Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi Part 2

The structures encountered in the Ojibway country farther south differed from those already mentioned, the majority of which were covered with sheets of birch bark, a form which must necessarily have been restricted to the northern country. But the type was widely scattered northward, and undoubtedly extended eastward to the Atlantic, especially down the valley of the St. Lawrence into northern Maine and the neighboring Provinces. South of this zone were the dome-shaped mat or bark covered wigwams, varying in different localities according to the available supply of barks, or of rushes to be made into mats, which served to cover the rigid, oval-topped frame. Most interesting examples were standing in the Ojibway settlements on the sh.o.r.e of Mille Lac, Minnesota, during the spring of 1900. One, which may be accepted as a type specimen, was of a quadrilateral rather than oval outline of base, and measured about 14 feet each way, with a maximum height of 6 feet or more. The saplings which formed the frame were seldom more than 2 inches in diameter, one end being set firmly in the ground, the top being bent over and attached to similar pieces coming from the opposite side. Other small saplings or branches were tied firmly to these in a horizontal position about 2 feet apart, thus forming a rigid frame, over which was spread the covering of mats and sheets of bark, the latter serving as the roof. In this particular example the covering was held in place by cords which pa.s.sed over the top and were attached to poles which hung horizontally about a foot above the ground. A second row of mats was fastened to the inside of the frame and others were spread on the ground near the walls. A small fire burned within near the center of the open s.p.a.ce, although the cooking was often done outside, just beyond the single entrance.

Although the Ojibway were numerous, they had few large villages or settlements. They lived for the most part in small, scattered groups, and often moved from place to place. However, there were some long-occupied sites, as at Red Lake, Sandy Lake, on the sh.o.r.es of Leech Lake, where the Pillagers gathered, and the more recently occupied villages at Mille Lac, sites once covered by the settlements of the Mdewakanton. These villages, which should more properly be termed "gathering places," at once suggest the various descriptions and accounts of the great village of the Illinois, which stood on the banks of the upper Illinois during the latter part of the seventeenth century and was many times visited by the French.

When the Ojibway and Sioux gathered at Fort Snelling, at the mouth of the Minnesota River, during the summer of 1835 in the endeavor to establish peace between the two tribes or groups, they were encamped on opposite sides of the fort. Catlin, who was there at the time, wrote of the temporary camp of the Ojibway: "their wigwams made of birch bark, covering the frame work, which was of slight poles stuck in the ground, and bent over at the top, so as to give a rooflike shape to the lodge, best calculated to ward off rain and winds." (Catlin, (1), II, p. 137.) Unfortunately, the original painting of the camp does not exist in the great collection of Catlin paintings now belonging to the National Museum, Was.h.i.+ngton. In the catalogue of the collection printed in London, 1848, it appears as "334, Chippeway Village and Dog Feast at the Falls of St. Anthony; lodges built with birch-bark; Upper Mississippi."

An outline drawing of the picture was given as plate 238 to ill.u.s.trate the account quoted above, but how accurate either description or sketch may be is now quite difficult to determine. However, it is doubtful if the structures had flat ends, as indicated, and mats may have formed part of the covering. Catlin continued his narrative and told of the removal of the camp (p. 138): "After the business and amus.e.m.e.nts of this great Treaty between the Chippeways and Sioux were all over, the Chippeways struck their tents by taking them down and rolling up their bark coverings, which, with their bark canoes seen in the picture, turned up amongst their wigwams, were carried to the water's edge; and all things being packed in, men, women, dogs, and all, were swiftly propelled by paddles to the Falls of St Anthony." They reached "an eddy below the Falls, and as near as they could get by paddling." Here the canoes were unloaded and the canoes and all else carried about one-half mile above the Falls, where they again embarked and continued on their way. It is interesting to contemplate this scene and to realize it was enacted within the limits of the present city of Minneapolis so short a time ago. A beautiful example of the light birch-bark canoe of the Ojibway is shown in plate 10, _a_, and a photograph of two old Ojibway Indians with similar canoes is reproduced in plate 10, _b_. The canoes indicated by Kane in his painting (pl. 7, _a_) were of this form, probably the most graceful and easiest propelled craft ever devised.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ Ojibway birch bark canoe. Northern Minnesota, 1899]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _b._ Ojibway Indians with birch bark canoes. North of Ely, Minn., 1899]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 11

