I therefore propose to erect a memorial, which it seems to me should stand on the campus of our great institution of learning, the University of Oregon, where for years to come the rising generation of Oregon will have before them a reminder of those to whom they owe every opportunity they enjoy.
Accordingly I have commissioned Mr. A. Phimister Proctor, the distinguished American sculptor, to model a statue typifying the real pioneer of the West. It is my sincere desire and hope that, as the genius of Saint Gaudens has typified in imperishable bronze The Puritan, the genius of Proctor will in like degree typify The Pioneer. Should my plan meet with the approval of yourself and the Board of Regents of the University, I would request that at the proper time and in concurrence with Mr. Proctor, a place be designated on the University grounds upon which the monument may be erected."
This day evidences the fulfillment of this desire, and we have gathered together in honor of those to perpetuate whose memory this statue was designed. While it is a matter of greater satisfaction to me than I can express to have the opportunity of testifying in this way to my affection for the pioneers of Oregon, it is the genius of the artist which makes it possible to express in enduring bronze not only the sentiment, but the man. I wish to express not only my sincere admiration for Mr. Proctor's genius, but the thankfulness I feel for his unselfish devotion to the task and for the zeal and spirit which from the inception of the idea to this dedication have animated his work. The sculptor, not only an artist of rare genius, but a man of nature, of the mountains and plains, knowing at first hand the pioneer and his life, his real worth and what he endured and sought, has created a type true to life—the real pioneer as we have known him.
This statue is erected and dedicated to the memory of all Oregon pioneers. It is in no sense personal or individual and it is my earnest wish and hope that this fact may ever be kept in mind.
The reasons for selecting the University of Oregon as the
