Last week a new sculpture was unveiled and dedicated in Tracy.

The new sculpture is called Harvest of Progress.

The sculpture stands on a pedestal in the middle of the new roundabout in downtown Tracy adjacent to the new Downtown Park Plaza.

The sculpture consists of two men, standing back to back, that represent the history and culture of Tracy.

The sculpture was created by Rowland Cheney who lives in San Joaquin county and has taught for many years at San Joaquin Delta college.

The two men are a farmer and a railroad conductor. Both farming and the railroad have had a huge impact on the culture of Tracy. We don’t have as large of a presence from the railroad in Tracy today, but it is definitely a part of our history.

The sculpture stands in the middle of the bow-tie area of Tracy where the railroad lines all came together when Tracy was known as Tank Town.

In the picture above you can see the Tracy Transit Center which also has some interesting railroad related artwork displayed.

The sculpture is very large and is very prominent in the middle of the roundabout. The sculpture itself is 16 feet tall and stands on top of a 4 foot tall pedestal. With the outstretched arm of the conductor the sculpture is also more than 12 feet wide.

The bronze sculpture also weighs two tons and was created by a lost-wax casting process.

The sculptor did a lot of research in the process of creating this wonderful statue that represents Tracy so well.

The sculpture is very detailed and I will be taking more pictures of those details in the future. I will need the right light to capture the details. I can just imagine how the statue looks in different light.

Can you imagine the sculpture silhouetted against a beautiful sunset? There was a nice sunset picture of it in the Tracy Press this week.

I also found out that the lantern lights up at night, so that will also make for an interesting picture. I will have to make a visit downtown in the evening to get a nice picture of it all lit up.

The sculpture joins The Firefighter in downtown Tracy and there are now two great sculptures along Central Avenue.

Steven