Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is a monumental sculpture in South Dakota depicting four U.S. presidents carved into granite in the Black Hills.

Gutzon Borglum: An American sculptor who designed and directed the carving of Mount Rushmore. Borglum conceived the monument and led its carving until his death in 1941.
Granite: A coarse-grained igneous rock composed mainly of quartz, feldspar, and mica. Its durable granite face made the mountain suitable for monumental carving.
Thomas Jefferson: The third president of the United States and principal author of the Declaration of Independence. His face represents the nation’s territorial expansion and its founding ideals.
Indian land claims: Legal and political claims by Indigenous nations concerning lands taken or held by the United States. The Black Hills’ transfer to the United States remains disputed by the Lakota.
Doane Robinson: A South Dakota historian who proposed carving a monument in the Black Hills to attract visitors. Robinson’s tourism proposal began the project that became Mount Rushmore.
Blasting: The controlled use of explosives to break rock or other material. Workers removed most of the mountain’s stone with carefully controlled dynamite blasts.
Theodore Roosevelt: The 26th president of the United States, associated with conservation and progressive reform. His face represents the nation’s development and its early twentieth-century leadership.
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868): An agreement that recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. The treaty provides the historical basis for Lakota claims to the Black Hills.
Black Hills: A mountain range and upland region in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. Mount Rushmore was carved into a granite peak in this region.
Pointing machine: A mechanical device that transfers measurements from a model to a larger sculpture. Borglum’s team used pointing devices to scale facial features onto the mountain.

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