Mount+Rushmore

Mount Rushmore By Bethany Feik

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the face of Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, by Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum. Mount Rushmore shows the 18 metre heads of four US presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Doane Robinson, a South Dakota historian, came up with the idea of carving statues of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota to promote tourism in the area, but Gutzon Borglum dismissed the idea, due to the poor quality of granite and strong opposition from Native American groups, instead carving on Mount Rushmore. Robinson wanted the mountain to feature western heroes, like Lewis and Clark, the first expedition to cross the western part of the US, but Borglum instead decided that the mountain should have well-known US presidents carved into its face. Mount Rushmore is South Dakota’s top tourist attraction. In 2012 it had 2 ,185,447 visitors. Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers worked on Mount Rushmo re National Memorial between October 4, 1927 to October 31, 1941.