Past". p. 5. Archived from the original on January 19, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
1941, the original mockup of Mt. Rushmore before funding ran out
- "Carving History". National Park Service. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- "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. Archived from the original on October 16, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
- "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Pennington County, SD" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 56 (PDF p. 57/86). Retrieved September 27, 2024.
Mount Rushmore Natl Meml
- American Experience Archived November 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine "Timeline: Mount Rushmore" (2002). Retrieved March 20, 2006.
- Cope, Willard (July 7, 1939). "Remember Stone Mountain's Mighty Memorial?". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived December 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived February 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Tourism in South Dakota. Laura R. Ahmann. Retrieved March 19, 2006.
- Reagan, Nick (November 23, 2019). "Last carver of Mount Rushmore dies at 98". www.kotatv.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
- Lathrop, Alan K. (Winter 2007). "Designing for South Dakota and the Upper Midwest: The Career of Architect Harold T. Spitznagel, 1930—1974" (PDF). South Dakota History. 37 (4): 271–305.
- Allaback, Sarah (2000). "Mission 66 Visitor Centers: The History of a Building Type". National Park Service.
- "Text of 1934 Essay – History of the United States" (PDF). Retrieved August 27, 2017.
- "George Bush: Remarks at the Dedication Ceremony of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota". The American Presidency Project. July 3, 1991. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
- David Melmer (December 13, 2004). "Historic changes for Mount Rushmore". Indiancountrytoday. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
- "World: Americas Reagan for Rushmore". BBC. March 1, 1999. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
- Lawrence, Tom (June 26, 2020). "Adding fifth face to Mount Rushmore National Memorial has been political football for decades". Argus Leader. USA Today Network. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
- Shelbourne, Mallory (July 25, 2017). "Trump: 'I won't say' that I should be on Mount Rushmore". The Hill. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
- Ehrlich, Jamie (August 9, 2020). "New York Times: White House reached out to South Dakota governor about adding Trump to Mount Rushmore". CNN. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
- "H.R.792 – To direct the Secretary of the Interior to arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J. Trump on Mount Rushmore National Memorial". U.S. Congress. January 28, 2025. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- Notheis, Asher (August 4, 2024). "Pelosi says Biden's face should be added to Mount Rushmore". Washington Examiner. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
- "Popular South Dakota Attractions >>South Dakota". southdakota.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- Thomas J. Liu, John B. Loomis, and Linda J. Bilmes, "Exploring the contribution of National Parks to the entertainment industry's intellectual property", in Linda J. Bilmes and John B. Loomis, Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs: America's Best Investment (Routledge, 2020), p. 95–98.
- Kilen Ode, Jeanne (1984). Dakota Images: Benjamin Black Elk (PDF). Vol. 14. South Dakota State Historical Society.
- "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.
- "Hall of Records". Mount Rushmore National Memorial. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
- "Caring for a Monumental Sculpture" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
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- Fears, Darryl (May 3, 2016). "Officials knew fireworks at Mount Rushmore could cause a fire. But they didn't expect this". The Washington Post.
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- Gunderson, Jessica (July 1, 2014). "Mount Rushmore Today". Mount Rushmore: Myths, Legends, and Facts. Capstone. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4914-0208-5.
- Knight, Gladys L. (August 11, 2014). "Mount Rushmore". Pop Culture Places: An Encyclopedia of Places in American Popular Culture [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 623. ISBN 978-0-313-39883-4.
- Powell, Laura. "Mount Rushmore on the Big Screen". Visit The USA. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
- Freund, Charles Paul (2003). "Big schlock candy Mountain: the many meanings of Mount Rushmore". Reason.
- "9 Famous Pop Culture Spots in the USA You Don't Want to Miss". Visit The USA. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
A variety of films and television shows suggest Mount Rushmore's use as a secret hideout for the government such as in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and "Team America: World Police."
- Honeycutt, Kirk (October 15, 2019). "'Team America: World Police': THR's 2004 Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
- "The subversive non-subversiveness of "Phineas and Ferb"". December 30, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
- Doss, Erika (September 7, 2012). Memorial Mania: Public Feeling in America. University of Chicago Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-226-15939-3.
- Walter Metz, "Review: Nebraska. Dir. Alexander Payne. Paramount Vantage, 2013". Middle West Review Volume 1, Number 1, (University of Nebraska Press, Fall 2014), p. 154–55.
- Matthew Glass, "Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 62, No. 2. (Summer, 1994), pp. 265–283.
- "United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980)". Findlaw. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
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- "Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion". PBS NewsHour. August 24, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- Tilsen, Nick. "Trump's Mount Rushmore fireworks show is a Fourth of July attack on Indigenous people". NBC News. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- Lame Deer, John (Fire) and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1972. Paperback ISBN 0-671-55392-5
- Hoople, Robin (December 1, 2006). "Great Stone Faces: Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Quest for American Authenticity". Canadian Review of American Studies. 36 (3): 345–362. doi:10.3138/CRAS-s036-03-07. ISSN 0007-7720.
- Louie, Clarence (November 16, 2021). Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples. McClelland & Stewart. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-7710-4834-0.
- Estes, Nick (February 26, 2019). Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. Verso Books. p. 222. ISBN 978-1-78663-673-7.
- "3c Mt. Rushmore single". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- Scotts United States Stamp catalogue, 1982. Scott's Publishing Company. 1981. ISBN 0-89487-042-4., p. 289.
