Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Lincoln's face - Rushmore Trivia

When carving Mount Rushmore one of the problems Gutzon dealt with was how to get a model of the presidents to the top of the mountain.  Using his eye to determine if a face was correct, Gutzon made a plaster cast of one of the president's faces and brought it up to the top to help him judge.  During the course of construction Gutzon changed the design of Mount Rushmore nine times!

What's behind the Presidents Head?

Behind the president's heads is a small valley.  During construction many buddings were housed there and on top of the heads.   Including an office, bunkhouse and workshop to fix the drills.  Over the years politicians have campaigned for different people and presidents to be added.  I'm sure one from their own parties.  Thank goodness there is not enough room.  But who else could you add? John Adams, Martin Luther King or maybe P-Diddy?

Mount Rushmore - Drills, Chisels and hammers

The building of Mount Rushmore was a remarkable feat of engineering. It is a mountain literally made of granite and the only way to carve it was with dynamite.  They  loaded the TNT into the granite was to drill holes that were then packed with wet sand and dynamite.  Thousand of holes were honeycombed into the rock.  Workmen dulled hundreds of drill bits a day that had to be sharpened again and again.  Pictured are a few bits, hammers and chisels used in the process.

Mount Rushmore - Rubble, Rock and Roll

As I have blogged about previously, 90% of Mount Rushmore was carved with dynamite.  Twice a day, at noon and at 4:00 p.m. the crew would come down from the mountain and the dynamite would be ignited.  Tons of granite ended up at the bottom of the mountain.

This a photo I took of Mount Rushmore looking up from the bottom of the rubble pile.

A fact not in the book:  Originally, Gutzon had planned to remove all the debris but in the end Lincoln had run out of money so the rubble pile stayed.  Now, it is hard to imagine the Presidents without it.

Lincoln Borglum as a boy

One of the best things about writing non-fiction is the interesting people you meet.  Through the national park service, I was able to get in contact with Robin Borglum Carter, Lincoln Borglum's daughter.  She was incredibly helpful with family photos and stories and graciously expressed her gratitude that I was telling the story of her father.  This is a picture of Lincoln Borglum as a boy with his dog "Pal," around the time he first traveled to Mount Rushmore.  I love this photo.

Plaster masks on the mountain.

As an artist I found it amazing that ninety percent of Mount Rushmore was carved with dynamite, but the other ten percent was chipped, buffed and drilled.

A fact not in the book:  They made plaster casts of the presidents' faces from the models that had been created and used them on top of the mountain to check for the proper likeness. 

One mountain and a funeral.

People often ask me how I came up with my story about Mount Rushmore.  It started with a funeral.  In the early nineties I took a children's writing class from Alexis O'Neill.  I needed a project for the class and I didn't have a clue what to write about.  The next day I had to attend a funeral service of an elderly neighbor held at Forrest Lawn Memorial in Glendale,  a very old cemetery in Los Angeles known for many fabulous pieces of art.    

Rushmore story

Fact not in the book: Gutzon was an all-time promoter.  It soon became apparent to him that more funding and publicity would be needed to support the carving of Mount Rushmore.  As luck would have it, President Calvin Coolidge was visiting South Dakota in the summer of 1927.  Gutzon, with Lincoln in tow, hired a local pilot to fly them low over the game lodge where the President and Mrs. Coolidge were staying.

Mary Montgomery Borglum

The problem with writing historical picture books, especialy for children, is that you are limited to the amount of words you can put in them.  So many stories and facts are lost to the word count.

Beside the actual story of building Mount Rushmore, which is the theme of my book, there is the story of the artist Gutzon Borglum and his very accomplished wife Mary Montgomery Borglum, Lincoln's mother. She was a fascinating American woman.

Rushmore Fact

Gutzon Borglum was a brilliant artist, inventor and orator, much in demand at the time. He worked for presidents and kings, traveling all over world on business.  What is really unusual for the time is that Gutzon took his son Lincoln everywhere.  From the time he was four months old, Lincoln traveled with his father wherever the elder Borglum went.  Usually, the only child at these meetings or speaking events, Lincoln later said that he generally felt pretty awkward. But he loved traveling with his dad.  Lincoln's on the far left.

Fact not in the book:  When Lincoln was around 7 years old, after his dad had spoken to a crowded auditorium,  Lincoln asked if he could make a speech too.  His father said yes and introduced his son. Lincoln stood up on stage and recited the Midnight ride of Paul Revere.

Four Presidents were almost five!

 

A fact not in the book:  In 1937 as Congress was appropriating more money for Rushmore there was much talk and a bill in Congress to add Susan B Anthony, the suffragette, to the mountain. You can imagine how that sat with all the men involved.  The women now had the right to vote, so no one wanted to insult the ladies, but  Mount Rushmore honored presidents and Ms Anthony had never been president.  The men squirmed out of it and quietly the bill went away and Rushmore got more funding.

Fact in the book: The presidents were to be carved from the waist up!  But after Gutzon died, money had run out so Lincoln decided just to concentrate on the faces to make the mountain look complete.  This is a model they used on Mount Rushmore to take measurements from.

Rushmore recipe

I wanted to post some Borglum family recipes. Lincoln Borglum had passed away in the early 80’s, but his daughter Robin was a great help with these.  She told me that he was a meat and potatoes kind of guy and that he often said, “ It has taken mankind thousands of years to progress from cooking over an open fire to an advanced stove and he saw no point in moving back to the barbecue pit.

