Two Eagles Above the President
Near the top of a cedar pole on the Swinomish Reservation in Washington state: a bust of Franklin Roosevelt. At the very top, above him: two eagles, one male, one female.
The pole is sixty-two feet tall. It went up in 1938, paid for by the Works Progress Administration and carved by Native workers. The carving was led by Charlie Edwards, a Swinomish man of eighty-three.
Roosevelt's bust was designed by Eva Robb, of the Tulalip Reservation. It marks the increased powers of self-government Native nations gained during the Roosevelt years. Below the president: the stories the pole exists for. The Maiden of Deception Pass stands at the base. So does Twu-yalets-sa, a boy who killed too many animals. Between them, the sun, the moon, Mink, a mountain goat. The legends of the Swinomish, Samish, Lower Skagit, and Upper Skagit. A whole reservation's memory, in cedar.
Edwards lettered the bust with the initials FDR. The letters were painted over with a picture of the American flag. When he damaged Roosevelt's nose, he carved a new one himself. The president was a guest here, not a king: he got a place in the story, and the eagles kept the top.
Dedication day was August 20, 1938: games, dances, canoe races, speeches. Roosevelt was invited. He did not come. John Collier, the commissioner of Indian Affairs, spoke about the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Life magazine covered the pole that year. The nearby town of La Conner saw a tourist draw, and it became one.
In 1963 the pole came down. In 1989 the tribe raised a replica. The original figures were repaired and installed at the tribe's Social Services Building, where the paperwork of self-government happens quietly, every day.
People carve who they were into what they build, and hope it outlives them. The Swinomish put a president near the top and left the top to the birds. The pole wore out twice. The story just moved buildings.
(Real facts: Swinomish totem pole, Skagit County, Washington. Carving led by Charlie Edwards, then 83; bust designed by Eva Robb, Tulalip; dedicated August 20, 1938; WPA-funded; original removed 1963, replica installed 1989; original figures repaired into the Swinomish Social Services Building. Source: Wikipedia, “Swinomish totem pole”. Facts kept, emphasis mine.)
If you carry a fact and want the story inside it: [email protected]. The first five facts are free while this door is new. After that, $10 buys a short letter like this one, $20 a full page. Deal first, always. (This sample is the $10 shape: one fact, one short letter.)