Mount Rushmore is a national memorial in the state South Dakota. It is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore, which is a large igneous intrusion of plutonic rock formed from cooled magma deep in the earth′s crust and then raised to the surface normally through continental life. This type formation is normally rock such as granite, quartz mozonite or diorite.

Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The memorial park covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture′s design and oversaw the project′s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum.

After securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of a great political patron of Mount Rushmore, U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck, construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the faces of the presidents were completed between 1934 and 1939.

Upon Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over as leader of the construction project. Each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist. Lack of funding forced construction to end on October 31, 1941.

Mid March to 30 September: 5:00 am to 11:00 pm

01 October to Mid March: 5:00 am to 9:00 pm

Holidays may have a different schedule

https://www.nps.gov/moru/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Awake, drive to the w-mart for coffee, com and computer until about one in the afternoon, after which I begin studying for the Watchtower study later today. Then, when the time arrives for me to connect using the zoom app, I tie in with the Bay Area, Houston congregation for the meeting.

When the meeting is over, I pack out of the store and drive southwest on US 16 until I arrive at US 16A, then south through Keystone, South Dakota, and out the west side for several more miles until I arrive at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, pull into the parking area and then walk into the viewing area to take some photos.

Next, I drive out of the parking lot, turn west onto US 16 and drive around the side of the memorial where there is a viewing location at what is called the Profile in Granite.

An information sign here says that George Washington′s head is sixty fret tall, his nose is twenty feet tall and his mouth is eighteen feet wide. With these dimensions, a full body statue would have been 400 feet tall.

Who could mistake this profile, especially since every person born in this country has been looking at it on every dollar bill ever carried. So, when I saw this profile, I knew exactly which of the four this was one, no mistaking George Washington. Too, this profile is so perfectly placed that one would surmise that the designer and sculptor Gutzon Borglum planned it, but I am told it was merely a coincidence.

Originally, Borglum intended to put Thomas Jefferson on the right of George Washington, but because he found the rock of poor quality, he had to move him. So, because of this change in the location of Jefferson to Washington′s left next to Theodore Roosevelt, Washington′s profile had this clear view from this location.

The first president′s head is sixty feet tall. His nose is twenty feet, his mouth is eighteen feet wide and each eye is eleven feet across

Using these dimensions, that would make Washington′s entire body, if it was carved, as tall as a forty story building, about four hundred feet.

After driving around to the front of the Memorial and seeing that the park is totally packed with visitors, I opt to stop outside the park, on the side of the highway, get out of the jammer at take my photos here so that I can stay away for the hoards of people down there in the park.

Thinking that this was the only view position on the highway, I take several photos before I leave. I had not got very far down the road and I find another location good for a photo and stop again. However, by this time, a large bank of clouds had come over the monument and made it much darker.

I decide that it would be good to have a close up of each of the heads but when trying to get Roosevelt and Lincoln, they could not be separated.