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ Trader's store at the village of the Pillagers, Ca.s.s Lake in the distance on the right. November 26, 1899]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _b._ Outside an elm-bark structure. At the Ojibway village of Sagawamick, on south sh.o.r.e of Mille Lac, Minnesota. May 21, 1900]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 12

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ Hammer, bag, and two skin-dressing tools]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _b._ Section of a rush mat, as used to form covering for a wigwam

OBJECTS OF OJIBWAY MAKE]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 13

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ Ojibway mortar and pestle]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _b._ Delaware mortar and pestle]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _c._ Ojibway birch bark dish]

The various structures in an Ojibway village do not appear to have been erected or placed with any degree of order. Certainly this is true of conditions in recent times, and whether any accepted or recognized plan was followed in the past is not known. The small wigwams formed an irregular group on the sh.o.r.e of a lake or the bank of a stream surrounded by the primeval forest.

In the month of May, 1900, a council house which had been erected by the Ojibway some years before stood on a high point of land in the midst of dense woods, about 1 mile north of the outlet of Mille Lac--the beginning of Rum River--and about 200 yards from the lake sh.o.r.e. It was oriented with its sides facing the cardinal points, about 20 feet square, with walls 6 feet in height and the peak of the roof twice that distance above the ground. The heavy frame was covered with large sheets of elm bark, which had evidently been renewed from time to time during the preceding years. No traces of seats remained and gra.s.s was again growing on the ground which had served as the floor. This was the scene of the treaty of October 5, 1889, between the Ojibway of Mille Lac and the United States Government. Within a short time this very interesting primitive structure had disappeared and two years later no trace of it remained. Whether this represented an ancient type of building could not be ascertained.

The Ojibway villages were supplied with the usual sweat houses, a small frame covered with blankets or other material, so often described.

Resembling these were the shelters prepared for the use of certain old men who were believed to possess the power of telling of future events and happenings. Such a lodge was seen standing on the sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, about 18 miles from Fond du Lac, July 27, 1826. As described by McKenney: "At this place, Burnt river is a place of divination, the seat of a _jongleur's_ incantations. It is a circle, made of eight poles, twelve feet high, and crossing at the top, which being covered in with mats, or bark, he enters, and foretells future events." (McKenney, (1), p. 269.) Interesting, indeed, are the many accounts of the predictions believed to have been made by these old men.

A remarkable performance of this nature was witnessed by Paul Kane. When returning from the far West during the summer of 1848 the small party of which he was one arrived at Lake Winnipeg and on July 28 had advanced about midway down the eastern sh.o.r.e. On that day Kane made this entry in his journal: "_July 28th._--About 2 o'clock P.M., we endeavoured to proceed, but got only as far as the Dog's Head, the wind being so strong and unfavourable, that it was thought useless to run any risk for the short distance we would be able to make against it. In the evening our Indians constructed a jonglerie, or medicine lodge, the main object of which was to procure a fair wind for next day. For this purpose they first drive ten or twelve poles, nine or ten feet long, into the ground, enclosing a circular area of about three feet in diameter, with a boat sail open at the top. The medicine-man, one of which is generally found in every brigade, gets inside and commences shaking the poles violently, rattling his medicinal rattle, and singing hoa.r.s.e incantations to the Great Spirit for a fair wind. Being unable to sleep on account of the discordant noises, I wrapped a blanket round me, and went out into the woods, where they were holding their midnight orgies, and lay down amongst those on the outside of the medicine lodge, to witness the proceedings. I had no sooner done so than the incantations at once ceased, and the performer exclaimed that a white man was present. How he ascertained this fact I am at a loss to surmise ... The Major, [M'Kenzie] ... with many other intelligent persons, is a firm believer in their medicine." (Kane, (1), pp. 439-441.)

