This park and 18-foot totem pole were part of an early 1970s Rotary Club of West Seattle project to beautify a derelict, overgrown parcel of city land. The totem pole, featuring traditional Northwest Native symbols of a thunderbird, whale, beaver, and raven, was carved by Robin Young and was installed at the new viewpoint, along with landscaping and benches, in 1976. Over the years the small park was uneventfully maintained by Rotarians and the city parks department, including several refurbishments of the pole.
However, things took a dramatic turn in 2009, when the pole was stolen in broad daylight with the unwitting assistance of a crane company, a towing service, and Seattle Police! A local man, under the guise of working for the Seattle Arts Commission, hired a crane truck to remove the pole and transport it to a rural property near Black Diamond, ostensibly to conduct restoration work. On November 30, 2009 at approximately 5:00pm, the crane truck arrived and removed the pole, only to get stuck in the mud at the viewpoint while trying to pull back onto the road. The driver called a tow truck to pull the truck out of the mud, and police were brought in to divert traffic on 35th Ave SW during the process. The crane truck was successfully unmired, and everyone departed none-the-wiser to the heist they were abetting.
Several days later a tip to West Seattle Blog led to the Parks Department discovering that the pole had been stolen, and from there police were easily able to track down the towing company they had assisted with traffic control, then the crane truck company, and finally the man responsible for the heist, who purportedly wanted to install the pole in a new lakeside house he was building in rural King County. After a few days of investigation and finding probable cause to arrest the suspect, he directed police to a parking lot in Keizer, Oregon, where the missing totem pole (along with another, taken from a Fred Meyer parking lot in Renton) were hidden under a tarp on a boat trailer.
In lieu of criminal charges, prosecutors reached an agreement with the thief, who compensated Seattle Parks and the Rotary Club for the full cost of recovery and restoration. After extensive preservation work, the pole was returned to its rightful perch in late July, 2010, where it has remained ever since. The nearby picnic table was installed shortly thereafter to honor Rotarian Ken Wise, who participated in the original park project, was instrumental in helping locate the missing pole, and who passed away shortly after the pole was reinstalled.
While searching for this cache, please be respectful of the plantings and totem pole. There is no need to leave the sidewalk or disturb the pole or landscaping in your search. Replace the cache as found to ensure it remains safely out of sight.
Sources: West Seattle Rotary, HistoryLink.org | Congratulations to Laurie253 for the FTF!