The Healing Heart Totem: Craig, Prince of Wales, AK

The Craig Inn Bar is just what you'd expect. Fishing folk just having some food and drinks. The restaurant didn't open for another 45 minutes, so we had a drink at the bar.  I sat next to Jeffrey. He was half Haida and half Tlingit and very proud.  Jeffery engraved metal jewelry and worked for the Klawock tribe. His first wife died of an overdose in Anchorage and left him with two kids. He remarried with some more kids and since divorced. The wife and kids are in Montana somewhere, and he has a trip planned this fall to visit them.

 

Kel sat next to a newcomer to Craig. She had just moved in and was a social worker for the Klawock tribe. We've heard several sad stories of suicide, poverty, declining fisheries, and drug addiction. Hard times in a hard but beautiful place. We get the sense that most locals and natives would not leave for any reason. 

Craig is a simple little town that centers around two protected harbors. All the boats here are fishing boats. There is some space for transients like us...first come, first served. During our 3 days here, there were 3 of us. The seine net boats all left when the salmon fishing opened for 2 days. They come and go; the town fills up and empties. 

The most memorable place in Craig was the "The Healing Heart Totem." It's 46.5 feet tall and carved from a 500 year old red cedar. A famous carver, Stan Marsden, carved the pole to honor his son, Jimmy, who died from a cocaine overdose in 1991.  We are all fragile and will all need healing. We just stumbled into this, but I will never forget it.  Below you can see the details and below that the inscriptions.