Mount Rushmore

    **** Moderator's comments: Stephan Rogers is Historic
    Preservation Coordinator, South Dakota State Historical Society,
    Pierre, S.D. An office within the Department of Tourism and
    Economic Development

"N.J. Bud Goldstone" <budgoldstone<-a t->yahoo< . >com> wrote: 25 July 2005

    Dear Mr. Rogers,

    Thanks for your quick and candid reply. In California our State
    Parks contracts demand that contractors doing conservation
    and/or repair work use qualified professional employees to do
    conservation work on monuments and landmarks. The AIC is the
    leading professional society in the US. Unfortunately,
    California does not have a dashing National Monument like Mt.
    Rushmore but they do demand that for work on our National
    Historic Landmarks. I guess Yosemite has some famous mountains
    but no one has carved a president head into Half-Dome or Mt.
    Baldy in southern California or any others as yet!

    You may be interested in knowing the the company that "gave" the
    surface cleaning treatment to your state and for the Statue of
    Liberty has just bought a company that will make the pressure
    application equipment and supplies for sale to South Dakota and
    others who are getting 'free' advertising give a ways!

    Sincerely,

    Bud Goldstone

Stephen Rogers wrote:

    1. We received notification from Mount Rushmore that they had
    determined this to be an undertaking that was a programmatic
    Exclusion under the 1995 Programmatic Agreement with NPS.  The
    notification stated that it was excluded from review under
    stipulation B.1 Preservation Maintenance.  Of course, the fact
    that we received it on 5 July and the work started on 5 July
    rather precluded us from arguing the point.  It states in the
    documentation that PMIS #67562 "MZW Preserve and Clean Mount
    Rushmore Sculpture" identified power wash of the sculpture as
    part of the 3 year work plan.  The project was evidently
    approved by the Regional Office in December 2001.  I do not
    remember ever seeing this document.

    2.  I do believe there is a plausible concern over the growth on
    the monument. The cracks that are formed can continue to grow
    and expand in South Dakota's freeze-thaw cycle.  Whether power
    washing was appropriate, I am still not sure. In fact, the info
    I received never discussed the amount of pressure to be used,
    but did say test areas were completed in April.

    3.  I do not know who may have been consulted.
    (Reproduced with permission)

N. J. Bud Goldstone, writer, art conservation engineer


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:11
                  Distributed: Friday, August 26, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-11-001
                                  ***