BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022 A5
LOCAL & STATE
Totem
are crystal-clear, even 26 years
after the fact.
Continued from Page A3
She remembers the bright
glow of the tamarack after
“My saw is like an instru-
Ralph White finished carving it.
ment, like a banjo or guitar, and
“It was the most beauti-
it’s music to my ears,” he told
ful wood you have ever seen,”
the newspaper. “When I look
she said, eyes shining with the
at a log, I know it’s going to be
memory. “It should have been
an eagle or a fish. They’re there spar-varnished at the time to
and I just have to release them.” preserve the color, but it wasn’t.”
His biggest pro-
And she remem-
duction to date was a
bers exactly why her
carved entryway for
husband carved it.
the Baker City Truck
“He carved it as a
Corral, which featured
tribute to Chief Ray-
two 25-foot poles
mond Burke.”
supporting a 60-foot
crossbeam, the article
Personal connection
said, but he planned to
Raymond “Pop-
Heiniger-
top that with the John
corn” Burke died on
White
Day totem pole — at
June 27, 2006.
50 feet tall, it would be the big-
In 1995 he was the chief of
gest in Oregon.
the Confederated Tribes of the
The article doesn’t say any- Umatilla Indian Reservation,
thing about the motivation for which lies between Pendleton
the totem pole project other
and La Grande and is home to
than to mention it was be-
the Umatilla, Walla Walla and
ing carved for the Strawberry Cayuse nations.
Wilderness Fine Art Gallery, a
And he was Ralph White’s
business that no longer exists. friend.
The only other record of it in
As Heiniger-White remem-
the newspaper’s files from that bers it, her husband had a
time is a photo of the finished genuine affinity for Native
pole lying on the side of Day- American culture and tra-
ton Street, about to be hoisted ditions that was reflected in
into place by a crane.
his art. And he wanted to do
Margot Heiniger-White’s
something to honor his friend.
memories of the pole’s carving
“He had such a deep respect
have faded a bit with the years. for the Native American peo-
In an interview with the
ple and respect for Chief Ray-
newspaper, she remembered
mond Burke.”
that there had been some sort
An article that appeared in
of an arrangement with a man the Dec. 3, 1995, Seattle Times
who owned a store to place the fills in some more blank spots
totem pole near his business
in the totem pole’s story.
because “the land was free.”
Written by Carol Command
for Pendleton’s East Oregonian
She couldn’t remember the
newspaper, the article says the
man’s last name but thought
his first name might have been pole had its genesis as a pro-
Ray. And she couldn’t remem- motional gimmick.
As Command tells the tale,
ber the name of the business.
But some of her recollections Ray Potter, owner of the Straw-
Totem pole symbols
The John Day totem pole is
adorned with four stylized
animal carvings, each with
its own symbolic meaning.
Eagle: The Great Spirit
Fish: The food of life
Turtle: Eternal life
Beaver: The Great Builder
After that, a dozen or more
people got up and stood in
a circle, including Labhart,
White, Burke and a number of
tribal members.
“We passed a peace pipe
around,” Labhart said. “Each of
us took a toke off the pipe and
passed it around.”
He agrees with Heini-
ger-White that the totem pole
is in need of some serious TLC.
“It’s in pretty bad shape,”
Labhart said. “It probably
needs to be pressure-washed,
maybe patched up a little.”
And he also thinks she’s
right when she says it ought to
be moved.
“A lot of people don’t even
know it’s there because of its
location.”
a century as a place for tribes
from throughout the region to
gather for trade.
“Burke honored White and
Potter with Indian names, and
the carving of the pole and its
Bennett Hall/Blue Mountain Eagle blessing ceremony drew many
The John Day totem pole can be
supporters,” the article states.
hard for passing motorists to see. “To further sanction the event,
the three friends and the town
berry Wilderness Fine Art
fathers smoked a pipe beside the Next chapter
In December, Heini-
Gallery, was looking for some- ancient tamarack’s new home.”
ger-White took her concerns
thing to attract customers to
about the totem pole to John
the gallery’s new location just Making history
A plaque at the base of the
Day’s current mayor, Ron
off Main Street in John Day,
pole commemorates the event. Lundbom. He heard her out,
and he asked his artist friend
“Erected August 21, 1995,”
then he went to see for him-
Ralph White for advice.
self — and found that he
White’s suggestion: “A totem it reads. “This totem pole is a
symbol of friendship and peace agreed with her.
pole; it stops ’em every time.”
from all of Grant County to
“It needs something done,”
Once the idea was hatched,
Raymond Burke and all of the he said. “I stopped by and
several things came together
Umatilla-Walla Walla-Cayuse looked at it, and it definitely has
neatly to make it a reality: A
local logger provided the mas- Tribe who lived here before us.” seen its better days.”
Chris Labhart remembers
Lundbom brought the mat-
sive tamarack trunk, the local
that day. He was mayor at the
ter up at a City Council meet-
Ford dealership provided the
ing, and the consensus was that
land and the local electric utility time, and he was one of the
the city should pay to have the
agreed to set the nine-ton pole honored guests in attendance
at the blessing ceremony.
pole cleaned up and sealed with
in place — all at no cost.
The intersection was closed oil or varnish. The mayor esti-
The story goes on to talk
to traffic for the occasion,
mates the work could be done
about the historical connec-
for about $500 or so, and the
tion between the people of the he said, and the weather was
perfect. He remembers tribal plan is to do it this spring.
