Name/Title
Booklet, Story of "End of the Trail"Description
Story of "End of The Trail" at Mooney Grove, Visalia, California. Note: we have two copies of this pamphlet.
Note: Pamphlet contains several photos.
STORY of "END OF THE TRAIL"
Beautiful Mooney Grove, shaded by majestic valley oaks, cooled by green grass and a lake, extends its welcome to all. This place of peace and tranquillity was, for more than fifty years, the home of the "End of the Trail". There, the gigantic Indian brave, head bowed, spear pointed to the ground, sat astride his exhausted pony, guarding the south entrance to the park.
The "End of the Trail" as it stood in the park, was loved by all - the passerby, taking time for a quick glance as he drove by, the families that picnicked in the park, and the visitors who came from many parts of the country to see it.
This Indian brave has run the gamut of experiences, from the adulation of great crowds when he graced the 1915 Panama - Pacific Exposition in San Francisco as one of the main features, to the comparative seclusion of Mooney Grove.
James Earle Fraser, the sculptor, was requested to do the heroic statue for display at the Exposition in San Francisco. Fraser sculptured it from his original small model made in 1894, when he was a youth of seventeen. The result was the 17 foot high, larger than life statue of plaster - like material supported by internal bracings.
It is one of the most symbolic art works, marking the close of the American frontier and the plight of the Indian. The "End of the Trail", with other works by Fraser, won the gold medal for sculpture. At the close of the Exposition in San Francisco, the statue, along with others, was made available and negotiations were started toward bringing it to Visalia, for Mooney Grove Park. The "End of the Trail" arrived in Visalia on September 10, 1919, in three disjointed pieces of plaster and wire. It was carefully reassembled by Mr. V. Stoltz at a cost of $190!
During the fifty years after its arrival, the statue was preserved in spite of the fact that its surface material was not designed for prolonged exposure. The plaster was deteriorating badly, the chicken - wire reinforcement rusted - the statue was literally being held together by layers of paint! It had received much care and maintenance but the elements were proving too much for its fragile construction.
When the officials of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, expressed interest in the statue and a desire to include it with the other works of Fraser, the Tulare County Museum Board voted unanimously to recommend to the Board of Supervisors that the statue be made available to the Center.
The "End of the Trail" is considered to be the most important of Fraser's work and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame planned to build a separate hall, The James and Laura Fraser Hall, to house their works. The dominating feature would be the "End of the Trail". It was felt this great statue should be enshrined in an enclosed building and saved from further deterioration by the elements.
In 1968 negotiations began and it was agreed the statue would be traded to the Hall of Fame for a replica made of bronze, to be sent to Visalia, to stand in the place of the original "End of the Trail".
Then began the tedious work of making the statue ready for shipment to its new home in Oklahoma City. A sculptor and curator from the Hall of Fame came to Visalia and after inspection, found the major portion of the statue in relatively good condition and solid enough to handle and make the move. The plan was to cut the Indian from his horse and crate the parts - no easy task!
After building heavy supports around and under the horse, the crew cut through the plaster and rotten wood supporting the warrior and labored cautiously over the plaster - of - Paris and chicken - wire sculpture. A crane was used to hold cables slung under the arms of the Indian
and the internal cutting was then completed. Thus, the upper half of the statue was freed from the horse and the sections were then braced and loaded for their long move on a low - boy truck, to Los Angeles. Upon arrival, the parts were rebraced, boxed, surrounded by 2 1/2 tons of sawdust and made ready for the long trip to Oklahoma.
After arriving at its new home in Oklahoma, sculptors worked over nine months on the restoration, using some smaller statues of the same subject by Fraser, photos and descriptions for guides. The greatest problem was keeping the statue as James Fraser had done it. All the patching, painting, repairing and weathering the statue had sustained in the last fifty years had to be removed, the tail reworked and the Indian's robe resculptured. The Hall of Fame was prepared to go to any extent necessary to restore the statue to mint condition.
