Gateway Project Bronze Sculpture

CY Right of Way

The Casper Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to offer a large, spectacular, limited edition bronze sculpture, "CY Right of Way". This limited edition bronze, created by well-known western sculptor J.C. Dye, is located at the first of Casper's gateways. Since the Fall 2002, visitors and residents have been welcomed into Casper by the larger-than-life bronze sculpture on the corner of Wyoming Boulevard and CY Avenue. The gateway project is part of the multi-year plan to develop four gateways into the City of Casper.

To help finance the gateway project, limited edition maquettes of this sculpture will be produced (100 maximum), height 22" length 25" width 16". For a $5,000 donation, an individual or company will receive a maquette as well as their name put on the monument base recognizing them as a sponsor.

The Sculpture Theme

To select a sculpture a story was written to set the stage for the design. The following is the story sent to the artists:

A Close Call on the C.Y. Cattle Trail by Rick Bonander

It was a cool crisp morning in early October 1877. George and Gilbert Searight had just brought up 27,000 longhorns from Texas. These cows were almost as wild as the buffalo on the open range that they were replacing. The Searight brothers were stocking the Goose Egg Ranch that they had just started. That spring a couple of the cowboys had found a nest full of Canadian Goose eggs and brought them back to camp for the cook to fry up for breakfast. They all thought that Goose Egg Ranch would be a good and fitting name for the new spread.

These wild longhorns had a tendency to wander far and wide over the range and it was a full time job for all of the ranch hands to keep them near the ranch boundaries. George Searight had gotten an early start and found two stray steers almost ten miles up the North Platte River from the ranch house. He was driving them back toward home along the C.Y. ranch house and just up from the river stood a huge old solitary buffalo bull blocking the trail. Ownership of that particular part of the trail was certainly in question. The bison charged the oncoming longhorns and the lone cowboy. It was only a matter of luck and of course good riding that no one was killed or maimed and all made it back home sagely. Yup, just another day in the life of a Wyoming cowboy.

This story certainly could be true, if not, it ought to be.

Man Made Energy

The Casper Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to offer a second large, spectacular, limited edition bronze sculpture, "Man Made Energy". This limited edition bronze, created by well-known sculptor Seth Vandable, is the second of Casper's gateways. Since the Summer of 2005, visitors and residents have been welcomed into Casper by the larger-than-life bronze sculpture at the north exit of Hat 6 Road on I-25 east of Casper. This two-and-a-half time life size bronze monument depicts four prominent local oilmen (Fred Goodstein, Mick McMurry, Dave True, and John Wold) working on the floor of a drilling rig. This sculpture is symbolic of the dedication and hard work required to extract oil and gas from the ground. Casper was built on the back of the energy business. Its past, present, and future is directly linked to this vital industry. To help finance this gateway project, limited edition maquettes of this sculpture will be produced (100 maximum) Gallery Price $7,900. Contact the Chamber for the pricing structure.

Contact Us

For additional information please contact Rick Bonander, Beautification Committee Chair, at (307) 234-2058, John Lichty (307) 472-6688 or the Chamber of Commerce.

Trip to the Foundry

The Beautification Committee sponsored a field trip to Lander on March 21, 2002 to visit the foundry that casted the "A Close Call" statue. The statue welcomes visitors into the west end of Casper. It appears at the intersection of Hwy 220 and Wyoming Blvd.