Book excerpt: The clash and synergy of Borglum, Black Elk and Mount Rushmore

Book excerpt: The clash and synergy of Borglum, Black Elk and Mount Rushmore

A June 2025 view of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota's Black Hills. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) One hundred years ago on Oct. 1, 1925, sculptor Gutzon Borglum conducted the first dedication of Mount Rushmore (fundraising was slow, leading to another dedication and the actual start of carving in 1927). The following is an excerpt from a new book being published in tandem with the first dedication’s 100th ann…