You've got 'Dick's' story pretty much accurate. In the last fifteen years of his life he spent his winters near Seattle. Where he died. In these latter years he was flown in with all the supplies he needed. And then some. He often invited hunters travelling on the lake in for coffee and biscuits. (And a little 'belt').We've heard lots of reasons why African nations aren't prosperous or highly productive. Everyone seems to have someone to blame. Some claim that Africa had a "thriving" civilization at one point (a point that archaeology doesn't support). It's the fault of Imperialists. It's the fault of slave traders (including the African tribes that sold their brothers). It's the fault of Democrats. Blame - blame -blame. All the while ignoring the one thing we all agree on -- African nations aren't prosperous or very productive!
Perhaps the reason is so simple it's slapping us in the face. Perhaps it just isn't important to Africans to develop thriving, over-sized, highly regulated civilizations.
If the reason is because of lack of contact with the Western World then we're left with places like Detroit that are run by African-Americans and yet don't thrive. But we might be able to blame Socialist Liberals. However, if we're going to blame Socialist-Liberalism then we're forced to consider China which is a Socialist-Liberal regime that IS thriving, producing, and prospering (thanks to their embracing the free market). If the reason is due to Imperialism then we have to consider nations that were very recently subject to USSR Imperialism but jumped right back on their feet the moment they were free to operate as independent governments. If the reason is because Africans are hunter/gatherers then we need to consider Ireland (a rather bleak and desolate landscape in many respects) where the inhabitants began as hunter/gatherers but turned their landscape into a productive and modern nation.
So, the bottom line (for me anyway) is that Africans are perfectly happy living in a tribal manner as hunter/gatherers. There's really nothing wrong with that. I've often wished that I could leave the city life and find a place deep in the woods and live off of the land. There's a PBS show called "Alone In The Wilderness" (I think that's the name) where an old dude leaves civilization and builds a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness and lives there until he dies. He did so by choice -- not because of Democrats, Imperialism, or the slave trade.