- "1991 Mount Rushmore Silver Dollar". Modern Commemoratives. June 10, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- "1991 Mount Rushmore Half Dollar Commemorative Coin". June 9, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
- "1991 Mount Rushmore $5 Gold Commemorative Coin". June 11, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
- Jim Noles, A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America—One State Quarter at a Time" (Da Capo Press, May 6, 2008) ASIN B009K44LT8.
- "Michael Daugherty's Mount Rushmore Premieres with the Pacific Symphony and Chorale" Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- Rolli, Bryan (June 16, 2020). "Protest the Hero's Rody Walker: Trump's Vision of Greatness Is America's 'Tragic Flaw'". Loudwire. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- Slingerland, Calum (June 18, 2020). "Protest the Hero Give American History a Scathing Rewrite on 'Palimpsest'". exclaim.ca. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- "The history of the Nationals Presidents Race: Who is winning and why". wusa9.com. October 21, 2019. Archived from the original on October 23, 2019.
- "'Teddy' wins for 1st time in 534 races". ESPN. October 3, 2012.
Further reading
- "Making Mount Rushmore". Oh, Ranger!. APN Media. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. 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.
- Coutant, Arnaud (2014). Les Visages de l'Amérique, les constructeurs d'une démocratie fédérale. Mare et Martin (ISBN 978-2-84934-160-5). French study about the Four Presidents, Life, presidency, influence about American political evolution. (Archived link)
- Del Bianco, Lou. "Luigi Del Bianco: chief stone carver on Mount Rushmore, 1933–1940". Lou Del Bianco. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- Dobrzynski, Judith H. (July 15, 2006). "A Monumental Achievement". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- Larner, Jesse (2002). Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered. New York: Nation Books.
- Taliaferro, John (2002). Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-205-3.
- The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior. OCLC 53228516.
- "The Six Grandfathers Before It Was Known as Mount Rushmore". Native Hope. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
- "Untold Stories Discussion Guide: Baker and Mount Rushmore" (PDF). The National Parks: America's Best Idea. PBS. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2015.
- Smith, Rex Alan (2011). The Carving of Mount Rushmore. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0-7892-6008-6. OCLC 784885603.
External links
- Official website
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore Lakota Tȟuŋkasila Sakpe or Six Grandfathers in the Black Hills near Keystone South Dakota United States The sculptor Gutzon Borglum named it the Shrine of Democracy and oversaw the execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son Lincoln Borglum The sculpture features the 60 foot tall 18 m heads of four United States presidents George Washington Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln chosen to represent the nation s birth growth development and preservation Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million visitors annually to the memorial park which covers 1 278 acres 2 00 sq mi 5 17 km2 The mountain s elevation is 5 725 feet 1 745 m above sea level Mount Rushmore National Memorial Shrine of Democracy Tȟuŋkasila SakpeMount Rushmore features Gutzon Borglum s sculpted heads of George Washington Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln left to right Show map of South DakotaShow map of the United StatesLocationPennington County South DakotaNearest cityKeystone South DakotaCoordinates43 52 44 N 103 27 35 W 43 87889 N 103 45972 W 43 87889 103 45972Area1 278 acres 5 17 km2 AuthorizedMarch 3 1925 100 years ago 1925 03 03 Visitors2 440 449 in 2022 Governing bodyNational Park ServiceWebsitewww wbr nps wbr gov wbr moruMount Rushmore National MemorialU S National Register of Historic PlacesU S Historic districtBuilt1927 1941ArchitectGutzon and Lincoln BorglumNRHP reference No 66000718Added to NRHPOctober 15 1966 Borglum chose Mount Rushmore in part because it faces southeast for maximum sun exposure The carving was the idea of Doane Robinson a historian for the state of South Dakota Robinson originally wanted the sculpture to feature American West heroes such as Lewis and Clark their expedition guide Sacagawea Oglala Lakota chief Red Cloud Buffalo Bill Cody and Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse Borglum chose the four presidents instead Peter Norbeck U S senator from South Dakota sponsored the project and secured federal funding Construction began in 1927 and the presidents faces were completed between 1934 and 1939 After Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941 his son Lincoln took over as leader of the construction project Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31 1941 and only Washington s sculpture includes any detail below chin level The sculpture at Mount Rushmore is built on land that was illegally taken from the Sioux Nation in the 1870s The Sioux continue to demand return of the land and in 1980 the US Supreme Court ruled in United States v Sioux Nation of Indians that the taking of the Black Hills required just compensation and awarded the tribe 102 million The Sioux have refused the money and demand the return of the land This conflict continues leading some critics of the monument to refer to it as a Shrine of Hypocrisy History Six Grandfathers to Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills Paha Sapa are considered sacred by Plains Indians such as the Arapaho Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux who used the area for centuries as a place to pray and gather food building materials and medicine The Lakota called the mountain Six Grandfathers Tȟuŋkasila Sakpe symbolizing ancestral deities personified as the six directions north south east west above sky and below earth In the latter half of the 19th century expansion by the United States into the Black Hills led to the Sioux Wars In the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie the U S government granted exclusive use of all of the Black Hills including