Panorama from the north end of Gitwangak Village, Skeena River, British Columbia, showing the poles standing along the riverbank in 1899.

Panorama from the south end of Gitwangak Village, circa 1899.

Gitwangak totem poles as they appeared during the Harlan I. Smith's survey for the Natioanl Museums of Canada in 1915.

A winter potlatch, probably in 1918, when Man-in-the-Copper-Shield (pole 1) was raised. The people are holding the hoisting rope that is attached to the pole lying on the ground.

As the joint totem pole resortation project of the National Museums of Canada and the Canadian National Railway neared completion in the fall of 1926, most of the poles had been repainted and re-erected on their original bases near the riverbank.

The Gitwangak poles became a major tourist attraction along the Canadian National line before tourism was curtailed by World War II. After the war, tourism shifted from the train to the automobile. The Yellowhead Highway was built on the opposite side of the Skeena River and tourists neglected Gitwangak until the new bridge link was installed.

During the period of World War II, poles were still being raised to commemorate the fortress history along the main street of Gitwangak.

The totem poles of Gitwangak as they appeared in 1978 after restoration in 1969 by the Skeena River Totem Pole Restoration Society and the British Columbia Provincial Museum, under the direction of Phillip Ward.