122 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



of the Klickitats' country. 



The Klickitats were bold and fearless riders. 

 Their marauding journeys carried them from 

 the present international boundary line on the 

 north to Rogue river on the south. They 

 were masters everywhere until they reached 

 the Rogue river tribes, who rightfully gained 

 their name through cunningness, or until they 

 reached the Indians of the plains, on the east- 

 ern watershed of the Rocky mountains, 

 whither they went on annual expeditions to 

 trade and gamble, carrying the wampum from 

 the coast, dried salmon and other articles, to 

 trade for dried buffalo meat and rol^es. 



They went down to the ocean on the west, 

 carrying the wild hemp dried and twisted into 

 neat bundles and much sought after by the 

 coast Indians for fish nets, to exchange for the 

 wampum or dentalia, a small shell collected 

 in those days at Nootka. The wampum was 

 the circulating medium, and Alexander Ross 

 said in 1814 three fathoms bought ten beaver 

 skins. 



The Klickitats held the gateway between the 

 East and West, for the river was the natural 

 and only easy route for passage from the West- 

 ern valleys to the Eastern World. 



Their domain included Mount Adams on the 

 north and Mount Hood on 'lie .south of the 

 Columbia river, but territorial bounds did not 

 confine them, for they were everywhere robbing, 

 trading, horse-racing, and holding under 

 burdensome tribute many lands they did not 

 own. 



They had a complete and euphonious lan- 

 guage of their own, as became a people who 

 influenced the world around them, and possess- 

 ed both statesmen and warriors whose enter- 

 prise covered so broad a field. 



Before the white man came to occupy and 

 pervert, the Indians were numerous. They 

 had their great annual gatherings, for exchange 

 ofproducts and to regulate affairs. They own- 

 ed their special privileges, as fisheries, berry 

 fields and camas grounds, and hunted their 

 own territory. All sea.sons had appropriate 



duties. It was no light or brief task to gather, 

 cure and store the fruits of the earth, the fish 

 of the streams, or the game of the forests fov 

 their winter use. 



Besides they had many arts and m.muf.ictures 

 that became almost obsolete u hen they could 

 purchase from the Hudson's Bay Company 

 cloth, manufactured goods, tools and trinkets, 

 and pay for them by hunting animals whose 

 fur was in demand. 



When they procured firearms bows and 

 arrows were soon out of date and the art of 

 making beautiful arrow heads liecame a lost 

 one, and finally buckets superseded baskets. 



Holding the natural waterway and occupying 

 the mountains, valleys and plains of the east- 

 ern country, they held the key to the Columb a 

 region, the gateway between the East and West. 

 They maintained intimate tribal relations with 

 both sections and levied tribute on all west of 

 the Cascades, from tiie waters of Puget .Sound 

 on the nortli to Rogue river on the south. 

 Through all this region they rode rampant, and 

 their lodges were full of spoils taken in their 

 forays 



South of the Columbia along the ocean shore 

 and foot-hills, there is still a well-worn trail, 

 that antedates history, known now and afore- 

 time as the ''Klickitat trail." They usually 

 journeyed south by that trail, but for peaceable 

 reasons they traveled north by the Klamath 

 trail, on the eastern side of the Cascades, to 

 their home of homes, the beautiful Klickitat 

 valley. 



Basketry is an art which may be called "par 

 excellence" a savage art, and the several tribes 

 of the Shahaptian stock controlled it, for the 

 imbricated basket of the Klickitat surpasses all 

 other baskets in beauty of workmanship, gen- 

 eral contour, harminous blendings of the colors, 

 and, what is most important, utility and dur- 

 ability. 



The tool universally used in the manufacture 

 of all baskets is a bone awl, and the woman is 

 generally the maker. 



The woman of all untutored and uncivilized 



