Sandy is a sandhill crane about 40 feet tall in welded steel, standing in a small prairie park beside Interstate 94 at Steele, North Dakota, and billed as the largest of her kind in the world. She was built between 1998 and 1999 by James Miller, a farmer from nearby Arena who had taught himself ironwork making farm signs. Miller transferred his drawings onto a steel inner frame in his farm shop, rolled sheet metal over it, welded the skin in place and painted it. The body, the neck and head, and the pipe legs were built as separate sections and hauled to Steele on a lowboy trailer, then assembled and dedicated in 1999. The finished bird weighs about four and a half tons. The subject was not chosen at random. The pothole country of the Missouri Coteau around Steele lies on a sandhill crane migration route, and in spring and autumn the real birds pass over in numbers, with a call that carries for miles. The statue was paid for by the World's Largest Sandhill Crane Foundation, a local non-profit funded by donations and charitable gaming, and first stood at the Lone Steer Motel complex. The motel is gone and a Cobblestone Inn occupies the site, but Sandy remains, visible from the interstate at exit 200.
Getting there
46.8617, -99.9131
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
