Mount Rushmore...and mountain goats!!!

Our next president?

On Friday, September 7th, we drove to Mount Rushmore National Monument. The impression of the carving in mere photographs is of a static sculpture, but to see it in person was absolutely magnificent. Conceived by Doane Robinson in 1923 as a way to draw tourists, the original idea was to sculpt giant head-to-toe statues of famous western American figures in the 'Needles' of the Black Hills. Robinson suggested men integral to the history of the west, such as Chief Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody and others. After consulting with famed sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the concept changed several times until both the location and the subject differed from Robinson's first idea.

Borglum chose Mount Rushmore for several reasons. The first reason was very practical. The granite spires of the needles region of the Black Hills were too weathered and of granite too poor in quality to sculpt. Secondly, being a man of big ideas and wanting a lot of visibility, the Mount Rushmore site offered views of the work from many areas including the town of Keystone. Artistically, Mount Rushmore's southeasterly facing would also provide the work the most hours of sunlight each day.

Utilizing over 400 men, 14 years of time and more than twice the original estimated budget, Borglum worked tirelessly on his crowning achievement. Beginning in 1927 until his death in 1941 at age 74, Borglum controlled virtually every aspect of the monument's design, construction and fundraising. Following his untimely death in March that year, the sculptor's son, Lincoln, took over the project until October when he appeared in front of Congress to proclaim its completion (predicated on the sudden lack of funding due to the advent of the U.S.'s involvement in WWII).

6 foot model faces

Through one of the tunnels on
Iron Mountain Road

We toured the Lincoln Borglum Museum whose exhibits tell the story of the monument's many design changes, due to structural issues in the granite as well as the invisibility of certain discarded ideas, namely the Entablature. The Entablature was to be a 600 word description of the salient points of our country's history, but from a vantage point in the town of Keystone, Borglum could not make out the Roman numerals he had inscribed on it. Two years of work and thousands of dollars were scrapped to instead add a fourth president's face to the carving, Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president.

Borglum chose these four presidents in particular for their contributions to the nation. While on a fascinating ranger walk, we learned from Ranger Jerry that the sculptor considered Washington the 'foundation' of the nation as an integral part of our fight for independence and then our first president. (Jerry regaled our large tour group with a very interesting history lesson and our 30 minute ranger walk turned into the best 50 minute history lesson either of us has ever taken. We would gladly have listened to more.)

Ranger Jerry

Next Jerry mentioned that Borglum chose Lincoln for the monument because he represents the 'preservation' of our nation. At a time of intense Civil War and a possible fracturing of the states into separate countries, Lincoln kept an eye to the founding fathers' accomplishments in securing the colonies' independence from Britain and sought to preserve the country for which they had fought so diligently.

Jerry said that Jefferson's inclusion had to do with his 'expansion' of the nation through the timely purchase in 1803 of the Louisiana Territory from France while Napoleon waged war in Europe. As important to the purchase was the Lewis and Clark Expedition, sent by Jefferson, to explore the new land, thus opening up its settlement. Additionally, Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, a document central to our country's basic beliefs and values.

The 'completed' Mt. Rushmore in Borglum's studio

Lastly, Jerry told us that Borglum included Teddy Roosevelt for his 'development' of the nation through the many national parks, monuments, historic sites, wildlife refuges, grasslands, bird sanctuaries and other areas reserved for the continued enjoyment of generations of Americans. What a legacy, one we've certainly enjoyed on this trip. He also negotiated the construction of the Panama Canal and worked to end corporate monopolies in America.

At 60 feet high each, the faces of the four presidents stand as a lasting monument to our country's founding principles. But to be sure future generations (or conquering aliens or zombies) understand, copies of the most important documents (such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation and others) were etched in porcelain and sealed into a giant time capsule behind the presidents' heads where Borglum envisioned his un-funded 'Hall of Records'. The Hall of Records was supposed to have held the busts of 25 important Americans leaders, the original documents of the country's founding, as well as a museum, all at the top of an 800 foot flight of stairs. Congress rejected the idea after only the entrance way and a short hallway had been carved.

At Borglum's Studio, we listened to a ranger discussing the tools used to carve the mountain. Ninety percent of the carving was accomplished with dynamite, the remainder with air drills, bumping tools, and chisel and hammer. The result was astonishing. Borglum managed to achieve a surface on the faces as smooth as poured concrete, chiseled from granite so hard it erodes only an inch every 10,000 years. Wow.

Fudg-alo!!!

We finished the up hill climb of the half mile Presidential Trail Loop, walking past an old mountain goat almost asleep in the woods next to the stairs. He didn't seem nearly as impressed as us by the magnitude of the monument.

After an ice cream cone and the required purchase of a 'fudg-alo' (a buffalo-shaped cookie cutter filled with fudge), we set off for the remainder of the scenic Iron Mountain Road drive. We turned onto Needles Highway under significantly prettier skies than yesterday in search of the not very elusive wildlife of Custer State Park.

Cathedral Spires formation

'Needles' of the Black Hills

Though we did not see any buffaloes, pronghorns or deer, we were rewarded with outstanding views of the Needles jutting from between the ponderosa pines and quaking aspens. The Cathedral Spires formation comprise a group of tall thin granite spires, the thinnest of which a pair of rock climbers were about to ascend when we happened by them.

Just beyond the rock climbers we came to 'goat jam', a small traffic jam caused by the same four mountain goats we had seen the day before. Ken graciously stopped so I could snap 2 million pictures of them, so many I could probably construct a flip book to animate them as they ate the leaves of a weed, snacked on the fallen branches of a pine tree and climbed over the rocks on the hillside next to the car.

Elated after seeing my long-faced, beady-eyed pals, we drove on to the Eye of the Needle and took more pictures of the spectacular spires around it. Content I had exhausted both the camera's battery and picture capacity, we headed back to the RV.

Eye of the Needle

The stunningly scenic drives around Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park can be blamed on former senator Peter Norbeck, a man with a vision to bring the beauty of the area to all its visitors. The Needles Highway was Norbeck's first scenic road through the Black Hills. Begun in 1919, his engineer, Scovell Johnson, cut a winding trail through the wilderness within two years' time and with 150,000 pounds of dynamite. In 1933, after the start of the Mount Rushmore carving, Norbeck designed the three tunnels of Iron Mountain Road to face the emerging sculpture, a project for which he sponsored legislation to federally fund in 1929. In order to connect the three tunnels, Custer State Park Superintendent, C.C. Gideon, designed a series of spiral bridges (now called the 'Pigtail Bridges') to lift the travelers from one level to another instead of adding miles of extra roadway. Brilliant!

He's just a little guy!

Ken fixed us a super dinner after which we strolled along the shoreline of the Pactola Lake, picking up trash. From our informal assessment, we deduced that not only are the litterers not recyclers, nor apparently capable of utilizing the nearby dumpster, but they also have bad taste in beer with Bud and Bud Light representing the majority of our can collection. Oi. We retired to the coach for what little remained of the evening, playing cards until well into the night. What a spectacular day!