Totems of Howkan

A small painting ( 6” by 8”) done by my grandfather, Vic Sparks of a cabin in the woods with a totem pole showing the Thunderbird, a smaller animal that I cannot identify, and a carving of what appears to be a whale, has fascinated me for years (Figure 1). It is done in oil on a piece of wood. I often wondered where these totems were but never thought I would be able to identify them. Much to my surprise I got an email from Lorena stating that she had a painting done by Vic. The first one she sent me was of her home in Skagway; it depicts her house buried in snow with the Aurora Borealis behind it. That was interesting to see but when I asked her for any other paintings she sent me the totem image depicted in Figure 2. I was shocked; it matched exactly the painting that I had.

Figure 1 My Painting circa 1947

Figure 2 Painting owned by Lorena

With some internet investigation I was able to locate the village of Howkan, the photographs of the village and the totem poles are shown here. These totem poles are located near Howkan, a Native Alaskan village outside of Petersburg, Alaska. A photograph of the totems can be seen in Figure 3. It states that these are in the Doctors’ Gravesite in Howkan. Figures 4 and 5 depict the village of Kassan and another view of the totems. I can imagine Vic taking his boat, Felix, on a summer fishing trip to Petersburg, not far from Skagway and finding these totems. On a map of Petersburg there is a road named Howkan but no other notation of the village is found. I will continue to investigate these pictures to find out more about them. Perhaps one of my readers may shed some further light on these paintings.

3. Doctors’ Gravesite, Howkan, Alaska1

4.Kasaan Village1

5 View of Totems, Howkan, Alaska1

1. http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cdmg21/id/653 Indian Totem and Graves, Howkan, Alaska, circa 1897. Alaska Stat Library-Historical Collection, accessed March 25, 2018