A Life Carved in Stone: The Monumental Vision of Gutzon Borglum Born John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum on March 25, 1867, in the rugged landscape of St. Charles, Idaho Territory, the future sculptor’s origins were as complex and multifaceted as the monumental works he would later create. His parents, Jens Møller Haugaard Børglum and Christina Mikkelsen Borglum, Danish immigrants drawn to the promise—and complexities—of a new life in America, initially embraced the tenets of Mormon polygamy. This unconventional upbringing instilled in young Gutzon a sense of otherness, perhaps fueling his later…