The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center in Wenatchee, Washington, includes displays of American Indian artifacts.
Wenatchee is, of course, named for the Wenatchee Indians who lived along the Columbia River for thousands of years prior to the European invasion. Linguistically, the Wenatchee language is a part of the Columbian Group of the Plateau Salish language sub-family and is, therefore, most closely related to Chelan, Entiat, Method, and Columbia.
This map, displayed at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, shows the First Nations of the Plateau area.
Native Americans have lived in the Columbia Plateau area for thousands of years. According to the display at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center:
“Over time, at least 20 distinct cultural groups developed within the Plateau region—each with unique customs, style, and dialect. Their traditions, their trade, and the influences which impacted their cultures, have shaped who they are today.”
For the Indian people living along the Columbia River, fishing was an important economic activity. Shown above are some stone fishnet weights.
Shown above is a fishhook.
Shown above is a model of a bark canoe.
Shown above is a woven woman’s hat.
One of the distinctive characteristics of women’s clothing among the Plateau tribes is the basket hat. This hat is usually described as being fez-shaped with designs woven it. In her book Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the Earth, Mary Dodds Schlick reports:
“The graceful proportions of these hats and the varied execution of the traditional banded zigzag design required great skill on the part of the weaver.”
Shown above is a woven basket. Indian women in the Plateau areas were skilled basket makers. They wove baskets and bags from plant fibers.
Mary Dodds Schlick, in her chapter in Woven History: Native American Basketry, writes:
“The Native people of the Columbia Plateau are rich in basketmaking tradition. For thousands of years their ancestors have used the roots, bark and grasses of the region to fashion containers for all their needs.”
Shown above is a coiled basket used for gathering huckleberries.
Shown above is a cornhusk bag with a traditional geometric pattern.
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.”
Shown above are some necklaces made from trade beads.
Prior to the coming of the European traders and glass trade beads, the Indian people of the Plateau manufactured beads from marine shells, most commonly dentalium and olivella.
Indians 101
Twice each week Indians 101 presents views of American Indian histories, arts, and culture. More museum tours from this series:
Indians 101: Columbia River Basketry (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Klikitat Baskets (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Plateau Flat Bags at the Maryhill Museum (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Timbisha Shoshone Baskets (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: A Display of American Indian Beadwork (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Columbia River Beadwork (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Nez Perce Indian Art (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Glass Art by Northwest Native Carvers and Weavers (Art Diary)
