The main female figure may depict Esther Short, one of the first U.S. citizens to arrive in Fort Vancouver.

Commissioned by Vancouver banker Edward Crawford and his wife Ida for $10,000, it is one of the city's oldest works of public art, acquired in 1928 and unveiled in 1929.

[6] Some sources say the memorial sculpture commemorates Esther Short specifically, while also "[typifying] all the brave mothers of the frontier" who settled in the Pacific Northwest.

Its reverse side includes a bronze medallion with a bas-relief depicting a team of oxen pulling a covered wagon.

The medallion has two inscriptions: one below the wagon displays a copyright symbol and reads, 1928 Avard Fairbanks, while another says, THE / PIONEER / MOTHERS.

On the concrete backdrop below the medallion is the signed inscription: ERECTED IN MEMORY OF / THE PIONEER MOTHERS / THROUGH THE GIFT OF / MR. & MRS. E. G. CRAWFORD / 1928.

[1][10] The artist was commissioned to create the memorial by Vancouver banker Edward Crawford and his wife Ida, who donated $10,000 to its creation.