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The gigantic sculptures, over 18 meters high each, were made using a lot of dynamite. The curious thing is that Mount Rushmore – in the US state of South Dakota – could have received other faces. In 1923, historian Doane Robinson, from the Historical Society of South Dakota, had the idea of sculpting, in the mound, the figure of several personalities of the American Old West, such as Buffalo Bill.
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum – former student of the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917) – liked the project but proposed that the tribute be paid to former presidents of the country, with the aim of attracting the attention and support of those who are always patriotic Americans. The advice was accepted and the construction of the immense faces of George Washington (president from 1789 to 1797), Thomas Jefferson (1801 to 1809), Abraham Lincoln (1861 to 1865) and Theodore Roosevelt (1901 to 1909) – four of the former presidents most important and known until then – began in 1927. The granite of Mount Rushmore is among the hardest stones in the world. Therefore, 90% of the rocks, around 450 thousand tons, were removed with dynamite.
The rest had to be whittled away with steel wedges, the marks of which were later removed with small air guns. The sculptures took 14 years to complete and, despite the dangerous routine of work, no worker died. The Mount Rushmore setting was immortalized in the movie North by Northwest, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959. The director was not authorized to make the final sequence on the monument and built part of the set in the studio. Hitchcock wanted to film a chase on Lincoln’s nose, but those responsible for the park where the sculptures are located considered that the situation would be embarrassing for the monument’s reputation…
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