Cabot's
Pueblo
Museum
67616 E Desert View Avenue
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
760.329.7610
Pueblo
Museum
67616 E Desert View Avenue
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
760.329.7610
Waokiye" (Y oh kee ay), means "Traditional Helper" in the Lakota Sioux language.
Created by artist Peter "Wolf" Toth (rhymes with "oath"), Waokiye was completed in May 1978. At the dedication ceremony on May 20, 1978 Dennis Banks, educator and founder of the American Indian Movement was guest speaker. Toth simply said, "The American Indian is a proud and often misunderstood people...even as a young boy I had admiration for my Indian brothers and perhaps this monument, and all the others, will bring awareness of a proud and great people."
Toth was an immigrant to the United States from Hungary. His family fled from the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. In learning about the Native American culture, he empathized with the tribes' situation. He saw parallels to the violent repression of the Magyar people he experienced in Hungary.
Toth started his project, The Trail of Whispering Giants, to highlight the struggle of the American Indians for justice and recognition of their human rights. Waokiye is 27th in the series.The series has over 70 statues remaining throughout the United States, Canada and Hungary. They represent all humanity and stand against injustice to all people. This philosophy is a mirror of Cabot Yerxa's 50-year commitment as an American Indian Rights activist.
Toth did not accept money for his work. He lived on donations, sales of small carvings and sales of his self-published book. He has been adopted into several tribes as a result of his artistic mission.
The project was started when Herb Miller, a winter resident of Desert Hot Springs, met Toth in Wisconsin where he was carving the 25th giant. With an invitation to Peter Toth from then Desert Hot Springs vice-mayor and Cabot's Pueblo Museum curator, Cole Eyraud the project was begun.
The 750-year-old Sequoia redwood log was donated by the California Division of Forestry. It was delivered at the end of February 1978. It weighs over 20-tons and stands over 22 feet high. The tree had been struck by lightening in the mid-1950's. The feather is made from an Incense Cedar from Idyllwild and is 15 feet tall, over 4 feet thick. The entire statue is over 40-feet high.
The "Waokiye" project was accomplished through a partnership that included The City of Desert Hot Springs, The Desert Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Riverside County Fire Department and the California State Department of Forestry.
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