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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1927)
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN PAGE 4 THE TALE OF THE LOST CHILDREN (Continued from page 1) found their parents, but when the chief found out who they were, he gave the parents orders to tie them to the trees and leave them there to starve, while the tribe left. The parents did not seem to care for their children, so did as the chief told them to do. All the time they were packing there was a certain kind wo man who was preparing food for the children, and she was the last one on the trail. Before she started she gave her dog orders to go and chew the rope with which the children were tied, and then to give them the food which she had prepared. When they were all out of sight the dog did as he was told, and later followed the rest. Now after the children were free they wandered all over the moutain country, always keeping away from their people. Never had they forgotten to pray to the Great Spirit. Sometimes they would meet this lady who had saved their lives. One night the boy had a dream. He was to make his sister touch him to every lodge pole, so he would soon become a man. The next morning he told his dream to his sister. When she heard it, she »aid it would be wonderful, as they would not be helpless any longer. So she im mediately did as this dream had told. When the boy grew into a man they left the country, and went to another tribe. Here the man married a girl from this tribe. And they in turn always denied their parents and their own people. Such is the tale of the Blackfeet Indians. ESKIMOS AND INDIANS The subject of the origin of the American Indian is one which never loses its fascination. A new interest in it has been aroused by the recent tour of Dr. Ales Hrdlicka through Alaska in search of evidence in those regions. “The ancient inhabitants of the Bering sea coasts and islands, who developed the fossil ivory culture,’’ says Dr. Hrdlicka, whois curator of physical anthropology in the national museum, “reached a de gree of industrial differentiation and art so high that we have nothing to compare with them in America, except among the most highly developed tribes of the northwest coast and of Mexico, Yucatan and Peru. “We cannot be sure yet who these people were,” continues the scientist, “though it is probable that they were the ancestors of the present Eskimo or Indian, or both. However, there seems to be a dis tinction between their art and that of the Eskimo of today. The outstanding characteristic of the former is their mastery of form and line in curves; of the pres ent day Eskimo it is the geometric design, with the drawing and carving of animals in their natural form. This might indicate that some other people were responsible for the older culture. But when we ex amine the skeletal remains, there is no indication that any other people except Eskimo and Indian lived in these regions at any period thus far represented in the collections.” The aiea over which evidences of the old culture are found is very extensive. Traces of it are found far down the American coasts. But it is not certain that it was actually practiced everywhere along these coasts. In these parts of the world one of the most striking phenomena is the evidence of extensive trade carried on in implements and other cultural objects. There is, for example, on the Kobuk river a mountain called Jade mountain. It was early known to the Indians and the Eskimo of the river, and its green stone was made into adzes, drills, knives, lamps and other objects. Though this is the sole source of green stone, objects of it occur all the way from Barrow and Point Hope to Seward peninsula, the Asiatic coast, the Diomedes, the St. Lawrence and down toNunivak island. Similarly, one finds the highly decorated objects of new fossil ivory on the Diomedes, the St. Lawrence, the Asiatic coast, Seward peninsula and from Barrow again down to Nunivak island and possibly much farther. The designs seem to connect with the char acteristic art of the northwest coast. The indications would seem to point to the old ivory culture having been central in northwestern Asia whence it spread by trading along the American coasts. With the evidence now in our hands, there can no longer be any hesitation in believing that the Eskimo and Indian originally were not any two distinct races nor even widely distinct and far-away types, but that if we could go a little back in time they would be found to be like two neighboring fingers of one hand, both proceeding from the same palm, or source. IOWA’S WALLED LAKE One of the wonders of the country as well as one of its mysteries, is the “Walled Lake” of Iowa. There seems to be nothing authentic regarding when or by whom this lake was “walled” and we cannot escape the conviction that some of our Indian ancestors may have had something to do with it, “far fetched” as it may seem. The following is of unusual interest: The greatest wonder in the state of Iowa, and per haps any state, is what is called the “Walled Lake,” in Wright county, 12 miles north of the Dubuque and Pacific Railway and 150 miles west of Dubuque city. The lake is from two to three feet higher than the surrounding surface of the earth. In some places the wall is 10 feet high, 15 feet wide at the bottom and five feet wide on top. The stones used in its con struction vary in weight from three tons down to 100 pounds. There is an abundance of stones in Wright county, but surrounding the lake to the extent of five or ten miles there is none. No one can form an idea as to the means employed to bring them to the wall or who constructed it. Around the entire lake is a belt of woodland a half a mile in width composed of oak. With this exception the country is a rolling prairie. The trees must have been planted there at the time of the building of the wall. In the spring of the year 1856 there was a great storm and the ice on the lake broke the wall in several places and the farmers in the vicinity were compelled to repair the damages to pre vent inundation. The lake occupies a ground surface of 2800 acres; depth of water as great as 25 feet. The water is clear and cold; soil sandy and loamy. It is singular that no one has been able to ascertain where the water comes from or where it goes, yet it is always clear and fresh.
