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Waokiye Creator Peter “Wolf” Toth to Visit Cabot’s in February sales of small carvings, and sales of t Cabot‘s we‘ve found his self-published book, Indian Giver. ―If I charged money,‖ he said, ―then it that nothing stops wouldn‘t be much of a gift.‖ traffic like Waokiye, our 43-foot-tall head of a Native American chief, the single most visible aspect of the pueblo‘s grounds. Last year, we celebrated his 30th birthday, and in February, his creator, Peter ―Wolf‖ Toth will visit the museum to do some badly needed restoration work to correct weather damage. ―Waokiye,‖ meaning ―Traditional Helper‖ in the language of the Lakota Sioux, was built in 1978, by Hungarianborn sculptor Peter ―Wolf‖ Toth (pronounced like ―oath‖.) Toth, who escaped the Soviet invasion of Hungary with his family, noted similarities between the plight of the Magyar people and the struggle of Native Americans. As a gift to his adopted country, he carved a giant log into a sculpted head in every single state to honor our Native American past. Collectively these are known as the "Trail of the Whispering Giants," and Waokiye was the 27th Wayokiye today in the series; sadly he is the only giant left in California, the state where Peter Herb Miller, a winter resident, met Toth received the inspiration for his Toth in Hayward, Wisconsin, where he life‘s work. He did not accept money was carving his 25th head, and profor his work and lived on donations, By Jane Pojawa
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posed that his next project be erected in Desert Hot Springs, California. Cole Eyraud, who was the vice-mayor as well as the curator of Cabot‘s Pueblo Museum, saw the similarities between Toth‘s tribute to Native Americans and Cabot Yerxa‘s and volunteered the museum to be the site for the statue. A 45-ton giant Sequoia redwood log was donated through the efforts of the Riverside County Fire Department and the state Division of Forestry. The 750year-old tree, which was almost 200 feet tall, was originally from the Sequoia National Forest near Porterville. It had been struck by lightning in the mid-1950s. Moving the part of the tree which had been earmarked for the sculpture (a segment 10 by 20 feet and weighing 40,000 pounds) from central California to its present spot was no easy task. Bad weather delayed its arrival until the end of February 1978. Toth used power tools for the rough finishing, and then set to work with a #5 chisel and a hammer. All of the work was done on site. The finished face is 22 feet high by eight feet in diameter and weighs 20 tons. The feather is made from an Incense Cedar from Idyllwild; it is 15 feet tall, four feet wide (Continued on Page 3)
City Passes Resolution of Support for Waokiye Restoration
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he Desert Hot Springs City Council and Mayor Yvonne Parks unanimously passed a resolution concerning Waokiye. They honored Peter ―Wolf‖ Toth, giving him their full support in his restoration of Waokiye, and endorsed
the quest to give the monument status as both a County Landmark and a State Point of Historic Interest. In a related action, Director Jane Pojawa, Archivist/Historian of Cabot‘s Pueblo Museum, has applied to the
Riverside County Historical Commission, on behalf of Cabot's, for recognition of Waokiye itself—separate from Cabot‘s Pueblo Museum —as a State Point of Historic Interest. The ball is now rolling for Waokiye!