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A Man Named Ishi - Joyce Ann Harwood
A Man Named Man, A Man Named Ishi.
Flint knapping is a part of the world lived in by a very few, but at
one time it was part of everyone's world to some degree. The man
named Ishi was at the end of that time and the start of this one.
It was early in the morning, just the break of dawn, August 9, 1911,
some miles south of Red Bluff, California, an exhausted and fearful
man was found in the stable of a slaughter house. It was a middle aged
American Indian man whom came in from the woods; he was taken off
to the jail at Oroville. Sheriff J.B. W Webbe, who was the one who
figured out Mr.Ishi was a "wild" Indian and locked him up in a cell for
the insane,for Ishi's protection more than anything. Curiosity brought
both locals and outsiders from miles away to see were described as
a "wildman". Local Indians and "half breeds" came in and attempted to
communicate with Ishi, but to no avail. He was the last human on
earth that spoke his language. He spoke no English, he was starved
and his black hair was burned off short as he was in morning. The man
Ishi, the last of the Yahi. The Yahi, a small branch of the Yana,
were situated in northern California. Ishi lived in the Mill Creek in
the foothills of Mount Lassen, east of the Sacramento River and south
of the Pit River.
Fortunately for us Ishi was a master flint knapper and he still
retained all the knowledge and skill from living a life as his
tribe's flint knapping expert. The points Ishi knapped are so
delicate, thin and well flaked; they far surpass nearly all points
found in archaeological contexts and collections from prehistory.
Ishi has a point style named after him, as well as a specific type of
flint knapping tool. Ishi had lived his life in the wilderness, his
tribe had been wiped out by murderous miners and hunters, Ishi lived
alone - isolated.
The story of Ishi's capture became headline news.
One of the readers happened to be Professors Kroeber and Waterman,
anthropologists at the University of California. The two men took an
instant interest, as they had gone on an expedition looking for
Ishi's people 3 years earlier as some surveyors had happened upon
their camp and reported their discovery. It was this discovery that
brought the demise of Ishi's people as the surveyors had stolen the
Indians' winter supplies as trophies and the Indians did not make it
though the winter. Years before the surveyor incident, Indian killers
had attacked the tribe of peaceful Indians slaughtering men women and
children, one killer switched to his pistol as his riffle
was "tearing up the babies too much." You can see why Ishi feared
white people; he thought he would surely be executed.
Since Ishi's language was extinct, there was no communication with
him. It was very discouraging for Ishi and the white men. Finally
Waterman broke through with a few Yana words he had found. Ishi went
and lived with Kroeber and Watererman at the museum, Ishi would give
flint knapping demonstrations every Sunday to crowds of interested
onlookers, he also sold his handiwork. On his time off from
demonstrations and ethnographic data collecting, Ishi went to the
near by hospital and made friends with Dr. Saxton T. Pope, whom was
amazed at Ishi's skill as a woodsman and archer. Pope and Ishi went
on many trips into the wilderness and Ishi shared his bow making and
flint knapping secrets with his new friend. Ishi died at noon, March
25th, 1916. He told his friend Pope at the end "you stay, I go". It
was Yahi tradition that the body be buried whole so it could make the
trip to the land of the dead, but before Kroeber could do anything
about it Ishi's body was autopsied and cremated and his brain cut out
and sent to the Smithsonian. California Indians have been trying to
gain Ishi's remains for burial but have been largely unsuccessful as
no Yahi decedents survive. Just within the last several months,
however, a turn of events have taken place and it appears Ishi's
remains have been returned to his beloved Deer Creek for a final
rest.
“Walking With Ishi”, by Joyce Ann Harwood: I sit down under the cool
shade of pine, the mountain air clean and cleansing. My thoughts go
back to a time and place where men and nature were one. To be a man
that is one with nature is to be fulfilled, that was the plan of the
Great Spirit. The man that has come to epitomize this time and life
way is a man given the name Ishi, which itself means man. To me Ishi
was stands for what is good in men; he was as much a part of the
wilderness as the wilderness itself.
