The world-famous American icon—which almost wasn’t built—will likely endure for millennia. It’s a major focal point for America’s 250th birthday this year.
Each year, about 2 million people flock to see the four famous faces carved into Mount Rushmore. But few visitors may be aware that a mysterious rectangular opening hides behind President Abraham Lincoln’s image.
Blasted into the mountainside, that passageway is closed to the public; it’s a vestige of a planned feature that was never completed.
Inside, a titanium vault holds 16 porcelain-enamel panels inscribed with information about the monument. It was “left as a record for people thousands of years from now who may wonder how and why Mount Rushmore was carved,” a National Park Service webpage says.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, which has stood for almost 85 years so far, was fraught with so many setbacks that South Dakota State Historian Ben Jones marvels over “the fact that it exists at all.”
“Just the story of how it came into existence is fascinating to me, as a historian and as a South Dakotan,” Jones told The Epoch Times. “The grandness of the setting is also compelling.”
Nestled in the scenic Black Hills National Forest, Mount Rushmore rises 5,725 feet above sea level. It is surrounded by old-growth Ponderosa pine trees, other granite peaks, streams and wetlands. The 60-foot-tall presidential sculptures can be seen from miles away.
Jones, chair of the state committee marking America’s 250th birthday, said the celebration is drawing more attention to the monument that pays tribute to the nation’s first 150 years.
Freedom 250—a public-private partnership organizing Semiquincentennial events across the nation—says a rare Rushmore fireworks display on July 3 will serve as “a powerful tribute to 250 years of American independence.” Admission is limited to 4,800 ticketholders who won a public lottery earlier this year, but people can view the display at watch parties in nearby communities or via TV coverage.
President Donald Trump, who spoke at Rushmore in 2020, is also slated to deliver another speech; no other president has given two public addresses at the memorial.
Sometimes called “The Shrine of Democracy,” Rushmore “has a complex past—and one that was being invented at the time,” Jones said.
Virtually every aspect of the project, ranging from organizational support to sculpting methods, needed to be pioneered.
Funding shortfalls, political battles, and bad weather halted work multiple times. Disruptions consumed more than half of the monument’s 14-year construction period, which ended in 1941.
If not for dogged determination, engineering feats, and artistic ingenuity, this world-renowned American icon would never have taken shape.
Yet its likenesses of four U.S. presidents are built to last. They were born of Harney Peak Granite—which erodes at a rate of one inch every 10,000 years.
Along such a lengthy timeline, the history of Rushmore and our nation both register as mere blips.
Still, as the nation marks its 250 years with Rushmore as a centerpiece, the public is being invited to “enjoy the show and reflect on our nation’s remarkable journey and the great patriotic leaders who established, preserved and expanded our country’s destiny,” Dr. Jenifer Chatfield, deputy assistant secretary of U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Parks, said in a news release.
Accounts from Jones and other sources provide insights into the twists and turns of the mission improbable that produced Rushmore as an enduring symbol of America.
By Janice Hisle
