Excerpt
Chapter 1: A Mountain Becomes Famous
Mount Rushmore is one of the most famous landmarks in the United States, and it’s not just because it has giant faces carved into a mountain. It’s because of what those faces represent. Standing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, these enormous stone figures aren’t just any people—they’re four of the most important leaders in American history. But before those faces appeared, before chisels and dynamite reshaped the granite, Mount Rushmore was just another mountain, part of a rugged and beautiful landscape that had been there for millions of years.
This place didn’t start off as a tourist attraction. It wasn’t even called Mount Rushmore at first. The Lakota Sioux, who lived in the Black Hills long before any sculptor set foot there, had their own name for it—Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, which means “Six Grandfathers.” To them, the Black Hills were sacred, a place of deep meaning and history. The mountains, the valleys, and the rivers weren’t just land; they were part of who they were.
Then, in the late 1800s, gold was discovered in the Black Hills. That changed everything. Prospectors and settlers flooded in, despite a treaty that had promised the land to the Lakota. It wasn’t long before the area was taken over by the United States government. More people arrived, towns popped up, and eventually, in 1885, a lawyer from New York named Charles Rushmore visited the area. The story goes that while he was there, he asked a local guide what the mountain’s name was. The guide shrugged and said, “It hasn’t got one, so we’ll name it after you.” Just like that, it became Mount Rushmore.
For a while, it was just another mountain. People in the area knew about it, but it wasn’t particularly special. That changed when Doane Robinson, a historian from South Dakota, came up with a bold idea. He wanted to carve enormous sculptures into the Black Hills—not of presidents, but of famous figures from the Old West, like explorers Lewis and Clark or Lakota leader Red Cloud. Robinson thought that if people had a reason to visit South Dakota, they’d bring money with them, and that could help the state grow. It was an ambitious plan, but he needed someone who could actually make it happen.
That’s where Gutzon Borglum came in. He was a sculptor with big ideas and an even bigger personality. When Robinson told him about the plan, Borglum agreed that carving into the mountain was a great idea—but he had a different vision. He didn’t want to make statues of cowboys or explorers. He wanted something bigger, something that told the story of the entire country. He chose four presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt—because each one represented something important about the United States: its birth, its expansion, its strength, and its progress.
Carving those faces wasn’t easy. This wasn’t like sculpting a statue out of clay. The rock was tough, the weather could be brutal, and every cut had to be carefully planned. If a mistake was made, it wasn’t like they could just start over. Workers dangled from ropes, drilling and blasting away the stone, turning a rugged cliffside into a national monument. It took 14 years, millions of pounds of dynamite, and a team of hardworking people to complete it. Even then, the original design had to be changed because money ran out before all the details could be finished.
When the work finally stopped in 1941, Mount Rushmore was unlike anything else in the world. It was massive—each face is about 60 feet tall, as high as a six-story building. People from all over came to see it, standing in awe of the sheer size and detail. Over time, it became more than just a tourist attraction. It became a symbol of America itself, a place that represented leadership, history, and the people who shaped the country.
But Mount Rushmore’s story doesn’t end with the last chisel strike. It’s still a place of conversation and debate. To many, it stands as a tribute to American history. To others, it’s a reminder of land that was taken and promises that were broken. The Black Hills were never meant to be carved, and for the Lakota Sioux, the monument isn’t a celebration—it’s a painful mark on land that was once theirs. Because of that, another massive carving is being made nearby—the Crazy Horse Memorial, dedicated to the Lakota leader who fought to protect his people’s land.
Where is Mount Rushmore?
Mount Rushmore sits in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a state right in the middle of the northern United States. It’s not near any massive cities or famous landmarks. If you looked at a map of the country, your eyes might slide past South Dakota without stopping. It doesn’t have beaches like California, skyscrapers like New York, or theme parks like Florida. But what it does have is something just as incredible—a mountain that was turned into a monument, one that has drawn millions of visitors to a quiet corner of the country.
Getting to Mount Rushmore isn’t like driving to a regular tourist spot. It’s not sitting along a highway where people can just stumble upon it. The closest airport is in Rapid City, about 35 miles away, but even from there, it’s a winding drive through forests, rocky hills, and curving roads that seem to hide the monument until you’re almost there. The Black Hills are covered in thick pine trees, which makes the landscape look darker from a distance—almost black—giving the hills their name. They’re not like the towering mountains of Colorado, but they’re rugged, steep, and full of hidden valleys, deep caves, and jagged cliffs.