Most of you have heard the story of Ishi a thousand times, the tear
filled tale of the last natural American. Ishi wandered out of the
wilderness in 1911, starving. Confused and mourning the loss of his
family and race. The last Yahi-Yana of Dear Creek, California.
Rescued and given sanctuary in the Museum at University at California
Berkley where he lived doing odd jobs and demonstrations until his
death by TB in 1916. Ishi was said to be a reserved and intelligent
gentleman, and an excellent flint knapper. Ishi's friend Dr. Saxton
Pope wrote this of Ishi when he died; "He closes a chapter in
history. He looked upon us as sophisticated children, smart, but not
wise....He knew nature which is always true. His were the qualities of
character that last forever. He was kind; he had courage and self-
restraint, and though all had been taken from him, there was no
bitterness in his heart. His soul was that of a child, his mind that
of a philosopher."
Of late, Ishi has been in the news quite a bit, Researcher Steve
Shakely, of Kroeber Hall at Berkley, states that Ishi may not have
been a Yana after all but, based on physical and anatomical
measurements of Ishi himself and the point type he made, he may have
been a Wintu, a neighboring tribe. Furthermore in the news, the
California Indians have been trying to get the existing remains of
Ishi back from the Smithsonian for burial. Originally Ishi wanted to
be buried in the traditional Yahi-Yana fashion, but the powers that
be at the time had dismembered and burned his body. Before they
burned his body they cut out his brain and sent it to the
Smithsonian. In recent news releases it appears that Ishi's remains
may be returned to his Dear Creek home for burial. The delay in
returning the remains had to do with the fact the Ishi had no living
relatives, recent DNA testing has resolved the issue. In addition,
another bit of Ishi news came about when researcher, Dennis
Torresdale discovered a small cash of authentic Ishi points in Ishi's
waste flake collection in an old coffee can in the basement of the
museum at Berkley. Dennis was extremely noble and turned the points
in to the museum, according to Ishi collector Charlie Shewey, the
last authentic Ishi point sold at auction for a cool $27,000.00.
I was first introduced to Ishi via my husband, Ray Harwood, in the
1970s, Ray held Ishi on a similar level as a deity. This is also
actually the story of how Ishi walked with Ray, and his friends,
through his journey of life, through the triumph and the tragedy,
Ishi's legacy was always there to help them get through. . Even when
Ray was a young child he would go off in the woods bow hunting with
his half Native American father. Ray's father spent a lot of time in
the woods and was able to show Ray and his brother’s crafts and
knowledge his father had shown him. Among the things learned on the
trips to the woods was the art of flint knapping.
When my husband stumbled upon his first copy of Theodore Kroeber's
Ishi in Two Worlds, he felt an instant kinship, this was the first
book he ever completed cover to cover.
Ray met Ishi researcher Dennis Torresdale in the summer of 1999 at
an Errett Callahan lithics workshop in Portland. Dennis gave Ray the
incentive to rekindle his own research on Ishi crafts. Dennis feels,
in light of the Shackley data, that Ishi's points may not have been
Wintu or Yana but, it is in the realm of possibility, that Saxton
Pope had given Ishi the specifications that he considered the perfect
arrowhead. The interesting thing about the Ishi point, more than any
other point type in archaeology, is that we have the tool kit, the
waste flakes; I witness statements and photos of the knapper.
In High School Ray's flint knapping sessions increased to the point
that his eye hand coordination improved drastically, his intense
visual concentration while working the flint material helped his
dyslexic tendency and he went from a fail student to the Dean's List
in a few short years and was even able to achieve black belt in
karate.
Ray had flint knapped in an artistic vacuum until he was in his early
20s. This is when Ray met fellow Ishi fans, Joe Dabil, Barney
DeSimone, Steve Carter and Alton Safford. Barney had a small business
called Yana Enterprises where he marketed his Ishi posters and items
and had become an expert Ishi style knapper, to the point that he had
killed a wild boar on Catalina Island armed with a sinew backed bow
and Ishi tipped arrow of glass of his own making. Atlton was an avid
traditional bow hunter and knapper; he had even hunted big game in
Africa a few times with stone points. Years later Alton and Ray
started the yearly California Flint knapping Rendezvous. Joe Dabil had
become a California legend by the late 1970s and had the nick name
of "Indian Joe", this name given to him by the prominent archaeologists
of the day.
