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![]() The next day was Sunday. I went back to the park to get more kindling and some straight sticks for building the reciprocating drill. The nearby park is also the home of Sutter's Fort and the California State Indian Museum. In an amazing stroke of luck, Ranger Joanne happened to be standing outside of the museum, saw me examining sticks, and asked me what I was up to. "Did you ever see that movie Castaway with Tom Hanks?" I asked. She had. She told me that they teach kids about lighting a fire the way the Indians did, by twirling a stick down into a little hole. |
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![]() Unfortunately, I was stuck on my island alone. I didn't even have a photographer to help me. |
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![]() She ushered me into the museum and showed me a photo of Ishi starting a fire between his two hands. She also showed me a plank that had been used in the fire-starting process. She took me into the "backyard" of the museum and showed me a stack of drying cedar bark and some willow branches. She handed me a straight, 12 foot branch of willow and some cedar bark. She suggested I try lint as kindling also. This was really awesome. This was my first time "backstage" at a museum. I was getting pretty confident about the fire making attempt to come. |
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![]() Can you spot her firearm? As we were leaving the museum, we passed by the tiny museum store. Inside the case was a little reciprocating drill, with the same features that Mike had drawn the night before. I made mental notes of it's attributes.
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![]() I also tried twirling the stick between my two hands, but they quickly became chafed and I could tell that the time it took to reposition my hands was allowing the heat to dissipate. This wasn't going to work. |
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![]() I also began to question if the willow branch I had gotten was really dry enough. It was a little too flexible too. Maybe I was just running out of patience. |
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![]() One of the problems with trying to start a fire without matches is that everyone has an idea of how to do it. Everyone has either seen a diagram, or an educational film, or watched a Powerpoint presentation, or seen an animatronic Indian do it, but hardly anyone has actually sat down and done it. I was starting to get advice from everyone about what I should try and what I might be doing wrong. I don't usually get myself into situations where everyone is giving me advice, and I didn't like it much. Of course, they were just trying to help. So now, writing this, I would like to apologize for being such a punk about it. I am sorry. |
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That
night I decided to go where I could find out more on the American Indian
and his lifestyle: The Cache Creek Indian Gaming casino.
Just kidding. I went online and started poking around. One of the best sites was David Little's Aussie Fire Bow. His informative site was so funny that I almost didn't bother writing one myself. The majority of websites recommended a bow and spindle arrangement, and this seemed like a worthwhile approach to me, so I decided to try this method after work on Monday. I was pretty sure I would succeed tomorrow. Please read the next day. |
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Sept 3, 2001.