OF STONE AND STEEL
It was not uncommon for teenage
boys, to travel great distances to visit relatives of northern or southern
bands of their people often hundreds of miles away. Many times they stayed
out for two or three years at a time. During this time they would seek
honor, and wives, by joining bands of older warriors on horse stealing
raids, buffalo hunts, or even, out right war against enemy tribes.
In “Of Stone and Steel” I have
tried to re-create the moment when a young Cheyenne, having gone north two
summers ago, is
returning home to his own tribe. He could not have known that during his
absence the Trans Continental Railroad had cut
mercilessly across the land with timber and track from horizon to horizon,
racing to meet the east bound Pacific crew.
As I began the foundation work on
this piece I could not help but feel the great emotion felt by this young
man, alone on the prairie, as he sees for the first time in his life, the
endless black ribbon, stretching across the land as far as he can see,
from the place where the sun rises to the place where it sleeps at night.
It seems to be without beginning or end. It is beyond his ability to
fathom. Had he not just passed this way, to him, a short time ago? What
beast is this slithering across the land? Is it evil? Would it kill
him? His mind races as he watches for a long time, the fearsome, but
unmoving mystery. Is he somehow lost, or dreaming, or both?
Finally he approaches; he must,
his horse is uneasy, and needs prodding as he cautiously rides closer and
closer. Calling on all the courage of a new warrior, he dismounts, slowly
squats down, and with a deep anxiety and bewilderment that is almost
reverent, taps the steel track before him with his small stone arrowhead.
He peers down its endless length
to the place where the sky sits on the earth, tapping, listening, but only
the haunting moan of the insatiable prairie wind answers, as it hurries
the sound away to places he cannot know or imagine, much less understand.
“Of Stone and Steel” is the story
of two great cultures, one of stone, one of steel, destined to collide,
the impact will forever change the lives and history of both nations.
Steve Miller
