Dear Gentle Readers, I continue my true story of one of Mt. Rushmore’s famed rock carvers, One Eyed Chislin’ Chuck. The head artist of Mt. Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum, was left with a dilemma. The scaffolding around Washington’s face had come down, revealing an uncut chunk of rock hanging from the nostril, giving the appearance of a booger. To put the scaffolding back up would take time, resources, and involve a high risk of damaging the otherwise finished face. Many solutions were offered. Maybe they could carve a hand where the finger was extended like Washington was going to pick his nose? Perhaps they could carve Washington holding a Kleenex? No, Gutzon decided, the errant rock would have to come off. This would require one of the carvers to climb down to the nose on a rope, swan dive off, and pendulum swing up under the nose to strike a blow at the offending rock. This procedure, developed by Gutzon Borglum, is called a Gutzy move, a form of the term we still use today. All eyes turned to Chislin’ Chuck. Calmly, Chuck stepped over and picked up his tools, then said he would accept the challenge. Standing on the bridge of Washington’s carved nose, Chislin Chuck looked up at those who had lowered him earlier to this precipice. Checking the rope around his waist one last time, Chuck stepped to the edge with tools in hand and took a giant leap. The dive was a perfect arc that allowed the rope to tighten and swing Chuck right under the nose. Chuck swung his hammer in a perfect strike, shattering the protruding rock. The crowd cheered as Chuck was raised back up, but Chuck was in agony, his right eye blinded by the flying rock debris. Tomorrow: The eyes have it.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 22:29:37 +0000
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