Chapter XI: Section 2: United States (3)

Mr. Mooney also reports that at Webster, North Carolina, there is one large rock bearing numerous petroglyphs, rings, cup-shaped depressions, fish-bone patterns, etc. He further states, upon the authority of Dr. J. M. Spainhour, of Lenoir, that upon a light gray rock measuring 4 feet by 30 are numerous cup-shaped petroglyphs, he having counted 215. The rock is on the Yadkin river, 4 miles below Wilkesboro, and is at times partly under water.

Dr. Hoffman, who in 1886 visited western North Carolina, gives the following account of colored pictographs found there by him.

“The locality known as ‘Paint rock’ is situated on the east or right bank of the French Broad river, about 100 yards above the Tennessee and North Carolina state line. The limestone cliff, which terminates abruptly near the river, measures about 100 feet in height and covers an area from side to side of exposure of at least 100 yards. The accompanying view (Fig. 61), taken from across the river, presents the wall of limestone rock and the position of the petroglyph, which is delineated in proper proportion nearly in the center of the illustration.

“The property belongs to Mr. J. W. Chockley, who has been living in the vicinity for about fifteen years. He states that during this time the pictograph has undergone some change on account of gradual disintegration or fracture of the rock. The first knowledge of the pictograph, according to local tradition, dates back about sixty years, and no information as to its import could be learned, either from the white residents, who are few in number, or the straggling Cherokee Indians who visit the railway station at odd intervals.”

The pictograph is peculiar in design, no animal forms being apparent but an indefinite number of short, straight lines at right angles to one another, as shown in Fig. 62. One-thirty-sixth actual size.

The characters are in dark red, probably a ferrous oxide, quantities of which are found in the neighborhood. The color appears to have penetrated the softer portions of the limestone, though upon the harder surfaces it has been removed by exposure to the elements. The lowermost figure appears to resemble a rude outline of a human form, with one arm lowered and reaching forward, though this is only a suggestion.

Upon the face of the rock, a few yards to the right of the above, are indistinct outlines of circles, several of which indicate central spots, and one, at least, has a line extending from the center downward for about 8 inches.

OHIO.

A large number of petroglyphs are reported from this state. It is sufficient to present the following examples extracted, with reproduced illustrations and abbreviated descriptions, from the Report of the Committee of the State Archæological Society, published in the Report of the Ohio State Board of Centennial Managers.

Fig. 63 is a copy of the petroglyph on the Newark Track rock.

It is described in the volume cited, pages 94, 95, as follows:

The inscriptions near Newark, in Licking county, Ohio,
originally covered a vertical face of conglomerate rock, 50 or 60
feet in length, by 6 and 8 feet in height. This rock is soft and,
therefore, the figures are easily erased * * *. About the year 1800
it became a place where white men sought to immortalize themselves
by cutting their names across the old inscription * * *.

On the rock faces and detached sandstone blocks of the banks of
the Ohio river there are numerous groups of intaglios, but in them
the style is quite different from those to which I have referred,
and which are located in the interior. Those on the Ohio river
resemble the symbolical records of the North American Indians,
such as the Kelley Island stone, described in Schoolcraft by Capt.
Eastman, the Dighton rock, the Big Indian rock of the Susquehanna,
and the “God rock” of the Allegheny river. In those the supposed
bird track is generally wanting. The large sculptured rock near
Wellsville, which is only visible at low water of the Ohio, has
among the figures one that is prominent on the Barnesville stones.
This is the fore foot of the bear, with the outside toe distorted
and set outward at right angles.

Other sculptured rocks of a similar character have been found in
Fairfield, Belmont, Cuyahoga, and Lorain counties.

That the ancient bird-track character belonged to the
mound-builders is evident from the fact that it is found among their
works, constructed of soil on a large scale.

One of these bird-track mounds occurs in the center of the
large circular inclosure near Newark, Ohio, now standing in the
Licking county fair grounds. Among the characters will be noticed
the human hand. In one instance the hand is open, the palm facing
the observer, and in the other the hand is closed, except the index
finger which points downward to the base of the cliff. Of the
bird-track characters there are many varieties. There is also a
character resembling a cross and another bearing some resemblance to
an arrow.

Fig. 64 is an illustration of the Independence stone, which is described in the same volume, pp. 98, 99, as follows:

Great care has been taken to obtain a correct sketch of what
remains of this inscription. A very rude drawing of it was published
in Schoolcraft’s great work upon the Indian tribes, in 1854.

The rock here described only contains a portion of the
inscription. The balance was destroyed in quarrying. The markings
on the portion of the rock preserved consist of the human foot,
clothed with something like a moccasin or stocking; of the naked
foot; of the open hand; of round markings one in front of the great
toe, of each representation of the clothed foot; the figure of a
serpent, and a peculiar character which might be taken for a rude
representation of a crab or crawfish, but which bears a closer
resemblance to an old-fashioned spearhead used in capturing fish.

Fig. 65 is a copy of the drawings on the Track rock, near Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio, the description of which is in the same volume, pp. 89-93.

The rude cuts of the human faces, part of the human feet, the rings, stars, serpents, and some others, are evidently works of art, as in the best of them the marks of the engraving instrument are to be seen. In all cases, whether single or in groups, the relative dimensions of the figures are preserved. The surface of this block is 8 by 11 feet.

