One of the world's most spectacular artistic and engineering achievements, Mount Rushmore is a timeless monument not only to our national pride but to the patriotism and determination of an egocentric sculptor and the rowdy miners he guided in carving a mountain into a great work of art. However, this phenomenal feat could not have been accomplished without the vision and dedication of numerous others -- an aging scholar, a well-driller turned senator, a small-town farm-implements dealer, a congressman who preferred carpentry to politics, and a U.S. president who learned to fish in the Black Hills -- so this is their well-deserved story, too. Had these men or the times been different, Mount Rushmore might never have been finished -- or even attempted. The Carving of Mount Rushmore is the first book to tell the complete story of what Franklin D. Roosevelt called "The Shrine of Democracy," of how the project was conceived, how the site was chosen, what the geology and hidden hazards of Mount Rushmore were, and of how portrait-carving on such an unprecedented scale actually was done. This fascinating chronicle of gigantic accomplishment against monumental odds is wonderfully told by a man born and raised within sight of Rushmore, who was often there as it was being carved, knew many of the key figures, and who had a special rapport with the carvers since he also had been a Black Hills driller and powderman in the mines and quarries. Rex Alan Smith has talked for hours about the carving of Rushmore with 25 of the original participants -- most of whom had never told their stories to outsiders -- and he has captured many a delightful anecdote that might otherwise have been lost. He also had access to private diaries and papers not earlier available. The Carving of Mount Rushmore is a vivid and absorbing tale of fourteen years of dogged determination, multiple setbacks, harrowing danger (as well as a fierce and continual struggle for operating funds), and of an unrelenting battle of man against mountain that finally culminated in an awe-inspiring sykmbol of America to millions of visitors each year. - Jacket flap.