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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 1
[Illustration: DRYING BUFFALO MEAT--A TYPICAL CAMP SCENE
ERNEST HENRY GRISET]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 77
VILLAGES OF THE ALGONQUIAN, SIOUAN,
AND CADDOAN TRIBES WEST OF
THE MISSISSIPPI
BY
DAVID I. BUSHNELL, JR.
[Illustration: Decoration]
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1922
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY,
_Washington, D. C., January 4, 1921_.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit the accompanying manuscript, entitled
"Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the
Mississippi," by David I. Bushnell, jr., and to recommend its
publication, subject to your approval, as a bulletin of this Bureau.
Very respectfully,
J. WALTER FEWKES,
_Chief_.
DR. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,
_Secretary of the Smithsonian institution_.
PREFACE
When Louisiana became a part of the United States the great wilderness
to the westward of the Mississippi was the home of many native tribes,
or groups of tribes, retaining their primitive manners and customs,
little influenced by contact with Europeans. Their villages were
scattered along the water courses or skirted the prairies, over which
roamed vast herds of buffalo, these serving to attract the Indians and
to supply many of their wants--food, raiment, and covering for their
shelters. But so great are the changes wrought within a century that now
few buffalo remain, the Indian in his primitive state has all but
vanished, and even the prairies have been altered in appearance. The
early accounts of the region contain references to the native camps and
villages, their forms and extent, tell of the manner in which the
habitations were constructed, and relate how some were often removed
from place to place. Extracts from the various narratives are now
brought together, thus to describe the homes and ways of life of the
people who once claimed and occupied a large section of the present
United States.
CONTENTS
Page
The tribes and their habitat 1
The buffalo (_Bison americanus_) 3
Villages and forms of structures 7
Algonquian tribes 8
Ojibway 8
Cree 17
Cheyenne 21
Blackfoot confederacy 25
Arapaho 33
Sauk and Foxes 37
Illinois 41
Siouan tribes 43
Dakota-Assiniboin group 44
Mdewakanton 45
Wahpeton 52
Yanktonai 54
Yankton 57
Teton 59
Oglala 63
Assiniboin 71
Dhegiha group 77
Omaha 77
Ponca 87
Kansa 89
Osage 98
Quapaw 108
Chiwere group 112
Iowa 113
Oto 114
Missouri 121
Winnebago 122
Mandan 122
Hidatsa group 140
Hidatsa 141
Crows 150
Caddoan tribes 155
Pawnee 155
Arikara 167
Wichita 179
Waco 181
Caddo 182
Conclusion 184
Authorities cited 186
Synonymy 193
Explanation of plates 194
Index 203
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
Page
1. Drying buffalo meat. Griset Frontispiece.
2. "A buffalo hunt on the southwestern prairies." Stanley 4
3. "Buffalo hunt." Wimar 4
4. "Buffalo hunting on the frozen snow." Rindisbacher 4
5. _a_, "A buffalo pound." Kane. _b_, Scene in a Sioux village,
about 1870 4
6. _a_, Camp of "Sautaux Indians on the Red River." _b_,
Ojibway wigwam at Leech Lake, Minnesota 10
7. _a_, "Encampment among the islands of Lake Huron." Kane.