At the south end of the petroglyphs occurs a figure of several concentric rings, a design by no means confined to Ohio. The third figure right of this resembles others in the same group, and evidently indicates the footprints of the buffalo. Human footprints are generally indicated by the pronounced toe marks, either detached as slight depressions or attached to the foot, and are thus recognized as different from bear tracks, which frequently have but slight indications of toes or perhaps claw marks, and in which also the foot is shorter or rounder. The arrow-shaped figures are no doubt intended for turkey tracks, characters common to many petroglyphs of the middle and eastern Algonquian area.

Fig. 66 gives several of the above characters enlarged from the preceding figure.

In Fig. 67, referring to another block mentioned in the same report, lying 20 feet south of the one first mentioned, there is a duplication of the characters before noted--human footprints, bear and turkey tracks, and the indication of what may be intended to represent a serpent.

Fig. 68, from p. 105 of the same volume, gives copies of sketches from the rocks near Wellsville, Ohio, with remarks as follows:

On the Ohio side of the river, 1 mile above Wellsville, there is
a large group of sculptures on a flat sand rock of the coal series,
scarred by floating ice and flood wood. They are only visible in
low water, as they are only 2 or 3 feet above the extreme low stage
of the river. * * * They are made in double outline and not by a
single deep channel. The outlines are a series of dots made with a
round-pointed instrument, seldom more than half an inch deep.

The upper design is a rattlesnake with a fancy head and tail.
Its length is 4-1/2 feet, a very clumsy affair, but intended for
the common yellow rattlesnake of the West. The head of the snake,
which occupies a space 6 inches square, is represented in the second
character, which is reduced from a tracing size of nature. It brings
to mind the horned snake of the Egyptians, which was an object of
worship by them.

The character at the left hand of the lower line may be an
uncouth representation of a demon or evil spirit. The right-hand
character is probably an otter carrying a vine or string in his
month.

It is more probable that the lines from the mouth of the animal indicate magic or supernatural power, of which many examples appear in this paper, as also of the device in the region of the animal’s heart, from which a line extends to the mouth. These characteristics connect the glyph with the Ojibwa drawings on bark.

OREGON.

Many bowlders and rock escarpments at and near the Dalles of the Columbia river, Oregon, are covered with incised or pecked glyphs. Some of them are representations of human figures, but characters of other forms predominate.

Mr. Albert S. Gatschet, of the Bureau of Ethnology, reports the discovery by him, in 1878, of rock etchings 4 miles from Gaston, Oregon, and 2-1/2 miles from the ancient settlement of the Tuálati (or Atfálati) Indians. These etchings are about 100 feet above the valley bottom on six rocks of soft sandstone, projecting from the grassy hillside of Patten’s valley, opposite Darling Smith’s farm, and are surrounded with timber on two sides.

This sandstone ledge extends for one-eighth of a mile horizontally along the hillside, upon the projecting portions of which the inscriptions are found. These rocks differ greatly in size, and slant forward so that the inscribed portions are exposed to the frequent rains of that region. The first rock, or that one nearest the mouth of the canyon, consists of horizontal zigzag lines and a detached straight line, also horizontal. On another side of the same rock is a series of oblique parallel lines. Some of the most striking characters found upon other exposed portions of the rock appear to be human figures, i. e., circles to which radiating lines are attached, and bear indications of eyes and mouth, long vertical lines running downward as if to represent the body, and terminating in a furcation, as if intended for legs, toes, etc. To the right of one figure is an arm and three-fingered hand (similar to some of the Moki characters), bent downward from the elbow, the humerus extending at a right angle from the body. Horizontal rows of short vertical lines are placed below and between some of the figures, probably numerical marks of some kind.

Other characters occur of various forms, the most striking being an arrow pointing upward, with two horizontal lines drawn across the shaft, and with vertical lines having short oblique lines attached thereto.

Mr. Gatschet remarks that the Tuálati tell a trivial story to explain the origin of these pictures, the substance of which is as follows: The Tillamuk warriors living on the Pacific coast were often at variance with the several Kalapuya tribes. One day, passing through Patten’s valley to invade the country of the Tuálati, they inquired of a woman how far they were from their camp. The woman, desirous not to betray her own countrymen, said they were yet at a distance of one (or two?) days’ travel. This made them reflect over the intended invasion, and, holding a council, they decided to withdraw. In commemoration of this the inscription, with its numeration marks, was incised by the Tuálati.

Dr. Charles Rau received from Dr. James S. Denison, physician at the Klamath agency, Lake county, Oregon, a communication relative to the practice of painting figures on rocks in the territory of the Klamath Indians in Oregon. There are in that neighborhood many rocks bearing painted figures; but Dr. Rau’s (_b_) description refers specially to a single rock, called Ktá-i Tupákshi (standing rock), situated about 50 yards north of Sprague river and 150 yards from the junction of Sprague and Williamson rivers. It is about 10 feet high, 14 feet long, and 12 or 14 feet deep. Fig. 69, drawn one-twelfth of the natural size, illustrates the character of the paintings seen on the smooth southern surface of this rock. The most frequent designs are single or concentric circles, like Fig. 69, _a_, which consists of a dark red circle surrounded by a white one, the center being formed by a round red spot. Fig. 69, _b_, painted in dark red and white colors, exhibits a somewhat Mahadeo-like shape; the straight appendage of the circle is provided on each side with short projecting lines, alternately red and white, and almost producing the effect of the so-called herring-bone ornament.

