Kitwancool Totem Poles, British Columbia

Issue #038 - Driving the Alaska Highway

The British Columbian village of Kitwancool has one of the finest collections of totem poles in the Pacific Northwest. Looking at a map of the area, you’ll see that the town of Prince Rupert sits on the British Columbia Coast at the western end of the Yellowhead Highway also called Highway 16. A hundred miles east of Prince Rupert, a side road crosses the Skeena River and heads north. This is the Cassiar Highway or Highway 37. This road heads north through British Columbia to the Yukon. Ten miles north of the intersection of Highways 16 and 37 lies the village called Kitwancool.This small village has one of the largest collections of ancient and recently-carved totem poles in this area. Kitwancool has about twenty totem poles in a large park on the eastern edge of the village.