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The Pioneer Father
— BupfH* RtyUter-Guard Photo
The Pioneer Mother
♦ ♦ ❖
Pioneer Father Came from the Hills
By Ron Brown
When Alexander Phimister Proc
tor accepted the commission to
sculpture the Pioneer Father sta
t. •? for the University of Oregon,
he probably didn’t figure that a
200-mile pack trip and a wilder
i: -S3 feud would be involved in the
joo.
All this was involved, however,
d.. ring the two years that he was
bringing forth the nine-foot statue
which now overlooks 13th street
from the Old Campus. (Proctor
also sculptured the Pioneer Moth
er.)
It all started in 1916 when Jo
seph N. Teal, a Portland lawyer
and businessman, decided he'd like
to give a statue to the University.
Being of pioneer stock. Teal furth
er decided that this statue should
denote the pioneer theme.
Mas Visiting Friend
About this same time, Proctor
was visiting his friend, William
Handey. on Handey's ranch near
Burns. Proctor had already achiev
ed considerable recognition for his
sculptures in the East, and just
what brought him west at that
time is not known, although he had
always expressed interest about
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the history of the West. Records
do not indicate that he had planned
to do the Pioneer Father, but he
had apparently heard of Teal’s de
sire for a pioneer statue.
While riding on Hadey's ranch
one day, Proctor spotted an elderly
trapper whom he decided would
make an excellent subject. The old
mountaineer consented to model
for the statue and Proctor went to
work.
He formed a tentative model of
! the head and took a trip to Teal's
! Portland office. Teal eyed the
| head, decided Proctor was his boy
| and promptly commissioned him to
i create the statue.
Amount Not Revealed
Records of the dedication cere
mony and old newspaper files do
not reveal the amount paid for the
job. Among his other assets, Teal
could list a steamboat line which
operated on the Columbia river,
and money does not appear to have
been an obstacle.
Proctor was ill for a short time
after receiving the commission, but
took off for Eastern Oregon when
tie recovered. According to a trun
script of the speech he made at
the dedication ceremony, he met
his unidentified trapper friend
about 200 miles back in the moun
tains. He didn’t reveal just which
mountains these were, but his
methods must have amazed some
of his less agile colleagues.
lie took with him a three-foot
working model of the statue. He
and the trapper packed the model
on horseback, and his speech indi
cates that they spent several
weeks moseying on horseback
through the mountains while he
worked on his creation.
Another Mountaineer
It was during these wanderings
that they happened upoh another
mountaineer, whom Proctor de
scribed simply as "an old German.”
It should have been merely a
chance wilderness meeting. The
“Old German,” however, shot the
trapper's dog for some unievealed
reason.
The trapper, according to Proc
tor's speech, “loved the dog like he
would have loved a wife". The old
mounainter was all for avenging
his pet’s death by shooting the
German, and only a hasty change
of campsite and considerable per
suasion averted his ire.
After his wilderness trek, Proc
I tor wonl to California whore he
j completed the work. The bronze
cast was made and the statue was
j unveiled May 22, 1919, two years
after the comnii/ston was awarded.
. . A Itemlnder . .
In presenting the statue, Teal In*
! dicated his purpose by saying,
for years to come the rising
' generation of Oregon will have b£
■ fore them a reminder of those to
' whom they owe every opportunity
j they enjoy,"
To Proctor, however, the dedica
tion protocul must have been an
1 anti-climax to the adventures in
volved in creating the statue.
Proctor apparently used less
strenuous methods in sculpturing
the Pioneer Mother, his second
work for the University. The
Mother was dedicated in 1922, but
there arc no indications that Proc*
tor took to the hills for inspiration
in her creation.
Paid $30,000
B. Brown Barker, then vice
1 president of the University, paid
$30,000 for the Pioneer Mother
statue, which tie presented in mem
ory of all pioneer mothers. He had
j his own mother, Elvira Brown
Barker, particularly in mind when
j he made the presentation, how
ever.
Proctor said the Mother was to
j depict “the pioneer mother in the
sunset of her life.” Barker's senti
ments are recorded in a plaque at
the back of the base, where he
wrote:
“Others have perpetuated her
struggle; I want to perpetuate the
| peace which follows her struggles.
Others have perpetuated her ad
ventures; I want to perpetuate the
spirit which made the adventures
possible, and the joy which crown
ed her declining years as she look
ed up on the fruits of her labor
and caught but a glimpse of what
it will mean for posterity.”
‘...My Mother...’
“I want to recall her as I recall
my mother, Elvira Brown Barker,
a pioneer of 1847 in the sunset of
her life after th hardships and the
battles and the sorrows of pioneer
ing were past and she sat in the
afterglow of her twilight days
testing from her labors. All her
hardships and sorrows have soft
ened in the telling in her later life,
and her rugged endurance has
mellowed with her fading memory;
(Please turn to page eight)