53 Statues You Need to See Before You Die

Nearly half a century after Denver denizens commissioned Preston Powers to create Closing of an Era, the city put its faith in a prominent sculptor who, at the age of 11, had moved to Denver with his family in 1871. In 1917, Alexander Phimister Proctor showed Denver Mayor Robert Speer a model of the Bronco Buster he had been working on after attending Oregon’s Pendleton Round-Up three years earlier.

By 1920, the finished Proctor bronze was dedicated.

Yet what most probably don’t know when they look at this bronze in Civic Center Park is that Proctor had to bail out his model, Bill “Slim” Ridings, who had been arrested for cattle rustling. The artist couldn’t finish the sculpture without the Pendleton rodeo competitor.

With True West recognizing the Denver Art Museum as this year’s top Western art museum in the nation, Denver and these two larger-than-life sculptures seem a fitting start to our selection of historical sculptures all Old West enthusiasts should see before they die.

—The Editors

Photo Gallery

Arizona Peace Officers Memorial
**Artist:** Wes Chapman
**Year:** 1988
**Where:** Phoenix, Arizona
**Why You Need to See it:** Commemorate Arizona’s centennial by paying homage to the peace officers killed in the line of duty since 1863, the year Arizona became a territory. (Plus, we think the statue has a striking likeness to Wyatt Earp!)
*– By Beatrice Ray –*

Battle of Two Hearts
**Artist:** Dave McGary
**Year:** 2005
**Where:** Laramie, Wyoming
**Why You Need to See it:**Portrays the moment when Shoshoni Chief Washakie raises his lance to challenge Crow Chief Big Robber to begin the 1866 duel at Crowheart Butte; when he won, the victorious Washakie displayed the cut-out heart of his enemy at the end of his lance.
*– Courtesy Dave McGary –*

Birthplace of a Legend
**Artist:** Charlie Norton
**Year:** 2004
**Where:** Oakley, Kansas
**Why You Need to See it:** Norton’s statue is located at the site of the alleged hunting competition between Buffalo Bill Cody and Army scout Bill Comstock. Besides, it’s huge!
*– Courtesy Oakley Area Tourism –*

Bronco Buster
**Artist:** Alexander Phimister Proctor
**Year:** 1920
**Where:** Denver, Colorado
**Why You Need to See it:**
It’s just fun to think of the artist struggling to bring the reality of the Pendleton Round-Up to life, not because of artistic issues, but because his cowboy model was in jail for cattle rustling.
*– Courtesy Denver Art Museum –*

Bronco Buster
**Artist:** Frederic Remington
**Year:** 2005
**Where:** Clovis, California
**Why You Need to See it:** This city shows its love for its local rodeo, held since 1914, with a recast of Remington’s most famous bronze.
*– Courtesy Clovis Visitors Center –*

Buffalo Bill: The Scout
**Artist:** Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
**Year:** 1924
**Where:** Cody, Wyoming
**Why You Need to See it:** This tribute to Buffalo Bill Cody was, in our view, the definitive work of the New Yorker heiress and artist.
*– Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historical Center –*

Buffalo Soldier
**Artist:** Eddie Dixon
**Year:** 1992
**Where:** Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
**Why You Need to See it:**Honors the black soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments who were stationed nearby during the Indian Wars.
*– True West Archives –*

Charles Goodnight
**Artist:** Ulysses Grant Speed
**Year:** 1980
**Where:** Canyon, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:** The legendary Texas Panhandle cattleman was a giant in our world. You have to pay homage to him.
*– Courtesy Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum –*

Coming through the Rye
**Artist:** Frederic Remington
**Year:** 1981
**Where:** Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
**Why You Need to See it:** Brilliantly portrays mounted cowboys in a flurry of action, firing their pistols into the air.
*– Courtesy National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum –*

Corps of Discovery
**Artist:** Eugene L. Daub
**Year:** 2000
**Where:** Kansas City, Missouri
**Why You Need to See it:** This places Sacagawea in her proper context, alongside the legendary explorers Lewis & Clark and their black slave York, who fascinated many of the Indians they came across in their journey.
*– Courtesy Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association –*