Fig. 69, _c_ and _d_, executed in dark red, are other designs seen on the standing rock above mentioned. The colors, which, as the informant thinks, are rubbed in with grease, appear quite distinct on the dark surface of the rock.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Along the river courses in northern and western Pennsylvania many rocks are found bearing traces of carvings, though, on account of the character of the geological formations, some of them are nearly obliterated.

In 1875 Mr. P. W. Shafer published in a historical map of Pennsylvania several groups of pictographs. These had before appeared in a rude and crowded form in the Transactions of the Anthropological Institute of New York, 1871-’72, page 66, where the localities are mentioned as “Big” and “Little” Indian rocks, respectively. One of these rocks is in the Susquehanna river, below the dam at Safe harbor, and the drawing clearly shows its Algonquian origin. The characters are nearly all either animals or various forms of the human body. Birds, bird tracks, and serpents also occur. A part of this pictograph is presented below, Fig. 1089.

Dr. W. J. Hoffman visited this place during the autumn of 1889 and made sketches of the petroglyphs. The Algonquian type of delineation of objects is manifest.

The rock known as “Big Indian rock” is in the Susquehanna river, three-fourths of a mile below the mouth of Conestoga creek and about 400 yards from the eastern bank of the Susquehanna. It is one of many, but larger than any other in the immediate vicinity, measuring about 60 feet in length, 30 feet in width, and an average height of about 20 feet. The upper surface is uneven, though smoothly worn, and upon this are pecked the characters, shown in Fig. 70.

The characters, through exposure to the elements, are becoming rather indistinct, though a few of them are pecked so deep that they still present a depression of from one-fourth to one-half an inch in depth. The most conspicuous objects consist of human figures, thunder birds, and animals resembling the panther.

“Little Indian rock” is also situated in the Susquehanna river, one-fourth of a mile from the eastern bank and a like distance below the mouth of Conestoga creek. This rock, also of hard micaceous schist, is not so large as the one above mentioned, but bears more interesting characters, the most conspicuous being representations of the thunder bird, serpents, deer and bird tracks, etc.

Prof. Persifor Frazer, jr., (_b_) remarks upon the gradual obliteration of these pictographs, and adds:

In addition to these causes of obliteration it is a pity to
have to record another, which is the vandalism of some visitors to
the locality who have thought it an excellent practical joke to
cut spurious figures alongside of and sometimes over those made by
the Indians. It is not unlikely, too, that the “fish pots” here,
as in the case of the Bald Friar’s inscriptions, a few miles below
the Maryland line, may have been constructed in great part out of
fragments of rock containing these hieroglyphics, so that the parts
of the connected story which they relate are separated and the
record thus destroyed.

Others have cut their initials or full names in these rocks,
thus for an obscure record whose unriddling would award the
antiquarian, substituting one, the correct deciphering of which
leads to obscurity itself.

At McCalls ferry, on the Susquehanna river, in Lancaster county, and on the right shore near the water’s edge, is a gray gneissoid flat rock, bearing petroglyphs that have been pecked upon the surface. It is irregular in shape, measuring about 3-1/2 by 4 feet in superficial area, upon which is a circle covering nearly the entire surface, in the middle of which is a smaller circle with a central point. On one side of the inner space, between the outer and inner circles, are a number of characters resembling human figures and others of unintelligible form. The petroglyph is represented in Fig. 72.

The resemblance between these drawings and those on Dighton rock is to be noted, as well as that between both of them and some in Ohio. All those localities are within the area formerly occupied by tribes of the Algonquian stock.

Near Washington, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on “Mill stream,” one-fourth of a mile above its junction with the Susquehanna river, is a large bowlder of gray sandstone (Fig. 73), the exposed portion of which bears several deeply incised lines which appear to have served as topographic indicators, as several others of like kind occur farther downstream. The longest incision is about 28 inches in length, the next one parallel to it, about 14 inches, while the third character is V-shaped, one arm of which is about 10 inches in length and the other 12. The apex of this character points in a southeast direction.

One-eighth of a mile farther down is another bowlder, also near the water, which bears shorter lines than the preceding, but in general pointing almost southeast and northwest.

The workmanship is similar to that at Conowingo, Maryland, at the site of the Bald Friar rocks. The marks appear to have been chipped to a considerable depth and then rubbed with sand and some hard substance so as to present a smooth and even surface, removing all or nearly all of the pecked surface.

Mr. P. W. Shafer, on the same historical map of Pennsylvania before mentioned, presents also a group of pictures copied from the originals on the Alleghany river, in Venango county, 5 miles south of Franklin, on what is known as the Indian God rock. There are but six characters furnished in his copy, three of which are variations of the human form, while the others are undetermined.

This rock was visited in 1886 by Dr. Hoffman, who made a number of drawings of objects represented, of which only those in Fig. 74 are here reproduced. The face of the bowlder bearing the original petroglyphs has been much disfigured by visitors who, in endeavoring to display their skill by pecking upon the surface names, dates, and other designs, have so injured it that it is difficult to trace the original characters.

Fig. 74, _a_, represents, apparently, a panther. Above and beneath it are markings resembling wolf tracks, while farther down is a turkey track, and in the left-hand lower corner is a human form, such as is usually found upon rocks in the areas represented by Shoshonian tribes.

The design at _b_ is much mutilated and eroded, and may originally have been a character like _a_, the first of this series.

The characters at _c_ and _d_ are evidently human faces, the former representing that of the sun, the latter being very much like a mask. That at _e_ is found upon other Algonquian rocks, notably those called “Bald Friar,” Maryland, in the Susquehanna river, immediately below the state line of Pennsylvania.