Ultimately, the molding was begun and Cesare Contini, foremost mold maker in America, (a fifth generation sculptor), was brought in. Contini and his father had worked with Fraser on some of his major projects - not however, on the "End of the Trail". Another year was necessary, and finally some 727 separate mold pieces of plaster, reinforced with pipes, were made. Each piece fitted together as precisely as a Chinese puzzle. This was a difficult and frustrating task of balance and counter balance.
Meanwhile, foundries in New York City, Mexico City, France, California and Italy were contacted for bids on casting the bronze replica. The Lira Foundry of Carrara, Italy, finally was selected on the basis of its history and quality of work. When this decision was made, the 727 molds were shipped by air to Italy to be cast in bronze in nine pieces, then assembled and sent to California, via ship.
It was agreed that once the casting was completed, the molds would be stored at the Hall of Fame and no other castings would be made without the joint agreement of the Museum Board and the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.
In May, 1971, the bronze replica left Italy on a ship scheduled for Los Angeles, to arrive in two or three weeks. It was expected to clear customs quickly and be sent on to Visalia immediately. However, the eagerly anticipated bronze "End of the Trail" was caught up in a Longshoreman's strike. For more than one hundred days it sat on the dock at Wilmington! Finally, it was allowed to start on its journey, but because of its size, special permission had to be obtained from, the California Highway Patrol and the Division of Highways. The sixteen foot high and thirteen foot wide crates would not clear some of the highway underpasses and the trucking firm had to find a special route with the fewest number of overpasses. That meant going as far east as Tehachapi, crossing back over to Shafter on Highway 98, moving up the old Central Valley Highway (43) to Highway 137, then east through the northern part of Tulare and finally to Mooney Boulevard. The California Highway Patrol assisted the driver through these areas where traffic was congested and several tight squeezes were made through underpasses even though this special, circuitous circle route was used.
Tentative plans tor the dedication were made and cancelled several times, but finally, on October 21st, 1971, after three years of waiting, the beautiful casting arrived at the park. It was then installed on a new base, surrounded by a moat, and made ready for the dedication ceremonies. On Sunday, December 19th, 1971, over 4,000 dignitaries, citizens and historians paid tribute to the bronze statue. Joel McCrea, veteran movie actor and a director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, attended the ceremonies and gave the feature address. Thus, the statue was officially welcomed to Mooney Grove.
There are very few who regret the decision made to exchange statues and send the plaster "End of the Trail" to its fine, new home in Oklahoma, to its very special place among the works of Fraser, where for many generations to come, it will remain immortalized, truly at the end of the trail!
LETTER FROM FRASER
Before Fraser died in 1953, he corresponded with Harold G. Schutt, past president of the Tulare County Historical Society and editor of Los Tulares, the quarterly bulletin. The complete text of
the letter dated Aug. 17, 1953, follows:
"Your letter of inquiry in regard to my statue, "The End of the Trail" came to me yesterday. This is its history:
"As a small boy living in Dakota Territory, I came in close contact with the Sioux Indians. The period was from 1880 to 1888. The reason for our being there was that my father was head of motive power, on the then being built Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, running from Mason City, Iowa, to Chamberlain, Dakota, on the Missouri River. Eventually it was to go to Deadwood City, in the Black Hills.
"I played with the Indian children and liked them and their games very much. Often hunters, wintering with the Indians, stopped over to visit my grandfather on their way South, and in that way I heard many stories of Indians. On one occasion a fine fuzzy bearded old hunter remarked, with much bitterness in his voice, "The Injuns will all be driven into the Pacific Ocean." The thought so impressed me that I couldn't forget it, in fact, it created a picture in my mind which eventually became "The End of the Trail." I liked the Indians and couldn't understand why they were to be pushed into the Pacific.
