Yellow Pages
A traditional Samish totem or story pole carved from a Heart Lake cedar tree will help the community heal itself and the fire-damaged Tommy Thompson trestle, said carver Tsul-ton.
“It will be entitled ‘The Healing Pole,’” he said. “It’s not going to replace what we had, but sometimes we need to find a place where we can start to heal.”
The pole will be crafted by Samish carvers and sculptor Tracy Powell, said Rosie Cayou, a Samish cultural development coordinator. It will be auctioned to raise money for trestle restoration.
Cayou and Tsul-ton live at the tribe’s Fidalgo Bay RV Park and were there when the fire destroyed the center of the trestle. Cayou said Tsul-ton was one of many hurt by the fire.
“He could feel the fire inside of him. It destroyed a part of him,” she said.
Jonn Lunsford, manager of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands, offered the downed tree to the Samish Indian Nation. A large crew of city workers hauled the 26-foot cedar to the Samish Gallery of Native Arts downtown, and maneuvered it into Tsul-ton’s studio in the back.
“It comes together in a spiritual style. It’s almost a protocol of how the figures are presented on a totem or a story pole,” he said.
Tribal members will pray over the log.
“It has a life. You can feel the energy coming off the cedar,” he said.
The pole will reveal itself to the carvers: “This is what I look like. It will show me. We have to be accepting,” he said.
Community members are welcome to watch the carvers at work. Cayou said school groups will be invited.
Its final destination is unknown.
“It could end up next to the trail. It could go to a home somewhere else,” Tsul-ton said.
But he said wherever it is, the pole will still be standing in 500 years, and the good created with it will remain.
“That blessing and that healing will still be here in this area,” he said.
Read more local news in the Skagit Valley Herald and the Anacortes American, or read it online in the E-edition
