The Daily Alaska empire., 1938-11-02
Forest Service Plans to Restore
 Indian Relics
Totem Poles and Primitive Community Houses to
 Be Preserved @

The Forest Service announced today that in cooperation with interested Indians it has started
 on an extended program of pre-
 serving some of the famous Indian
 antiquities of Southeast Alaska. It plans to restore totem poles, re-
 condition some large primitive com lmunity houses and build replicas
 of others, and restore or duplicate
 grave houses, war canoes and other outstanding evidences of the local Indian culture that prevailed be- l fore the coming of the whites. ! Regional Forester B. Frank
 Heintzleman in commenting on the project. stated:
 1 Southeast Alaska is known far and wide for totem poles, commun-
 ity houses 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 permis- sion and Indian assistance. some of the best that remain are now to be salvaged and preserved, under government protection, as historical objects. Painstaking efforts will be made through study of old manu- scripts and conference with the older Indians, to make the restora- tions historically accurate to the smallest detail,
 The Indians so far approached with regard to this. project, have offered the best possible coopera- tion. For example, the owners of the remaining restorable poles at Old Kasaan and Kasaan, have con
 sented to the repair work and to the erection of the poles in an attractive setting adjacent to their community. The heirs of Chief lSon-i-hat have cheerfully agreed to the restoration of 8 large and magnificient community house CT ected by this Chief in 1880. on a site a short distance north of Ka- saan. The heavy frame work of this structure is still intact; other timbers from the building are lying ion the ground and can be reused or exactly duplicated; and the large totem pole in front of this house, as well as the totems inside of it, are in place and can be read lily restored.
 The plan also calls for taking poles, etc, from the abandoned .Thlinget villages around Ketchi- kan and erecting them at the near by existing Thlinget village of Sax man. Objects from the abandoned Haida towns on the West Coast of Prince of Wales Island will be placed near Hydaburg. Relics from other villages will likewise be re- paired and appropriately relocated.
 If the present ambitious pro gram is not disturbed by unforeseen difficulties, an exact replica of an Indian village containing three large community houses, burial houses, totem poles, war canoes, etc, is to be established at point on the shores of Tongass Narrows where it will be accessible by auto mobile and visitle from the steam CT channel.
 Throughout the United States, the Federal and State governments, patriotic organizations and histor ical societies, are now actively working on the restoration of sites and buildings that have played part in the native and white his tory of the country. These distinc- tive Indian relics in Alaska are also worth keeping as interesting and instructive historical objects. Their. preservation is a case of now tor never, The few remaining ob- jects will otherwise soon be gone.
 The project will doubtless extend over number of years, and c. M Archbold in charge of Forest Service work in the Ketchikan re-
 zion, will direct all of the activities,
 Heintzleman said. With the excep-- 1 tion of some white personnel for |