Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore National Memorial, September 2003

Our last stop in the Black Hills of South Dakota was Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The memorial, designed by Gutzon Borglum, was carved out of the granite mountain by blasting away most of the granite with dynamite, then a process called honeycombing was employed to clear the remaining granite. Workers would drill a series of holes close to each other, then chisel away at the remaining rock to reveal the face of each president. The existing sculpture is only a portion of the work that Borglum intended, but due to the unsuitability of the granite below the present sculpture, Borglum's death and America's impending involvement in World War II work on the memorial was completed in 1941.