This sculpture was made possible thru the gift of Fidelity Bank N. A. The mold was made from the original plaster model owned by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum).
Run of 1889
On April 22, 1889 at high noon the bugles sounded, guidons of a unit of the United States Cavalry were lowered and about forty thousand people rushed across the restraining lines to stake their claims to the unassigned lands of Oklahoma country. They traveled by horseback and in covered wagons and buggies, some walked, many rode the Sante Fe railroad to Oklahoma Station, now Oklahoma City.
They were imbued with the same dream that brought the first settlers to James Town, the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock, and succeeding generations to the great west -- the dream of a new land, a new hope and a new life.
Laura Fraser captures this dream in the bronze bas-relief of her celebrated "Run of 1889" cast from a mold of the original plaster model in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. While it pictures only a few of the intrepid who made the run, it speaks of all those of all the ages who dared to hope and to dream and had the courage and spirit to make their dreams come true.