Sealaska Heritage Institute tells story of 3 Juneau totem poles in new book

Published 10:10 am Thursday, July 9, 2026

The Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has published a new book about three totem poles that the Forest Service employed Tlingit and Haida men to create between 1938 and 1942.

“The Juneau CCC Poles: Three Poles by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Alaska’s Capital City” by Emily Moore takes a deep dive into the “complicated” relationship between the Forest Service and the Native carvers it employed.

The book covers the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) totem pole project which coincided with the Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska v. the United States lawsuit — a monumental legal battle that paved the way for modern Native land rights. The tribes sought to reclaim million of acres of land that the Forest Service had set aside as the Tongass National Forest.

“The disconnect between Native artists and the government entity employing them was reflected in the poles themselves,” SHI stated. “The Governor’s Mansion Pole holds no relevance to local Tlingit people and was erected to serve as a tourist attraction.”

SHI added that the Yaxté Pole at Auke Bay and the Sa’wan and the First Halibut Hook pole downtown both hold cultural significance, but their meanings were misinterpreted for many years.

Kaigani Haida carver John Wallace created the Sa’wan and the First Halibut Hook pole to tell the story of a Tlingit shaman. The pole was planned to stand near the Taant’a Kwáan Tlingit community of Ketchikan, but it was purchased by the Juneau Chamber of Commerce in the summer of 1962.

Moore says in the book that the CCC program was not just a bureaucratic ploy by the government, nor were the poles devoid entirely of meaning to Native Communities.

“The poles were – and still are – attractions with cultural significance, and the effort CCC carvers put into honoring cultural protocols while negotiating these government commissions is apparent,” SHI added.

Moore also added that the emergent authenticity of the Yaxté pole, and many other CCC poles that are now in the care of Native communities, speaks to the complicated legacy of the CCC program as a whole.

The book was published through SHI’s Box of Knowledge series, which consists of books and essays about the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian culture. The series is available through the SHI Store.