End of the Trail (Fraser)

The End of the Trail is a sculpture by James Earle Fraser. Fraser created the original version of the work in 1894, and he subsequently produced numerous replicas in both plaster and bronze. The sculpture depicts a weary Native American man, wearing only the remains of a blanket and carrying a spear. He is hanging limp as his weary horse with swollen eyes comes to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The wind blowing the horse's tail suggests they have their backs to the wind.^[1] The man in the statue is based on Seneca Chief John Big Tree, and the horse was adapted from one in another work, In the Wind. The statue is a commentary on the damage Euro-American settlement inflicted upon Native Americans. The main figure embodies the suffering and exhaustion of people driven from their native lands.^[2]

Fraser felt a connection to Native American culture, which influenced the creation of the End of the Trail. The sculpture gained national popularity after being presented at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition. The 1915 version of the statue is now in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum. The work has been criticized for the manner in which it depicts Native Americans as a dying race. However, Fraser intended for the work to be a critique of the United States government.^[3]