Salem Sue
A fiberglass Holstein on a hill above Interstate 94, built in 1974 for $40,000 raised from local farmers. She had to be assembled in three sections to get her up the hill.
Field Guide Entry
Paid for by subscription
The New Salem Lions Club raised $40,000 in donations from farmers and residents to put a cow on the hill above town, as an advertisement for a dairy district and a reason for drivers on I-94 to take the exit. She was dedicated on October 19, 1974.
The sculptor was Dave Oswald, who also built the world's largest catfish at Wahpeton. Salem Sue is fiberglass over a steel frame, 38 feet high and 50 feet long, and weighs about 12,000 pounds. She was built in three sections because there was no way to get her up the hill in one.
Still doing the job
She is visible for a long way in both directions across open prairie, which was the entire design brief, and she has been the town's identifying object for fifty years.
Visiting Information
Free, and reached by a short paved road up the hill from I-94 exit 127 at New Salem, west of Bismarck. There is a parking area at the top, a donation box, and nothing else.
The hill is exposed and the wind on it is serious in any season, which surprises people who have only seen her from the interstate. The view back across the prairie is better than the cow, and both are best in the hour before sunset.
The town keeps her painted and the donation box pays for it, so it is the rare roadside stop where dropping a few dollars in has a direct and visible result.
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