Work on Mt. Rushmore Began on this Day!

On this day in 1927, sculpting begins on the face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota. It would take another 12 years for the impressive granite images of four of America’s most revered and beloved presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt--to be completed.

The monument was the brainchild of a South Dakota historian named Doane Robinson, who was looking for a way to attract more tourists to his state. He hired a sculptor named Gutzon Borglum to carve the faces into the mountain. According to the National Park Service, the first face to be chiseled was George Washington’s; Borglum first sculpted the head as an egg shape, his features added later. Thomas Jefferson’s image was originally fashioned in the space to the right of Washington, but, within two years, the face was badly cracked. Workers had to blast the sculpture off the mountain using dynamite. Borglum then started over with Jefferson situated on the left side of Washington.

Washington’s face was the first to be completed in 1934. Jefferson’s was dedicated in 1936--with then-president Franklin Roosevelt in attendance--and Lincoln’s was completed a year later. In 1939, Teddy Roosevelt’s face was completed. The project, which cost $1 million, was funded primarily by the federal government.

Borglum continued to touch up his work at Mount Rushmore until he died suddenly in 1941. Borglum had originally hoped to also carve a series of inscriptions into the mountain, outlining the history of the United States.

Borglum also worked on the sculpture at Stone Mountain, Georgia, however because of disputes he retired from the project. Later others worked on the creating a sculpture in honor of the Confederacy and finally was completed in 1972 with the images of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.

Borglum, who went on to create the sculpture at Mt Rushmore was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

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Whew, it’s early. We have to leave at 3:30 for the airport.
Had a water leak at the Christian Revival Center and so I was over there yesterday morning doing plumbing work. It didn’t take long.

Yesterday we also recorded another edition of This is the Klan for our internet TV show and also recorded an edition for the Global Minority Report radio show.

Then got packed and went to bed, not as early as I wanted. We have to be at the airport about 6:30 am and it is 2 ½ hours from here so we have to get on the road.

We meet with the court ordered mediator tomorrow and then meet for a deposition with opposing counsel at 1 pm on Monday.

I am not sure if I will be able to send anything up to my blog until Wednesday, October 20th. So if you don’t see anymore until then you will know why. Otherwise there will be more reports.

Again, I am hoping to see a lot of you in Pulaski on October 20th.

Don’t forget the Winter Fellowship Conference on December 1 and 2.

God bless!