In 1855 the Warm Springs Reservation was created in Oregon for the Warm Springs and Wasco Tribes. The Sahaptin-speaking Teninos, Wyams (Lower Deschutes), Tukspushes, and Tyighs (Upper Deschutes) made up the Warm Springs Tribe. The Museum at Warm Springs on the Warm Springs Reservation has Warm Springs baskets on display.
In his book People of the River: Native Arts of the Oregon Territory, Bill Mercer writes:
“Basketry is an art form that reached great heights of creative expression among the people of the Columbia River region. Although baskets served primarily functional purposes, they were nevertheless constructed with great care and decorated with sophisticated designs that lent them an aesthetic status beyond mere utilitarian objects.”
In her book Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the Earth, Mary Dodds Schlick reports:
“Most basketmaking, that essential industry, was carried out in wintertime when food-gathering was over for the year and families could settle into their winter homes.”
Shown above is a flat bag which was used for storing roots.
Among the baskets made by the Plateau people was a flat storage bag. This bag was insect-resistant, dust-tight, and expandable. It was often used for storing dried roots. Mary Dodds Schlick writes:
“The soft sack-like shape flattens for storage and holds great quantities when filled.”
Shown above is a cedar bark basket used for gathering chokecherries and berries.
Shown above is a basket filled with huckleberries.
Mary Dodds Schlick writes:
“We associate these baskets with the autumn, for the best-known style was the huckleberry basket—round and tall with sides sloping outward toward a looped edge finish at the rim.”
Mary Dodds Schlick also reports:
“Sloping sides of the traditional basket distribute the weight of the berries and the mold-resistant roots of the Western red cedar, used to construct the basket, keep the berries fresh.”
Huckleberries (Vaccinium membranaceum) were an important berry crop which was collected in August and September for winter consumption. Huckleberries are small to medium sized shrubs which are found in the moister mountain areas, particularly in areas with acidic soils and areas which have been burned by forest fires.
Women usually did the gathering of the huckleberries and could gather one or two bucketfuls in a day’s work (about 2-4 liters). Huckleberries were often dried over a slow fire that had been set in a rotten log. This drying created a raisin-like product that could be kept indefinitely. According to anthropologist John Alan Ross, in his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 12: Plateau:
“The importance of this berry is seen in various sacred rituals and associated taboos as the first berries collected were blessed and sung over.”
More American Indian museum exhibits
Indians 101: Flathead Reservation baskets (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Wenatchi baskets (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Some Woodlands Indian baskets (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Indian baskets in the Washington State History Museum (museum tour)
Indians 101: Plateau Women's Gathering Bags (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Nisqually and Puyallup baskets (photo diary)
Indians 101: Translating Traditional Basketry into Glass (Art Diary)
Indians 101: Makah, Southwestern Coast Salish, and Chinook Basket (museum tour)
