I WONDER IF IT COSTS MORE TO SIT
THERE?
♪
>> THEY DYNAMITED AWAY OVER
400,000 TONS OF ROCK.
STUART: A SCULPTURE OF UNUSUAL
SIZE.
>> IT WOULD BE FOR THE WHOLE
NATION.
>> AN INCREDIBLE ENGINEERING
ACCOMPLISHMENT.
STUART: FROM A SCULPTOR WHO WAS
LARGER THAN LIFE.
>> A GUY LIKE THAT JUST DOESN’T
QUIT.
STUART: THE DANGER?
>> SO THEY’RE HANGING IN
MIDAIR --
STUART: -- AND THE HEARTBREAK
HOW AN ARMY OF MEN MANAGED TO
FACE THE NATION, CARVING MOUNT
RUSHMORE.
♪
STUART: I’M STUART VARNEY, AND
THIS IS "AMERICAN BUILT."
[BACKGROUND SOUNDS]
OF AFTER WORLD WAR I IN EUROPE
WITH, AMERICANS WERE READY FOR
SOME DOMESTIC ADVENTURE.
PEOPLE HAD MORE MONEY IN THEIR
POCKETS AND MORE TIME ON THEIR
HANDS THAN EVER BEFORE.
BUT TO GO SIGHTSEEING, THEY
NEEDED A SIGHT TO GO SEE.
♪
STUART: THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH
DAKOTA.
THIS LAND IS A MESMERIZING
MOONSCAPE FILLED WITH COLOR AND
MYSTERY.
>> THE BLACK HILLS, IT’S A TRULY
REMARKABLE AND BEAUTIFUL
MOUNTAIN RANGE.
IT’S THE KIND OF ROAD THAT YOU
DON’T JUST DRIVE THROUGH IT, YOU
WANT TO STOP AND GET OUT.
STUART: BUT IN THE ROARING
’20s, THERE WAS NO PLACE IN
THE BLACK HILLS TO STOP.
SOMEONE WANTED TO CHANGE THAT IN
A BIG WAY.
>> JOAN ROBINSON WAS THE STATE
HISTORIAN, AND HE JUST HAD THIS
IDEA THAT TOURISMING WAS GOING
TO BE A BIG, YOU KNOW, INDUSTRY.
AND HE THOUGHT WE HAVE ALL THESE
WONDERFUL SITES IN THE BLACK
HILLS, SO WHAT CAN WE DO TO GET
MORE PEOPLE TO COME?
>> AND HE THOUGHT THAT THE BLACK
HILLS SOMEWHERE, THESE
BEAUTIFUL, BIG GRANITE OUTCROPS
WOULD BE A GOOD PLACE TO CARVE A
SCULPTURE.
STUART: THE SECTION KNOWN AS THE
NEEDLES WAS ROBINSON’S FIRST
CHOICE.
THESE ERODED GRANITE PILLARS
WERE ALREADY A TOURIST DRAW.
>> AND HE HAD AN IDEA AHA PEOPLE
COULD, YOU KNOW, DRIVE THROUGH
THERE AND SEE A WESTERN FIGURE,
YOU KNOW, LIKE KIT CARSON, YOU
KNOW, COWBOYS AND INDIAN TYPE.
>> PEOPLE LIKE CALAMITY JANE,
WILD BILL HICKOK AND OTHERS.
STUART: ROBINSON NEEDED A
SCULPTURE WITH A BIG AMERICAN
VISION.
♪
>> MOUNT RUSHMORE IS AN AMERICAN
STORY.
AMERICANS LIKE TO SEE MAJOR
PROJECTS, BUILD THEM AND MAKE
THEM HAPPEN.
STUART: ROBINSON APPROACHED
LAREDO CAN TAFT AND DANIEL
CHESTER FRENCH WHO DESIGNED THE
LINCOLN MEMORIAL.
BUT AN URBAN MONUMENT IS A VERY
DIFFERENT BEAST FROM A REMOTE
MOUNTAIN.
ROBINSON GOT WIND OF A MASSIVE
CARVING UNDERWAY ON STONE
MOUNTAIN IN GEORGIA.
