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A few centuries ago, a pair of bison in northwestern Minnesota took their last breaths in a peat bog. Their remains are now at the center of an exhibit marrying science and art in Detroit Lakes. It opens at the Becker County Historical Society and Museum on April 10 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

The organization’s executive director, Becky Mitchell, said after a man discovered the preserved bison remains on his property in Frazee a few years back he reached out to the state archeologist’s office to have them dated. 

“The state archeologist verified that they were several hundreds of years old,” she said. “The recommendation from that office was to donate the bones to a museum because of the fact that there was some cartilage intact due to the preservation qualities of a peat bog." 

About three years ago, the man donated the remains to the Becker County Museum. While the discovery wasn’t uncommon, the preserved cartilage was.  

“We knew that we had something that was unique to our county,” she recalled, after receiving the find. “I think we always knew we wanted to do something with them.” 

Not long after, museum leaders began planning an exhibit. Mitchell said they turned to community member and artist, Hans Gilsdorf. 

“The really interesting point is the peat bog, and just the preservation of that and how the peat bogs are always alive. Even when we don’t think they are,” Mitchell said. “There’s always life in them. And so that’s the direction that Hans wanted to go. And we said, ‘go for it.’” 

Gilsdorf has worked extensively with museums across the nation creating dioramas. And before that he brought Hollywood film sets to life for “Young Guns II,” and the first two original live action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movies. For this exhibit Gilsdorfg built a 360-degree display which people walk around to view.  

He said the front of the exhibit represents life today, complete with a tree stump, and native grasses harvested from the bog. Up top there’s a coyote hunting a lemming. The section below takes visitors back to the fateful day the bison sank in the bog. 

“Its head is up, as it’s going for air, as it’s slowly drowning,” he said. “Then the other bodies have maybe walked in with it, or fell in with it, and they both drowned together.”

The bottom level shows what life is like underneath the bog, which Gilsdorf said rises during seasons of high-water saturation. 

“Bony fish will then cruise underneath the peat bog. And that’s how sometimes fish appear in these little inlet rivers or ponds,” he said. “How do fish get here? Well, they’re cruising under the ground, which is amazing to me.”

The back and both sides of the exhibit highlight the anatomy of the bison with specific individual bones displayed behind glass. The museum’s program and event lead Layne Klier said one of the most impressive visuals on the back side is the coloring of a humerus bone. 

“The peat’s full of tannins. That’s why peat swamp water is always that brownish color. It’s from that decaying organic material,” she said. “If you look closely, you can see how there were roots and plant fibers wrapped around that bone, and that’s what gave it that almost tie-dye look.”

The former public school teacher said the exhibit stresses the importance of peatlands and why they need protection. 

“From a natural sense, peat bogs are super important for our environment as a whole, because they are a carbon sink,” Klier said. “Therefore, they absorb 30 percent of the world’s natural land-based carbon. So that is twice as much as what all of our forests do.”

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reports that peatlands cover about 10 percent of the state or roughly 7 million acres.  

“We need to preserve our peat lands because they are a huge factor in keeping our environment stable,” Klier said. “You don’t always know it when you just look out and see what looks like a field with tall grass, but it’s actually peatlands.”

She said peat bogs preserve organic material so well because they keep it wet and compact. And “it blocks oxygen from entering the inside of it.”  

“Just like how oxygen feeds a fire, oxygen also feeds the decomposition process,” Klier said. “Because oxygen is what allows bacteria and fungi and things like that to form.”

She added peat bogs also keep temperatures cool and stable by blocking light, which affects decomposition. 

Klier said even though these animals died hundreds of years ago they can still teach important lessons to people today. 

“History isn’t just ‘let’s go look at the cool old thing in the museum,’” she said. “Yes, we’re doing that, but look at how we can use history to teach you about your life right now.”

Mitchell said the exhibit will be on display in Detroit Lakes for the time being as part of its natural history collection. But its mobile design will allow it to be shared with other museums in the future.      

Mitchell points out that while large museums found in metropolitan areas usually get most of people’s attention, smaller county museums are more intimate. And their stories are unique because they typically showcase “the people of the region.” 

“I just encourage you to check out not only the Becker County Museum, but a local museum in your area,” she said. 

Mathew Holding Eagle III

Author

One day a few centuries ago, a couple bison met their end by drowning in a bog near Frazee. Their preserved bones are now the centerpieces of an exhibit at the Becker County Historical Society and Museum in Detroit Lakes. 

New exhibit chronicles final moments of ancient Minnesota bison in Detroit Lakes

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