Joe could make fire in minutes with anatural yucca file board
and mule fat stick. Joe was also a master of the Ishi style
flint knapping methodology. Joe's Ishi points of both
glass and obsidian were each an impressive work of art. Ray and Joe
became friends and Ray began to study Joe's flint knapping methods.
Joe Dabil had learned the arts of wilderness survival hands on. Joe
was an Olympic class long distance runner in the 1960s, and when a
Doctor informed him he had a life threatening disease he fled into
the wilderness. There in the woods, alone, Joe eked out a survival on
natural foods. Eventually Joe relearned the arts of Ishi, sinew back
bow making, arrow-smithing, fire drill technology, cordage making,
brain tanning and of coarse...flint knapping. As miracle has it, Joe
lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness
skills today. Steve Carter was already an established master knapper
when Ray met him in the early 1980s. Steve had been friends with
J.B. Sollberger of Dallas, Texas and with J.B.s inspiration, at the
1978 Little Lake knap-in, Steve developed his own unique knapping
style, one in which he detached the flakes of the top of the preform
as opposed to the bottom that rests on the palm of the hand. Steve
was versatile and also used the Ishi style knapping techniques.
Steve's work even impressed the Grand Masters; Sollberger, Titmus,
Callahan and Crabtree.
Furthermore, at the corner of Oro-Quincy Highway and Oak street in
Oroville stands a small recently made monument made of Dear Creek
cobbles with the sorrowful story of Ishi etched in Bronze.
Ishi arrowhead picture from Lithic Casting Lab at www.lithiccastinglab.com
Ishi arrowhead picture from Lithic Casting Lab at www.lithiccastinglab.com
Flint knapping is a part of the world lived in by a very few, but at
one time it was part of everyone's world to some degree. The man
named Ishi was at the end of that time and the start of this one.
It was early in the morning, just the break of dawn, August 9, 1911,
some miles south of Red Bluff, California, an exhausted and fearful
man was found in the stable of a slaughter house. It was a middle aged
American Indian man whom came in from the woods; he was taken off
to the jail at Oroville. Sheriff J.B. W Webbe, who was the one who
figured out Mr.Ishi was a "wild" Indian and locked him up in a cell for
the insane,for Ishi's protection more than anything. Curiosity brought
both locals and outsiders from miles away to see were described as
a "wildman". Local Indians and "half breeds" came in and attempted to
communicate with Ishi, but to no avail. He was the last human on
earth that spoke his language. He spoke no English, he was starved
and his black hair was burned off short as he was in morning. The man
Ishi, the last of the Yahi. The Yahi, a small branch of the Yana,
were situated in northern California. Ishi lived in the Mill Creek in
the foothills of Mount Lassen, east of the Sacramento River and south
of the Pit River.
Fortunately for us Ishi was a master flint knapper and he still
retained all the knowledge and skill from living a life as his
tribe's flint knapping expert. The points Ishi knapped are so
delicate, thin and well flaked; they far surpass nearly all points
found in archaeological contexts and collections from prehistory.
Ishi has a point style named after him, as well as a specific type of
flint knapping tool. Ishi had lived his life in the wilderness, his
tribe had been wiped out by murderous miners and hunters, Ishi lived
alone - isolated.
The story of Ishi's capture became headline news.
One of the readers happened to be Professors Kroeber and Waterman,
anthropologists at the University of California. The two men took an
instant interest, as they had gone on an expedition looking for
Ishi's people 3 years earlier as some surveyors had happened upon
their camp and reported their discovery. It was this discovery that
brought the demise of Ishi's people as the surveyors had stolen the
Indians' winter supplies as trophies and the Indians did not make it
though the winter. Years before the surveyor incident, Indian killers
had attacked the tribe of peaceful Indians slaughtering men women and
children, one killer switched to his pistol as his riffle
was "tearing up the babies too much." You can see why Ishi feared
white people; he thought he would surely be executed.
