Perhaps there are many AEOE members who have never heard of, or know very little about the man called “Ishi.” If the above sentence applies to you, or even if you are quite familiar with the story of Ishi, you will not regret learning more about this remarkable man and his tale. An interesting place to begin your journey of discovery would be Richard Burrill’s new publication Ishi Rediscovered, published in 2001 by The Anthro Company.
The fact that the man who came to be known as “Ishi” was the last known free Indian in North America, and that he lived the last of his days during the twentieth century in San Francisco, lends considerable intrigue to the story. The more you learn about him, the more compelling a figure he becomes. You may even find yourself wanting to talk with him, and walk along beside him into his homeland (now the Ishi Wilderness, just northeast of Chico, California) learning about the way he lived before he became “civilized.” You will learn from Burrill’s book that Ishi did travel back to his ancestral home with several companions who photographed him and took notes as he relived for them the ways of the world that he know so well.
Ishi Rediscovered is worth reading for the wonderful old photographs, maps, illustrations, and little known historical accounts alone. However, Burrill’s text retells Ishi’s story with many details revealed that are not popularly known. He also attempts to clear up some misconceptions that many people may have about Ishi and his circumstances. For example, one biographer had written that Ishi was in a state of starvation when he was captured in Oroville, California in 1911. Burrill asks his father, who is a medical doctor, to examine the well known photograph taken of Ishi the day after his capture, and the doctor describes in detail why the photo does not reveal a man in a state of starvation.
In closing, I’ll leave you with the words of the author from a letter he wrote to the AEOE board in January 2001.
Ishi was essentially a genuine man of the woods. He knew the ancient arts. He stood out from us moderns, because we are, on a relative scale, “second hand people.” Most of us have lived by what we have been told...or compelled to accept by circumstance. Ishi, on the other hand, “knew nature which is always true.” (Dr. Saxton T. Pope Sr.). His observations remained uncorrupted [as] the land that formed him, the foothill plateau of Mount Lassen (Tehama County today).
In Jed Riffe’s The American Experience movie, “Ishi The Last Yahi,” there is a poignant scene when the narrator is watching the Indian Ishi board the train in Oroville to journey to San Francisco of 1911. The narrator reflects, “I would have liked to have had some time with him. I always thought there was something there I should know, that I would like to know.” My latest oral history field research, placed finally into my newest title, Ishi Rediscovered veritably reconstructs more precious moments with Ishi. It provides gems seen by Ishi that help us all—material especially valuable to those of us who serve as California’s outdoor educators.