Within the capitol building are many works of art, some of which commemorate individuals who have spent their lives in the service of the State of Montana. One of these was Wilbur Fisk Sanders, prosecuting attorney, a founder of the Montana Historical Society, an organizer of the Vigilantes, member of the Territorial House of Representatives from 1872-80 and U.S. Senator from 1890 to 1893.
Loved and hated in Montana in almost equal measure, Sanders arrived at Bannack, Montana (then still part of Idaho Territory) in late 1863, promptly hanging out his shingle, opening his first law practice in Idaho Territory. A staunch Republican and apparently not the most scrupulously honest in his dealings, he came to be branded "the most unscrupulous man who ever disgraced the legal profession", this by a fellow Republican, no less. An ambitious individual, Sanders was a founding member of the Society of Montana Pioneers, a founding member of the Masonic Lodge in Montana, its first Grand Secretary (1866-68) (and the Grand Master [1868-69]), a founding member and President of the Montana Bar Association, a charter member and Commander of the Montana chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, and President of Montana Wesleyan University in Helena. Sanders died in Helena on on July 7, 1905, shortly before a new Montana county, Sanders County, was created and named after him.
This bronze statue of Sanders, by Sigvald Asbjornsen, was commissioned eight years after Sanders' death, in 1913. It is one of several pieces which adorn the Grand Staircase Landings of the capitol.
A fairly comprehensive biography on Wilbur Fisk Sanders can be read
HERE.
Wilbur Fisk Sanders
Sigvald Asbjornsen, bronze, 1913. 131' x 71' x 68', cast by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, Mount Vernon, New York
Wilbur Fisk Sanders (1834–1905) arrived in Bannack, Idaho Territory, in 1863, and is best remembered as one of Montana’s first prosecuting attorneys and one of the organizers of the Vigilantes. In addition to helping found the Montana Historical Society in 1865, Sanders also was voted by Montana’s state legislature to be one of Montana’s first senators. In 1911, the state legislature appropriated five thousand dollars to erect his statue; Montana senator and copper baron William A. Clark provided free casting of the sculpture. Sigvald Asbjornsen (1867–1954) was a Norwegian-born Chicago artist. During his career, which spanned six decades in the United States, he completed numerous public commissions including busts and statues of such notable figures as Benjamin Franklin, President Grover Cleveland, and eleventh-century Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson.
From the Montana Government