Mount Rushmore

 

Yesterday was a day for dead Presidents and Deadwood!!  After our buffet breakfast, we left the Custer State Park Game Resort at 8:30 on our way to Mount Rushmore.  About an hour later we arrived and headed to the Grand Terrace.   I'd only ever seen pictures of the memorial so seeing it in person was fascinating.  It certainly seemed a lot bigger than I imagined.  

We took a short stroll on part of the Presidential Walk where you can get all kinds of viewpoints. Then we went to the Sculptors Center where they had one of the models.  Nine models in total were created and this was the final one, version 9.0.

The sculpture has quite a history.  It started as an idea from South Dakota historian Doane Robinson who had seen how a Confederate mountain sculpture called Stone Mountain in Georgia had been attracting tourists (and their money) to that area. How could he do that in South Dakota?  His idea was to have a sculpture of frontier heroes such as Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea and Buffalo Bull Cody.  He started discussions with Gutzon Borglum, the Stone Mountain sculptor. Gutzon had a very different idea to include significant Presidents that had shaped the nation. He agreed to do the sculpture only if this was the theme. 

Mount Rushmore was chosen as the location since it had granite and also faced southeast, providing the most amount of sunlight during the day. Work started in 1927 and the faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Originally the plan was to  show the Presidents from head to waist.  Only Washington has any significant detail below the chin. Unfortunately funding ran out and construction officially ended on October 31st, 1941.  Gutzon had also died unexpectedly earlier that year and his son had to complete the sculpture.   It was just a short time before the United States was to enter World War II.  Did you also know that the sculpture is named "Shrine of Democracy"?

The land where the monument is located is also controversial.  The Sioux tribe said the land belonged to them and was stolen. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that only compensation was owed to the Sioux tribe in the form of $102 million USD.  The Sioux refused that, only wanting the land and the dispute is still unsettled as far as they are concerned. 

During construction many changes had to be made based on the conditions of the granite on the mountain. Originally, Jefferson was supposed to be to the left of Washington. Carving started and soon it became obvious there wasn't enough rockface. So Jefferson was then started to the right of Washington. As Jefferson's face was being completed, a large piece of quartz would have been right above his lip. It would have looked like a cold sore!!  Quartz is not able to be carved,  so the orientation of his face was changed slightly so he looks more toward than the other Presidents. For Roosevelt, the front facing rock was also not suitable so his carving had to be further back.

After two hours at the memorial we boarded the bus and took an hour ride to Deadwood, the historical mining town. Perhaps more infamously known as where Wild Bull Hickok was killed with the Dead Man's Hand.  We had forty five minutes of free time so we explored Main Street and had a root beer float before it was time for a bus tour of downtown and a visit to the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok is buried alongside Calamity Jane.  That tour was an hour and right afterwards we boarded our coach for the forty minute drive to Spearfish Canyon Lodge where we'd be for the night. We checked into our room and then took a one mile hike to Roughlock Falls.