Sepia Saturday-The Hiker

you are going or, like those in this archive photo entitled "Palmer's Mystery Hike No. 2", the destination is not as important as the journey, there is fun to be had. As for those who are in search of a theme, there are walkers, roads, hats, short trousers, and the alarming phenomenon of a woman with three legs. In the great traditions of Sepia Saturday, it doesn't matter what theme you follow, it is the day out which is the enjoyable thing. So plan your days out on or around Saturday 13th April 2013 and add a link to the list below.

I know, I have been MIA and have lots of excuses. Just needed a rest.
But I've been missing my Sepia Saturday blogging buddies so I decided to give this a research.
Been fascinated by Michael and Jeff Shaara's works on the Civil War and loved this photo as soon as I saw it.

Found this interesting photo
 

"The Hiker"

'The Hiker," erected in 1959, still stands watch in Armory Park, Tucson, AZ

Armory Park in the heart of downtown Tucson is home to many events, festivals and community tributes. Originally called Military Plaza Park, the site was both the home to the soldiers who guarded the Presidio and an armory center. With shuffleboard courts and a bandshell, if there's not one of the many happenings already happening at the park, you can make one happen yourself.


The Hiker is a statue created by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson. It commemorates the American soldiers who fought in the Spanish–American War, the Boxer Rebellion and the Philippine–American War. The first version of it was made for the University of Minnesota in 1906,^[1] but at leasst 50 copies were made, and were erected very widely across the US.
"The Hiker depicts a hero stripped of his parade uniform and shown as a soldier reacting to the challenges of the battlefield." ^[2]

When she created The Hiker, Kitson already had a reputation for sculpting war memorial statues. For the title of her work, Kitson used the term that American soldiers in both the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War gave themselves: "hikers". Leonard Sefing, Jr., a Spanish–American War veteran from Allentown, Pennsylvania, was selected as the model for the statue after a photograph of him was entered into a national contest.^[3]
The original statue was unveiled at the University of Minnesota on Memorial Day, 1906.^[4] The statue stands in front of the armory at 15 Church Street. Also known as the "Student Soldier Memorial", it is a monument to the 218 University of Minnesota students who served in the Spanish–American War.^[5] The statue is 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and stands on a 6-foot (1.8 m) granite base, depicting a soldier clad in a period uniform with a campaign hat and a Krag-Jørgensen rifle. Today this statue, now missing its gun tip,^[6] is popularly known as Iron Mike.^[5]

Kitson's work proved to be very popular,^[4] largely because of its realism and historical accuracy.^[7] In 1921, the Gorham Manufacturing Company, located in Providence, Rhode Island, bought the rights to the statue, and over the next 44 years Gorham cast at least 50 Hiker statues.^[7] The earliest installations tended to be in the northeastern United States, with post-World War II statues installed mostly in the South and West.^[6]
Because of the wide distribution of the statues, they have recently been used to study air pollution over the last century.^[6]



Here is your link to other SS