| Summary: | Caption with image: This is the story of Kats and his Bear Wife, a pole originally carved more than 100 years ago at Village Island and moved to Saxman. At the top is Grizzly Bear woman, who became Kat's wife. The small figure held by Kats is a descendant of his, a poor orphan despised and finally abandoned by his relatives. Below is his grandmother. The opening at the base is the entrance to the house - symbolizing a Bear's den. -- Pacific Northern Airlines photo Clifford 360 The village of Saxman is located about 3 miles south of Ketchikan, Alaska. Saxman was a Tlingit village that was founded in 1894 and named for Samuel Saxman, a school teacher. During the 1930s, many totem poles in Southeast Alaska were physically deteriorating. In 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps worked with the U.S. Forest Service to organize Tlingit and Haida men into teams to relocate, restore, and replicate totem poles. The U.S. Forest Service desired that the totem poles be more centrally located in order to allow tourists in Alaska to easily access them. Many of these restored totem poles were sent to the Ketchikan area, particularly to Saxman Village and Totem Bight. The totem poles included at Saxman Village are Tlingit carvings collected from the abandoned towns and cemeteries of Tongass, Cat Village, Pennock Islands, and Cape Fox Village. This totem pole is thought to be approximately 100 years old and was brought to Saxman in 1939 from Village Island. (Source: Discovering Totem Poles: A Traveler's Guide by Aldona Jonaitis; The Wolf and the Raven: Totem Poles of Southeastern Alaska by Viola E. Garfield and Linn A. Forrest; and Dictionary of Alaska Place Names by Donald J. Orth)
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