Canadian Totem Pole
Totem poles were carved wooden poles made by Native Americans. The word "totem poles" was a name given to these poles by the Europeans. Totem poles were often used to identify families of Native Americans. There were two types of totem poles. One was a totem pole to memorialize the dead. The other kind of totem pole is a decorative pole. The totem poles were sometimes used for trading.
The very old totem poles have rotted or have fallen down. Now people are starting to save totem poles. Totem pole carving almost died out between the 1880's and the 1950's. The totem poles told stories with pictures. Reading those stories now interests the public.
Programs to save the totem poles have been funded. One problem has been that it is difficult to gather all the totem poles. The people who wanted to preserve the totem poles held many meetings. Finally they began to preserve the poles. Now they are starting to save the totem poles.
