America's Monuments | Four Faces | 3

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2021

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1927, workers began blasting granite rock off a towering cliff in South Dakota’s Black Hills. It was the start of an arduous 14-year struggle to carve the portraits of four American presidents into Mount Rushmore.

The feat required grueling labor in extreme conditions. And it was led by an obsessive sculptor named Gutzon Borglum. Borglum was the creative genius behind Rushmore, with a talent and ego as big as the monument itself. But he was also the biggest threat to its completion.

His masterpiece would become one of the most iconic — and controversial — monuments in America.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.0	Imagine it's October 1929.
0:21.1	You're strapped into a harness, suspended 500 feet in the air deep in the mountains of
0:25.9	South Dakota.
0:27.6	You and your fellow powdermen are setting dynamite charges to blast away chunks of the
0:31.6	hard granite face of Mount Rushmore.
0:34.2	You know, I don't know if I'll ever get used to these heights.
0:37.5	Your stomach lurches as you glance below, but your partner just grins.
0:41.6	It beats mining, fella.
0:42.9	At least up here we've got to work in the fresh air.
0:47.2	Gust of wind knocks your knees against a cliff face.
0:50.1	God!
0:51.1	With fresh air.
0:52.6	That's one way to put it.
0:55.8	Being 30 feet to your right, you watch as a driller shakes violently from the force of the
1:00.1	50-pound jackhammer he's operating.
1:03.0	It's the driller's job to dig three-foot holes into the rock, and it's your job to place
1:07.7	sticks of dynamite inside them.
1:10.0	You shake your head and turn back to your partner.
1:11.9	Alright, I think we only need a small explosion here.
1:15.0	Alright, here you go.
	...

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