Header - Thunder Bird Park

Title - Late Park

Gitxsan PoleThunderbird Park, 1975.
BC Government photograph.
BC Archives I-20999.

Gitxsan Pole, 1960
Carvers: Mungo Martin, Henry Hunt and Tony Hunt
Based on: Gitxsan Memorial Pole

This is a version of one of several poles that were removed from the Gitxsan community of Gitanyow (Kitwancool) by the British Columbia Totem Pole Preservation Committee with the permission of the chiefs. As part of the agreement, the histories of the poles were recorded and published as Histories, Territories, and Laws of the Kitwancool (British Columbia Provincial Museum, 1959). Also as part of the agreement, replica poles were made in Thunderbird Park and erected in Gitanyow. This is the second replica version of the pole named Skim-sim and Will-a-daugh belonging to Chief Wiha (Wee-kha, Ernest Smith), the chief of the Wolf (Gilt-Winth) clan. The original pole is in the collection of the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia (A50019). This version was made for Thunderbird Park.
RBCM 20127.

Gitxsan PoleThunderbird Park, 1975.
BC Government photograph.
BC Archives I-20999.
 Giant Woodpecker (Wee-get-welku), a crest that originated with the story of an ancestress who kept a woodpecker as a pet, feeding it constantly. It turned into a huge monster and ate everything made of wood before it was finally killed.
Five small human figures, the house carvings.
Mountain Eagle, (Skim-sim) who kidnapped and mated with a young woman and devoured their offspring. (According to Duff, the large bird figure is the mother of the Prince of the Wolves.)
Eleven small human figures, who fish through holes in the ice.

Will-a-daugh holding her child. Will-a-daugh was a chief’s niece at Ke-an (Prince Rupert) who conceived a child from a wood grub. The nose of the ancestress on the original pole was probably long and sharp edged. Marius Barbeau described the figure as “Person with a large nose . . . holding a child or human being in its hands.”
 

Gitxsan Pole highlighted in red in Thunderbird ParkThunderbird Park, 1977. Andrew Niemann photograph.
RBCM PN 13195-13.
Gitxsan Pole in Thunderbird ParkThunderbird Park, 1975. BC Government photograph.
BC Archives I-20999.
Gitxsan Pole in situGitanyow, 1910. George T. Emmons photograph.
RBCM PN 4050.
Gitxsan Pole in Thunderbird ParkThunderbird Park, 1967. BC Government photograph.
BC Archives I-26978.
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