 The Peace Garden at Credit Island. |
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| Where the River Runs
East to West... Quad Cities Illinois and Iowa |
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The Peace Garden at Credit Island. |
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| Where the River Runs
East to West... Quad Cities Illinois and Iowa |
| Peace Garden/ Fire Circle Home Page |
PEACE GARDEN/ FIRE CIRCLE |
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| Campbell's Island East Moline, Illinois |
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| History of the Project | ||
| The
Artist |
The Artist: KUNHILD BLACKLOCK | |
| Directions to the Site |
On July 30, 1997, 27 people, most of them residents of Campbell's Island, met to begin planning this community built art project. The Peace Garden interprets the history of the local Native American history on Cambell's Island. |
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| Site Map |
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| From about 1750 until 1831, the Sauk and
Mesquakie Indians nations resided in this area. The Sauk capital city of Saukenak
was located about seven miles below this spot. Life for the two tribes during this time was good. The forests, rivers and rich soil of the area provided a good living. |
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| Directions to the Sites
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 A beaded suit. |
The concrete benches at the Peace Garden
are covered with tiled mosiacs representing the designs of Sauk and Mesquakie bead work,
ribbon appliques, woven bags, rugs and paintings on hides, created between 1830 and 1890. After the Black Hawk War of 1832, the United States officially combined the two tribes into a single group known as the Sac and Fox Confederacy. |
 A detail from one of the benches. |
The designing and completion of this
project involved over 60 people. |
 An Mesquakie beaded bandolier bag created
especially for John Hauberg. |
| Preston Duncan, spiritual leader of the Mesquakie Nation tells us that the turtle represent the earth and ground of the American continent and the turtle went down to the bottom of the sea to bring up soil. |  The turtle forms the base for the fire circle. |
The turtle dives to the bottom of the sea over and over, bringing up soil. Hiawatha watches him and times the length of his dives. They become shorter and shorter, until eventually there ground is above the water. That ground became the American continent. |
| Top of page | ||
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The sandblasted images on the concrete
platform come from 1850 animal images on woven bags. |
 One of the carved animal figures in the concrete pad. |
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The Sauk and Mesquakie lost all of their lands and were moved to a reservation in Northern Kansas in 1845. | |
| River Action www.riveraction.org | Quad City Arts www.qconline.com |
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copyright 1999 C. Bolkcom
