Coolidge came out to the Game Lodge, thirty miles southwest of Rapid City, chiefly because Peter Norbeck suggested it and carefully laid the way for him. Norbeck was one of two South Dakotans who was really enthusiastic about making the Harney Peak region an object of national interest. Norbeck and Gutzon were friends who believed in each other’s magic, and Gutzon was a friend of Calvin Coolidge. You may make out of these premises anything you like. But there isn’t any doubt that the carving of Rushmore ceased to be idle conversation when the President arrived and slogged three miles up the hill through the dust to raise his hand and give the project its sacred quality. The President was rolled out over a new road from Rapid City to the Game Lodge, a hostelry on Squaw Creek, handed a fishing rod and assigned to a preserve that had been packed with specimens from the state hatchery. Indian chiefs came and made obeisance. The grumbling correspondents installed themselves in Rapid City. Then, on the second day, Gutzon Borglum paid his respects to the distinguished visitor. He hired an airplane--which nobody else had thought of--and flew over the Game Lodge to drop a huge bouquet of mountain flowers on Mrs. Coolidge’s lawn. The next day he arrived more formally at the President’s picnic plot to arrange, as he afterward reported, “a visit of dedication to Mount Rushmore.” And it is significant that the interview seems to have been previously arranged and the subject of the discussion well understood. Nobody was surprised when the date for the dedication was set--August 10, 1927. By that time everybody near enough to see was convinced that the President was just doing the things he had his heart set on. Recalling his interview with President Coolidge, Gutzon wrote: It was a fine interview. Coolidge was a silent man. But he always talked with me--fishing, politics, even a little about art. He was happy he had come to the Black Hills for his summer outing. He said they reminded him of the Vermont mountains. When the day arrived for the dedication we drove up as far as we could and walked the rest of the way. The President was mounted on a safe horse, led by an orderly on each side on foot, until we reached the cabin I had taken over as a studio. It was about 1,500 feet from the cliff. There were lots of specially invited guests who had struggled up the hill. It was something new to see the consecrating of a mountain by the President of the United States. Nothing had been left undone to make this an official act. Everything was done with the greatest of dignity and decorum. Coolidge was really impressed.