Entry No. 5 — the Sacramento file — filed under: folk-art environment
Ken Fox's Great Statues of Auburn
A small-town dentist named Ken Fox (1925–2020) spent nights from the late 1960s on pouring concrete over rebar in the lot behind his own dental practice, eventually raising a 42-foot, 120-ton nude "Amazon archer" and a chained male nude ('Chains of Bondage') — allegorical mythological figures still looming over Auburn Ravine Road. Two of his high-school-age sons helped mix the concrete by hand.
The story
If you were a patient of Auburn dentist Dr. Kenneth Fox between the late 1960s and 1980s, your routine filling came with an unusual backdrop out the back window. Fox (1925–2020) was a self-taught sculptor who spent his off-hours welding structural rebar and pouring ton after ton of concrete into colossal shapes in the lot behind his practice at 391 Auburn Ravine Road. To hit the absurd scale he envisioned, he recruited his high-school-age sons to mix the concrete by hand after class, gradually raising a private pantheon of Cold War-era giants in the foothill brush.
These aren't lightweight roadside props—they are dense, brutalist monoliths weighing up to 120 tons. His private yard yielded allegorical behemoths like a 42-foot nude Amazon archer and a bound male figure titled *Chains of Bondage*. While the nudes remained sequestered behind his office, the town eventually co-opted his concrete obsession: in 1975, Fox constructed the 45-ton monument of gold-discoverer Claude Chana for Auburn's centennial, and in 1989, his 22-foot, 35-ton laborer-with-wheelbarrow statue was relocated downtown.
What it's like
Pulling up behind the former dental practice on Auburn Ravine Road feels like finding an abandoned set of classical mythology built at industrial scale. There are no tour guides, gatekeepers, or entry fees—just a cluster of massive concrete figures looming over the tree line in an open lot. You'll view the private allegories from the lot perimeter, so plan for a quick self-guided walk before taking the two-minute drive down to Lincoln Way near the Gold Rush Museum to stand beneath the giant Claude Chana and wheelbarrow laborer monuments.
The move: Wander the open-air lot of Cold-War-era concrete giants (some 30-42 ft tall, weighing up to 120 tons) behind Fox's old dental office, then drive a few minutes to the Gold Rush Museum on Lincoln Way to find the 22-foot, 35-ton laborer-with-wheelbarrow statue Fox relocated there in 1989, plus the 45-ton Claude Chana gold-miner statue he built for the town's Gold Rush centennial in 1975.
- 📍 Auburn (Placer County foothills)
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 391 Auburn Ravine Road, Auburn, CA 95603
Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Griffith Quarry Museum — Pair Fox's hand-mixed concrete monoliths with a visit to this 1864 stone office in Penryn to see how 19th-century quarrymen worked actual granite.
- Alabama Mine — Match the local heavy-industry aesthetic by exploring the surface ruins of an 1850s foothill gold and silver lode mine down the road.
- Coloma Jail Ruins — Complement Fox's 45-ton Claude Chana gold miner statue with a stop at real Gold Rush history in Placerville's 1856 stone jail ruins.
Good to know
Where are the statues located?
They are split across two primary sites in Auburn: the open lot behind Dr. Fox's old office at 391 Auburn Ravine Road, and near the Gold Rush Museum on Lincoln Way.
Do I need tickets or an appointment to see them?
No. All of the statues are outdoor fixtures visible from public access points and open spaces at any time.
How heavy are the largest statues?
The 42-foot nude Amazon archer behind the dental office weighs roughly 120 tons, while the Claude Chana gold miner on Lincoln Way comes in at 45 tons.
Who actually built these?
Dr. Kenneth Fox, a local dentist, designed and poured them himself over several decades with the help of his teenage sons mixing concrete by hand.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Roadside America · Atlas Obscura · spacesarchives.org · loc.gov
last checked: 2026-07-20