Provide some information about Presidential Hill in the United States

1. Introduction

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a memorial park to the President of the United States of America (United States) located near Keystone, South Dakota. States Presidential Memorial). There are four 60-foot-high (approximately 18 meters) heads of former U.S. presidents in the park. They are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. These four presidents are considered to represent the founding of the United States. 150 years of history. The entire park covers an area of ??1,278 acres (5.17 square kilometers), with the highest altitude being 5,725 feet (1,745 meters). The park is managed by the National Park Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and attracts approximately two million visitors each year.

In 1885, the famous New York lawyer Charles E. Rushmore purchased a granite mountain near the mine he owned in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Named "Mount Rushmore" after his surname, this is where the name Mount Rushmore comes from. Decades later, when plans to build Mount Rushmore National Memorial were officially launched, Rushmore donated $5,000. The original intention of building the sculpture on Mount Rushmore was to attract more people to visit the Black Mountain area. However, this construction plan triggered a protracted dispute between the U.S. Congress and then President Calvin Coolidge. debate. Eventually, the construction plan was approved by Congress. Construction of the entire project began in 1927 and was completed in 1941.

Today, Mount Rushmore has not only become a world-class tourist attraction, but also a symbol of the American president in American culture. At the same time, under the influence of contemporary popular culture, Mount Rushmore has also derived many other meanings.

2. History

As early as 1923, a historian named Doane Robinson proposed carving a group of presidential portraits on Mount Rushmore. To attract more tourists to South Dakota. For this reason, in 1924, he persuaded the sculptor Gutzon Borglum to go to the Brak Mountains area to survey to determine whether the area was suitable for this huge carving project. The originally envisioned location for the carving was Needles in the Black Mountain region, where there were many granite columns available for carving. However, Borglum later discovered that the granite in the Needles area had been worn away by erosion over the years, making it difficult to carve such a huge work on it. But Mount Rushmore qualifies for engraving. Borglum said when he saw Mount Rushmore: "America will march along that skyline." In March 1925, the U.S. Congress officially approved the construction. Mount Rushmore National Memorial Park. Here President Coolidge emphasized that in addition to the indispensable Washington, the other three presidents engraved must be two Republicans and one Democrat.

From October 4, 1927 to October 31, 1941, Gerzen Borglum and about 400 workers spent a full 14 years carving a 60-foot-high (approximately 60 feet) 18 meters) giant statues of four American presidents. These four presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln—represent the first 150 years of American history. Borglum chose these four presidents because of their important place in American history.

Since 1933, Mount Rushmore has been under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Since then, engineer Julian Spotts has made improvements to some of the facilities during construction. For example, the measures he took to strengthen construction cranes made it easier for workers to reach the top of Mount Rushmore from the ground. On July 4, 1934, Washington's facial carving was completed first. Two years later, the statue of Thomas Jefferson was also sculpted. The third piece to be completed was the statue of Abraham Lincoln. This part of the project was declared completed on September 17, 1937. That same year, a bill was introduced in Congress to add civil rights leader Susan B. Anthony throughout the engraving. However, this plan was aborted because there was an additional clause in the annual budget of the U.S. government at that time that stipulated that federal funds invested in this project could only be used on the four sculptures that had already begun construction. In 1939, the last part of the sculpture, the head of Theodore Roosevelt, was completed.

In 1939, Gerzen Borglum directed the establishment of the Sculptor's Studio to display related miniature plaster models and production tools. In March 1941, Borglum died of a blood clot. His son, Lincoln Borglum, succeeded him and continued to lead the project's progress.

But seven months after his death, work was halted due to financial problems. According to the original plan, the statues of the four presidents should all be busts, that is, the sculptures should include all parts from the waist up. Due to a halt in construction, Washington's statue was only a bust, while the statues of the other three presidents only had their heads completed. The entire project cost $989,992.32. It is commendable that no workers died during the construction of such a massive project.

On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was officially included in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1975, the management authorities erected a special copper pillar in the old Borglum's studio. At the top of the copper pillar is a copper plaque engraved with an award-winning article written by William Andrew Burkett from Nebraska forty years ago. In 1934, Gerzon Borglum collaborated with American newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst to organize an essay contest with prizes in newspapers owned by the latter to expand the project. influence. In the end, Burkitt, who participated in the college essay competition at the time, became the lucky winner. Although his article did not really leave its mark on Mount Rushmore until 1975, this winning essay was enough to win him the four-year award at that time. of college scholarships. Because the entire carving was not completed as planned, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Park was never officially dedicated for a long time. It was not until July 3, 1991 that the then US President George H.W. Bush held an official dedication ceremony for Mount Rushmore. This day happens to be the 50th anniversary of the end of the Mount Rushmore carving project.

