Facebook post claiming private company bought this Idaho Falls statue is fake
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IDAHO FALLS — The alleged sale of a Native American totem on the northeast side of Idaho Falls is raising eyebrows.
A Facebook post dated March 3 claims that the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce is selling the Chief Totem at North Tourist Park to a private company out of California later this month and that locals are upset about it.
“Small group of protesters stated ‘leave the Chief alone.. he is what represents Idaho falls (sic) we will not let him go quietly,'” the post reads.
The post attributes the Idaho Falls mayor, claiming that until the sale is completed, “we will have around the clock security to make sure there’s no damage or vandalism done to our chief.”
Idaho Falls public information officer Kimberly Felker confirms to EastIdahoNews.com that the post is false.
“This is a false claim,” Felker says. “The city is not selling or removing the statue.”
The 27-foot-tall statue depicting a tribal head sits at the corner of Lincoln Road and Yellowstone Highway. It reportedly dates back to 1980 and was carved by Peter Toth as part of a project called the “Trail of the Whispering Giants.”
“In remembrance to a proud and noble people,” the inscription on the plaque at the base of the statue reads. “Peter Toth, sculptor, is carving at least one Indian monument in each of the 50 states to raise the nation’s conscience to the plight of the native Americans. It is his gift to the people, made possible through community efforts.”
The Associated Press reported in 2009 that there were 74 of these statues across the United States and Canada, with eight more in the works.
Toth and the Trail of Whispering Giants
Toth was born in Hungary in 1947 and immigrated to America, according to the Whispering Giants website. He was 8 years old when his family left to escape the Soviet invasion. After living as a refugee in Yugoslavia for many years, Toth eventually settled in Akron, Ohio, where he studied at Ohio University.
Toth inherited his love of art from his dad, who was also an artist. He grew up watching his father carve wood.
“Toth started as an artist in painting, graduated to creating stone images, then to wood. He is an artist who also uses clay, metal and welding, using the many talents he has been given,” the website says.
At some point, Toth became interested in Native Americans. Being forced to leave his home as a kid is something he had in common with them, and it resonated with him.
A recent article reports that in 1972, Toth, then a 24-year-old college dropout, decided on a whim to stop along the shore in La Jolla, California, and carve a giant head into a seaside cliff.
He later returned to Akron and carved a similar image into a dead elm tree stump at a local city park.
Crowds gathered at both locations, and Toth felt like he’d found his purpose in life.
“I will make a sculpture of an Indian, to honor them in each of the 50 states,” he said in an interview.
During a 1979 interview, Toth discussed how he determined what each sculpture would look like.
“I study the Indians of the area, then visualize an Indian within the log. It is a composite of all the native people of the state,” he said.
After finishing a sculpture at the Washakie County Courthouse in Worland, Wyoming, in September 1980, Toth and his wife ended up in Idaho Falls.
A news report at the time says that he and his wife were invited by the Idaho Falls Chamber that November to park their trailer at North Tourist Park “to create another monument to the first Americans, the Indians.”
Like he’d done so many times before, he pounded hammer and chisel against a Douglas fir for his 37th statue. It’s not clear how long it took him to carve it, but the U.S. Forest Service donated the tree.
During an interview with a local newspaper, Toth recalled that a girl’s comment about his first sculpture in California is what inspired the Trail of Whispering Giants.
It “talked to me,” Toth recalled the girl saying. “If it talked to her, how many more people could it talk to? I decided right there to make my monuments.”
“I am just using my God-given talents as an artist in a humble way,” Toth later added. “Through my Trail of Whispering Giants, I hope to bring honor to the Indians.”
Toth headed to Aberdeen, South Dakota, the following summer for his 38th statue.
His initial goal of carving a statue in all 50 states was completed in May 1989 when he finished his 58th sculpture in Hawaii. Since then, he’s carved statues throughout Canada and Europe, and his native country of Hungary.
In 1980, Toth wrote a book chronicling significant aspects of his life and efforts to complete the “Trail of Whispering Giants.” It’s been updated over the years to include the entire mission.
Today, Toth is 78 years old. He still lives in Akron, Ohio.
Toth commented on the legacy of his sculptures during an interview with a local newspaper in 1980.
“All of these monuments stand against racism and injustice, against prejudice and bigotry and oppression,” he said. “That’s the most important reason they stand.”
