Description

Solon Hannibal de la Mothe Borglum, (1868-1922), circa 1900.

Courtesy Hollinger & Co Photographers. From Solon H. Borglum and Borglum family papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.

Solon was the younger brother of Guzman Borglum, best known for creating Mt. Rushmore.

In March, 1906, Solon arrived in Prescott to show the committee his model. The committee was delighted with it, and Solon returned to New York to add the details. Toward the end of the year, Solon sent a photo of the face to the committee to be sure it looked like Buckey, and the sculptor was instructed to go ahead with the casting.

Solon noticed the beauty of the rocky outcroppings surrounding town. He decided that one of the beautiful local granite boulders would be perfect and he personally returned to the city to choose it himself. The boulder was harvested from Yavapai Hill, weighed 28 tons and was “about 9 feet in length, 4 feet in thickness and rising in height about 5 1/2 feet. It [was] placed on a stone foundation about 2 feet higher than the surrounding level of the Plaza,” according to the Weekly Journal-Miner. It reportedly took “several weary days” for a 20-mule team to move it, mostly downhill, to the Plaza. The statue itself is 10 1/2 feet in height making the total height of the monument about 18 feet.

Over 20 years later, on September 11, 1928, Guzmon Borglum, Solon’s older brother, visited Prescott and, for the first time, observed “the great bronze equestrian statue which is ranked as the greatest work of his dead brother, Solon,” the Evening Courier reported. “Much moved, [Guzmon] walked up and down under the trees, viewing the great figure from all sides. When he could speak he said: ‘although the work is the product of my brother’s hand, I am forced to forget the relationship and to say that the Buckey O'Neill monument is a marvel. In my opinion it has no equal in the country—in so far as I know, it is unexcelled abroad.’”

Legally the statue is known as the Rough Rider Monument, but in the hearts and minds of the people of Prescott, it will forever be Buckey that's riding that horse.