TOUGH TRIP THROUGH PARADISE.

1878-1879. Reminiscences of AndrewGarcia. Edited by Bennett H. Stein '36.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 446 pp.$6.95.

Some time in the 1940's Montanans began to discover their colorful historical heritage. It was not a moment too soon. The pioneers of several waves of Montana history - fur trappers, gold seekers, Indian fighters, cattle barons, mining magnates, homesteaders - were all rapidly dying off. Virtually every Montanan had listened to some of these old-timers yarning in hotel lobbies, ranch porches or local saloons. It was time to get these first-person historical accounts on record.

One of those old-timers who did get his thoughts on paper was Andrew Garcia, "The Squaw Kid," an amorous but conscience-ridden young adventurer who wandered up north from the Rio Grande country in the 1870's.

Bennett H. Stein '36, Montana rancher and state senator, has edited these reminiscences into a fascinating account of life in the Big Sky country as the era of the free life of the Plains Indian was ending. It's good reading, especially for the Western history buff.

Garcia recounts his days of trading with the Indians of several nations in central Montana and of his amorous adventures with dusky Indian beauties. At one time three were fighting for his affections. The winner, whom he married, was a Nez Perce woman of strong will who had accompanied Chief Joseph and his band on their celebrated trek from Oregon to Montana's buffalo country while fighting off the U.S. Army. Her account of the classic retreat, as related by Garcia, is beautifully done, full of the rich imagery and vivid simplicity of Indian thought.

Garcia himself emerges as a zestful, very human and wonderfully wry personality. As Bennett says, "He was more than an old codger who had outlived a role. His tepee days occurred at the very time when the free life of the Plains Indian was on the brink of extinction. He witnessed that extinction, and had a story that no one else could tell."

Mr. Stein reports that he found the manuscripts - several thousand hand-written and typed pages of legal-sized paper - in 1948 in a dynamite box packed solid in the heavy waxed paper that powder comes in. Let's hope that he can share more of these pages with us.

Mr. O'Connell, former Director of theDartmouth News Service, is a native ofMontana and a Western history buff.