ARIZONIQUES

A Guide to Places, Events, and People RETURN OF THE ARTIST

Sculptor Solon Borglum came to Prescott, Arizona, in 1907 to salute the town's fallen favorite son. Ever since, his art has been Prescott's distinctive trademark.

Borglum created the heroic statue he titled "Memorial" to honor the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry and one of its most famous members, Capt. William Owen (Buckey) O'Neill. The popular commander of Troop A of the regiment-better known as Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riderswas killed in action in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, nine years earlier. Among his careers, the 38-year-old O'Neill had been sheriff and mayor, writer and soldier, and in the eyes of most Prescott citizens he was an inspirational hometown hero.

Almost immediately upon hearing of his death, townspeople proposed a monument, and fund-raising spread far and wide. A local cigar maker and a St. Louis hat manufacturer touted "Buckey O'Neill Specials," donating proceeds to the project. Cowboys on Whiskey Row, miners in the Bradshaw Mountains, schoolchildren throughout the territory all donated, and by the spring of 1906 a committee began the search for a sculptor.

The 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis had publicized the Western sculptures of Solon Borglum, but the monument committee feared the $10,000 they had collected would be insufficient to engage the famed artist. To their delight, Borglum (who had been raised in the West and was an admirer of the Rough Riders) agreed to accept the commission.

The bronze was cast in New York City, and, after being lost in an Albuquerque freight yard and damaging at least one flatcar, finally arrived safely in Prescott. On July 3, 1907, the eighth anniversary of the Rough Riders' charge up San Juan Hill, the monument was unveiled to a huge, appreciative crowd. Critics still call the dynamic horse and cavalryman the finest equestrian statue in the United States. Solon Borglum continued as one of the country's best-known sculptors until his death in 1922. His fame was eclipsed, however, by the national recognition afforded his brother Gutzon, also a sculptor, who carved the faces of four Presidents on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.

Recently-nearly 81 years after the unveiling of the Rough Riders Memorialadditional examples of Solon Borglum's genius arrived in Prescott. Through the efforts of the Prescott Community Art Trust and Borglum's descendants, a collection of his finest bronze and plaster works is now on display at the Western Solon Borglum Center at the Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St.; telephone 445-3122. The trust plans also to cast several of the figures for Prescott's growing collection of heroic-scale sculpture. The first will be "Rough Rider," portraying a cowboy mounting a bucking horse; upon completion it will be placed at the entrance to Yavapai Community College. To help fund the ongoing project, the trust is offering a limited edition of bronze bas relief Borglum plaques of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders priced at $1,200 each. The trust also is seeking private and corporate sponsors for the project.

Unique to Arizona and the Southwest.

Prescott's tribute to Solon Borglum and his art is fitting. For generations of Arizonans, the history, romance, and spirit of the town have been epitomized by "Buckey O'Neill, on the courthouse Plaza up in Prescott."

TUCSON'S TREE SCULPTURES

It's a sunny afternoon in Tucson's Reid Park. The softball diamonds are alive with the crack of base hits, the lake is clotted with paddleboats, the grassy hillsides are blanketed with picnickers. Meanwhile, five red upside-down pecan trees pose in a frozen ballet on the lake's north shore.

A bewildered woman