Page:Oregon, End of the Trail.djvu/69

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Indians

A RCHEOLOGICAL research has revealed evidences of numerous *•*> successive cultures in many parts of Oregon. Surviving the wear of centuries on canyon walls and cliffs are rude designs daubed in red ochre or outlined in primitive carving. Although often the subject of fanciful interpretation, most of these pictographs and petroglyphs are devoid of symbolic or esoteric meaning, being merely the groping efforts of prehistoric man to give graphic expression to his experience. Burial mounds in irregular patterns mark the places where the dead, with theii crude artifacts, lie buried. Along the coast, numerous kitchen middensheaps of shells, bone and stone fragments, and miscellaneous refuse, overgrown with grass and trees—indicate the existence of prehistoric homes. Where the Coast Highway cuts through such a kitchen midden, as it does at several places, varying levels or strata in the heap are revealed, denoting successive occupations of the locality.

Stone and obsidian weapons and bone fragments, frequently discovered beneath layers of lava or volcanic ash, indicate human existence in Oregon at a remote period. Near Abert Lake in Lake County, and at the base of Hart Mountain in Warner Valley, are excellent examples of prehistoric painting and carving. A local legend associates Abert Rim with the retreat of an "Indian army" that ended in a plunge over the cliff, at the foot of which are scattered many relics. Near The Dalles, Arlington, and Forest Grove, and in the Cascadia Caves, are diverse examples of prehistoric pictorial representations. The Linn County mounds, the Deschutes region, the Malheur and Catlow Caves in Harney County, and numerous other sites, have yielded weapons, utensils, and other Indian artifacts.

The Indians who inhabited Oregon at the coming of the first white men were members of twelve distinct linguistic families. Along the south side of the Columbia, from its mouth to the Cascades, the Chinookans held sway. Important branches of this family were the Clatsops, who lived along the river to Tongue Point and along the coast to Tillamook Head, and the Cathlamets, who dwelt a short distance f