Edmonton’s landmark Sunwapta totem pole museum-boundNew Royal Alberta Museum will restore and display itBy Lana Cuthbertson, edmontonjournal.com
July 6, 2011 7:01 PM
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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Edm ... story.htmlEDMONTON - The landmark Sunwapta totem pole stood in front of CFRN TV’s west-end location from 1964 until 1989.
It has since wound its way through Alberta to end up in the lobby of the Royal Alberta Museum, awaiting restoration and eventual display.
The totem pole began as a piece of cedar driftwood on the West Coast. Chief Joe Mathias, a well-known carver, made totem poles there and sold them to lumber companies. One of the poles ended up with the Muttart family of Edmonton in the 1930s.
Dr. Dick Rice, owner of Sunwapta, bought the totem pole from the Muttart family in the 1950s. When the Sunwapta Broadcasting station moved from downtown Edmonton to west Edmonton in 1964, the totem pole was displayed.
In 1989, the station underwent renovations. University of Alberta art professor Ken Macklin visited the station to look for scrap metal. Instead, he found the totem pole in a garbage bin on the property. He took it home, where it sat in his yard for five years.
Macklin sold the totem pole to George Suntjens, a campground owner, in 1994 for $450. Suntjens displayed the pole on his campground near New Sarepta and decided to auction it off last September. That’s when some employees at CTV heard about the pole.
“I was alerted to the sale by my cousin, who works with the Athabasca historical resources program,” said John Hanson, who has worked as a camera operator and photographer at the station for almost 25 years.
“I remember it from growing up in Edmonton, it was a landmark and a broadcasting icon,” Hanson said.
He and two co-workers decided they would buy the totem pole and donate it to an institution that could take care of it.
But when they started bidding, they realized they had a serious competitor.
“Another fellow was bidding fast and furious,” Hanson said. The fellow was Ken Adams, whose wife thought she might like the totem pole for their garden near Whitecourt.
Hanson introduced himself to Adams and explained the situation. Adams eventually agreed to sell it to the group of employees for what he had paid for it at auction: $3,000.
One hundred and eight former and current employees of the station donated money to cover the cost. Leftover money will help cover restoration.
Cody Mathias, grandson of the original carver, will restore the Sunwapta totem pole. It will be displayed in the new Royal Alberta Museum slated to open in 2014.