Stone Mountain Klan, was commissioned to do the carving. Borglum abandoned the project in 1925 (and later went on to begin Mount Rushmore). The US Mint issued a 1925 Commemorative silver US half dollar, bearing the words "Stone Mountain", as part of a fundraiser for the monument. This was the largest issue of commemorative coins by the U.S. government up to that time. American sculptor Augustus Lukeman continued until 1928, when further work stopped for thirty years. In 1941 segregationist Governor Eugene Talmadge formed the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA) to continue work on the memorial, but the project was delayed once
Edward J. Fraughton Edward J. Fraughton Edward J. Fraughton (born March 22, 1939, Park City, Utah) is an American artist, sculptor, and inventor. He is primarily known for his epic monumental works and individual collector editions that often relate to the history of the American West. Fraughton's stylistic goals follow the American Neo-classic/Beaux-Arts, impressionistic realism traditions of J. Q. A. Ward, Henry Merwin Shrady, James Earle Fraser, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint Gaudens, Cyrus Dallin, Gutzon and Solon Borglum, and American animaliers Arthur Putnam, Edward Kemeys, Phimister Proctor. A literal sculptor with an academic background in design and human anatomy,