Today we went to the Borglum Story and Museum and we toured Mt. Rushmore National Monument. We also went to Landstrum (Black Hills) Gold Jewelry Store and factory. Mt. Rushmore was carved by Gutzon Borglum and his crew of over 450 men. It took 14 years of hard work, failure, and perseverance to make the great statue come to life. Did you know that the scale models were revised over nine times, and that Jefferson was supposed to be on the left of Washington instead of the right? When they started carving Jefferson’s face, the rock had cracks in it and they had to blast his face off with dynamite and start again to the right. Also, Roosevelt’s face is receded 100 feet behind the others because when it was being carved, the rock was not suitable for the project. No lives were lost in the project, and only one man had an injury (but he was still back to his job within a short time.) These men climbed 600 stairs (carrying their tools) to get to their jobsite, and worked an 8-hour shift each day. Some used the dynamite to carve 90% of the monument’s surface, and some worked with chisels and jackhammers to smooth and shape the surface. After visiting the monument, we went to the Landstrum Jewelry Store and purchased some of the Black Hills Gold jewelry there. Tomorrow, we are just going to do some local things, and come back to the motor home to take it easy for the rest of the day.
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