_b_, Ojibway camp on bank of Red River 10
8. _a_, Ojibway camp west of Red River. _b_, Ojibway camp
on bank of Red River 12
9. Ojibway habitations. _a_, Wigwams covered with elm bark.
_b_, Wigwams covered with birch bark 12
10. _a_, Ojibway birch bark canoe. _b_, Ojibway Indians with
birch bark canoes 16
11. _a_, Trader's store near Cass Lake. _b_, Outside an elm
bark covered structure 16
12. Objects of Ojibway make. _a_, Hammer, bag, and two
skin-dressing tools. _b_, Section of a rush mat 16
13. _a_, Ojibway mortar and pestle. _b_, Delaware mortar
and pestle. _c_, Ojibway birch bark dish 16
14. Cheyenne family 24
15. Piegan camp. Bodmer 24
16. _a_, Blackfoot camp. Kane. _b_, Arapaho village 34
17. Atsina camp. Bodmer 34
18. Sauk and Fox habitations. _a_, Frames of structures.
_b_, Mat-covered lodges 38
19. Sauk and Fox habitation covered with elm bark 38
20. _a_, Northwest shore of Mille Lac, 1900. _b_, The
Sacred Island in Mille Lac 46
21. "Kaposia, June 19th, 1851." Mayer 46
22. _a_, "Dakotah village." Eastman. _b_, "Dakotah
encampment." Eastman 50
23. _a_, Council at the mouth of the Teton. Catlin.
_b_, Fort Pierre, July 4, 1851. Kurz 50
24. _a_, _b_, Near Fort Laramie, 1868. _c_, "A skin lodge
of an Assiniboin chief." Bodmer 76
25. _a_, Assiniboin lodges formed of pine boughs. Kane. _b_,
"Horse camp of the Assiniboins, March 21,
1852." Kurz 76
26. _a_, Tipi of an Omaha chief. _b_, Page of Kurz's
sketchbook 76
27. "The village of the Omahas." 1871 76
28. _a_, Page of Kurz's sketchbook, showing Omaha village.
_b_, Page of Kurz's sketchbook, showing interior
of an Omaha lodge 80
29. "Punka Indians encamped on the banks of the Missouri."
Bodmer 80
30. _a_, Kansa village, 1841. Lehman. _b_, Dog dance within
a Kansa lodge, 1819. Seymour 96
31. Kansa habitation 96
32. _a_, Frame of an Osage habitation. _b_, An Iowa
structure 102
33. "Oto encampment, near the Platte, 1819." Seymour 102
34. _a_, Oto pemmican maul. _b_, Heavy stone maul.
_c_, Mandan implement for dressing hides 120
35. _a_, Oto dugout canoe, from Kurz's sketchbook.
_b_, Hidatsa bull-boat and paddle 120
36. Winnebago habitations, about 1870. _a_, Structure
with arbor. _b_, Showing entrance on side 120
37. Winnebago structures 120
38. _a_, Interior of a Mandan lodge. Catlin. _b_, Scene
in a Mandan village. Catlin 132
39. "Mih-tutta-hangkusch," a Mandan village. Bodmer 132
40. Interior of a Mandan lodge. Bodmer 136
41. _a_, _c_, Mandan wooden bowls. _b_, Mandan
earthenware jar 136
42. _a_, Buffalo horn spoon. _b_, Spoon made of horn of
mountain sheep. Mandan 136
43. "Miniatarree village." Catlin 136
44. "Winter village of the Minatarres." _a_, Original pencil
sketch. _b_, Finished picture of same. Bodmer 142
45. From Kurz's sketchbook. _a_, Use of a carrying basket.
_b_, The ring-and-pole game. _c_, Hidatsa with
bull-boats 142
46. Crow tipis. _a_, "Crow lodge." Catlin. _b_, Camp at
the old agency, 1871 152
47. A camp in a cottonwood grove 152
48. Trader crossing the prairies. Page of Kurz's sketchbook 162
49. Pawnee village, 1871 162
50. Pawnee earth lodges, 1871 162
51. In a Pawnee village, 1871. _a_, Children at lodge
entrance. _b_, Showing screen near same entrance 162
52. __a, Arikara carrying basket. _b_, Wichita mortar 168
53. "Riccaree village." Catlin 168
54. _a_, Arikara rake. _b_, Arikara hoe. _c_, Crow
parfleche box 178
55. Wichita habitations. _a_, Near Anadarko. _b_, Lodge
standing about 1880 178
TEXT FIGURES
1. The buffalo of Gomara, 1554 4
2. Tipis 59
3. Horse travois 66
4. Plan of the large Mandan village, 1833 131
5. "The ark of the first man" 132
6. Typical earth lodges 133
7. Inclosed bed 134
8. Plan of the interior of a Mandan lodge 135
9. Wooden club 138
10. Plan of the Mandan village at Fort Clark 140
11. Plan of a ceremonial lodge 144
12. Plan of the large Hidatsa village 145
VILLAGES OF THE ALGONQUIAN, SIOUAN, AND CADDOAN TRIBES WEST OF THE
MISSISSIPPI.
