The Secrets of Mt. Rushmore
Most Americans do not really know the history of Mt. Rushmore, especially that of its creator, Gutzon Borglum. Mt. Rushmore features the carved faces of past presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Gutzon Borglum was fascinated with ancient Egyptian monuments, especially that of the gigantic Sphinx.
He was determined to create some thing in the United States its grand scale. Gutzon chose the Black Hills of South Dakota for his project. His work was dangerous and quite an engineer ing feat—Gutzon claimed that his creation was the largest monument since the pyramids, but the facts show a different picture.
Each of the sculptures of the presi dents are 60 feet tall—the four together measure 180 feet across. The great est of the pyramids is 481 feet high and 756 feet wide at the base. When President Trump spoke at this site during his last campaign for president, it angered the Native Americans who saw the Black Hills as their ancestral home—demonstrations were held.
The Native Americans protested because Congress had ratified the Fort Laramie Treaty establishing the Great Sioux Reservation with 26 million acres of land in Dakota territory west of the Missouri including the Black Hills. The Treaty made it unlawful for whites to settle or even pass through the reservation, which was set aside for the “absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of Native Americans.”
In the beginning, the army sent troops to enforce the Treaty, but more whites came, especially when the rumor of gold surfaced in the Black Hills. Many whites and archaeologists argued that the Sioux did not originate in the Black Hills. But others believed that the Sioux arrived there in the early 1700s way before the whites. The Sioux stood by their claim to the land. They believed that it was sacred land.
In John Taliaferro’s 2002 book: “Great White Fathers, The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mt. Rushmore,” revealed much about the Black Hill’s history. The most interesting part of the book was about Gutzon Borglum. He traced Gutzon’s early life, who was born the son of Danish Mormon polygamists, in 1867 in Idaho.
When he conceived his plans for Stone Mountain, D.W. Griffith released the film “The Birth of a Nation.” The film inspired a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan became a major funding source of the Mt. Rushmore project. The author stated the following: “Gutzon never came out and said that he was a member of the Klan, but he was sure at the table with them a lot.”
Throughout his work on Stone Mountain, from 1915-1923, Gutzon was very much involved with the Klan. He attended its rallies and served on their committees. He saw the Klan as important in American politics. He became close friends with the Grand Dragon of Indiana. This is one example of hidden history that has not been revealed.
The goal of the Eye On History Column has always been to write and research the information that has been left out of history books. It is impor tant to look behind the headlines and find the real history!!