#1028 Madonna of the Trails
Title
#1028 Madonna of the Trails
Site information:
Intersection of North Euclid Avenue and E Foothill Blvd, Upland34.107247,-117.651199
Plaque information:
Private plaquePlaque text:
Madonna of the Trail NSDAR memorial to the pioneer mothers of the covered wagon days.This trail, trod by the padres in Spanish days, became under Mexican rule, the road connecting San Bernardino and Los Angeles, later the American post road.
Over this trail November 1826 Jedediah Smith seeking a river flowing westward, led a band of sixteen trappers, the first Americans to enter California over land.
OHP description:
Dedicated in 1929, the Madonna of the Trail is one of twelve identical statues placed in twelve states by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The statues, differentiated by the inscriptions on their bases, commemorate the westward move of American civilization on a series of trails, which eventually linked the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They especially pay tribute to the importance of a national highway and the role of pioneer women. The statue was designed by German-born architectural sculptor August Leimbach and inspired by a statue of Sacagawea in Portland, Oregon. The Upland monument is said to represent four historic trails: the Mojave Trail, the de Anza Trail, the Emigrant Trail, and the Canyon Road.Registered 11/7/1998