Making a monument

Started by quiller, February 23, 2017, 11:43:21 PM

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quiller

TheWeek.com offers an intriguing photo essay on the making of Mount Rushmore....

QuoteThe workers were paid $8 an hour, which is more than $100 an hour by today's standards. But the work was brutal and dangerous. They had to endure blazing hot summers and bitter cold winters. Just to clock in each morning, they had to climb more than 500 stairs and maneuver over 45 ramps to the top of the mountain. Drillers and carvers strapped into leather harnesses dangled on the side of the mountain, hundreds of feet off the ground. Anytime they needed to change position or come up for the day, a worker hand-cranked the cable. Incredibly, not a single person died in the process, thanks to the intricate, and stringent, infrastructure Borglum designed.

All told, Mount Rushmore took 400 men and women, 14 years, and nearly $1 million to complete. 

http://theweek.com/captured/678602/making-mount-rushmore

naleta

QuoteIncredibly, not a single person died in the process

That is amazing. I know that there were 5 deaths during the construction of the Mackinac Bridge, and that was considered to be a good safety record for a project that size during the 1950's.