Mount Rushmore: The Hostile Take-Over Of "Six Grandfathers" In 1877
Attorney Charles Rushmore And The Harney Peak Tin Company
Mount Rushmore is quite the national monument. The 4 President’s faces that have been carved out of stone on this rock formation are from left to right: George Washington (POTUS #1), Thomas Jefferson (POTUS #3), Theodore Roosevelt (POTUS #26) and Abraham Lincoln (POTUS #16).
A few members of our “Maha Collective” team of citizen journalists embarked on a field trip to Keystone, SD over July 4th to see Mount Rushmore with our own eyes.
It is hard to imagine, but 6 years had passed since the last fireworks display occurred at Mount Rushmore. Here are few excerpts and pictures from the Mount Rushmore fireworks in July 2020.
Of course, you may have heard by now that Trump visited Mount Rushmore on 7/3/26, showing off the brand new, more patriotically adorned, AF1. When members of our team experienced this historic flyover firsthand, we could only think about Trump redefining the words “circling back.”
Our “Maha Collective” team of citizen journalists can also report firsthand that fireworks did return to Mount Rushmore in July 2026. Rather fittingly, we sat in the Rushmore View Inn parking lot in Keystone, SD and watched the explosive array of red, white, and blue flares in the night sky.
Here is a collage of pictures that our team collected while visiting this historic site during the 250th anniversary celebration on the 7/4/26.
While enjoying this special place during the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration, we learned a few things and wanted to pass along the unique history of Mount Rushmore.
When Americans stand at the foot of this patriotic masterpiece, we are guessing that most are not thinking about an attorney or a tin mining company. However, it would be accurate to state that Mount Rushmore’s name ties back to Attorney Charles Rushmore and the Harney Peak Tin Mining Company.
Charles Rushmore was a lawyer with the firm Rushmore, Bisbee, & Stern, located in New York City. He was employed by the Harney Peak Tin Mining Company, organized in 1889 with investments from British stockholders. Attorney Rushmore was sent to the Black Hills area in the Dakota Territory in both 1884 and 1885 to check titles to properties owned by an eastern mining company.
Did you know that Mount Rushmore was originally called “Six Grandfathers?”
In the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the U.S. government granted exclusive use of all of the Black Hills, including Six Grandfathers (aka Mount Rushmore), to the Sioux in perpetuity.
And did you know that “in perpetuity” ended up lasting just a few years? The US government (or corporation) broke the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1877 after the Black Hills Gold Rush and the Sioux War of 1876. The dramatic shift that occurred just 9 years after the original treaty was signed in 1868 led to prospectors taking control of the land.
Among those prospectors was New York mining promoter James Wilson, who organized the Harney Peak Tin Company, and hired New York attorney Charles E. Rushmore to visit the Black Hills and confirm the company's land claims.
And did you know that the land in and around the Black Hills has and still is considered sacred by several Indian tribes? It sounds like this area was filled with an abundant supply of food, building materials, and natural health remedies.
Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills (Pahá Sápa) are considered sacred by Plains Indians such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota Sioux, who used the area for centuries as a place to pray and gather food, building materials, and medicine.
And did you know that these “Six Grandfathers” (aka Mount Rushmore) were considered by the Lakota Sioux Indians to be ancestral deities, or gods, that represented directions? Four of these six directions are described in rather common vernacular - north, south, east, and west. However, the other two directions are described as “above” and “below.”
The Lakota Sioux Indian tribe called the mountain “Six Grandfathers” (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe), symbolizing ancestral deities personified as the six directions: north, south, east, west, above (sky), and below (earth).
Above and below….you don’t say. Well, those descriptions seem to describe things exactly as the Bible described God’s creation in the book of Genesis. In fact, Bibles printed years ago (King James Version) included mention of the “firmament” 7 times in just the book of Genesis and 8 other times throughout scripture. Several “older” translations of the Bible also included maps depicting the heavens and the earth as created by God. Have you ever wondered why the word “firmament” and these maps have basically been removed from our “modern day” Bibles?
Shifting gears back to the here and now, Donald J. Trump has placed Mount Rushmore in the spotlight more than once, sharing pictures of his image being etched into the stone located on the right side of the monument. Most people have quickly dismissed these memes as nonsensical, satirical, or Trump just being his incredibly arrogant self.
The most interesting detail that our team has noticed thus far is the fact that Trump’s video share from 5/30/26 actually changed the face of Abraham Lincoln to someone else. Our team has not been able to identify this person, but one can clearly see that Abraham Lincoln is appearing as someone else and Trump is taking notice of this person.
Our “Maha Collective” team of citizen journalists is starting to wonder if there is more in play with Mount Rushmore than we realize. Will the face of this mountain include “Six Grandfathers” of our nation one day versus the four appearing now? Could Trump, ancestrally speaking, be considered one of the “Six Grandfathers” of this great nation? And, if so, which “direction” will he be known for? Our team is thinking that he will be remembered most for his knowledge of the “below” or the “Great Deep,” as the archived Biblical maps refer to it. Modern day “conspiracy theorists” would refer to it more casually as the “underground.” Of course, that is where the gold comes from.
Setting aside the “deep” thoughts on the “Six Grandfathers,” what ever happened with the letter that Rep. Andy Ogles wrote to the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum on 7/3/25?
And whatever happened with H.R. 792, a bill introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on 1/28/25 that was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources? H.R. 792 directed the Secretary of the Interior to arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J. Trump on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Where there is silence, there is the story.
Our “Maha Collective” team of citizen journalists is thinking that there are going to be several more memorable Mount Rushmore moments to come. Per George Magazine, it is really just a matter of time.
Wanting more on Mount Rushmore? Here is a link to Trump’s historic speech from 7/3/2020 from Keystone, SD. It really is a must listen.
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