CASSEL, Calif. — There’s only one place in Northern California where you will find a flying pig, a giant inchworm and a big blue dinosaur all hanging out together. That place is Packway Materials Inc. just off Highway 299 in Cassel.
The odd creatures are part of a scrap metal art installation made by Richard Hathaway and his brother William. The creative process is pretty simple.
“There is no sketch or anything like that. We just start putting them together,” said Richard.
Packway sells and delivers rock and aggregate, so there is a lot of old equipment and old metal and parts lying around. Instead of trashing them, Richard asked his brother William to help put them to use.
“I called my brother and said 'I want to build a dinosaur will you help me?' And he said sure,” said Richard.
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The brothers completed the scrap art dinosaur in 1998. It eventually became the company mascot, but it looked a little lonely and there was still a lot of scrap metal left over. So, that next year, the brothers built the dinosaur a friend.
“Kind of became a tradition between us,” said Richard.
Every year the brothers get together and argue over what to build next and every year they outdo themselves by making the sculptures bigger and bigger. Eventually, Richard ran out of scrap metal at his business so he started asking other businesses for theirs.
“We got stuff like an old ready-mix mixer truck and the center is an old logging water truck,” said Richard.
There is no admission to look at the sculptures and Richard, who is now in is 80s, says there never will be. He’s even got his grandkids involved in the building process, so the junk art tradition will continue.
“I’ll keep doing this 'til I die,” said Richard.
MORE METAL MONSTERS FROM THE BACKROADS: The story of why metal monsters roam the sands of one California desert.
