Jonah LeRoy "Doane" Robinson (October 19, 1856 – 1946) was a state historian of South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

 who conceived of the idea for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Early life

Robinson was born in Sparta, Wisconsin

Sparta, Wisconsin

Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States, along the La Crosse River. The population was 9,522 at the 2010 census.-Notable people:*William Hawley Atwell, U.S. District Court Judge in Texas*Larry Baumel, NASCAR...

. His sister could not pronounce his name (Jonah LeRoy), so she called him Doane. Robinson became a farmer in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, but soon abandoned the job to become a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

. Later, he took interest in history, and received the position as South Dakota's state historian. In that position, he conceived the idea of the Mt. Rushmore monument.

Mount Rushmore

After reading about Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock in Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet amsl and 825 feet above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain granite extends underground at its longest point into Gwinnett County...

, Robinson was suddenly inspired to sculpt

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 the Needles

Needles (Black Hills)

The Needles of the Black Hills of South Dakota are a region of fantastically eroded granite pillars, towers, and spires. Popular with rock climbers and tourists alike, the Needles are accessed from the Needles Highway, which is a part of Sylvan Lake Road...

, several pillars made of granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

, into likenesses of famous people. He hoped that such a sculpture would attract greater tourism to South Dakota. After failing to contact Lorado Taft

Lorado Taft

Lorado Zadoc Taft was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Taft was born in Elmwood, Illinois in 1860 and died in his home studio in Chicago in 1936.-Early years and education:...

, who was ill, Robinson gained the support of Gutzon Borglum

Gutzon Borglum

Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum was an American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental presidents' heads at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, the famous carving on Stone Mountain near Atlanta, as well as other public works of art.- Background :The son of Mormon Danish immigrants, Gutzon...

. He was also backed by Senator Peter Norbeck

Peter Norbeck

Peter Norbeck served as the ninth Governor of South Dakota, and as a United States Senator. Norbeck was the first Governor of South Dakota to have been born within the borders of the state.-Biography:...

.

Robinson began efforts to raise funds for the project and to receive permission to carve the Needles. The funds were denied, and many groups including Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 disliked the idea. Environmentalist Cora Johnson of the Hot Springs Star felt that such a carving would destroy the landscape.

On Borglum’s second meeting with Robinson, Borglum switched the location of the carving from the Needles to Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...

. Borglum also decided that the sculptures should have a larger national focus, and he selected the four presidents. The headquarters of the project, south of Mount Rushmore, became known as Doane Mountain.

In 1929, president Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

 finally signed a bill which created to a commission to oversee the sculpting. Robinson failed to become part of the commission, which greatly disappointed him.

Following his retirement from being a historian, he returned to farming, and lived to see the completion of Mount Rushmore. He died in 1946 in Pierre, South Dakota

Pierre, South Dakota

Pierre is the capital of the U.S. state of South Dakota and the county seat of Hughes County. The population was 13,646 at the 2010 census, making it the second least populous state capital after Montpelier, Vermont...

.

Publications

• History of South Dakota
• A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians from their earliest traditions and first contact with white men to the final settlement of the last of them upon reservations and consequent abandonment of the old tribal life
• A Brief History of South Dakota
• Doane Robinson's Encyclopedia of South Dakota