Imperial Valley press., 1927-05-13
By United Press Leased Wire

by United Press Leased Wire
LINCOLN, Neb., May 13.-Travel-
ing in Il queer little automobile, +.
F.. Blackman, curator of the Ncbras
ka Historical Society and prominent
historian, Will leave here early in
June on an exploration trip which
he hopes will prove startling simi-
laritv between religious beliefs Of
the extinct Skidi Indian tribe and
Christians Of today.
The Skidis, Il highly religious
tribe, believed that the North Loup
valley Of Nebraska was the Garden
Of Eden mentioned in the Bible, ac.
cording to Rlackman.
BIackman, & small elderly man
with :; head Of disheveled white hair
will no doubt startle the natives OF
central Nebraska with his unique
automobile. His ear weighs l5U
pounds. travels SO miles on q gallon
OF gasoline. and although the tank
holds slightly more than q quart, +,
the little go.devil as he calls il,
averages about Is miles an hour.
The wheels require 20 inch tire
and his tccpee and entire camp out
fit weighs y pounds. Loosening
wires in fences he goes over fields
or through groves with little diff
Guilty.
Setting out from Lincoln, Black
man will 90 to the mouth Of the
Loup river at Columbus. and follow
ing the river the pathway traversed
by the Skidis IS early as 1850, he
viii cross over to Cedar creek, sur
veying the village sites for relies.
Simon Pure Religion
The Skidis, branch Of the
Pawnce tribe. separated from the
main tribe centuries ago. according
to Blackm~n. The tribe was simon
par" in its religious practices while
the Pawnces were Of the renegade
order. This may have caused the
break but :t aI:r rate the Skidis
came TO Nebraska us early rs 1850
and perhaps earlier.
Blackman will make Il strenuous
effort 20 ascertain how much the
religious legends Of the tribes con
flicted with that Of the early mis-
sionarics. Since the doctrine was
handed down by word of mouth it
is quite possible that the legends
became contaminated.
Their god known as Tirawa, tie
supreme being, also had son. The
legends begin ''ln the beginning
was Tirawahut, but in the remain
ing legends the god is referred to
rs Tirawa. The son in these legends
somewhat resembles the man Of
Galilee, although the Indian rcli.
gion is closely allied with nature
and animals.
After some time Tirawa became
displeased with his children and
sent Il deluge and the earth was re-
populated with another race. The
Indians believed the Lonp Valley in
Nebraska was the cradle Of crcp-
tion.
However, the creation of man ac-
cording to the legends compiled by
Blackman and others, is very dif
terent than the creation Of man n
the Bible.
Woman Created ri:.t
Woman was created FIRST, accord
ing to these legends, when the.
evening star and morning star CO.
habited and morning star was the
mother of the first woman. For
many years this woman wandered
about the earth alone, until the sun,
!,
journcycd over to the moon and the
moon conceived boy. Both The
girl and the boy-the legends refer
to them as such--were sent to earth
on II cloud. And thus the earth
was populated. However, it is in
teresting to note that the boy and
girl were sinless. And propagation
was taught by Tirawa
Further legends tell Of the crea-
tion of various animals and in this
connection arises another problem,
which Rlackman viii try TO solve.
All animals were the subjects Of le-
Gends with the exception of the
horse, which would tend to substan-
tiate the contention of archaeolo-
gists that the horse was brought to
America by Corte2.
In contradiction to this, however,
Blackman has three stone horse
teeth, which he asserts could not
have become fossilized in less than
from seven to ten thousand years.
All these problems will form the
basis of his study.
He will also add to the collection