After considerable discussion the Commercial Club decided, upon a suggestion made by J.A.  Mac Knight, to build a colossal statue of Vulcan, god of fire and metals, in iron.  F.M.  Jackson, president of the club, and J.B.  Gibson, secretary, took a deep interest in the matter, and as a result the work was commenced in October, 1903.  Great difficulty was met with in securing the services of a competent sculptor who was willing to build the model for such a statue, which was to be of a height of at least 50 feet.  Mr. Mac Knight was appointed special representative of the club to promote this work and finally secured the services of Mr. G. Moretti, a sculptor residing in New York, who undertook to perform the task and to complete it in time for the exposition.

The model of this colossal statue of Vulcan was first built in clay at Passaic, N.J., where Mr. Moretti carried on the work under adverse circumstances and through the zero weather of the winter of 1903-4.  It was then cast in plaster of Paris in sections, which were braced and stayed with scantling on the inside of the shell, to be used as patterns in the foundry.  The entire model was shipped to Birmingham, Ala., on seven flat cars, its bulk rendering it impossible to put it in box cars.  As soon as it reached Birmingham the work of casting the figure in iron was begun in the foundry of the Birmingham Steel and Iron Company.

Mr. Moretti went to Birmingham to keep the patterns in condition during the process of casting, and it was well that he did so, because the extreme cold had frozen the plaster casts before they were dry, rendering them so brittle that many of them were broken in handling, and the head itself was crumbled into a hundred pieces and had to be entirely remodeled.

Iron manufacturers from all parts of the world have said in regard to this statue that it was the most remarkable piece of iron casting they had ever seen.  An agent of the Japanese Government was present at Passaic to watch the building of the model, and followed the work to Birmingham to make notes on the methods of casting it in iron.  He also went to St. Louis and remained during its erection in the Mines Palace, and made an extended report to his Government on the subject.

The statue was successfully completed and set up in the exposition within three weeks after the day of opening.  At the close of the exposition it was taken down and removed to Birmingham, where it is to be set up in a public park.  Its height is 56 feet, and its weight a little more than 60 tons.  The head was cast in one piece and weighed over 17,000 pounds.  There were 20 casts in all, including the anvil and anvil block.  The statue, which was intended to show forth the colossal iron deposits of Alabama, representing primitive man at the time he discovered the method of hardening iron into steel.  Vulcan held aloft in his right hand the finished spearhead as a result of his knowledge and handicraft.  It is the largest cast statue in the world, and it could not be duplicated for less than $40,000.