Five years ago on November 21, 2019, a white truck pulling a trailer made its way along Continental Drive. On the trailer was a big metal horse. Heads turned and people wondered what the story was about the horse and where was being it taken.

This was the day the sculpture piece of Jim, the amazing fire horse, came to Butte. When the precious cargo arrived at Fire Station #1 our board members were waiting along with several fire fighters. Jim was attached to a heavy metal base; he was very heavy.  A few of our board members, sculptor Jim Dolan and multiple fire fighters carefully slid him off the trailer onto the lawn at the fire station, where he would remain until he would be permanently placed in granite blocks at some point in the future.

Jim caught peoples eye as they drove past on the corner of Mercury and Idaho streets, and he still does today because he is the biggest piece of the statue.

If you don’t know Jim’s story, here is a brief explanation.  On the evening of January 15^th, 1895, a fire had broken out in the warehouse district. The fire chief,  twelve firefighters,  and four horses left the Central Station and went flying down the street to the fire. In very short order Chief Cameron and twelve of his men perished as did three of the horses.

As you look at the statue, you will notice it appears Fire Chief Angus Cameron is reaching out to Jim with the halter in his opposite hand. Our sculptor, Jim Dolan wanted that pose to signify no one would need a halter to catch Jim. After Jim’s teammate’s body was moved off Jim and he was cut out of his harness, he walked back to the Central Fire Station all by himself. Jim had been through hell; he was terribly injured but he knew the firefighters would help him; he trusted them with his life.  He recovered and eventually went back to work in the fire department.

 

If you would like to learn more of Jim’s story you can purchase our book “Out of the Ashes” at the Butte-Silver Bow Archives.  Butte Historical Memorials also  has a YouTube series  of six episodes called “BHM Living History” where Jim’s first person-horse story  is one of the episodes.

Jim, the horse , is very special to our board as is each person or animal represented in the statue, or those souls listed on our two memorial stones at the fire station. Jim and the dog, Dilis, are as beloved as our own animals and the people who perished have become family members. Many joyful tears flowed on August 3, 2021 as the statue was completed: Fire Chief Angus Cameron and Jim were together for the first time in a hundred and twenty six years.

Below are a series of pictures of Jim, from creation in Jim Dolan studio to current. We hope you enjoy the pictures  as we celebrate the fifth anniversary of Jim’s arrival in Butte.