He is remembered principally for his role in the Black Hawk War, which bears his name. īlack Hawk, or Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, was born in 1767, Saukenuk, IL, and became a war captain of the Sauk tribe. Through their work the casting was finished on December 30, 1910, and in the spring the molding was removed to find that the statue had emerged perfect. Worried that construction of the statue would be halted by the weather and thinking that a half completed statue would not survive the winter Prasuhn and his crew began working day and night shifts. In addition, 4 radiators were also needed as the construction had run into December and the water was frequently freezing. The water for the concrete was pumped up from the river 150ft below by two 16 horsepower steam engines. At this point the base pedestal was completed and the mold was filled with concrete. The head was then placed onto the body, and the entire structure was coated in plaster. The mold was created by making a wooden skeleton frame, then wrapping that with wire mesh to create the curves and then wrapping that in burlap.

The mold for the statue was made in two parts, the body and the head. The construction of the statue was managed by John Prasuhn, a sculptor and civil engineer, who created the final 48ft. The statue is made of over 2 tons of steel reinforcing rods and 238 cubic yards of concrete which required 65,000 gallons of water. Ĭonstruction of the statue began in 1908 and was completed in 1911 and the technical details of the statues construction is fairly remarkable in themselves. The statue is made of a single piece of concrete resting upon a six food pedestal, and in total weighs over 268 tons. tall and with the added height of the bluff the statue towers 200ft above the Rock River valley below. The vision and initial design of the monument came from Lorado Taft, an accomplished sculptor native to Northern Illinois. The Black Hawk Statue, also known as the “Eternal Indian”, stands on bluff overlooking the Rock River, in Lowden state park 5 miles south of Oregon.

Black hawk war illinois