The Black Hills weren’t always part of the United States. Before settlers arrived, the Lakota Sioux lived there, considering the land sacred. The hills were full of legends, important meeting places, and burial sites. Even today, the land carries deep meaning for many Native American tribes. That’s part of why Mount Rushmore’s location is complicated. The monument itself celebrates American history, but it was built on land that wasn’t originally meant to be part of the United States at all.
For a long time, the Black Hills were mostly untouched, with only small groups of settlers and traders passing through. That changed when gold was discovered in the 1870s. Thousands of people flooded the area, hoping to strike it rich, and soon, towns like Deadwood and Keystone sprang up. Keystone, the closest town to Mount Rushmore, started as a gold mining town, filled with wooden buildings, muddy streets, and people hoping to find fortune underground. Today, Keystone is still there, but instead of gold miners, it’s mostly filled with tourists, gift shops, and restaurants serving bison burgers and homemade fudge.
Once you’re near Mount Rushmore, the road leading up to it feels almost like a movie reveal. There’s a winding path through the trees, a few signs pointing the way, and then suddenly, the giant faces appear between the hills, peeking out from the rock. The closer you get, the bigger they seem, until you’re standing at the base of the monument, staring up at something that once seemed impossible.
Even though Mount Rushmore is surrounded by wilderness, it’s not just trees and rocks. The area around the monument is designed for visitors. There’s an avenue lined with state flags, a museum that tells the story of how it was built, and trails where people can walk closer to the mountain. Some people spend all day there, exploring the history, taking photos, and watching the light change on the stone as the sun moves across the sky. Others just stop for a quick look before heading to other famous sites in the Black Hills.
And there are plenty of other places to see. Just a short drive away is the Crazy Horse Memorial, a massive carving still under construction. Unlike Mount Rushmore, which was completed in the 1940s, Crazy Horse has been in progress for decades, with no clear finish date. If it’s ever completed, it will be even larger than Mount Rushmore. Then there’s Custer State Park, home to winding roads, towering rock formations, and huge herds of bison. Sometimes the bison take over the roads, blocking traffic for minutes at a time, as if they own the place—which, in a way, they do.
Beyond that, the Black Hills hold even more surprises. Wind Cave, one of the longest cave systems in the world, stretches for miles underground, filled with rare rock formations found almost nowhere else. Badlands National Park, not too far from Mount Rushmore, looks like a different planet, with jagged rock formations and deep canyons stretching in every direction.
Mount Rushmore is one of the most famous landmarks in the United States, and it’s not just because it has giant faces carved into a mountain. It’s because of what those faces represent. Standing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, these enormous stone figures aren’t just any people—they’re four of the most important leaders in American history. But before those faces appeared, before chisels and dynamite reshaped the granite, Mount Rushmore was just another mountain, part of a rugged and beautiful landscape that had been there for millions of years.
This place didn’t start off as a tourist attraction. It wasn’t even called Mount Rushmore at first. The Lakota Sioux, who lived in the Black Hills long before any sculptor set foot there, had their own name for it—Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, which means “Six Grandfathers.” To them, the Black Hills were sacred, a place of deep meaning and history. The mountains, the valleys, and the rivers weren’t just land; they were part of who they were.
Then, in the late 1800s, gold was discovered in the Black Hills. That changed everything. Prospectors and settlers flooded in, despite a treaty that had promised the land to the Lakota. It wasn’t long before the area was taken over by the United States government. More people arrived, towns popped up, and eventually, in 1885, a lawyer from New York named Charles Rushmore visited the area. The story goes that while he was there, he asked a local guide what the mountain’s name was. The guide shrugged and said, “It hasn’t got one, so we’ll name it after you.” Just like that, it became Mount Rushmore.
For a while, it was just another mountain. People in the area knew about it, but it wasn’t particularly special. That changed when Doane Robinson, a historian from South Dakota, came up with a bold idea. He wanted to carve enormous sculptures into the Black Hills—not of presidents, but of famous figures from the Old West, like explorers Lewis and Clark or Lakota leader Red Cloud. Robinson thought that if people had a reason to visit South Dakota, they’d bring money with them, and that could help the state grow. It was an ambitious plan, but he needed someone who could actually make it happen.
That’s where Gutzon Borglum came in. He was a sculptor with big ideas and an even bigger personality. When Robinson told him about the plan, Borglum agreed that carving into the mountain was a great idea—but he had a different vision. He didn’t want to make statues of cowboys or explorers. He wanted something bigger, something that told the story of the entire country. He chose four presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt—because each one represented something important about the United States: its birth, its expansion, its strength, and its progress.