Six Grandfathers to the Sioux in perpetuity Six Grandfathers was a significant part of the spiritual journey taken in the early 1870s by Lakota leader Black Elk Heȟaka Sapa also known as The Sixth Grandfather that culminated at the nearby Black Elk Peak Hiŋhaŋ Kaǧa Making of Owls U S general George Armstrong Custer summited Black Elk Peak a few years later in 1874 during the Black Hills Expedition which triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and Great Sioux War of 1876 In 1877 the U S broke the Treaty of Fort Laramie and asserted control over the area leading to an influx of settlers and prospectors Among those prospectors was New York mining promoter James Wilson who organized the Harney Peak Tin Company and hired New York attorney Charles E Rushmore to visit the Black Hills and confirm the company s land claims During a visit in 1884 or 1885 Rushmore saw Six Grandfathers and asked his guide Bill Challis the mountain s name Challis replied that the mountain did not have a name but that it would henceforth be named after Rushmore The name Mount Rushmore continued to be used locally and was officially recognized by the United States Board of Geographic Names in June 1930 Concept design and funding The completed sculpture By the 1920s South Dakota had become a U S state and was a popular destination for road trippers visiting the Black Hills National Forest Wind Cave National Park and Needles Highway In 1923 the Secretary of the South Dakota State Historical Society Doane Robinson who would come to be known as the Father of Mount Rushmore learned about the Shrine to the Confederacy a project to carve the likenesses of Confederate generals into the side of Stone Mountain Georgia that had been underway since 1915 Seeking to boost tourism to South Dakota Robinson began promoting the idea of a similar monument in the Black Hills representing not only the wild grandeur of its local geography but also the triumph of western civilization over that geography through its anthropomorphic representation Robinson initially approached sculptor Lorado Taft but Taft was ill at the time and uninterested in Robinson s project Robinson next sought the help of then U S Senator Peter Norbeck who had established Custer State Park when he was Governor in 1919 Norbeck cautiously supported Robinson s plan and Robinson began campaigning for it publicly Some in the local community also supported Robinson s plan but many opposed it vigorously On August 20 1924 Robinson wrote to Gutzon Borglum the sculptor of Shrine to the Confederacy asking him to travel to the Black Hills region to determine whether the carving could be accomplished Borglum who had involved himself with the Ku Klux Klan one of the Stone Mountain memorial s funders had been having disagreements with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and on September 24 1924 travelled to South Dakota to meet Robinson Borglum s original plan was to make the carvings in 150 metres 490 ft high granite pillars known as The Needles Hiŋhaŋ Kaǧa However the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting Also some in the Black Hills such as Cora Babbitt Johnson protested against carving the Needles on environmental and religious grounds On August 14 1925 Borglum summitted Black Elk Peak while scouting alternative locations and reportedly said upon seeing Mount Rushmore America will march along that skyline He chose Mount Rushmore a grander location partly because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to sunlight Borglum rejected Robinson s original plan of depicting characters from the Old West such as Lewis and Clark Red Cloud Sacagawea John C Fremont and Crazy Horse and instead decided to depict four American presidents George Washington Thomas Jefferson Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt The four presidential faces were said to be carved into the granite with the intention of symbolizing an accomplishment born planned and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans The Lakota and other local indigenous communities objected to the overall plan as constituting desecration of their sacred lands and to the racist and sometimes violent anti indigenous policies of the four presidents depicted For the Lakota and other tribes the monument came to epitomize the loss of their sacred lands and the injustices they ve suffered under the U S government Senator Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson of South Dakota introduced bills in early 1925 for permission to use federal land which passed easily South Dakota legislation had less support only passing narrowly on its third attempt which Governor Carl Gunderson signed into law on March 5 1925 Private funding came slowly and Borglum invited President Calvin Coolidge to an August 1927 dedication ceremony at which he promised federal funding Congress passed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act signed by Coolidge which authorized up to 250 000 in matching funds The 1929 presidential transition to Herbert Hoover delayed funding until an initial federal match of 54 670 56 was acquired Carving started in 1927 and ended in 1941 with no fatalities Mount Rushmore Six Grandfathers before construction c 1905 Early model of the design Construction underway with Jefferson leftmost before unstable rock necessitated a design change Original mockup of the Mount Rushmore sculpture before funding ran out Construction of George Washington s likeness Closeup view of final sculpturesConstruction Between October 4 1927 and October 31 1941 Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal 60 foot high 18 m carvings of United States Presidents George Washington Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory The carving of Mount Rushmore involved the use of dynamite followed by the process of honeycombing where workers drill holes close together allowing small pieces to be removed by hand In total about 450 000 short tons 410 000 t of rock were blasted off the mountainside 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 Jefferson s figure was dynamited and a new figure was sculpted to Washington s left Plaque at Mount Rushmore National Monument with names of monument workers The chief carver of the mountain was Luigi Del Bianco an artisan and stonemason