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Published: July 10th 2008
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The morning did improve. Breakfast and showers for everyone were first on the agenda, then a thorough cleaning for mini-Molly inside and out. She has seen some rough terrain and has been inhabited non-stop for 10 days. She needed it!
We packed up and headed out. Next to the campground was a funny little animal farm. That's where we saw the goats clibing the goat bridge. On to Mount Rushmore. Can you remember the order of the presidents on the monument? (Answer at the end). The campground was an easy five miles from the monument so it was a quick drive. Rounding the last hairpin turn on the mountain you get your first glimpse of the majestic sculpture. Its dimensions are astounding and its amazing how well-proportioned is each image. The engineers among our readers will find the construction process very interesting. A 1:12 scale model in the sculptor’s studio midway down the mountain served as the guide and a huge protractor system on the mountain directed where to work. Moving the protractor on the model by one inch permitted movement of 12 inches on the mountain. The powder engineers using dynamite were so precise in their work they were
Mt. Rushmore
Mt. Rushmore as you appraoch from the drive up the hill. able to blast to within 4 inches of a finished surface. The remainder was drilled, carved and polished by skilled workers swinging from bosun’s chairs. Directions were radioed to them from the sculptor’s studio. The entire project took 14 years.
Also at the park was a musical band of Native Americans called “Brule and Airo” playing American Indian Rock or contemporary Indian music. They also had an Indian dancer doing the traditional grasslands dances to the music. It was an interesting display and worth the several minutes we stood to watch. David even bought their CD.
After our walk through the park we visited the gift shop where were surprised to meet an original worker on the sculpture. Nick Clifford greeted visitors and explained the process from a first-hand perspective. He disputes the published reasons for not completing the sculpture which remained unfinished after the death of artist Gutzon Borglum. He said the Borglum family firmly decided that the project was the brainchild of Gutzon and should remain as is, unaltered by others. Their wish was honored and work was stopped but the National Park Service attributes it to the brittleness of the rock below the faces.
The park was pretty and the weather was perfect - 70 degrees and sunny. We ate a barbecue sandwich lunch in the motor home in the parking lot before heading out. Patty’s barbecue is world-famous and was a treat for us on this trip.
Also in South Dakota is the lesser known Badlands National Park. It was created by the retreat of an ancient inland sea that was disrupted and drained due to volcanic forces below the sea floor. When you leave the prairies and crest the last hill you are suddenly plunged into another world. The landscape is so unusual and so extreme you can almost imagine you’re on the face of the moon or Mars. The early homesteaders trying to cross this forbidding land called it “the bad land” because it was difficult to negotiate wagons and models T’s through on dry days. Wet days made it completely impassable. Today, modern but narrow paved roads provide a scenic byway for park visitors but they are still rough roads as David and Bill will attest.
Another attraction of this area we wanted to see but didn’t have time for was the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. On
Scale Model
The scale model in the sculptor's studio used to define the dimensions for the scupture on the mountain. another visit through we will stop to see the underground launch control room for the nearby Minuteman Missile housed in an underground silo just of I-90. The missile (no longer present of course) was a strategic weapon in the cold war days. It was a nuclear warhead designed to reach its target within 30 minutes by traveling over the North Pole. Visitors can see both the control room and the silo.
We crossed the Missouri River at 6:25 pm and also crossed another time zone. We’re now in central time. Next stop - Sioux Falls, SD. Kids, we’re finally heading east. Get the houses picked up and we’ll see you in 4 days! - Karen
Answer to the Rushmore question: left to right the presidents are Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.
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