“Rarin’ to Ride” is a part of the Capitol Avenue Bronze public art collection . . donated to the City of Cheyenne by private individuals, organizations or companies. For more information about the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project, visit Deselms Fine Art at https://deselmsfineart.com
Rarin’ to Ride depicts a young boy grappling with a large saddle. He’s wearing a large hat and is eager to saddle up and ride into horizon on his own adventures. The statue captures the independent and exploratory spirit of the west. The boy, no doubt following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, is eager to be a cowboy.
The statue was created by the renowned sculptor George Lundeen, who served as mentor or inspiration of most of the artists whose statues are represented in the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project. He is also a friend of Dennis Wallace, who along with his son Jeff Wallace, donated the statue as a tribute to the city and its people. Jeff is a member of the Capitol Avenue Bronze Commission. The Wallace family is a longtime supporter of community projects, having built Wyoming Bank & Trust as Burns and Cheyenne grew.
In the early 1900’s, southeastern Wyoming was a growing agricultural community. The area had proven to be hospitable to dryland farming techniques, using specific plants and water saving techniques to grow crops without irrigation. “The importance of the dry farming movement in developing Wyoming and all the other Trans-Missouri States cannot be over-estimated,” said Wyoming Governor B.B. Brooks in 1908.
Real estate agents began pushing the area as an unbeatable opportunity for investors from the east and established farmers exploring a variety of crops. “The Golden Prairie of Wyoming” could not fail, according to ads, to bring money to those who would buy land and plant potatoes, wheat, oats, flax, barley, or alfalfa.
The town that would become Burns was created to host a bank and headquarters for The Federal Land and Security Company sales operations. The settlement would also support homesteaders as they bought property from the company and arrived in the area. Over objections from the Union Pacific, the land company named the settlement Luther, Wyoming, and opened Luther State Bank in 1907. The name of the town was officially changed to Burns, after a railroad employee who had perished in an accident there, in 1910, when a post office was established.
Wyoming Bank & Trust began as The Farmers State Bank of Burns on May 5, 1919. Thirty-two stockholders incorporated the bank and in 1928 assumed the assets of The Burns State Bank (formerly Luther State Bank). Dennis Wallace purchased a controlling interest in the bank at the end of 1970. The bank moved its headquarters to Cheyenne and, in 1995, changed its name to Wyoming Bank & Trust.
To learn more about the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project, visit this link . For more information about each artist, sponsoring a bronze, or becoming a donor/supporter at any level, please contact Harvey Deselms at Deselms Fine Art, located at 303 E. 17th Street Cheyenne. Email is deslemsart@aol.com or call at 307 432 0606
