Fast Facts
Sakakawea Statue Project
• The replica statue was first brought to North Dakota June 12, 2003 for events and viewing before shipment to its final destination and dedication in National Statuary Hall October 16, 2003. Similar in weight and height to the original bronze statue, the bronze replica weighs 875 pounds and stands nearly 11 feet tall on its 4,600-lb. granite base. The granite is from the Cold Springs Granite Company of Cold Springs, Minnesota.
• In August 2002, the State Historical Society of North Dakota selected Arizona Bronze Fine Arts Ateleier of Tempe, Arizona to create the replica statue. Foundry workers were in Bismarck September 9-18, 2002 to make a mold of the original statue. Arizona Bronze owner Tom Bollinger is a Bismarck native who grew up on Lakota Sioux reservations in the Dakotas and remembers visiting the original statue as a small boy in the 1950s.
• A fundraising campaign to send the full-scale replica of the statue of Sakakawea that stands on the state capitol grounds in Bismarck to Washington, D.C. reached its $200,000 goal in January 2002. The cost includes refurbishing and interpreting the present statue, duplicating and placing the new statue in National Statuary Hall, and official presentation ceremonies to highlight the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The fundraising campaign was launched October 13, 2000, the 90th anniversary of dedication ceremonies for the original statue.
• The statue commemorates Sakakawea for her role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Sculpted by Chicago artist Leonard Crunelle, it depicts Sakakawea and baby son Jean Baptiste, strapped to her back, looking westward toward the country she helped to open.
• The replica project has been coordinated by the State Historical Society of North Dakota, in partnership with the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Dakota (GFWCND). The GFWCND also campaigned statewide in the early 1900s, working with school children and others, to raise the funds needed to erect the original statue of Sakakawea on the state capitol grounds in Bismarck, dedicated October 13, 1910.
• The National Statuary Hall Collection is comprised of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. The collection currently consists of 97 statues contributed by 50 states. Forty-seven states have contributed two statues each. Three states are eligible to donate one additional statue – North Dakota, Nevada and New Mexico. For more information about the National Statuary Hall Collection, visit the web site address www.aoc.gov, then click on site contents list.
• A special exemption from the Architect of the U.S. Capitol paved the way for approval to
place the statue replica in National Statuary Hall. Congressman Earl Pomeroy’s office
secured the exemption after it was learned that each state is allowed to have only two people represented. The exemption means that North Dakota will be the only state with three people – former governor and U.S. Treasurer John Burke (1859-1937), presented in 1963, and Sakakawea and her baby. His name is not mentioned on the statue’s plaque.
• Funds contributed to date:
$ 850 Save Outdoor Sculptures assessment grant
$ 4,525 State Historical Society of North Dakota funds
$ 2,400 State of North Dakota Facilities Management in-kind donation
$ 7,800 Save Outdoor Sculptures conservation grant
$ 2,000 The Bismarck Tribune
$ 622 Donation Station at North Dakota Heritage Center
$ 372 State Historical Society of North Dakota staff donations
$ 200 Westerners International, Fort Lincoln Corral
$ 1,000 Norsk Høstfest
$ 17,000 North Dakota schools and General Federation of Women’s Clubs members
$ 15,000 Dan’s SuperMarket, Bismarck, Mandan and Dickinson
$ 33,000 Ralph and Betty Engelstad. Ralph, who died Nov. 26, 2002, was a University of North Dakota alumnus and president/owner of the Imperial Palace Resorts, Las Vegas, Nev., and Biloxi, Miss.*
$ 50,000 The Three Affiliated Tribes
$ 50,000 Former Governor Arthur and Mrs. Grace Link
$ 50,000 Joe and Florence Hauer, owners of United Printing and Mailing, Bismarck
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$ 234,769 Total contributions to date
*Ralph and Betty Engelstad made their $33,000 donation through the
General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Dakota
$ 140,000 Cass-Clay Creamery, Inc., Fargo, in-kind marketing support for State Historical Society of North Dakota’s Lewis and Clark Fun Facts, to be featured on 120 million milk cartons in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota through 2006.
• Just as it did nearly a century ago, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Dakota (GFWCND) served as the catalyst to provide students, from kindergarten through high school, the opportunity to place another statue of Sakakawea on prominent display – this time in National Statuary Hall. They worked directly with schools and educators statewide during the school fundraising campaign, which ended December 31, 2001. The GFWCND’s campaign co-chairs are Marijo Shide in Larimore at (701) 343-2149 and Avis Van Wechel in Mayville at (701) 786-2238.
• Donations can still be made to the project to help cover any unexpected final costs, as well as ongoing care of the original statue on the state capitol grounds. Interested donors should contact the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation at (701) 222-1966 or email at nelsenva@btinet.net. For more information about the project, contact Director Merl Paaverud or Communications Director Rick Collin of the State Historical Society of North Dakota at (701) 328-2666, or visit the agency’s web site at DiscoverND.com/hist .
9/29/03
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