County of memorial: Barber County
Location of Statue: 4th St. & Main St., Kiowa
Artist: Don Hunt
Date dedicated: September 7, 2004
Plaque Text:
CECIL I. TUCKER AND HIS WIFE
VERNA "MERRYMAN: TUCKER
Have donated this bronze statue to the City of Kiowa
IN HONOR OF JAMES W. POLSON.
He staked the north east forth of
Section 32, Township 29, Range II, in the
Oklahoma Land Run of Sept. 16, 1893
Located from 4th and Main, 4 miles south and 5 miles east.
"Kiowa, Kan., just across the state line from Oklahoma's Alfalfa County, once was a rough cowboy town chosen as a sign-up site for the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893.
"Cecil Tucker Jr.'s grandfather, James W. Polson, was among those pioneers. Tucker, 79, is giving the city a statue titled "This Land Is My Land" that commemorates that land run.
"Those who planned to take part in the land run registered in Kiowa. The land run started about a mile south of town, Tucker said.
"Polson, then 24, came from Kingman, and staked his claim on 160 acres four miles south and five miles east of Kiowa, in what is now Alfalfa County.
"Officials in Kiowa, with a population today of about 1,100, accepted Tucker's offer of the statue, land and construction of a park, City Administrator Mark Skiles said. The life-size bronze, 10 feet tall at its highest point, is of a man on horseback and a woman handing him a wooden stake. It stands at Fourth and Main streets on land where Tucker's brother, Dale, once operated a family business.
"Tucker said the stake was significant because that was how people marked their claim. He said he asked the foundry, Eagle Bronze of Lander, Wyo., to make everything authentic, such as the type of saddle and the woman's attire." ~ By Dawn Marks - The Oklahoman, September 7, 2004