Evening star., 1941-02-09
The Stone Age Indian
Passes
Bu Frederic J. Hdsktn.

but few think of the Stone Age OF most
recent times and best known on tho
American continent. The Indians VINO
represent the Stone Age of more recent
times still number more than 3oo'ooo
in the United States, but those OF the
race who once Clipped their AFRO"
points from rocks are no more. Many
of these stones are found In museums
and curiosity shops, but they are thougn'
of as having been made century OF
more ago. So II may come as surprise
to most people to learn that the last
Indian to make and use the flint AFRO"
head died only few years ago.
In series of books on The Rivers OF
America" published by Farrar IL Rlne-
hart. Julian Dana tells story. which
without its many supporting statements
would be unbelievable. 1t could well De
called the great human interest story OF
the decade, and one that some day may
be shown on the screen.
The story begins in 1903 when sur
veving party was working on a project
on Deer Greek in the southern part
of Tehama County, Calf, Members
of the party had heard their grand
parents tell of the Yahi Indian tribe that
once inhabited the section. but no one
dreamed that one Of its members could
possibly be living. Duties OF the sur
veyors carried them deeper into the will
dernesS. where a most unusual and eX-
citing incident happened. On large
rock only a few hundred yards from
them stood a naked mana bronze-llke
figure the resemblance of which they
had seen only in picture books. In
few minutes he vanished like ghost,
and that night when the party returned
and told their story they were chided
by their friends for having joined the
Ananias Club.
The next day, when the surveyors re-
turned TO The hills and began work an
arrow struck near their feet, shattering
against a rock At last they had tam
gible evidence that the story they had
told the night before was not myth.
And more evidence that their story was
not fiction lay only few hundred yards
ahead. for soon they unexpectedly came
upon a camp concealed in scrub oak.
Crawling away from it were an old man
and a middle-aged woman, but on a
pile of rabbtSkin blankets they found
a woman still older and paralyzed by
fright They gave her water and rem
dered other aid but robbed the camp
of its bows and arrows and other things
of Indian make. The surveyors returned
to their tents in triumph. but they were
haunted with the thought that they
were robbers. So the next day they re-
turned with presents to exchange for
the things they had taken. The camp,
however. was deserted; the old woman
had vanished.
The story soon spread and. reaching
the University of California, anthropolo-
gists from that institution hurried TO
the section where the rare find had been
made but their search of many days
for an Indian was in vain. Three years
later. however. near the town of Oroville,
on an August morning. the barking OF
dogs brought farmers upon strange
man. His cheeks we're sunken, his eyes
showed hunger and desperation. Un-
able to understand him. and no one in
the community having ever seen man
like that, the sheriff Of Butte County
was requested to come and get wild
man. When the sheriff arrived the old
Indian was immediately taken to jail
where every possible effort was made to
learn something of his identity, People
( came from great distances to see the
! strange man. but no one knew anything
about him. He was not a wild man, but
merely an Indian who had come in con-
tact with civilization for the first time.
He refused to eat and consequently be-
came the most perpleXing prisoner the
sheriff had ever had
The story of the Wild Man Of Oro-
vile" soon appeared in several California
papers. The late Dr.. T. T. Waterman,
an anthropologist of the University OF
California. read the story and boarded
the reXt train to visit the strange man.
Trying various Indian languages with
out success. DR.. Waterman then point
ed to the wooden frame of the cot on
which the prisoner lay, and using
"si-Win-i," the Indian name for yellow
pine. the prisoners face showed signs
of interest for the first time since his
capture.
Little by little DR.. Waterman pieced
together the answer to the riddle of the
stranger. He was Yahi Indian. whose
name was Ishi, which means Il am a
man" The prisoner proved to be the
warrior whom the surveyors had seen
staining on a rock three years previous
His companions who vanished from the
camp had doubtless died
Ishi was then taken by DR. Waterman
to the University of California and given
clothes of the modern man. In his new
surroundings this last Indian of his
tribe saw a train for the first time, and
witnessed a new world and a civilization
that was strange to him. He was given
neat living quarters in the university
museum. and the regents of the insti-
tuition made him assistant janitor for
life at a salary of S25 a month. Ishi
learned much English from visitors and
picked up slang from children, who al
ways crowded around him
Reactions of this old Indian in a new
world were interesting and often unpre-
dictable. He was not so amazed at the
high buildings he saw, because they were
still lower than the crags among which
he had lived He referred to electric
lights and automobiles as the magic Of
the white man. but even these did not
interest him so much as being able to