Handcart Mormon Trail
**Artist:** Franz Johansen
**Year:** 1998
**Where:** Florence, Nebraska
**Why You Need to See it:** With their feet barely touching the ground, this family of handcart pioneers speaks of the anticipation and faith of the pioneers who trekked west to Zion in the Rocky Mountains.
*– Courtesy Mormon Trail Visitor’s Center –*

Headin’ to Market
**Artist:** Harold T. Holden
**Year:** 2000
**Where:** Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
**Why You Need to See it:** Depicts a typical scene when ranchers and cowboys would herd their cattle to the stockyards, which helped to develop this area into the “world’s largest stocker and feeder cattle market.”
*– Courtesy Stockyards City –*

John C. “Jack” Hays
**Artist:** Jason Scull
**Year:** 2001
**Where:** San Marcos, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:** The artist’s first life-sized sculpture commemorates the 1840s Texas Rangers captain for whom Hays County is named.
*– Courtesy San Marcos CVB –*

John Wayne
**Artist:** David Manuel
**Year:** 1981
**Where:** Winterset, Iowa
**Why You Need to See it:** The Western film icon’s legendary demeanor is captured in bronze near the very home where he was born.
*– Courtesy John Wayne Birthplace –*

Kid Russell & Monte
**Artist:** Buckeye Blake
**Year:** 1986
**Where:** Great Falls, Montana
**Why You Need to See it:** Because after Charlie Russell’s years working on a sheep ranch and living like a cowboy, he moved here, to Great Falls, to focus on his art and ultimately gained worldwide fame as the Cowboy Artist.
*– Courtesy Central Montana’s Russell Country –*

La Jornada
**Artists:** Sonny Rivera & Betty Sabo
**Year:** 2006
**Where:** Albuquerque, New Mexico
**Why You Need to See it:** These sculptures of Don Juan de Oñate leading a caravan of settlers into the territory acknowledge the city’s Spanish Colonial roots.
*– Courtesy City of Albuquerque Public Art –*

One Man, One War
**Artist:** James Muir (shown)
**Year:** 2008
**Where:** Reserve, New Mexico
**Why You Need to See it:** This is a testament to the courage of man; Elfego Baca stood up against an alleged 80 cowboys in a single-handed gunfight, surviving roughly thousands of bullets sent his way.
*– Courtesy James Muir –*

Passing the Legacy
**Artist:** Herb Mignery
**Year:** 2008
**Where:**Scottsdale, Arizona
**Why You Need to See it:** The Pony Express tradition was revived by Arizona’s Hash Knife Pony Express, a group that, ever since 1958, annually delivers more than 20,000 letters on a 200-mile relay from Holbrook to Scottsdale.
*– Courtesy Scottsdale Public Art –*

Pony Express
**Artist:** Dr. Avard T. Fairbanks
**Year:** 2001
**Where:** Casper, Wyoming
**Why You Need to See it:** …along the way, see a rider about to disembark in mid-journey…
*– Courtesy NPS / Chuck Milliken –*

Pony Express
**Artist:** Hermon A. MacNeil
**Year:** 1940
**Where:** St. Joseph, Missouri
**Why You Need to See it:** Follow the route of these short-lived 1860-61 mail carriers by taking a photo of yourself at this fitting tribute and then…
*– Courtesy St. Joseph Visitors Bureau –*

Pony Express
**Artist:** Thomas Holland
**Year:** 1960
**Where:** Sacramento, California
**Why You Need to See it:** …and document the experience in the city where the first rider arrived 10 days later (on April 13, 1860).
*– Courtesy Sacramento CVB –*

Quanah Parker
**Artist:** Jack Bryant
**Year:** 1992
**Where:** Fort Worth, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:** Pays tribute to the Comanche chief whose first visit to the city in 1885 almost killed him; across the street is the Cowtown Coliseum at the Stockyards where he performed at the 1909 rodeo.
*– True West Archives –*

Rough Rider
**Artist:** Solon Borglum
**Year:** 1907
**Where:** Prescott, Arizona
**Why You Need to See it:** Buckey O’Neill is a hometown hero who knew the Earps at the time of the 1881 O.K. Corral gunfight and would die in action during the Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898. His Rough Riders commander, Teddy Roosevelt, famously recalled how O’Neill said to another soldier, “Sergeant, the Spanish bullet isn’t made that will kill me.”
*– Courtesy Arizona Office of Tourism –*

Rough Rider
1907 Dedication: Note the lack of trees.

