The Ontonagon Boulder: bought from the Chippewa for $150, seized by the government, held by the Smithsonian (Ontonagon River, Michigan, 1841–1860; repatriation ruling…
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1841
SUMMARYThe Ontonagon Boulder: bought from the Chippewa for $150, seized by the government, held by the Smithsonian (Ontonagon River, Michigan, 1841–1860; repatriation ruling 2000) [Connections: Tech of the Americas, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDPer Wikipedia (citing Lankton 2010, Pepper 2005 and the Smithsonian Office of Repatriation 2000): Ojibwe guides led trader Alexander Henry to the boulder in 1766. Henry Schoolcraft (1820) reported "the rock was scarred by the chisels and axes of Native Americans." The 1826 Treaty of Fond du Lac opened Ojibwe lands to US mineral exploration, and the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe was a land cession on paper covering parts of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. Detroit merchant Julius Eldred bought the boulder "from local Chippewa for $150" in 1841, then paid miners holding a War Department permit $1,365 more. A 21-man crew hauled it up a 50-foot bluff. In 1847 the government took it and paid Eldred $5,644.93 for "his time and expense in purchasing and removing the mass of native copper." It went to the Smithsonian in 1860. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community asked for it back in 1991 as a sacred object (the community says it was used for offerings to Gitche Manitou). In 2000 the Smithsonian Repatriation Office ruled it "does not fit the definition of a sacred object under the repatriation law" and "the right of possession belongs with the Smithsonian Institution." Commonly cited weight: 3,708 lb (1,682 kg)
PATTERNA sacred copper mass, marked with Native tool scars, moves from Ojibwe hands to a merchant to the War Department to the national museum, and the federal museum decides the claim on its own definition
LENS (WW9)The copper people's altar is in a federal storeroom
OPENRead the 2000 Smithsonian repatriation report itself. The Wikipedia article says demands for return continue (Clarey 2025); check current status
SOURCEWikipedia, "Ontonagon Boulder". Primary: Smithsonian Office of Repatriation report (2000); 1826 Treaty of Fond du Lac; 1842 Treaty of La Pointe.