Grinding Stones - Klamath County Museum - Klamath Falls, OR
N 42° 13.714 W 121° 46.480
10T E 601115 N 4675881
These two grinding stones reside in front of the Klamath County Museum in downtown Klamath Falls, OR.
Waymark Code: WMJCMA
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 10/30/2013
Views: 2
Located directly in front of the
Klamath County Museum are two grinding stones. There is a placard in front of the larger of the two stones and reads:
Grinding stones
This large stone and the one like it across the sidewalk were retrieved in 1971 from the John D. O'Connor Ranch about 15 miles south of Klamath Falls, and placed where you see them now.
Native Americans used stones such as these for grinding seeds into flour. A bowl-like depression in the rock is called a mortar. A smaller rock in the shape of a cylinder - called a pestle - was used for grinding seeds inside the mortar.
With few means of preserving their food, many Indian tribes had to migrate frequently to find fresh food. But Klamath and Modoc Indians enjoyed a steady supply of fish from local streams, as well as a variety of plant foods in the area.
'Wocus' a staple of Native Americans
Among the seeds most often used by Klamath Indians in this region was that of wocus, or pond lily, which grew extensively on lakes and marshes throughout the Upper Klamath Basin. Indians used dugout canoes like the one shown above to harvest seeds in late summer.
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