Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is a famous mountain and memorial near Keystone, South Dakota in the United States. It has the heads of four of America's presidents carved on it: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.^[1] The Mount Rushmore Memorial is a part of the United States Presidential Memorial, which covers 1,278.45 acres (5.17 km²)^[2] and is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level (altitude).^[3]

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial with carvings of the heads of (from left) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

History

Before the memorial was carved, the native Lakota Indian Tribes called the mountain "Six Grandfathers". Later, the mountain was named after Charles E. Rushmore, a well-known later, after an expedition in 1885.^[source?] The memorial was carved to help increase tourism in the Black Hills, where the mountain was. Doane Robinson first formed the idea in 1923.^[4] Robinson convinced many influential people in the United States government to build the memorial. Congress soon allowed construction to begin.

After gaining Congress's approval, Gutzon Borglum, a famous American sculptor, was hired to begin the project.^[5]

The work of carving the heads began on March 3, 1925. It was completed on October 31, 1941.