In addition to the several forms of structures erected by the Ojibway, as already described, they reared the elm-bark lodge which resembled in form the log cabin of the early settlers. Three of these were standing on the south sh.o.r.e of Mille Lac, Minnesota, during the spring of 1900, and the outside of one, showing the manner in which the bark covering was placed, is indicated in plate 11, _b_. This was similar in shape to the Sauk and Fox habitation reproduced in plate 19, although the Ojibway structure was more skillfully constructed. Habitations of a like nature were found among the Sioux villages on the banks of the Mississippi in the vicinity of Fort Snelling, and others were erected within a generation by the Menomini in northern Wisconsin, but whether this may be considered a primitive form of structure has not been determined.

A trader's store standing near the Ojibway village on the sh.o.r.e of Ca.s.s Lake, Minnesota, during the late autumn of 1899 is shown in plate 11, _a_. Similar cabins were occupied by some of the Indian families, these having taken the place of the native wigwams.

Various objects of primitive forms, made and used by the Ojibway within a generation, are shown in plates 12 and 13.

CREE.

The Cree (the Knisteneaux of Mackenzie) were closely related to the Ojibway; they spoke the same language, and had many customs in common.

As Hayden wrote: "The Cree nation was originally a portion of the Chippewa, as the similarity of language proves; and even now they are so mingled with the latter people as with difficulty to be considered a distinct tribe, further than a slight difference in language and their local position." (Hayden, (1), p. 235.) Formerly they occupied the forest region to the eastward of the country which they later claimed.

There they were probably accustomed to the mat or bark covered structures, similar to those of the neighboring Ojibway, but in more recent times, after having been attracted to the prairies by the buffalo, they followed the customs of the prairie tribes and for the most part made and used the typical conical skin-covered lodge.

After reaching the open country, and becoming more accustomed to the life of roving hunters, they were necessarily less sedentary in their habits than formerly, and their camps probably seldom remained long in any one place. They became scattered over a wide region, and in 1856 it was said: "They number about ten or eleven hundred persons. Like most of the tribes in the Northwest Territory, they are separated into clans or bands, and live in different districts for greater advantages in hunting." Here is given a list of the several bands, with the number of skin lodges claimed by each group, but the "Pis-ka-kau-a-kis, or 'Magpies,' are about thirty lodges; are stationed at Tinder Mountain; live in dirt lodges and log-cabins; cultivate the soil to some extent, and raise considerable quant.i.ties of corn and potatoes; hunt buffalo during the winter, and trade also with the Hudson's Bay Company."

(Hayden, (1), p. 237.) The same writer continues (p. 238): "Besides the foregoing there are about two hundred lodges more who are not formed into bands, but scattered along Lac de L'Isle Croix, and live by hunting reindeer, moose, fish, and wild fowl. They live in skin tents in the summer, but sometimes build log and bark huts in winter, and seldom more than one cabin is found in the same place. These are the poorest of the Crees."

Thus it will be understood how scattered bands of the same tribe often reared and occupied several forms of habitations, influenced by their natural surroundings and requirements. And here are references to the use of the bark-covered lodge, the skin-covered lodge of probably a different shape, the structure covered with earth or sod, and, lastly, the log cabin, by widely dispersed bands of the Cree.

A simple form of temporary shelter was constructed by the Cree and Ojibway to serve during certain ceremonies. This was described about a century ago when recounting the customs of the "Sauteaux and the Crees."

It was told that in public feasts "Several chiefs unite in preparing a suitable place, and in collecting sufficient provisions, for the accommodation of a numerous a.s.semblage. To provide a place, poles are fixed obliquely into the ground, enclosing a sufficient s.p.a.ce to hold several hundred, and at times, nearly a thousand people. On these poles, skins are laid, at the height of twelve or fifteen feet, thus forming a s.p.a.cious court, or tent. The provisions consist both of dried and of fresh meat, as it would not be practicable to prepare a sufficient quant.i.ty of fresh meat, for such a mult.i.tude, which, however, consists only of men. At these feasts, the guests converse only on elevated topics, such as the public interests of the tribe, and the n.o.ble exploits of their progenitors, that they may infuse a publick and an heroic spirit, into their young men. Dancing always forms the concluding ceremony, at these festivals; and the women, who are not permitted to enter the place where they are celebrated, dance and sing around them, often keeping time with the music within." (Harmon, (1), p.

