Members of the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin are retracing a 70-mile journey their ancestors were forced to make in the winter of 1852.

Nearly 2,400 Menominees started the walk in November of that year. Only 1,600 made it to the present-day home of the reservation.

"The government made a decision. They waited until the first hard freeze and said, 'You've got to go now,'" Richie Plass told The Northwestern. "Our ancestors had no say in it and it was the worst time of the year. They had to walk in ice and snow."

Plass named the walk for Chief Powekonnay, who led the 1852 journey.

Get the Story:
Walk commemorates Menominee's departure from tribal lands (The Northwestern 6/3)