"My father, in his work, often made drawings of machinery. I followed him and drew too, but my drawings were of animals. Then I found chalk - stone and began carving animals at the same time. Eventually we went to Minneapolis and the "Soo" Railroad. Then to Chicago and there shortly after, through my father, I began working in a sculptor's studio. The sculptor, Richard Bock, had much work to do and I fell in with his plans. At the age of fifteen I was working with him on work for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, where beautiful buildings and good sculpture were on all sides. It was wonderful training for an art minded youth.
"I made many sketches and some finished work, and at the age of 17, in 1894, I created the first model of "The End of the Trail," the thought that had been in my mind since my boyhood in Dakota.
"At twenty I went to Paris and took my model of "The End of the Trail" with me; and it won for me, along with my other things, a $1,000.00 prize for the best work of Art, painting or sculpture, in an exhibition of works by Americans.
"It was the means, too, of my meeting with the great sculptor Saint-Gaudens. Saint-Gaudens was on the jury, along with the painter, James McNeil Whistler. SaintGaudens wrote me a letter and asked me to come to see him, and finally asked me to be his assistant on his Sherman statue. After that wonderful training of about three years I came to New York, and never since have I been without important commissions.
"I was asked by Karl Bitter to make a reproduction of the Equestrian "End of the Trail" for the San Francisco World Fair in 1915, where it, with my other work, got the gold medal. I was told $250,000 worth of photographs were sold of the statue. Who got the money I don't know. I do know I didn't get any of it. As a matter of fact, everyone knew the statue but no one knew its sculptor. I'm afraid I was too busy to take advantage of how much it was liked.
"A year or so ago, I was given for sculpture, the gold medal of the Academy of Arts and Letters. That brought out, in magazines and newspapers, several important articles, since which I have been deluged with enquiries about "The End of the Trail," the Buffalo nickel, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, the Mayo Brothers, the Pioneer Woman, and so forth. Finally I couldn't answer them all so I have had to refer them to "Who's Who in America." There anyone can get most of the factual data.
"However, this is the story of "The End of the Trail."
"Sincerely,
JAMES EARLE FRASER."
THE PIONEER
The following is from the "Los Tulares" quarterly Bulletin, of the Tulare County Historical Society, September, 1953 issue:
When the Panama Pacific International Exposition closed, the Tulare County Board of Forestry heard that some of the statues were available for public parks. W. P. Bartlett and Thomas Jacob were especially interested in obtaining some for Mooney Grove Park which had been established some five years before. The first obtained was "The Pioneer" by Solon Hannibal Borglum. This was part of the Pioneer Group in the Court of Honor at the Fair. It arrived in Visalia on a flat car on May 2, 1916 and the only cost was $150.00 for freight. It had been sawed in sections for handling. Apparently the statue was assembled and erected near the north gate soon after it arrived.
Solon Borglum was the son of Danish immigrant parents. He grew up in the middle west and very early loved horses and drew sketches of them. His older brother, Gutzon Borglum, encouraged him to continue his art work. He did so, at one time living in Santa Ana where he rented a "studio" for $2.00 per month. Business was slow and he didn't like confinement so he put a sign on the door "In studio Saturdays only" and roamed about the country the rest of the week. This seemed to help business and he earned enough to attend art school in Chicago and Paris.
Many of his most famous statues feature horses.
Too old for soldiering in World War I, he became a YMCA secretary and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Borglum died January 22, 1922
RECOGNITIONS:
With the greatest sincerity, the Visalia Chamber of Commerce thanks the Fresno Bee, the Visalia Times Delta and Mr. H. G. Schutt for the use of their photographs of the "End of the Trail" and the bronze replica.
Our special thanks goes also to the Tulare County Historical Society for the use of the James Earle Fraser letter and other materials.
Produced and Published by the Visalia Chamber of Commerce,
720 W. Mineral King
Visalia, California
Physical Description: Book describes the history of The End of the Trail statue in Oklahoma and California.Acquisition
Accession
2009.0401Source or Donor
Waupun Historical SocietyAcquisition Method
Bequest,Collected by
