W'eel Turtle

Dunseith, North Dakota, United States

Roadside giants

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North Dakota Tourism describes the W'eel Turtle as a giant turtle statue made of more than 2,000 tire rims, at 412 Main St. S. in Dunseith, North Dakota. Roadside America and Wikipedia call it the world's largest turtle sculpture. North Dakota Tourism lists it under family fun, with parking beside the Log House visitors center, which sells local crafts and gifts.

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W'eel Turtle

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 48.8078° N, 100.0620° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

North Dakota Tourism lists a giant turtle made of more than 2,000 tire rims at 412 Main St. S. in Dunseith, a town just south of the Turtle Mountain plateau.

Roadside America's undated story, built from an owner interview, supplies the history. A local truck-stop owner who had accumulated thousands of tire rims from junked cars was inspired by a scaled-down Space Needle made of steel rims that he saw at the Century 21 Fair in Seattle (the 1962 World's Fair). In 1982, the town's centennial, he decided to build the turtle next to his truck stop, honoring the nearby Turtle Mountains. He enlisted an employee, a welder, and the two studied a local alabaster turtle as a model.

The rim stacks grew over several weeks, always sorted by size so each layer was horizontal, and the builders paused partway to build a framework inside to support the weight. The finished turtle was over 40 feet long and 18 feet high, with about 2,140 rims by the owner's recollection. The head and neck originally bobbed up and down every 30 seconds, driven by a combine-harvester motor. Because the owner feared a child might be tempted to crawl into the gap the movement opened, the neck was welded permanently upright.

Roadside America's story says the Dunseith Community Betterment Club maintained the turtle, repainting it every few years with local casino revenue. Wikipedia and Roadside America call it the world's largest turtle sculpture, a superlative that is theirs rather than an independently checked record.

North Dakota Tourism lists it as open year round and family-friendly, with parking beside the Log House visitors center, which sells local crafts and gifts.

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