USFS led efforts to restore totems
    Deteriorating totems in Southeast Alaska--and the need to protect them--became a matter of concern to many residents by the early 1900's. What grew out of this concern was a rebirth of the Native cultures of the region--and new appreciation for the Tlingit culture by Alaskans and outsiders alike.
    Some of the totem poles in Sitka found a savior in Gen. James Gordon Steese, then president of the Alaska Road commission in 1920. He secured $200 through the National Park Service, with the work being conducted under the Alaska Road Commission.
    The late Judge James Wickersham attempted to start a movement toward preserving totems in the Ketchikan area as early as 1920. He hoped to have President Harding make a side trip to view the Abraham Lincoln totem pole during his tour through Alaska in 1923 with the idea that the president would declare the area a national monument. However, Harding did not view the totem pole and it was left to continue its slow demise.
    In Wrangell, Walter Waters conducted his own private restoration project. Waters, owner of the Bear Totem Stores in Wrangell, purchased several totem poles around the area and brought them back to be restored and erected in front of his stores on Front Street. He also attempted to restore some of the local totem poles still standing about the quaint community.
    Waters also collected artifacts locally and from the outlying areas. Much of the Shakes Clan material was owned by Waters and ended up with the Thomas Burke Memorial Museum in Seattle after his death.
    It was not until the late 1930's that a real effort was made to do something about preserving the totem poles in Southeast Alaska. The U.S. Forest Service became involved in examining the situation of the totem poles and tribal houses and what could be done about their preservation. It took them about two years to gather the information on the condition of the poles and houses, as well as who the rightful owners were and if it were possible to acquire title to them for restoration.
    Thus, the groundwork was laid for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Totem Restoration Project.
Forest Service Involvement
    It was in July 1938 that Regional Forester B. Frank Heintzleman initiated the CCC project through the Indian Division. He also served as director of the CCC in Alaska. Approximately $170,000 was spent on the Depression-era project from 1938 until June 1942.
    Those years saw 54 totem poles (determined to be past rehabilitation) replicated, 48 totems received restoration work and 19 totem poles that had long since decayed were carved from memory. Replicas of former community houses were erected in Totem Bight at Ketchikan, Kasaan and in Wrangell on Shakes Island. Close to 250 Native carvers and laborers from throughout these towns were employed during that period.
    Through the combined efforts of the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Indian Service, the state of Alaska, local communities and organizations as well as the residents of southeastern Alaska, the CCC Totem Restoration Project created a perpetual monument to the people and culture of Alaska. Only through the cooperation of everyone was it possible to conduct such a large undertaking.
    In commenting to the Wrangell Sentinel in November 1938, Hentzleman said:
    "Southeastern Alaska is known far and wide for the totem poles, community house and other outstanding evidences of craftsmanship of its native people. Most of these fine things of an earlier day have now disappeared and new ones are not being built. With Indian permission and Indian assistance, some of the best (totems) that remain are now to be salvaged and preserved, under government protection, as historical objects. Painstaking efforts will be made through study of old manuscripts and conference with the older Indians, to make the restorations historically accurate to the smallest detail."
    The outcome was a resurgence in the interest in preserving the culture and history of the state. The project instilled pride in work accomplished by the CCC. It--and the "gift" of the history and culture--preserved for all to view, study, and enjoy. The CCC provided the means and the manpower to save what remained of once magnificent cedar monuments.
Depression brought funding
    Growing out of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" regime, the CPC was created to provide jobs for unemployed Americans. In Southeast Alaska, the CPC took on totem restoration as its main goal although other projects were completed. In Wrangell, for example, City Park was created, a trail built to Rainbow Falls, the approach and dock and a dam at the Wrangell Institute.
    The project had wide support from the community, as well as backing from the City Council, the Wrangell Women's Civic Club, the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, Wrangell Chamber of Commerce and American Legion post. Some saw the CCC project as a method of preserving local Tlingit culture and history. Others saw it as a way to help with high unemployment and hardships incurred by residents as a result of poor fishing.
    Wrangell was not the first of the villages to be included in the restoration project. It took a visit from L.B. Chisholm, then city clerk and secretary of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, to interest Regional Forester B. Frank Heintzleman in restoring the totem poles and tribal house of Wrangell.
    Finally, in December 1938, Heintzleman met informally with Mayor Van H. Fisk, Petersburg Ranger J.W. Wyckhoff, and representatives from the city council, American Legion, Wrangell Women's Civic Club, Wrangell Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Commissioner Richard Suratt and other local residents. Later, a meeting also was held with the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood members.
    CCC funding was uncertain, the Wrangell Sentinel reported, but some money was being used for restoration work in Klawock, Kasaan  and Ketchikan under the federal Works Project Administration (WPA).
    "Shakes Island with its old communal house and totems on the island, the many totems at Wrangell falling to decay at various points as well as the totems that have been preserved, all make Wrangell an ideal set up for such a project," Hentzleman was quoted as telling the gathering.
    To conclude the meeting, the mayor appointed a committee to pursue funding--and the newspaper reported in January 1939 that Wrangell would receive $42,000 of the WPA funds approved by President Roosevelt.
    While 10 men had been hired in September 1938 to build the approach and dock to the Wrangle Institute, an additional 20 were hired in January 1939 as the second CPC unit at Wrangle. This group had been divided equally between whites and Indians with J.L. Dolman as the foreman.
    Four projects were to be completed: preliminary work on totem restoration, various jobs at City Park, rebuilding the trail to the city reservoir and building a new trail between the old and new city reservoirs.
    The Wrangell Sentinel in January 1939 reported that a hand logging crew was to be sent out to log cedar for the totems--and the job began.
    Linn A. Forrest, Forest Service architect, arrived in Wrangell in June 1939 with blueprints for the tribal house based on information gathered from Tlingit elders and by measuring the existing house and land. The original house of hewn cedar had been covered over in clapboard siding but the interior, though deteriorated, still remained. At that time, this tribal house was the only complete community house left in Alaska. Forrest's work allowed the replicated tribal house to be built on the same site and in the same pit where the original tribal house was built.
    By October 1939, men were working with Indian tools shaping boards that had been sawed at the mill. Employed as carvers was Joe Thomas, Thomas Ukas, William Tamaree and Philip Kelly. By this time, three totems were completed.
    By the time the CCC program concluded in 1942, local workers had carved nine totems and built the tribal house in addition to completing a host of other projects still enjoyed by the community today.

