Some of Don Trent's 17 historical Chinese scrolls, dating back to the 17th century, are shown at his home in Spring Valley, Wis. in a Wednesday Dec. 3, 2008 photo. The scrolls describe the history and tradition of Chinese ancestors, according to Trent.

Is Don Trent the biggest snake-oil salesman around or the next Tommy Bartlett?

Because if Trent accomplishes just a portion of what he's proposing — a mile-long replica of the Great Wall of China housing ancient art and hundreds of terra cotta warrior statues, plus a five-star hotel and a 10,000-seat outside theater — he'll have the biggest Wisconsin roadside attraction this side of the House on the Rock.

"The biggest problem is convincing people," Trent said.

No kidding. How else can you describe the unlikely story of a former minnow trapper who got into the world of art and antiquities collecting and now is running a race against cancer to build an Asian museum complex off Interstate 94 near rural Spring Valley?

Trent, 70, said that for about 20 years, he was in the live-bait business, trapping and selling fathead minnows in South Dakota and Minnesota. But he also was an artist who paid for college by drawing portraits. He said he had a minnow farm and an art gallery in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 1983 when he got involved with a pawnshop owner and a guy who had some old Asian scrolls for sale.

Trent ended up buying the scrolls, which he described as Buddhist Taoist works that are 270 to 450 years old.

"That's what put me on the back of this dragon," he said.

Over the next 25 years, Trent said, he researched the scrolls, made contacts with the Chinese art and antiquities community, set up art galleries in the Twin Cities and established a friendship with officials in the Chinese government and museum establishment. Which, he said, is how he began to acquire the terra cotta soldiers.

The terra cotta soldiers of Xi'an, China, are an army of an estimated 8,000 clay warriors dating from the third century B.C. They were buried in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Since being discovered in 1974, the massive tomb has become a major archaeological and tourism site.

Trent said he's acquired 37 soldiers. He said one is an original statue that was more than 60 percent intact when found. The others are replicas or reproductions that were restored or re-created from clay at the tomb site, Trent said.

Thanks to his scroll research, "I've got a Buddhist bible almost done," he said.

"I'm the only round eye in the world ever indoctrinated in the Xi'an fine arts research academy," he added.

Trent also has colorectal cancer, but between chemotherapy treatments, he's devoted his energy to starting a museum here based on his collections.

Trent said he considered sites in Minnesota and also looked at the idled greyhound track in Hudson as a potential location.

"We couldn't find anyone to back us. Nobody believed us," he said.

Trent continued to look eastward, eventually settling in Spring Valley, about an hour from the Twin Cities, where he lives in a former public school building he said an anonymous benefactor bought for him in 1999.

The scrolls, the soldiers, the clay horses, the crates of spears and swords and the bronze chariot he's collected are stored beneath the basketball hoop in the gymnasium of the former Gilman Elementary School.

"Everyone says why in the hell in Wisconsin," Trent said. "My answer has always been, why not?"

Trent said his dream is to build a mile-long reproduction of the Great Wall of China nearby, possibly using Chinese craftsmen for some of the work. The building would house an exhibit containing 500 terra cotta soldiers on loan from China.

Trent imagines a dramatic display of the statues with smoke machines and China-inspired electronic music by Vangelis.

"It will freak you out if you're not careful," he said.

Trent's son, Travis Trent, said the building should be visible from Interstate 94.

"All of a sudden, you see this huge great wall, and you think, 'Hey, maybe I should pull off.'"

"My estimate is I would draw about 2 million people a year at the site," Don Trent said.

Travis Trent said the Chinese government has offered to fund up to 30 percent of the project.

"The Chinese government are on board. They're ready to rock. They're ready to go," he said.

He said his father has set up a nonprofit foundation to organize the project and they're looking for grant money.

"Getting a foundation or a grant organization on board would make it a lot easier to be believable," Travis Trent said.

"If we had $300 million, we'd have one hell of a nice museum," Don Trent said.

Don Trent, however, admits that some people think it's all a fraud.

"They are skeptical that out here on I-94, we can actually put up a world-class museum," Travis Trent said.

Don Trent said others have accused him of being a communist for dealing with the Chinese government.

"I do have a lot of detractors," he said.

"This is all beyond the imagination of the people here," said Paul Seeling, owner, editor and publisher of the Spring Valley Sun-Elmwood Argus newspaper. "What in the world is a multimedia Chinese art collection doing in Spring Valley, Wisconsin, population 1,200?"

"There seems to be some bit of a prevailing rumor that what he has is not real. They sure look real to me," said Seeling, who admits he's not an authority on Chinese art.

"It is very unlikely. But I believe it to be authentic, 100 percent," said Penny Morris, an Ellsworth, Wis., resident who met Trent when she was chasing a hot air balloon that landed near Trent's school.

"He said, 'Have you ever heard of the terra cotta soldiers?' I had no idea what he was talking about," Morris said. "We were just dumbfounded."

"I've looked at them," said Tony Huppert, former president of the Spring Valley Chamber of Commerce. "Who am I to argue? It looks real. It amazes me."

And besides the statues in the gymnasium, there are these visitors from China who periodically show up at the school. Artist Xing Dong was staying with Trent recently as a sort of resident artist for the project.

"He had this big shot from the Chinese Olympics, and he was here. He was this big China dude," Huppert said. "This guy was actually here. He's got connections somewhere."

But can connections trump a lousy economy for new tourism projects?

Consider the experience of Susan Sampson, an artist from Black River Falls, Wis. She said she's been trying for more than 10 years to get her killer idea built: a 10-story building shaped like a beer stein with an elevator that goes up and down the handle.

Located off Interstate 94, the building would house high-quality retail stores, have an adjoining hotel and be the hot new tourism site for Wisconsin, according to Sampson.

"It's too nice for the Wisconsin Dells," she said.

But she's struggled to find funding for the $10 million to $15 million project.

The Trent family, however, say Sampson's languishing idea can't be compared to a great wall.

"Let's look at the two ideas," Travis Trent said. "One is a beer stein. The other is a world-class museum that has the complete backing of the Chinese government."