The Wolf Pole

You are standing in Sitka National Historical Park, among the totem poles of southeast Alaska. This one is called the Wolf Pole. The version you see is a recreation of the older pole.

Read it from the bottom up. A salmon rests at the base. Above it stands a wolf, known by its pointed ears. At the top a man wears a red hat with a black stripe. Scholars believe these figures are clan crests, or perhaps characters from an old story about a boy carried off by the Dog Salmon people. The original pole was collected more than a century ago from a Native village on Prince of Wales Island. When the old wood decayed, carvers recreated it, keeping both the art and the stories alive.