The bowlder upon which these petroglyphs are engraved lies at the water’s edge, and during each freshet the lower half of the surface and sometimes even more is under water. At these times floating logs, impelled according to the curve in the river immediately above, are directed toward this rock, which may explain the worn surface and the eroded condition of the sculpture.

Mr. J. Sutton Wall, of Monongahela city, describes in correspondence a rock bearing pictographs opposite the town of Millsboro, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. This rock is about 390 feet above the level of the Monongahela river, and belongs to the Waynesburg stratum of sandstone. It is detached and rests somewhat below its true horizon. It is about 6 feet in thickness, and has vertical sides; only two figures are carved on the sides, the principal inscriptions being on the top, and all are now considerably worn. Mr. Wall mentions the outlines of animals and some other figures formed by grooves or channels cut from an inch to a mere trace in depth. No indications of tool marks were discovered. The footprints are carved depressions. The character marked z, near the lower left-hand corner, is a circular cavity 7 inches deep. A copy of the inscription made in 1882 by Mr. Wall and Mr. William Arison is reproduced as Fig. 75.

Again the resemblance between these drawings, those on Dighton rock, and some of those in Ohio, introduced above, is to be noted, and the fact that all these localities are within the area formerly occupied by tribes of the Algonquian stock.

Mr. Wall also contributes a group of glyphs on what is known as the “Geneva Picture rock,” in the Monongahela valley, near Geneva. These are footprints and other characters similar to those from Hamilton farm, West Virginia, which are shown in Fig. 1088.

Mr. L. W. Brown, of Redstone, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, mentions a rock near Layton, in that county, which measures about 15 by 25 feet in area, upon the surface of which occur a number of petroglyphs consisting of the human figure, animals, and footprints, some of which are difficult to trace. From a rough sketch reproduced as Fig. 76, made by Mr. Brown, these appear to be Algonquian in type.

Mr. Brown also submitted for examination two pieces of chocolate-colored, smooth, fine grained slate, of hard texture, bearing upon the several sides outlines of incised figures. The specimens were found in Indian graves in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. The outline of the incisions, although they are not strictly petroglyphs, are reproduced in Figs. 77 and 78.

The designs are made in delicate lines, as if scratched with a sharply pointed piece of quartz, or possibly metal. The character _d_ on Fig. 78 is the representation of a fish, which has been accentuated by additional cutting since found. The characters resemble the Algonquian type, many of them being frequently found among those tribes living along the Great Lakes.

RHODE ISLAND.

In C. C. Rafn’s Antiq. Amer. (_c_), is the following account:

_Portsmouth rocks._--The rocks, for there are several of them,
are situated on the western side of the island of Rhode Island, in
the town of Portsmouth, on the shore, about 7 miles from Newport,
taking the western road, and 4 miles from Bristol ferry. * * * They
are partially, if not entirely, covered by water at high tide; and
such was the state of the tide and the lateness of the hour when
the location was ascertained, that I was unable to make a thorough
examination of them. I saw sufficient, however, to satisfy me that
they were formerly well covered with characters, although a large
portion of them have become obliterated by the action of air and
moisture, and probably still more by the attrition of masses of
stone against them in violent storms and gales, and by the ruthless
ravages of that most destructive power of all, the hand of man.

_Tiverton rocks_ [op. cit. _d_].--Their situation may be thus
known: by tracing along the east side of the map of Rhode Island
until you strike Tiverton, and then following along to the southwest
extremity of that town, the Indian name Puncoteast, also the English
names Almy and High Hill, will be seen. The inscriptions are on
masses of Graywacke. * * * We can only state they were occupied with
some kind of characters.

These two inscriptions are pictured, op. cit., Table XIII.

SOUTH DAKOTA.

Mr. T. H. Lewis (_c_), gives a description of Fig. 79 as follows:

This bowlder is on a high terrace on the west side of the
Minnesota river, 1-1/2 miles south of Browns valley, and is in
Roberts county, South Dakota. It is oblong in form, being 3-1/2 feet
in length, 2 feet in width, and is firmly imbedded in the ground.

Of the characters _a_ and _b_ are undoubtedly tortoises; _c_
is probably intended to represent a bird track; _d_ represents a
man, and is similar to the one at Browns valley, Minnesota, [Fig.
51, supra;] _e_ is a nondescript of unusual form; _f_ is apparently
intended to represent a headless bird, in that respect greatly
resembling certain earthen effigies in the regions to the southeast.

The figures are about one-fourth of an inch in depth and very
smooth, excepting along their edges, which roughness is caused by a
slight unevenness of the surface of the bowlder.

The same authority, op. cit., describes Fig. 79, _g_.

This bowlder, 4 miles northwest of Browns valley, Minnesota, is
in Roberts county, South Dakota.

The figures here represented are roughly pecked into the stone,
and were never finished; for the grooves that form the pictograph
on other bowlders in this region have been rubbed until they are
perfectly smooth. The face of the bowlder upon which these occur is
about 2 feet long and 1-1/2 feet in width.

TENNESSEE.

