I'm Going to the Totem Raising!

If you have friended me on Facebook, I'm sure you can't help noticing my many posts about the upcoming Totem Raising I'll be attending this weekend in Klawock, Alaska. Perhaps you're wondering what the big deal is. You've probably also never heard of Klawock (Kla...what?)!

Seal of the City of Klawock

Klawock, an incorporated city of 850 people, is located 56 miles west of Ketchikan, in Alaska's Southeast Panhandle. The original village was located on Klawock Island, just off Prince of Wales Island, the third largest island in the United States after Kodiak Island in Alaska (where I happened to be born) and the large island of Hawaii. Prince of Wales Island was originally inhabited by the Tlingit tribe of Native Alaskans, and later also inhabited by the Haida tribe. In the 1700s, Russian, British, Spanish, and French explorers and sailors charted the area, and the many languages are reflected in the location names.

Klawock was originally a summer fishing camp for a particular group of Tlingits who normally wintered at the north end of Prince of Wales Island in the sheltered village of Tuxekan. The fishing camp's location was chosen because of where the salmon left the salt water and entered the Klawock River to go upstream to spawn. In 1868, a trading post and salmon saltery were built in Klawock, and in 1878, Alaska's first salmon cannery was erected there. Klawock eventually became the permanent community, and Tuxekan was abandoned.

Salmon can from the first cannery in Alaska, in Klawock,. Hand soldered and labeled, ca. 1890s. North Pacific Trading and Packing Co. Image from Alaska State Museum.

In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps hired a number of native carvers to replicate the deteriorating totems at the abandoned village of Tuxekan.

Totems at Old Tuxekan, 1910. Alaska State Library.

Twenty-one poles were carved and erected in a totem park on top of a hill in Klawock. Each totem belongs to a particular clan and has a legend depicted on it.

Klawock Totem Park, 1967. 1st generation of poles. Alaska State Digital Archives.

 Because of the climate in Southeast Alaska (160-180 inches of rain per year), the totems only last about 40 years. In the 1970s, shortly after my family moved to Klawock, the second generation of poles was raised.

Miriam Robbins, Klawock Totem Park, September 1971. Noticing the broken toe and faded paint on this bear totem, I believe this also is a first generation totem.

My family was informally adopted into the tribe by Katherine (Skan) Rowan. She made the dress and blanket I'm wearing in the photo below.

The Fish Hook Dance. Alaska Native Brotherhood & Alaska Native Sisterhood Hall, Klawock, Alaska, September 1972.

Today, Jon Rowan, Katherine's grandson and my native "brother," is the cultural education teacher at the high school. He has trained the high school students to carve the third generation of totems. A few have been erected nearly every summer the past few years. This weekend, the last five poles will be raised of the third generation. They will last for another 40 years. The town has been preparing for months for the three-day celebration!Today, Jon Rowan, Katherine's grandson and my native "brother," is the cultural education teacher at the high school. He has trained the high school students to carve the third generation of totems. Nearly every summer the past few years, a few more replications have been erected. This weekend, the last five poles will be raised of the third generation. They will last for another 40 years. The town has been preparing for months for the three-day celebration! I'm excited to return to my hometown after an absence of 34 years!

Jon Rowan, master carver and cultural education teacher

In addition to the totem raising, the Dog Salmon Panel will be on display in the high school gym. In the early 1940s, this panel, which originally fronted the Dog Salmon Clan House in Tuxekan, disappeared and mysteriously surfaced at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. It is believed that a non-native was responsible for its removal. When it was recently removed from storage in 2001, it was recognized to belong to the clan. It was repatriated to the community just one month ago. I look forward to seeing it for the first time.

Dog Salmon Screen on front of clan house, Tuxekan. University of Washington Library.

So what does this have to do with genealogy? Because I grew up in a culturally rich environment, my parents recognized the importance of teaching me my own heritage. I firmly believe that my interest in genealogy and history was nurtured by my Native Alaskan community, Tlingit cultural classes at school, and Dutch heritage celebrations and family history at home.