who emigrated to the U S from Friuli in Italy and was chosen to work on this project because of his understanding of sculptural language and ability to imbue emotion in the carved portraits The national monument is in an unincorporated area in Pennington County adjacent to the town of Keystone 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 Abraham Lincoln s on September 17 1937 In 1937 a bill was introduced in Congress to add the head of civil rights 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 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 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 2 4 m gilded letters the Declaration of Independence U S Constitution Louisiana Purchase and seven other territorial acquisitions from the Alaska purchase to the Panama Canal Zone In total the entire project cost US 989 992 32 equivalent to 21 2 million in 2024 Nick Clifford the last remaining carver died in November 2019 at age 98 View of Mount Rushmore as seen from SD 244Visitor and information center area and walkway toward viewing platformAerial view of Mount Rushmore and buildingsMount Rushmore and flag displayView of tool marks on construction rubble at base of monument from visitor walkway Later developments Harold Spitznagel and Cecil Doty designed the original visitor center finished in 1957 as part of the Mission 66 effort to improve visitors facilities at national parks and monuments across the country 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 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 In 1991 President George H W Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore In 2004 Gerard Baker was appointed superintendent of the park the first and so far only Native American in that role Baker stated that he will open up more avenues of interpretation and that the four presidents are only one avenue and only one focus Proposals to add additional faces In 1937 when the sculpture was not yet complete a bill in Congress supporting the addition of women s rights activist Susan B Anthony failed When the sculpture was completed in 1941 the sculptors said that the remaining rock was not suitable for additional carvings This stance was shared by RESPEC an engineering firm charged with monitoring the stability of the rock in 1989 Proposals of additional sculptures include John F Kennedy after his assassination in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1985 and 1999 the latter proposal receiving a debate in Congress at the time Barack Obama was asked about his own potential addition in 2008 and he joked that his ears were too large Donald Trump has on occasion expressed interest in his own addition to the mountain During a 2017 rally in Ohio Trump said I d ask whether or not you some day think I will be on Mount Rushmore If I did it joking totally joking having fun the fake news media will say He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore So I won t say it South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem described the potential addition as Trump s dream in 2018 On January 28 2025 Rep Anna Paulina Luna R FL introduced a bill H R 792 in the House of Representatives to add Trump s likeness to the monument Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an August 2024 interview that President Joe Biden is a Mount Rushmore kind of president and stated his likeness should be added to the monument TourismHistorical visitor count Year Visitors1941 393 0001950 740 4991960 1 067 0001970 1 965 7001980 1 284 8881990 1 671 6732000 1 868 8762010 2 331 2372020 2 074 986 Tourism is South Dakota s second largest industry and Mount Rushmore is the state s top tourist attraction 2 185 447 people visited the park in 2012 The popularity of the location as with many other national monuments derives from its immediate recognizability there are no substitutes for iconic resources such as the Statue of Liberty the Lincoln Memorial or Mount Rushmore These locations are one of a kind places However Mount Rushmore also provides access to a surrounding environment of wilderness which distinguishes it from the typical proximity of national monuments to urban centers like Washington D C and New York City In the 1950s and 1960s local Lakota Sioux elder Benjamin Black Elk son of medicine man Black Elk who had been present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was known as the Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore posing for photographs with thousands of tourists daily in his native attire The South Dakota State Historical Society notes that he was one of the most photographed people in the world over that 20 year period Hall of RecordsA copy of one of the panels entombed in the Hall of Records Borglum originally envisioned a grand Hall of Records where America s greatest historical documents and artifacts could be protected and shown to tourists He managed to start the project but cut only 70 feet 21 m into the rock before work stopped in 1939 to focus on the faces In 1998 a repository was constructed inside the mouth of the cave housing 16 enamel panels with biographical and historical information about Mount Rushmore as well as the texts of the documents Borglum wanted to preserve there The repository consists of a teakwood box inside of a titanium vault placed in the ground with a granite capstone Hall of Records panel textCompleting the SculptureJefferson panelLincoln panelMeaning of Mount RushmoreMount Rushmore memorialConservationThe ongoing conservation of the site is overseen by the National Park Service 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 in 2005 Alfred Karcher 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 Other efforts to conserve the monument have included replacement of the sealant applied originally to cracks in the stone by Gutzon Borglum which had proved ineffective at providing water resistance The components of Borglum s sealant included linseed oil granite dust and white lead but a modern silicone replacement for the cracks is now 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 three millimeters The site was digitally recorded in 2009 using a terrestrial laser scanning method as part of the international Scottish Ten project providing a high resolution record to aid the conservation of the site This data