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Real Cool History for Kids
Mount Rushmore, the Mountain that Became a Monument (a special episode for Denmark Hettinga)
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Foreign. This is Angela Odell, and you are listening to Real Cool History for Kids, a podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical worldview perspective. Welcome to an adventure. Welcome to episode 182 of Real Cool History for Kids. This episode is for Denmark Hedinga. This is the incredible story of Mount Rushmore. Have you ever seen a picture of the four giant faces carved into the side of a mountain? Maybe even visit it in person? Or maybe you've seen it in a history book or on a postcard. These enormous stone faces belong to four American presidents, right? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. But how did these giant faces get there? And who carved them? And why were those four presidents chosen? And. And just how big are they anyway? Well, today we're going to find out. If you can grab a map of the United States and find the state of South Dakota. It's in the upper middle part of the country, right above Nebraska and next to Wyoming on the left and Minnesota on the right. Now look toward the western side of South Dakota for an area called the Black Hills. That's where Mount Rushmore stands, carved right into the granite rock of the mountains. This area of our nation is one of my absolute favorites. It is absolutely gorgeous. Long before tourists came to see the monument, the Black Hills were sacred to the Lakota Sioux people. The hills were filled with forests and wildlife and towering rock formations. The idea for Mount Rushmore started with a historian named Jonah Leroy Robinson. He loved South Dakota and wanted more people to visit the state. Back in the early 1920s, tourism was becoming more popular as families began traveling by automobile. Robinson thought giant stone carvings in the Black Hills might attract visitors from all over the country. At first, he imagined carving famous Western heroes like Lewis and Clark or Buffalo Bill Cody. But eventually the plan changed. Instead of Western heroes, they decided to carve presidents who represented important parts of American history. To create the monument, Robinson contacted a famous sculptor named Gutzon Borglum. Borglum was already well known for carving enormous sculptures. He was bold and he was determined, and he was full of big ideas for big sculptures. When Gutzon Borglum first saw the mountains, he believed the hard granite cliffs would work perfectly with for the monument. And he chose four presidents carefully. George Washington represented the birth of the nation because he helped lead America during the Revolutionary War and then became the country's first president. Thomas Jefferson represented growth and expansion because of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. Abraham Lincoln represented unity because he helped keep the nation together during the Civil War and worked to end slavery. And then Theodore Roosevelt represented progress and development because he helped expand industry and he protected national parks, and he strengthened America's role in the world. So carving Mount Rushmore was not easy. In fact, it was incredibly dangerous. The workers had to climb high into the mountain using ropes and harnesses and wooden platforms hanging off the cliffs. Strong winds whipped through those hills, while drills echoed across the granite. Most people think faces were carved slowly with tiny chisels, but that's actually not how most of the work happened. Unbelievably, about 90% of that mountain was shaped using dynamite. Can you imagine dynamite? The workers carefully drilled little holes into the rock and then packed them with explosives and blasted away huge chunks of granite. And then sculptors used smaller tools to smooth and shape the faces. Borglum was extremely picky about details. He constantly measured the faces to make sure everything stayed accurate. And sometimes he would order workers to remove just a few inches of rock after days of work because something just didn't look right to him. Those heads, you guys, those heads on that mountain, they are incredibly big. Okay? They are about 60ft tall. From the top of the head to the tip of their chin. Okay? Just think of that. From the top of their head to the tip of their chin was 60ft tall. That's how tall those are. So let's stop right here for a second, and I want to encourage you to do something after you get done listening to this podcast, okay? I want you to ask someone older than you, maybe your parents or an older sibling or grandparent or someone to help you measure off these measurements, okay? I want you to stretch out a measuring tape. It might take a couple of segments of measuring tape because a lot of measuring tapes only go to 25ft. So you need to measure off 60ft. So that's why I say you need someone to help you. Okay? I encourage you to measure off 60ft. Find someplace you can measure off 60ft. It'll probably be outside. And see how big that actually is. That is the size of these heads from the top of their head to the tip of their chin. Okay? So the next one I want you to measure is 20 to 21ft. You know what that is? That is the noses on the faces of the men in the mountain. So their noses are about 20 to 21ft long, okay? So I want you to measure that off and see how long that is. And then their eyes are about 11ft wide. So each of their eyes, when you look at a picture or you look at Mount Rushmore in person, those eyes don't seem very big, right? Those are 11ft wide and their mouths are 18ft wide. So if you measure off all of those measurements, you will get an idea of just how big those faces really are up there. It's incredible to me that these sculptures look exactly like who they are supposed to represent, yet they are so huge. Think about that for a moment. Have you ever tried to draw a picture of someone and make it look exactly like