Chief Kno-Tah

Chief Kno-Tah was a wooden statue located in Shute Park in Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Carved by Peter Wolf Toth, it was the 56th Native American head in his Trail of the Whispering Giants series. The 25-foot (7.6 m) tall, 250,000-pound (110,000 kg) statue was the first of two carved by Toth in Oregon. Completed in 1987, the statue was named in honor of a chief of the local Tualatin Indians. In early 2017, the statue was damaged by a tree blown over in a windstorm. It was ultimately determined to be beyond repair and was removed in June 2017.

Chief Kno-Tah
The sculpture in 2010
ArtistPeter Wolf Toth
Year1987 (1987)
TypeSculpture
MediumWood
Dimensions7.6 m (25 ft)
LocationHillsboro, Oregon, United States
Coordinates45°30′47″N 122°58′27″W

History
Front of the sculpture along with city park sign

Toth selected Shute Park in Hillsboro for his first sculpture of a Native American head in Oregon in July 1987.[1] He wanted a location in the Portland metropolitan area to allow easy access for a large population to see the statue that would include features drawn from Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe in northeastern Oregon.[2] For his Trail of the Whispering Giants series, Toth carved a statue in each U.S. state with Oregon as the penultimate state.[1][3][4] He began sculpting that month on a log of Douglas fir, Oregon's state tree.[5] The 250,000-pound (110,000 kg) log was donated by Stimson Lumber Company and delivered free of charge by local companies.[6]

On August 13, the partly carved log was lifted onto its base at the park along Tualatin Valley Highway by J. L. Craigg Construction.[5][6] Toth carved it by hand, except for the use of an electric sander.[2] The statue was later treated with wood preservatives and fiberglass was applied to the top to protect against the weather.[7]

On September 25, 1987, the sculpture was dedicated as Chief Kno-Tah in a ceremony featuring Native American singing and dancing.[8] About 400 attended the ceremony on a day proclaimed as United American Indian Day by Hillsboro mayor Shirley Huffman.[9] City and county civic leaders as well as local Native American leaders spoke at the ceremony.[9] Kno-Tah was the leader of the Tualatin band of the Kalapuya group, who signed a treaty in 1855 with the government to cede their ancestral home on the Tualatin Plains to pioneer settlers.[7] Students at the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon, selected the name from submissions from local residents.[7]

The 25-foot (7.6 m) tall statue was Toth's 56th in his series of Native American heads.[8] Toth donated the statue to the state as he did with each in the series.[8][10] A plaque on the base was later added.[7][11] After completing the statue, he carved a second statue in Oregon in Astoria later that year to honor coastal tribes.[12] Until 1996, a picture of the sculpture was used by the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce for their postcards.[13] In February 2017, the top of the carving was damaged when a wind storm blew an adjacent tree into the front side, shearing off part of the head and causing the entire statue to lean.[14] On June 15, 2017, after officials deemed the leaning statue a safety concern, it was removed.[15]

Description

Chief Kno-Tah was made of Douglas fir and was 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, and 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter (19 cubic metres, 9.9 tonnes).[11] The concrete base was 2 feet (0.61 m) tall and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter.[11] The figure featured braided hair with feathers protruding from the back.[11]

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See also

References
  1. "Hillsboro chosen statue site". The Oregonian. July 16, 1987.
  2. Warren, Lucille (July 18, 1987). "Statue carver honoring Indians with big effort". The Hillsboro Argus.
  3. Keepfer, Scott (June 25, 2002). "Finding the Toths". The Greenville News. p. 3D.
  4. Geeslin, Ned; Cable Neuhaus (September 5, 1988). "Peter Toth has heads–up works in every state, so Canada is next". People. Time Inc.: 133.
  5. "Easy does it". The Oregonian. August 16, 1987. p. C7.
  6. Steineger, Melissa (July 27, 1987). "Sculptor to tell Indian story in Hillsboro". The Oregonian.
  7. "Chief Kno-Tah draws great deal of attention". Hillsboro Argus. October 8, 1987.
  8. "Festivities to greet 'Whispering Giant' at park in Hillsboro". The Oregonian. September 24, 1987. p. W1.
  9. Chidester, Bill (September 29, 1987). "'No-Tah' statue dedicated". The Hillsboro Argus. p. 1.
  10. "Sculptor to discuss his work in Hillsboro". The Oregonian. September 21, 1987. p. B7.
  11. "Chief Kno-Tah, (sculpture)". Art Inventories Catalog. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  12. Servino, Carol (November 3, 1987). "Toth's 'Trail of Tears' statue rises amid controversy in Astoria". The Oregonian. p. B4.
  13. Gonzalez, Critine (October 3, 1996). "West Zoner: Briefly: For some, high-tech is old hat when it comes". The Oregonian. p. 1.
  14. Pursinger, Geoff (February 3, 2017). "Chief Kno-Tah statue injured by falling tree". Hillsboro Tribune. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  15. Pursinger, Geoff (June 15, 2017). "No more Kno-Tah. Statue removed early Thursday morning from Shute Park". Hillsboro Tribune. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
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