Since Ishi's language was extinct, there was no communication with
him. It was very discouraging for Ishi and the white men. Finally
Waterman broke through with a few Yana words he had found. Ishi went
and lived with Kroeber and Watererman at the museum, Ishi would give
flint knapping demonstrations every Sunday to crowds of interested
onlookers, he also sold his handiwork. On his time off from
demonstrations and ethnographic data collecting, Ishi went to the
near by hospital and made friends with Dr. Saxton T. Pope, whom was
amazed at Ishi's skill as a woodsman and archer. Pope and Ishi went
on many trips into the wilderness and Ishi shared his bow making and
flint knapping secrets with his new friend. Ishi died at noon, March
25th, 1916. He told his friend Pope at the end "you stay, I go". It
was Yahi tradition that the body be buried whole so it could make the
trip to the land of the dead, but before Kroeber could do anything
about it Ishi's body was autopsied and cremated and his brain cut out
and sent to the Smithsonian. California Indians have been trying to
gain Ishi's remains for burial but have been largely unsuccessful as
no Yahi decedents survive. Just within the last several months,
however, a turn of events have taken place and it appears Ishi's
remains have been returned to his beloved Deer Creek for a final
rest.
“Walking With Ishi”, by Joyce Ann Harwood: I sit down under the cool
shade of pine, the mountain air clean and cleansing. My thoughts go
back to a time and place where men and nature were one. To be a man
that is one with nature is to be fulfilled, that was the plan of the
Great Spirit. The man that has come to epitomize this time and life
way is a man given the name Ishi, which itself means man. To me Ishi
was stands for what is good in men; he was as much a part of the
wilderness as the wilderness itself.
Most of you have heard the story of Ishi a thousand times, the tear
filled tale of the last natural American. Ishi wandered out of the
wilderness in 1911, starving. Confused and mourning the loss of his
family and race. The last Yahi-Yana of Dear Creek, California.
Rescued and given sanctuary in the Museum at University at California
Berkley where he lived doing odd jobs and demonstrations until his
death by TB in 1916. Ishi was said to be a reserved and intelligent
gentleman, and an excellent flint knapper. Ishi's friend Dr. Saxton
Pope wrote this of Ishi when he died; "He closes a chapter in
history. He looked upon us as sophisticated children, smart, but not
wise....He knew nature which is always true. His were the qualities of
character that last forever. He was kind; he had courage and self-
restraint, and though all had been taken from him, there was no
bitterness in his heart. His soul was that of a child, his mind that
of a philosopher."
Of late, Ishi has been in the news quite a bit, Researcher Steve
Shakely, of Kroeber Hall at Berkley, states that Ishi may not have
been a Yana after all but, based on physical and anatomical
measurements of Ishi himself and the point type he made, he may have
been a Wintu, a neighboring tribe. Furthermore in the news, the
California Indians have been trying to get the existing remains of
Ishi back from the Smithsonian for burial. Originally Ishi wanted to
be buried in the traditional Yahi-Yana fashion, but the powers that
be at the time had dismembered and burned his body. Before they
burned his body they cut out his brain and sent it to the
Smithsonian. In recent news releases it appears that Ishi's remains
may be returned to his Dear Creek home for burial. The delay in
returning the remains had to do with the fact the Ishi had no living
relatives, recent DNA testing has resolved the issue. In addition,
another bit of Ishi news came about when researcher, Dennis
Torresdale discovered a small cash of authentic Ishi points in Ishi's
waste flake collection in an old coffee can in the basement of the
museum at Berkley. Dennis was extremely noble and turned the points
in to the museum, according to Ishi collector Charlie Shewey, the
last authentic Ishi point sold at auction for a cool $27,000.00.
