The Story
Carving began in 1927 under Gutzon Borglum, who chose Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Nearly 400 workers — many local Keystone miners — used dynamite to remove about 90% of the rock; remarkably, none died in 14 years of blasting. In 1938 Borglum secretly began a 70-foot tunnel behind the heads for a Hall of Records to hold America's founding documents, but Congress halted it in 1939. Borglum died in March 1941; his son Lincoln finished the work that October when funding ran out. The Hall of Records sat empty until 1998, when a titanium vault of history panels was finally sealed into its floor.
Surprising Facts
→ The memorial is famously incomplete — Borglum planned each president carved to the waist, plus the Hall of Records.
→ Jefferson's face was first carved on Washington's right, but bad rock forced crews to blast it off and re-carve it on the left.
→ No workers died during the 14 years of dynamite blasting — an extraordinary safety record.