Lost Chapters
Mount Rushmore: Emerald Location
Mount Rushmore was carved by sculptor Gutzon Borglum and a crew of nearly 400 workers between October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941. Borglum designed it and led the work until his death in March 1941, and his son finished it. The mountain sits in the Black Hills, land sacred to the Lakota.
- Cost
- 5 crystals
- Type
- Location · Monument
- Color
- Emerald (Frontier & Explorers)
- Rarity
- Common
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Your Founder and Leader characters get +1/+1.
Presidential mountainside sculpture that turned ancient Lakota sacred land into America's most grandiose rocky portrait gallery.
The real history
Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, was carved by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum and a crew of nearly 400 men and women. Work began on October 4, 1927, and the memorial was finished on October 31, 1941, after 14 years. Borglum designed it and led the carving until he died in March 1941, and his son oversaw the remaining work. The faces show George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Most of the mountain, about 90 percent, was removed with dynamite. Workers then drilled and finished the faces by hand. The National Park Service reports that no worker died during the 14 years of construction.
The mountain's story did not start with the carving. The Lakota people call it the Six Grandfathers, and the wider Black Hills hold deep cultural and spiritual meaning for the Lakota and other tribes. In the Treaty of Fort Laramie, signed on April 29, 1868, the United States recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for the exclusive use of the Sioux. After gold was found there in 1874, miners and settlers rushed in, and in 1877 the government took the land. Ownership of the Black Hills is still disputed.
The National Park Service notes that the memorial's location disregarded the mountain's existing meaning. People still see it differently: some as a symbol of democracy and freedom, others as a symbol of colonialism. In the 1970s the American Indian Movement held demonstrations calling for treaty rights and tribal sovereignty.
Sources
- Carving History, National Park Service, Mount Rushmore National Memorial
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial Cultural Landscape, National Park Service
- Black Hills Treaty, National Archives, American Originals
How the card plays
Mount Rushmore costs 5 crystals and is an Emerald Location. Its text reads: your Founder and Leader characters get +1/+1. Founders and Leaders are character subtypes, so the bonus only helps characters of those kinds, and it lasts as long as the Location stays in play.
It shines in a deck packed with Founders. Washington, First President, Washington, First President, already gives your other Founders +1/+1, so the two effects stack. National Convention, National Convention, adds another +1/+1 to Founders and makes them cost 1 less. Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., is a Leader who also gets the bonus. Play Mount Rushmore before you start attacking so your front line is bigger when combat begins.
- Playable in decks led by Amelia Earhart, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Emerald.
- In the Earhart starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-Ax8CIAEhASIBIwIkAiUBJgEnASgCKQEqAisBLAEtAS4BLwEwATEBMgEzATQBNQE2ATcBOAE5AToBOwE8AT0BZQJ0Anuc - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Mount Rushmore
Which presidents are on Mount Rushmore?
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
How long did it take to carve Mount Rushmore?
Fourteen years, from October 4, 1927, to October 31, 1941.
Related cards
Free in your browser. No download.
Play Mount Rushmore free