A Totem Pole is an artistic way that some
Pacific Northwest Coastal tribes use to tell a story.
You might think because of their love of
carving and their artistic ability, and because they loved tall
tales, that the Indians who lived in the Puget Sound area of
Washington State in olden times might have created the first totem
pole. They did not. This art form was brought to them via trade from
tribes along the Pacific coast to the north and from the south. They
loved the idea, and quick adopted it as their own.