Sacagawea & Pomp
**Artist:** Agnes Vincen Talbot
**Year:** 2003
**Where:** Salmon, Idaho
**Artist:** Alice Cooper
**Year:** 1906
**Where:** Portland, Oregon (inset)
**Why You Need to See Them:** Sacagawea acted as a symbol of peace and as interpreter during Lewis & Clark’s expedition, while carrying her newborn son Pomp on her back.
*– Above: Courtesy Sacajawea Center; Left: Courtesy Washington Park –*

Sacagawea & Seaman
**Artist:** Heather Soderberg
**Year:** 2011
**Where:** Cascade Locks, Oregon
**Why You Need to See it:** We just love the patination of the golden yellows, deep blues and rustic reds that celebrate the spirit of the Shoshoni guide’s life as an interpreter for Lewis & Clark.
*– Courtesy Port of Cascade Locks –*

Samuel Colt
**Artist:** John Massey Rhind
**Year:** 1906
**Where:** Hartford, Connecticut
**Why You Need to See it:** These two sculptures tell the story of how Colt’s sailor life as a young man inspired him to create the gun that won the West, the Peacemaker, and other firearms that shaped the lives of so many living on the American frontier.
*– Courtesy Hartford Business Improvement District –*

Sheriff Pat Garrett
**Artist:** Robert Temple Summers
**Year:** 2012
**Where:** Roswell, New Mexico
**Why You Need to See it:** Summers is pretty much one of today’s top sculptors when it comes to portraying the Old West, and his latest is this tribute to the lawman who killed Billy the Kid.
*– True West Archives –*

Sighting the Enemy
**Artist:** Edward Clark Potter
**Year:** 1992
**Where:** Monroe, Michigan
**Why You Need to See it:** Custer buff Paul Andrew Hutton says this is the BEST statue of George Armstrong Custer out there.
*– True West Archives –*

Sitting Bull
**Artist:** Fred Hoppe
**Year:** 2001
**Where:** Grand Forks, North Dakota
**Why You Need to See it:** Honors the Sioux leader who was born and raised near the Standing Rock reservation in Dakota Territory and grew up to lead a resistance movement against the government.
*– Courtesy Ralph Engelstad Arena –*

Stepping into Legend
**Artist:** Tim Trask
**Year:** 2008
**Where:** Tombstone, Arizona
**Why You Need to See it:** Like Arizona State Historian Marshall Trimble (shown) would tell you, who could visit Tombstone without seeing a tribute to its famous lawman, Wyatt Earp?
*– Courtesy Marshall Trimble –*

Tatanka: Story of the Bison
**Artist:** Peggy Detmers
**Year:** 2003
**Where:** Deadwood, South Dakota
**Why You Need to See it:** Shares the story of the great bison hunt, with 14 bison fleeing three ready-to-attack Northern Plains Indians on horseback, with some bison even leaping off cliffs to their deaths.
*– Courtesy Peggy Detmers –*

Terry’s Texas Rangers
**Artist:** Pompeo Coppini
**Year:** 1907
**Where:** Austin, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:** It was erected by surviving comrades who fought under Col. Benjamin Franklin Terry after his Rangers were mustered in Houston in 1861.
*– Courtesy Texas Legislature –*

Thanks for the Rain
**Artist:** Joe Beeler
**Year:** 1988
**Where:** Wickenburg, Arizona
**Why You Need to See it:** This grateful cowboy kneeling in front of his horse touches pretty much everyone who sees the bronze.
*– Courtesy Desert Caballeros Western Museum –</i?*

The Captains’ Return
**Artist:** Harry Weber
**Year:** 2006
**Where:** St. Louis, Missouri
**Why You Need to See it:** The Mississippi River sometimes floods to the point where you barely see this Lewis & Clark statue, if at all; so you better catch a sighting of it whenever you can!
*– True West Archives –*

