Lelooska Totem Pole (Kalama)

For nearly five decades a 140-foot carved pole towered over the Columbia River waterfront at Kalama, Washington. As of 2025 it is displayed inside a market hall, where, as one visitor put it, you are not craning your neck to see the top. The Port of Kalama says Chief Don Lelooska, described in its release as Clan Chief Gixken of the Kwakwaka'wakw, made the pole in the early 1960s, and it was regarded as one of the largest in the world. The Astorian, citing the Lelooska Foundation, describes him as of Cherokee descent. Three smaller poles on the Port waterfront were commissioned with it. The collection was leased first to the Kalama Chamber of Commerce and then to the Port, and in 2019 the commissioning family donated the poles to the Port.

Weathering forced the large pole's removal in 2019. A restoration led by Chief Tsungani, Lelooska's younger brother, followed, with the Lelooska Foundation. According to a 2025 item in The Astorian, which quoted a social media post, it took over 700 pounds of epoxy to stabilise the wood. Rather than raising the pole outside again, the Port announced a public rededication for 18 February 2024 inside the Mountain Timber Market, after consulting the Cowlitz Indian Tribe on the display; The Astorian reported in April 2025 that the pole is on view there.