Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1920 — Last Carver of Totems. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Last Carver of Totems.

» » — HIS unusual photograph shows I A one of the last—possibly the I last—of the carvers of totem ' poles. He is William Shelton, head of the Indian reservation school at Tulalip, Wash. The making of totem poles is an art and few nowadays are the then who can carve them. What a totem pole looks like when completed and set up is shown in the side picture. Shelton regards this enormous totem pole as his life work. He has already put In 3,000 hours on it. It will set forth the family history of the Snohomish tribe Of western Washington. When set In place It will be 6 feet in diameter and will rise 84 feet. Upon completion of this life work Shelton Intends to devote the rest pf his days to informing the world of the true inwardness of totem poles. It is a large undertaking. ' What is a totem? Well, it would take a Philadelphia lawyer to figure it out and then he’d have hard work to make the average man understand the true Inwardness of totemism, totem and totem pole. Totemism, the anthropologists say. Is common to primitive man in many parts of the world, but is far from being universal. It Is found among the American Indians, but there are tribes which show no trace of it. The Eskimos know nothing of It. Certain African savages have IL The Australians have It. A totem Is a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists between him and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation. The connection between a man and his totem Is mutually beneficent ; the totem protects the man and the man show’s his respect for the totem In various ways. If his totem is an animal he may show this respect either by refusing to kill and eat it or by making it his favorite diet.

Early explorers found the American Indian communities, independent of their local distribution Into tribes, bands and villages, composed of several distinct clans. Each clan had Its emblem, consisting of the figure—of some bird, beast or reptile, as for example, the clans of the wolf, deer, otter and hawk. In the language of the Algonqulns these emblems are known as'totems. Members of the same clan were prohibited from intermarriage; a man could take a wife from any clan but his own. Tp different totems attached different degrees of rank and dignity: those of the bear, tortoise and wolf were among the first in honor. Members of the same clan, though they might dwell far apart and speak different dialects, were yet bound by the closest ties of fraternity. This kind of totem was found in at least three parities: the clan totem/ common to a whole clan and passing by Inheritance from generation to generation; the sex totem, common either to all the males or to all the females in a tribe, to the exclusion in either case of the other sex; the individual totem, belonging to an individual and not passing to his descendants. % ,i As to the totem pole, it is hard to say what it is. There is one thing however, which it is not; it is not a fetish or an idol or a thing to be shiped. The totem pole of ope man may be simply his individual totem. A second totem pole may also bear the clan totem of the owner. Then a chief or a rich man may have an elaborate totem pole containing “all his crests and all the stories connected with them." So that a very large and pretentious totem pole may be a sort of family tree of the owner or even an autobiography. Even tn case the carvers of totem poles become extinct, a number of,the most noteworthy of these remarkable creations will be preserved for posterity for several generations to come. Uncle Sam realized quite a while ago the advisability of this. The result is that there are two national monu-

ments in Alaska, created in large pan with the view of preserving some very fine examples of these curious relics of bygone days. Sitka National monument was created in 1910. It is about a mile from ftSitka and contains 57 acres. It contains 18 totem poles, the highest of which rises 60 feet. These totem poles are carved from red cedar and when the paint wears off the unprotected wood cracks badly. These totem poles have recently been given two coats of paint by the National park service in six colors. Where the carvings were broken or decayed they were replaced. Thlsj monument is a picturesque place and from it there is ■ panoramic view of beauty and interest as the scene of the massacre of Russian fur hunters by Indians in the early days when all this region was owned by Russia. Old Kansan National monument was created in 1916. It contains 38 acres and within its bounds are an abandoned Indian village, numerous remarkable totem poles and other objects of historical interest.'

William Shelton Carving His “Life Work.”