The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley

by Harlan Ingersoll Smith

The second of these specimens, shown in [Fig. 111], is a simple elbow pipe with the angle between the axis of the bowl and the stem, slightly greater than 90 degrees. It is also in the collection of Mr. York and is made of steatite, which he calls Wenatchee pipe stone. The outer opening of the bowl is slightly larger than that of the stem. The third specimen, shown in [Fig. 112], is also of the simple elbow type and the axis of the bowl is nearly at right angles to that of the stem. It is in the collection of Mr. York, and is made of soft grit or sandstone of a yellowish gray color. In the Thompson River region to the north, according to Mr. Teit, there seems to be little doubt but that the tubular pipe has been supplanted by the simple bowl and elbow types.[338] This change may have been brought about by the copying of the early trader's pipes but Mr. Teit believes it more likely to have come from influence from the southeast, passed from tribe to tribe about the same time as the advent of the horse or a little later. The Thompson River Indians tell him that the tubular pipe continued to be the one in common use as long as native tobacco only was used, but after the introduction of manufactured tobacco the elbow type came to be exclusively used because very much better adapted for holding the latter kind of tobacco. In the Nez Perce region to the east, pipes with rectangular bowls were found.[339] One of these bowls has an incised design representing a tomahawk, which with the character of other incisions on it suggest that it is modern. Only two finds of elbow pipes have been reported on the coast. These,[340] which were of fragments, were said by Mr. Edmond Croft to have been found by him in a shell heap near Markham on Grey's Harbor, Washington. They are made of fine-grained sandstone of a gray color. Both were apparently intended to be used with a wooden stem and one of them has a ventral mid-rib from the mouth of the stem nearly to the base of the bowl which reminds one somewhat of a similar appendage on the pipe from the Yakima Valley shown in [Fig. 113] and one from the Thompson Indians.[341] My supposition has been that they reached the coast recently from this general region possibly by way of the Columbia or were taken there by employees of the fur companies in early historic times.

The fifth type is illustrated by the specimen shown in [Fig. 128]. It is the only specimen of this type which I have seen from the region. It is now in the collection of Mrs. Jay Lynch at Fort Simcoe who obtained it from Chief Moses. It is made of black steatite which Mrs. Lynch calls Wenatchee pipe stone, inlaid with white metal and has a wooden stem. It is comparatively modern as is shown by the presence of inlaid white metal. The mouth of the bowl is 18 mm. in diameter, but tapers suddenly, the rest of the bowl cavity being nearly cylindrical. The opening for the wooden stem is 11 mm. in diameter, and also tapers suddenly to a nearly even bore. It is of the same form as many of the pipes made of red pipe stone (catlinite). This form of pipe is found throughout the Minnesota-Dakota region. This specimen, however, bears four carvings, which together with the inlaid white metal design are further mentioned under the section of art on pp. [118] and [135]. It would seem that this type of pipe belongs to the region further east, and as no ancient pipe of this form has been found in this whole region, as well as from the fact that this specimen marks the most westerly occurrence of this form, so far as we know, we may conclude that it was introduced from the east in comparatively modern times. The type of carving, however, may be of more local origin. The bringing together of several animal forms may be associated with the idea of the totem poles found to the west; but no more so than the wooden pipe stems of the Plains which the general character of the carving more closely resembles.[342] In this connection, it may be well to remember that in the Nez Perce region, catlinite for pipes seems to have been acquired from the Plains tribes.[343] A pipe made from stone found in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, is in the collection of Mr. C. G. Ridout, of Chelan, Washington, who states that it has a representation of a bear and a man on the shaft back of the bowl.

Fig. 113. Pipe made of Steatite. From a Yakima Indian. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44506, 6-7. Original in the collection of Mr. McCandless.)

A specimen of the sixth type is shown in [Fig. 113]. It is the only one of this style which I have seen in the whole region, and was obtained from a Yakima Indian. It is in the collection of Mr. McCandless. It is made of steatite, which Mr. McCandless calls "sandstone from the northern part of Wenatchee Lake." The form of the pipe seems to be a conventionalized tomahawk pipe. The bowl is circular in section and somewhat urn-shaped and rests upon the part that is drilled for the stem and which is rather square in cross section with slightly convex sides. Projecting from the lower part of this is the form which represents the tomahawk blade. It is wider at its convex edges than where it joins the base of the stem part. Its three edges are flat, and it is of about equal thickness throughout. The pipe is somewhat stained by tobacco. It seems likely that this was modelled after the metal hatchet, tomahawk or tomahawk pipe, introduced by the traders,[344] being a rather modern pipe, since such objects do not seem to have been used in early times in the great plateau region according to Lewis.[345]

The seventh type is illustrated in [Fig. 127]. The specimen is the only one of the style which I have seen from this whole region and so closely resembles in its carving the work of the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian Indians of the coast to the northwest, that I am inclined to believe it was brought in as a gift or by trade. The material is apparently soft slate, but is rather light in color, possibly having been burned. Its appearance suggests that it is the same as that used by the Haida Indians on the Queen Charlotte Islands, for the carving of such things as dishes, miniature totem poles, and pipes. The pipe is made up of carvings representing among other things a bird, a human form and a human face, which are more fully described under the section of art on [p. 136]. This specimen was found two feet deep in earth at one side of a grave in a little hillside on Toppenish Creek, four miles southeast of Fort Simcoe. Above the earth were rocks, and the grave was marked by a circle of stones. In the grave were found elk teeth, and a sea shell, filled with a blue powder, evidently paint, and covered with what appears to be gut or a bladder-like skin. What is described as a silver coin, afterwards lost, was found with this pipe. It is possible that it may have been a silver disk or medal. The bowl of the pipe, which was gouged out, is in the middle of the carving, and the tube for the reception of the stem projects from the end under the human form. The upper part of the human figure is broken off. A hole was drilled in the opposite end of the pipe through the lower part of the bird form, but if it had any connection with the bowl, this is not now discernible.[346] The specimen shown in [Fig. 59] and considered as a mat presser reminds one of an unfinished pipe.

FOOTNOTES:

[310] Smith, (d), Fig. 100; (c), p. 428.

[311] Smith, (d), p. 154.