was made publicly accessible online EcologyThe Black Hills opposite Mount Rushmore 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 golden eagle bald eagle red tailed hawk swallows and white throated swifts fly around Mount Rushmore and nest in the ledges of the mountain Smaller birds including songbirds nuthatches woodpeckers and flycatchers inhabit the surrounding pine forests 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 The striped chorus frog western chorus frog and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area 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 descendants of a herd that Canada gifted to Custer State Park in 1924 which later escaped At lower elevations coniferous trees mainly the ponderosa pine surround most of the monument 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 However only approximately five percent of the plant species found in the Black Hills are indigenous to the region 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 A 2016 investigation by the U S Geological Survey found unusually high concentrations of perchlorate in the surface water and groundwater of the area A sample collected from a stream had a maximum perchlorate concentration of 54 micrograms per liter roughly 270 times higher than samples taken from locations outside the area The report concluded the probable cause of the contamination was the aerial fireworks displays that had taken place on Independence Days from 1998 to 2009 The National Park Service also reported that at least 27 forest fires around Mount Rushmore in that same period 1998 to 2009 have been caused by fireworks displays 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 The area is a climax community with an equilibrium such that a pine beetle infestation would threaten the forest GeographyGeology 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 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 citation needed 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 The Black Hills area was uplifted as an elongated geologic dome 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 citation needed 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 long term exposure The mountain s height of 5 725 feet 1 745 m above sea level made it suitable and because it faces the southeast the workers also had the advantage of sunlight for most of the day It is not possible to add another president to the memorial because the rock that surrounds the existing faces is not suitable for additional carving and because additional sculpting could create instabilities in the existing carvings Soils The Mount Rushmore area is underlain by well drained alfisol soils of very gravelly loam Mocmount to silt loam Buska texture brown to dark grayish brown Climate Mount Rushmore has a dry winter humid continental climate Dwb in the Koppen 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 The two wettest months of the year are May and June Orographic lift causes brief but strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer Climate data for Mount Rushmore National Memorial 1991 2020 normals extremes 1962 present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high F C 70 21 68 20 78 26 85 29 93 34 99 37 100 38 99 37 97 36 86 30 75 24 68 20 100 38 Mean maximum F C 57 8 14 3 57 3 14 1 65 2 18 4 72 9 22 7 81 5 27 5 89 2 31 8 92 7 33 7 90 9 32 7 87 2 30 7 77 0 25 0 65 4 18 6 57 2 14 0 94 0 34 4 Mean daily maximum F C 36 8 2 7 36 3 2 4 44 2 6 8 50 2 10 1 59 6 15 3 71 1 21 7 78 7 25 9 77 5 25 3 69 1 20 6 55 0 12 8 44 4 6 9 36 6 2 6 55 0 12 8 Daily mean F C 27 8 2 3 27 3 2 6 34 8 1 6 41 0 5 0 50 6 10 3 61 5 16 4 68 9 20 5 67 8 19 9 59 4 15 2 45 9 7 7 35 7 2 1 28 2 2 1 45 7 7 6 Mean daily minimum F C 18 8 7 3 18 4 7 6 25 4 3 7 31 8 0 1 41 5 5 3 51 9 11 1 59 1 15 1 58 0 14 4 49 6 9 8 36 8 2 7 27 0 2 8 19 8 6 8 36 5 2 5 Mean minimum F C 5 8 21 0 4 2 20 1 3 8 15 7 15 3 9 3 26 9 2 8 39 8 4 3 48 1 8 9 45 9 7 7 32 2 0 1 17 2 8 2 6 8 14 0 2 2 19 0 12 6 24 8 Record low F C 38 39 29 34 16 27 1 17 14 10 27 3 40 4 33 1 19 7 4 20 12 24 31 35 38 39 Average precipitation inches mm 0 48 12 0 76 19 1 35 34 2 62 67 4 80 122 3 58 91 3 59 91 2 29 58 1 76 45 1 80 46 0 59 15 0 50 13 24 12 613 Average snowfall inches cm 7 2 18 8 9 23 9 6 24 13 1 33 1 5 3 8 0 2 0 51 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 2 3 4 9 12 6 4 16 6 6 17 59 3 151 Average precipitation days 0 01 in 5 1 6 1 6 7 9 7 13 6 13 4 12 4 10 5 7 7 7 1 4 5 4 7 101 5Average snowy days 0 1 in 4 5 4 9 3 9 3 4 0 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 7 3 0 4 0 26 5Source NOAAIn popular cultureRoger Thornhill Cary Grant and Eve Kendall Eva Marie Saint dangle precipitously from the sculpture of George Washington in the 1959 film North by Northwest source source source source source source The film trailer for North by Northwest prominently features the site and sculpture Mount Rushmore has been depicted in multiple films comic books and television series Its functions vary from settings for action scenes to the site of hidden locations Its most famous appearance is as the location of the final chase scene in the 1959 film North by Northwest It is used as a secret base of operations by the protagonists in the 2004 film Team America World Police and the secret underground city of Cibola is located there in the 2007 film National Treasure Book of Secrets In the Phineas and Ferb episode Candace Loses Her Head both Phineas and Ferb sculpt Candace s face on the monument for her 15th birthday In some films the presidential faces are replaced with others examples include the 1980 film Superman II and the 1996 film Mars Attacks where the villains add their faces to the monument and the 2003 film Head of State where the newly elected president s face is added In works showing attacks on landmarks to signify the scope of a threat Mount Rushmore is a common target examples include the aforementioned facial replacements in Superman II and Mars Attacks as well as natural disasters in works like the 2006 miniseries 10 5 Apocalypse and terrorist attacks as in the 1997 film The Peacekeeper An atypical representation of the monument appears in the 2013 film Nebraska where instead of being treated with reverence it is criticized for being unfinished Land disputeThe Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868 