Record-breaking bison shown on Jamestown, N.D., cancel

Postmark Pursuit by Molly Goad

After perusing all of the postmarks available for this week's column, once again I was intrigued by an enormous beast. The Postmark Pursuit column in the Sept. 23 Linn’s looked at a collection of Tyrannosaurus rex postmarks, but this week, it’s a cement creature that caught my eye.

On the Jamestown, N.D., postmark shown here, the world’s largest buffalo monument takes center stage.

Known as Dakota Thunder, the attraction was created in 1959 by sculptor and local art teacher Elmer Petersen.

According to the Jamestown Tourism website, “prominent billboard man” Harold Newman hired Petersen for the job. Newman’s endgame was “to create something so big and magnificent that passersby would have to stop in the city.”

Just how big is the world’s largest buffalo monument? Dakota Thunder is an impressive 26 feet tall, 46 feet long, and weighs 60 tons, according to Jamestown Tourism.

The year 2019 marks six decades of its towering presence over Jamestown’s Frontier Village, an area of 25 original buildings from the villages of North Dakota filled with antiques and artifacts.

To obtain the postmark, address your request to:

JAMESTOWN Station, Postmaster, 212 Second St. SW, Jamestown, ND 58401-9998, Aug. 31.

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