THE END OF THE TRAIL

The Cottonwood Beautification Committee (CBC) has received County approval for a cattle drive to run permanently down the center medians of Main St. in Cottonwood. That is a cattle drive in the form of 21 near life size rusty metal sculpture silhouettes of cowboys and cowgirls on horseback driving a herd of cattle! The renderings of the median sculptures and new landscaping (donated by the architectural firm of J.P. Semingson) received "thumbs up" from Pat Minturn, Director of Shasta County Public Works, at a recent meeting with the CBC. Brenda Christian, chairman for the CBC and sculpture designer says, "I created this sculpture scene to preserve some important local history in the town of Cottonwood. Many of the stories that I hear from old timers are about Cottonwood's cattle ranchers and cattle drives down Front and Main Streets. Locally, I wanted to find a way to permanently honor that history. I also wanted other communities and visitors to realize how historic and special this town is. I believe these sculptures will do just that." The median sculpture scene will be titled "The end of the trail".

In preparation for the sculptures, the CBC and it's crew of volunteers will be removing the existing red lava rock and dying liquid amber trees. The new landscaping will include crape myrtle trees, natural looking grasses or ground covers, perennial flowers such as daylilies and large landscape boulders. A new sprinkler system will be added to keep the landscape watered. The project will be done in several phases.

Later this year, the CBC will hold a "mock" cattle auction to raise money to purchase the metal for the sculptures. All local cattle ranchers will be invited to attend the event. Winning bidders will be recognized by having their ranch brand placed on the "metal cow" that they won in the auction. A historic sign will then show a small version of the ranch brand, the name of the ranch and when it was established in the area. CBC member John Adams (owner of the Dragon Fly building) has generously offered to place the sign at the front of his property. If anyone has any "cattle ranch" history to share, CBC member Jack Faulkenbury of the Anderson Historical Museum would love to hear from you!

The CBC is currently holding a raffle thru Dec.20th to raise funds to get this project off the ground. Grand prize is a spa donated by Phoenix Spas. Absolutely all of the money raised goes to purchasing materials for this project. All the labor to create and install the sculptures and landscaping has been generously donated by an incredible list of individuals and local companies from throughout the community.

NOTE: A community meeting to discuss the start of this project and the removal of the Liquid Amber trees on Main St. will be held on Thursday, Oct. 14th at 7:30 pm at the "Native Daughters of the Golden West" located on Brush St. next to the firehouse in Cottonwood. The CBC and certified arborists from Redding Treescapes will be on hand to answer any questions. Redding Treescapes has generously donated their time, expertise and equipment to help CBC with this project.

Want to be part of this extraordinary community project? Contact Brenda Christian @ The Bead Bank: 530-347-2323.