Mount Rushmore
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (in Lakota language: Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or the Six Great Fathers) in the Black Hills, near Keystone (South Dakota). Sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture, called the Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the execution of the project from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum.The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln,chosen to represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of the nation, respectively.Mount Rushmore Memorial Park attracts more than two million visitors a yearand covers 5.17 km².The elevation of the mountain is 1,745 m above sea level.
The sculptor chose Mount Rushmore in part because it faces southeast for maximum sun exposure. The sculpture was the idea of Doane Robinson, a historian for the state of South Dakota. Initially, Robinson wanted the sculpture to feature heroes of the American West, such as Lewis and Clark, their Sacajawea expedition guide, Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota tribe, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Oglala Chief, Crazy Horse. Borglum believed the sculpture should have a broader appeal and chose the four presidents.
Peter Norbeck, a U.S. senator from South Dakota, sponsored the project and obtained federal funding. Construction began in 1927 and the presidential faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. After Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln took over as leader of the construction project. Originally, each president was to be represented from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941, and only the sculpture of Washington includes any detail below chin level.
The Mount Rushmore sculpture is built on land that was illegally taken from the Sioux Nation in 1870. The Sioux continue to demand the return of the land, and in 1980 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the taking of the Hills Negras demanded fair compensation and awarded the tribe $102 million. The Sioux rejected the money, which with interest increased to more than a billion dollars, and demanded the return of the lands. This conflict continues, and has led some critics of the monument to refer to it as the "Shrine of Hypocrisy".
History
From the name "Six Grandfathers" to "Mount Rushmore"
Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills (Pahá Sápa) are considered sacred places by Plains Indians such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota Sioux, who used the area for centuries for pray, obtain food, building materials and medicine.The Lakota called the mountain "Six Grandfathers" (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe),which symbolizes ancestral deities and who are personified as the following six orientations: north, south, east, west, up (sky) and down (earth).In the second half In the 19th century, American expansion into the Black Hills led to a series of conflicts with various subgroups of the Sioux people. In the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868, the United States government granted the Sioux exclusive use of all of the Black Hills, including 'Six Grandfathers' Mountain, in perpetuity.
Six Grandfathers Mountain was an important part of the spiritual journey undertaken in the early 1870s by Lakota leader Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa, also known as "The Sixth Grandfather"), who He ended up settling on the nearby Black Elk Summit,(Hiŋháŋ Káǧa, "Owl Maker").The American General George Armstrong Custer reached Black Elk Summit a few years later, in 1874, during the Black Hills Expedition, which led to the Black Hills Gold Rush and the Black Hills War. In 1877 the United States broke the Treaty of Fort Laramie and asserted control over the area, causing an influx of settlers and gold seekers.
Among those gold seekers was New York mining promoter James Wilson, who organized the Harney Peak Tin Company and hired New York lawyer Charles E. Rushmore to visit the Black Hills and confirm the claims of company lands. During a visit in 1884 or 1885, Charles E. Rushmore saw Six Grandfathers Mountain and asked his guide Bill Challis the name of the mountain; Challis replied that the mountain had no name, but that from now on it would be called Rushmore. The name "Mount Rushmore" It continued to be used locally and was officially recognized by the United States Board on Geographic Names in June 1930.
Concept, design and foundation
By 1920 South Dakota had become a state of the United States and was a popular destination for hikers visiting the Black Hills National Forest, Wind Cave National Park, and the Needles Highway.In 1923 Secretary of the South Dakota State Historical Society, Doane Robinson, who would become known as the "Father of Mount Rushmore", heard of the "Shrine of the Confederacy" #34;, a project to carve images of Confederate generals on the side of Stone Mountain, Georgia, which had been underway since 1915. With the goal of boosting tourism in South Dakota, Robinson began promoting the idea of a similar monument in the Black Hills, which would represent 'not only the splendor of the nature of its local geography, but also the triumph of Western civilization over that geography through its anthropomorphic representation.'
Initially, Robinson approached sculptor Lorado Taft, but Taft was ill at the time and was not interested in Robinson's project. Robinson then 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 publicly campaigning for the former. Some members of the local community also supported Robinson's plan, but many strongly opposed it.
