KOONA ‘Grizzly Bear House’—frontal pole

Located in Prince Rupert since 1935 this is a copy made in 1965. Comparison with the original (right) shows “shark woman’s” fins missing, replaced with a third watchman in 1935. The Emily Carr painting from her 1907 trip to the Charlottes suggests the lower fin lost by that date—(see far right of that painting)

Dawson photo at Koona 1878

Grizzly Bear: lower figure

As Smyly (1973) point out this pole dates from a time when hinged doors had become popular as seen in photos and thus the “entrance hole” usually seen in frontal poles is absent.

Bear Mother or Grizzly Bear? Most interpreters have no doubt lower figure is “Bear Mother” from the Haida legends. MacDonald though just calls it “Grizzly Bear” when he is looking at Dawson’s picture And it does look like the original has been modified and perhaps re-interpreted. Thus the protruding tongue (left) is easily a labret, but is it in the original? And are those ‘knees’ now gone?

Detail from Dawson photo 1878

Shark Woman----2^nd figure

Perhaps it is the association with Bill Reid’s famous sculpture “Black Canoe” that makes Shark Woman the more intriguing. According to some, she became a symbol for his wife. (See Book Review on this site)

Shark Woman? Note the cheek gill slits and the high forehead (lost in the Jeffrey duplication—perhaps it was decayed beyond recognition). The tongue is a labret signifying a woman. The pectoral fins show up nicely in the left photo

Detail from Dawson photo 1878

Upper figures

Sculpin There are two identical ones at Koona. Known by its wide upturned protruding mouth (not so clear in Jeffrey’s copy), the chevron represents the sculpin’s backbone and the two ’horns’ are its spines or cirri. Snag? Is that a human figure (Smyly) or is it Tca-Maos (Supernatural Snag) (MacDonald), riding the shark? Jeffrey seemed to think the latter, thus compare to Rainbow House’s Snag. Still note the non-human “ears” left do not appear on the original (right). Note too the overall similarity to the other Prince Rupert Koona finned pole, Alder House where a human(?) figure also grasps the dorsal fin of killer whale and “snag” is above holding the tail

Alder House	City Hall	Raven
Grizzly Bear House	Hospital Hill	Raven
Rainbow House	Fulton St	Eagle
Koona	Main site
Ninstints	Last year file