The Willis Carey Wing of the Cashmere Museum in Cashmere, Washington includes several exhibits of Indian artifacts from the Columbia River area. Shown below is one of these exhibits. The individual items in the exhibit are not labeled.
Pipes
Smoking—more specifically, the use of the pipe—is a cultural pattern that goes back for more than 2,000 years according to the archaeological data. Tobacco (Nicotania attenuata) was cultivated by broadcasting the seeds in a plot which had been burned. When tobacco was not available, the people used kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and when tobacco was available it was often mixed with kinnikinnick.
Beadwork
The use of glass beads for decorated clothing, bags, and other items originated with the fur trade. Since glass beads were originally acquired from Russian traders, they are sometimes called “Russian beads” even though they were manufactured in Italy.
Decorated bags
Baskets
The Plateau tribes made a wide variety of different kinds of baskets. In his book Native American Clothing: An Illustrated History, Theodore Brasser writes:
“This was the ancient heartland of North American basketry, and the handiwork covered a range of objects from twined and coiled utilitarian containers to bags, baskets and hats decorated in various techniques.”
Parfleche
The parfleche, made from rawhide, was used for storing food and sometimes for storing clothing.
More American Indian museum exhibits
Indians 101: A display of Plateau Indian beadwork (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Flathead Reservation baskets (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Some Plateau Indian artifacts (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Wasco homelife (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Southwestern Baskets in the Maryhill Museum (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Mission Indian Baskets in the Maryhill Museum (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: A Cowlitz canoe (museum tour)
Indians 101: Woodlands Indian Art in the Maryhill Museum (Photo Diary)
