The last Centennial year project was completed last Wednesday afternoon as dedication ceremonies were held on the courthouse lawn. The object of the occasion was the sheep sculpture donated to the community by Dan Halverson and his wife Guelda.
The steel ewe and lamb took a year to complete. Halverson designed and crafted the work and his wife drew up the plans for the plaque.
The presentation is a new addition to the courthouse lawn erected on a stone platform. The concrete base was donated by Ken Conner, he county paid for the masonry work done by Glen Johnson and the rocks for the base were given by County Commissioner Bjarne Bjorndal and originated from his Otter Creek ranch.
The sculpture weighs about 300 pounds. Cross links were donated by various people in the community and used in the statue. Members of the Big Timber Centennial Committee and the public gathered Aug. 8 for the dedication ceremony. Commissioner Ole Oiestad introduced the guest speaker, John Ronneberg whose remarks appear below.
When I was asked to speak for this dedication, my first thought was that the time could not have been better. We are here to honor the livestock industry and the part that industry has played in the growth and development of Sweet Grass County. Tomorrow marks the beginning of our annual County Fair and this will give us not only a recall of the past but also a look at what is going on now and what will be in the future. It is a chance for our young people to show off their projects and there abilities.
From the
TriCounty Atlas I learned that the earliest inhabitants of our county were probably the various tribes of Indians that found the hunting to be good and the climate pleasant compared to other areas of Montana.
Probably the first white explorer to pass through the county was Verendrye. His journals indicate that he was in our area in 1743 on his way to Colorado. The TriCounty Atlas stated that portions of his blazed trail were still visible in the early 1900s.
Shortly after the Lewis and Clark expedition, Sweet Grass County saw an influx of fur trappers. They came to further explore the area and to harvest the many varieties of fur bearing animals that were found here. A declining number of animals and a drastic fall in prices brought their era to an end in a relatively short time.
About that time, the lure of minerals brought more people into the area. Again, the
TriCounty Atlas speaks of an extensive mining complex mostly in the southern part of the county, but also some to the north in the Crazies. The bodies of ore turned out to be quite elusive and the activity gradually declined. Again the span of time in years was quite short.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s the farmers and the live stock people began to arrive. They came to harvest what is probably our finest natural resource, the fertile earth and our native grasses. The dreams of the farmers largely failed with the limited markets but the livestock industry was here to stay.
The importance of the livestock industry can be traced back to the early days of our county. A vital portion of the economy can be attributed to the sheep industry as reflected in these figures again quoted from the TriCounty Atlas "In the year 1891, from Big Timber alone was shipped 115 carloads of sheep, 32 cars of cattle, 10 cars of horses and 1,642,332 pounds of wool. The wool shipment that year equaled 1 percent of the entire wool clip of the United States".
While proceeds from cattle sales in 1984 will probably far exceed the proceeds from sheep products, this sculpture still represents a very important portion of the total dollars in our Sweet Grass County economy. The contribution of the sheep industry to our past and to our future is what makes this sculpture take on special significance.
It is ironic that the creator of this sculpture descends from one of the pioneer families of Sweet Grass County. From the
Pioneer Memories book I learned that Dan Halverson's great grandfather came to this area in the early 1880s. He settled on the Sweet Grass where Tom and Patricia Agnew now live. Jacob Halverson also invested the capital to build one of our main street landmarks, the Grand Hotel in 1891.
Dan, may I express our admiration of your talent and our appreciation for this gift that will endure throughout the years. I might also add that Dan's wife Guelda designed the plaque for the sculpture. Two very talented people.
Thank you very much Dan and Guelda.
From the Big Timber Pioneer, Page 1