She also said that her grandmother, Mary, Gutzon’s wife had a famous chocolate cake recipe that no one could duplicate.  Years later the family found out that while the cake was rising in a wood stove she would jump up and down until it fell.  Then she would even it up with icing making it a chocolate icing cake.

Robin remembered her dad making these French pancakes. 

LINCOLN BORGLUM PANCAKES

1/2 Cup flour
3 Tbls powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
            Mix dry ingredients.
1/2 cup milk - add and stir until perfectly smooth
1 egg   - add and beat thoroughly
            
Cook like any pancakes. Since they are thin, best to try one at a time until you
see how much they spread out. They can be rolled up and used for Crepes Suzette's or filled with your choice. He generally like them hot, with melted butter and brown sugar!

Lincoln Borglum

Not only was Gutzon a talent artist he was known for his temper as well.  No one could dispute his ability, but he was quick to the flame.  Since all his jobs at the time were usually delegated by committee, you could see his frustration on having to answer to non-artist businessmen who were only interested in the bottom line that could change as job progressed.  Gutzon spared no expense or time on his projects often making little money in the end and forcing the family into revolving debt.

Fact not in the book:  When Gutzon died suddenly,  Mary Borglum was saddled with much debt.  Lincoln, being a loyal son, worked 5 years to pay it off.  That Lincoln Borglum was some kind of guy!

Doane Robinson

Fact not in the book.  Like all public art, it is the collaboration of many and in the case of Mount Rushmore, an idea of one.  Around 1924, State historian, Doane Robinson had dreamed of a tourist attraction to bring visitors to South Dakota.  He thought  a  heroic sculpture of Wild West figures.  Doane had many sculptors in mind, but at the time Gutzon was getting much publicity in the press about walking away from carving  Stone Mountain in Georgia.  Pissed off, Gutzon had thrown the model off the mountain and made it impossible for anyone else to finish the carving.  A war of words between Gutzon and the Stone Mountain Comission filled the papers.  Doane saw it and wrote to Gutzon about the job.

Fact in the book:  Lincoln accompanied his Dad on the first trip to South Dakota to look into the job.  It was Gutzon who brought up carving the Presidents.

Rushmore is everywhere

Mount Rushmore is everywhere.  Around Presidents Day we are soaked by media using the mountain to sell cars, mattresses and even cell phones.  Since I worked on this book for so long people do send me funny Rushmore stuff.  I hope they continue to do so.

Fact not in the book: The crew played a game when they came down the 700 steps twice a day.

It was called billy goat and they would see how many steps they could leap over to get to the next ramp.

It is amazing that they never broke their legs.

Robin Borglum Carter

The people of South Dakota are so nice.  That’s what I love about historical non fiction it takes me to places that I’d never go.  The keepers of the flame, the park rangers could not do enough.  They let me go through the archives, gave me a tour of the mountain and introduced me to the Borglum family.

The sculptor Gutzon Borglum carved Mount Rushmore, but my story is about his son, Lincoln Borglum who worked on the mountain since he was a kid and finished the monument when his dad passed away.

I’ve been lucky enough to get to know Lincoln’s daughter, Robin Borglum Carter, who wrote an adult book about her grandfather, “Gutson Borglum his life and his works”  She has given me wonderful stories and permission to use some of the family photos. On my blog.  I want to publicly thank her for all her help on this project.

This is a photo of Lincoln hanging off the mountain.

Rushmore in the middle of nowhere

Rushmore is in the middle of nowhere.  I come from L.A. where there are probably 10 million people, or so it seems. In the whole state of South Dakota maybe one million.  It takes 2 planes and a rental car to get there.  But it’s worth it to see those great men carved out of mountain.  When I research the presidents for the back matter bios, I was struck by their honesty, accomplishments and honor.  It is hard to believe they were politicians.

Fact in the book:  It took 3 weeks of searching the Black Hills to find the perfect mountain to carve.

Fact not in the book:  Mount Rushmore was named after a New York Lawyer who was hanging around South Dakota in the 1800s.

Rushmore kid

Today, President’s Day, I’d like to launch my blog in honor of the four great men who are carved on that mountain in South Dakota.  The Fab Four, George, Tom, Ted and Abe.  My Boys, as I like to call them, men of integrity, courage and intelligence that governed us through difficult and enlightening times.  I am so inspired by Gutzon and Lincoln Borgulm, two great Americans that created a memorial for us all.

This is a very blurry picture of me under my boys.

How did a kooky artist from LA write a children’s book about Mount Rushmore?  The story grabbed me.  It held me captive for 12 long years as I strove towards publication.  Late last year my Cinderella dream came true. A brilliant editor with a major house bought my book, “Hanging Off Jefferson’s Nose.”  Along the way I formed life long friendships and goofy conference rituals as I enjoyed the family of the SCBWI

Rushmore trivia

More fun facts about Mount Rushmore:

This is a photo of Lincoln Borglum as an adult.  My book is about him growing up on Mount Rushmore.

One story that is in the book: Gutzon Borglum was originally hired to sculpt Wild West figures, before he suggested presidents.

A story that is not in the book:  In the early 20’s when Gutzon work on Stone Mountain in Georgia, the family, Mom, Mary Ellis and Lincoln, moved with him.  At that time Lincoln attended public school.  One day the teacher talked to his mom and asked if there was some other name he could use instead of Lincoln. (Abraham Lincoln was stilled despised in the south  some 70 years after the civil war.)