TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission letterhead, October 12, 1935. Letter to John Harlan, in part: "On the ninth I sent to Mr. Sargent a letter bearing on the questions that you raised, in the copy of which enclosed you will find the items that ought to be put before the Budget people. I want to start about April the first and I want some agreement for adequate power and a hoist. I want to increase my force by about twenty to thirty men, so that I suggest that the budget for 1936 and 1937 should be about $140,000. What I mean is that we shall need $100,000 from July 1st 1936 to July 1st, 1937, and I shall need money for April, May and June, 1936, which I imagine will require special legislation to make the money available." In very good to fine condition, with several file holes, and a tear to the left edge. Accompanied by the enclosure referenced, a carbon copy of a letter related to the budget for the construction of Mount Rushmore.
In 1923, South Dakota historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea of giant carvings in the Black Hills to promote tourism in his state. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum chose Mount Rushmore because it had exposed granite to support sculpting and faced southeast with maximum exposure to the sun. The project received Congressional approval in March 1925 and began in October 1927. Initial estimates were that the project would take five years and cost $500,000.
Over the next fourteen years, Borglum and four hundred workers completed the carvings by blasting and drilling away 450,000 tons of rock from the mountainside. The total cost was just under $1 million. Washington's face was dedicated on July 4, 1930, followed by that of Jefferson in 1936, Lincoln in 1937, and Roosevelt in 1939. After Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son and assistant Lincoln Borglum continued the project. Originally planned to include carvings from head to waist, the project ultimately ended due to insufficient funding, and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was declared complete.
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