Exhibit item:
[Grizzly bear fishing]
C. Hart Merriam Pictorial Collection

Quotation:
JOHN BIDWELL
Echoes of the Past About California, 19--

"July, 1844. I ascended the valley on the west side of the Sacramento as far as Colusa ... I encamped for the night on a slough some miles west of Colusa.

Before reaching camp I had killed a large female grizzly bear, and carried with me the only part fit to eat - the foot.

Four or five of the Indian chiefs ... asked what we came for. They said they had never seen white men before.

Here I felt obliged to let them know what I could do by showing them what I had done, and so I pointed to the foot of the grizzly bear which I had with me, and told them I wanted to kill grizzly bear ...

I told them I did not want to kill Indians, because they were good people; but I wanted to kill grizzly bears, because they were bad people."