Happy 250th. My wife and I visited Mt Rushmore last summer. We also visited the Crazy Horse monument, which still is being created. In case anyone is interested:
Mt Rushmore was an idea S Dakota came up with to promote tourism in the 1920's. They originally wanted something that celebrated Western historic figures but eventually pivoted to presidents. Washington was picked because he was the founding president, Jefferson to respresent the expansion of the country, Lincoln because he preserved the country, and Theodore Roosevelt to represent development and industrialization.
In the 1930's when Mt Rushmore was partially complete a chief of the Sioux wanted to create a monument to an Indian and Crazy Horse was chosen. They found a Polish Immigrant scupltor to create it. However there were not lots of funds so the Polish immigrant designed it and did a lot of the work personally on it for decades. It still is far from complete but they have made progress. The site is controlled by a non profit and the family of the immigrant is still involved. It is being funded thru donations and entrance fees to the visitor center; they have refused government funding.
Mt Rushmore is much closer to the ground and therefore more impressive to tourists (it looks huge). Crazy Horse is much larger but it is hundreds of feet higher from the ground and all you see at the moment is his face and outstretched arm. When finished it is supposed to have him riding on horseback with a detailed horse's head and body that will be impressive.
Finally, about 90% of the sculpting of Mt Rushmore was done with dynamite and Crazy Horse is similar. They could precisely place the dynamite to get rid of much of the rock before having to switch to other tools.
Here is short clip of the fireworks over Mt Rushmore yesterday. There are longer ones online. Now I need to go put out the flag!
Mt Rushmore was an idea S Dakota came up with to promote tourism in the 1920's. They originally wanted something that celebrated Western historic figures but eventually pivoted to presidents. Washington was picked because he was the founding president, Jefferson to respresent the expansion of the country, Lincoln because he preserved the country, and Theodore Roosevelt to represent development and industrialization.
In the 1930's when Mt Rushmore was partially complete a chief of the Sioux wanted to create a monument to an Indian and Crazy Horse was chosen. They found a Polish Immigrant scupltor to create it. However there were not lots of funds so the Polish immigrant designed it and did a lot of the work personally on it for decades. It still is far from complete but they have made progress. The site is controlled by a non profit and the family of the immigrant is still involved. It is being funded thru donations and entrance fees to the visitor center; they have refused government funding.
Mt Rushmore is much closer to the ground and therefore more impressive to tourists (it looks huge). Crazy Horse is much larger but it is hundreds of feet higher from the ground and all you see at the moment is his face and outstretched arm. When finished it is supposed to have him riding on horseback with a detailed horse's head and body that will be impressive.
Finally, about 90% of the sculpting of Mt Rushmore was done with dynamite and Crazy Horse is similar. They could precisely place the dynamite to get rid of much of the rock before having to switch to other tools.
Here is short clip of the fireworks over Mt Rushmore yesterday. There are longer ones online. Now I need to go put out the flag!
