Featured National Park
Jan 2004
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore memorializes the birth, growth, preservation and development
of the United States of America. Between 1927 and 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400
workers sculpted the 60-foot busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150
years of American history. Visitors to the memorial come primarily to view the
granite sculpture itself, but also of interest is the Sculptor's Studio built
under the direction of the artist, Gutzon Borglum, in 1939. Unique plaster
models and tools related to the sculpting process are displayed there.
Recently, ten years of redevelopment work culminated with the completion of
extensive new visitor facilities. These include a new Visitor Center and Museum
and the Presidential Trail, a walking trail and boardwalk providing spectacular
close-up views of the mountain sculpture.
The memorial serves as home to many animals and plants representative of the
Black Hills of South Dakota. The geologic formations of the heart of the Black
Hills region are also evident at Mount Rushmore, including large outcrops of
granite and mica schist.
April 2004
Yellowstone National Park
Long before any recorded human history in
Yellowstone, a massive volcanic eruption spewed an immense volume of ash
that covered all of the western U.S., much of the Midwest, northern Mexico and
some areas of the eastern Pacific. The eruption dwarfed that of Mt. St. Helens
in 1980 and left a caldera 30 miles wide by 45 miles long.
Geothermal wonders, such as Old Faithful,
are evidence of one of the world's largest active volcanoes. These spectacular
features bemused and befuddled the park's earliest visitors, and helped lead to
the creation of the world's first national park.
Fur trappers' fantastic tales of cauldrons of bubbling mud and roaring
geysers sending steaming plumes skyward made their way back east. Several
expeditions were sent to investigate, opening the West to further exploration
and exploitation. In 1871, Ferdinand Hayden led an expedition that included
artist Thomas Moran and photographer William H. Jackson. They brought back
images that helped convince Congress that the area known as Yellowstone needed
to be protected and preserved.
In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law declaring that Yellowstone
would forever be "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground
for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
Back to the Top