Mount Rushmore captures presidential splendor

It is an image familiar to most Americans.

A picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, but one cannot fully appreciate Mount Rushmore without standing before it.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Four presidents' images carved into the granite face of the mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

It's hard to imagine that this American icon started out as a simple plan to attract tourists to the area. Carvings of Indian leaders and American explorers were part of the original idea.

Then, Gutzon Borglum got involved in the mid-1920s. He was just finishing his part of seeing the faces of Confederate generals carved into Stone Mountain in Georgia. He envisioned the heads of four presidents sculpted from the 7,775-foot mountain, named for Charles E. Rushmore -- an American businessman and attorney -- in 1885.

Borglum's vision transformed a regional marketing plan into a project of national proportions.

President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the project in 1927. Franklin Roosevelt was president when the fourth image, that of Teddy Roosevelt, was finished in 1939. Work continued, but Borglum died in March 1941. His son, Lincoln, stopped work eight months later in October.

There were only six years of carving during the 14-year period. Funds were always an issue. Borglum lobbied lawmakers tirelessly. He managed to get some $836,000 in federal money for the project that cost nearly $1 million.

For the record, Washington's head was dedicated in 1930, Jefferson's in 1936, Lincoln's in '37 and Roosevelt's in 1939.

"Mount Rushmore is a very busy and reverent place," said Blaine Kortemeyer, lead interpretive ranger at the memorial.

"The sculpture continues to empower me every day, to help make the lives of the people I encounter both personally and professionally more fulfilling.

"Standing on the Grand View Terrace and reading people's reactions, helping them connect to this place (Mount Rushmore) emotionally and intellectually, is easily my favorite part of being a park ranger."

He describes the anticipation of visitors who stroll down the Avenue of the Flags, finding their state banner, proclaiming the year it earned statehood and a star on the flag.