About W’eel Turtle
Dunseith’s giant turtle is not covered with scales. It is covered with holes.
W’eel Turtle was built from more than two thousand steel wheel rims welded together into the shape of an enormous turtle. The circular rims overlap across the body and shell, creating a skeletal metal lattice that looks surprisingly organic from a distance and wonderfully industrial up close.
The sculpture takes a familiar roadside formula and makes the construction material part of the attraction. A solid fiberglass turtle would simply be large. W’eel Turtle lets visitors see through the entire structure, turning thousands of discarded automotive circles into legs, a shell, a head, and a recognizable animal.
The sculpture stands along Main Street in Dunseith next to the local visitor center and is accessible as an outdoor roadside stop. North Dakota already has Tommy Turtle to the west, but W’eel Turtle earns its place separately. One is a turtle on a snowmobile. The other looks like a turtle assembled in a giant machine shop.