The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1907-03-11
PLAT LAND 1T
CRESCENT BAR
Crescent Bar" Rich in Indian Lore
to Be Put Under Irrigation
Ditch

nouncement that Nicely & Young will
plat and put on the market in small
tracts their land in the Columbia
river valley at Crescent Bar, "a miles
down the river from Wenatchee. At
this. point was located hundreds of
years before white men inhabited the
northwest a great winter camp
| ground of the Indians, who have left
upon the walls of the cliffs a thous-
and unread stories in the shape of
hieroglyphics, as well as the bones
of numberless members of the tribes
who died and were buried at the
camping ground. To the student of
Indian lore, as well as to the curious
observer, the place is rich in relics
of the red men, and If the key to the
hieroglyphics Is ever discovered per-
haps the history of race now ex-
tinct will be revealed.
/ With the development of a town
site and agricultural district at
| Crescent Bar, these curious Indian
relics will doubtless become better
l known at least to the general public,
and something of historic nature
may be discovered.
Crescent Bar is a little less than
one mile distant from Trinidad, a
Great Northern depot, where a town
is already in evidence, and is easily
reached by good wagon road Ma
ture protected Crescent Bar from the
elements by rocky bluff 500 feet in
height, which encloses it in a semi
circle-hence the name, Crescent. ;"
i The land is 20 feet above the highest
water mark. 1t never overflows No
high wind can disturb the growing
fruit. Frosts are dissipated gently,
for the morning sun is three of four
hours high before it's beams shine
down on Crescent Bar The elevation
above sea level is only sos feet, or
100 feet less than the elevation at
Wenatchee.
Contents of Strange Mounds.
The Indians who utilized this pc
culiarly sheltered small tract of land
for winter headquarters left behind
them mute testimony of former oc-
i cupancy in numerous mound pits,
above which no doubt were erected
such habitations as they required.
HIhese mound pits were excavated to
q depth of six or eight feet, and in
most of them are found today, with
out much searching, the rude stone
mortars and pestels, stone hammers
and axes and arrowheads, which were
Indian necessities. At the base of
the shelving cliffs the Indians bur-
led their dead, ana in recent years
hundreds of human bones have been
unearthed by thoughtless visitors
This is no longer permitted. The
/ present owners had such bones as
could be found gathered up and re-
| placed, and further vandalism is pro-
hibited. So numerous are the evil
dences of Indian occupancy that
there is no question but that large
numbers of them spent at least the
winter months on Crescent Bar.
Tribes of Indians Unknown.
Hours and days can be spent in in
vestigating the interesting Indian
hieroglyphics carved and painted on
the solid rock of the towering cliff.
Just what tribe wrote history here is
not known, nor is the period in
| which they did their imperishable
work as yet ascertained. Here are
the writings and carvings, however,
and some time they may be decipher-
ed, as have been those of Mexico,
Peru and Egypt.
Perhaps there are legends chiseled
on these stone surfaces, or maybe the
daring deeds of prehistoric warriors
are written here. Who knows what
vital historical facts may be so OPEN
ly concealed? The gift of reading
such quaint marks and pictures per-
ished with the people who executed
the work, and once the key is found
the printed page will be no palmer
than these tablets Of rock.
| Countless wild bees swarm over
the face of the cliff, and vast stores
of delicious honey are gathered and
deposited in inaccessible places, high
up the sheer rock, in crevasses. N.
j. Potter, resident manager, built a
scaffold and successfully robbed one
of these storehouses last year, secur.
| ing over 30 mounds of honey of most