Spring Valley Garden Club Restores Historic Statue

The sentiment of “It takes a village” is evidence of the power of community and shared effort as the Spring Valley Garden Club stepped forward with the idea to restore the Indigenous chief statue created by Halvor Landsverk, which once stood at Mystery Cave.

Spearheading this project, Caroline Groten, of Spring Valley, stated, “I thought it was an honor that Spring Valley had such a treasured piece of art welcoming visitors to our town and wanted to enhance this treasure.”

The artist who created this impressive piece – Halvor Landsverk, son of Tarkjel Landsverk, was not only a sculptor, painter, woodcarver, who worked at a Winona plastic company for several years, but also farmed with his wife Pernella in the Highland Prairie area of Fillmore County.  Halvor learned his woodcarving skill by watching his father, who encouraged his son to go ahead and try this art form, promising to fix any mistakes made. Years later, Norwegian “log stools” called kubbestols, were an impressive display of his talent and Halvor received international fame for his work. A video (produced by the University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Extension) is a PBS first-person narrative well worth 30 minutes of viewing Halvor Landsverk, woodcarver youtu.be/pSk1oPpmZMQ?si=ylYN9a7x-_7a__Di.

Halvor and Pernalla’s daughters, Karen Landsverk Bakken and Arlene Landsverk Johnson, of Rushford, share memories of the 12-foot approximately 6,000-pound statue.

“The Indian chief was made in the late 1930s on the farm in the backyard of our house. He was made from concrete and iron rods along with tin being used for the feathers and fringes.”

Karen remembers playing around his feet at age 4 and being told to be careful of the very sharp fringes on his legs.  Karen was 5 years old and Arlene was 1 year old when he was sold to Mystery Cave in 1953. 

The Indian was dedicated at Mystery Cave by the Native Americans with a Pow Wow program in full Indian attire. The Indian chief was given a name at that time, but the sisters don’t recall exactly what that was. Halvor spoke this Indian name very often.

Spring Valley Garden President, Ann (Lemke) Ihrke stated, “This started as a cleanup and replanting of the landscaping around the Native American statue. Concern about the condition of the statue led to this beautiful restoration and it shows how even a small group of citizens can make a difference and connect us to another community in our county.”

Accepting the challenge of researching this statue, Caroline Groten spent hours delving into the Landsverk family history and the amazing journey Halvor’s sculpture had taken.

“Very few of us really knew much about the statue. As a little girl when my family visited Mystery Cave, I remember it  standing in a place of prominence in front of the log cabin,”  said Deb Dahl, who worked on the flower bed and laid the limestone edging. “Caroline did so much researching and teaching us what she learned as to make this history of our area come alive.  It was nice to work as a group on the rebuilding and replanting at the feet of this piece of art which connects all of Fillmore County.”

The restoration process needed to be done in stages, removing plants and wooden planks, trimming branches, remolding the fingers, remaking the peace pipe, and figuring out correct colors and patterns. 

“Jon Westphal masterfully repaired the broken fingers and recreated the pipe and Andrea Hindt diligently painted the intricate details including special touches on the moccasins to bring this statue to life. We are so grateful for all their careful attention to detail,” commented Caroline. “Actually, we appreciate the contributions made both materially and financially from many in the community. Private donations and grants from the Osterud-Winter Foundation and a Thrivent Action CommunityTeam provided most of the money the Garden Club needed to complete this project.”

Flora planted at the base are all native Minnesota plants: White Butterfly Weed, Blue Stem Grass, Baptista, Yellow Butterfly Weed, Orange Butterfly Weed, Black-eyed Susan, Purple Aster, and Coneflower.  The addition of the Minnesota State Flower was donated as were all the limestone pieces used around the border.

Brenda Haack, who has been with the Spring Valley Garden Club for three years mentioned, “I felt honored to be able to help with this project, bringing to light the amazing talent of Halvor Landsverk. I remember seeing this as a child back in the ‘60s at Mystery Cave. Now it’s back to its original glory!”

A special presentation highlighting the artistry of Halvor Landsverk, given by the garden club and attended by his daughters Karen and Arlene, is being planned for 2 p.m. October 25 at First English Lutheran Church (just west of the statue), hosted by the Spring Valley Garden Club.

The Spring Valley Garden Club meets the second Tuesday of each month, March through November at 7 pm., usually at the public library meeting room but will sometimes gather at a member’s home. For more information contact current officers: president – Ann Ihrke, secretary – Tami Edgar, treasurer – Deb Dahl or visit the club’s website springvalleygardenclub.weebly.com where updates are posted.

Caroline concluded, “It was an honor to learn about another amazing Fillmore County resident, connect with his family, and work together with so many in this community to make ‘THE’ statue ‘OUR’ statue as a symbol of welcome to our town.”