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LOCAL HIEROGLYPHICS TELL OF BEND AREA’S PAST
75 years ago in The Bulletin
For the week ending Nov. 23,1927
ANCIENT INDIAN PICTURES ON DRY RIVER REVEAL TALE OF CENTRAL OREGON WARFARE
Pictured with mineral paints on walls of basalt in which Dry River long ages ago coursed northward through Central Oregon is a record of a battle, between Indians and the
story of the elevation of a warrior of the Elk Clan to heights which approached that of a chieftain.
This was learned here today when Nipo Strongheart, known as Chtu-Tem-Nah by the confederated tribes the Yakima, read some of the groups of hieroglyphics which are
scattered over 200 yards of the eastern wall of Dry River some 28 miles east of Bend.
Dominating the great mass of Indian petrographs on the sunrise wall of the ancient river channel is the pictured record of a fighter who scalped or captured at least a score of
opposing warriors of the Shoshone, or Snake, tribe.
Not only did this warrior of old Central Oregon picture his conquests but he painted on the rock a challenge to any doubting his prowess.
The tribe which opposed the warriors who made the record was evidently the Shoshones .known in this part of the state as the Snakes, it is the opinion of Strongheart.
.
Some of the petrographs indicate that the tribes which left the record were the Bannocks. The Snakes and the Bannocks probably met in the plateau country east of the
Deschutes and fought. Unless the story is biased, the group encamped in Dry River was the victor, Strongheart reads from the writings.
If Strongheart has interpreted the record correctly, the warrior who drew the pictures succeeded in killing most of his enemies. This warrior left a word picture which
Strongheart interprets to mean that the fighter was a member of the Elk clan on the maternal side.
Some pictures lead Strongheart to believe that the fight might have had its origin over fishing grounds when the two tribes met on the trail to the Columbia. In the drawings
are pictures of marine creatures. Fragments of sea shells, flints and arrowheads were found below the writings.
Strongheart, a lawyer, was the author of the American Indian Citizens bill which President Coolidge signed in 1924, giving at least partial citizenship to all male Indians in
this country. The chief was the first Indian to enlist in the provisional regiment which Roosevelt recruited in 1917. Strongheart with 18.000 other Indians, served in the world
war.
Strongheart obtained his knowledge of petrographs from contact with older members of various tribes,
The
Badlands Wilderness preservation puzzle
Senator Wyden
tests support for The Badlands Wilderness
Photos of a
Badlands Tour with ONDA
Photos of
a Navigation Noodle in The Badlands with ONDA
Vandals destroy, deface Badlands Pictographs!
