BRANDON — If you look up the word "inukshuk" on Google you will read that it is a structure of stones stacked in the form of a human figure used by Inuit people as a landmark or a commemorative sign.
On Wikipedia, you will read that inukshuks, which can also be spelled inuksuk, are most often found in northern Canada, Greenland and Alaska.
But you don’t have to travel that far to see one in real life. Just take a drive around Whiskey Lake near Brandon and you will spot one in the front yard at the home of Jim and Sharon Walters.
Retirees who moved to the area five years ago from Rochester, Jim and Sharon said they got the idea from their son, Jesse. Jim said Jesse lives in northern Minnesota and had made plans to build a 15-foot inukshuk on his 30-acre piece of land. Jesse told his dad that he should think about building a smaller one.
“The next thing you know, the seed was planted,” said Jim. “Sharon and I thought it sounded kind of cool.”
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Jim did a bit of research and found out that inukshuk means “in the likeness of a human” and that these sculptures of unworked stones are the oldest surviving man-made objects in the Arctic landscape.
The largest inukshuk, according to the Guinness World Records website, can be found in Schomberg, Ontario, Canada. It stands 37-feet, 3.9-inches tall and was created by Jose Melo of Allstone Quarry Products, Inc. on Sept. 13, 2007.
It is unknown what that one is used for, but many inukshuks are used for communication and way-finding or to mark a sacred place or to serve as a memorial for a loved one.
In the Walters' case, however, Jim said his rock formation points to “Ford’s dock,” a place on Whiskey Lake that he says is good for fishing.
According to Wikipedia , the inukshuk may have historically been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, marking of a food cache and, like the Walters’ case, fishing places.
At Inuksuk Point (Enukso Point) on Baffin Island in Canada, there are more than 100 inukshuk and according to Wikipedia, the site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1969.
Jim and Sharon’s inukshuk may not ever be designated as a National Historic Site, but they hope it at least brings joy, happiness and smiles to those who get to see it.
“It is something fun,” said Jim. “And we just think we need fun stories, to lighten things up a bit.” Sharon added that it makes for a good topic of conversation and hopefully brings smiles to people’s faces.
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The Walters’ inukshuk was built in about a week with the help of their neighbors, Joel Grams and Roy Smith, said Jim. He said the stones they used came from northern Minnesota, by where their son lives. It is the same type of rock, they said, that is used to make steel. Jesse texted Jim, telling him it was Virginia slate that came out of the PolyMet Mine near Virginia, Minnesota.
“It is very heavy, heavy rock,” said Jim. “Thank God the neighbor had a bigger tractor. Building it together was fun. Neighbors getting together, building this, it was just kind of cool.”
Plus, Sharon said, “It adds character to our yard.”
Are there plans to build another one in their yard? Not yet. And maybe not ever. But Jim did build one more. It stands less than a foot tall and it doesn't really point to anything. But it's cute and was made from the same stone as the larger one in his yard. If you ever get a chance to meet Jim, just ask him about his "baby shuk" and he would be more than happy to show it to you.
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