Many years ago, when Allan Houser was still a young man, he saw a crudely done sketch of an image of Sacred Rain Arrow that was executed by an older Chiricahua Apache. Mr. Houser thought the piece was beautiful and was fascinated by it, so much so that he remembers wanting to bring it to sculptural form. (in fact, he did a rendition of the image in watercolors, which he was working in at the time.)
The "older fellow" related to Allan the stories of the Sacred Rain Arrow as told by the elder Chiricahua Apaches. When it was very dry, as a plea for water during a drought, a young warrior would be sent to the medicine man so that he, and his arrows, could be blessed. The warrior, after being so blessed, would then go to the highest point near the Apache encampment and shoot his sacred arrows into the sky in order to produce rain to end the drought.