had granted the Black Hills to the Lakota people in perpetuity but the United States took the area from the tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876 Members of the American Indian Movement led an occupation of the monument in 1971 naming it Mount Crazy Horse and Lakota holy man John Fire Lame Deer planted a prayer staff on top of the mountain Lame Deer said that the staff formed a symbolic shroud over the presidents faces which shall remain dirty until the treaties concerning the Black Hills are fulfilled The 1980 United States Supreme Court decision United States v Sioux Nation of Indians ruled that the Sioux had not received just compensation for their land in the Black Hills which includes Mount Rushmore The court proposed 102 million as compensation for the loss of the Black Hills This compensation was valued at 1 3 billion in 2011 and with accumulated interest nearly 2 billion in 2021 In 2020 Oglala Lakota Nation citizen and Indigenous activist Nick Tilsen explained that his people would not accept a settlement because we won t settle for anything less than the full return of our lands as stipulated by the treaties our nations signed and agreed upon Construction on the Crazy Horse Memorial began in 1940 elsewhere in the Black Hills Ostensibly to commemorate the Native American leader and as a response to Mount Rushmore if completed it would be larger than Mount Rushmore The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation has rejected offers of federal funds Its construction has the support of some Lakota chiefs but it is the subject of controversy even among Native American tribes Legacy and commemoration3 cent Mount Rushmore stamp 195226 cent Mount Rushmore Shrine of Democracy airmail stamp 1974 The 1991 Mount Rushmore 50th Anniversary commemorative silver dollar Borglum titled his sculpture at Mount Rushmore as the Shrine of Democracy but the illegal seizure of the Black Hills where the memorial is located has led to some critics to refer to it as the Shrine of Hypocrisy On August 11 1952 the U S Post Office issued the Mount Rushmore Memorial 3 cent commemorative stamp on the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial On January 2 1974 a 26 cent airmail stamp depicting the monument was also issued In 1991 the United States Mint released commemorative silver dollar half dollar and five dollar coins celebrating the 50th anniversary of the monument s dedication and the sculpture was the main subject of the 2006 South Dakota state quarter In music American composer Michael Daugherty s 2010 piece for chorus and orchestra Mount Rushmore depicts each of the four presidents in separate movements The piece sets texts by George Washington William Billings Thomas Jefferson Maria Cosway Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln By contrast the song Little Snakes by Protest The Hero addresses the violent colonial history involved in the sculpting of Mount Rushmore critiquing the monument as a symbol of colonialism referencing the genocide of indigenous peoples and the ownership of slaves by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson The Washington Nationals baseball club uses large foam rubber depictions of the Rushmore Four in both their marketing campaigns and in a series of in stadium promotions such as the Presidents Race See alsoList of colossal sculpture in situ List of tallest statues List of national memorials of the United States List of statues of George Washington List of statues of Thomas Jefferson List of statues of Abraham Lincoln List of sculptures of presidents of the United States Presidential memorials in the United States Crazy Horse Memorial another large sculpture in the Black Hills Young Mao Zedong statue a large relief carved of granite although not carved into the rock Ataturk Mask a large relief sculpture although not carved into the rockReferences Annual Park Ranking Report for Recreation Visits in 2022 National Park Service Retrieved July 23 2023 Rosenberg Jennifer January 16 2021 10 Things You Didn t Know About Mount Rushmore ThoughtCo Retrieved March 28 2023 Roberts Sam June 28 2016 An Immigrant s Contribution to Mount Rushmore Is Recognized 75 Years Later The New York Times Retrieved September 19 2017 Andrews John May 2014 Slight of Hand South Dakota Magazine Retrieved September 22 2017 Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived August 23 2017 at the Wayback Machine December 6 2005 60 SD Web Traveler Inc Retrieved April 7 2006 Why These Four Presidents nps gov National Park Service Retrieved February 13 2019 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 Peakbagger com Retrieved March 13 2006 episode 5x08 Mount Rushmore May 10 2007 Making Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore Oh Ranger Archived from the original on November 20 2012 Retrieved October 31 2012 Pekka Hamalainen Lakota America a New History of Indigenous Power New Haven Yale University Press 2019 p 382 Senator Peter Norbeck American Experience Mount Rushmore PBS Retrieved July 20 2013 Complete Program Transcript Mount Rushmore American Experience PBS Archived from the original on March 1 2017 Retrieved April 18 2015 Barbash Fred Elkind Peter July 1 1980 Sioux Win 105 Million The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved April 9 2024 Gonzalez Mario Cook Lynn Elizabeth 1999 The Politics of Hallowed Ground Wounded Knee and the Struggle for Indian Sovereignty University of Illinois Press pp 144 146 ISBN 978 0 252 06669 6 McKeever Amy October 28 2020 South Dakota s Mount Rushmore has a strange scandalous history National Geographic Archived from the original on February 23 2021 Retrieved February 24 2023 Harmansah Omur 2015 Six Grandfathers Landscapes and Power Place Memory and Healing An Archaeology of Anatolian Rock Monuments Routledge p 16 doi 10 4324 9781315739106 ISBN 978 1 317 57571 9 Morton Mary Caperton September 3 2020 Mount Rushmore s Six Grandfathers and Four Presidents Eos 101 doi 10 1029 2020eo148456 ISSN 0096 3941 Retrieved February 24 2023 Neihardt John Gneisenau 1985 The Sixth Grandfather Black Elk s Teachings Given to John G Neihardt University of Nebraska Press ISBN 978 0 8032 6564 6 Saum Bradley 2017 Black Elk Black Elk Peak A History Arcadia Publishing ISBN 978 1 4396 6050 8 Saum