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Tales of a Medicine Man
By Kathryn Fletcher
September/October 2020
 H.L. Warren Hildreth. Courtesy of the Julian Pioneer Museum |
H.L. Warren Hildreth (1875-1934) was the Indian Service Doctor from 1918 to 1934 in San Diego's backcountry. The Medicine Man, written by his wife Ada Waite Hildreth (1879-1972), is a fascinating story of their life and times. Ada founded the Julian Woman's Club at a meeting in her home in 1926, at a time when most clubs were closed to women. It was part of a national trend and a chapter of the national Greater Federation of Women's Clubs.
Based in Santa Ysabel and Julian, Dr. Hildreth traveled an average of 3,000 miles a month over rutted or soaked unpaved roads, in unreliable automobiles, during storms, and at all hours of the day and night in service to Native and non Native patients.
Campo, Mesa Grande, Sycuan, Barona, Volcan, Inaja, Santa Ysabel, Los Coyotes, Rincon, La Jolla, and Pala. All of these farflung reservations received better living conditions and health care under Dr. Hildreth's stewardship. He was also the only medical doctor in the town of Julian and remote surrounding communities and ranches.
Dr. Hildreth ministered to many during the 1918 flu pandemic and outbreaks of small pox and tuberculosis. His complete dedication to his work and the hardships he endured eventually took a toll on his own health, and he died an overworked man. Like the first responders and medical professionals of today, he put patients first and was committed to his work until the end. The paperback book is available for $19.99 in the Santa Ysabel Store and the Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum.
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