Oklahoma became the 46th state on Nov. 16, 1907. Before this time it was known as Indian Territory.

Many different Indian tribes from various parts of the country had been sent to Indian Territory to live. The Indian heritage is part of the Oklahoma culture.

While in Oklahoma recently, I noticed in one of their travel brochures there was a Totem Pole Park near Claremore containing a 90 foot tall totem pole. I had to check that out.

The park is near Foyil, Okla., just a short side trip off old Route 66 on Oklahoma Highway 28A.You can see the giant totem pole sticking up above the tree tops before you arrive at the park.

At the parking area you see many smaller totem poles scattered around the park. After getting out of the car you head toward the giant totem pole for a better look at the artwork on the side of it. About halfway across the park you notice a door in its side; you can actually go inside it.

You enter the door, and inside is a larg,e round room with paintings all around the wall. On one side is a plaque giving details about the giant totem pole.

The world’s largest totem pole was built by Ed Galloway, working from 1937 to 1948. It is 90 feet tall, 18 feet in diameter, and 54 feet in circumference at the base. It is made from 100 tons of sand and rock, 28 tons of cement and six tons of steel. There are 200 different carved pictures with four, nine-foot-tall Indian chiefs near the top.

Exiting the room at the base of the totem pole and starting around the side, you see what looks like a foot of some large prehistoric creature coming out of the base. Take a few more steps, and you spot another large foot. When you get around to the back side the mystery is solved. There you see a giant turtle head. This large totem pole is constructed upon the back of a giant turtle.

The other totem poles are of the standard variety, averaging six to 20 feet tall. One is a little different from the others. It is in the shape of a giant arrowhead about 18 feet tall. All the totem poles have one thing in common, they are all made of concrete.

Another structure I wanted to check out was the 11 sided fiddle house. The walls were made of concrete with totem poles between the sections holding it up. This is now the museum and gift shop.

Inside you find out more about the man that made all of this happen.

Nathan Edward Galloway was born in Missouri in 1880. He developed his carving abilities as a child by carving small wooden items. He was a self-taught artist and craftsman. After serving a stint in the Army right after 1900, he returned to Missouri. Here he started to carve massive sculptures from tree trunks, combining human figures with fish and reptiles.

Galloway’s work soon caught the eye of Sand Springs founder and philanthropist Charles Page. He was soon employed as a manual arts instructor at the Sand Springs Home. For the next 20 years he taught woodworking to the boys at the Children’s Home orphanage in Sand Springs.

Galloway retired from teaching in 1937 and moved to Foyil and started working on Totem Pole Park. This was to be a monument to the American Indian.

For the next 25 years he worked on building this park and showing it to neighbors and tourists traveling U.S. 66.

During this time Ed also continued doing woodwork. In 1948-49 he built the 11 sided fiddle house, so called because it contained a collection of some 300 fiddles he had made. Each fiddle was made from a different exotic wood, the wood coming from many different countries of the world. None of the fiddles have had strings put on them.

There are several wood-inlay pictures on display along with some wood-inlay tabletops. Many of the fiddles on display had wood-inlay pictures on the back. Galloway was quite a craftsman.

Galloway died in 1962, and the park was left untended for several years. However, the concrete totem poles survived. Members of the Galloway family, his friends, and friends of the totem pole have restored it so it can again be a roadside stop for the traveler and a museum for Galloway’s wonderful folk art.

In 1999 the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.