The Making of Mount Rushmore
The 70th anniversary of the completion of the South Dakota monument prompts a look back at what it took to create it
- By Megan Gambino
- Smithsonian.com, October 31, 2011
(National Park Service)
Mount Rushmore was part of federal land, and with the help of Robinson and other heavyweight supporters, including Rapid City mayor John Boland, South Dakota Congressman William Williamson and Senator Peter Norbeck, Borglum was able to get the mountain set aside for his project. The actual carving, funded at first by individuals and community organizations, began in 1927.
At Congressman Williamson’s urging, President Coolidge spent the summer of 1927 in the Black Hills. Impressed by Borglum’s vision, he invited the sculptor back to Washington, D.C., to discuss federal funding. By 1929, the Mount Rushmore bill was passed, ensuring that the government would provide up to $250,000, or half of the estimated cost of the memorial, by matching private donations. Over the 14 years spent constructing the memorial, funding was always an issue. In the end, the project cost nearly $1 million, about 85 percent of which came, according to Bracewell, from federal funds.
About 30 men at any given time, and 400 in total, worked on the monument, in a variety of capacities. Blacksmiths forged tools and drill bits. Tramway operators oversaw the shuttling of equipment from the base of the mountain to the work zone. There were drillers and carvers strapped into bosun chairs, and men who, by hand, worked the winches that lowered them. Call boys, positioned to see both the skilled laborers and the winch houses barked instructions to the winch operators. And, powder men cut sticks of dynamite to certain lengths and placed them in holes to blast out sections of the granite.
Ninety percent of the mountain was carved using dynamite. “The workers were so skilled, knowing how much dynamite you needed to use to blast off rock, that they were able to get within about three to five inches of the final faces,” says Bracewell.
Borglum had used a massive projector at night to cast his image of Confederate leaders onto Stone Mountain; his assistant traced the shape with white paint. But at Mount Rushmore, Borglum mounted a flat-panel protractor on each of the presidents’ heads with a large boom and a plumb bomb dangling from the boom. He had a similar device on a model. “His crew took thousands of measurements on the model and then went up to the mountain and translated it times 12 to recreate those measurements on the mountain,” says Bracewell. In red paint, they marked off certain facial features, what needed to be carved and how deep. To remove the remaining three to five inches of granite, the carvers used a honeycomb method. They pounded small holes into the stone using jackhammers and with a hammer and chisel broke off the honeycomb pieces. “They would just kind of pop off because the holes were close together,” says Bracewell. Then, the crew used a bumper tool with a rotating, multi-diamond drill bit head to buff the presidents’ skin smooth. When all was said and done, 800 million pounds of rock had been removed.
The process was amazingly successful, given the complexity of the task. No one died in the making of the monument. But the workers certainly hit some snags along the way. Thomas Jefferson was meant to be to the left of George Washington, but when the crew started carving there, they realized the rock on that side was not well suited. They blasted him off and put him to the right of Washington instead. The shift ended up moving Abraham Lincoln’s head into the area intended for the entablature, which was never added. Similarly, to find solid rock from which to carve Theodore Roosevelt, the workers had to plunge 80 feet back from the original face of the mountain.
Gutzon Borglum’s death, at age 73, on March 6, 1941, was the beginning of the end for the making of the monument. His son Lincoln took over in leading the project. But as the United States prepared for World War II, and federal funds were needed elsewhere, Congress shut down the construction of Mount Rushmore and declared the monument complete, as is, on October 31, 1941.
Comments (13)
this doesnt help atallll
Posted by gracie on September 19,2012 | 09:16 AM
I've been researching my geneology and I did know my family owned the lumber company that provided scaffolding & etc for the construction of the monument & upon reading this article I also was able to confirm my great great grandfather was the mayor of Rapid City! No wonder I felt at home when I vacationed in South Dakota for the Sturgis Rally. I love this state even more!
Posted by Jana Boland on July 6,2012 | 08:00 AM
My great grandfather is Chris Vranich. He is on the memorial wall and worked on the build of Mount Rushmore. Yesterday I received many photos. Among them are four photos of my grandfather working on Mount Rushmore. Another ten or so photos are of him with his wife and children with the mountain in the background, under progress of being built. Also a few photos of their home at the time, which was located at the base of the mountain. It got me looking around online and these are some wonderful photos shown here also!! Very beautiful.
Posted by Shasta Espeland on April 25,2012 | 09:04 PM
I like this monument because it contains the picture of best president.
Posted by Brook Y. on December 8,2011 | 02:51 PM
This is a really good article about the making of Rushmore. Also glad to see the mention of the Lakota opposition to it.
A lot of people forget the Black Hills were sacred ground to the Lakota Sioux. So, it's not surprising they were offended by this shrine to their oppressors.
I wish they'd been able to finish the Hall of Records behind Mount Rushmore. When you read about it, it sounds impressive.
Michael D Walker
Thorne Smith biographer
Posted by Michael D Walker on November 28,2011 | 05:16 PM
Great information. I remember visiting Mt. Rushmore during a field trip to our Gillette natural gas operations in Wyoming. It was a nice drive. I do hope someday consideration will be given to adding a fourth head to the monument, that of America's first black president and Noble peace laureate, Barack H. Obama.
Posted by Angelo Pinheiro on November 27,2011 | 09:31 PM
A very good and very balanced account of the construction of Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding issues is found in Judith StGeorge's book, The Mt. Rushmore Story.
Posted by Taza Keene on November 13,2011 | 08:34 PM
The monument should have been dedicated to Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, Red Cloud, and the other great Native American leaders, who are the true founding fathers.
Posted by Sioiux on November 11,2011 | 03:05 PM
This was a wonderful article. My family operated the National Park Concession for 40+ years so I had the privelege of growing up at Mt. Rushmore. It will always be home.
Posted by Kate Riordan Gordon on November 8,2011 | 04:25 PM
while I was reading this story, I admired those people who was build monument. This story is only a word with wonderful
Posted by Sinem Sipahioglu on November 4,2011 | 12:09 PM
Great summary story of the making of Mount Rushmore and the celebration of its 70th. year after completion. Nice piece to add the factual recentment that the Lakoda Indians have/had.
Posted by Carter Gilmer on November 4,2011 | 10:53 AM
Ann and I stayed below Mount Rushmore in June 2011 for a week. We truly loved every minute that we woke up and looked up at George Washington looking down upon us and the valley. We took hundreds of pictures of Mount Rushmore and the surrounding area. Those four (4) Presidents being above us made us SO proud. Thanks for keeping the area in such a lovely condition for everyone to come see and be proud of America and your area of our country. We WILL BE back in the future to view the area in the future.
Posted by John E. O'Shea on November 3,2011 | 09:08 PM
Great story, and balanced regarding American Indian views of Mt. Rushmore. My grandmother corresponded with many artists of the time, including Gutzon Borglum.
It was probably gold prospectors panning for gold who invaded, rather than panhandlers.
Posted by Richard Merrill on November 3,2011 | 04:39 PM