Millions of Americans and liberty-loving people from all over the world have come to the Black Hills of South Dakota to look upon Gutzon Borglum’s Shrine of Democracy.
The exact number of visitors to the great granite carvings is not known but each travel season the pilgrimage increases in size.
During the period of construction from 1927 to 1941, when work was under supervision of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission, no accurate records of visitors were kept. Hundreds came each day, however, to keep a fascinated watch over the emergence of the likenesses of the four great presidents from the great stone uplift.
Consecration ceremonies attended by President Coolidge and the unveilings of Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln were attended by thousands of people. Distinguished guests participating in these ceremonies included the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Then in 1939, the Memorial was placed under the supervision of the National Park Service of the Department of Interior. World War II intervened, but in the peace years since the transfer, the flow of visitors has been measured at close to a half million persons each travel season, 419,817 being reported for the 1947 travel year.
Among the nine great memorials in the National Park Service system, Mount Rushmore, by 1947, had risen from seventh to fourth place in attendance. So far as these memorials are concerned, those reporting larger visitations were the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monument, all in the District of Columbia.
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As with other national parks, monuments, and memorials, Mount Rushmore was designated for inclusion in the National Park system because it had become a most inspiring site of historic significance.
Its present administration is designed to promote and regulate the use of the memorial area to conserve the scenery and the natural and historical objects and to provide for the enjoyment of it in such a manner as to leave it unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
A total of nearly 1,800 acres of the Federal Game Sanctuary in the Harney National Forest now comprises the memorial area. It is under the administration of Superintendent Harry J. Liek with headquarters at Wind Cave National Park. The memorial is directly under Acting Custodian J. Estes Suter.
A brief description follows for Wind Cave National Park and the three national monuments—the Badlands, Jewel Cave, and Devils Tower—that are embraced in the Black Hills and Badlands area of southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming.
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK
Wind Cave is the most widely known of the many limestone caverns found near the margin of the Black Hills. Discovered in 1881, it was created a national park in 1903. The strong currents of wind that blow alternately in and out of the mouth of the cave suggested its name.
Boundaries of the park were extended twice and now embrace a total of 28,000 acres of federally-owned land, supporting a large buffalo herd in its natural habitat and other wildlife, such as elk, antelope, and deer.
Chief feature of the park is the exceptional limestone cavern, noted for its unique boxwork rarely found in other sections of the world. Other crystalline formations in various color shadings line a series of subterranean passages, known to be at least 10 miles in extent.
BADLANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT
In sharp contrast to the verdant Black Hills country, the White River Badlands, a barren, treeless region, lies about 50 miles east of the western foothills.
Here nature has beautified the earth with all shades of buff, cream, pale green, gold, and rose. Fantastically carved erosion forms rise above the valleys, some of them 150 to 300 feet high.
The constantly shifting color and the weird formations make this a region of strong imaginative appeal.
JEWEL CAVE NATIONAL MONUMENT
A unique coating of dogtooth calcite crystals which sparkle like jewels in the light distinguish Jewel Cave from other crystal caverns in the Black Hills and provided its name.
One of the finest stands of virgin ponderosa pine remaining in the Black Hills is found within the monument which was established in 1908. It was originally part of the present Harney National Forest but was transferred to the National Park Service, by Executive Order, in 1934.
DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT
Another unusual natural phenomenon of the Black Hills country is the Devils Tower across the South Dakota state line in Wyoming. This is a great column of igneous rock towering 1,280 feet above the Belle Fourche river, whose course is near the base. Devils Tower has the distinction of being the first national monument created under the Antiquities Act of 1906. It was established by proclamation of September 24 of that year, by President Theodore Roosevelt.