The End of the Trail

**********************

The End of the Trail

**********************

The End of the Trail Dated 1918,

Artist was James Earle Fraser

American, 1876–1953,

A best-known sculpture,

Symbolises the genocide of

Native American peoples 

Amid relentless westward expansion,

A sculpture by James Earle Fraser 

Located in Waupun, Wisconsin, United States. 

It depicts that

A weary Native American man 

Hanging limp 

As his weary horse comes 

To the edge of the Pacific Ocean

And, the statue is 

A commentary,

On the damage that

Euro-American settlement 

Inflicted upon Native Americans. 

The main figure embodies 

The suffering and 

Exhaustion of 

People driven 

From their native lands

And

Lone figure on his weary horse,

One of the most recognized symbols 

Of the American West is 

A reverent memorial 

To a great and valiant people,

As a reminder of defeat and 

Subjugation a century ago. 

"End of the Trail" wasn't a painting, 

It was a sculpture,

The monumental, 

18' plaster sculpture,

Created for San Francisco's 

1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition and 

Received the exposition's Gold Medal 

For sculpture and

The image was widely 

Reproduced in postcard, 

Print, curio and miniature form.

The first The End Of The Trail sculpture 

Of only 18 inches tall and

No body knows,

Where the 18 inch sculpture is. 

Which had been handed down 

From his grand father to a museum.

James Earle Fraser,

Who designed it,

Hoped his masterpiece 

Would be cast in bronze 

And placed on Presidio Point 

Overlooking San Francisco Bay,

The restrictions during 

The First World War made 

The hope impossible,

And in 1920, the city of Visalia, California, 

Obtained the discarded statue 

And placed it in Mooney Park, 

Where it remained, 

In a gradually deteriorating condition, 

For 48 years

And in 1968, 

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum acquired the original plaster statue, Restored it to its original magnificence, 

And made it a focal point of the museum.

When James Earle Fraser,

Completed his model of the End of the Trail, American civilization 

Stretched from shore to shore 

And most Euro-Americans 

Believed the frontier period was over 

And that such progress was inevitable. 

Many viewed Native Americans,

As part of the past, 

A vanishing race 

With no place in the twentieth century. 

Popular literature portrayed 

Indian people as "savages," 

Noble or otherwise,

But Fraser's The End of the Trail 

Reflects this legacy that

A nineteenth century Indian warrior 

Defeated and bound for oblivion -- 

Frozen in time.

The 15-year-old Fraser, 

Then a student at the 

School of the Art Institute, 

Produced the first version of 

The bronze sculpture,

In 1893, 

The year of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago,  

Reenforcing the 

Conception of

The so-called vanishing Indian, 

And, the work portrays 

An exhausted Sioux 

Drooping over his equally weary pony; 

Both rider and horse have reached 

The end of the trail.