6 MAY 1,2007
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MAY 1,2007
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A group of Tribal members and Tribal
from Cascadia State Park to Cascadia
By Toby McClary
Should a dollar amount be put on
the preservation of Native Ameri
can history? That is a question that
many have and will ask themselves
when researching the Cascadia
Cave, also known as the Indian
Cave, near Sweet Home, Oregon.
On Friday, April 20, a delegation
from Grand Monde joined a group of
Willamette National Forest employ
ees on a two-mile hike that led them
to the Cascadia Cave which houses
petrogiyphs dating back over 8,000
years. Petroglyphs are carvings on
rock made by prehistoric people.
These specific petroglyphs are be
lieved to have been carved by the
Kalapuya Indians. But the Mo
lalla Indians are believed to have
inhabited the Willamette Valley
as well. Who actually carved them
is unknown. It is known, however,
that these historic and culturally
rich carvings need to be preserved
and their stories need to be told for
the next 8,000 years.
Over the last century, tourists
and other visitors to the site have
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Council members pose with a group of Willamette National Forest employees in front of an old -
Cave. A Tribal delegation went to Cascadia Cave to bless the area and share ideas about how to
vandalized the rock carvings by
painting them, carving into them,
and even chipping some of them
away for their own personal use.
"The Grand Ronde Cultural Re
sources Department has been visit
ing the site annually since 2003,"
said Tribal member and Cultural
Protection Specialist Eirik Thors
gard, "to determine looting from
visitors, damage to the petroglyphs,
and to maintain a connection to one
of the oldest known areas of the val
ley where our people have been."
The carvings have been inves
tigated intermittently since 1924
when Dr. Horner of Oregon State
University took students there
to do some archaeological work.
Other major investigations were
done by Dr. Cressman of the Uni
versity of Oregon in 1937 and in
1963 Bob and Virginia Howard of
the Oregon Archaeological Soci
ety researched the site. 1 In 1964,
the National Parks Service hired
Thomas Newman of Idaho State
University to excavate the site
turning up various arrowheads,
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scrapers, choppers, knives, drills,
and deer and elk bones among
many other artifacts.
There are many beliefs as to why
the cave exists and what it was
used for. It could obviously have
been used for a shelter during the
winter months. There are many
theories behind the reasoning of the
pictures of which are inscribed on
the rock walls. Some believe that
they are ceremonial while others
believe that was just a means of
standard communication.
While on the two-mile tour, led
by Willamette Forest Service Ar
chaeologist Tony Farque, the doors
of archaeological mystery and his
tory were opened. Farque helped
explain the support behind many
of the theories. For instance, there
are many bear claws carved into
the wall of Cascadia Cave. In Na
tive American culture, the bear
represents the power to heal, thus
supporting the theory that Casca
dia Cave was a ceremonial place of
medicine. However, in support of
a standard communication theory,
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growth tree during the two-mile hike
preserve the 8,000 year-old petroglyphs.
the inscription of a bear claw could
have been to warn others that there
were bear in the area and how many
bear were present was dependant
on how many claws were carved
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into the wall. Unfortunately, these
many theories might remain just
that, theories. Nevertheless, there
is a very rich history carved into
the wall of Cascadia Cave. And its
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Photos by Toby McClary
need for preservation may be just
as important as the inscriptions
themselves.
"I think it was used as a hunting
camp," said Thorsgard. "We are
also led to believe that it was used
for ceremonial purposes."
Cascadia Cave sits on privately
owned land just outside of the
Cascadia State Park property about
14 miles east of Sweet Home on
Highway 20. According to research
done by Farque and the Willamette
Forest Service, it could cost up to
$3 million to preserve Cascadia
Cave. The property in which the
cave is housed would need to be
either purchased or traded for.
The paint that vandals have pol
luted the walls with would either
need to be very carefully removed
or painted over using a microscopic
A Archaeologist for the Willamette
National Forest Tony Farque explains
the history behind a popular fishing
area (seen in the background) used
by the Kalapuya Indians.
H i 5 to r u
Tribal Council member Reyn
procedure that could be extremely
expensive. Also, the plant life and
vegetation that have found a home
on the petroglyphs would also have
to be carefully removed in another
expensive procedure. The floor that
was dug up during the excavation
in 1964 would need to be replaced.
Finally, the cave would need some
form of protection. Whether that is
a fence around the area to keep out
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vandals or, as Tribal Council Chair
Chris Mercier explained, to hire
someone to keep a full-time watch
of the cave and shoot the people
who dare to vandalize it. Either
way, the preservation of Cascadia
Cave could prove financially costly.
But in another sense, there can be
no dollar amount that would equal
the need of the preservation of Cas
cadia Cave.
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