362.) It is to be regretted that these early accounts are often so lacking in detail, and that so much is left to imagination. In this instance the form of the large structure was not mentioned, but it was probably extended, resembling to some degree the M[)i]de lodge of the Ojibway. Among the latter the large ceremonial lodge was covered with mats, sheets of bark, or sometimes with skins or boughs of pine or spruce. Like customs may have prevailed among the Cree.

Proving the wandering, roving disposition of the Cree, and the consequent lack of permanent villages, Maximilian wrote from Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, during the latter part of June, 1833: "The Crees live in the same territory as the a.s.siniboins, that is, between the Saskatschawan, the a.s.siniboin, and the Missouri. They ramble about in small bands with the others, are poor, have many dogs, which carry their baggage, but only a few horses. They live, like the a.s.siniboins, in leather tents, follow the herds of buffaloes, of which they sometimes kill great numbers in their parks. The Crees are reckoned at 600 or 800 tents." (Maximilian, (1), pp. 199-200.)

The dog travois, such as was used by the Cree and mentioned in the preceding account, was of very ancient origin, having been seen and described by the first Spanish explorers to traverse the prairie lands of the Southwest. In _Relacion Postrera de Sivola_, prepared in the year 1541, appears this interesting note:

"These people have dogs like those in this country, except that they are somewhat larger, and they load these dogs like beasts of burden, and make saddles for them like our pack saddles, and they fasten them with their leather thongs, and these make their backs sore on the withers like pack animals. When they go hunting, they load these with their necessities, and when they move--for these Indians are not settled in one place, since they travel wherever the cows [buffalo] move, to support themselves--these dogs carry their houses, and they have the sticks of their houses dragging along tied on to the pack-saddles, besides the load which they carry on top, and the load may be, according to the dog, from 35 to 50 pounds." (Wins.h.i.+p, (1), pp. 510-571.) This description could easily refer to conditions and customs among the tribes three centuries and more later.

A very graphic sketch of a dog travois was made at Fort Union, October 10, 1851, by the Swiss artist, Friedrich Kurz, and is now reproduced in plate 26, _b_, showing the method of attaching the poles, and how the load was rolled and placed upon the latter. The use of the horse for a similar purpose in later years followed as a natural sequence.

Among the many paintings by Paul Kane, now preserved in the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, at Toronto, is one bearing the legend: "Cree Indians Travelling." It represents a small party of Indians, some walking, others mounted on horses, with several horse and dog travois.

The latter show long poles attached to the sides of the dogs, one end of the poles dragging on the ground, while about midway of their length is a small pack upon which a child is seated. The broken, rolling land of the north is represented with a few clumps of small trees. The picture is one of much beauty and interest, depicting as it does some of the primitive customs of the Cree.

During the summer of 1858 the Hind expedition into the region far west of the Red River encountered many small groups of Cree hunters and also observed the ancient camp sites of the same tribe. They wrote in part: "Immediately on the banks of the Qu'appelle Valley near the 'Round Hill'

opposite Moose Jaws Forks, are the remains of ancient encampments, where the Plain Crees, in the day of their power and pride, had erected large skin tents, and strengthened them with rings of stones placed round the base. These circular remains were twenty-five feet in diameter, the stones or boulders being about one foot in circ.u.mference. They wore the aspect of great antiquity, being partially covered with soil and gra.s.s.

When this camp ground was occupied by the Crees, timber no doubt grew in the valley below, or on the prairie and ravines in detached groves, for their permanent camping grounds are always placed near a supply of fuel.

