Kwakiutl village at Fort Rupert, British Columbia, 1914

• Main Author: Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952
• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Kwakiutl Indians > Structures; Kwakiutl Indians > Arts & crafts; Totem poles > British Columbia > Fort Rupert; Canada; Indian; British Columbia; Rupert; tlingit; Tsimshian; Tsimshian*; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/loc/id/2274; http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/htmlview.exe?CISOROOT=/loc&CISOPTR=2274

Houses and totem poles. This village of Tsahi was founded in 1840 when the tribe abandoned Kalokwis on Turnour Island in order to be near the Hudson's Bay Company post which was being established at Fort Rupert on Vancouver Island. The totem pole in the foreground commemorates the legendary history of a Tsimshian family. Its presence in this Kwakiutl settlement is due to the following circumstances. A party of Seattle men, cruising in Alaska, innocently removed a totem pole from what they supposed was an abandoned village, and placed it in a public square of their city. In reality the inhabitants of the Alaskan village were only temporarily absent, and when they returned and learned of the spoliation, there was a protest. The news finally reached Fort Rupert where there lived a prominent member of the wronged family, the aged Tsimshian widow of a former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. In order to wipe out the stain on the family name, she had a local carver produce a totem pole according to her description of the lost one. She had it erected at the house of her eldest son's eldest son. According to Viola Garfield, the original pole was stolen from Tongass, Alaska and placed in Pioneer Square in 1899, making it of Tlingit manufacture. Caption on mount: Qagyuhl village at Fort Rupert Image from: Edward Curtis' Native American Indian, Folio. v.10, pl. 353