Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture’s design and oversaw the project’s execution from 1927 to 1941. The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation’s birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively. Mount Rushmore was known to the Lakota Sioux as ‘The Six Grandfathers’ or ‘Cougar Mountain’
About Mount Rushmore in brief
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture’s design and oversaw the project’s execution from 1927 to 1941. The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation’s birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively. Mount Rushmore was known to the Lakota Sioux as ‘The Six Grandfathers’ or ‘Cougar Mountain’ The memorial park covers 1,278 acres and the actual mountain has an elevation of 5,725 feet above sea level. The original plan was to make the granite carvings in the Black Hills known as the Needles, but this was rejected because of the poor quality of the granite and strong opposition from the LakOTA, who consider the area sacred ground. The battle that took place in 1890 between the US Army and the Native Americans is known as ‘Wounded Knee Massacre’ and is still disputed by the U.S. Government. The monument has come to epitomize the loss of their sacred lands and the injustices they’ve suffered under the US government, according to historian Dee Brown’s account of the event. It was originally intended to lure tourists, representing the wild grandeur of its local geography but also the triumph of modern civilization over that geography through its anthropomorphic representation. In 1924, South Dakota historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea of carving the likenesses of noted figures into the mountains of South Dakota in order to promote tourism in the region. He joked with colleagues about naming the mountain after himself after Charles E.
Rushmore. The United States Board of Geographic Names officially recognized the name ‘Mount Rushmore’ in June 1930. The mountain was on the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. It is also known as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain, and Keystone Cliffs. The four presidential faces were carved into the granite with the intention of symbolizing \”an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans\”. The mountain also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure, which is why it was chosen to be carved on a hillside. The sculptor and tribal representatives settled on Mount Rush more than a century ago. The U. S. Government promised the Sioux territory, including the entirety of the Black hills, in the Treaty of 1868. That lasted only until the discovery of gold on the land, and soon after white settlers migrated to the area in the 1870s. The federal government then forced the Sioux to relinquish the black Hills portion of their reservation. In 1876, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that is still dispute on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of1868. The US Senator from South Dakota, Peter Norbeck, sponsored the project and secured federal funding. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941.
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This page is based on the article Mount Rushmore published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