BY DAVID I. BUSHNELL, JR.
THE TRIBES AND THEIR HABITAT.
The country occupied by the tribes belonging to the three linguistic
groups whose villages are now to be described extended from south of the
Arkansas northward to and beyond the Canadian boundary, and from the
Mississippi across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains. It thus
embraced the western section of the valley of the Mississippi, including
the entire course of the Missouri, the hilly regions bordering the
rivers, and the vast rolling prairies. The climatic conditions were as
varied as were the physiographical features, for, although the winters
in the south were comparatively mild, in the north they were long and
severe.
The three linguistic families to be considered are the Algonquian,
Siouan, and Caddoan. Many Algonquian and Siouan tribes formerly lived
east of the Mississippi, and their villages have already been described
(Bushnell, (1)),[1] but within historic times all Caddoan tribes appear
to have occupied country to the westward of the river, although it is
not improbable that during earlier days they may have had villages
beyond the eastern bank of the stream, the remains of which exist.
[1] For citation of references throughout this bulletin, _see_
"Authorities cited," p. 186.
The Algonquians included in this account comprise principally the three
groups which may be termed the western division of the great linguistic
family. These are: (1) The Blackfoot confederacy, composed of three
confederated tribes, the Siksika or Blackfeet proper, the Piegan, and
the Kainah or Bloods; (2) the Arapaho, including several distinct
divisions, of which the Atsina, or Gros Ventres of the Prairie, who were
closely allied with the Blackfeet, were often mentioned; (3) the
Cheyenne, likewise forming various groups or divisions. Belonging to the
same great family were the Cree or Kristinaux, whose habitat was farther
north, few living south of the Canadian boundary; also the Ojibway,
whose villages were scattered northward from the upper waters of the
Mississippi. Some Sauk later lived west of the Mississippi, as did bands
of the Foxes and some of the Illinois tribes.
The Siouan tribes were among the most numerous and powerful on the
continent, and those to be mentioned on the following pages belonged to
several clearly defined groups. As classified in the Handbook of
American Indians North of Mexico,[2] these include:
[2] Bull. 30, Bur. Amer. Ethn., part 2, p. 579.
I. Dakota-Assiniboin group: 1, Mdewakanton; 2, Wahpekute (forming, with
the Mdewakanton, the Santee); 3, Sisseton; 4, Wahpeton; 5, Yankton; 6,
Yanktonai; 7, Teton--(a) Sichangu or Brules, (b) Itazipcho or Sans Arcs,
(c) Sihasapa or Blackfeet, (d) Miniconjou, (e) Oohenonpa or Two
Kettles, (f) Oglala, (g) Hunkpapa; 8, Assiniboin.
II. Dhegiha group: 1, Omaha; 2, Ponca; 3, Quapaw; 4, Osage--(a) Pahatsi,
(b) Utschta, (c) Santsukhdhi; 5, Kansa.
III. Chiwere group: 1, Iowa; 2, Oto; 3, Missouri.
IV. Winnebago.
V. Mandan.
VI. Hidatsa group: 1, Hidatsa; 2, Crows.
The Caddoan family is less clearly defined than either of the preceding,
but evidently consisted of many small tribes grouped, and forming
confederacies. Those to be mentioned later include: (1) The Arikara; (2)
the Pawnee confederacy, composed of four tribes--(a) Chaui or Grand
Pawnee, (b) Kitkehahki or Republican Pawnee, (c) Pitahauerat or Tapage
Pawnee, (d) Skidi or Wolf Pawnee; (3) the Wichita confederacy, including
the Waco and various small tribes; (4) the Caddo proper.
Although the latter are included in the same linguistic group with the
Arikara, Pawnee, and others as mentioned above, they are regarded by
some as constituting a distinct linguistic stock.
