The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley

by Harlan Ingersoll Smith

Fig. 62. Club made of Serpentine. From Methow River, Okanogan County. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from sketches by Mr. Charles C. Willoughby. Original catalogue No. 64795 in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass.)
Fig. 63. Club made of Serpentine. From the Yakima Valley, between Wenas Station and the Gap above North Yakima. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photographs 44453, 2-2, and 44500, 6-1. Original catalogue No. 44 in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)

The club shown in [Fig. 63] was found in the Yakima Valley on the west side of the river between Wenas Station and Upper Gap above North Yakima. It is made of serpentine of a mottled yellow, brown and green color. It is 26 mm. long, and of the form of a rather thick, elongated apple seed, with the upper and lower ends cut off. The top is of the form of a symmetrical celt with a dull edge and is bevelled about equally from each side. The handle, which is 22 mm. thick, is the thickest part of the object, rather oval in section and merges into the blade, which is paddle-shaped, lenticular in cross section and terminates in a celt-like end which is dull and bevelled about equally from each side.[224] It is catalogue No. 44 in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[225] A club of this general type has been found as far east as Sand Point, Idaho, the most eastern occurrence, as was mentioned on p. 413 of my "Archaeology of the Gulf of Georgia and Puget Sound," where all the clubs of this type from Northwestern America are discussed. On the west, they seem to range from the Klamath Valley to the head of Puget Sound.

The club, shown in [Fig. 64][226] is made of stone and has a blade rather lenticular in cross section, but bulging somewhat so that it reminds us of the clubs of the lozenge-shaped cross section.[227] It is 265 mm. long, by 25 mm. thick. The handle is somewhat lenticular, but tends to be hexagonal in section, with rounded corners and meets the blade abruptly. There is a saddle-shaped knob at the top with an incised geometric design in the hollow. The upper part of the right edge of this knob is flat with two incisions across it, while the lower part is rounded. A stone club with similar handle is known from Puget Sound.[228] The specimen is catalogue No. 40 in the collection of Mr. Janeck, and was secured by him from the York collection. It was originally collected from an Indian woman on the Yakima Reservation.[229]

The club shown in [Fig. 65] is made of diabase or allied material and is 338 mm. in length. It is bilaterally symmetrical and the reverse and obverse are alike. The handle is oval in cross section and terminates in a knob from which it is separated by a slight groove. In the top of the knob is a depression as if there had been a hole pecked through the form, tapering from each side, as in the clubs or slave-killers having lozenge-shaped cross section from the coast there[230] the top broken off and the broken edges rounded, as in the club with lozenge-shaped cross section from Copalis on the coast of Washington.[231] But such is not the case; the notch resembles that of the club shown in [Fig. 64], slightly the one shown in [Fig. 62], both from this region, and one from Burton on Puget Sound.[232] The blade is paddle-shaped like the large end of an apple seed, lenticular in cross section, with a mid-rib on each side which runs out about 10 mm. from the end of the club.[233] It was found on the surface at Union Gap, below Old Yakima, and is in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[234]

Fig. 64. Club made of Stone. From Yakima Reservation. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photographs 44500, 6-1, and 44453, 2-2. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)
Fig. 65. Club made of Stone. From the surface at Union Gap below Old Yakima. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photographs 44453, 2-2, and 44501, 6-2. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)
Fig. 66. Club made of Stone. From the surface at Union Gap below Old Yakima. ¼ nat. size. (Drawn from photographs 44453, 2-2, and 44501, 6-2. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)

The stone club, shown in [Fig. 66], was found on the surface at Union Gap, below Old Yakima. It is of a purplish gray lava-like material. The handle is oval in cross section with a knob at the end which is somewhat flattened on each side and slopes towards the rounded top like a blunt symmetrical celt. The blade has convex side edges which are nearly flat and about 18 mm. wide. It is thicker in the middle than at the edges and bears a mid-rib of the shape of a railroad embankment with rounded angles, from the handle to the end. On each side of this mid-rib, the surface is nearly flat. The end of the blade is nearly flat. The specimen is in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[235]