New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-27

y,
fumes are extended the desert disappears. and
with it the ancient culture which Mr. Smith hes
so oppOrtunely rescued. Not only did he gather
all the objects Of prehistoric inhabitants OBJ
| tainable. but took photographs Of entire private
collections. all of which will be placed IN ex-
hibitiOn. it is the policy OF the American
Museum Of Natural History to exhibit phO-O-
graphs of things. as well such of the objects
| themselves as it is possible to obtain. The Va
kima and Naches rivers are noisy and prolific
| in power for future industries. The country IS
| fercely hot in summer the thermometer stand
| ing at ITO degrees Fahrenheit under the shade
of the locust trees. The heat would have dulled
| exploring had not many rattlesnakes kept the
| expedition wide awake. However, the snakes
were mascOts to the explorers. as they COM
PEELED sharp lookout, which resulted in seeing
many desired prehistoric objects which might
| otherwise have escaped view. WhirIwinds and
sandstOrms further relieved the monotony. From
the East Range to the Columbia River, the final
| barrier Of the region, into which the Yakima
and Naches rivers empty, the expedition had a
| busy time of it. in and out Of canyons. UP and
down small mountains, excavating ancient
graves, now overwhelmed by avalanches OF
| stones, sometimes on horse or afoot. or travers-
/ ing waterways in long, swift modern Indian
canoes, followed out of logs
| The culture 1 found there" said Mr.. Smith
| differed from that of Puget Sound tribes but
bore some resemblances to that of the ancient
| Thompson River race which may be accounted
| for by the mutual contact and even intermar-
/ rage OF neighbOrs. While the underground
| houses of the Thompson River peoples were set
/ IN circular holes, with ridge Of earth around
| those of the in question had ridges OF
| stones surrounding them. 1 had studied the
culture of the coast and Thompson River races
on previous expeditions. and readily detected the
| differences in objects.
| Il found stone circles indicating ancient IN
| foreground abodes not far from the Naches
River, on a terrace of foothills, where the
plateau abruptly drops away TO the stream
a second terrace near by overlooked the river
and had been similarly populated. The ancient
villages could not alone be seen from all the
surrounding country but made even the dis
tant approach Of enemies visible. They were
well located for defence. Scattering remains of
underground hdbiJations were also found aIona,
the river beneath perpendicular cliffs The re-
mains of hundreds of them were found about
fifteen miles above Kenewick, on the east side
! of the Columbia River. al Indicative of great
populations.
| The red paintings and carvings on the walls
/ of canyons were different from those Of neigh
/ boring ancient races The people had high
/ type OF burial customs. In Vancouver rock
| cairns and she'll heaps prevail. The Thorrp-
son River people buried their dead where rock
slides would cover them The graves of the
/ newly discovered tribe were made OF arcbed
stone work, OF pebbles or jagged rocks placed
where avalanches would cover but not crush
them. Some. perhaps the richer element had
graves in separate knobs. / found one grave
made rudcly Of large slabs Of rock covered with
irregular rocks. containing the remains of pos
sibly some great chief or mighty warrior. There
were no epitaphs symbols accompanvine-
such as are found on the coast, and nothing TO
Indicate any religious beliefs in spirit protectors
such as exist elsewhere. must say that sor7a
OF these graves were more like those found in
ONO, Indiana, Kentucky, etc, but nowhere In
all the vast Northwest have such graves hoe,
found before
"A remarkable object discovered was a stone
pipe with bird head and wings in n grave not
Tar from Fort SimCOe. 1t may Indicate that
smoking Is a much more ancient pastime than
has been supposed Ii raises a question OF
where those prehistoric peoples got their weed.
so far from the places Of tobacco culture Later
We found many pieces Of broken stone pines
This particular bowl finds its nearest resern-
biance in the modern metal mounted carved
stone pipes Of the Hdidas. Chief Moses OF this
region, possesses the modern carved pipe which
1 photographed. But the point is not so much
IN resemblances Of pipes in the fact OF the
great antiquity Of smoking this continent
Now, don't make me say that these prehistoric