Saxman Totem Pole Park

 "Ketchikan has the word's largest collection of totem poles, found through the city and at four major locations, with Saxman Totem Pole park being one of them.

Most of the Totem Poles at Saxman are authentic replicas of original poles that were left in abandoned villages as Native Alaskans moved into more populated cities.

 The art of totem pole carving was a luxury that experienced its heyday in the mid-1700s to the late 1800s. The fur trade had provided the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples a newfound sense of wealth – and time to focus on the artistry of the totem. These poles were symbols of cultural and economic wealth that told glorious, comprehensive stories about the people and legends of the land. (There was so much symbolism and information represented on each pole, it was like the Google of that era!)

In the late 1800s, Tlingits from the old villages of Cape Fox and Tongass searched out the Saxman site as a place where they could build a school and a church. The site (just one square mile) was incorporated in 1929 and has a population of just over 400 today, mostly Native Alaskans."

 To get to the Totem Pole Park we had to ride a bus which drove us for approximately three miles south of downtown. Once at the park (mind you it was still raining) we walked to the locations of the Totem Poles.

And low and behold, the first Totem Pole I spot is........

Seriously, to come all the way from Illinois to Alaska and who should I see but Abe? 

Abe's everywhere apparently.😉

If you notice though, he is not as tall as he is supposed to be. The story has it that the carvers were not aware of Abe's height based on the one picture they had seen of him, hence poor Abe ended with really short, short legs. 

This particular Totem Pole is called the Proud Raven.

Photo assumed to have been used to carve the Proud Raven Totem Pole

Photo courtesy of Smarthistory

But what is more interesting to me, is the fact that I had seen that same pole or a very similar one before. 

The benefits of acquiring photography as a hobby is that you tend to have  photos of everything stashed somewhere, that somewhere being my hard drive.

Sure enough I found the photo. 

This particular Totem Pole is located by the Springfield State Museum. The plaque on the wall outside the Museum adds more detail to the Proud Raven story. It reads: "Replica of the 51 foot tall Proud Raven pole erected in the mid 1880s in a Tlingit Indian village on Tongass Island, Alaska. Although the original pole deteriorated, the Tlingit had several copies carved. One of these, acquired through the efforts of W. C. Hurst and Jay Monaghah was presented to the Illinois State Museum by the Mid-Day Luncheon Club of Springfield in 1945. The fiberglass replica erected at the entrance to the Museum in 1966 is an exact copy of the original pole. The figure at the top was carved after a photograph of Abraham Lincoln. The figures at the base of the pole are a bear’s head and the winged figure of the Proud Raven and his son.”

There are approximately 25 Totem Poles around the park, each having their own story to tell based on the events of significance to the carver.

"Saxman Totem Park was one of six parks built between 1938 and 1942 as part of the U.S. government’s New Deal labor and cultural preservation programs, specifically emerging from the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The federal government paid Tlingit and Haida men, as members of the Civilian Conservation Corps, to repair or recreate more than one hundred 19th-century totem poles from uninhabited Native villages in Southeast Alaska."

"The pole below shows William Henry Seward, the then secretary of state and famous for purchasing Alaska in 1867 from Russia for $7.2 million. Alaska became known as "Seward's Folly", since people at the time could not imagine that Alaska could possibly have any value to the US. Seward visited Alaska and was the guest of honor at a Potlatch where he received valuable presents. It was common and expected that the honoree would return the favor and Seward promised that he would bestow presents on the villagers. Didn't do it. As a consequence someone carved a totem pole showing a seated Seward with prominent red ears. The red ears signify that Seward is a liar and thus the pole has becomeknowns as the Liar's Pole."

The use of animals in totem poles is not only traditional, but it is also highly important. The animals chosen to be in a specific totem pole carry great significance and demonstrate each culture’s interpretation of the spiritual meaning of the wildlife around them.

The general structure of a totem pole includes a main moiety, a clan animal, and passive and aggressive animals that are on the clan crest. They can communicate a narrative, but mostly they mark “a family’s lineage and validating the powerful rights and privileges that the family held.”

The word “totem” is actually a misnomer that stems from totemism, which “was thought to be the primordial religion” of the communities which create totem poles. While this name provides an appealing mystery to the carvings, it is entirely inaccurate. These totem poles are symbols of a community's history, values, and traditions, but not the base of a religion. Each aspect of a totem pole is as important and individualized as the animal it is based on.

 

 

The art of Totem Pole Carving demonstrated by Ketchican Master Carver Donald Varnell can be watched below.

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