Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States. This mammoth stone monument — featuring the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt — sees over 2 million annual visitors. Culturally, the monument represents patriotic values while also serving as a reminder of the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples. But from an architectural perspective, its design is both innovative and ingenious. Take a look at how this larger-than-life monument was created.
The Vision
In 1924, Doane Robinson, then the state historian for South Dakota, contacted sculptor Gutzon Borglum to discuss his idea for building a monument that could attract unprecedented levels of tourism to the state. Initially, Robinson pitched the idea for a monument featuring the likenesses of figures such as explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and Lakota leader Red Cloud. His nascent vision sought to evoke images of the Old West, but Borglum had other ideas.
After agreeing to work on the project, Borglum pivoted to designing a large-scale monument dedicated to presidents who played a key role in the country’s early success and westward expansion. He settled on Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, whom he believed represented the country’s birth, growth, preservation, and development, respectively. It took several years for Borglum to acquire enough funding to begin construction, which finally commenced in 1927.
The Controversy
Before Mount Rushmore became the monument we know today, the mountain had long served as a sacred site for the Lakota Nation, who called it Tunkasila Sakpe Paha (Six Grandfathers Mountain). The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie reaffirmed Lakota Sioux ownership of the land, but after gold was discovered, the U.S. government forcibly seized it in 1877. Today, many Native Americans still believe that it should be returned to its rightful owners. Adding to the controversy, Borglum had ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Despite all these concerns, the project went on as planned.
The Construction
Designing the 60-foot-tall heads of Mount Rushmore required both incredible skill and the use of innovative engineering technologies. In 1927, workers constructed an entire village from scratch at the base of the mountain, installing a cable car to take workers and supplies up and down the mountain. A winch house was also installed atop the granite, from which sculptors could be carefully lowered down to precise locations.
Workers used a process called honeycombing, which involved cutting a honeycomblike design into the granite with jackhammers powered by air compression, which made the stone weak enough to remove parts by hand. This allowed for greater precision than simply blasting away at the rock with dynamite.
Borglum also mapped a 5-foot-tall model of his design onto the much larger rock face. He utilized a technique dating back to ancient Greece, in which sculptors replicated existing statues using what we know today as a pointing machine. These devices feature a needle and joints that can be fixed at an exact angle, which allows sculptors to measure exact distances on one model and then repeat those measurements onto another sculpture.
But nobody had ever really taken measurements from a smaller model and replicated them onto a larger subject. To solve this problem, Borglum proportioned his model at a 1:12 ratio so that inches could be easily converted to feet. He then built a giant pointing machine on the mountain, which he used to replicate thousands of specific points for each face that he had mapped out using his model.
Despite dwindling finances, work continued. Washington’s head was finally dedicated in 1930, Jefferson’s in 1936, Lincoln’s in 1937, and Roosevelt’s in 1939. What makes the Mount Rushmore project even more impressive is that no lives were lost during its lengthy and perilous construction.
Unfortunately, Borglum’s full vision never materialized, as he had initially hoped to carve each president’s torso down to their waist. But in 1941, America entered World War II, so funds were diverted away from the project. Sculptors were unable to progress much further, and Mount Rushmore was officially completed on October 31, 1941.
The Eyes
Among the most interesting details of the carved presidential faces are their 11-foot-wide eyes. This video from the educational YouTube channel Primal Space describes how Borglum made the eyes look so realistic, especially compared to ancient busts that often featured smooth, lifeless eyes.
Borglum opted to cut a deep hole into each pupil that would be permanently steeped in shadow. He also left an uncut square in the middle of each of those holes, which was meant to capture sunlight and reflect it back. The result was a success, giving each president’s eyes a remarkably lifelike appearance.
There are a few notable optical illusions regarding the eyes, too. If you view the face of Teddy Roosevelt from a distance, you might think he’s wearing pince-nez glasses. Only, he’s not wearing glasses at all — it’s just an illusion. Look closer, and you’ll see that there’s only a small part of the nosepiece and some ridges under his eyes, as Borglum chose to leave out his lenses and the earpieces entirely. Despite this decision, Roosevelt still looks as if he’s wearing eyeglasses when viewed from afar.
The Secret Room
Originally, Borglum envisioned a hall of records carved directly into Mount Rushmore that would explain the purpose of the monument to future generations. He proposed an 80-by-100-foot room that could be accessed by an 800-foot granite staircase. Not only would this room contain details about the project, but Borglum also hoped to store important national documents such as the Declaration of Independence here.
Work began on this secret chamber with the carving of an 18-foot-tall entryway behind Lincoln’s head, though that’s where progress ended. When Borglum passed away in 1941, the room was left incomplete, and no further work was done due to the limited available funds.
However, there was a small addition to the chamber in 1998, when 16 porcelain panels were installed within the existing entryway. These panels featured the text of the Declaration of Independence, along with biographical information about Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Borglum himself. Unfortunately, the room is off-limits to tourists due to the difficulty of access.
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