Confederated Tribes of the
members in ceremonial re-
He also thinks Heini-
Umatilla Indian Reservation
ger-White has a point when
and the John Day area — as re- galia, and Native American
she says the totem pole needs
membered by Chief Raymond drummers playing their in-
struments. Several people
a new home.
Burke. As a boy in the 1930s,
spoke, including a tribal his-
“I all but forgot about it — I
Burke recalled bringing his
walk by it every day, but I didn’t
grandmother and other female torian who talked about his
people’s traditional connec-
really notice it anymore,” Lund-
elders to the area, which he
tion to John Day.
bom said.
said had served for more than
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“We talked about moving it
to a more prominent location,
but the problem is where?”
Heiniger-White, as you
might expect, has some
thoughts on that subject.
“I think it needs to be some-
where it can be seen,” she said.
“And the place I would like to
see it put is at the entrance to
John Day.”
Specifically, she thinks it
should be relocated to the
small patch of city-owned
land by the bridge over Can-
yon Creek at the corner of
Main and Third Streets.
Labhart says he’s not sure
that’s the best spot. He points
out that while the totem pole
might catch the eye of pass-
ing motorists at that location,
there’s no place for them to park
if they want to get out of their
cars and admire it.
A better place, he suggests,
might be the Pit Stop, an-
other city-owned property on
the site of the former Wright
Chevrolet dealership at Main
and Canton. Or maybe one
block north on Canton, where
the Oregon Department of
Parks and Recreation is plan-
ning a multimillion-dollar
expansion of the Kam Wah
Chung State Heritage Site?
“To me, it would make more
sense to put it in that new state
park,” Labhart said. “It’s not
Chinese, but it’s part of the cul-
ture … (and) a lot of people
would see it.”
Ultimately, Heiniger-White
wants to do right by the totem
pole. She thinks that’s what
the man who carved it — her
late husband, Ralph White —
would want if he were here to
speak for himself.
“I feel strongly that I am the
messenger for him,” she said,
“because he’s passed on.”
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Baker County
CHURCH
DIRECTORY
THE CHURCH OF
JESUS CHRIST OF
LATTER-DAY SAINTS
Sunday Worship
First Service 8:30 am
2nd Service & Sunday School
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Tues 6:30 pm
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675 Hwy 7, Baker City • 541-523-5425
FIRST
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CHURCH
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541-523-5201
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541-523-2397
Third & Broadway
541-523-3891
Sunday School
8:30am
Daily Masses:
M, T, Th, F 9 am
Day Chapel in Cathedral
Wed Daily Mass 9 am
at St. Alphonsus Chapel
Sat 8 am at Day Chapel
Baker City Saturday Mass 6 pm
Baker City Sunday Mass 9:30 am
St. Therese in Halfway 2 pm Sat
St. Anthony's in North Powder
11:30 Sun
541-523-4521
Corner of First & Church, Baker City
Pastor Troy Teeter
1250 Hughes Lane, Baker City
(Corner of Cedar & Hughes)
541-523-3533
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2177 First Street • Baker City
Entrance on 1st Street
Corner Church & First Streets
541-523-4812
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SAINT
ALPHONSUS
HOSPITAL CHAPEL
WORSHIP GATHERING
10:00 AM
Open to all patients,
family and friends for
reflection and prayer.
Harvest Cafe Open
9:00 AM - 9:50 AM
3720 Birch St, Baker City
541-523-4233
www.BakerCityHarvest.org
St. Alphonsus Hospital in
Baker City
CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE CHURCH
Elkhorn Baptist
Church
Sunday Service
10:00 am
Sunday School 10 am
Morning Worship 11 am
Evening Worship 6 pm
Discovery Kids Worship
6:30 pm
3520 Birch St, Baker City
541-523-4332
www.ChristianScience.com
3rd & Washington, Baker City
541-523-5911
St. Stephen’s
Episcopal
Services at 9 am
1st & 3rd Sundays, Holy Eucharist
2nd & 4th Sundays, Morning Prayer
5th Sunday, Morning Prayer
www.bakercitysda.com
17th & Pocahontas, Baker City
541-523-4913
Established
1904
bakercalvarybaptist.com
Sunday Worship
9:45am
Saturday Worship
11:00 am
St. Francis De
Sales Cathedral
Third & Broadway
Sundays
541-523-3891
9 AM Sunday School
10 AM Worship Service
Mondays
6:30 - 8 PM
Baker Teens Underground
Wednesdays
5:30-6:30 PM Dinner & Prayer Time
Thursdays
5 - 6 PM Free Community Dinner
6 - 7 PM Celebrate Recovery
SEVENTH-DAY
ADVENTIST
CHURCH
Baker & Haines
United
Methodist
Churches
Baker UMC, 1919 2nd St, at 11am
Haines UMC, 814 Robert St, at 9am
To join us on Zoom email
bakerumc@thegeo.net
and the link will be emailed to you
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Pastor Michele Holloway
ST. BRIGID’S IN THE
PINES COMMUNITY
CHURCH
11:30 a.m. Services
1st & 3rd Sunday
Holy Eucharist
East Auburn Street, Sumpter
541-523-4812
A Mission of St. Stephen's Episcopal
Church in Baker City
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LUTHERAN
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541-523-3922
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AGAPE
CHRISTIAN
CENTER
Sunday Services
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South Highway 7,
Baker City
541-523-6586
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523-5756 • CCB 103032
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