On August 20, 1924, Robinson wrote to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the 'Shrine of the Confederacy', asking him to travel to the Black Hills region to determine if the sculpture could be made. Borglum, who had become involved with the Ku Klux Klan, one of the financiers of the Stone Mountain monument, had had disagreements with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and on September 24, 1924 traveled to South Dakota to meet with Robinson.
Borglum's original plan was to make the sculptures on 150-meter-high granite pillars known as the Needles (Hiŋháŋ Káǧa). However, the eroded Spiers were too thin to support the sculpture. On August 14, 1925, Borglum reached the summit of Black Elk while exploring alternative locations and, upon seeing Mount Rushmore, is said to have said: " America will look along that horizon." He chose Mount Rushmore, a grand location, in part because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum sun exposure.
Borglum rejected Robinson's original plan to depict 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 have been carved in granite with the intention of symbolizing 'an achievement born, planned and created in the minds and hands of Americans for Americans'. 34;.The Lakota and other local indigenous communities opposed the overall plan as a desecration of their sacred lands and the racist and sometimes violent anti-indigenous policies of the four presidents represented.For the Lakota and other tribes, the monument "came to personify the loss of their sacred lands and the injustices they have suffered under the United States government."
Senator Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson of South Dakota introduced bills in early 1925 seeking permission to use federal lands, which were easily passed. The South Dakota legislation had less support, narrowly passing 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 a inauguration ceremony in August 1927, in which he promised that federal funds would be provided. Congress passed the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act, signed by Coolidge, which authorized up to $250,000 in compensatory funds. The presidential transition to Herbert Hoover in 1929 delayed funding until an initial federal contribution of $54,670.56 was acquired.
The carving project began in 1927 and ended in 1941 without any fatalities.
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Construction
Between October 4, 1927 and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal 18 m high sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, in order to represent the first 150 years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum due to their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory. Dynamite was used in the carving of Mount Rushmore, followed by the 'honeycombing' process, where workers They drilled holes close together, allowing them to remove small pieces by hand. In total, about 410,000 tons of rock were extracted from the mountainside. The image of Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to appear to the right of Washington, but after To begin the work it was discovered that the rock was not suitable, so the work on the figure of Jefferson was dynamited and a new figure was sculpted to the left of Washington.
The main carver of the mountain was Luigi Del Bianco, a craftsman and stonemason who emigrated to the United States from Friuli in Italy and was chosen to work on this project due to his understanding of sculptural language and his ability to imbue emotions in the carved portraits.
In 1933 the National Park Service placed Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction. Julian Spotts helped with the project by improving its infrastructure. For example, he made improvements to the tram by making it reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the convenience of workers. On July 4, 1934, Washington's face was completed and dedicated. The face of Thomas Jefferson was dedicated in 1936 and that of Abraham Lincoln on September 17, 1937. In 1937 a bill was introduced in Congress to incorporate the head of civil rights defender Susan B. Anthony, but it was approved a rider in an appropriations bill that required federal funds to 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, which displayed a display of unique plaster models and tools related to sculpture, was built in 1939 under Borglum's direction. Borglum died of a stroke in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project. It was originally planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist, but lack of funding forced the project to end. Borglum had also planned a massive panel in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase, which would commemorate in eight-foot-high gold letters the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Louisiana Purchase, and seven other land acquisitions since the Alaska Purchase to the Panama Canal Zone. In total, the entire project cost $989,992.32 (equivalent to $19.7 million in 2022).
Nick Clifford, the last remaining carver, died in November 2019 at the age of 98.
Later developments
Harold Spitznagel and Cecil Doty designed the original visitor center, which was completed in 1957, as part of Mission 66's effort to improve visitor facilities at national parks and monuments across the country. Ten years of redevelopment work culminated in the completion of extensive visitor facilities and sidewalks in 1998, including a Visitor Center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum, and the Presidential Trail.
