Mount Rushmore

"Six Grandfathers" to "Mount Rushmore" Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills () 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" (), 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. that culminated at the nearby Black Elk Peak 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. The name "Mount Rushmore" continued to be used locally, and was officially recognized by the United States Board of Geographic Names in June 1930. 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. Robinson's plan had some support in South Dakota, but it also faced opposition, with opposition being particularly vehement in the Black Hills area. Many people there opposed the project on conservationist grounds, wishing to leave the appearance of the area unaltered. Many others opposed it because they did not want an influx of tourism to the area. Others opposed to the plan included the Black Hills Federation of Women's Clubs and the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. Through 1924, predominant opinion in South Dakota was either opposed or indifferent to the memorial project, and it was only through considerable lobbying on the part of Robinson and Borglum that the project began to gain support in early 1925. 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. The press reported a later, March 7, 1925, conference between Norbeck and Borglum, with specific mention of the Washington-Lincoln design and the use of Black Elk Peak (Mount Harney). Borglum was formally offered the project, but said he would withhold his decision until conflicts with the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Carving were settled. Borglum's original plan was to make the carvings in granite pillars known as "The Needles" (''''). The Needles were an established area landmark, being a centerpiece of Custer State Park and the scenic Needles Highway. The proposal to turn the Needles into sculptures had aroused some of the strongest opposition to the project, and the idea was abandoned in order to assuage opposition. and reportedly said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, "America will march along that skyline." 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 Gunderson signed into law on March 5, 1925. The approval came without any allocated funds, however, leaving the project to be financed by private sources. Six Grandfathers.jpg|Mount Rushmore (Six Grandfathers) before construction, Mount Rushmore proposal reported in The Chicago Tribune November 28, 1926 (1).jpg|Early model of the design RushmoreWithLeftJefferson.jpg|Construction underway, with Jefferson leftmost, before unstable rock necessitated a design change Gutzon Borglum's model of Mt. Rushmore memorial.jpg|Original mockup of the Mount Rushmore sculpture "before funding ran out" Mount Rushmore2.jpg|Construction of George Washington's likeness Mount Rushmore Closeup 2017.jpg|Closeup view of final sculptures Construction Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal 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. In total, about of rock were blasted off the mountainside. The project was completed without a single fatality. 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. 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 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 $ in ). 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. 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." In 1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore National Memorial. 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 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. Black Hills land dispute The Black Hills, in which Mount Rushmore is situated, is the subject of a land claim by the Lakota people that both precedes the construction of the memorial and is ongoing. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) had granted the Black Hills to the Lakota in perpetuity, but the United States took the area from the tribe after the Great Sioux War of 1876. 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. The court proposed $102 million as compensation for the loss of the Black Hills. However, the tribe has refused the settlement, arguing that this would amount to payment for land they never agreed to sell. Crazy Horse Memorial 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. ==National Memorial site description==

The site of Mount Rushmore National Memorial extends northward from the sculptures to include the entirety of Mount Rushmore and half of Old Baldy Mountain, and southward to Grizzly Bear Creek, where it borders on the Black Elk Wilderness and has a trail connection to the South Dakota Centennial Trail. The main road through the park is South Dakota Highway 244, which branches off of U.S. Route 16A near the eastern entrance to the park, beyond which lies the town of Keystone. The National Memorial is bounded by Black Hills National Forest on all sides. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered on the monumental sculptures, which are faced by a building and terrace complex that is designed to optimize viewing of the sculptures. A broad walkway known as Avenue of Flags is situated between the main parking lot, the park shops, and the Grand View Terrace. The walkway was added during the 1976 United States Bicentennial and is lined with the flags of all 50 current states, as well as the District of Columbia, three territories, and two commonwealths, arranged in alphabetical order. At the end of the Avenue of Flags lies the Grand View Terrace (added in 1998, along with the amphitheater), which is designed to offer a prime vantage point for the sculptures. The terrace is built atop the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, which serves as a museum housing exhibits on the history of Mount Rushmore and its construction and on the presidents depicted in the sculpture. A large amphitheater extends below the museum and terrace and offers a place for seated viewing of the sculptures, as well as ranger talks, and is the central point for the memorial's evening program. The Presidential Trail is a loop trail that begins at and returns to the Visitor Center, and includes close views of the sculpture from the edge of Mount Rushmore's talus slope, as well as access to the Sculptor's Studio. The studio is connected to the Visitor Center by a series of long stairways (160 and 262 steps, respectively) with the Borglum Viewing Terrace between the two. The Sculptor's Studio, built in 1939, was Gutzon Borglum's second on-site studio. It was kept intact after the 1941 opening of the memorial to showcase Borglum's models, tools, and working effects and to house exhibits on the techniques used in build the sculptures. An additional scenic viewpoint can be found farther away from the main memorial complex, to the west, along Highway 244. The spot is known as Profile View, and as the name suggests, offers a profile view of the sculptures. U.S. Route 16A, known locally as Iron Mountain Road, routes through the hills east of the park and offers more distant viewpoints at several key points along its route, such as the Doane Robinson Tunnel and Norbeck Overlook. {{Gallery Hall of Records Borglum originally envisioned a grand Hall of Records where America's greatest historical documents and artifacts, including the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence, could be protected and exhibited for visitors. The Hall of Records was to be located in a vault that was cut into the interior of the mountain, with an entrance near the top, behind the presidential heads. Borglum envisioned the construction of a long series of stairways that would lead up the side of Mount Rushmore to the vault's entrance. In 1998, a stone time capsule 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 an engraved granite capstone. The capstone is typically covered by a wooden lid to further protect it from the elements. ==Monument 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 . 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 . 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. ==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. 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. 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 (). 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 every 10,000 years, thus was more than sturdy enough to support the sculpture and its long-term exposure. The area receives about 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. ==Climate==

