Carvers Working on the Chief-of-All-Women Totem Pole

CCC Carvers Charles Brown (left) and William Brown (right), each holding an adze, stand next to the upper portion of the Chief-of-All Women totem pole in Saxman, circa 1940-1945.

Theft of the Chief-of-All Women Totem Pole

In the summer of 1899, a group of Seattle businessmen aboard the steamship City of Seattle stopped at the Tlingit winter village on Kadúkxuka (Tongass Island). At the time, the village was seasonally unoccupied while the Tongass Tlingit were at their summer fish camps. The expedition went ashore, cut down a totem pole, and brought it to Seattle. The totem pole was a memorial pole belonging to Chief Kinninook's family, carved in honor of a woman named Chief-of-All-Women. The expedition presented the stolen totem pole to the Seattle City Council as a gift, and it was raised in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle as a symbol to solidify the city as the "Gateway to Alaska".

Upon their discovery that the pole was stolen, the Tongass Tlingit petitioned the Territorial Governor of Alaska, John G. Brady, and demanded legal action and compensation. A federal grand jury in Alaska indicted eight of the men on the Chamber of Commerce committee for the theft. The suit was later dismissed by a judge sympathetic to the Chamber and the committee was charged a nominal fine of $500. There is no evidence of the fine ever reaching the Tongass Tlingit.

The Chief-of-All-Women totem pole became known as the Seattle Totem Pole and stood in Pioneer Square until 1938 when it was damaged by fire. Upon further inspection, the totem pole was found to be too damaged by dry rot for repair. The totem pole was returned to Alaska and a replica was carved by Alaska Native carvers at the Saxman Totem Park as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Totem Pole Restoration Program. The project in Saxman was directed by Tlingit carver Charles Brown and included members of the Kinninook family. The replica of the original totem pole was brought to Seattle and raised in Pioneer Square. In 1972, Tsimshian carver John C. Hudson, Jr. restored and repainted the totem pole, which still stands in Pioneer Square to this day.

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