The Lincoln Monument is a bust of Abraham Lincoln by Robert Russin The construction of Lincoln’s bust began more than a decade earlier and thousands of miles to the south of Sherman Hill and the Summit Rest Area. Russin decided when planning the sculpture that the wild temperatures swings of the Wyoming plains would not provide the stable environment that he needed to craft the Lincoln sculpture. Instead, he turned to Mexico City. Russin built the 4,500-pound bronze bust in Mexico during a period of 11 months using some 10 tons of clay in a lost-wax process of casting. The Wyoming Parks Commission dedicated the Lincoln Monument in 1959 to commemorate Lincoln’s 150th birthday. Originally the bust was located at the highest point on the Lincoln highway from New York to San Francisco. “The grandeur of the landscape recalls the nobility of his soul,” Russin wrote referencing President Abraham Lincoln. The bust was transferred to its present beside of interstate 80, after that highway was finished in 1969. An estimated 200,000 travelers view the monumental sculpture annually