The affluence of the Pacific Northwest Indians aided the development of a
native art equaled by only a few other Native American groups. The forests
provided the Haida, the premier-wood carvers, with red cedars for carving
totem poles like the ones shown above. These wooden memorial monuments
(totem means "family" or "clan") were the most spectacular achievement of
the Northwestern artists. The figures represented on the poles symbolized
the owner's legendary descent from e beaver, wolf, eagle, bear, whale,
and so on. The poles were erected to establish status or serve as
memorials to the dead.