The project will be very similar to the City of Presidents project that erected statues of all American presidents in downtown Rapid City. At the Black Hills Stock Show, artist John Lopez was working on his sculpture of the first governor of the State of South Dakota, Arthur C. Mellette, who served from 1885 to 1889.

Lopez says, "It's all privately donated. And there are some businessmen in Pierre that are doing the fundraising: The Trail of Governors Foundation. And so people will donate money. And they've been getting a good response from the hometowns of the governors."

Lopez is one of four South Dakota sculptors who will be contracted to create the statues of the thirty state governors. The organizers of the project say the Trail of Governors should take ten years to complete. They will be placed at locations between the Capitol and Main Street in Pierre.

Al Van Zee