>> STONE MOUNTAIN’S A
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL TO
CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS.
STUART: THE SCULPTOR ON THAT
AMBITIOUS PROJECT --
>> HE WAS A VERY PATRIOTIC
GENTLEMAN, AGO A -- ALSO A BIG
THINKER.
HERE STU -- HE STUDIED UNDER
RODIN.
HE BEGINS TO MAKE ART THAT’S
LARGER THAN LIFE.
HE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT IT
SHOULD BE LARGER THAN LIFE.
STUART: ROBINSON KNEW HE HAD HIS
MAN, BUT DOT --
>> THE DAUGHTERS OF THE
CONFEDERACY WERE COMMISSIONING
PEOPLE FOR THAT SCULPTURE, AND
THEY DID NOT NECESSARILY GET
ALONG VERY WELL.
STUART: THE SPLIT WAS ANYTHING
BUT AMICABLE.
THE CONFEDERATES ENDED UP
BLASTING THE WORK OFF STONE
MOUNTAIN AND STARTING OVER.
>> SO LUCKILY, THAT DID FREE HIM
UP TO COME HERE, YOU KNOW?
THEIR LOSS WAS OUR GAIN.
♪
STUART: THE EXCITABLE BORG LUND
WAS TOTALLY ONBOARD WITH
ROBINSON’S IDEA OF A WESTERN-
THEME CARVED IN THE
NEEDLES AS LONG AS IT WASN’T A
WESTERN THEME AND IT WASN’T IN
THE NEEDLES.
>> THE SITE OF NEEDLES SIMPLY
WOULDN’T WORK AT ALL.
THERE’S SO MANY FRACTURES THAT
THE ROCKS END UP LOOKING LIKE
NEEDLES WHICH DOES NOT GIVE YOU
A SOLID MASS OF ROCK TO PUT A
SCULPTURE IN.
STUART: SO THE TWO MEN HUNTED
THROUGH THE BLACK HILLS FOR A
CARVEABLE SURFACE.
>> HE WAS LOOKING FOR A LARGE
ENOUGH RIDGELINE TO ENCOMPASS AN
EVER GROWING IDEA, AND HE WANTED
IT TO BE MADE OUT OF HEARTY
GRANITE.
STUART: THEY FOUND WHAT THEY
WERE LOOKING FOR IN KEYSTONE,
SOUTH DAKOTA.
♪
STUART: ON A TIP FROM THE
LOCALS, THE TWO MEN SCOUTED A
MOUNTAIN CALL RUSHMORE.
>> WELL, MOUNT RUSHMORE, THAT
GRANITE IS, LIKE, LEE-MILLIMETER
DIAMETER CRYSTALS OVER A MILLION
YEAR OLD ROCK, VERY DURABLE, SO
IT MAKES A MARVELOUS MEDIUM FOR
A MEGA-SCULPTURE.
>> THEY RODE UP ON HORSEBACK,
AND UPON VIEWING THE RIDGELINE,
HE KNEW THAT WAS THE ONE.
STUART: BUT THERE WAS VERY ONE
BIG DRAWBACK.
>> IT WAS STILL QUITE REMOTE OUT
HERE.
ROADS TO MOUNT RUSHMORE WERE
BARE HI EXISTING. -- BARELY
EXISTING.
HE WROTE MANY PAGES ON HOW BAD
THE ROADS WERE.
[LAUGHTER]
THEY HAD TO EVEN DO THE A LITTLE
ROAD WORK THEMSELVES.
STUART: AND BEFORE WITH HE
STARTED CARVING, THE THEME WAS
EXPANDED TO A NATIONAL ONE.
♪
>> OH, WE COULD DO, YOU KNOW,
PRESIDENTS, AND IT WOULD BE FOR
THE WHOLE NATION.
>> HE CHOSE PRESIDENTS.
HE CHOSE THEM AND CHOSE WHY THEY
WOULD BE CHOSEN.
STUART: WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN
WERE THE OBVIOUS NATIONAL
CHOICES.
BORGLUND CHOSE JEFFERSON FOR A
SURPRISINGLY LOCAL REASON.
