Monument to Their Memory
Cor-ten weathering steel and recycled granite
25 x 13 x 4 feet
Located at Golden Spike National Historical Park in Promontory, Utah
The image of a colossal railroad track rises from the ground up toward the sky. As it climbs upwards, it diminishes gradually creating a feeling of distance until it reaches a vanishing point. The top of the sculpture curves slightly to one side suggesting a slow gradual turn of direction. The rails of the track are made of Cor-ten weathering steel supporting crossties of massive recycled granite. The granite is recycled from old bridges and used to line many American roads as curbstone. By lifting the image of a vanishing railroad track upright, the work creates a bridge between the terrestrial and the celestial, as if it is a ladder connecting the sky and the earth. The work’s connection to the heavens memorializes the lives of the railroad workers that built the first Transcontinental Railroad; it joins the hands that made the work in the past to the visitors in the present day.