During the years following the close of the Revolution, the latter part
of the eighteenth century, many tribes, or rather the remnants of
tribes, then living east of the Mississippi, sought a refuge in the West
beyond the river. Many settled on the streams in the southern part of
the present State of Missouri and northern Arkansas, and, as stated by
Stoddard when writing about the year 1810: "A considerable number of
Delawares, Shawanese, and Cherokees, have built some villages on the
waters of the St. Francis and White Rivers. Their removal into these
quarters was authorized by the Spanish government, and they have
generally conducted themselves to the satisfaction of the whites. Some
stragglers from the Creeks, Chocktaws, and Chickasaws, who are
considered as outlaws by their respective nations, have also established
themselves on the same waters; and their disorders and depredations
among the white settlers are not unfrequent." (Stoddard, (1), pp.
210-211.) And at about the same time another writer, referring to the
same region, said: "Below the Great Osage, on the waters of the Little
Osage, Saint Francis, and other streams, are a number of scattered bands
of Indians, and two or three considerable villages. These bands were
principally Indians, who were formerly outcasts from the tribes east of
the Mississippi. Numbers have since joined from the Delawares,
Shawanoes, Wayondott, and other tribes towards the lakes. Their warriors
are said to be five or six hundred. They have sometimes made excursions
and done mischief on the Ohio river, but the settlements on the
Mississippi have suffered the most severely by their depredations."
(Cutler, (1), p. 120.)
No attempt will be made in the present work to describe the habitations
or settlements occupied by the scattered bands just mentioned.
It is quite evident that during the past two or three centuries great
changes have taken place in the locations of the tribes which were
discovered occupying the region west of the Mississippi by the first
Europeans to penetrate the vast wilderness. Thus the general movement of
many Siouan tribes has been westward, that of some Algonquian groups
southward from their earlier habitats, and the Caddoan appear to have
gradually gone northward. It resulted in the converging of the tribes in
the direction of the great prairies occupied by the vast herds of
buffalo which served to attract the Indian. Until the beginning of this
tribal movement it would seem that a great region eastward from the base
of the Rocky Mountains, the rolling prairie lands, was not the home of
any tribes but was solely the range of the buffalo and other wild
beasts, which existed in numbers now difficult to conceive.
THE BUFFALO.
(_Bison americanus_.)
With the practical extermination of the buffalo in recent years, and the
rapid changes which have taken place in the general appearance of the
country, it is difficult to picture it as it was two or more centuries
ago. While the country continued to be the home of the native tribes
game was abundant, and the buffalo, in prodigious numbers, roamed over
the wide region from the Rocky Mountains to near the Atlantic. It is
quite evident, and easily conceivable, that wherever the buffalo was to
be found it was hunted by the people of the neighboring villages,
principally to serve as food. But the different parts of the animal were
made use of for many purposes, and, as related in an early Spanish
narrative, one prepared nearly four centuries ago, when referring to
"the oxen of Quivira ... Their masters have no other riches nor
substance: of them they eat, they drink, they apparel, they shooe
themselves: and of their hides they make many things, as houses, shooes,
apparell and ropes: of their bones they make bodkins: of their sinews
and haire, threed: of their hornes, maws, and bladders, vessels: of
their dung, fire: and of their calves-skinnes, budgets, wherein they
drawe and keepe water. To bee short, they make so many things of them as
they neede of, or as many as suffice them in the use of this life."