Carving those faces wasn’t easy. This wasn’t like sculpting a statue out of clay. The rock was tough, the weather could be brutal, and every cut had to be carefully planned. If a mistake was made, it wasn’t like they could just start over. Workers dangled from ropes, drilling and blasting away the stone, turning a rugged cliffside into a national monument. It took 14 years, millions of pounds of dynamite, and a team of hardworking people to complete it. Even then, the original design had to be changed because money ran out before all the details could be finished.
When the work finally stopped in 1941, Mount Rushmore was unlike anything else in the world. It was massive—each face is about 60 feet tall, as high as a six-story building. People from all over came to see it, standing in awe of the sheer size and detail. Over time, it became more than just a tourist attraction. It became a symbol of America itself, a place that represented leadership, history, and the people who shaped the country.
But Mount Rushmore’s story doesn’t end with the last chisel strike. It’s still a place of conversation and debate. To many, it stands as a tribute to American history. To others, it’s a reminder of land that was taken and promises that were broken. The Black Hills were never meant to be carved, and for the Lakota Sioux, the monument isn’t a celebration—it’s a painful mark on land that was once theirs. Because of that, another massive carving is being made nearby—the Crazy Horse Memorial, dedicated to the Lakota leader who fought to protect his people’s land.
Where is Mount Rushmore?
Mount Rushmore sits in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a state right in the middle of the northern United States. It’s not near any massive cities or famous landmarks. If you looked at a map of the country, your eyes might slide past South Dakota without stopping. It doesn’t have beaches like California, skyscrapers like New York, or theme parks like Florida. But what it does have is something just as incredible—a mountain that was turned into a monument, one that has drawn millions of visitors to a quiet corner of the country.
Getting to Mount Rushmore isn’t like driving to a regular tourist spot. It’s not sitting along a highway where people can just stumble upon it. The closest airport is in Rapid City, about 35 miles away, but even from there, it’s a winding drive through forests, rocky hills, and curving roads that seem to hide the monument until you’re almost there. The Black Hills are covered in thick pine trees, which makes the landscape look darker from a distance—almost black—giving the hills their name. They’re not like the towering mountains of Colorado, but they’re rugged, steep, and full of hidden valleys, deep caves, and jagged cliffs.
The Black Hills weren’t always part of the United States. Before settlers arrived, the Lakota Sioux lived there, considering the land sacred. The hills were full of legends, important meeting places, and burial sites. Even today, the land carries deep meaning for many Native American tribes. That’s part of why Mount Rushmore’s location is complicated. The monument itself celebrates American history, but it was built on land that wasn’t originally meant to be part of the United States at all.
For a long time, the Black Hills were mostly untouched, with only small groups of settlers and traders passing through. That changed when gold was discovered in the 1870s. Thousands of people flooded the area, hoping to strike it rich, and soon, towns like Deadwood and Keystone sprang up. Keystone, the closest town to Mount Rushmore, started as a gold mining town, filled with wooden buildings, muddy streets, and people hoping to find fortune underground. Today, Keystone is still there, but instead of gold miners, it’s mostly filled with tourists, gift shops, and restaurants serving bison burgers and homemade fudge.
Once you’re near Mount Rushmore, the road leading up to it feels almost like a movie reveal. There’s a winding path through the trees, a few signs pointing the way, and then suddenly, the giant faces appear between the hills, peeking out from the rock. The closer you get, the bigger they seem, until you’re standing at the base of the monument, staring up at something that once seemed impossible.
Even though Mount Rushmore is surrounded by wilderness, it’s not just trees and rocks. The area around the monument is designed for visitors. There’s an avenue lined with state flags, a museum that tells the story of how it was built, and trails where people can walk closer to the mountain. Some people spend all day there, exploring the history, taking photos, and watching the light change on the stone as the sun moves across the sky. Others just stop for a quick look before heading to other famous sites in the Black Hills.
And there are plenty of other places to see. Just a short drive away is the Crazy Horse Memorial, a massive carving still under construction. Unlike Mount Rushmore, which was completed in the 1940s, Crazy Horse has been in progress for decades, with no clear finish date. If it’s ever completed, it will be even larger than Mount Rushmore. Then there’s Custer State Park, home to winding roads, towering rock formations, and huge herds of bison. Sometimes the bison take over the roads, blocking traffic for minutes at a time, as if they own the place—which, in a way, they do.
Beyond that, the Black Hills hold even more surprises. Wind Cave, one of the longest cave systems in the world, stretches for miles underground, filled with rare rock formations found almost nowhere else. Badlands National Park, not too far from Mount Rushmore, looks like a different planet, with jagged rock formations and deep canyons stretching in every direction.