Our Lady of the Rockies
Encyclopedia
Our Lady of the Rockies is a 90-foot (27 m) statue
dedicated to mothers everywhere, that sits atop the Continental Divide
overlooking Butte, Montana
. It is the United States
' largest Madonna
and its second largest statue.
The statue was built by volunteers using donated materials to honor women everywhere, especially mothers. The base is 8,510 feet above sea level and 3,500 feet above the town. The statue is lit and visible at night.
(151 feet). Many people in Butte donated materials and time to make the statue a reality. The design for the statue was engineered by Laurien Eugene Riehl. He was a retired engineer for the Anaconda Company who donated his engineering skills to the project. The statue had to withstand the powerful windsheers that buffet the ridge tops. Joe Roberts donated his lot and buildings for the construction of the statue. The statue was airlifted from Roberts Rocky Mountain Equipment to its present site on the Continental Divide.
Work on the project began December 29, 1979. Volunteers spent many summer evenings blasting a road to the top of the Rockies, sometimes making only 10 feet of progress a day. The base of the statue was poured in September 1985 with 400 tons of concrete. The concrete was provided by Pioneer Concrete Company, a long time family business in Butte, Montana. On December 17, 1985, a CH-54 Tarhe
from the Army National Guard's 137th Aviation Company lifted the statue in four sections into place.
consisting of handicapped accessible two 25-passenger cars is in the planning stages. As proposed, it would carry visitors over a mile-long vertical rise of 2,000 feet to the base of the statue in about 5 minutes.
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
dedicated to mothers everywhere, that sits atop the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
overlooking Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
. It is the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' largest Madonna
Madonna (art)
Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
and its second largest statue.
The statue was built by volunteers using donated materials to honor women everywhere, especially mothers. The base is 8,510 feet above sea level and 3,500 feet above the town. The statue is lit and visible at night.
Construction
The statue was first imagined by local resident Bob O'Bill. In 1979, his wife was seriously ill with cancer. He promised the Blessed Virgin Mary that he would make a 5 foot statue of her in his yard if his wife recovered. When she recovered he began the project with his fellow workers who gradually changed the initial vision to a mountain top statue nearly the size of the Statue of LibertyStatue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
(151 feet). Many people in Butte donated materials and time to make the statue a reality. The design for the statue was engineered by Laurien Eugene Riehl. He was a retired engineer for the Anaconda Company who donated his engineering skills to the project. The statue had to withstand the powerful windsheers that buffet the ridge tops. Joe Roberts donated his lot and buildings for the construction of the statue. The statue was airlifted from Roberts Rocky Mountain Equipment to its present site on the Continental Divide.
Work on the project began December 29, 1979. Volunteers spent many summer evenings blasting a road to the top of the Rockies, sometimes making only 10 feet of progress a day. The base of the statue was poured in September 1985 with 400 tons of concrete. The concrete was provided by Pioneer Concrete Company, a long time family business in Butte, Montana. On December 17, 1985, a CH-54 Tarhe
CH-54 Tarhe
|-See also:-External links:* *...
from the Army National Guard's 137th Aviation Company lifted the statue in four sections into place.
Tourism
Two-hour roundtrip bus tours are available from June until September from the Our Lady of the Rockies shop at the Butte Plaza Mall. A tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
consisting of handicapped accessible two 25-passenger cars is in the planning stages. As proposed, it would carry visitors over a mile-long vertical rise of 2,000 feet to the base of the statue in about 5 minutes.