Mr. John Haywood (_a_) gives the following account:

About 2 miles below the road which crosses the Harpeth river
from Nashville to Charlotte is a large mound 30 or 40 feet high.
About 6 miles from it is a large rock, on the side of the river,
with a perpendicular face of 70 or 80 feet altitude. On it, below
the top some distance and on the side, are painted the sun and moon
in yellow colors, which have not faded since the white people first
knew it. The figure of the sun is 6 feet in diameter; that of the
moon is of the old moon. The sun and moon are also painted on a high
rock on the side of the Cumberland river, in a spot which several
ladders placed upon each other could not reach, and which is also
inaccessible except by ropes let down the summit of the rock to
the place where the painting was performed. * * * The sun is also
painted on a high rock on the side of the Cumberland river, 6 or 7
miles below Clarksville; and it is said to be painted also at the
junction of the Holston and French Broad rivers, above Knoxville,
in East Tennessee; also on Duck river, below the bend called the
Devil’s Elbow, on the west side of the river, on a bluff; and on a
perpendicular flat rock facing the river, 20 feet below the top of
the bluff and 60 above the water, out of which the rock rises, is
the painted representation of the sun in red and yellow colors, 6
feet in circumference, yellow on the upper side and a yellowish red
on the lower. The colors are very fresh and unfaded. The rays, both
yellow and red, are represented as darting from the center. It has
been spoken of ever since the river was navigated and has been there
from time immemorial. * * *

The painting on Big Harpeth, before spoken of, is more than
80 feet from the water and 30 or 40 below the summit. All these
paintings are in unfading colors, and on parts of the rock
inaccessible to animals of every description except the fowls of
the air. The painting is neatly executed, and was performed at an
immense hazard of the operator.

Mr. W. M. Clarke, in Smithsonian Report for 1877, page 275, says:

On the bluffs of the Big Harpeth many pictures of Indians, deer,
buffalo, and bows and arrows are to be seen. These pictures are
rudely drawn, but the coloring is as perfect now as when first put
on.

Haywood (_b_) says:

At a gap of the mountains and near the head of Brasstown creek,
which is toward the head of the Hiawassee, and among the highlands,
is a large horizontal rock on which are engraved the tracks of deer,
bears, horses, wolves, turkeys, and barefooted human beings of all
sizes. Some of the horses’ tracks appear to have slipped forward.
The direction of them is westward. Near them are signs of graves.

He also (_c_) gives the following account:

On the south bank of the Holston, 5 miles above the mouth of
French Broad, is a bluff of limestone opposite the mounds and a
cave in it. The bluff is 100 feet in height. On it are painted in
red colors, like those on the Paint rock, the sun and moon, a man,
birds, fishes, etc. The paintings have in part faded within a few
years. Tradition says these paintings were made by the Cherokees,
who were accustomed in their journeys to rest at this place.
Wherever on the rivers of Tennessee are perpendicular bluffs, on
the sides, and especially if caves be near, are often found mounds
near them, inclosed in intrenchments, with the sun and moon painted
on the rocks, and charcoal and ashes in the smaller mounds. These
tokens seem to be evincive of a connection between the mounds, the
charcoal and ashes, the paintings and the caves.

TEXAS.

Mr. J. R. Bartlett (_b_) gives the following account:

About 30 miles from El Paso del Norte, in Texas, very near the
boundary line of Mexico, there is an overhanging rock, extending
for some distance, the whole surface of which is covered with rude
paintings and sculptures, representing men, animals, birds, snakes,
and fantastic figures. The colors used are black, red, white, and
a brownish yellow. The sculptures are mere peckings with a sharp
instrument just below the surface of the rock. The accompanying
engravings [reproduced in Fig. 80] show the character of the figures
and the taste of the designers. Hundreds of similar ones are painted
on the rocks at this place. Some of them, evidently of great age,
had been partly defaced to make room for more recent devices.

The overhanging rock, beneath which we encamped, seemed to have
been a favorite place of resort for the Indians, as it is at the
present day for all passing travelers. The recess formed by this
rock is about 15 feet in length by 10 in width. Its entire surface
is covered with paintings, one laid on over the other, so that it is
difficult to make out those which belong to the aborigines. I copied
a portion of these figures, about which there can be no doubt as to
the origin. They represent Indians with shields and bows, painted
with a brownish earth; horses, with their riders; uncouth looking
animals, and a large rattlesnake. Similar devices cover the rock in
every part, but are much defaced. Near this overhanging rock is the
largest and finest tank or pool of water to be found about here. It
is only reached by clambering on the hands and knees 15 or 20 feet
up a steep rock. Over it projects a gigantic bowlder, which, resting
on or wedged between other rocks, leaves a space of about 4 feet
above the surface of the water. On the underside of this bowlder are
fantastic designs in red paint, which could only have been made by
persons lying on their backs in this cool and sheltered spot.

Mr. Charles Hallock, of Washington, District of Columbia, gives information that there is a locality termed the Painted caves, “on the Rio Grande, near Devil’s river, in Crockett county, Texas, on the line of the ‘Sunset’ railroad. Here the rock is gray limestone and the petroglyphs are for the most part sculptured. They are in great variety, from a manifest antiquity to the most recent date; for these cliff caverns have been from time immemorial the refuge and resort of all sorts of wayfarers, marauders, and adventurers, who have painted, cut, and carved in every geometrical and grotesque form imaginable.”

UTAH.

Carvings and paintings on rocks are found in such numbers in the southern interior of Utah that a locality there has been named Pictograph rocks.

Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of the U. S. Geological Survey, collected in 1875 a number of copies of inscriptions in Temple creek canyon, southeastern Utah, and noted their finding as follows:

The drawings were found only on the northeast wall of the
canyon, where it cuts the Vermillion cliff sandstone. The chief
parts are etched, apparently by pounding with a sharp point. The
outline of a figure is usually more deeply cut than the body. Other
marks are produced by rubbing or scraping, and still others by
laying on colors. Some, not all, of the colors are accompanied by a
rubbed appearance, as though the material had been a dry chalk.

I could discover no tools at the foot of the wall, only
fragments of pottery, flints, and a metate.

Several fallen blocks of sandstone have rubbed depressions
that may have been ground out in the sharpening of tools. There
have been many dates of inscriptions, and each new generation has
unscrupulously run its lines over the pictures already made. Upon
the best protected surfaces, as well as the most exposed, there are
drawings dimmed beyond restoration and others distinct. The period
during which the work accumulated was longer by far than the time
which has passed since the last. Some fallen blocks cover etchings
on the wall, and are themselves etched.

Colors are preserved only where there is almost complete
shelter from rain. In two places the holes worn in the rock by
swaying branches impinge on etchings, but the trees themselves have
disappeared. Some etchings are left high and dry by a diminishing
talus (15 to 20 feet), but I saw none partly buried by an increasing
talus (except in the case of the fallen block already mentioned).

The painted circles are exceedingly accurate, and it seems
incredible that they were made without the use of a radius.

In the collection contributed by Mr. Gilbert there are at least fifteen series or groups of figures, most of which consist of the human form (from the simplest to the most complex style of drawing), animals, either singly or in long files--as if driven--bird tracks, human feet and hands, etc. There are also circles, parallel lines, and waving or undulating lines, spots, and other characters.

Mr. Gilbert also reports the discovery, in 1883, of a great number of pictographs, chiefly in color, though some are only incised, in a canyon of the Book cliff containing Thompson’s spring, about 4 miles north of Thompson’s station, on the Denver and Colorado Railroad, Utah. He has also furnished a collection of drawings of pictographs at Black rock spring, on Beaver creek, north of Milford, Utah. A number of fallen blocks of basalt at a low escarpment are filled with etchings upon the vertical faces. The characters generally are of an “unintelligible” nature, though the human figure is drawn in complex forms. Footprints and circles abound.

Mr. I. C. Russell, of the U. S. Geological Survey, furnished rude drawings of pictographs at Black rock spring, Utah (see Fig. 1093). Mr. Gilbert Thompson also discovered pictographs at Fool creek canyon, Utah (see Fig. 1094).

Mr. Vernon Bailey, in a letter dated January 18, 1889, reports that in the vicinity of St. George “all along the sandstone cliffs are strange figures like hieroglyphics and pictures of animals cut in the rocks, but now often worn dim.”

Mr. George Pope, of Provo city, Utah county, in a letter, kindly gives an account of an inscription on a rock in a canyon at the mouth of Provo river, about 7 miles from the city named. There is no paint seen, the inscription being cut. A human hand is conspicuous, being cut (probably pecked) to a depth of at least one-third of an inch, and so with representations of animals.

Dr. Rau (_c_) gives the design of a portion of a group carved on a cliff in the San Pete valley at the city of Manti, Utah, now reproduced as Fig. 81. He says:

A line drawn horizontally through the middle of the parallel
lines connecting the concentric circles would divide the figure into
two halves, each bearing a close resemblance to Prof. Simpson’s
fifth type of cup stones. A copy of the group in question was made
and published by Lieut. J. W. Gunnison, in The Mormons or Latter-Day
Saints, etc., Philadelphia, 1853, p. 63. The illustration is taken
from Bancroft’s Native Races (Vol. IV, p. 717). In accordance with
Lieut. Gunnison’s design, the position of the grotesque human figure
is changed to the left of the concentric circle. He also says that
the Mormon leaders made this aboriginal inscription subservient
to their religion by giving the following translation of it: “I,
Mahanti, the second king of the Lamanites, in five valleys of the
mountains, make this record in the twelve hundredth year since we
came out of Jerusalem. And I have three sons gone to the south
country to live by hunting antelope and deer.” * * * Schoolcraft
attempts (Vol. III, p. 494) something like an interpretation which
appears to me fanciful and unsatisfactory.

The following extract is made from The Shinumos by F. S. Dellenbaugh (_a_).

Some of the least disintegrated ruins are situated on the
Colorado river, only a short distance below the mouth of the Dirty
Devil river. * * * A level shelf varying from about 6 to 10 feet
in width ran along for 150 feet or more. In most places the rocks
above protruded as far as the edge of the lower rocks, sometimes
farther, thus leaving a sort of gallery, generally 7 or 8 feet high.
Walls that extended to the roof had been built along the outer edge
of the natural floor, and the inclosed space being subdivided by
stone partitions to suit the convenience of the builders, the whole
formed a series of rather comfortable rooms or houses. The back
walls of the houses--the natural rock--had on them many groups of
hieroglyphics, and farther along where there was no roof rock at all
the vertical faces had been inscribed with seeming great care. Some
of the sheltered groups were painted in various dull colors, but
most of them were chiseled.

The figure [82] gives a chiseled group. It is easy to see that
these are signs of no low order. Considering their great age, their
exposure, many of the delicate touches must be obliterated.

The inscriptions on this ruin might possibly be the history of
the defense of the crossing, the stationing of the garrison, the
death of officers of rank, etc.

The following sketches of petroglyphs, with the references attached, are taken from the sketch book of Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh, before referred to.

