The totem pole at Indian Steps presents a layered story through its carvings: at the bottom is Dsonoquo with a baby, a traditional mythical motif; above it is a beaver, once common along the Susquehanna River; the third level shows a fish jumping from the water below a series of steps, commemorating the origin of the site now known as Indian Steps; the fourth level depicts a turtle, symbolic to early Native Americans who previously lived in the area; the fifth and sixth levels show a raven and an Indian figurehead; and the top is shaped like a thunderbird, a mythical being representing power, strength, and battle. Totem poles were originally created by the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest to tell stories or describe family lineages. The first pole at Indian Steps, an 28 ft. tall cedar work, was made in the early 1920's by Red Fox Skihushu, a Blackfoot Indian, with help from his cousin Te-Da-De-Wen-Ren, and it was replaced in 1957 by an 18 ft. tall pole carved by Gordon Hanna, a Sioux Indian from Maryland. The present 36 ft. tall pole was crafted in 1989 by seven members of Yorkcarvers, a local woodcarving group, following traditional patterns of northwest American Indian carvings.