Thursday, March 26, 2009

Lady of the Mountains.



Not so long ago I posted the following picture, its something I see on a regular basis and therefore its nothing new.
What I didnt know was the story of the Lady plus some facts and figures, she looks so tiny perched on top of the rocks.

Our Lady of the Rockies stands 90 feet tall and in the likeness of Mary, Mother of Jesus, sits atop the Continental Divide 8510 ft. above sea level overlooking Butte, Montana. It is the United States's largest Madonna and the 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. 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.

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.

4 comments:

Tom said...

Just seen you have another blog.. Whats that one all about or is it a secret. Tom

Montedarlo said...

Hi Tom, the other blog was set up so i could see how the changes would look to my existing blog when I fiddled about with them. Nothing secret about it and there are no plans to launch it.

Thought I set it to private.

good luck, Phil

Tony T said...

Hi Ph,
Like the Angel on the Mountain photo.

TT

Montedarlo said...

Cheers Tony, I do my best.
Was pleased it came out ok as bouncing along at 65mph while on full zoom isnt the best recipe for pictures.

Thanks,Phil