Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park: Route 66’s Most Unexpected Attraction

[00:00:06]Here we are outside of Chelsea, Oklahoma, to see the amazing totem poles made by Ed Galloway. This totem pole park by Ed Galloway has got to be one of the more unique things to look at along Route 66. Ed Galloway was an artist and between 1937 and 1963, he built these totem poles that I'll show you in a second kind of as a way of honoring Native Americans. So, it's a very, very unusual spot. There's a great quote from him here that says, "All my life I did the best I knew and I built these things by the side of the road to be a friend to you."

[00:00:47]That's a fun way to think of this area and wait till you see what exactly this is. There's also a cool little guest area, so let's take a look around.

[00:01:01]Look at all these epic things that he built and it's so cool to see the creativity of people like this man and devoted his life to his art and then once again left it for those of us what 1948 uh like many, many years later, 80 years later uh to enjoy.

[00:01:25]The park was the life's work of Nathan Edward Ed Galloway, a self-taught artist born in Missouri in 1880.

[00:01:33]>> [music] >> Before becoming known as a folk artist, Galloway spent more than 20 years teaching woodworking and manual arts to boys at a school near Tulsa. After retiring in 1937, he and his wife settled on a small farm outside of Foil.

[00:01:47]Rather than slowing down, Galloway embarked on an ambitious artistic project that would occupy him for more than a decade. Working almost every day from sunrise until evening, Galloway constructed his massive totem pole using an astonishing amount of material, approximately 6 tons of steel, 28 tons of cement, and hundreds of tons of sand and rock gathered by from nearby streams. When completed in 1948, the towering structure reached about 90 ft high, its broad base nearly 30 ft across, and it rests upon a giant painted turtle referencing the Native American story of Turtle Island, in which the earth rests on the back of a turtle.

[00:02:33]The totem pole is covered with more than 200 colorful bas-relief carvings.

[00:02:38]Although near the top stand four large figures representing famous Native American leaders like Quanah Parker, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Chief Joseph.

[00:02:49]So, there you see, completed in 1948.

[00:02:52]And you can actually go inside. Let's see what it looks like inside here.

[00:02:59]Cool painted walls.

[00:03:03]And you can look up there.

[00:03:08]Oh my goodness, it all goes all the way up to the top. So, it's not solid. It's hollow inside, and that must have been how he was able to build it by having it be hollow on the inside.

[00:03:22]You can see the obvious >> [snorts] >> Native American theme that he was clearly very, very influenced by in putting these structures together.

[00:03:33]This is the story of the large totem.

[00:03:36]Look at how incredible that is.

[00:03:38]These are a couple interesting, I don't know, they look like owls.

[00:03:42]This lion was made by him in 1915.

[00:03:46]Visitors can also explore the remarkable 11-sided fiddle house representing a Native American Hogan where Galloway displayed many of the hundreds of violins and wood carvings that he produced during his lifetime. While many of the original fiddles were stolen after his death, a significant collection remains on display and they are amazing.

[00:04:11]Based on this photograph of this castle in Switzerland.

[00:04:16]Look at that.

[00:04:18]That is incredibly done.

[00:04:25]This is an amazing piece that he made.

[00:04:30]Apparently, people sent him wood from all over the world and he was able to craft these incredibly beautiful fiddles.

[00:04:41]These things are amazing. Look how incredibly beautiful these fiddles are that this man made.

[00:04:50]>> [snorts] >> And this one has something to do with oriental wood from Australia.

[00:04:58]This one is made of rosewood.

[00:05:01]This one says it's something called briar root.

[00:05:05]wood So, this one once again is called boxwood. There's a key that goes along and shows you what kind of wood each of the fiddles was made from.

[00:05:17]Thank you so much for watching this brief video.

[00:05:20]I hope to see you on the next one.