Submitted photo

From the Cook County Community Fund - November 8, 2021.

With the support of a grant from Cook County Community Fund, the Cook County Historical Society and Chik-Wauk Nature Center developed a wonderful new exhibit and educational activity about the 1854 Treaty.  The large map shown in the photo is an artistic depiction of most of the 1854 Treaty area from Grand Portage to Lac La Croix.  The photos are individual profiles of participants in a canoe trip which begins in Grand Portage and ends at Lac La Croix, then circles back to Grand Portage. Stops are made in the sugar bush, blueberry and fishing areas, wild rice and hunting grounds. The map is designed to lay on the floor or a long table. Jessy Carlson developed the activity, with the intent that the exhibit would be engaging for visitors of all ages, from young kids and their parents to older kids and even adults.  The exhibit was used regularly by the Chik-Wauk naturalist as a teaching tool, and was also designed so that parents could teach their kids on their own about the history shown on the map.  Sometimes kids would use the small model canoes to mark their journey across the Anishanaabe.

The map was on display at Chik-Wauk throughout the summer once the museum reopened to the public. This is one of several projects for Chik-Wauk developed to include an accurate history of area Anishinaabe.