Indian Sugar Camp

Seth Eastman · 1849–55

Seth Eastman may have observed this scene on Nicollet Island, in present-day Minneapolis, which was covered in maple trees and home to several sugar camps. He depicts the hard work required to transform maple sap into sugar: chopping, pouring, hauling, stirring. There was also tasting -- including by a naked baby! A detail at left shows sap dripping into a container, the first step before it heads to the kettles for boiling into syrup. This is evidently the first time this activity was recorded by a non-Native person. This watercolor, one of 35 works on paper by Eastman in Mia’s collection, was the basis for an illustration in Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s massive Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851-57).