them? Now imagine doing that by blasting dynamite and chiseling off rough spots out of granite on a cliff while you're hanging on a rope. Okay? Incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Hey guys, I'm going to take a quick break right here in the middle of our story about Mount Rushmore to give a shout out to a family who said this about Real Cool History for kids. Hi Mrs. O', Dell, Luke, Josh and Hannah here from Texas and we love this podcast. We listen on our way to school and have listened to all of the episodes and are going back through because they are so good. Some of our favorites are Bethany Hamilton, the Skiing Soldiers and the Abandoned Places episodes. Thanks you guys. I'm so happy that you're enjoying the show. This episode of Real Cool History for Kids is made possible by the Chronicles of Liberty, a brand new adventure series written by me, Angela o' Dell and Sonia Hedinga and published through Jelly Bean jar Publications. Join Ms. Agatha Liberty, a brave little mouse journalist living beneath Independence hall as she uncovers the story of the Constitutional Convention alongside Abraham Baldwin. Filled with humor and courage and faith and real American history, the Chronicles of Liberty Book one invites young readers into the world of hidden tunnels and a courageous mouse family who gathers and protects the stories of history. Join the adventure@angelaodell.com now let's get back to our story about Mount Rushmore. Nearly 400 workers helped carve Mount Rushmore between the years 1927 and 1941. Amazingly, even though the work was dangerous, none of the workers died during the construction of the monument. That is incredible. The carving took 14 years to complete. Workers battled freezing winters and summer heat and dust storms and equipment failures and money problems. Sometimes construction stopped completely because there just weren't enough funds. Well, sadly, Gutzon Borglum died before the monument was fully finished, and it was his son, Lincoln Borglum, who helped oversee the final stages of the project. Originally, Borglum wanted to carve much more than just the faces. He imagined the presidents carved from head to waist and even planned a giant room inside the mountain called the hall of Records where important American documents And historical information would be stored. Some parts of that dream were started, but most were never completed because of time and money. As usual, it's always the money, right? Today, millions of people visit Mount Rushmore every year. Here, families walk along the viewing paths, they listen to rangers talk, and they stare up at those enormous stone faces towering above the trees. But Mount Rushmore is more than just a tourist attraction, you guys. It's one of my very favorite places because it reminds people of important moments and in American history. The founding of the nation, expansion across the continent, preserving the Union, and building the country into a modern nation. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 24:3, by wisdom a house is built, and through understanding, it is established. That verse reminds us that building something important takes wisdom and patience and a lot of hard work. Mount Rushmore certainly required all three of these, didn't it? The workers who carved the mountain spent years doing difficult and very dangerous labor. They had to trust each other, they had to stay focused, and they had to keep going, even when the work felt overwhelming. History also teaches that people leave marks that last long after they are gone. Have you ever thought of that? As we study history, we study the people who lived before us. In the future, when children study history or hear history stories, they're going to hear history stories about people that live during our times. They may even hear about you. Isn't that interesting if you think about it that way? The presidents carved into Mount Rushmore helped shape the country during very important times, and their decisions affected millions of people, and they still influence our nation today. Right? And the same is true for us in smaller ways. The choices we make, the kindnesses we show, the courage that we practice, and even the way we trust God can leave a lasting impact on the people around us. And when we study places like Mount Rushmore, we don't just learn dates and names. We learn about perseverance and leadership and sacrifice and vision and the importance of understanding the past. Right? That is so important to understand the past. So before I close this episode, I want to update you on how it's going at my website. It looks like that we are going to be making these places where you can leave audio messages or videos. Those are going to be available in the middle of July, and I am so excited. It looks like that is what is going to happen. And if it happens sooner, I will let you guys know. Okay? But remember, very soon, you are going to be able to leave your podcast episode request in your own voice. And if I choose your episode request, your Voice is going to introduce it on the podcast episode. It's going to be so exciting. And now it's time for this episode's birthday shout outs. This is the second batch of June birthdays. Happy birthday to Nathan Orth who is turning 3 years old today, June 15th. Happy birthday to Shepherd Stutzman who is turning 3 today on June 15th. And happy birthday to Reese Hansley who is turning 67 on June 18th. Happy birthday to all of you from the Real Cool History for Kids family. Remember, there are three episodes in this month, so if you didn't hear your birthday shout out in this episode, it will be in the next. I hope you all have enjoyed this adventure in history today. Thank you so much for allowing me to tell you the incredible stories of history that teach us all about our world and give us a glimpse of our great and mighty God. I'll meet you here soon for the next episode of Real Cool History for Kids. Until then, with the help and grace of Jesus our Savior, be the best you ever.