Crew Tests Mixtures on Black Hawk Statue

OREGON, Ill. (AP) — A restoration team is testing different mixtures to fix cracks running through a 104-year-old statue of a Native American overlooking the Rock River in northern Illinois.

Sauk Valley Media reports that the effects of time and weather have damaged the 50-foot-tall tribute to Native Americans that sits atop a 125-foot bluff at Lowden State Park.

Workers mixed four varieties of cement and lime, and then injected them into cracks in the Black Hawk statue last week. A Chicago-based engineer working on the restoration project says the team will allow the mixtures to set and check back in about two weeks to see how they performed.

The team also removed calcium deposits and loose material for the statue's surface.

The Black Hawk statue is on the National Register of Historic Places.