The making of 'The Miner'

COEUR d’ALENE — When artist Terry Lee pulled the cover away to reveal "The Miner" on Monday, the delighted crowd cheered and clapped.

Tiia Brown, seated in the front row with family, was perhaps the most pleased.

“I was astounded,” she said. “I think it’s fantastic Hecla would do such a thing. I’m just very thankful for what they did.”

Tiia Brown is the widow of the late Art Brown, who died earlier this year at the age of 81. The bronze statue commissioned by Hecla Mining for $50,000 was dedicated to Brown, the company’s president and CEO from 1987 to 2003, and “to the men and women who created Idaho's world-renowned Silver Valley and continue to provide the minerals essential to our lives.”

About 100 people attended the 20-minute dedication ceremony near McEuen Park on a 90-degree afternoon.

It joins Lee’s other works that stand tall at Sixth and Front, “American Worker,” “Idaho Farmer,” “Idaho Lumberjack” and “The Suffragist” installed in August 2020.

The Miner is joined by an ore cart that weighs 600 pounds and was welded in place on railroad tracks.

Laura Taylor, Brown’s daughter, called it a “spectacular image.”

She said the statue, which stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 325 pounds, was “a great tribute to our father and what he has done for this community and what Hecla continues to do for this community.”

Coeur d'Alene Mayor Jim Hammond had high praise for Hecla, which was formed in 1891, is headquartered in Coeur d’Alene and is Idaho’s oldest publicly traded company.

He said over the past five years the company has contributed more than $800 million to North Idaho’s economy in wages, benefits and taxes, and has supported education, youth, health and infrastructure.

Hammond said Brown was a force of nature who believed strongly in the value of mining and the importance of miners.

“He was a leader in mining innovation, worker safety and understood the importance of connecting with the local community,” Hammond said.

Phillips S. Baker Jr., Hecla’s president and CEO, said the statue was a modern miner, not a historic miner.

"Because while we're commemorating the history, for us in the mining industry, we're really looking forward," he said. "And the need for the products that we make are the most that it's ever been."

He said Art Brown was constantly looking to the future.

“He was a great example to all of us, and it's a really great example for the city of Coeur d'Alene to be looking forward, looking at how we can make this a better community for all of us," Baker said.

Lee, who grew up here, said The Miner joins his other statues as a testament to the area’s history.

He said at one time, there were five working lumber mills in Coeur d'Alene. The farming industry was once substantial in North Idaho, and mining industry had a major role in the Silver Valley.

But newcomers, Lee said, don't know that.

Lee said he and family members once operated a sporting goods store in Coeur d'Alene and miners were among their best customers.

“They made a lot of money and they spent it,” he said, laughing.

But money was not Lee's driving force behind the making of The Miner.

“What I've tried to develop here is a history walk. This is a history of Coeur d'Alene,” Lee said, his voice cracking with emotion. "Thank you."