Master carvers lead apprentices to replicate Wrangell totems

T.J. Sgwaayaans Young, a Haida master carver from Hydaburg, arrived in Wrangell earlier this month to lead a team of Wrangell-based apprentices to carve a new Kadashan totem pole. When the work is finished, the Wrangell Cooperative Association plans to hold a pole raising ceremony on Shakes Island sometime next year, Wrangell's first totem raising in 38 years.

The Kadashan pole - referring to the Tlingit chief of the same name - is the first of two the WCA team will carve this year. Next month, Israel Kinstaádaál Shotridge, a Tlingit master carver from Ketchikan, will take the lead on the second pole, the Strongman pole.

Both poles are expected to take four months to carve according to Shotridge and Young.

WCA received $500,000 for the project from the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The Central Council received the funding as a part of the U.S. Forest Service's $25 million Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, an effort to diversify the economies of Southeast communities.

The logs, however, were donated, and WCA only had to pay to barge them to Wrangell. Sealaska Corp. gifted the two 40-foot-long red cedar logs, which were harvested from Prince of Wales Island. The master carvers and their team of apprentices will transform the two logs into totems 37 and 32 feet tall, the Kadashan pole the taller of the two.

The project is the third and final stage of the WCA's latest Native culture revival plan. The first phase began in 2013 with some restoration work at Chief Shakes Tribal House. In 2015, construction of the tribal cultural center and carving shed on Front Street concluded Phase Two said Esther Aaltséen Reese, the WCA tribal administrator.

Phase Three makes use of the previous two achievements: The carving shed will serve as the home for the poles until they are finished. WCA will then raise the totems outside Chief Shakes Tribal House.

The Kadashan pole, whose carving is already underway, will be the fourth iteration of the pole, a design at least 200 years old. It will replace the 1940 version, which was taken down several years ago and has been lying on its side on Shakes Island, waiting for a new one to take its place.

In the early 1800s, Haida relatives of Chief Kadashan gifted the chief a five-foot carved wooden staff (also referred to as the Kadashan Cane or Speaker's Staff) to commemorate marriages between Haida men and Tlingit women. A few years later, Kadashan raised a totem pole in the image of the cane. This became the original Kadashan pole, dated to the 1830s. That pole stood near where Trident Seafoods is today said Mike Aak'wtaatseen Hoyt, a historian, Teehítaan clan leader and descendant of Tlingit master carvers

Over 100 years later, in 1940, a replica pole was produced by a team of 30 men, but there were differing details from the 1830s' original.

Now, 84 years after that, Hoyt is ensuring the 2024 pole resembles Kadashan's original cane as much as possible.

Hoyt was also heavily involved in the repatriation of the cane, which is scheduled to arrive back in Wrangell this week from the Oakland Museum of California, which housed the staff since 1959.

Speaking with the Sentinel, Hoyt explained the significance of the different figures he and his fellow apprentices have been carving into the Kadashan pole.

Atop the pole lies an eagle with two copper shields under it. The next figure is Gunakadeit, a sea monster that, if seen, would signify future good fortune, according to Tlingit tradition. Below Gunakadeit lies a creature Hoyt and Young are still trying to identify. It resembles either a wolf or a bear, but the two hope that when the original cane arrives in Wrangell, the figure will become clearer.

A sandhill crane sits just below that, followed by a frog seated at its feet. At the very bottom is Gunakadeit again, making a rare second appearance on the same pole.

Hoyt is one of five apprentices who Young has taken on to carve the pole, a fitting role given his family's past. Hoyt's great-great-grandfather is Thomas Ukas, a Tlingit master carver who helped carve the 1940 replica pole. Hoyt's Tlingit name, Aak'wtaatseen, is the same as Ukas, and Hoyt's grandmother often noticed similarities between the two men, so much so that she would often dress Hoyt in Ukas' regalia for him to dance in.

Ukas also is listed among the carvers of the Strongman pole, according to the Smithsonian Institute. The 1940 replica had deteriorated and is on its side on Shakes Island, awaiting a new iteration, just like the Kadashan pole.

While Hoyt is the most recent in line of a family of master carvers and woodworkers, working under Young has allowed him to refine his carving skills.

Instead of pigeonholing all the carvers into the same tasks and responsibilities, Young is identifying his apprentices' individual strengths and weaknesses to ensure they are doing the work that is best for themselves and the project.

Young often reinforces to the group that, "pressure is a privilege," and that it is a wonderful thing they can undertake such an important task, something that Young said cannot be taken for granted.

Before the smallpox outbreak of 1862, which per the American Museum of Natural History killed 96% of the Haida people on the Pacific Northwest coast, totem poles served not just as a storytelling medium, but also as a way for different villages to compete with one another. This competitive dynamic set a standard for carving, as master carvers wanted their poles to be the highest in quality and complexity compared to those in surrounding villages.

When the Haida population was decimated, this artistic competition was lost. Now, Young wants to reinstate that standard from hundreds of years ago.

"We are trying to bring our culture back, the arts, and help our people heal from what happened," he said.

Eventually, WCA would like to replicate all of Wrangell's totems, many of which were carved in 1940 but have since deteriorated to the point where replacement is necessary.