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.
Everything that was here
- 1927–present · still open
Mount Rushmore National MemorialNational Memorial
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum blasted 450,000 tons of granite off a Black Hills peak to carve four 60-foot faces — and died in 1941 with his real dream, a hidden Hall of Records, unfinished behind them.
See the map in 1928 →
Did you know?
Connected places
Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF)
Needles Highway
Sylvan Lake
Custer State Park & State Game Lodge
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
Iron Mountain Road
Holy Terror Mine
Spokane (ghost town)
Needles Highway
Sylvan Lake
Sheridan (drowned townsite)
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