Arthritis prevented Tait from working in the fishing and timber industries that supported many families in the region, and carving became his principal source of income. He was also one of the earliest Northwest Coast Indigenous artists to sign his works regularly. As a result, a substantial body of securely attributed carvings survives, making his work particularly recognizable and well documented.

A subject to which Eli Tait returned frequently, this model is based on the Chief Johnson Totem Pole in Ketchikan, Alaska. The original pole was commissioned by Chief George Johnson, or Gut Wain, head of the G̱aanax̱.ádi clan of the Tongass Tlingit, as a memorial to his mother. Raised near Ketchikan Creek in 1901 or 1902, it remained standing until 1982. The pole was recreated in 1989 by Tlingit carver Israel Shotridge, with the assistance of Norman Jackson.

The principal figures relate the Tlingit account of Raven, Fog Woman and the creation of salmon. Raven appears near the centre of the pole with two attendants, while Fog Woman is represented below, clutching salmon below her breasts. After marrying Raven, Fog Woman moved into his household. When Raven repeatedly returned from fishing without a catch, she instructed the attendants to gather spruce roots, from which she made a basket. The basket was partly filled with water, and Fog Woman passed her hands through it before ordering that the water be poured onto the ground. As it spilled out, sockeye salmon appeared.

Shamed by being unable to provide, Raven struck Fog Woman, and she left him. He attempted to hold her back but could not grasp her as she disappeared into the mist. The salmon followed her into the water. Her annual return, accompanied by the salmon, accounts for the summer runs that brought an essential food source into the creeks and rivers of Southeast Alaska.

At the top of the pole is Kadjuk, the crest of Chief Johnson’s clan. Its placement above the long, undecorated section of the pole emphasizes the bird’s importance and identifies the clan and house commemorated by the monument.

References: For additional information, see: Ketchikan Story Project. “Chief Johnson’s Totem Pole.” https://ketchikanstories.com/ketchicon/chief-johnsons-totem-pole/totem-pole; Simon Fraser University Library. “Chief Johnson’s Totem Pole.” MacDonald Northwest Coast Image Collection. https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/macdonald-nw-coast-image/chief-johnsons-totem-pole; and Maria Dudzak, “Chief Johnson Totem Pole Raised and Rededicated.” KRBD, December 7, 2017. https://www.krbd.org/2017/12/07/59172/.