POINT JULIA — The 800-year-old western red cedar that S’Klallam artist Jimmy Price will transform into a totem pole will tell the story like no one can, will stand as a symbol of permanence in a place where others forced change for a century and a half.

People indigenous to this place had been living off the gifts of the sea for at least two centuries here when this cedar was a sapling, according to shell midden dating by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s archeologist.The cedar was alive during centuries of births and passings, centuries of ceremonies and celebrations, centuries of gatherings and harvests.

It was alive during the time of Change, when men from Maine built a mill across the bay at the place the People knew as Teekalet, and persuaded the People to move to this marshy place that became known as Point Julia.

It was alive when the people at Point Julia greeted family members who arrived here to visit by canoe, their songs arriving first, carried over the water. Joe Waterhouse remembers visiting here in the 1930s with his relative, Lach-ka-nim, son of Klallam leader Chetzamoka. They pulled in their canoe from Tsetsibus, which means “Where the sun rises” — you know the place as Port Hadlock. He recalled that visit as he watched canoes once again arrive at Point Julia during the 2012 Canoe Journey.

The cedar was alive when the U.S. government burned down the place where families had made their homes, raised their families, for 80 years, and bought land 1,234 acres for a reservation.

And yet, Point Julia remains a center of S’Klallam community and family life, and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe — which has grown in economic and political influence — is a chief advocate for the health of the bay that has sustained its people for centuries.

Now, the cedar will stand at this place, a 15-foot blessing to those who leave the bay to harvest at sea, and a testimony to all who see it that this still is an indigenous place. It will be a testimony to all who see it that, despite a century and a half of change, “Our culture is still alive,” Price said.

Price, whose public art includes the two welcome figures at the entrance to The Point Casino and Event Center, will begin carving the pole in October. The pole is expected to be raised in January or February. Price said the pole will depict an octopus holding a crab, representing sea life; a killer whale, a symbol of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe; and a watchman, a human figure representing safe return for fishermen and women.

Price’s first step will be to remove the back and core of the log. Next, he’ll measure the sections for the octopus, the killer whale, and the watchman. Then, he’ll sketch and block those sections out on the log. Then, the carving begins.

It’s one of two poles being created for S’Klallam landmarks; S’Klallam artist Brian Perry is carving a pole for Heronswood. The logs came from a supply owned by the Tribe.

The Point Julia pole follows efforts by the Tribe to improve the health of the bay and the point. The Point Julia pier was removed by the Tribe this month; it was considered unsafe and had creosoted pilings. Debris on the beach and pilings near the Tribe’s fish pens are also being removed.

Price hopes the Point Julia and Heronswood projects will encourage younger S’Klallams to pursue traditional art.

Price, 37, has been carving for 10 years. He apprenticed under his wife’s uncle, S’Klallam master carver Joe Ives, and received additional instruction from David Boxley, the noted Tsimshian artist and culture-bearer.

Price divides his day between driving bus for Head Start; raising a son, Manny; and creating art. His goal is to become an artist full-time.

He’s a prolific part-time artist. You can find his work in Bluewater Artworks in Poulsbo, the Lower Elwha Heritage Center in Port Angeles, and the Jamestown S’Klallam Gallery in Blyn. On display at Lower Elwha is a box drum he made with Boxley.

He’s carved paddles, masks and rattles; and painted Northwest Coast designs on skateboard decks. His prints and shirts are in multiple runs. He carved the panels outside the elder center and the gym, and the signs for the S’Klallam skatepark and Jake Jones Park on the bluff above Point Julia. He was selected, with S’Klallam storyteller Elaine Grinnell, to present at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2012.

He likes to experiment with color and media — he wants to produce Northwest Coast Native art in metal, using tools left by his father, who passed away   in October 2013. He thinks a lot about his father when he’s working. His father was a retired shipyard worker and second-generation Marine whose own father was a Navajo code talker in World War II.

Price said that, when he worked on an art piece, his father was always ready with a helping hand or constructive criticism. “My dad was my biggest supporter. He was kind of like a security blanket. It’s weird not having him there — it’s a little off.”

His father’s love and wisdom, and his own love for his culture and his family, carry him as he gets into “the zone” — that moment in his work when he blocks everything out and “it’s all Native energy, just focus and work,” he said.

As he gets ready to work on the totem pole project, he says humbly, “I want to thank the Tribe for giving me the opportunity to do this.”