Grade 3 Reading Information - Events, Ideas and Concepts

Story - Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is a popular landmark in South Dakota. It was sculpted into the rocks of the Black Hills. Doane Robinson wanted to bring more tourists to South Dakota. He came up with an idea in 1923 to carve the faces of famous people into a mountain of South Dakota. Robinson talked to Gutzon Borglum about his idea.

First, the two men had to decide which mountain to carve the faces into. Robinson wanted the faces to be carved into the Needles. The Needles were another area of the Black Hills. However, Borglum decided to carve the faces into Mount Rushmore because the sun shines on this mountain.

Next, Robinson and Borglum had to decide who would be carved into the mountain. At first, Robinson wanted the faces of people from the Wild West to be on the mountain. By looking at their faces, Borglum felt that no one would know who those people were. He suggested using the faces of famous presidents.

Then, in 1927, Gutzon Borglum and his workers began to carve George Washington. Borglum and his workers used hand tools and dynamite to blast the rock away. In 1934, Washington was finished. After Washington, Thomas Jefferson was carved to Washington’s left side. Jefferson was finished in 1937. Then Theodore Roosevelt was carved into the mountain and it was finished in 1939. Before finishing the carving of Abraham Lincoln, Gutzon Borglum died in 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum finished the carvings during the same year.