"Making an early start in search of wood, we came suddenly upon four Cree tents, whose inmates were still fast asleep; about three hundred yards west of them we found ten more tents, with over fifty or sixty Indians in all. They were preparing to cross the valley in the direction of the Grand Coteau, following the buffalo. Their provisions for trade, such as dried meat and pemmican, were drawn by dogs, each bag of pemmican being supported upon two long poles, which are shaft, body, and wheels in one. Buffalo Pound Hill Lake, sixteen miles long, begins near Moose Jaws Forks, and on the opposite or south side of this long sheet of water, we saw eighteen tents and a large number of horses. The women in those we visited on our side of the valley and lake, had collected a great quant.i.ty of the mesaskatomina berry which they were drying." And not far beyond we "began to find the fresh bones of buffalo very numerous on the ground, and here and there startled a pack of wolves feeding on a carcas which had been deprived of its tongue and hump only by the careless, thriftless Crees. On the high banks of the valley the remains of ancient encampments in the form of rings of stones to hold down the skin tents are everywhere visible, and testify to the former numbers of the Plain Crees.... The largest ancient encampment we saw lies near a shallow lake in the prairie about a mile from the Qu'appelle valley. It is surrounded by a few low sandy and gravelly hills, and is quite screened from observation. It may have been a camping ground for centuries, as some circles of stones are partially covered with gra.s.s and embedded in the soil." (Hind, (1), I, pp. 338-341.)

This is a simple explanation of the origin of small circles of stones now encountered in different parts of the country, but in other localities, where stones were not obtainable, ma.s.ses of sod were used for the same purpose, and these in turn may have caused the small earth circles which are now discovered in the lower Mississippi Valley and elsewhere.

CHEYENNE.

As has been remarked by the most observant student of this tribe: "Information as to the region occupied by the Cheyenne in early days is limited and for the most part traditional. Some ethnologists declare that Indian tradition has no historical value, but other students of Indians decline to a.s.sent to this dictum. If it is to be accepted, we can know little of the Cheyenne until they are found as nomads following the buffalo over the plains. There is, however, a ma.s.s of traditionary data which points back to conditions at a much earlier date quite different from these. In primitive times they occupied permanent earth lodges and raised crops of corn, beans, and squashes, on which they largely depended for subsistence." (Grinnell, (1), p. 359.)

According to tradition, which in part is verified by the accounts of early explorations, the Cheyenne at one time lived in the valley of the Minnesota, whence they gradually moved westward. Thus at least a part of the tribe removed from the edge of the timbered region to the plains, a movement which probably took place during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

While living in the vicinity of the Minnesota the villages and camps of the Cheyenne undoubtedly resembled those of the Sioux of later days; the conical skin-covered lodge, or possibly the mat or bark structure of the timber people, as used by the Ojibway and others. But during the same period it is evident other bands of the tribe lived quite a distance westward, probably on the banks of the Missouri, and there the habitations were the permanent earth lodge, similar to those of the p.a.w.nee, Mandan, and other Missouri Valley tribes. Sioux traditions refer to Cheyenne villages on the banks of the Missouri near Fort Yates, Sioux County, North Dakota. These were visited and described by Dr. Grinnell, during the spring of 1918, who wrote: "The Teton Sioux, now allotted and scattered over the Standing Rock Indian reservation, declare that on the west bank of the Missouri river, not far from Fort Yates, there were formerly two Cheyenne villages.... I visited the two sites. The most northerly one is situated on a bluff above the Missouri river on the south side of Porcupine creek, less than five miles north of Ft. Yates.