In 1998, the ten-year renovation project of Mount Rushmore came to an end. The final parts of the project include visitor centers, museums, Presidential Trails, and pedestrian walkways to facilitate tourist visits. The daily maintenance work of the entire park (especially the main sculpture part) is quite complicated and tedious. Among them, removing the moss from the statues and cleaning the statues are the most difficult, and this work needs to be done frequently. On July 8, 2005, German cleaning machine manufacturer K?rcher performed a free cleaning on the face of the presidential statue. The high-pressure water used in the cleaning process reaches temperatures as high as 200 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 90 degrees Celsius).

3. Controversy

The Indian tribes living nearby believe that Black Mountain is their sacred mountain. After the Black Hills War of 1876-1877, the U.S. government seized the territory from the Lakota tribe, which had acquired the land in a 1776 war with the Cheyenne tribe. . Since then, the conflicts between the Lakota people who were driven out of this area and the U.S. government have not disappeared. The presidential statue on Mount Rushmore has also become a target of criticism from the Lakota people. Even after authorities appointed Gerard Baker, the first Indian-American director in the history of Mount Rushmore National Park, in 2004, such criticisms continued. In response to the Presidential Hill project, the Lakota people built the Crazy Horse Memorial statue in another location in the Black Mountains to commemorate the historic Lakota Chief Crazy Horse. Although the Crazy Horse Memorial Statue project only received a small grant from the U.S. government, due to the strong support of the chief of the Lakota tribe to which Crazy Horse belonged during his lifetime, the statue, which is slightly larger than the entire Presidential Mountain, was finally It was completed successfully.

4. Ecological environment

The distribution and composition of flora and fauna at Mount Rushmore are similar to the Black Mountains of South Dakota where it is located. The Memorial Park has become the home of many Black Mountains. A paradise for the region’s representative flora and fauna. Large birds such as red-headed vultures, vultures, hawks and meadowlarks often hover over Mount Rushmore and often build their nests on the mountain's rock walls. Some relatively small birds, such as songbirds, nuthatches, woodpeckers, etc., mostly live in the pine forests around the foot of the mountain. In addition, the park also thrives in mammals such as rats, chipmunks, squirrels, skunks, porcupines, raccoons, beavers, coyotes, bighorn goats and wild cats, many of which are native to the United States. There are also several species of frogs and snakes living in the park. There are also two creeks in the park, Grizzly Creek and Starling Bottom Creek, which provide habitat for longnose minnows and brook trout. Not all animals that live there are native. The local goats are bred from sheep that escaped from Custer State Park, which was given to Custer State Park as a gift from Canada.

At lower altitudes, coniferous forests, mainly composed of Ponderosa Pine, cover most of the park, creating large areas of green shade, and of course there are other species such as thorn berries. Trees such as Bur Oak, spruce and poplar are mixed in here.

Nine species of shrubs grow near Mount Rushmore, as well as a wide variety of wildflowers, especially snapdragons, sunflowers, and violets. At higher altitudes, vegetation is relatively sparse. It is worth mentioning that in the Black Mountains, where Mount Rushmore is located, only about 5% of the plants are native.

Although the area where Mount Rushmore is located has an average annual rainfall of 18 inches (460 mm), it is still unable to meet the huge water needs of animals and plants. Plants strive to absorb surface water to prevent its loss; ditches, rock seeps and springs provide water diversion for animals, reducing the impact of surface water loss to a certain extent. In addition, rock formations such as sandstone and limestone are also conducive to the formation of groundwater.

Analysis of fire scars found during tree ring sampling revealed that forest fires occur approximately every 27 years in the ponderosa pine forest near Mount Rushmore, which helps Remove the dead branches and leaves that have accumulated on the surface for a long time to maintain the natural cycle of ecology. However, large-scale forest fires are very rare, but it is certain that fires of this scale must have occurred in the history of this area.

5. Geological Overview

Mount Rushmore is mainly composed of granite. The memorial sculpture is located on the northwest rock wall of the Harney Peak rock base in the Black Mountains, so the geological structure of the Black Mountains is clearly visible on the sculpture of Mount Rushmore. During the Precambrian period about 1.6 billion years ago, magma from the batholith invaded the forming mica and shale layers. However, the uneven cooling of magma, mica, and shale layers formed fine-textured ore rock layers with coarse particles, including quartz, feldspar, muscovite, and biotite. The gaps between the rock layers are filled with crystalline granite. The light lines on the president's forehead are the result of these bands of crystallized granite.

At the end of the Precambrian, the granite in the Brak Mountains was exposed and continuously eroded. However, during the Cambrian period, it was buried by large amounts of sandstone and other sediments. The area lay underground throughout the Paleozoic era, but was exposed again and eroded by geological uplift about 70 million years ago. The Buralake Mountains area formed a dome-shaped landform with an altitude of 20,000 feet (approximately 6 kilometers) during the uplift process, but subsequent natural erosion over the years reduced it to only 4,000 feet (1.2 kilometers) above sea level. Natural erosion removed the sediments and other relatively soft rock formations covering the granite layers, making them favorable for the construction of the sculptures. The dividing line between the granite layers and the darker schist can still be seen beneath the statue of President Washington.

