A steer found a new resting place at the Grant County Chamber of Commerce office.

Chamber members Bruce and Kimberly Ward, Jerry Franklin, Tammy Bremner and Sherrie Rininger, along with Carroll Walton from Tidewater, all worked together on April 10 to install the cast aluminum replica steer in front of the chamber where a pond used to be.

“I want to recognize Walton from Tidewater who took part of his Saturday to bring the cement mix truck and make a special batch used to fill the pond and make a framework that the steer is fastened to.”

Bruce Ward said the concept of the project is to make people aware of the important pieces that made Grant County in the beginning which was logging, mining and ranching.

He said before the city of John Day bought the Oregon Pine, Ward approached the D.R. Johnson Lumber Company to do some clean up. He also asked them if the chamber could put up a display on the property that highlighted ranching, logging and mining.

He said, when the city purchased the property, he approached them about the same concept, but it did not go anywhere so the next idea was to incorporate the display idea at the chamber.

“We bought the steer five years ago from the Oxbow, and it’s been sitting there until last week,” Ward said. “We thought, ‘Well, maybe we can make a miniature display right here at the Chamber of Commerce.’”

Ward said the hope is to install an ore cart on a set of tracks to represent mining and possibly having a cast of a timber feller or something timber related to represent logging.

The chamber is also planning to have a steer naming contest for the community to give a name to the sturdy statue in front of the chamber office.

“Some people have already commented that it may or may not exactly represent the cattle industry although there are longhorn steers scattered around the county, but it’s the concept of timber, mining and ranching that it completes,” Ward said.