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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



After an occupancy of considerably more than 100 years by the 

 Kaigani family of the Haida, Kasaan was abandoned. About the 

 year 1900 its entire population removed to the newly established vil- 

 lage of New Kasaan some 40 miles distant on another arm of the 

 same Kasaan Bay. This removal was due to the establishment of a 

 salmon cannery there and to the offer of good wages during the 

 canning season. This proved too much of an inducement to the Kas- 

 aan natives who were only too ready to adopt white man's ways and 

 wages and who had already forgotten most of their ancestral lore in 



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Fig. 181. — Western end of Old Kasaan showing cemetery with carved 

 memorial columns representing the family crests of killer-whale, sea lion, 

 eagle, and bear. The dense forest growth in the background is mostly Douglas 

 spruce, hemlock, and yellow cedar. 



woodcraft and decorative art. No new totem pole has been built for 

 more than 50 years and the art of totem pole carving is lost to the 

 present generation. 



As Kasaan appears today, after being abandoned for more than 

 a quarter of a century, there is practically nothing remaining to 

 remind one of its former glory but a row of tall totem poles facing 

 the beach, still standing as erect as they were when placed there many 

 years ago. The most recently erected pole is more than 50 years old 

 and remains in a fair state of preservation. Many of the older poles 

 still have sound heart wood, although the incised surface carvings 

 crumble to the touch. The oldest poles have completely rotted away 