The reason why Borglum chose Mount Rushmore as the place to build the sculpture is mainly based on the following considerations: First, Mount Rushmore is mainly composed of flat, fine-textured granite. Granite is extremely strong and chemically stable, with only 1 inch (2.5 cm) of natural erosion per 10,000 years, making it strong enough to support the entire sculpture; in addition, the 5,725 ft (1,745 m) elevation This makes it the highest peak in the area; at the same time, the exposed granite part of the mountain faces southeast, which allows the statue to be bathed in sunlight for most of the day, thus presenting a better viewing effect.

6. Tourism

Tourism is the second largest industry in South Dakota. Mount Rushmore has always been the most visited attraction in the state, with more than 2 million tourists visiting in 2004 alone.

The Lincoln Borglum Museum is located in Memorial Park. It has two 125-seat movie theaters that screen a 13-minute short film about Mount Rushmore. Above the Borglum Museum, the best place to view the sculptures is the Grandview Terrace. The Presidential Trail refers to a trail that starts from the Grand Observation Deck and passes through the ponderosa pine forest to the Sculptor's Studio. It provides a good way for people to get closer to the memorial. Chance. The Sculptor's Studio, built by Gutzon Borglum, Lincoln Borglum's father, contains an introduction to the entire sculpture construction process and the tools used. As dusk approaches, the cinema will also play a 30-minute program introducing the Memorial Park. Subsequently, the entire Mount Rushmore will be illuminated for two hours a day.

7. Mount Rushmore in Popular Culture

Because Mount Rushmore is famous for its spectacular carvings of presidential heads, popular media often use it in their spoofs. The four presidents were replaced with other characters or characters. In the movie "Superman II", the chief villain General Zod and his associates used their superpowers to replace the heads of the four presidents with the faces of three of them.

Similarly, in Tim Burton's famous spoof science fiction movie "The Martian", the Martians also used the lasers emitted by their flying saucers to carve the presidential statue on Mount Rushmore into a Martian head. The rock band Deep Purple also took inspiration from Mount Rushmore - on the cover of their album Deep Purple in Rock, they replaced the presidential statue on Mount Rushmore with five members of the band 's avatar. Coincidentally, The Chipmunks, a band composed of virtual characters, also used Mount Rushmore on their album covers. On the cover of their album Chipmunk Rock, the statues of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore were transformed into Styx band member James Young, the animated character Alvin Chipmunk, and two others. Portraits of singers Joey Ramone and Frank Zappa. In the novel "Better Than Life" in the Red Dwarf series, when the protagonist Dave Lister discovered Mount Rushmore, which was mostly buried in garbage, he realized that he had returned to Mount Rushmore. Earth. In addition, the Mount Rushmore in the story also includes the head of fictional U.S. President Elaine Salinger.

Because Mount Rushmore is a geographical landmark of great historical significance, it is often used as the base of a certain party's power in many action movies and novels. In the spoof movie "Team America: World Police", Mount Rushmore was used by Team America as their base. However, it was eventually destroyed by a suicide bomber by Michael Moore. In the Wildstorm comics, the alien superhero Mr. Majestic also has his secret base in Mount Rushmore. In the comic book series DC Universe, the All Purpose Enforcement Squad also set up a secret base on Mount Rushmore.

In an episode of the TV series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), the protagonist Buck Rogers, who was accused of triggering a war that destroyed the earth, found himself in a city in Latin America. Room under Mount Shmore.

In the "Star Trek" novel series, a new statue of a fictional president is added to Mount Rushmore.

Among those films that include scenes set against Mount Rushmore, the most famous is Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" (also known as "North by Northwest"). 》, North by Northwest). The final scene of this classic suspense film, the famous plane chase, is set against the backdrop of Mount Rushmore. However, this scene was not filmed at Mount Rushmore. Because it was mentioned in the pre-submitted filming record that a scene in the film contained a scene in which an airplane tried to shoot the protagonist who climbed on the face of the presidential statue, the park management did not allow the crew to enter the filming. The final set of shots was completed in the studio by building models.

In the TV movie 10.5: Apocalypse, Mount Rushmore was destroyed by an earthquake.

In the movie "Richie Rich", the Rich family carved the heads of three family members on a huge stone mountain and named the mountain "Richie Rich" ( Mount Richmore).

In the movie "National Treasure 2", the presidential statue on Mount Rushmore is believed to be used to protect the legendary "City of Gold" treasure, played by Nicolas Cage's Benjamin Franklin Gates finally found this underground treasure on Mount Rushmore.