How many days did it take to carve Mount Rushmore?
The drilling began on October 4, 1927. The carving ended on October 31, 1941. That’s 14 years and 28 days. However, the workers didn’t work every single day. Usually they didn’t work during the winter. Q: How come Abraham Lincoln is so far away from the other three presidents? L.R. (Happy 7th Birthday to L.R. on September 6!) A: At first, Gutzon Borglum planned to carve the faces in the following order: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. (George Washington would be in the middle.) But when the workers were halfway through carving Thomas Jefferson, they realized that the rock was weak. So, Borglum and the workers blasted Jefferson off the mountain and began to carve him on the other side of Washington. Because of this, Borglum had to figure out a new place to put Lincoln. He decided to carve Lincoln on the end where the rock would be stable.