Wrangell Totem Project restores and replicates totems

    The Wrangell Totem Project, was conducted by the Wrangell Cultural Heritage Committee a committee comprised of representatives of Wrangell Cooperative Association (IRA Council), Tlingit and Haida Community Council, Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood.
    After three years of hard work and planning, the committee put together a state legislative grant for $178,000, a federal historic preservation grant for $80,000 and an Alaska Division of Tourism grant for $2,000 for the Wrangell Totem Project. The project included restoring seven totem poles on Shakes Island, restoration of the tribal house, replicating four totems and four houseposts.
    Carvers for the project were Steve Brown, head carver, along with Wil Burkhart and Wayne Price. Carver Nathan Jackson assisted as a consultant and did some carving during the project. Israel Shotridge also assisted as carver.
    The project was to be a replication and restoration project but it was also designed to be a training program for carves in the art of replicating works of the master carvers. Burkhart and Price were selected to work on the project as apprentices based on previous work. The challenge of the work was to match the work of the master carvers exactly; to make exact duplicates.
    Old photographs and the original totems were used in the reproduction of copies. Lying side-by-side, it was an exacting job of matching the new totem to the old.
    The Chief Shakes houseposts were replicated and installed in the tribal house on Shakes Island in 1985. Hair on two of the figures of the houseposts came from carver Wayne Price. The figures on the houseposts remained unpainted; a decision made by the heritage committee. The old posts showed signs of possible paint and a possible design, but even after special photography techniques by the staff person from the Vancouver, B.C. museum, it was impossible to tell what color, where the paint was applied or what the design might have been.
    Rather than use the wrong color or paint the wrong portion of the post, the committee agreed with the carvers to leave the totems unpainted until such time it could be determined just what had been done by the master carver. Even without the paint, the houseposts are magnificent with their abalone eyes, dentalia teeth and dark human hair.
    The project was concluded in 1987 with the dedication of the Kiks. adi Totem Park. The park was a bonus to the project. When the project first began, the plans called for placing the replicated totems at their original site. However, that proved to be problem as the owners of two of the sites did not want the totems going back there, another location was an industrial site and would not be seen by many visitors and the fourth site was at Cemetery Point and there was concern of continued vandalism. That meant four totems without a home.
    The property on which the Kiks. adi Totem had once stood was vacant. When the original totem had been taken down in 1981, the committee made sure to leave the portion in the ground intact so that the exact location of the totem would be known later. The owners were not willing to donate the small piece of property and the committee certainly did not have the funds to purchase it themselves. Sealaska Corporation was approached about the possibility of their purchasing the property for the use of a totem park for the community.
    The corporation not only agreed to purchase the property but it paid for the preparation of the site and the landscaping. Maintenance of the grounds and the totems would be the responsibility of the committee. Thus, the community of Wrangell was given a wonderful gift and the four homeless totem poles at last had a place to stand tall and proud.
    The Kiks. adi Totem Park was dedicated July 2, 1987 amidst a great celebration and a traditional totem raising ceremony. The CCC workers would have been proud if they had been there to observe a new generation carrying on what they had started in 1940.
 

Author's Note: I was responsible for lobbying the Alaska State Legislature for the appropriation of state funds for the Totem Project.  I was successful in obtaining $178,000.00 from the state--in a year that we had been told that unless the projects involved water, sewer or roads, there would be consideration!  I then wrote a matching grant for funding from Federal Historical Preservation grant funds.   The final amount available for the totem project was over $260,000.00.  The Kiks. adi Totem Park stands as a tribute to the work that we all did in working together to see the project through.