"The images you see here are ancient images respected and honored by the First People to inhabit the Columbia River Gorge and the surrounding uplands. These images were originally located at lower elevations in the Gorge and would have been covered by the reservoir behind The Dalles Dam - as were thousands of others. To preserve a sample of the images, these stones were removed from the walls of the Gorge and stored at The Dalles Dam for nearly 30 years. They have been placed here at the request of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Nez Perce Tribe, with assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration and Washington State Parks, to be shared for the benefit of all people as a tribute to all living and non-living things.

Please respect the sacred nature of the images and the rights of the First People as they practice their religious ceremonies at this site. Please do not disturb offerings left by First People or touch or make rubbings or casts of the images. Such activities can irreversibly damage the images. Also, because this site is intended to be a place of prayer, please treat this area as you would any other place of worship.

Federal law and tribal policy prohibit the disturbance or removal of archaeological resources from these lands, including these petroglyphs. Violators are subject to five years in prison and $250,000 fine. Surveillance is conducted.


Source:    "Temani Pesh-wa Trail" information sign, Horsethief Butte, Columbia Hills State Park, Washington, visited September 2011.

"The Petroglyph Canyon Site (includes what has been refered to as "Petroglyph Island"). The area is located in the SE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Section 19, T2N, R14E. Petroglyphs occur on the walls of a small canyon which served as a high water channel for the Columbia River. Glyphs continued on around the outside of a butte facing the river channel. The site was near the present northeast end of Horsethief Lake State Park.

No less than 450 individual petroglyph figures were noted by previous investigators of this site. The most common single motif was the mountain sheep. Also present in significant numbers were other quadrupeds and a wide variety of anthropomorphic figures, some engaged in hunting scenes. Well known in a wide variety of publications are the bird figures known as "Spedis Owls" that occur in a number of panels here. Besides the owls, a few other bird figures occur. Several large faces, either anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, or mythological are found along with a wide variety of unidentifiable zoomorphic forms.

In February of 1957 salvaging of some of the best of the petroglyphs was carried out under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service. ... The original site was inundated in April of 1957."


Source:    Richard H. McClure, Jr., 1978, "An Archaeological Survey of Petroglyph and Pictograph Sites in the State of Washington": The Evergreen State College, Archaeological Reports of Investigation, No.1.