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The Black Hills of South Dakota
Standing prominent amidst South Dakota’s Black Hills are four of America’s most prominent leaders – George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson.
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The Black Hills were, and still are, considered sacred by the Lakota Sioux, the tribe native to the region. Initially conceived by a South Dakota historian in 1923, to feature the faces of both Native American and pioneer heroes of the west, the monument forever changed the landscape.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota (21st Century) by NPS PhotoNational Park Service
Introducing the presidents
Four of America’s most renowned leaders, as they are depicted, are (left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
Mount Rushmore viewed from Iron Mountain Road (2010-07-16) by NPSNational Park Service
Talus slope
Below the sculpture are over 450,000 tons of rock generated from 1927 to 1939, when the mountain was carved by a team of 500 workers. Underneath the sculpture of Washington is a darker band of mica schist, a stone that proved impossible to carve.
Mount Rushmore Model by CyArkCyArk
Explore the monument
This 3D model of Mount Rushmore allows you to explore the different facets of the mountain and the sculptures.
South Dakota (1940) by Alfred EisenstaedtLIFE Photo Collection
Carving process
Skilled workers used heavy jackhammers to bore vertical holes in the mountain’s face. Powdermen then filled these holes with blast caps to remove precise amounts of rock—then, after the explosions, workers—in a process known as honeycombing—drilled holes horizontally.
Learn more
Assistant Chief of Education and Interpretation Blaine Kortemeyer describes the carving process.
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