The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley

by Harlan Ingersoll Smith

In [Plate XII] and [Fig. 1, Plate XIII] are shown petroglyphs which appear fresher and whiter or yellower than the naturally weathered reddish basaltic columns into which they are pecked. They are on the north side of Selah Canon about one and a half miles from the Yakima River at a point about a mile north of Selah station or one half a mile south of the intake of the Moxee Canal. It is about twenty-five miles west southwest of Sentinal Bluffs, eight northeast from the mouth of Cowiche Creek and twenty-two miles northeast from Tampico. They are more easily made out from a distance than close by.

The petroglyph shown in [Fig. 1, Plate XII], is the most northeasterly of the group. This seems to be made up of circles with a dot in the middle and radiating lines, some of which end in dots. They remind us of some of the same series of figures as the oval with radiating lines at Priest Rapids.[376]

The one shown in Fig. 2, is about eight feet to the southwest and a little lower down. The upper part of the left figure and the two main parts on the right, each consisting of a curve with short radiating lines like a representation of the rising sun, may be compared with the top of the petroglyph on the rocks a few feet to the southwest shown in [Fig. 1, Plate XIII], next described, and with some of those at Sentinal Bluffs, shown in [Plate XI]; also, with the pictographs at the mouth of Cowiche Creek.[377]

The petroglyph shown in [Fig. 1, Plate XIII], is a few feet southwest of those shown in [Plate XII], taken from the south. The segment with radiating lines like the rising sun at the top reminds us of similar figures among the other petroglyphs here just described, those at Sentinal Bluffs and pictographs at the mouth of Cowiche Creek, but the other lines are not interpreted and are not suggestive to us of other figures in the neighborhood. A small figure, similar in that it consists of two nearly vertical lines crossing each other and topped by a curved line, shows very faintly above, a little to the right.[378] A design similar to the part of some of these pictures interpreted as representing a headdress was also found pecked in the surface of the grooved net sinker shown in [Fig. 14].

The petroglyph shown in [Fig. 2, Plate XIII], is pecked on the top of a rock which projects about three feet from the surface of the ground near mile post 209 between it and 210 above the Spokane branch of the O. R. & N. on the south side of the Columbia River about four miles west of Wallula Junction and is here illustrated as one twentieth of the natural size, from a tracing made by Mr. J. P. Newell, of Portland, assistant chief engineer on that road. We are indebted to Mr. W. E. Elliott of New York City, formerly engineer with Mr. Newell for permission to copy this tracing.[379] The top of the rock forms an east and west ridge. The pecked grooves are all of about equal depth and there are no other petroglyphs on the rock. The large figure at the left reminds us of the dog-like figures with "spines" in the petroglyphs at Nanaimo,[380] on Vancouver Island, especially as it has waved parallel lines, a fin or "spine" and two concentric curves at the top similar in shape to the lines indicating the back of the head and the mouth of the Nanaimo figure. This is less suggestive of certain harpoon points that are incised apparently to represent fish found in the main shell heap in the Fraser Delta at Eburne[381] although Eburne is nearer than Nanaimo and en route, and although these harpoon points have parallel lines, a fin-like projection and two lines representative of the back of the head or cheek and the mouth. The small circles some with lines radiating from them, remind us of similar marks on the same large petroglyph at Nanaimo and even more so of the petroglyphs beyond Nanaimo at Yellow Island near Comox.[382] The large figure on the right reminds us of the human form of the petroglyph at Nanaimo.[383]

I am informed by Mr. Owen that there is a petroglyph on the north side of the Columbia River below Kennewick and that it has been destroyed by recent railroad construction; by Mr. W. H. Willcox of North Yakima that there are petroglyphs or pictographs on the rocks ten miles south of Wenatchee on the western side of the Columbia River; and by Prof. Mark Harrington that it is said that there are "engravings" on the cliffs overhanging Lake Chelan. Mallery[384] refers to etchings at the lower end of Lake Chelan but his information seems to refer to painted figures only (See [p. 120]). The late Prof. Israel C. Russell informed me that there are etchings close to the river on both sides in the Snake Canon at Buffalo Rock in the extreme southeast corner of the state of Washington.[385]

Fig. 114 a (202-8159). Incised Design on a Fragment of a Wooden Bow. From grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Naches River. ½ nat. size. b Section of Fragment of Bow shown in a.

Incised Designs. Among the designs incised on stone, attention may be called to the top of the pestle made of steatite shown in [Fig. 35], which bears two parallel longitudinal incisions and notches, ten on the left and eleven on the right of each side edge of the obverse. There are fifteen fine incisions running obliquely down from the notches on the left to the first longitudinal incision. They begin at the eighth notch from the bottom and extend to the lower notch. On the reverse are three longitudinal incisions apparently more recently made, and eleven notches on each side edge. This incised knob is said by the Indians to represent the head of a snake. On the reverse of the steatite object, possibly a mat-presser, shown in [Fig. 59a], is an incised pictographic sketch which unfortunately, with the exception of the nine short lines above, was re-scratched by its owner. It is reproduced in [Fig. 59b]. The first figure beginning at the left possibly represents a tree. The middle figure has not been identified but it is clear that the one on the right represents a human being. On the left of the groove in the object are incised two hands pointing towards the left. These also were re-cut and are not reproduced in [Fig. 59]. The incision in the edge of the top of the club shown in [Fig. 62] and the incisions at right angles to this were probably intended for decorative purposes. There is an incised design on the rounded surface of the saddle-shaped hollow of the club shown in [Fig. 64]. This design is made of transverse notches above and a zigzag line below. The upper part of the right edge of this knob is flat with two incisions across it. Incised lines arranged parallel to each other in rows may be seen on the handle and knob of the club shown in [Fig. 68]. There are thirteen of these lines on either edge of the knob. The other incisions are arranged in four vertical rows on the handle. The lines on the top of the shell pendant shown in [Fig. 88] may be merely the depths of the teeth rather than incisions artificially made, but in this case they may have been considered as decorative and the shell may even have been chosen because of these lines. There are nine incised lines on the bone tube shown in [Fig. 98]. These run around it in a spiral direction in such a way that the lower end of each line is on the opposite side from the upper end.