Pioneer Square Totem Pole

Pioneer Square Totem Pole

The **Pioneer Square totem pole**, also referred to as the **Seattle totem pole** and historically as the **Chief-of-All-Women pole**,[2] is a Tlingit totem pole located in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle, Washington.

The totem pole was originally carved in 1790[3] and raised in the Tlingit village on Tongass Island to honor the Tlingit woman Chief-of-All-Women.[3] The totem pole was later stolen by Seattle businessmen on an expedition to Alaska and subsequently gifted to the City of Seattle in 1899,[4] where it was raised in Pioneer Square and became a source of civic pride for the city.[5][6] The totem pole was later damaged by arson and a replica was commissioned and installed in its place in 1940,[7] which is now designated a National Historic Landmark.[8][9]

## History:

### Tlingit origin:

The totem pole was initially carved around the year 1790 and belonged to the Kinninook family, which was a Tlingit lineage of the Raven clan.[10] It was carved to honor Chief-of-All-Women, who was a Tlingit woman who drowned in the Nass River while traveling to visit an ill sister.[3][10] Her family hired a totem pole carver and gathered to tell him stories they wanted represented on her totem pole.[10] When the totem pole was complete, they organized a *potlatch* and raised the totem pole in her honor[10] in the Tlingit village on Tongass Island.[11] It was one of the few totem poles dedicated to a woman.[10]

### *Seattle Post-Intelligencer* expedition:

In 1899, the *Seattle Post-Intelligencer* sponsored an expedition of "leading Seattle citizens"[3] to the District of Alaska.[12] The expedition was meant to be a "goodwill tour," with a mixture of business and pleasure,[12] and the goal of investigating increased trade and investment in Alaska.[11] However, even as the Klondike Gold Rush came to an end, civic leaders also wanted to solidify Seattle as the "Gateway to Alaska"[13] and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce included a committee of prominent businessmen on the expedition.[12]

On August 17, 1899, the expedition set sail on the steamship *City of Seattle[3]* with a total of 165 men and women.[12] The expedition included stops at Vancouver, Mary Island, New Metlakahtla, Ketckikan, Wrangel, Juneau, the Treadwell Mines, Skagway, Lake Bennett, Dyea, Pyramid Harbor, Glacier Bay, Muir Glacier, Killisnoo, Sitka and Victoria.[12]

On the morning of August 28, 1899,[14] the *City of Seattle* stopped at the Tlingit village at Fort Tongass[11] when members of the Chamber of Commerce committee spotted multiple totem poles.[10] The village appeared to be deserted and they decided to take a totem pole as a souvenir.[10] Third mate R. D. McGillvery and other members of the expedition went ashore and McGillvery later described the events as:

During the process, McGillvery and the other sailors broke many protrusions off the totem pole,[1] including the beak on the bottom figure which was later incorrectly reconstructed.[10] A carving of a seal, about 8 feet (2.4 m) in length, was also taken from the Tlingit village.[15] After the totem pole was floated back to the ship, the Chamber of Commerce committee collectively paid McGillvery $2.50 for his labor.[3] The expedition returned to Seattle on August 30, 1899, and the Chamber of Commerce committee subsequently presented the totem pole to the Seattle City Council as a gift to the city.[13]

### Installation in Pioneer Square:

The totem pole was repaired, repainted, and stored at the Denny Hotel in Denny Hill under watch of three members of the Chamber of Commerce committee. On October 18, 1899, the totem pole was raised in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle[13][16] and was "greeted by cheers of a multitude of people."[3] At the ceremony, city officials praised the Chamber of Commerce committee for their gift and assured the gathered crowd that no one had owned the totem pole and that the expedition saved it from its certain destruction.[16]

The Tlingit however, with the exception of the elderly and small children,[10] had simply been away for the fishing and cannery season when the *City of Seattle*arrived at Fort Tongass[13] and they were shocked to discover the totem pole gone when they returned. David E. Kinninook, who was a descendant of Chief-of-All-Women, and Tlingit witnesses of the theft contacted the governor of the District of Alaska John Green Brady and demanded legal action and $20,000 for the totem pole.[17] The Kinninook family also sent a delegation to Seattle in an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve the totem pole.[18]

Nonetheless, a federal grand jury in Alaska indicted eight of the men on the Chamber of Commerce committee for theft of government property.[a][3] Attorney William H. Thompson, who was also on the expedition,[12] defended the indicted men and stated that:

The suit was dismissed after a U.S. District Court Judge stopped in Seattle on the way to his new Alaska posting and was entertained at the private Rainier Club.[3] The City of Seattle was allowed to keep the totem pole and the Chamber of Commerce committee was charged a nominal fine of $500,[4] which the *Seattle Post-Intelligencer* paid on their behalf.[3]

In the interim, the totem pole had become a source of civic pride for Seattle[5][6] and was featured on post cards and brochures. In 1909, Seattle hosted the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, which in part celebrated the transformation of Seattle from a small town to a booming city, and the totem pole was featured on the official brochure.[6] The totem pole had lost all association with the Tlingit owners[6] and a 1910 article described it as the "totem pole that made Seattle famous."[19]

### Destruction and commission of replica:

In October 1938, the totem pole was damaged by an arsonist[4][7] and was found to be too damaged by dry rot for repair; the Seattle City Council and Park Board sought to have a replica commissioned.[20] The United States Forest Service was directing a totem pole restoration project in southeastern Alaska and offered to employ Civilian Conservation Corps Tlingit carvers to craft a replica.[4][9][20]

The damaged totem pole was shipped to Saxman, Alaska, where Tlingit carver Charles Brown directed a team of carvers which included members of the Kinninook family.[9][21] The replica was completed after three months of work, and because the red cedar used to carve the totem pole had come from Forest Service land and the carvers were paid by the government, a special act of Congress was passed to allow transfer of ownership of the totem pole from the Forest Service to the City of Seattle.[22] The completed replica was dedicated with tribal blessings[4] and shipped to Seattle in April 1940 and then raised in Pioneer Square in a ceremony on July 25, 1940.[9]

In 1972, Tsimshian carver John C. Hudson, Jr. restored and repainted the totem pole.[19] In 1977, the totem pole—along with the Pioneer Building and pergola in Pioneer Square—was designated a National Historic Landmark.[8]

## Appearance:

The original Chief-of-All-Women pole was originally reported to be 49 feet 8 inches (15.14 m) tall,[14] although it has also since been reported as 60 feet (18 m) tall.[11][13] The replica stands 50 feet (15 m) tall and was carved from a 70-foot (21 m) red cedar from Kina Cove—an arm of Kasaan Bay near Kasaan, Alaska—which was donated by a Haidaman.[21]

The original totem pole had been repainted with successive coats of non-Tlingit colors in an attempt to preserve the pole.[23] The replica, however, used the native Tlingit colors of black, red and blue-green.[23]

The topmost figure on the totem pole is the Raven, which in Tlingit mythology "did everything, knew everything, and seemed to be everywhere at once."[3] The other figures, in descending order on the totem pole, are: a woman holding her frog child, the woman's frog husband, Mink, Raven and Whale with a seal in his mouth.[24] At the bottom of the totem pole is Raven-at-the-Head-of-Nass, who is also called Grandfather of Raven.[19][24]

## Modern-day controversy:

The Coast Salish, who are native to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest Coast, did not traditionally carve totem poles and the Pioneer Square totem pole was the first totem pole in Seattle.[25] Totem poles have since become a symbol of Seattle and are used in tourism campaigns, while native Salish art has not been featured as prominently.[26] Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, called for a review of all the totem poles in the city for cultural sensitivity, which was granted by the city council in November 2018.[27]

## Notes:

1. **^** The Tlingit village was located at Fort Tongass, a United States Army base

## References:

1. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** Childress 2013.
2. **^** Moore 2018, p. 110.
3. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** ***e*** ***f*** ***g*** ***h*** ***i*** ***j*** ***k*** ***l*** Wilma 2000.
4. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** ***e*** Halvorsen 2013.
5. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Sundquist 2010, p. 11.
6. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** Jonaitis 2017, p. 5.
7. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Clio.
8. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** National Park Service.
9. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** Jonaitis 2017, p. 6.
10. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** ***e*** ***f*** ***g*** ***h*** ***i*** Garfield 1996, p. 9.
11. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** Jonaitis 2017, p. 3.
12. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** ***e*** ***f*** The Business Men's Excursion Departs 1899.
13. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** ***e*** Wright 2015.
14. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** New Emblem for Seattle 1899.
15. **^** Alaska Totem Pole 1899.
16. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Jonaitis 2017, p. 4.
17. **^** Jonaitis 2017, pp. 4–5.
18. **^** Kramer 2012.
19. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
20. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Garfield 1996, p. 12.
21. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Garfield 1996, p. 13.
22. **^** Garfield 1996, pp. 15–16.
23. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Garfield 1996, p. 15.
24. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Garfield 1996, p. 17.
25. **^** Sundquist 2010, p. 12.
26. **^** Sullivan 2018.
27. **^** The Washington Times 2018.