How Alaska almost lost its sacred totem poles to time

The CCC’s Mission to Save Alaska’s Totem Poles

By the 1930s, Alaska’s sacred totem poles were rotting away in empty villages.

As Native Alaskans left their homes for wage jobs, these carved cedar giants stood alone in the rain. Then in 1938, the U.S. Forest Service took action.

Through the Civilian Conservation Corps, they hired over 200 Tlingit and Haida men to save their own heritage. Master carvers like Charlie Brown taught young men skills nearly lost to time.

In just four years, they rescued 103 totem poles and built three community houses.

The story of this rescue mission lives on at Totem Bight State Historical Park, where you can walk among these majestic poles and step inside an authentic Tlingit clan house.

Abandoned Villages Left Totem Poles Rotting in Alaska’s Rainforest

Native Alaskans moved to towns in the early 1900s to find paying jobs as their trading way of life fell apart.

Whole villages stood empty, with hundreds of sacred totem poles left behind to rot in the wet Southeast Alaska weather.

About 600 totem poles stood across the region at the start of the century, but rain and neglect threatened to destroy them all. Carving skills nearly vanished as older master carvers died.

Christian missionaries and government officials spent decades telling Native people to stop making totems.

Forest Service Architect Found Decaying Cultural Treasures

Linn Forrest, a Forest Service architect, moved from Oregon to Juneau in 1937 for an unusual job. He ran a first-of-its-kind federal program to save crumbling Native artwork across the region.

Forest rangers found roughly 200 surviving poles, most with serious rot and damage. None of the poles they spotted seemed newer than 30 years old.

Forrest brought his Leica camera along, taking hundreds of color photos with new Kodachrome film to record every step.

Federal Money Created Jobs While Saving Native Art

The Forest Service started the totem pole rescue program through the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938 with $24,000 in federal money.

This created the biggest government support of Native American art in the 1900s while giving people much-needed jobs during the Great Depression.

The CCC hired skilled older Native carvers to lead the restoration teams.

Young Native artists joined to learn traditional carving methods from these masters before their knowledge vanished forever.

Elderly Carvers Returned to Work They Had Given Up

John Wallace from Hydaburg, known as the “last professional Haida totem-carver,” led carving teams at age 80.

He learned from his father Dwight Wallace back in the 1860s but stopped when missionaries told him it was wrong. The government paycheck brought him back to the art he loved.

Charlie Brown became the main carver at Saxman, teaching young workers proper techniques. Henry Denny Sr. joined a small group of older men who signed up with the CCC to pass on their skills.

Teams Rescued Artwork From Ghost Villages

CCC workers searched for and recorded totem poles from empty villages all over Southeast Alaska. They gathered poles from abandoned places at Tongass, Cat, Village, and Pennock Islands.

Many poles they found in places like Tuxekan had almost completely rotted away.

When original poles were too damaged to save, workers measured and photographed them carefully before making copies. They placed pieces of old poles next to fresh cedar logs to help carvers make accurate replicas.

Workshops Buzzed With Traditional Knowledge

More than 200 Tlingit and Haida men worked in carving buildings throughout Southeast Alaska. Major carving centers opened in Saxman, Klawock, Hydaburg, and Kasaan.

CCC carvers earned $2 per day, the same pay as white workers in other CCC programs. The carvers learned both old techniques and new ways to protect poles like adding canvas and lead caps.

Master carvers showed younger workers how to use traditional adzes and create proper designs that followed cultural rules.

Tourist Attractions Grew From Preservation Efforts

CCC workers built “totem parks” in Saxman, Klawock, and other towns across Southeast Alaska. Saxman Totem Park featured a main path called Totem Road with poles standing on both sides.

The parks included replica traditional community houses big enough for 30-50 people. The federal government hoped these totem parks would bring tourists to Alaska.

By the time World War II started, workers had placed 15 poles at Totem Bight alone.

Carvers Made Old and New Stories in Cedar

CCC carvers fixed 48 original poles, copied 54 damaged ones, and carved 19 completely new totems. New poles like the Governor’s Mansion totem in Juneau showed traditional stories in modern settings.

Forrest watched over the creation of 103 totem poles and three Tlingit and Haida community houses in total. When original poles were too far gone, carvers made exact copies using traditional methods.

The government ordered some new designs, but Native carvers chose which stories to tell on the poles.

World’s Fair Visitors Watched Native Carving

John Wallace and his son Fred showed off their carving skills at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Thousands of people watched Wallace use traditional Haida carving techniques.

The pole they made at the World’s Fair later stood at the entrance of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Wallace’s work appeared in the big exhibition “Indian Art of the United States.”

His Four Story Totem Pole, carved in 1940, became a famous sight in Juneau.

World War II Shut Down Cultural Program

World War II began just as the CCC totem restoration program reached its busiest point. Congress cut off CCC funding in 1942 to send money toward the war effort instead.

Most CCC carvers stopped carving professionally after the program ended because they needed other jobs to support their families. The program left behind 103 preserved totem poles and three community houses.

The traditional carving knowledge had successfully passed to a younger generation of artists before the program ended.

Today’s Native Artists Trace Skills to CCC Program

Children and grandchildren of CCC carvers later led the Northwest Coast Art Renaissance that continues today. Artists like Nathan Jackson followed their uncles’ example to become well-known modern carvers.

CCC carvers formed a crucial link between traditional 19th-century art and today’s thriving Native art scene. Stories recorded on the poles helped support Alaska Native land claims in later decades.

Modern Alaska Native artists point to the CCC program as essential to keeping their cultural traditions alive through difficult times.

Visiting Totem Bight State Historical Park, Alaska

Totem Bight State Historical Park is at 9883 North Tongass Highway, 10 miles north of Ketchikan. You’ll pay $5 per person from May through September, but it’s free October through April.

The park opens daily 7am to 6pm year-round. Walk the easy 0.4-mile paved trail to see 14 replica totem poles and a clan house that Tlingit and Haida carvers made through the CCC program from 1938-1942.

The visitor center has displays and overlooks Tongass Narrows.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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