The Archaeology of the Yakima ValleySmith, Harlan Ingersoll
History
The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley
Smith, Harlan Ingersoll
Yakima River Valley (Wash.) -- Antiquities
A tubular pipe made of steatite is shown in Fig. 100. It was collected
by Mr. Frank N. McCandless from the Yakima Indians. Mr. McCandless
says the stone differs from that found at the head of Wenatchee Lake,
which is sometimes used for pipes in this region. This pipe is No. 215
in his collection deposited in the Ferry Museum in the City Hall at
Tacoma. It is 51 mm. long and the bowl has been broken off irregularly,
about half of it apparently having been broken away. The bowl flares
rather more abruptly than is the case in the pipes usually found either
in this region or that of the Thompson River. In this respect it
resembles the tubular pipes made of steatite, found on the coast of
British Columbia.[317] In outline, it is nearly straight, while most
pipes of this type have bowls convexly curved in a form characteristic
of the type found in the interior of British Columbia and of Washington.
The bowl has been gouged out. There is a ridge or ring around the pipe
where the bowl meets the stem. Oblique incisions slanting downward from
left to right, at an angle of about 45°, mark this ridge, making it
suggest a twisted cord. The end of the stem is similarly marked. These
lines are again mentioned under art on p. 125. The stem expands from the
ridge to the end. The outline of the stem is rather straight or slightly
concave, while most pipes of this type have more slender or nearly
cylindrical stems. The interior of the stem was apparently formed by
whittling. The pipe is stained by tobacco which suggests that while it
may be old, it has nevertheless been recently smoked.[318] In the Nez
Perce region to the east the earliest form of pipe, according to
Spinden, was doubtless the straight tubular type.[319] One of the pipes
figured by him has a flange for a mouthpiece similar to those found in
the Thompson River region, and this flange is perforated near one end.
This particular type of pipe is also found in Oregon.[320] A pipe of
this type, but which much more nearly resembles the typical form of
tubular pipe of this region, especially the shorter specimens, is
reproduced in Fig. 101 from Lewis and Clark.[321] This specimen which is
made of green stone and has a stem, was seen among the Shoshone Indians
at the headwaters of the Lemhi River, Idaho, by Lewis, August
thirteenth, 1805. It marks the eastern limits of the occurrence of this
type of pipe, so far as I am aware at present, the short forms having
been found at Fulford Harbor, North Saanich, Sidney[322] and Port
Hammond,[323] on the southern coast of British Columbia, Damon[324] on
the coast of Washington, Lytton[325] in the interior of British
Columbia, Umatilla[326] and Blalock Island,[327] near Umatilla, both in
the interior of Washington. In the Journal for Tuesday, August 13, 1805,
Lewis refers to this pipe, as follows:--"the chief then lit his pipe at
the fire kindled in this little magic circle ... pointed the stem to the
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