Mount Rushmore's history is intertwined with the story of the Six Grandfathers, which existed before the iconic monument took shape. In the 1868 Treaty, the U.S. government pledged to grant the Lakota Sioux tribe all the land in South Dakota west of the Missouri River, encompassing the sacred Black Hills.
However, when gold was discovered in the region during the 1870s, a wave of white settlers began to move in. This led to the U.S. government reneging on the treaty and seizing control of the Black Hills. By 1890, tensions between white miners and the Lakota Sioux had escalated to a horrific climax with the Wounded Knee Massacre, where U.S. troops tragically shot and killed hundreds of unarmed Sioux women, children, and men.
The National Park Service (http://nps.gov) suggests that the four U.S. presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, who are immortalized on Mount Rushmore, "narrate the tale of the nation's birth, growth, development, and conservation. From the history of the original inhabitants to the diversity of America today, Mount Rushmore offers visitors a glimpse of the rich heritage we all share."
The concept for Mount Rushmore took shape in the 1920s, thanks to the collaboration of a local historian and a sculptor with the aim of boosting tourism in the area. Originally, the intention was to carve the presidents from the waist up. However, due to funding constraints and the untimely death of Gutzon Borglum, the project remained unfinished.
The total cost of the endeavor was approximately one million dollars, a significant portion of which came from federal government funding. Remarkably, nearly 400 workers contributed to the carving process, and it's worth noting that there were no fatalities among them.
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