Even the Rushmore Commission suggested impractical sculptural plans and picked out certain parts of the work it would “like to see finished.” And while Gutzon was pushing the work, begging more funds to get more power, more workmen, skilled carvers, so that the work might be finished in his lifetime, it was irritating to be told that certain commissioners and local interests would like to keep the project going as long as possible because more tourists would come if they could see the sculptor at work. After 1932 the work dragged on with frequent interruptions and without sufficient funds. Workmen were complaining of the daily climb to their stations--1,500 feet with a rise of 500 feet, which the sculptor himself made several times a day--resulting in a working time loss of from an hour to an hour and a half every day for every man on the job. To date, approximately seventy per cent of the roughing out of the entire surface to be carved had been completed and thirty-five per cent of the finishing, within a total working time of twenty-two months and an average of four to six drillers at work. The personnel of the Commission was so changed by illness, death and lack of interest that it became increasingly hard to get a quorum at the semiannual meetings. Mr. Cullinan had resigned as president to be succeeded by Fred Sargent of the Chicago and North Western Railway. Only Gutzon could not resign. As he remarked, the rock of Rushmore was riveted to his neck. A new phase of the work began in 1934 when the federal government assumed the burden of financing the memorial. Frequent stoppages, constant lack of sufficient power and skilled workmen, plus the unpredictable condition of the stone, had greatly increased working costs. Congress first voted to remove the fifty-fifty matching restriction attached to the first appropriation, making it immediately available, and next passed a second appropriation of $200,000. There were those near Mount Rushmore who said it was about time. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE _--AND FINAL PEACE_ So then there was no trouble at all save bureaucratic misunderstandings and the vagaries of Rushmore rock. Accurate estimates of the time required to finish the work were impossible because of the constant shifting and reconstruction of design. The stone on Mount Rushmore, although the best in the Black Hills, offered interesting surprises. Some new reddish substance appeared on Lincoln’s cheek. Silver and tin crystals were found at the end of his nose. The feldspar crystals on Rushmore are unusually large and add to the difficulties. This was especially true on the lapels of Washington’s coat where no powder could be used. Finally Jefferson’s head had to be slightly turned so that the poor stone came in the hollow between his cheek and nose and could thus be removed entirely.