Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1899-07-01
HAS LIVED Ids YEARS
A QUINTET OF CALIFORNIA
INDIANS.
The Youngest Member OF the Party os
Famous Pow-Wow Hut That Was
Built 1870 Years Ago, and is Historic
Tragedies of the Frontier.

On the high table land of Ell Dorado
county, between the north and middle
forks of the Costumes river and among
the lofty Sierra peaks, lives a remnant
of the Oldest of old Californian Indian
tribes. Once, ages before California
knew the face of white man, the race
was 5000 strong-tall, straight and
powerful Their tribal name was
Tanche (the cat)-one feared and re-
spected throughout the mountains.
Now but five are left. Civilization and
time have all but exterminated the
race; still the wonderful vitality of the
old stock remains, for these five are
not only tribally the most ancient of
North American natives, but individu-
ally are oldest in the world. With
these five will die the name of Tanehe,
for the youngest is IS, and the old
grandmother. unehupus. has already
seen 145 Californian winters. When
Suffer was first heard OF by Indians,
Unchupus' great, great granddaughter
was married and had three children al
most grown. OF the present survivors,
DC, the daughter, is 100 vars old: I'M
chup, the son, is 102; Elomia, the niece.
is SO; while Burnt Jim, the grandson,
is 1O4. Burnt Jim once had an Indian
name, but upon the advent of the
whites he acquired the fire water habit
and during celebration had a sudden
burst of conyiviality which landed him
face down in the camp fire This sec
ond christening dubbed him Burnt
JIM on the spot. The quintet are In
good health, and, with the exception OF
old Unchupus, wait on themselves and
work for their living of game, roots
and acorns. They have no legal stand
ing, no property and no agency I'm
der the law they are but trespassers
upon the unimproyed land OF the
whites-ignored but unmolested. The
old grandmother is sleeping out her
second century. She wakens merely !
to take nourishment. Her hair is as
white as carded wool and her flesh has |
wasted away from inactivity until |
naught but skin and bones remain. |
Ihey have to lead her like a baby-or |
an animated wrinkle-when she walks. |
These old Indians having no children |
Of their own have persuaded two fami- |
lies Of young Indians, from another
tribe, to camp on their grounds. To-
wards them they display the greatest
anection, but to strangers they are in
Variably taciturn and cold Their hab-
Its and crude novels resemble those OF
the wild animals among whom they
have lived; still they have their own
ideas of law, and to these and the an
eient rites of the Tanche they cling
with tribal fanaticism One of these
customs as tribe has been the privil-
eye of the daughters. between TIE
ages Of IL and 20, to sell themselves In
marriage, the proceeds going to the
parents and no dowry to the wigwams
OF their lords. On small knoll in
the center of the camp stands the old
est pow-wow wi-wam in all America.
1t is circular. IS feet In diameter. and
the walls are of upright slabs four
feet nigh. IL was built 1870 years ago
from crude cedar carried twelve miles
On the backs of the braves and cbop-
ped out with stone axes. Originally
the walls were seven feet high. but the
structure has been moved three times
and made smaller as the Tanches were
gradually striker down. Four huge
logs fourteen feet high support the
center Of the cone-shaped roof, and be-
tween these was built the pow-wov
lire on state occasions, when the CHIEFS
sat In council and watched the smoke
curl up through the opening at the {
.op. I
Here are kept their dancing gear
bright caps of crow and yellow-han- c
ner feathers and queer rattles Of sniff t
1ticks. At celebration the drum T
eems to have been the main mart of e
he entertainment, for 1t is a colossal Z
lnair OF resonant boards built over 6
loie In the ground and operated by the y
tamping feet of the biggest buck in n
ne tribe. During dance the sauaws n