5 The Original Plan Was Too Ambitious
The original monument that Borglum envisioned was incredibly ambitious. He wasn’t content with the carving of the heads and torsos as the finished product. He planned to build a staircase from the rubble at the base of the sculpture to lead to a great hall of records behind the heads. This massive rotunda would have held the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and various other documents.[6] Yes, he wanted to put the most important documents of the United States inside of a mountain in South Dakota. 4 Funding Was Almost Cut
Photo credit: Rise Studio, Rapid City, SD
Borglum’s obsession to make the monument more and more impressive was so intense that Congress threatened to cut his funding if he didn’t stick to finishing the carvings. Since Borglum was a hard character who despised any outside control other than his own, he grudgingly stopped work on the hall of records in 1939.[7]He would spend the remaining years traveling and working to secure funding. The unfinished hall inside Mount Rushmore is considered now by some to be a “secret room.”3 It’s Actually Unfinished
With Borglum’s death in 1941 and the inevitable approach of American involvement in World War II, work ended on the monument.[8] And so, on October 31, 1941, Mount Rushmore National Memorial was declared a completed project. If one thing can be said about the monument overall, it’s that the mountain is a representation of irony—an unfinished monument declared finished.2 It Was Built On Stolen Native American Land
Photo credit: Runner1928
All the other points on this list might be small and maybe even pitiful. Yet when you know more, you realize suddenly that those small points aren’t so small. In 1868, the United States signed a treaty declaring that the Black Hills (in which Mount Rushmore is located) would remain part of the Sioux Nation, giving the land back to a population that is too often ignored.[9]However, a few years later, an expedition led by General Custer found gold in the Black Hills. Ultimately, the land was confiscated, because it wouldn’t be an American tale without cheating some Natives.1 The Sioux Didn’t Want The Money
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled the land grab by the United States unconstitutional and ordered federal compensation to the tune of $102 million. However, the Sioux wanted their land back, not money. The $102 million was left in trust funds and built interest. By 2011, it was worth over $1 billion. But the Sioux still don’t want the money.[10] Mount Rushmore was a terrible idea, since it represents a lot of what’s wrong with the US. The country broke a treaty, stole native land, and then carved their leaders’ faces into it. It’s an incredible insult to the Native American population. And today, tourists can go there and see bigger versions of the faces on their money.
