On Sunday, June 8, 1975, California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. made a surprise visit at the bear dance held on Gladys Mankins’ property near Janesville. It did come as a surprise to the some 500 people at the event. The ever so inquisitive Brown asked questions about the ancient ritual in which the Indians transfer their troubles and evil spirits to the bear figure impersonator, as some relay it as a form of thanksgiving. There is very little documentation about the event of years gone by, but a piece of 1909 documentation recently surfaced, which I will share tomorrow. As to Governor Brown he stayed at the dance for nearly three hours, then left with California National Guard to make a quick inspection at the nearby California Correctional Center, then returning to Sacramento.
My father Stan Lowry and I (Susan Lowry Campbell) got to meet Governor Brown at this Bear Dance. My dad gave Governor Brown a beaded belt buckle that he had gotten from his time at the Wounded Knee conflict.