Tom Smith (b. 1910)
Tom Smith was a greatly respected Tlingit Elder of Teslin who had perfected his skills in snowshoe and drum making. Tom’s mother died when he was young, and he was raised by his grandmother. His uncle Ned Sidney took over the task when he was ten years old and took him on the trapline teaching him to hunt and trap. Sidney supplemented his trapping income by making snowshoes and Tom spent hours watching his uncle. When he started his own pair, his uncle offered no assistance but told him the only way to learn was to watch and do it on his own.1)
Doug Smarch learned to make snowshoes from Tom Smith, who Smarch called the best snowshoe craftsman in that part of the world. Around 2010, the Teslin Tlingit Council started a snowshoe-making program run by Smarch so he could pass his knowledge on to a younger Tlingit generation. In 2015, the program had run for a few months every winter for five years.2)