Ornament, Used on a Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw Railroad Company Locomotive, circa 1870

This weathervane-like ornament adorned a Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw Railroad locomotive in the late 1800s. The pronounced physical features, feathered headdress, and loincloth reflect the negative, stereotyped view many European-Americans held toward Native Americans. The ornament's use -- atop a locomotive -- also reinforced European-Americans' belief in the progress of what they considered their own "civilized" society over their perception of "savage" indigenous peoples.