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| Mount Rushmore | |||
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Black Hills, South Dakota  ount Rushmore memorializes the birth, growth, preservation and development of the United States of America. Between 1927 and 1941, drilling into the 5,725-foot mountain began in 1927. Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the 60-foot busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. South Dakota's Black Hills provide the backdrop for Mount Rushmore, the world's greatest mountain carving. These 60-foot high faces, 500 feet up, look out over a setting of pine, spruce, birch, and aspen in the clear western air.
Creation of the Shrine of Democracy took 14 years and cost a mere $1 million, though it's now deemed priceless. 
Amazingly enough, the extensive monument is almost completely the work of a single man, Gutzon Borglum (his son Lincoln completed supervision of the project after his death). Borglum (1867-1941), a sculptor from Idaho, described his artistic vision as "the formal rendering of the philosophy of our government into a granite on a mountain peak." Using explosives and pneumatic drills to carve the stone, Borglum began work on the monument in 1927, when he was already well into his 50s.
Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum was born in St. Charles, near Bear Lake, Idaho Territory, on March 25, 1867. His parents were both from Denmark, and Borglum may have developed his love of sculpting by watching his father work as a woodcutter.
Carving ceased 14 years later, in October 1941, several months after Borglum's death and on the eve of the nation's entry into WWII. Throughout 1998, Mount Rushmore National Memorial celebrated the culmination of a multi-million dollar public-private partnership project to improve visitor facilities at the memorial. The new Lincoln Borglum Museum explores the stories behind the making of Mount Rushmore. 
The memorial can be viewed 24 hours a day, year-round. The Information Center is open from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. during the summer (late May through early September) and until 5 p.m. during the winter (October through April). It is closed on December 25. Hours are subject to change. The Sculptor's Studio is open during the summer only, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A lighting ceremony is presented at the amphitheater in summer beginning at 9 p.m. The sculpture is lighted nightly throughout the year.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, surrounded by the Black Hills National Forest, is 25 miles southwest of Rapid City, South Dakota, via US Highway 16; and 3 miles from Keystone via US Highway 16A and South Dakota Highway 244. Major airlines and bus routes serve Rapid City. Getting here by air is just as easy. Rapid City Regional Airport receives daily commercial flights from other parts of the USA and is served by United Express, Norwest Airlines and Skywest Delta Connection. When you arrive, rental cars, taxis and limo service are all available to take you to your final destination. Mount Rushmore Weather: | |||
