Jefferson County displays a great boulder-strewn canyon that sunlight can only penetrate at high noon. Mosses and ferns cling to the cliffs along Clifty Creek where Big Clifty Falls drops 60 feet in its run to the Ohio River. In 1846, the county benefited from a railroad which cut through limestone hills on a 1.3 mile incline, rising 311 ft. per mile, one of the steepest standard gauge railroads ever build in the U.S.

In this piece, placed against a backdrop of carved cascading water, a determined locomotive draws its coal car upwards, from the river below to the bluffs above. The vertical format of this sculpture reflects the steep grade of the Madison railroad incline, coupled with the sheer plunge of Clifty Creek’s waterfalls.

Designers Jeff Laramore and David Jemerson Young of 2nd Globe, an Indianapolis–based artistic company, designed all 92 of the county sculptures featured on the outside of the Indiana State Museum. Their designs narrate the counties’ famous natives, historically significant events, or their cultural heritage, and were fabricated and installed by various Indiana sculptors, carvers, glassworkers, metal workers, and other artisans.