On October 4, 1927, Gutzon Borglum and his 400 workers began carving one of America’s biggest unfinished projects: Mount Rushmore. This colossal construction, which was blasted out of a South Dakota mountain over the course of 14 years, attracts millions of visitors annually and is one of the most famous monuments in America. And yet, the four faces nestled into that rocky promontory are only a portion of Borglum’s original vision for the site, one which wasn’t realized largely due to the sheer size of the undertaking.
It began when Doane Robinson, the official state historian for South Dakota, proposed to his representatives in Congress that the state construct a monumental attraction to draw more visitors to the area. His initial thoughts of carving the likenesses of currently notable figures fell flat, but he pushed on campaigning. He contacted Gutzon Borglum, who had established a name as a prominent sculptor and had just walked off the site of a massive carving in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and convinced him to travel to the black hills to view the proposed site. Borglum was intrigued, but wanted to make the figures, and the entire monument, devoted to American history and reverence of past Presidents. With this new focus, the project won funding from Congress and work began.
Despite having a name that suggests he walked out of a Star Wars screenplay, Gutzon Borglum was a born and bred American. Originally from Idaho, he grew up in Omaha before traveling to Paris for a stint to study sculpture. His career was defined both by his patriotic works, including Mount Rushmore and a massive bust of Abraham Lincoln that sat in Teddy Roosevelt’s White House, and by his less than palatable contributions. These works memorialized southern heroes of the Civil War and were often commissioned by members of the KKK, an organization Borglum had definite ties to and may have even been a member of himself. Regardless, Borglum attacked Mount Rushmore with the vigor of a man truly inspired by American history.
His original plan called for a sculpture depicting the waist-up figures of the four Presidents chosen, accompanied by an equally gargantuan plaque in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase. The plaque would feature eight foot tall golden lettering that celebrated the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other important moments in American history. He unveiled the sculptures one by one, beginning with Washington’s face in 1934. Borglum arranged for women from the area to sew a massive American flag to drape over Washington’s face for the unveiling: the man had a sense of occasion.
As is wont to happen when you are carving six-story faces out of a mountainside in the remote wilderness, complications arose. The crews moved on to Jefferson’s likeness, which was to be to the left of Washington, however Borglum was dissatisfied with the quality of the rock on that part of the mountain and ordered it destroyed. Jefferson’s head was then placed to the right of Washington’s. Similar inconsistencies in the rock of the mountain forced Borglum to further shift his plans, abandoning his Louisiana Purchase plaque and placing Lincoln’s face where it would have stood. To replace the plaque, Borglum decided to bore out a grand hall inside the mountain that would house important artifacts like the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
As we know, today’s Mount Rushmore contains only a small portion of Borglum’s vision. As the project dragged on, continued federal funding became an issue, especially when war was on the horizon in the late 1930’s. The project was dealt a major blow with Borglum’s sudden death in 1941. While he had been the creative vision and master sculptor, he had also been the project’s most vocal booster, garnering financial funding and other considerations necessary to further progress. With Borglum gone, his son took over, but the project quickly fizzled out. Work simply stopped one day, and the monument was left as it stands today. Borglum’s grand hall, which was only partially finished at the time, has since had a vault added that now contains porcelain facsimiles of notable founding documents - hardly something that would have impressed Borglum. While it may not have achieved Gutzon Borglum’s aspirations, Mount Rushmore is still one of the most impressive and formidable monuments throughout the world, and stands testament to his ambitious vision and skill as a sculptor.