End of the Trail (Fraser)

The work, which Fraser intended as a critique of the United States government, has been criticized for the manner in which it depicts Native Americans as a dying race.

Later he stated "the idea occurred to me of making an Indian which represented his race reaching the end of the trail, at the edge of the Pacific.

This large plaster version of the work was displayed on an eight-foot pedestal at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and was awarded the gold medal, garnering national attention.

[3] After the Panama–Pacific Exposition closed, plans to place a bronze version of the statue on the Pacific Palisades were halted due to scarce resources during World War I.

The Tulare County Forestry Board purchased and rescued the statue in 1919, transporting it to Mooney Grove Park in Visalia, California, where it was placed near other notable sculptures such as Pioneer by Solon Borglum.

The exchange was made, in part, because the statue was in poor condition with large surface cracks, and Tulare Country was unable to accumulate the funds to preserve it.

Enlarged photos of the Native American's head and other details of the artwork were created to ensure the statue was restored to its original appearance.

According to artist Leonard McMurry, who was responsible for the restoration, facial features like the chin and the upper chest were most difficult to recreate.

[3] Within a few years of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, Fraser capitalized on the notoriety of the sculpture by selling small-scale bronze replicas of the work, which he produced in two different sizes.

[5] The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum used molds from the plaster statue to create a bronze version to give to the city of Visalia.

[7] The Panama-Pacific International Exposition catalog said the End of the Trail was "a reminiscence of early American history and its traditions of courage and endurance, and the pathos of the Indians's decline.

Some have seen it as a statement that Native Americans were destined to die out as part of the progress of America, and others have seen it as an indictment of the government destroying an entire culture.