Although these baskets were made for everyday use, they were decorated with geometric patterns and some human forms. The Cascade Indians, like other tribes, developed unique patterns that distinguished their work from others. Another art form that developed was pictographs and petroglyphs. Pictographs and petroglyphs are rock drawings done by Native Americans. These are very common throughout the Gorge.
Pictographs are paintings.
The colors were made from different minerals like iron oxide that produced red, a certain type of clay produced white, copper oxides produced blue-green, and charcoal and manganese oxide that produced black. These minerals were pounded into a powder and then mixed with a liquid such as water, blood, eggs, fat, plant juice, or urine. The paint would then be applied to the rock surface with fingers or brushes made of animal hair, twigs or feathers. Petroglyphs are rock engravings. The engraving is made in one of two methods.