The village has been partly destroyed by the Missouri river, which has undermined the bank and carried away some of the house rings reported to have been well preserved, but a number remain. Of these a few are still seen as the raised borders of considerable earth lodges, the rings about the central hollow being from twelve to fifteen inches above the surrounding soil, and the hollows noticeably deep. In most cases, however, the situation of the house is indicated merely by a slight hollow and especially by the peculiar character of the gra.s.s growing on the house site. The eye recognizes the different vegetation, and as soon as the foot is set on the soil within a house site, the difference is felt between that and the ground immediately without the site. The houses nearest both Porcupine creek and the Missouri river stand on the bank immediately above the water, and it is possible that some of those on the Porcupine have been undermined and carried away by that stream when in flood. This settlement must have been large. It stands on a flat, now bisected by a railroad embankment, slightly sloping toward the river, and the houses stood close together." More than 70 large house sites were counted, "one at least being 60 feet in diameter," and in addition to these were a large number of smaller ones. "On the gently rising land to the west of the Porcupine village the Cheyenne are said to have planted their corn, as also on the flats on the north side of the Porcupine river. The village site now stands on the farm of Yellow Lodge, a Yankton Sioux, who stated that he had always been told by the old people that this was a Cheyenne village and that in plowing he had often turned up pottery from the ground." And in reference to the age of this interesting site: "Sioux tradition declares that the village on the Porcupine river was established about 1733 or a little earlier, perhaps 1730; they fix the date as about one hundred years before the stars fell, 1833. It was a large village and was occupied for fifty years or more and then the people abandoned it and moved over to a point on Grand river twenty miles above its mouth. The date of the removal is given as about the time of a great flood at this point, which, it is said, took place about 1784." (Grinnell, Op. cit.) This later village existed until about 1840 and appears to have been composed of skin lodges, not the permanent earth structures. Sioux tradition also places the earlier home of the people who erected the village on the Porcupine at some point in the Valley of the Minnesota.

The second of the two sites mentioned stood some 2 miles below Porcupine Creek, and it is the belief of Dr. Grinnell that these were the villages to which Lewis and Clark referred in their journals as having been pa.s.sed by the expedition on the 15th and 16th of October, 1804. At that time game was abundant and several hunting parties of the Arikara were encountered, and an entry in the journal dated October 15, 1804, reads: "We stopped at three miles on the north a little above a camp of Ricaras who are hunting, where we were visited by about thirty Indians. They came over in their skin canoes, bringing us meat, for which we returned them beads and fishhooks. About a mile higher we found another encampment of Ricaras on the south, consisting of eight lodges: here we again ate and exchanged a few presents. As we went we discerned numbers of other Indians on both sides of the river; and at about nine miles we came to a creek on the south, where we saw many high hills resembling a house with a slanting roof; and a little below the creek an old village of the Sharha or Cheyenne Indians.... At sunset we halted, after coming ten miles over several sandbars and points, above a camp of ten Ricara lodges on the north side." (Lewis and Clark, (1), pp. 108-109.) Such was the nature of the country a little more than a century ago.

Another ancient village site presenting many interesting features stands on the bank of an old bed of the Sheyenne River, near Lisbon, Ransom County, N. Dak. This would have been about midway between the Minnesota River and the village on the Missouri near Porcupine Creek. A plan of this village made a few years ago is now preserved in the Historical Society of North Dakota and was reproduced by Dr. Grinnell in the article cited. It shows a large number--70 or more--earth-lodge sites, varying in size, but closely grouped, and protected by a ditch except on the river side. There is a remarkable similarity between this site and others east of the Mississippi, where structures of a like form evidently stood in the centuries before the coming of Europeans. The ditch may have been accompanied by an embankment, in turn surmounted by palisades. The river served to protect the settlement on the north, the encircling embankment and ditch reaching the bank of the stream both above and below the occupied area.

Unfortunately no sketch or picture of any sort of a Cheyenne earth lodge is known to exist, but the villages just mentioned must necessarily have resembled in appearance those of the p.a.w.nee of a later generation, remarkable photographs of which have been preserved and which are shown in the present work. And as Dr. Grinnell has said in a recent communication (February 2, 1920) when referring to the places long ago occupied by the camps of the Cheyenne: "I have walked about on the sites of these old villages, and the grandmother of a woman of my acquaintance, and probably the father of that woman, lived in earth-lodge houses, presumably very similar to those occupied in my time by the p.a.w.nees and the Mandans. I have never seen one, however, and do not know anyone who has seen one. Many years ago, I might have procured from old Elk River a description of such houses, though he was even then very old and growing feeble. It is too late to lament that now."