Question 1

True or false: Mount Rushmore was carved by a single sculptor working entirely alone.

Accepted Answer

False. Though Gutzon Borglum was the lead sculptor, the project involved hundreds of workers over 14 years, including drillers, carvers, and blasters.

Question 2

True or false: Mount Rushmore was carved entirely by hand without any use of explosives.

Accepted Answer

False. Dynamite was essential for removing large rock chunks. Workers also used drills and chisels for finer detail, but explosives did the bulk of the work.

Question 3

True or false: Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, died before the monument was completed.

Accepted Answer

True. Borglum died in March 1941. His son Lincoln Borglum oversaw the final months of work, and the monument was completed in October 1941.

Question 4

True or false: The faces on Mount Rushmore were all carved exactly as originally planned.

Accepted Answer

False. Thomas Jefferson's face was originally started on the left of Washington, but poor rock quality forced the team to blast it off and carve him on the right instead.

Question 5

True or false: Mount Rushmore was originally planned to depict the presidents from head to waist but only the heads were completed.

Accepted Answer

True. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum's original design included full torsos. Due to lack of funding and time, only the heads were carved by the project's end in 1941.

Question 6

True or false: Over 90% of the carving on Mount Rushmore was done using dynamite.

Accepted Answer

True. Dynamite was used to quickly remove large rock masses. Workers then refined the surfaces with finer tools. About 90% of the carving was done with dynamite charges.

Question 7

True or false: The Lakota people originally called the mountain that became Mount Rushmore 'Six Grandfathers'.

Accepted Answer

True. Before being renamed for Charles E. Rushmore, the mountain was known to the Lakota as 'Six Grandfathers' referring to its six peaks.

Question 8

True or false: Behind the faces of Mount Rushmore, there is a hidden chamber containing the original Declaration of Independence.

Accepted Answer

False. A Hall of Records exists behind Lincoln's head, but it holds a titanium vault with texts of the Constitution and other documents, not the original Declaration.

Mount Rushmore Trivia Questions