Mount Rushmore

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial was created between 1927 and 1941. It was designed and sculplted by artist/sculptor Gutzon Borglum as his last great work with the help of nearly 400 local workers. Using hoists, pneumatic drills, and dynamite, they created the images of four US presidents in the granite face of Mount Rushmore at Harney Peak. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are memorialized there.

The peak's elevation of 7,242 feet is the highest point between the Rockies and the Swiss Alps. Dynamite did the majority of the work in removing the necessary rock and shaping the faces. It is said that dynamite removed 90% of the 450,000 tons of the granite.

Once the majority of the granite was removed, workers used drills to honeycomb and then chisels and hammers to "bump" out more granite, and finally a penurmatic drill with a special bit to create a smooth, contoured surface.

The heads of the four presidents are approximately 60 feet tall and can be viewed from the roadway along Highway 16. Below, I have a profile picture of George Washington taken from the road.

However, the massive faces are best viewed fron the Grandview Terrace near the Lincoln Borglum Museum on Mount Rushmore National Memorial grounds. Visitors can also hike along the .5 mile Presidential Trail to gain closer views of the sculpture. Most of the photos I've posted on this page were taken along this trail. (The trail is paved/boardwalk but does have a number of steps.)

There are a number of guided tours and also an audio tour that allows visitors to rent a handheld wand to guide their own tour. Near the conclusion of the Presidential Trail tour, visitors can also stop in the Sculptors Stuidio to learn more about how the monument was created.

There is no admission fee to view the Mount Rushmore National Memorial but there is a $10 parking fee. Ranger interpretative programs and ceremonies are also free, but if visitors choose a local service for tours, there will of course be a fee charged by that service.

Several years after Mount Rushmore was finished sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was asked by Chief Henry Standing Bear to create a similar memorial to Crazy Horse. It is not yet a finished work and funding for it's completion is dependent upon doations and admission fees. In the end, it should stand 563 feet tall and depict Crazy Horse sitting atop his horse.

I was unable to visit this memorial in progress due to my limited time, but I did catch a glimpse of it from the road and the face was clearly visible. I have included a photo by Jim Bowen lower on this page of the Crazy Horse Memorial.