Another day of 110 degrees but the Black Hills beckoned. A 25 mile drive that was scenic but bone-dry and similar to the foothills of the Canadian rockies, including the devastation of the pine beetle which is turning huge swaths of evergreens to dead rusty scrags. First stop, Mount Rushmore National Monument. Like the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids of Egypt or many other iconic sights in our small planet, Mount Rushmore captured my imagination as a wanderlusting boy and it has taken til now to get up close and personal.
The intro video presentation was fascinating. What started as a western-based statue to bring tourists to South Dakota morphed into a chiselled magnet of whole-nation pilgrimage and honour. A charismatic but fugitive sculptor (Gutzon Borglum) delivered a masterpiece in granite. Most impressive and jaw-dropping was the account of the inexperienced local workers who hung on flimsy bosun chairs 600 feet in the air with primitive jack hammers and dynamite.
Back outside, although the air was a little cooler at this altitude, the aimlessness of the crowds made the first sight feel a little like a Disney set. There they were, four fabled Presidents: the founder, the expansionist, the saviour of the union, and the nature preservationist. But for a non-American the narration about liberty and democracy rang hollow when you consider what was lost in their zeal.
(P.S. The actual mountain was named after an itinerant lawyer looking for clients, even in the 1800's!) My opinion? A dramatic and monumental sculpture that encourages an inflated patriotism. Much more emotional was Crazy Horse, today's other blog....
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