Heroes of American History:
Mount Rushmore video, Construction History, Meaning, and Timeless Marvel
Mount Rushmore Video: History Behind The Making Of Mount Rushmore
A Hidden Chamber, an Unfinished Dream, and the Mystique of Mount Rushmore
By Janice Hisle
July 01, 2026Updated:July 03, 2026
Epoch Times
The world-famous American icon—which almost wasn’t built—will likely endure for millennia. It’s a major focal point for America’s 250th birthday this year. See article, pictures, and video at the link below the story about how this amazing monument came to be.
From No Name to World Fame
In 1885, when New York lawyer Charles E. Rushmore visited South Dakota, Mount Rushmore was not only faceless, but also nameless. Merely by asking a local man what that specific peak was called, he unwittingly became its namesake.
“Presidents had not been the intended subject, Borglum had not been the intended sculptor, and Rushmore had not been the intended mountain,” Smith wrote.
Instead, Robinson imagined depicting notable figures of the American West.
And he had asked Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft whether he could transform natural granite spires known as The Needles, 20 miles southwest of Rushmore, into representations of Buffalo Bill Cody and Sioux Chief Red Cloud.
After months of attempting to persuade Taft, who was ailing, Robinson contacted Borglum. The sculptor and many other artists of his time believed that artwork on a grand scale “has a permanence to it that transcends time,” Jones said.
An admirer of New York City’s Statue of Liberty and its powerful symbolism, Borglum wanted to create a landmark of national significance—not one with more limited, regional appeal, Jones said.
He believes that Borglum was trying to convey that the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence “still live on and are visually manifested by the carving on this mountain.”
Borglum “was aware of the lasting legacy of his vision,” the park service said.
The sculptor once said, “If I can memorialize for the ages a tiny bit of America’s greatness by carving four of her leaders who contributed so much to this greatness, then I will have contributed something of value to the affairs of man.”
A narrative titled “The Meaning of Mount Rushmore,” which was inscribed on one of the 16 hidden porcelain panels, states that Borglum carved the four American presidents because they “symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the nation was founded,” according to a transcript of a park service record.
Mount Rushmore Presidents
The panel also explains why Borglum chose each of the four presidents: “George Washington signifies the struggle for independence and the birth of the Republic; Thomas Jefferson, the territorial expansion of the country; Abraham Lincoln, the permanent union of the states, and equality for all citizens; and Theodore Roosevelt, the 20th-century role of the United States in world affairs and the rights of the common man.”
Mount Rushmore Construction: Precision and Peril
In the meantime, working on Mount Rushmore was so perilous, “it’s astonishing that no one was killed,” Jones said on a 2025 podcast.
Workers started their day by climbing 700 steps to the mountaintop.
There, some of them would hand-crank a winch that raised and lowered coworkers who were strapped into “bosun chairs”—leather harnesses suspended on steel cables.
Workers hovered hundreds of feet above the ground, following Borglum’s directives.
After crafting scale models of the presidents’ heads, he devised a method for transferring their proportions onto the mountainside.
Based on those specifications, workers called “pointers” marked spots for drillers to bore holes.
Then, powdermen would “set charges of dynamite of specific sizes to remove precise amounts of rock,” the park service said.
During those excavations, 450,000 tons of granite tumbled to the ground, where they remain today. About 90 percent of it was removed with dynamite, making Rushmore a rare example of a sculpture crafted primarily with dynamite, Jones’s podcast points out.
Also, Borglum insisted on a written description to preserve the identities and significance of Rushmore’s enshrinees.
In 1939, he famously stated, “You may as well drop a letter into the world’s postal service without an address or signature, as to send that carved mountain into history without identification.”
Mount Rushmore Faces
As the rough shape of each face began emerging, Borglum would calibrate adjustments. Then he would order blasting to cease.
Next, workers drilled holes side by side to “weaken the granite so it could be removed,” the park service said. Each day, this process dulled hundreds of drill bits. A blacksmith stayed busy sharpening them.
In the final stages, workers smoothed the surfaces with tools such as pneumatic hammers.
To create the mesmerizing quality of each president’s gaze, Borglum engineered an optical illusion.
After carving a rounded opening in the center of each eye, workers carefully removed granite until a slightly rectangular peg remained, protruding beyond the edge of the eye.
Viewed from a distance, they appear as “highlights in the dark pupils that surround them,” Smith wrote, bringing “the expression and sparkle of life” to the inanimate stone.
Complete but Not Finished
The final of the four sculptures, Roosevelt’s, was dedicated in July 1939. Some detailed revisions were needed on the presidents, and Borglum remained insistent about adding the hall.
As of early 1941, months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor would force the United States to enter World War II, Borglum was still working on funding proposals.
He viewed Rushmore as an everlasting symbol of the American Dream that he cherished, Smith wrote.
“And Mount Rushmore, his supreme achievement, had become his obsession, reason for living, ticket to immortality,” Smith wrote.
But in March, Borglum underwent a minor surgery that led to his death from a blood clot, just shy of his 74th birthday.
When the sculptor died on March 6, 1941, so did his dreams for additions to Rushmore.
His son, Lincoln Borglum, who had helped work on the monument for years, directed workmen as they put finishing touches on the presidential hairstyles, Roosevelt’s facial features, and Washington’s collar and lapels.
At 4 p.m. on Oct. 31, 1941, “the mountain for the last time echoed the chatter of bumpers and the clamor of drills,” Smith wrote.
Mount Rushmore went silent once more.
Read the entire article and don’t miss more fascinating photos at this link below:
Leave a Reply