Last week, an Alaska Coach Tours bus backed into a totem pole at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.
The pole, one of the oldest in downtown Juneau, has a small dent now. City engineers have made sure that it’s still stable. But for the son of the man who carved the pole 57 years ago, the accident was a reminder of what the piece means to him — and to his father’s legacy.
The next day, Brian Wallace stood on the sidewalk near the museum. He pointed at skid marks where the bus jumped the curb while turning around on the narrow, two-way street.
“Well, I was assuming the worst,” he said.
His father, Amos Wallace, carved the pole when Brian was a kid.
The pole, also known as a kootéeyaa, has stood outside the museum for over 50 years. Wallace said he remembers helping his dad with it, pulling large patches of bark off the felled tree.
Amos died twenty years ago.
Wallace said he rushed to the museum the moment he had a break from work after hearing about the accident. He’s glad the damage was minimal, but he said the pole is irreplaceable.
“The dent is not that big, but, well, if you dent a little Volkswagen Bug, no big deal,” he said. “You can get it fixed. This is one of a kind. If something terrible happens to it, it’s gone. A part of my dad’s legacy would be gone.”
This wasn’t the first time Wallace has seen someone damage the pole.
“Twenty years ago, I was driving by and I saw a couple of clowns who had climbed up on this — they were getting their family photo taken. I slammed the brakes right there and got on my truck and came and got them off,” he said
He pointed to another dent on the pole.
“And that was knocked off by one of the boys that was on top of it,” Wallace said.
Last summer, Sealaska Heritage Institute got reports that cruise tourists were climbing on some of the new poles along the Seawalk. They put up signs about the importance and sacredness of kootéeyaa to Southeast Alaska Native people.
For Wallace, this pole matters on a deeply personal level, too.
“This thing is real near and dear to me. I remember dad carving it when I was six years old in 1967,” he said. “And it’s a great sense of pride for me every time I come by and have a look at that. Yeah, my dad did that.”
City Museum Director Beth Weigel said Alaska Coach Tours representatives came to the museum and told her the driver was trying to get to the Alaska State Museum and got confused, then tried to turn around when they realized the error.
“We’re really grateful to the community for alerting us immediately to what they witnessed, and that we’re grateful to the tour company for being so responsive and helpful in resolving any issues that have resulted from the accident,” she said.
A representative from Alaska Coach Tours said in an email that the driver reported the accident to management.
