On April 2nd, Jim Pepper Henry, Pauline Sharp, Dave Loewenstein, and Barb Stanbrough met at Allegawaho Park to begin imagining where In ́zhúje ́waxóbe’s next home might be. It was warm and windy with a smoke-tinged sky from the prairie burns just over the horizon. We walked through the forest along Little John Creek where the underbrush was just beginning to green up. Jim said one of his ideas was to set In ́zhúje ́waxóbe near the creek, since the rock had come from water. He wondered about how often the creek basin floods. We asked Barb, the Park Caretaker. She said, just about every year.
Jim Pepper Henry, Pauline Sharp and Barb Stanbrough at Allegawaho Park
Along the trail we were met by a group of visitors. They had come from all over and had heard that some representatives from Kaw Nation might be there. Jim and Pauline said, that’s us! They had lots of questions. Jim and Pauline were patient and answered them all. Walking up out of the creek basin, we stopped at the mosaic interpretive marker embedded with the names of the Kaw Clans, and then headed east through the dry prairie and up the hill. At the top, we drove along the ridge, Pauline and Barb in the truck, Jim and Dave sitting on the tailgate. We stopped to take photos and imagine. Pauline said that Curtis Kekahbah had mentioned the rock possibly going to the north of the 1925 monument to the “Unknown Kanza Warrior.”
The next morning in Lawrence, we met up with Prof. Jay Johnson, Casey Messick-Braun (Spencer Museum Curator of Global Indigenous Art), Toni Wheeler (City Attorney), and Andreas Möller and Tony Walton (KU geologists) at Robinson Park to make a further assessment of the In ́zhúje ́waxóbe’s condition and consider possible ways of moving it to Allegawaho Park. Another warm windy spring day. Andreas and Tony described the formation of the rock, reminding us that the story of its creation and journey are elemental and epic. As the group wondered about those folks who did the work of dislodging, moving and re-situating In ́zhúje ́waxóbe, there was discussion about its orientation and how much of it might be hidden by the base it was set into.
Keith Middlemas, Jim Pepper Henry and Andreas Möller at Robinson Park
Stone mason Keith Middlemas arrived and had lots of ideas about how the rock might have been set initially and how we might go about moving it. He’d never worked with a rock quite this large but was able to diagram how it could be moved. There was discussion about possible harm coming to the rock from removing the plaque. Keith thought that was unlikely due to the relative hardness of the rock compared to the concrete holding the plaque to it. Jim suggested that if it is decided that the rock is too fragile to be moved without damaging it, it could be reinterpreted where it is.
In order to better understand the shape of the rock underneath its base and how it was mounted, folks recommended using both Lidar and GPR. It was also suggested that to stabilize In ́zhúje ́waxóbe and then excavate a portion of the base to see how it was anchored. Jim added that it would be good to carefully document with photos and video (including drone footage) In ́zhúje ́waxóbe in its current context. Ongoing research includes continuing to look for documents and photos at the Spencer Research Library, Santa Fe Railroad, and City archives. And soon, we will be organizing a park clean-up day with the help of the City.