Smithsonian museum to exhibit post from pipeline protest

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., is adding some history from the protests in North Dakota against the Dakota Access pipeline.

The museum is adding a nearly 12-foot-tall mile-marker post created by activists to its exhibit on treaties called "Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations."

Museum Director Kevin Gover says treaties were at the heart of the protest, which maintained the $3.8 billion pipeline to move North Dakota oil to Illinois violated Native rights.

The protest camp at times held thousands of people. Between August 2016 and February 2017 there were 761 arrests.

The post was constructed by protesters to show how far they had traveled. It goes on public display Tuesday and will remain on exhibit through 2021.