VOTE YES FOR OUR RIVER ON OCT. 9TH
I am a 76 foot tall (23 meter), 43,500 pound statue of an oil worker, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is claimed to be the "largest free standing statue in the world.
I was originally built in 1953 by the Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth for the International Petroleum Exposition. Six years later, I was temporarily erected again for the 1959 show. Due to the positive attention I attracted, the company donated me to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, which had me permanently installed in front of the Tulsa Expo Center for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition. My right hand rests on an oil derrick which had been moved from a depleted oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma.
An inscription at the base of me reads, "The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God's abundance a better life for mankind."
In 1979, I was adopted by the Oklahoma Lesiglature as the state monument.
As part of an online promotional contest sponsored by Kimberly-Clark in October 2006, I was named the grand prize as a top ten "quirkiest destination" in the United States.
