Thursday,  May 24, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 315 • 23 of 35 •  Other Editions

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spent three years creating the 25-ton monstrosity out of railroad tie plates, dubbing it the "World's Largest Bull's Head" on a nearby billboard.
• "If anyone builds one bigger, I'll know about it," Porter said. "And if they did, they're crazy. I'm not going to argue with them."
• The sheer size of the piece is amazing, and to weld it with such defined form and scale is even more impressive, said Kelly Ludwig, a Kansas City-based graphic designer who lists the park on the iPhone app she created called "Best Road Trip Ever!"
• "It is amazingly impres

sive on its scale," Ludwig said.
• Porter was born in 1959 in St. Lawrence, S.D., and learned to weld in his father's blacksmith shop. He created his first piece of art, a bronze metal horse, at the age of 12. After earning degrees in political science and history from South Dakota State University, he returned to the town of less than 200 to become a sheep rancher and help Dad in the shop.
• Porter passed the nighttime hours by creating sculptures, many of which found display spots around town. An oversized pink metal rocking horse was a favorite of tipsy residents exiting the local bars.
• "Two o'clock in the morning, people would just have a ball on it," he said.
• At some point, buses started arriving with people wanting to pay to view Porter's creations.
• "I said, no, no, it's right on Main Street. You don't have to pay me," he recalled. "They said we're paying you."

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