The petroglyph, of which Fig. 83 is a copy, appears on a horizontal rock 5 miles below the mouth of the Dirty Devil river, Utah.

The characters in Fig. 84 from rocks near the preceding group are painted red, with the imprint of a hand (on the larger figure) in white.

The petroglyphs reproduced in Fig. 85 are copied from the vertical walls near the two groups immediately before mentioned.

The characters presented in Fig. 86 are copied from a vertical surface 10 by 16 feet in area and halfway up the ascent to the geodetic point west of “Windsor castle,” Pipe Spring. The human forms are similar in general design to the greater number of such representations made by the Shinumo Indians.

The human forms represented in Fig. 87 are from the vicinity of Colorado river, 5 miles below the mouth of the Dirty Devil river. Mr. Dellenbaugh notes that the darkest portions of the figures indicate a chiseled surface.

Fig. 88 represents a number of petroglyphs obtained at the same locality as the one last mentioned. The greater number of the characters appear to represent snakes.

Fig. 89 shows characters from the Shinumo canyon, which, according to the draftsman’s general notes, are painted.

VIRGINIA.

In 1886 Dr. Hoffman visited a local field 9 miles southwest of Tazewell, Tazewell county, Virginia, which can be designated as follows: The range of hills bounding the western side of the valley presents at various points low cliffs and exposures of Silurian sandstone. About 4 miles below the village, known as Knob post-office, there is a narrow ravine leading up toward a depression in the range, forming a pass to the valley beyond, near the summit of which is a large irregular exposure of rock facing west-southwest, upon the eastern extremity of which are a number of pictographs, many of which are still in good preservation. Fig. 90 is a representation. The westernmost object, i. e., the one on the extreme left, appears to be a circle about 16 inches in diameter, from the outer side of which are short radiating lines giving the whole the appearance of a sun. Beneath and to the right of this is the outline of an animal resembling a doe.

Other figures, chiefly human, follow in close succession to the eastern edge of the vertical face of the rock, nearly all of which present the arms in various attitudes, i. e., extended or raised as in extreme surprise or adoration. Concentric rings appear at one point, while a thunder-bird is shown not far away. About 12 feet east of this place are several figures resembling the thunder-bird.

All of the characters, with one exception, are drawn in heavy or solid lines of dark red paint, presumably a ferruginous coloring material prepared in the neighborhood, which abounds in iron compounds. The exception is one object which appears to have been black, but is now so faded or eroded as to seem dark gray.

The following account of the Tazewell county, Virginia, pictographs is taken from Coale’s Life, etc., of Waters: (_a_)

In August, 1871, the writer went to visit Tazewell county by
way of the saltworks. Upon this place are found those strangely
painted rocks which have been a wonder and a mystery to all who have
seen them. The grandfather of Gen. Bowen settled the cove in 1766,
one hundred and ten years ago, and the paintings were there then,
and as brilliant to-day as they were when first seen by a white
man. They consist of horses, elk, deer, wolves, bows and arrows,
eagles, Indians, and various other devices. The mountain upon which
these rocks are based is about 1,000 feet high, and they lie in a
horizontal line about halfway up and are perhaps 75 feet broad upon
their perpendicular face.

When it is remembered that the rock is hard, with a smooth white
surface, incapable of absorbing paint, it is a mystery how the
coloring has remained undimmed under the peltings of the elements
for how much longer than a hundred years no one can tell. This paint
is found near the rocks, and Gen. Bowen informed the writers that
his grandmother used it for dyeing linsey, and it was a fadeless
color.

As there was a battle fought on a neighboring mountain, between
1740 and 1750, between the Cherokees and Shawnees for the possession
of a buffalo lick, the remains of the rude fortifications being
still visible, it is supposed the paintings were hieroglyphics
conveying such intelligence to the red man as we now communicate to
each other through newspapers.

It was a perilous adventure to stand upon a narrow, inclined
ledge without a shrub or a root to hold to, with from 50 to 75 feet
of sheer perpendicular descent below to a bed of jagged bowlders
and the home of innumerable rattlesnakes, but I didn’t make it. I
crawled far enough along that narrow slanting ledge with my fingers
inserted in the crevices of the rocks to see most of the paintings,
and then “coon’d” it back with equal care and caution.

Five miles east of the last-noted locality and 7 west of Tazewell, high up against a vertical cliff of rock, is visible a lozenge-shaped group of red and black squares, known in the locality as the “Handkerchief rock,” because the general appearance of the colored markings suggests the idea of an immense bandana handkerchief spread out. The pictograph is on the same range of hills as the preceding, but neither is visible from any place near the other. The objects can not be viewed upon Handkerchief rock excepting from a point opposite to it and across the valley, as the locality is so overgrown with large trees as to obscure it from any position immediately beneath. The lozenge or diamond-shaped figure appears to cover an area about 3 feet in diameter.

WASHINGTON.

Capt. Charles Bendire, U. S. Army, in a letter dated Fort Walla-walla, Washington, May 18, 1881, mentions a discovery made by Col. Henry C. Merriam, then lieutenant-colonel Second United States Infantry, as thus quoted:

While encamped at the lower end of Lake Chelan, lat. 48° N.,
he made a trip to the upper end of said lake, where he found a
perpendicular cliff of granite with a perfectly smooth surface,
from 600 to 1,000 feet high, rising out of the lake. On the cliff he
found Indian picture-writings, painted evidently at widely different
periods, but evidently quite old. The oldest was from 25 to 30 feet
above the present water level, and could at the time they were
executed only be reached by canoe. The paintings are figures, black
and red in color, and represent Indians with bows and arrows, elk,
deer, bear, beaver, and fish, and are from 1 foot to 18 inches in
size. There are either four or five rows of these figures, quite a
number in each row. The Indians inhabiting this region know nothing
of the origin of these pictures, and say that none of their people
for the past four generations knew anything about them.

