Mt. Rushmore, June 27

Today is Day 10 of our trip west to link up with the Alaskan Caravan.  We awoke to cooler weather with the temperatures dropped from 100+ to a more comfortable 75F.  Temps ran into the mid 80’s during the day and are now around 70 tonight. 

We drove to Mt Rushmore this morning to visit the monument.  It’s as dramatic as it was 40 years ago when we first saw it.  The only changes were the vastly improved surroundings all in granite.  The heads on the monument are 60 feet tall and were built to a 1:12in scale devised by Sculptor Borglum.  Washington’s nose is 21 ft. high with eyes that are 11 feet wide.  South Dakota businessman Doane Robinson approached Lincoln Borglum in 1924 with a proposal to carve American heroes (Chief Red Cloud, Lewis & Clark, Buffalo Bill Cody and Sioux warriors) into the Black Hills as a tourist attraction.  After visiting the proposed site, Borglum advised Robinson that he had picked the right sculptor, but he had no intention of spending his life immortalizing local heroes.  Four presidents were finally selected who represented key visions of the country: Washington as the Father of the Country, Jefferson for his role in the Declaration of Independence and his plan for freedom and national sovereignty, Lincoln as the Great Emancipator and Theodore Roosevelt for his vision of America’s role in the world.  Borglum began work on the actual carvings in 1927 with President Coolidge’s backing.  He worked on the monument until his death in March 1941 at the age of 73.  His son, Lincoln, completed the monument in October 1941.