"A bronze figure of a Battalion man is mounted upon the front corner. Flanking him on two sides of the triangle are cut in high relief, on the left, the scene of the enlistment of the Battalion under the flag of the United States of America; on the right a scene of the march where the men are assisting in pulling the wagons of their train up and over a precipitous ascent while still others are ahead widening a cut to permit the passage of the wagons between the out-jutting rocks. "The background is a representation of mountains of the character through which the Battalion and its train passed on the journey to the Pacific. "Just below the peak in the center and in front of it is chiseled a beautiful head and upper part of a woman, symbolizing the 'Spirit of the West.' She personifies the impulsive power and motive force that sustained these Battalion men and led them, as a vanguard of civilization, across the trackless plains and through the difficult defiles and passes of the mountains. "The idea of the sculptor in the 'Spirit of the West' is a magnificent conception and should dominate the whole monument. "The bronze figure of the battalion man is dignified, strong and reverential. He excellently typifies that band of pioneer soldiers which broke away through the rugged mountains and over trackless wastes. "Hovering over and above him the beautiful female figure, with an air of solicitous care, guards him in his reverie. Her face stands out in full relief: the hair and diaphanous drapery waft back mingling with the clouds while the figure fades into dim outline in the massive peaks and mountains, seeming to pervade the air and the soil with her very soul. "'The Spirit of the West' is but one of the many attributes of Deity symbolizing that Infinite Love and care which the Deity has for all his children and it represents the hope, courage, and determination which moved and impelled the Battalion Man, his comrades and all the others who have followed in their footsteps in the settlement and development of the great west. "It is the Spirit back of the breaking of the soil by the farmer, back of the institution of our schools, back of our mines, back of our government and of our very hearthsides. It permeates the air, the soil and the hearts of men. It tempers the character of all who come within the influence of the boundless plains and majestic peaks. It has led men to make a garden of a desert and a treasure house of the mountain. It has justified and approved every sacrifice to make this part of the world a better place in which to live. It is constant, never ending--infinite. "It is pleasant to contemplate these thoughts as expressed in the model, at this time when the world is all but overcome with the idea of individualism, and while new governments, shifting as the sands, conceived in greed, envy and malice daily are born, struggle and die.