Mount Rushmore has a dry-winter humid continental climate (Dwb in the Köppen climate classification). The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer. ==Biodiversity and ecology==

Mount Rushmore falls within the EPA ecoregion of the Black Hills Plateau (17b), an extension of the Middle Rockies ecoregion (17) that is entirely surrounded by the Northwestern Great Plains ecoregion (43). Flora and fauna The flora and fauna of Mount Rushmore are similar to those of the rest of the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The forested areas of the park are largely composed of ponderosa pine, with the majority of it consisting of old-growth stands. Other tree species are found individually or in small groves and include quaking aspen, bur oak, white spruce, and paper birch. Towards higher elevations, plant life becomes sparser. Avibase lists 154 species of birds as occurring within the park. Common birds include turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks, red-naped sapsuckers, white-breasted nuthatches, mountain bluebirds, and dark-eyed juncos. Herps found in the park include western chorus frogs and northern leopard frogs, along with several species of snake. Grizzly Bear Creek and Starling Basin Creek, the two streams in the memorial, support fish such as longnose dace and brook trout. Mountain goats are a common sight in the park, but are not native fauna. They are descendants of a herd that the Canadian government gave to Custer State Park in 1924, which later escaped and are now widespread through the Black Hills. Coyotes are also occasionally seen. The monument is also an important habitat for bats, and 11 species of bats have been reported from the park, including silver-haired and hoary bats and the endangered northern myotis. The fungus causing white-nose syndrome in bats has not been detected in the park, but has been detected at the nearby Badlands National Park. Forest ecology A 2007 study found that almost two-thirds of the park's acreage () consisted of old-growth ponderosa pine forest, and of this 44% had no history of logging at all. This is unusual in the Black Hills, which has been heavily logged in the years since Euroamerican settlement, and represents one of the largest contiguous area of old-growth forest in the Black Hills, second only to Custer State Park. A 2010 article by a National Park Service fire ecologist notes that due to historical fire suppression policies in and around the park, much of the park's forested area had become overgrown with small understory trees that could serve as fuel for a large forest fire. The article recommended a regime of mechanical thinning and woodchipping followed by prescribed burning to mitigate the fire hazard, as well as to make the forest more resilient against pine beetle infestation and to restore the natural stand structure in these woodlands. Environmental issues 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. Nevertheless, an environmental impact assessment issued in 2020 left room for the possibility of returning fireworks to the memorial in the future. ==Recreation==

The centerpiece of the park is the monument and viewing the monument and associated activities is the main attraction of the National Memorial. However, the larger park includes natural areas beyond the memorial itself. Rock climbing and bouldering are popular activities within the park and nearby areas, However, areas to the north of the memorial are popular climbing areas, and include the face of Mount Rushmore opposite the statues and the neighboring peak Old Baldy Mountain, as well as numerous other needles, peaks, and boulders. Noted climbers Jan and Herb Conn pioneered many climbing routes in this area in the 1940s and eventually came to make their home in the Black Hills in 1949. The area has over 800 climbing routes today, most requiring a high degree of technical skill. The best-known walking trail in the park is the Presidential Trail, near to the main memorial complex. However, there are also two hiking trails that are found in more remote areas of the park. The Blackberry Trail extends from just across from the main parking lot through the southern part of the park and into the Black Elk Wilderness, connecting to the Centennial Trail about from the trailhead. There is also a trail to the top of Old Baldy Mountain at the northern edge of the park. The trail begins at the Wrinkled Rock trailhead, just outside of the west entrance to the park and most of its course is outside of the boundaries of the National Memorial. It leads to the summit of Old Baldy after , where there is a panoramic view of the Black Hills from the summit. However, only the backside of Mount Rushmore is in the line of sight from the summit and the statues cannot be seen. Camping is not allowed within the boundaries of the National Memorial, however, there are public and private campgrounds and dispersed camping in the neighboring Black Hills National Forest. ==Tourism==

Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top tourist attraction. A total of 2,440,449 people visited the park in 2022. 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. ==Legacy and commemoration==

commemorative silver dollar|left 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. ==In popular culture==

) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) dangle precipitously from the sculpture of George Washington in the 1959 film North by Northwest. 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. and the secret underground city of Cíbola is located there in the 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In some films, the presidential faces are replaced with others; 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. ==See also==