258 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



INDIAN PICTOGRAPHS IN PATE VALLEY. 



By E. W. Harnden. 



These Indian pictographs were found on the 1907 

 Sierra Club Outing by Mr. McKibben and myself on the 

 northern side of Pate Valley, midway in the Tuolumne 

 Canon. No. i is taken from a point about ten minutes in 

 from the Tuolumne River, following Piute Creek and 

 reaching the edge of the inner meadow, looking north. 

 The inscriptions were found on face of cliff rising from 

 meadow, at left of picture, west of some large oaks, 

 the cliff fronting east of southeast. The markings were 

 incised, probably with obsidian, fragments of which were 

 lying about, and were colored with a red ochre or pig- 

 ment. While the designs seemed to stand out boldly 

 in but a few places, examination showed that they had 

 probably been worked into the cliff for one hundred 

 feet or more, from the ground to a height of ten or 

 twelve feet, but had been in many places almost or 

 entirely obliterated by weathering or scaling of the 

 granite face. They appeared to be quite old. 



At about the middle of the inscribed face was a shal- 

 low, somewhat irregular chamber in the rock, seeming 

 to follow lines of cleavage with side recesses where one 

 could retire or conceal himself from view — perhaps a 

 partly natural cave, added to and amplified by man. 



In a horizontal rock in front of the cave was sunken 

 a mortar hole several inches in diameter, and close by 

 was a stone pestle fourteen or fifteen inches long, which 

 seemed slightly stained on the end — either from weather- 

 ing or because it was used in grinding color. 



The markings in No. 2 are to the left of the cave, 

 near the ground. 



The markings in No. 3 are to the right of the cave. 



Boston. 



