Totem pole mystery deepens

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2018-06-23

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Do you know what happened to the totem pole that stood at the entrance to Uncanny Canyon above Casey State Park? — J.J. We’re now in our third installment of the totem pole mystery as we continue trying to answer your question, J.J. For those not familiar with the totem pole, it stood at the entrance to the Uncanny Canyon tourist attraction that was submerged after construction of Lost Creek Dam north of Shady Cove. In our first two Since You Asked articles, we reported the totem pole had been auctioned off by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and purchased by Medford resident Clint Neeley, who restored it and set it up in the yard of his Madrona Lane house. A neighbor told us Neeley may have taken the totem pole with him when he moved to a rural property somewhere near the U.S. Forest Service J. Herbert Stone Nursery and Madrone Trail Charter School, formerly known as the West Side School, between Central Point and Jacksonville. That’s where the trail ran cold. But now Neeley’s nephew, Gary Edwards of Medford, has called us to say Neeley did in fact move to that area and lived on Erline Way off Old Stage Road. However, Neeley did not put the totem pole up on his new property. The interior of the base was rotten and Neeley planned to someday strengthen the core with fiberglass, Edwards said. “It sat on blocks in his shop. As he got older, he was less able to do the necessary repairs,” said Edwards, who sometimes helped Neeley with chores and projects on the property. Neeley passed away in 1993 and his sons, who don’t live in the Rogue Valley, had to liquidate the belongings on the property, Edwards said. Edwards said he believes the totem pole was sold to someone, but he doesn’t know who. In part because of the size, he thinks it was probably bought by someone in the valley. “I don’t know who ended up with it and what condition it’s in and whether they still have it,” he said. Edwards said he and Neeley both have Cherokee ancestry. Edwards said he has a general interest in American Indian history because of his heritage. Following in his uncle’s footsteps, Edwards bought a 6-foot-tall totem pole when he was visiting Arizona in about 2005. He keeps it in a hobby room in his house in east Medford. “I happened on one down south and thought, ‘This will be a smaller substitute for the one Clint had,’” he said. “It was kind of a spontaneous purchase.” Edwards said he would still like to know what became of the Uncanny Canyon totem pole. “Personally, I’d like to have it. It would probably be an awful lot of work to get it in a condition to be suitable for outside,” he said. If you have information about the totem pole, please call 541-776-4486 or email [email protected] . Maybe we’ll have Part IV of the totem pole mystery. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected] .