Bradley 2017 Introduction Black Elk Peak A History Arcadia Publishing ISBN 978 1 4396 6050 8 Saum Bradley 2017 Custer Black Elk Peak A History Arcadia Publishing ISBN 978 1 4396 6050 8 Thomas William 2010 Mount Rushmore Chelsea House Publishing p 14 ISBN 978 1 60413 515 2 BBC will showcase story of Piano Man Tampa Bay Times March 2 2006 Retrieved February 26 2023 Koestler Grack Rachel A 2005 Mount Rushmore Abdo Publishing p 18 ISBN 978 1 61714 362 5 Saum Bradley 2017 Mountain Monument Black Elk Peak A History Arcadia Publishing ISBN 978 1 4396 6050 8 Fite Gilbert C 1975 Gutzon Borglum Mercurial Master of Colossal Art Montana The Magazine of Western History 25 2 2 19 ISSN 0026 9891 JSTOR 4517975 Timeline Mount Rushmore National Memorial National Park Service November 29 2022 Retrieved March 2 2023 Doane Robinson National Park Service January 25 2023 Retrieved March 2 2023 Boime Albert Winter Spring 1991 Patriarchy Fixed in Stone Gutzon Borglum s Mount Rushmore American Art 5 1 2 142 67 doi 10 1086 424112 S2CID 191573145 Retrieved September 15 2020 Carving History National Park Service August 2 2004 Archived from the original on October 10 2006 Michael Patrick Cullinane 2017 Theodore Roosevelt s Ghost The History and Memory of an American Icon LSU Press ISBN 978 0 8071 6674 1 Retrieved January 11 2024 People amp Events The Carving of Stone Mountain American Experience PBS Archived from the original on April 13 2010 Retrieved March 17 2010 Native Americans and Mount Rushmore PBS Retrieved March 26 2020 Historical Letters and Legislation National Park Service May 23 2022 Retrieved December 14 2022 Memorial History National Park Service May 23 2022 Retrieved December 14 2022 Mount Rushmore National Memorial Frequently Asked Questions National Park Service Retrieved December 2 2009 Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived May 13 2010 at the Wayback Machine Outdoorplaces com Retrieved June 7 2006 Rare Photos From The Past p 5 Archived from the original on January 19 2016 Retrieved September 18 2019 1941 the original mockup of Mt Rushmore before funding ran out Carving History National Park Service Retrieved February 22 2013 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 Archived from the original on October 16 2011 Retrieved October 22 2010 2020 CENSUS CENSUS BLOCK MAP Pennington County SD PDF U S Census Bureau p 56 PDF p 57 86 Retrieved September 27 2024 Mount Rushmore Natl Meml American Experience Archived November 14 2012 at the Wayback Machine Timeline Mount Rushmore 2002 Retrieved March 20 2006 Cope Willard July 7 1939 Remember Stone Mountain s Mighty Memorial The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta Georgia p 9 via Newspapers com Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived December 3 2013 at the Wayback Machine Mount Rushmore National Memorial Archived February 24 2006 at the Wayback Machine Tourism in South Dakota Laura R Ahmann Retrieved March 19 2006 Reagan Nick November 23 2019 Last carver of Mount Rushmore dies at 98 www kotatv com Retrieved November 26 2019 Lathrop Alan K Winter 2007 Designing for South Dakota and the Upper Midwest The Career of Architect Harold T Spitznagel 1930 1974 PDF South Dakota History 37 4 271 305 Allaback Sarah 2000 Mission 66 Visitor Centers The History of a Building Type National Park Service Text of 1934 Essay History of the United States PDF Retrieved August 27 2017 George Bush Remarks at the Dedication Ceremony of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota The American Presidency Project July 3 1991 Retrieved August 27 2017 David Melmer December 13 2004 Historic changes for Mount Rushmore Indiancountrytoday Archived from the original on August 8 2010 Retrieved March 17 2010 World Americas Reagan for Rushmore BBC March 1 1999 Retrieved November 25 2020 Lawrence Tom June 26 2020 Adding fifth face to Mount Rushmore National Memorial has been political football for decades Argus Leader USA Today Network Retrieved November 25 2020 Shelbourne Mallory July 25 2017 Trump I won t say that I should be on Mount Rushmore The Hill Retrieved June 30 2024 Ehrlich Jamie August 9 2020 New York Times White House reached out to South Dakota governor about adding Trump to Mount Rushmore CNN Retrieved August 10 2020 H R 792 To direct the Secretary of the Interior to arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J Trump on Mount Rushmore National Memorial U S Congress January 28 2025 Retrieved February 5 2025 Notheis Asher August 4 2024 Pelosi says Biden s face should be added to Mount Rushmore Washington Examiner Retrieved August 5 2024 Popular South Dakota Attractions gt gt South Dakota southdakota com Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved March 21 2015 Thomas J Liu John B Loomis and Linda J Bilmes Exploring the contribution of National Parks to the entertainment industry s intellectual property in Linda J Bilmes and John B Loomis Valuing U S National Parks and Programs America s Best Investment Routledge 2020 p 95 98 Kilen Ode Jeanne 1984 Dakota Images Benjamin Black Elk PDF Vol 14 South Dakota State Historical Society 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 Hall of Records Mount Rushmore National Memorial U S National Park Service Retrieved September 22 2024 Caring for a Monumental Sculpture PDF National Park Service Retrieved July 8 2013 Preservation Mount Rushmore National Memorial U S National Park Service January 30 2023 Retrieved March 24 2023 For Mount Rushmore An Overdue Face Wash The Washington Post July 11 2005 Retrieved March 17 2010 Preservation Mount Rushmore National Memorial National Park Service Retrieved December 26 2020 Mount Rushmore National Memorial CyArk Archived from the original on July 12 2013 Retrieved July 8 2013 Enjoy Wildlife Safely PDF 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 Retrieved January 4 2014 Nature amp 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 amp Science Plants NPS December 6 2006 Retrieved March 17 2010 Nature amp Science Groundwater National Park Service Retrieved April 1 2006 Fireworks Likely Caused Water Contamination at Mount Rushmore United States Geological Survey May 2 2016 Retrieved June 27 2020 Mt Rushmore H2O pollution Fireworks to blame WGBA Associated Press May 3 2016 Fears Darryl May 3 2016 Officials knew fireworks at Mount