Unveiling the totem pole at Pioneer Square, Seattle, 1899

• Main Author: Wilse, Anders B.
• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Tlingit Indians > Arts & Crafts; Crowds > Washington (State) > Seattle; Dedications > Washington (State) > Seattle; Totem poles > Alaska > Tongass; Totem poles > Washington (State) > Seattle; Marr; Norway; Pacific; tlingit; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/loc/id/85; http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/htmlview.exe?CISOROOT=/loc&CISOPTR=85

The totem pole in Pioneer Square has been a Seattle landmark since 1899. That year, a group of Seattle businessmen visited Tongass, a Tlingit village in southeastern Alaska. They thought the village was deserted and removed a 50-foot tall totem pole as a souvenir. The men brought the pole back to Seattle and had it set up in Pioneer Square. They were later fined for the theft. The pole was originally created as a memorial to a woman of the Raven Clan. After rot and fire damaged the original pole, it was replaced in 1938 by a duplicate carved by Tlingit craftsmen. In this photo, taken in October 1899, a large crowd has gathered for the dedication of the totem pole. Norwegian-born Anders Wilse moved to Seattle in 1890 to work as a surveyor and engineer. After photographing the building of the Great Northern Railway through the Cascades and working as a cartographer, Wilse turned to commercial photography in 1897. In 1900, Wilse left for a visit to Norway and never returned. (Carolyn J. Marr, "Anders Beer Wilse: Photographer of the Pacific Northwest and Norway." Columbia 8, no. 4 (Summer 1994): 24-29.)