The construction for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial took place between 1927-1941; it took them 14 years to construct it. There were around 400 people who contributed to building this. In order to sculpt enormous faces into the granite rock, they used tools such as drills and jackhammers. They used dynamite to carve 90% of it, which means that they had to eliminate 450,000 tons of rock in order to sculpt the mountain. Don’t worry about the faces being worn away over time; granite usually erodes about 1 inch every 10,000 years. In total, the expense to build Mount Rushmore was almost $1 million.
It was built to represent George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, with these four presidents’ faces carved into the mountain. The landmark is located in South Dakota, and you can visit it year round. Many visitors claim that the summertime is the best time to see Mount Rushmore because of the warm weather. There are memorial grounds, visiting centers, and a sculptor’s studio. With all this being said, Mount Rushmore is a very popular landmark that people like to explore. Over 2 million people visit it yearly. There’s a bunch of background history and information that is shown at the landmark as well. In addition to the memorial itself, people can often see red squirrels, mule deer, chipmunks, and mountain goats in the area around Mt. Rushmore.
Sources: https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/carving-history.htm
https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/trip-ideas/surprising-facts-about-mount-rushmore