Rushmore could cause a fire But they didn t expect this The Washington Post O Dowd Peter Raphelson Samantha July 3 2020 50 Years After Mount Rushmore Occupation Native Americans Are Still Fighting WBUR Retrieved April 4 2021 Nature amp Science Forests National Park Service Retrieved April 1 2006 Geologic Activity National Park Service Irvin James R Great Plains Gallery Archived July 20 2006 at the Wayback Machine 2001 Retrieved March 16 2006 Klinski Michael April 24 2018 Mount Trumpmore It s the president s dream Rep Kristi Noem says Argus Leader Retrieved August 9 2020 SoilWeb An Online Soil Survey University of California Davis Retrieved August 27 2017 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 6 2008 Retrieved January 27 2013 NowData NOAA Online Weather Data National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved October 28 2021 Station MT RUSHMORE NMEM SD U S Climate Normals 2020 U S Monthly Climate Normals 1991 2020 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved October 28 2021 Gunderson Jessica July 1 2014 Mount Rushmore Today Mount Rushmore Myths Legends and Facts Capstone p 28 ISBN 978 1 4914 0208 5 Knight Gladys L August 11 2014 Mount Rushmore Pop Culture Places An Encyclopedia of Places in American Popular Culture 3 volumes ABC CLIO p 623 ISBN 978 0 313 39883 4 Powell Laura Mount Rushmore on the Big Screen Visit The USA Retrieved May 14 2022 Freund Charles Paul 2003 Big schlock candy Mountain the many meanings of Mount Rushmore Reason 9 Famous Pop Culture Spots in the USA You Don t Want to Miss Visit The USA Retrieved May 21 2022 A variety of films and television shows suggest Mount Rushmore s use as a secret hideout for the government such as in National Treasure Book of Secrets and Team America World Police Honeycutt Kirk October 15 2019 Team America World Police THR s 2004 Review The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved May 14 2022 The subversive non subversiveness of Phineas and Ferb December 30 2015 Retrieved August 5 2024 Doss Erika September 7 2012 Memorial Mania Public Feeling in America University of Chicago Press p 57 ISBN 978 0 226 15939 3 Walter Metz Review Nebraska Dir Alexander Payne Paramount Vantage 2013 Middle West Review Volume 1 Number 1 University of Nebraska Press Fall 2014 p 154 55 Matthew Glass Producing Patriotic Inspiration at Mount Rushmore Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol 62 No 2 Summer 1994 pp 265 283 United States v Sioux Nation of Indians 448 U S 371 1980 Findlaw Retrieved February 11 2021 Significant Indian Cases The United States Department of Justice United States Government May 12 2015 Archived from the original on July 4 2020 Retrieved July 4 2020 Why the Sioux Are Refusing 1 3 Billion PBS NewsHour August 24 2011 Retrieved February 11 2021 Tilsen Nick Trump s Mount Rushmore fireworks show is a Fourth of July attack on Indigenous people NBC News Retrieved July 3 2020 Lame Deer John Fire and Richard Erdoes Lame Deer Seeker of Visions Simon and Schuster New York 1972 Paperback ISBN 0 671 55392 5 Hoople Robin December 1 2006 Great Stone Faces Henry James Theodore Roosevelt and the Quest for American Authenticity Canadian Review of American Studies 36 3 345 362 doi 10 3138 CRAS s036 03 07 ISSN 0007 7720 Louie Clarence November 16 2021 Rez Rules My Indictment of Canada s and America s Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples McClelland amp Stewart p 201 ISBN 978 0 7710 4834 0 Estes Nick February 26 2019 Our History Is the Future Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance Verso Books p 222 ISBN 978 1 78663 673 7 3c Mt Rushmore single Smithsonian National Postal Museum Archived from the original on May 4 2015 Retrieved July 1 2014 Scotts United States Stamp catalogue 1982 Scott s Publishing Company 1981 ISBN 0 89487 042 4 p 289 1991 Mount Rushmore Silver Dollar Modern Commemoratives June 10 2009 Retrieved February 28 2020 1991 Mount Rushmore Half Dollar Commemorative Coin June 9 2009 Retrieved May 14 2022 1991 Mount Rushmore 5 Gold Commemorative Coin June 11 2009 Retrieved May 14 2022 Jim Noles A Pocketful of History Four Hundred Years of America One State Quarter at a Time Da Capo Press May 6 2008 ASIN B009K44LT8 Michael Daugherty s Mount Rushmore Premieres with the Pacific Symphony and Chorale Retrieved August 27 2014 Rolli Bryan June 16 2020 Protest the Hero s Rody Walker Trump s Vision of Greatness Is America s Tragic Flaw Loudwire Retrieved October 27 2020 Slingerland Calum June 18 2020 Protest the Hero Give American History a Scathing Rewrite on Palimpsest exclaim ca Retrieved October 27 2020 The history of the Nationals Presidents Race Who is winning and why wusa9 com October 21 2019 Archived from the original on October 23 2019 Teddy wins for 1st time in 534 races ESPN October 3 2012 Further reading Making Mount Rushmore Oh Ranger APN Media Archived from the original on November 20 2012 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 Coutant Arnaud 2014 Les Visages de l Amerique les constructeurs d une democratie federale Mare et Martin ISBN 978 2 84934 160 5 French study about the Four Presidents Life presidency influence about American political evolution Archived link Del Bianco Lou Luigi Del Bianco chief stone carver on Mount Rushmore 1933 1940 Lou Del Bianco Retrieved January 27 2013 Dobrzynski Judith H July 15 2006 A Monumental Achievement The Wall Street Journal Retrieved January 27 2013 Larner Jesse 2002 Mount Rushmore An Icon Reconsidered New York Nation Books Taliaferro John 2002 Great White Fathers The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore New York PublicAffairs ISBN 978 1 58648 205 3 The National Parks Index 2001 2003 Washington D C United States Department of the Interior OCLC 53228516 The Six Grandfathers Before It Was Known as Mount Rushmore Native Hope Retrieved April 2 2021 Untold Stories Discussion Guide Baker and Mount Rushmore PDF The National Parks America s Best Idea PBS Archived from the original PDF on October 18 2015 Smith Rex Alan 2011 The Carving of Mount Rushmore New York Abbeville Press ISBN 978 0 7892 6008 6 OCLC 784885603 External linksMount Rushmore at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from WiktionaryMedia from CommonsQuotations from WikiquoteTravel information from WikivoyageData from Wikidata Official website