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Mt Rushmore Research Paper

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PETER NORBECK AND MOUNT RUSHMORE

Senator Peter Norbeck was Mount Rushmore's great political patron and promoter of the construction of the giant structure. Norbeck helped raise almost a million dollars for the project during the years of the Great Depression.

Peter was born 27 August 1870 to George and Karen Norbeck, who were Norwegian immigrants. He attended public schools and the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. Back in 1895 Peter was a contractor and driller of deep oil, water, and gas wells. In 1900 he moved to Redfield and added agriculture to his interests. Peter Norbeck married Lydia Theresa Anderson in 1901 and they had three daughters, Nellie, Ruth, and Selma (Sally) and a son, Harold.
Norbeck ran for governor in 1916 …show more content…

However, Gutzon Borglum rejected that location and chose Mount Rushmore because of its better granite and facing southeast into the sun. Borglum wanted a national focus and settled on four presidents representing the first 130 years and the expansion of the United States. Construction began in October of 1927 and ended in October of 1941 with a crew of 400 workers. The original design was for the carvings to be from head to waist but after the death of Gutzon Borglum in 1941, his son Lincoln said the sculpture was fine just the way it stands. Only some finish work on the structure was accomplished before it was declared complete. Even with all the dangerous carving and blasting not one fatality occurred at Mount Rushmore while it was being created. Annually two million visitors come to Mount Rushmore to view its magnificent tribute as the Shrine of Democracy.
Peter Norbeck also encouraged the development of the Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road, Sylvan Lake, Wind Cave National Park, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and the Game Sanctuary in the Black

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