RIVALS FOR THE SPHINX

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 27 October 1934, Page 14

RIVALS FOR THE SPHINX

is thoroughly tourist conscious. When, it was •decided to build the greatest monument ever constructed, the site chosen was Mount BUshmore, in the Black Bills of South Dakota. In this romantic region there are unique attractions for the seeker after beauty, the lover of Nature, the sportsman, and the scientist bent on research. It is one of the playgrounds of America, and when the Mount Rushmore memorial has been finished, it will undoubtedly becdifae one of the world’s most popular tourist resorts. There is great human curiosity and' genuine interest in the very idea of carving a mountain, apart entirely from the interest which the monument itself will create (writes "E. G. Bonney in the Sydney “Sun”). Prom time immemorial nations have built monuments to mark some milestone in history or to keep alive the memory of some famous citizen. The people of the United 'States broke no new ground, therefore, when they set out to build a monument to the four greatest Presidents—Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. But they went just a step further than other countries had gone and decided that their monument should be on a scale never before approached by • any other nation. The completed plan comprises a heroic group—to be literally carved out 1 with dynamite from a sheer granite ; precipe—of the four nation-builders ; named. It will be on a scale several ; times greater than, the Great Sphinx of

America Builds a Great Memorial

EgypL with a vast entablature, 80ft wide and 120 ft high, bearing deeply incised in imperishable stone the story of America, written by Calvin Coolidge. The figures of the memorial group will measure 230 ft from waist to brow, scaling to the proportions of a man 465 ft high. They will fade into the ledge at the waistline, the tops of the heads being upon the skyline. Washington’s head is already finished. The face measures 70ft from brow to chin. The buttons on his doublebreasted coat will be 6ft across. In: the little studio situated within sight of the granite cliff I saw Gutzon Borglum’s model of three of the four figures. It almost reached to the roof of the building, yet it is built oil a scale of one inch to the foot, so the actual figures will be twelve times as high. The workmen occupy movable stagings while drilling, the mechanism being a leather swing with iron or steel seat, leather covered. The swing is held by fin. cable and is controlled by a hand windlass. The occupant is strapped in so that even if he should become injured, faint or lose control of himself, he cannot escape from the swing without unbuckling the straps that hold him in. How long will these sculpture faces enduref Nobody knows, but experts believe that they will certainly be still smiling down upon visitors 100,000 years hence, and they may possible last for 500,000 years. Well, we cant’ argue about that!