East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-04-27
THE DALLES INDIANS
WERE INTELLIGENT
had GREAT ABILITY
IN THE OLDEN TIMES
Basket Making Wrs Fine Tart
Woven from Willow Witches---The
Dallcs Was a Great Trading Pace
CT the Rcdmcn.

Trout Lake, Wash.-The old Indian
village, situated where the modern,
busting city of The Dales now stands
was, in the olden times, known to
the aborigihes as Wingquatt This
was the trading place of the red man
and in hundreds the Indians gather
ed from every direction.
The influence of the Wascos, who
inhabited that portion of the coun-
try surrounding the village was great
and the natives gathered here dur
ing the fishing season for traffick-
ing gambling and indulging in va
rious sports. The Indians from the
North and East brought horses here
for trade for buffalo robes and paur-
|, fleshes, furs and dressed skins of
several qualities, ropes made Of wild
hemp and Of horse hair, and buffalo
meat etc. The Southern tribes
brought Modoc and Pitt river, as
well as Shasta and California Indian
prisoners here for sale as slaves.
At The Dalles the Indians did not
ilatten their heads as those did far
ther down the river Among those
Indians who practced the head-flat-
tening fashion, the slaves were de-
barred from this mode. The Indians
east OF the Cascades are said by early
writer's to have been cleaner and
more robust and more intelligent than
those Of the Willamette valley and
lower Columbia river. However that
may have been, the Indians are all
very much the same now. The In
dams of the Columbia river region
once had a fashion of inserting strings
of beads or hiqua shells, the latter
ornament being priced highly
Clothes Of Deerskin.
Collars of bears claws were worn
by the men while elks' tusks were
used for decking the persons of wo-
men and children. The clothes Of
the "old schoof' Indians were made
of deerskins, which, when new, were
very white. These were made with
fringe of the buckskin at the bot
tom of the dresses and all the seams
of the mems clthing. Sometimes the
costumes were decorated with shells
and copper and brass. as well as glass
beads that flashed and jingled with
every movement of the wearer as he
walked or rode.
Before modern cooking uteHGe
came into use among the Indians,
they used troughs and bowls hewn
from cedar, and baskets woven from
willow withes and roots, or grasses.
made SO tight they held water. Into
these they placed the food to be cook
ed and by means of heated stones
cast in upon the food this was cook
ed and made ready for use. Fine
specimens Of these ancient vessels are
to be seen at Wishram village, above
Granddalles, but the owners would
not part with these valuable heir
looms at any price. So long have they
been in use, particularly those made
OF wood, that they are black as ebony
and very smooth. Many of them are
carved very neatly and are quite ar
tistic.
Spoons Made OF Horn
Spoons made Of the horn of the
Big Horn sheep were in use when
seen on a visit to the village not long
ago. When horn could not be OBJ
tanned, spoons were fashioned from
wood. In the bowls of these. gro
tesque figures were carved, and Of
ten symbols were used to convey some
special religious thought to the one
using It.
Salmon made the principal food
for the Columbia River Indians in
the olden times, as it does TODAY.
This was augmented by dried and
fresh berries, roots and wild game.
The roots consisted of peahay, which
was quite bitter. boiled into a Jelly.
ntoothla. ground into flour by means
Of a native-made pestle and mortar;
mamum and su-ky-wa( made into
bitter white cakes; camas. having a
blue flower and growing in shallow
ponds; CALI, a wild sunflower; kouse
root, dug in April or May. Camas
was dug in June or July. Then also
they ate fresh water mussles. The
roots were dried and pulverized.
These contained a great deal of nu-
triton. The house root was very
sweet and palatable, hut it must be
dug in the months named or IL ha