Making Mount Rushmore
The story of an extraordinary American undertaking
President Calvin Coolidge speaks at the dedication of Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Aug. 10, 1927.
(Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service, photographer Charles D'Emery)Borglum had originally conceived of the figures with more detail — including clothing and limbs. But the mounta
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum on a ladder with his model, c. 1936.
(Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo)The workers were paid $8 an hour, which is more than $100 an hour by today's standards. But the work was brutal and dangerous. They had to e
Mount Rushmore on Aug. 15, 1927. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum has marked off the rock for carving.
(AP Photo)
The blasting of Abraham Lincoln's sculpture.
(Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service, photographer Charles D'Emery)
Drillers, suspended in harnesses and fastened with cables to the winches at the top of the mountain, work on George Washington on July, 22, 1929. Gutzon Borglum, sculptor, directs the carving from a projecting ledge at the left.
(AP Photo)
Winch houses were built on top of Mount Rushmore during the construction. Workers in harnesses attached to steel cables would be raised and lowered by the winches while they worked on the carving.
(Photo courtesy of the National Park Service, photographer Lincoln Borglum)
(Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service, photographer Charles D'Emery)
(ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo)
A staged photo of Jefferson's eye.
(Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service, photographer Charles D'Emery)
Guzman Borglum and his son, Lincoln, use the tramway.
(Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service, photographer Charles D'Emery)
