Two Park Rangers Recall Being the First to Clean Mt. Rushmore

Donald Hart and Blaine Kortemeyer worked together as National Park Service rangers at the Mt. Rushmore memorial.

Blaine Kortemeyer and Donald Hart at their StoryCorps interview in Custer, South Dakota on July 10, 2015.
By Carolina Escobar for StoryCorps.

They were part of a team specially trained to brave the heights and wash the four faces of the presidents for the first time ever. They came to StoryCorps to remember that experience.

Thorsten Mowes, with the Alfred Kaercher GmbH & Co. KG, pressure washes the face of Thomas Jefferson at Mount Rushmore National Memorial Thursday, July 7, 2005, near Keystone, S.D. (AP Photo/Doug Dreyer)

Top photo: Knut Foppe, left, Darin Oestmann, center, with the National Park Service and Thorsten Mowes, with Alfred Kaercher GmbH & Co. KG, right, rappel a sculpture of Thomas Jefferson’s face to begin power washing Mount Rushmore National Monument, Thursday, July 7, 2005, near Keystone, S.D. (AP Photo/Doug Dreyer)

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Originally aired July 18, 2025 on NPR’s Morning Edition.