At 98, Nick Clifford is the last surviving workman of Mount Rushmore—and he still hasn't retired
dust that he hated most. Clouds in the high, thin, South Dakotan air, that choked him as he dangled in a harness on the mountainside. The men wielded jackhammers, drilling holes so sticks of dynamite could be pressed into the rock. Then, as they retreated on a president’s head—for a lunch of meatloaf sandwiches, if lucky—fuses fizzed and granite blasted off below. Few bothered with masks, except when the boss, Gutzon Borglum, came on site.
From 1938 to 1940 Nick Clifford was on Mount Rushmore, first as dogsbody and wood-chopper, then as labourer and winchman. Signed up before he was a man, he suspected they sought out his baseball skills. The chief’s son loved the game and his weekend team needed a pitcher. In the week he enjoyed winching best. For that you perched on one or other president’s skull, taking in a grand view of the Black Hills, and moved others’ harnesses into place.
Mr Clifford didn’t light up. At 98, the last surviving worker remains relatively hale and won’t retire. Three days each week he attends to visitors at the monument’s gift shop. Always in blue denim shirt and pale baseball cap, he poses for photographs, although Carolyn, his wife, confides he hates cameras. “I couldn’t be better,” he says, but he declines even handshakes from children or much conversation.
Most wonder about prosaic matters. Was it hard toil? Was he scared, swaying in the wind by Lincoln’s beard or Teddy Roosevelt’s chin? Did it get unbearably cold? To those curious about his place in history, he says little. Would he liken himself to those who laboured at Stonehenge, the pyramids or China’s Great Wall? He hasn’t considered it.
A ranger addresses one topic he neglects. Mount Rushmore arguably produces the greatest returns of any public project, he tells a small crowd. The grand scheme finished under-budget and earlier than many expected. It cost less than $1m and even posted back a $388 surplus to the federal government. The site now draws 2.3m tourists yearly, quite a boon in a rural spot. Visitors may come for centuries yet. After the dust settled, Mr Clifford and his fellow workers left a towering legacy.
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