Since the preceding letter was written a notice of the same rock has been published, together with an illustration, by Mr. Alfred Downing, of Seattle, Washington, in “The Northwest,” VII, No. 10, October, 1889, pp. 3, 4. The description, condensed, is as follows:

In that part of Washington territory until recent years known as
the Moses Indian reservation lies the famous Lake Chelan, 70 miles
in length with an average width of 2 miles.

About half a mile from its head, on the western shore and rising
from the water, as an abrupt and precipitous wall of granite, stands
“Pictured rock.”

The most remarkable feature of the Chelan picture is that the
figures representing Indians, bear, deer, birds, etc., are painted
upon the surface of the smooth granite, nearly horizontal, but about
17 feet above the lake; the upper portion of the picture being about
2 feet higher. The figures depicted are 5 to 10 inches long.

The difference between high and low stage of water at any
period during the year does not exceed 4 feet, and this high-water
mark being well defined along the shore, it becomes self-evident
that these signs were placed there ages ago, when the water was
17 feet higher than it is now. The granite bluff or walls in this
instance are smooth, being weather and water worn, and afford no
hold for hand or foot either from above or below, and from careful
observation it would appear to be a physical impossibility for
either a white or red man to show his artistic skill on those rocks
unless at the ancient stage of water and with the aid of a canoe or
a “dugout.”

The paint or color used was black and red, the latter resembling
venetian. How wonderfully the color has stood the test in the face
of the storms to which the lake is subject is apparent; only in
one or two instances does it to-day show any signs of fading or
weather-wearing. The signs impressed me as intending to convey the
idea of the prowess of an Indian chief in the hunt, or as being a
page in the history of a tribe, the small perpendicular strokes seen
in the lower portion indicating probably the number of bear, deer,
or other animals slain.

When referring, in Pacific Railroad Report, vol. I, page 411, to a locality on the Columbia river in Washington, between Yakima and Pisquouse counties, Mr. George Gibbs mentioned pecked and colored petroglyphs which he found there as follows:

It was a perpendicular rock, on the face of which were carved
sundry figures, most of them intended for men. They were slightly
sunk into the sandstone and colored, some black, others red, and
traces of paint remained more or less distinctly on all of them.
These also, according to their [the Indians’] report, were the work
of the ancient race; but from the soft nature of the rock, and the
freshness of some of the paint, they were probably not of extreme
antiquity.

For another example of petroglyphs from Washington see Fig. 679.

WEST VIRGINIA.

Mr. John Haywood (_d_) gives the following account:

In the county of Kenhaway [Kanawha] about 4 miles below the
Burning spring, and near the mouth of Campbell’s creek, in the state
of Virginia, is a rock of great size, on which, in ancient times,
the natives engraved many representations. There is the figure of
almost every indigenous animal--the buffalo, the bear, the deer,
the fox, the hare, and other quadrupeds of various kinds; fish of
the various productions of the western waters, fowls of different
descriptions, infants scalped, scalps alone, and men as large as
life. The rock is in the river Kenhaway, near its northern shore,
accessible only at low water unless by the aid of water craft.

The following notice of the same locality, but perhaps not of the same rock, was published by James Madison (_a_), bishop of Virginia, in 1804:

I cannot conclude this letter without mentioning another curious
specimen of Indian labour, and of their progress in one of the arts.
This specimen is found within 4 miles of the place whose latitude
I endeavoured to take, and within 2 of what are improperly called
Burning springs, upon a rock of hard freestone, which sloping to the
south, touching the margin of the river, presents a flat surface of
above 12 feet in length and 9 in breadth, with a plane side to the
east of 8 or 9 feet in thickness.

Upon the upper surface of this rock, and also upon the side, we
see the outlines of several figures, cut without relief, except in
one instance, and somewhat larger than the life. The depth of the
outline may be half an inch; its width three-quarters, nearly, in
some places. In one line ascending from the part of the rock nearest
the river there is a tortoise; a spread eagle, executed with great
expression, particularly the head, to which is given a shallow
relief, and a child, the outline of which is very well drawn. In
a parallel line there are other figures, but among them that of a
woman only can be traced. These are very indistinct. Upon the side
of the rock there are two awkward figures which particularly caught
my attention. One is that of a man with his arms uplifted, and hands
spread out as if engaged in prayer. His head is made to terminate
in a point, or rather, he has the appearance of something upon the
head of a triangular or conical form; near to him is another similar
figure suspended by a cord fastened to his heels. I recollected the
story which Father Hennepin relates of one of the missionaries from
Canada who was treated in a somewhat similar manner, but whether
this piece of seemingly historical sculpture has reference to
such an event can be only a matter of conjecture. A turkey, badly
executed, with a few other figures may also be seen. The labour and
the perseverance requisite to cut those rude figures in a rock so
hard that steel appeared to make but little impression upon it, must
have been great; much more so than making of enclosures in a loose
and fertile soil.

Another petroglyph, a copy of which is presented in Fig. 1088, is thus described in a letter from Morgantown, West Virginia: