THREE

MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL

BLACK HILLS REGION, SOUTH DAKOTA

 

 

 

 

 

WITH MIST STILL HEAVY ON THE MOUNTAIN, the tour bus arrived at the Buses Only parking area of the Mount Rushmore National Monument, taking an hour to make the winding twenty-five mile journey uphill from Rapid City. Along the route, the man saw road signs for Black Hills Maze, Reptile Gardens, Fort Hayes Chuck Wagon Supper and Show, Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns, and Big Thunder Gold Mine, among other attractions.

On the way, the driver assured his passengers: “No need to worry, folks. The mountaintop is a south-facing exposure; mist will have burned-off by the time you check-in, use the restrooms, and make your way to The Grand View Terrace. Departure time for a return to Rapid City is every hour on the hour, lest you stay to see the lighting ceremony. In that case, the last bus leaves the mountain at nine p.m. sharp.”

Together with thirty other sightseers, the man exited from the vehicle. Once off-loaded, the passengers moved like an oil slick toward the main gate. The bus departed in a puff of diesel fumes. The man, alone, remained behind, stepping from the paved tarmac to a grassy knoll still slick with morning dew. Here, he lit a cigarette. (Smoking and pets on a leash are permitted only in the designated parking area.) Through the mist, the man surveyed his surroundings.

Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Rushmore’s granite face towers fifty-five-hundred feet above sea level. Four hundred workers labored fourteen years from nineteen twenty-seven through to forty-one moving eight hundred million pounds of stone to create the likeness of four Presidents who were said, at the time, to reflect the quintessentially American ideals of Liberty, Destiny, and Equality.

The parking area consists of twin multi-level concrete structures surrounded by a ring-road accessible from Route 244 and located on a broad flat plateau situated at the base of the mountain. From the parking area, visitors pass through the Information Center and from there to a broad pedestrian boulevard leading to the Avenue of the Flags, representing America’s fifty-six territories and States. The Grand View Terrace is situated just beyond.

Additionally, there is The Amphitheater, the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center and Museum, the Sculptor’s Studio, a Youth Exploration Area, the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota Heritage Village, and The Presidential Trail, a half-mile walking path that gives visitors the closest view possible of the sculptures.

There are the necessary restroom facilities, the Gift Shop, and Carver’s Cafe and Ice Cream, which serves not only a delicious selection of food but offers a commanding view of the Presidents themselves. Establishing shots featuring the cafeteria were used in the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic nineteen fifty-nine film North By Northwest starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. The cafeteria has since been updated and remodeled.

Of course, the cafeteria will not do, the man had decided when choosing the Monument as an appropriate setting for his first kill: No siree, the cafeteria simply will not do.

The man snuffed-out his cigarette, jammed the butt to his boot-heel. Ever diligent, he placed the remains into a zippered side-pouch of his nylon windbreaker. He adjusted his backpack and, after a final glance to the parking area, made his way purposefully toward the treeline. With a milky sun still struggling to penetrate a mantle of low-lying cloud, the man set off into the woods.