Ketchikan Totems & Eagles

Leslie Sunday, June 1, 2008

At 5:15 am this morning I looked out toward the ocean and saw a orca whale swimming along in the harbor. There were only a few fishing boats out so early so I guess the whale felt safe coming near the shore. He saw past fairly quickly so I couldn’t get a picture.

The day started out very cloudy and a bit cool. I’m glad we did our trip on the water yesterday.

After lunch we decided to go to Saxman Totem Park that is located 2 miles south of Ketchikan. Saxman is a Native Village. There are 24 totem poles that were salvaged from abandoned native villages in the late 1930's mostly by the civilian conservation corps. One funny pole is a ridicule pole making fun of William Seward, the person who bought Alaska from the Russians. Apparently he was treated to honors by the natives and he failed to offer gifts in return. Here’s the Seward pole. Notice the red ears, they are red to show that Seward was stingy.

Seward pole

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more poles

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There is also a carving shed in Saxman where people work on modern totem poles. During winter experts teach classes on native carving to encourage traditions. When we stopped by, one man was carving on his first box. He explained the several of the features of the box represented his ancestry. The totem poles are carved from red cedar wood so the building smells wonderful.

We had carried the laundry along hoping we’d find a laundromat. Success. We found a clean laundromat. And even better, when I started up my laptop to downsize some pictures while waiting for the wash to run, I discovered that there was free WIFI.

When we got back home, a large adult bald eagle was sitting on a rock along the water just below Carpe Diem. The eagle was most cooperative and allowed me to take over 100 pictures. He didn’t seem to be too bothered by my presence and allowed me to climb down the rocks and get about 20 feet away from him.

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Leslie