On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was included in the National Register of Historic Places. Nebraska student William Andrew Burkett wrote a 500-word essay on American history and was selected as the winner of a group of undergraduates in a 1934 tournament, and that essay was placed in the Entablature on a bronze plaque in 1973.In 1991, President George H. W. Bush officially dedicated Mount Rushmore.
In 2004 Gerard Baker was named park superintendent, the first and so far only Native American to hold that position. Baker stated that he will open more "ways of interpretation" and that the four presidents are "only one way and one focus.
Proposals to add additional faces
In 1937, while the sculpture was still unfinished, a bill in Congress calling for the addition of the face 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 position was shared by RESPEC, an engineering firm charged with overseeing the stability of the rock in 1989. However, proposals have been made for additional sculptures, such as that of John F. Kennedy, after his assassination in 1963, and the of Ronald Reagan in 1985 and 1999; The latter proposal was the subject of debate in Congress at the time. Barack Obama was asked about his potential addition in 2008 and joked that his ears were too big.
Donald Trump has sometimes expressed interest in having his face incorporated into the mountain. During a rally in Ohio in 2017 he said: "I would ask you if you believe that one day I will be on Mount Rushmore." If I asked you (as a joke) the fake media would say: "Trump believes he should be on Mount Rushmore." So I won't say it." South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said in 2028 that Trump's possible addition to Mount Rushmore would be a "dream" for him.
Tourism
| Year | Visitors |
|---|---|
| 1941 | 393,000 |
| 1950 | 740.499 |
| 1960 | 1.067,000 |
| 1970 | 1,965,700 |
| 1980 | 1.284.888 |
| 1990 | 1.671.673 |
| 2000 | 1.868.876 |
| 2010 | 2.331.237 |
| 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 place, like that of many other national monuments, derives from its immediate recognizability; "There are no substitutes for iconic resources like the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial or Mount Rushmore. These places are unique.However, Mount Rushmore also has access to a surrounding natural environment, distinguishing it from the typical proximity of national monuments to urban centers such as Washington, D.C. and New York City.
In the 1950s and '60s, local Lakota Sioux elder Benjamin Black Elk (son of medicine man Black Elk, who had been present at the Battle of Little Bighorn) was known as the 'Fifth Face of the Mount Rushmore", and posed in photographs with thousands of tourists in their native attire. The South Dakota State Historical Society notes that he was one of the most photographed people in the world over a 20-year period.
Conservation
The conservation of the site is overseen by the National Park Service. Maintenance of the monument requires climbers to check and seal cracks annually. Due to budget constraints, the monument is not regularly cleaned in order to remove the lichens. However, in 2005, Alfred Kärcher, a German manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines, carried out a free cleaning operation that lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over 93°C.Further efforts to conserving the monument have included replacing the sealant originally applied to the cracks in the stone by Gutzon Borglum, which had proven ineffective in providing water resistance.
Records room
At first, Borglum considered the idea of building a large records room where America's most important historical documents and artifacts could be protected and displayed to tourists. He managed to start the project, but cut only 21m into the rock before work stopped in 1939 to focus on the faces. In 1998 a repository was built inside the mouth of the cave containing 16 enameled panels with biographical and historical information about Mount Rushmore, as well as the texts of documents that Borglum wanted preserved. The tank consists of a teak wood box inside a titanium vault set in the ground with a granite capstone. The components of Borglum's sealant included linseed oil, granite powder and white lead, but it is now used a modern silicone substitute for cracks, disguised with granite dust.
Conservation
The conservation of the site is overseen by the National Park Service. Maintenance of the monument requires climbers to check and seal cracks annually. Due to budget constraints, the monument is not regularly cleaned in order to remove the lichens. However, in 2005, Alfred Kärcher, a German manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines, carried out a free cleaning operation that lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over 93°C.Further efforts to conserving the monument have included replacing the sealant originally applied to the cracks in the stone by Gutzon Borglum, which had proven ineffective in providing water resistance.
In 1998, electronic tracking devices were installed to follow the movement in the topology of the sculpture with an accuracy of three millimeters. The area 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. These data were made accessible to the public through the Internet.
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