Our Lady of the Rockies

It began as a promise. According to the Butte-Silver Bow Archives, in December 1979 Bob O'Bill vowed to the Virgin Mary that he would build a shrine to her if his wife recovered from cancer; she did. Ron Gallardo, president of the Our Lady of the Rockies Foundation, told NBC Montana that they first thought of a statue of about nine feet, and that it grew to 90.

Butte volunteers spent nearly six years building the statue, making the access road and raising funds, the archives record. The foundation says the 400-ton concrete base was poured in September 1985, and that on 17 December 1985 the statue was ready to be airlifted; Nevada and Montana National Guard units, the Army Reserve from Butte and civilian crews moved it to the mountain in four sections, and Gallardo told NBC Montana a crane helicopter put it in place. NBC Montana gives the statue as 90 feet tall and 51 tons, at more than 8,500 feet above sea level.