Mount Rushmore Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

Trivia quiz questions about Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

What is Mount Rushmore?
A: Mount Rushmore National Memorial is centered around a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of whom?
A: His son Lincoln Borglum.

The sculptures feature whom?
A: The 60-foot heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson , Theodore Roosevelt , and Abraham Lincoln.

The memorial park covers how many acres?
A: 1,278.45 acres.

What is its elevation?
A: 5,725 feet (1,745 m) above sea level.

Mount Rushmore attracts how many visitors annually?
A: More than two million.

Originally known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers" or "Cougar Mountain, the mountain was renamed after whom?
A: Charles E. Rushmore, a prominent New York lawyer, during an expedition in 1885.

At first, the project of carving Rushmore was undertaken to increase what?
A: Tourism in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.

After long negotiations involving a Congressional delegation and President Calvin Coolidge, the project received what?
A: Congressional approval.

The carving started in 1927 and ended in 1941 with no what?
A: Fatalities.

As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was part of the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took in a what?
A: A spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak.

Following a series of military campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that is still disputed on the basis of what?
A: The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

Among American settlers, the peak was known variously as what?
A: Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain, and Keystone Cliffs.

It was named Mount Rushmore during a prospecting expedition by whom?
A: Charles Rushmore, David Swanzey , and Bill Challis.

Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 for what?
A: To promote tourism in South Dakota.

In 1924, Robinson persuaded what sculptor to travel to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished?
A: Gutzon Borglum.

Borglum had been involved in sculpting the what?
A: The Confederate Memorial Carving, a massive bas-relief memorial to Confederate leaders on Stone Mountain in Georgia, but was in disagreement with the officials there.

What was the original plan?
A: It was to make the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles.

However, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were what?
A: Too thin to support sculpting.

He chose Mount Rushmore, a grander location, partly because it faced where?
A: Southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to the sun.

What did Borglum say upon seeing Mount Rushmore?
A: "America will march along that skyline."

Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission on what date?
A: March 3, 1925.

Between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and how many workers sculpted the colossal 60 foot (18 m) high carvings of U.S. presidents?
A: 400.

These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their what?
A: Their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory.

The carving of Mount Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of what?
A: "Honeycombing", a process where workers drill holes close together, allowing small pieces to be removed by hand.

In total, how many tons of rock was blasted off the mountainside?
A: About 450,000 short tons.

The image of Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to appear in the area at Washington's right, but after the work there was begun, the rock was found to be what?
A: Unsuitable, so the work on the Jefferson figure was dynamited, and a new figure was sculpted to Washington's left.

Who was the Chief Carver of the mountain?
A: Luigi del Bianco, artisan and headstone carver in Port Chester, NY.

Del Bianco emigrated to the U.S. from where?
A: Friuli in Italy.

He was chosen to work on this project because of what?
A: His remarkable skill at etching emotions and personality into his carved portraits.

In 1933, who took Mount Rushmore under its jurisdiction?
A: National Park Service.

Julian Spotts helped with the project by improving its what?
A: Infrastructure.

For example, he had the tram upgraded so it could do what?
A: Reach the top of Mount Rushmore for the ease of workers.

By July 4, 1934, what had been completed and was dedicated?
A: Washington's face.

The face of Thomas Jefferson was dedicated in what year?
A: 1936.

The face of Abraham Lincoln was dedicated on what date?
A: September 17, 1937.

In 1937, a bill was introduced in Congress to do what?
A: To add the head of civil-rights leader Susan B. Anthony, but a rider was passed on an appropriations bill requiring federal funds be used to finish only those heads that had already been started at that time.

In 1939, what face of was dedicated?
A: Theodore Roosevelt.

Borglum had planned to make a secret room behind the hairline of Abraham Lincoln which was supposed to be a doorway to a chamber originally intended to hold what?
A: Some of America's most treasured documents.

Why was it not finished?
A: Due to his death.

What did Borglum died from?
A: An embolism in March 1941.

Who continued the project?
A: His son, Lincoln Borglum.

Originally, it was planned that the figures would be carved how?
A: From head to waist but insufficient funding forced the carving to end.

In total, the entire project cost how much?
A: US $989,992.32.

On October 15, 1966, Mount Rushmore was listed on what?
A: The National Register of Historic Places.

A 500-word essay giving the history of the United States by what Nebraska student was selected as the college-age group winner in a 1934 competition?
A: William Andrew Burkett.

In 1991, who officially dedicated Mount Rushmore?
A: President George H. W. Bush.

In a canyon behind the carved faces is a chamber, cut only 70 feet (21 m) into the rock, containing what?
A: A vault with sixteen porcelain enamel panels.

The panels include the text of what?
A: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, biographies of the four presidents and Borglum, and the history of the U.S.

The chamber was created as the entrance-way to a planned what?
A: "Hall of Records"; the vault was installed in 1998.

Ten years of redevelopment work culminated with the completion of what?
A: Extensive visitor facilities and sidewalks in 1998, such as a Visitor Center, the Lincoln Borglum Museum, and the Presidential Trail.

Maintenance of the memorial requires mountain climbers to do what?
A: To monitor and seal cracks annually.

Due to budget constraints, the memorial is not regularly cleaned to remove what?
A: Lichens.

However, on July 8, 2005, what did Alfred Kärcher GmbH, a German manufacturer of pressure washing and steam cleaning machines do?
A: He conducted a free cleanup operation which lasted several weeks, using pressurized water at over 200 °F.