HIAWATHA:
WORLD'S TALLEST & LARGEST INDIAN
 DIMENSIONS
Original Hiawatha
Committee Members
The Hiawatha
Committee, composed of Charles Gotta, chairman; Jack Jindrich,
co-chairman; Erin Carlson;
John Meyer; Kenneth E. Long; Philip O'Leary; Gil Woodcock; Tom Vizanko; James
Sheridan;
Clayton Randall and George Lee. Russell W.
Glynn was manager of the chamber at the time.
Hiawatha's Location
Selected
The Ironwood caves
area, on the end of Burma Road in Norrie location, was the site chosen as Hiawatha's home. It was a terrain developed by cave-ins above the
site of the Old Norrie Iron Mine, once the largest underground mine in the world. The cave itself is a unique tourist
attraction; it's overgrown with vegetation, but it still shows evidence of the many shafts which brought iron
ore to the surface during the mining heydays. The
Hiawatha project was planned to enhance the development of the caves area. Some people wanted Hiawatha on top of Mt. Zion,
but that defeated the purpose of drawing people to the downtown area.
A giant statue of
an Indian chief was felt appropriate as a symbol of the region, although ideas for a
sculpture ranged from an iron miner, to a skier to Ironwood's Red Devil. The Indianhead signs had been a feature of the
Gogebic County Highways for many years and had attracted widespread attention. Several larcenous tourists even carted off some of
the Indian signs. It was unlikely anyone
would be able to carry away the 50 foot Hiawatha.
Moving
Hiawatha to Ironwood
Hiawatha was
transported on a 70-foot trailer truck on a special route that would reduce the number of
sharp curves, low bridges and any other obstacles in transit. The trailer was over 14 feet wide and required a
special permit to transport it with a state police escort through each state. Hiawatha traveled on Highway 94, 63 and 77 to
Hurley, then north on Highway 51 to U.S. 2. Delivery
of Hiawatha was set to leave Minneapolis at 2:20 AM Thursday, June 25th and arrived in
Ironwood late Thursday evening, a haul of nearly 12 to 14 hours.
The Special
Hiawatha Dedication Ceremony
Erection of the
statue was set for Friday between 3:00 and 4:30 PM.
Originally the plans had called for placing the statue on the foundation on
Saturday, but due to the need of the large 80-foot crane by the Mauthe Mining Company, it
had been advanced to Friday afternoon. The
crane needed to extend 90 feet to lift of the statue to go above the 26-foot beams on
the site.
The Erection
Ceremony included the "Saddleites" who rode horses preceding the statue from
US2, and two bands, the LL Wright High School band under the direction of Kenneth Wiele
and the Blue Knights with Joe DeCarlo and Wally Coleman directing. Mayor O'Leary and Hiawatha committee members wore
Indian headdresses in the procession as a "Council of Chiefs" to celebrate the
arrival of the statue. Paul Kending wrote a
special Hiawatha souvenir booklet.
The Hiawatha
Committee sold souvenir items on that Friday with all revenue used to defray the
cost
of the project. At that time, they also had
hand-painted earthenware replicas of the statue to sell imported from Japan
Shortly after
Hiawatha arrived, workmen began attaching Hiawatha's right hand. The right arm was made in a slightly extended
position and in order to avoid damage while traveling, the wrist and hand were detached
when the statue arrived. The Hiawatha statue
rested on a base that was eight feet deep, contained 55 yards of concrete, and had 5,000
pounds of steel reinforcement mixed in with 15 yards of crushed rock.
There were cheers
and hand-clapping from the large crowd of men, women and children that had gathered in the
hot sun to see the huge image erected. Many
curiously waited the full two hours to see what it would look like once it was firmly
secured to its foundation. The raising of the
statue not only was the highlight to the crowd, but it also fulfilled the dreams of a group
of businessmen, known as the Hiawatha Committee, who spent many months planning for the
tourist attraction.
Special
Hiawatha Contributors
Many people
contributed time and money to make Hiawatha a viable tourist attraction. Two gentlemen from the Mauthe Mining Company, A.L.
Johnson and Al Cigallio, offered their assistance to make the steel uprights and delivered
them to the site. The Ruppe Cement Products
Company furnished their truck to haul the steel beam to the site where city equipment was
also used to unload the steel. Bob Pacquin
operated the crane, Ernest Mattson and the Youth for a Better Ironwood made telephone
calls to secure items for the auction, and Miss Zera Tabacchi
and the Hematite staff assisted in the sale of Hiawatha buttons. Other chamber members served on special
committees; Marion Thomas was the chairman of concessions, Tony Lopez was chairman of road
signs, and Charles Gotta was in charge of souvenirs and novelties.
Hiawatha Days
Started in 1964
The first annual
Hiawatha Days were held from July 15-19 of 1964. Events
held were numerous musical units, a Range Championship Rodeo, a downtown carnival, a
softball game, a clown troupe, a dedication ceremony, authentic Ojibway dancers from Lac
du Flambeau and a battle of the bands.
Hiawatha
Re-Dedicated in 2004
A
committee was formed in 2003 to refurbish Hiawatha to its original
state and to celebrate his 40th birthday (to be held in June of
2004). After years of harsh "Big Snow Country"
weather, Hiawatha was in desperate need of repair and paint.
Fundraising efforts began with donation jars placed in area
businesses, raffles, spaghetti feeds, Hiawatha merchandise and a
direct mail campaign. The response was overwhelming. The
$10,000 needed to re-furbish Hiawatha was quickly raised, with some
money to spare for future repairs. Scott Stanczak of Ironwood
was hired to restore the statue. With the help of the City of
Ironwood, lights were restored after many years and trees were cut so
people could once again view the statue from a distance. In June
of 2004, a ceremony was held which included a parade, a carnival type
atmosphere at the Hiawatha Park, Native American drumming, a
rededication ceremony and a host of other activities.
Hiawatha
merchandise available:
Sweatshirts
Polo
Shirts
Buttons
Note
Cards
Prints
Ornaments
Magnets
Old Depot Museum
150 North Lowell
PO Box 45
Ironwood, MI. 49938
906/932-1122 (phone)
906/932-2756 (fax)
email: chamber@ironwoodmi.org
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