Indian Roping off the Tracks

Indian Roping off the Tracks by Sarah Thorp Heald in 1936. Crow Wing County Courthouse. Oil on Canvas. 

This painting nearly has sound coming from it. The train whistle blows. The train engine churns. It is 1871 and the Minnetonka Train is coming to Crow Wing. It will be the first of many trains in the area, with the help of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The painting shows a group of Ojibwe protesters standing in front of the train. They hold a rope in front of the engine. The rope will surely snap and be ineffective, but the message is very clear: the trains, stations, and hordes of European Immigrants are not welcome on Ojibwe land. Ultimately the Ojibwe people's attempts at stopping the train failed. The Northern Pacific Railroad set up one of its largest tie treatment plants in Brainerd, Minnesota. The area around this plant was heavily polluted and today, a Superfund site exists there. 

US EPA, OSRTI. “BURLINGTON NORTHERN (BRAINERD/BAXTER PLANT) Site Profile.” Overviews and Factsheets. Accessed August 7, 2024. https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/CurSites/srchsites.cfm.