Tsagiglalal, “She Who Watches” still looks out across the Columbia River from the basalt cliff where she was painted by Chinookan People somewhere between the years 1700 and 1840. This spectacular pictograph was created using mineral pigments pulverized from rock. In contrast, much of the historic Native American artwork found at this important site has been carved into stone, an art form known as a petroglyphs. The petroglyphs found here were originally carved upon the nearby cliffs of Petroglyph Canyon, which was submerged by the reservoir created by The Dalles Dam in 1957. Also submerged by the Dalles Dam was Celilo Falls which was located directly in front of this site. The [She Who Watches] pictograph is part of the greater Temani Pesh-wa (Written on Rock) trail, which at the behest of the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, the Yakima Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Spring was officially opened to the public in 2004. Access to this site is by guided tour only, and despite any inconvenience of signing up, it is both important to the protection of this site, and you will learn a great deal more about its history than if visited alone. Columbia Hills State Park, Washington State.
5×7 notecards / greeting cards of this photograph are available in The Gift Shop.
Historic Oregon, Klickitat County, Native American
