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She stands like a lone sentry watching out over the city of Upland. With a rifle in her hand, a baby at her bosom and a young child at her side, the Madonna of the Trail has become a familiar landmark in Upland.
The 10-foot monument, erected 70 years ago this week, is one of 12 identical statues that mark the locations of pioneer trails that once stretched from Maryland to California.
Together, they are known as the National Old Trails Road.
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If you wanted to travel a rough approximation of it today you would follow Interstate 40 across Arizona to Albuquerque. From there the route takes Interstate 25 north to I-70 and all the way to the East Coast.
In November, Upland's Madonna statue at Euclid Avenue and Foothill Boulevard was designated a California historical landmark by the state Historical Resources Commission.
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Silent Sentry: The Madonna of the Trail monument at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in Upland was dedicated on Feb. 1, 1929.
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Carole Anthony, chief executive officer of the Upland Chamber of Commerce, said the monument creates a visible link between the city's present and its past.
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"We get a lot of people that make the trek across the country to visit all of the Madonna statues," she said. "I think it's got a lot of symbolism. It's kind of a neat thing here in our city."
Upland's statue marks the convergence of four famous trails. The first was the Anza Trail, which Juan Bautista de Anza traveled when he led the first band of white settlers into California in 1774.
The Mojave Indian Trail, the oldest of the four, was the route many gold seekers took as they arrived in covered wagons.
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Her right hand on the rifle, the Madonna cradles a baby in her arms with another child at her side.
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The Emigrant Trail followed Anza's route, but split with one branch heading north to
San Bernardino via the San Gorgonio Pass, and the other ending up at fresh water springs in San
Dimas.
The fourth crossing was the Colorado Road, a year-round route from the east that carried passengers and mail on the Butterfield Stage.
The establishment of the trails as a national highway came about through the efforts of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution.
Wanting to pay tribute to the spirit of pioneer women, it was decided that the statues would represent a mother and her children.
The five-ton statue was made by St. Louis sculptor August Leimbach using algonite stone heavily laden with Missouri granite.
The monument arrived by rail and was transported to its site by truck. It sits on a six-foot base, which rests, in turn, on a five-foot foundation stone that extends three feet into the ground.
"She was put up in 1929 in a blinding rainstorm," Mayor Robert Nolan said. "The other statues face west, but she faces south ... she's quite a symbol."
President Harry S. Truman, then a presiding judge in Jackson County, Mo., had been scheduled to attend the Feb. 1 dedication, but was detained elsewhere.
Truman was a member of the committee that selected the site for each of the 12 Madonna statues.
Today the statue is maintained by the San Antonio chapter of the DAR.
Over the years, she has weathered graffiti, paint ball attacks and even a 1990 earthquake, DAR regent Phyllis Pearce said.
"The damage from the quake was quite severe," she said.
Nolan said the city spent $30,000 on repairs.
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