Carving in Soapstone, Alabaster and Serpentine

Earthmaker created everything. First among living things he made all the
plants, then the animals and only last did he make man. The newly formed world
spun so fast that its rotation could not be stopped. So he created four Island
Weights who were the four great bear spirits. They are one and the same as the
four winds; White Bear is in the north, Blue Bear is in the east, Black Bear is
in the south, and Red Bear is in the west. These wind-bears helped stop the spinning
of creation.

White Bear; the North Wind, was Earthmaker's first and greatest creation. He was
placed in the north quadrant to bring stability to the primeval earth and to keep
it from spinning out of control. Because of his priority, White Bear controls this
earth and is the source of all knowledge and inspiration. As first in the zoological
world, White Bear's spirit makes his subclan the leaders in all manners brought
before the Bear Clan as a whole. Therefore too, the Bear Chief is usually drawn from
the White Bear Subclan.

From the writings of Richard L. Dieterle