I was first introduced to Ishi via my husband, Ray Harwood, in the
1970s, Ray held Ishi on a similar level as a deity. This is also
actually the story of how Ishi walked with Ray, and his friends,
through his journey of life, through the triumph and the tragedy,
Ishi's legacy was always there to help them get through. . Even when
Ray was a young child he would go off in the woods bow hunting with
his half Native American father. Ray's father spent a lot of time in
the woods and was able to show Ray and his brother’s crafts and
knowledge his father had shown him. Among the things learned on the
trips to the woods was the art of flint knapping.
When my husband stumbled upon his first copy of Theodore Kroeber's
Ishi in Two Worlds, he felt an instant kinship, this was the first
book he ever completed cover to cover.
Ray met Ishi researcher Dennis Torresdale in the summer of 1999 at
an Errett Callahan lithics workshop in Portland. Dennis gave Ray the
incentive to rekindle his own research on Ishi crafts. Dennis feels,
in light of the Shackley data, that Ishi's points may not have been
Wintu or Yana but, it is in the realm of possibility, that Saxton
Pope had given Ishi the specifications that he considered the perfect
arrowhead. The interesting thing about the Ishi point, more than any
other point type in archaeology, is that we have the tool kit, the
waste flakes; I witness statements and photos of the knapper.
In High School Ray's flint knapping sessions increased to the point
that his eye hand coordination improved drastically, his intense
visual concentration while working the flint material helped his
dyslexic tendency and he went from a fail student to the Dean's List
in a few short years and was even able to achieve black belt in
karate.
Ray had flint knapped in an artistic vacuum until he was in his early
20s. This is when Ray met fellow Ishi fans, Joe Dabil, Barney
DeSimone, Steve Carter and Alton Safford. Barney had a small business
called Yana Enterprises where he marketed his Ishi posters and items
and had become an expert Ishi style knapper, to the point that he had
killed a wild boar on Catalina Island armed with a sinew backed bow
and Ishi tipped arrow of glass of his own making. Atlton was an avid
traditional bow hunter and knapper; he had even hunted big game in
Africa a few times with stone points. Years later Alton and Ray
started the yearly California Flint knapping Rendezvous. Joe Dabil had
become a California legend by the late 1970s and had the nick name
of "Indian Joe", this name given to him by the prominent archaeologists
of the day.
Joe could make fire in minutes with anatural yucca file board
and mule fat stick. Joe was also a master of the Ishi style
flint knapping methodology. Joe's Ishi points of both
glass and obsidian were each an impressive work of art. Ray and Joe
became friends and Ray began to study Joe's flint knapping methods.
Joe Dabil had learned the arts of wilderness survival hands on. Joe
was an Olympic class long distance runner in the 1960s, and when a
Doctor informed him he had a life threatening disease he fled into
the wilderness. There in the woods, alone, Joe eked out a survival on
natural foods. Eventually Joe relearned the arts of Ishi, sinew back
bow making, arrow-smithing, fire drill technology, cordage making,
brain tanning and of coarse...flint knapping. As miracle has it, Joe
lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness
skills today. Steve Carter was already an established master knapper
when Ray met him in the early 1980s. Steve had been friends with
J.B. Sollberger of Dallas, Texas and with J.B.s inspiration, at the
1978 Little Lake knap-in, Steve developed his own unique knapping
style, one in which he detached the flakes of the top of the preform
as opposed to the bottom that rests on the palm of the hand. Steve
was versatile and also used the Ishi style knapping techniques.
Steve's work even impressed the Grand Masters; Sollberger, Titmus,
Callahan and Crabtree.
Furthermore, at the corner of Oro-Quincy Highway and Oak street in
Oroville stands a small recently made monument made of Dear Creek
cobbles with the sorrowful story of Ishi etched in Bronze.
Ishi arrowhead picture from Lithic Casting Lab at www.lithiccastinglab.com
Ishi arrowhead picture from Lithic Casting Lab at www.lithiccastinglab.com
Is that the follow through? I shoulda' left well enough alone. The outcome is as I suspected. Incomprehensible. Such a morbid act to cut out a dead souls brain. What is wrong with us
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