Closing of an Era
**Artist:**Preston Powers
**Year:** 1893
**Where:** Denver, Colorado
**Why You Need to See it:** Some of Denver’s citizens weren’t happy with this bronze (they wanted it to look more like Chief Ouray, who had walked their streets 20 years before), but even so, this is still a remarkable first tribute to Western heritage by a remarkable frontier town.
*– Courtesy Denver Art Museum –*

The Dance
**Artist:** James Muir
**Year:** 2010
**Where:** Sheridan, Wyoming
**Why You Need to See it:** We love this joyful bronze because it inspires many a couple to dance alongside the happy pioneer cowboy and his wife.
*– Courtesy James Muir –*

The Homesteaders
**Artist:** Harold T. Holden
**Year:** 2007
**Where:** Enid, Oklahoma
**Why You Need to See it:** Honors those who took part in the late 1800s Cherokee Strip land rush for the opportunity to start a new life.
*– Courtesy Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center –*

The Invocation
**Artist:** Buck McCain
**Year:** 2003
**Where:** Orange, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:** This Plains Indian’s act of holding up a buffalo skull to the sky represents a call to a higher power, that union between the physical and spiritual that many of us seek to help us soar in our daily lives.
*– Courtesy Stark Museum of Art –*

The Rustler
**Artist:** Robert Temple Summers
**Year:** 2009
**Where:** Artesia, New Mexico
**Why You Need to See it:** Renowned Billy the Kid historian Frederick Nolan thinks it has an uncanny likeness to the outlaw.
*– All courtesy Artesia Main Street –*

The Trail Boss
**Artist:** Vic Payne
**Year:** 2007
**Where:** Artesia, New Mexico
**Why You Need to See it:** …the trail boss goes after him.

The Vaquero
**Artist:** Mike Hamby
**Year:** 2008
**Where:** Artesia, New Mexico
<p<**Why You Need to See it:** He notices the rustler attempt to rebrand one of the steers and…

The Cowboy
**Artist:** Frederic Remington
**Year:** 1908
**Where:** Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
**Why You Need to See it:** Remington himself picked out the location for this public art, his only one erected during his lifetime.
*– Courtesy Fairmount Park –*

Track Walker
**Artist:** Shiela Cavalluzzi
**Year:** 2011
**Where:** Burbank, California
**Why You Need to See it:** The lone railway worker walks on portions of the original Southern Pacific Railroad track that led to the city’s development.
*– Courtesy City of Burbank Chandler Bikeway –*

Turnaround
**Artist:** Stanley Wanlass
**Year:** 1990
**Where:** Seaside, Oregon
**Why You Need to See it:** Designed as the official end of the 18-month Lewis & Clark journey (the explorers stopped about half a mile south of here), this bronze faces the gorgeous Oregon Coast.
*– Courtesy Seaside Visitors Bureau –*

Vaquero de Fort Worth
**Artist:** Tomas Bustos & David Newton
**Year:** 2012
**Where:** Fort Worth, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:**This model of the final statue erected just this year pays tribute to the Mexican cowman’s contribution to the cattle industry and to Fort Worth.
*– Courtesy Fort Worth Art Commission –*

Wild Bill Hickok
**Artist:** Erik Christianson
**Year:** 2012
**Where:** Boerne, Texas
**Why You Need to See it:** Be among the first to see the final creation when the sculpture unveils this November!
*– Courtesy Erik Christianson –*

Wyatt Earp
**Artists:** Bryan Haynes, Jane McNeely & Mark Aeling
**Year:** 2006
**Where:** Kansas City, Kansas
**Why You Need to See it:** Even Kansas City pays tribute to the lawman’s stints in Wichita and Dodge City.
*– Courtesy Legends at Village West –*

Wyatt Earp
**Artist:** Mary Spurgeon
**Year:** 2004
**Where:** Dodge City, Kansas
**Why You Need to See it:** Wyatt Earp served as the town’s assistant marshal, and he appears to still be protecting and greeting its citizens, albeit in bronze.
*– Courtesy Dodge City Trail of Fame –*

Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday
**Artist:** Dan Bates
**Year:** 2005
**Where:** Tucson, Arizona
**Why You Need to See it:** The historic Tucson Depot was the site of the 1882 incident involving Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday that left the outlaw cowboy Frank Stilwell dead.
*– Courtesy Tucson CVB / Jessica Stephens –*

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53 Statues You Need to See Before You Die

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