>> THOMAS JEFFERSON CHOSEN NOT
FOR THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE, BUT THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE WHICH DOUBLED THE SIZE
OF THE NATION.
STUART: THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
ALSO ADDED SOUTH DAKOTA TO THE
UNION.
SO HE SET OUT TO CARVE THE
FATHER OF THE COUNTRY, FLANKED
BY THE MAN WHO EXPANDED IT AND
THE MAN WHO HELD IT TOGETHER.
EACH OF THE THREE FACES WOULD BE
60 FEET IF TALL.
BUT NOT EVERYONE WAS ONBOARD
WITH THE PATRIOTIC PLAN.
>> THERE WERE LOCAL RELIGIOUS
GROUPS THAT BELIEVED WHY SHOULD
A HUMAN BEING TOUCH SOMETHING
THAT GOD MADE?
STUART: TO SELL THE IDEA TO THE
LOCALS, THEY HAD TO PLAN A GRAND
EDUCATION.
BUT HE WAS NOT -- IT WAS NOT
EASY TO GET TO IT.
>> AND THAT FIRST DEDICATION,
THERE WERE OLD CARS THAT WERE,
YOU KNOW, UNABLE TO MAKE IT UP
THE HILL.
AND GETTING STUCK ON THE ROUTE
UP HERE.
OF COURSE, WHAT’D THE VISITORS
DO?
THEY JUST GOT OUT AND ROCKED,
HAULED THEIR COOLERS WITH
THEM -- AND WALKED.
>> ONE OF THE WORKERS SAID I
LOOKED OVER, AND THERE’S
AUGUSTIN PACKING ROCKS RIGHT
WITH THE REST OF US.
STUART: IN A MAJOR PR COUP, THE
FORMER PRESIDENT, CALVIN
COOLIDGE, WAS CONVINCED TO SHOW
UP.
>> YOU KNOW, THE PRESIDENT OF
THE COUNTRY NEEDED TO COME SEE
THE PRESIDENTS, WHERE HE WERE
GOING TO BE PLACED.
[LAUGHTER]
>> THE HEAD GEAR WAS COOLIDGE’S
IDEA.
BUT DESPITE THE HIGH PROFILE
ENDORSEMENT, THERE WAS NO
NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH MONEY TO
PULL THIS OFF.
>> SURE, MONEY WAS A BIG
PROBLEM, OF COURSE.
SO COE NATIONS WERE FAKEN FROM
AROUND -- WERE TAKEN FROM AROUND
THE NATION.
STUART: HE RAISED MONEY HOWEVER
HE COULD.
HE EVEN STARTED A CHILDREN’S
CAMPAIGN.
>> THEY ACTUALLY HAD A MILK
MONEY, A DONATION SYSTEM WHERE
THEY’D GO ASK KIDS TO DONATE
NICKELS AND DIMES AND QUARTERS
AND PENNIES.
>> SO THEY GOT THE SCHOOL KIDS
PARTICULARLY IN SOUTH DAKOTA
EXCITED.
STUART: BUT THE MIGHTY MOUNTAIN
CAME UP AGAINST AN UNLIKELY
COMPETITOR.
>> I ACTUALLY THINK THE YO-YO
WAS INVENTED RIGHT IN THE SAME
TIME PERIOD, SO KIDS WERE
SPENDING MONEY ON THE YO-YO
INSTEAD OF GIVING MONEY TO THE
THE SCULPTURE.
GOTTA HAVE A YO-YO, RIGHT?
SO THAT’S WHEN THEY KIND OF DRY
UP.
>> YEAH.
THAT DARN YO-YO.
[LAUGHTER]
♪
STUART: FACED WITH INADEQUATE
STRUCTURE AND INEXPERIENCED
LABOR POOLS AND INSUFFICIENT
FUNDING, BORGLAND DID WHAT ANY
VISIONARY WOULD DO, OR HE GOT TO
WORK.
>> YOU CAN’T CHIP AT A MOUNTAIN
LIKE THIS AND REMOVE WHAT
AMOUNTS TO 35 OR 40 FOOT OF ROCK