Trader Legend Pole

Trader Legend Pole

Quick Facts

Amenities

1 listed

Wheelchair Accessible

The original pole stood in the Kaigani Haida village of Sukkwan and was obtained from Douglas Sukqua in 1903. This is a replica carved during the 1938-1942 Civilian Conservation Corps project using local Alaska Native carvers, including George Benson, Frank Kitka, and John Sam.
The bottom figure is a beaver, recognized by the long square teeth and cross hatched tail. The next figure up is an upside-down crab, a symbol of thievery, which is being held up by another indistinguishable animal figure. Atop this figure is an animal with a shrimp in its mouth, another symbol said to represent a thief. At the top of this pole is a figure representing a white man, indicated by the depiction of curly hair and a beard. 
This is a Ridicule Pole. Traditionally, a ridicule pole served to resolve conflicts in a non-violent way via public acknowledgement of a wrongdoing. It was erected to notify everyone of an unpaid debt or of harm or injury to another.The crest of the person who owed the debt or caused the harm or injury would be carved into the pole and was raised at a potlatch.The righting of the wrong or payment of the debt was accomplished at another potlatch, again, so that there would be many witnesses. Then the pole was burned and the wrong was never mentioned again.
An interesting sidenote is that this pole formerly stood near the old foot bridge across Kaasdaa Heen (Indian River) and was swept away in 1941, during the heaviest documented flood in the history of the Park. It was retrieved by the US Navy who was involved in gravel removal operations in the area. The gravel removal caused the banks to be eroded, so when there was an especially heavy rainfall, it washed the pole away.