(Gomara, (1), p. 382.) A crude engraving of a buffalo made at that time
is reproduced in figure 1.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--The buffalo of Gomara, 1554]
The preceding account describes the customs of the people then living in
the southern part of the region treated in the present sketch, either a
Caddoan or a neighboring tribe or group, and it suggests another
reference to the great importance of the buffalo, but applying to the
tribes of the north more than three centuries later.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 2
[Illustration: "A BUFFALO HUNT ON THE SOUTHWESTERN PRAIRIES"
J. M. Stanley, 1845]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 3
[Illustration: "BUFFALO HUNT"
Carl Wimar, 1860]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 4
[Illustration: "BUFFALO HUNTING ON THE FROZEN SNOW"
Peter Rindisbacher, about 1825]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 5
[Illustration: _a._ "A Buffalo Pound." Paul Kane, 1845]
[Illustration: _b._ Scene in a Sioux village, about 1870. Photograph by
S. J. Morrow]
"The animals inhabiting the Dakota country, and hunted more or less by
them for clothing, food, or for the purposes of barter, are buffalo,
elk, black- and white-tailed deer, big-horn, antelope, wolves of several
kinds, red and gray foxes, a few beaver and otter, grizzly bear, badger,
skunk, porcupine, rabbits, muskrats, and a few panthers in the
mountainous parts. Of all those just mentioned the buffalo is most
numerous and most necessary to their support. Every part of this animal
is eaten by the Indian except the horns, hoofs, and hair, even the skin
being made to sustain life in times of great scarcity. The skin is used
to make their lodges and clothes, the sinews for bowstrings, the horns
to contain powder, and the bones are wrought into various domestic
implements, or pounded up and boiled to extract the fatty matter. In the
proper season, from the beginning of October until the 1st of March, the
skins are dressed with the hair remaining on them, and are either worn
by themselves or exchanged with the traders." (Hayden, (1), p. 371.)
In the early days the tribes who occupied a region frequented by or in
the vicinity of the range of the buffalo could and undoubtedly did kill
sufficient numbers to satisfy their various wants and requirements, but
hunting was made more easy in later times when horses were possessed by
the Indian. Then it became possible for the bands of hunters, or
even the entire village, to follow the vast herds, to surround and kill
as many as they desired, and to carry away great quantities of meat to
be "jerked," or dried, for future use. So intimately connected were the
buffalo with the life of the tribes of the plains and the circumjacent
country that frequent allusions will be made to the former when
describing the camps and villages of the latter.
The various ways of hunting the buffalo and other wild beasts of the
plains and mountainous country, as practiced by the different tribes,
have been described by many writers. The several methods of hunting the
buffalo were often forced through natural conditions, but nothing could
have exceeded the excitement produced during the chase by well-mounted
Indian hunters. This was the usual custom of the tribes of the plains
after horses had become plentiful and the buffalo continued numerous.
The paintings reproduced in plates 2 and 3 vividly portray this phase of
the hunt. In the north the hunters were compelled during the long
winters to attack the herds on the frozen, snow-covered prairies, and
plate 4 shows a party of hunters, wearing snowshoes, mingled with the
buffalo. This sketch, made about the year 1825, bears the legend:
"Indian Hunters pursuing the Buffalo early in the spring when the snow
is sufficiently frozen to bear the men but the Animal breaks through and
cannot run." This graphic sketch may represent a party of Cree or
Assiniboin hunters, probably the latter, and it will be noticed that
they are using bows and arrows, not firearms, although other drawings by
the same artist representing a summer hunt shows them having guns.
Another custom in the North was that of constructing inclosures of logs
and branches of trees, leaving one opening through which the buffalo
were driven, and when thus secured were killed. Such an inclosure, or
pound, is shown in plate 5, _a_. This is a reproduction of the original
painting made by Paul Kane, September, 1845. In describing it he wrote:
"These pounds can only be made in the vicinity of forests, as they are
composed of logs piled up roughly, five feet high, and enclose about two
acres. At one side an entrance is left, about ten feet wide, and from
each side of this, to the distance of half a mile, a row of posts or
short stumps, called dead men, are planted, at the distance of twenty
feet each, gradually widening out into the plain from the entrance. When
we arrived at the pound we found a party there anxiously awaiting the
arrival of the buffaloes, which their companions were driving in. This
is accomplished as follows:--A man, mounted on a fleet horse, usually
rides forward till he sees a band of buffaloes. This may be sixteen or
eighteen miles distant from the ground, but of course the nearer to it
the better. The hunter immediately strikes a light with a flint and
steel, and places the lighted spunk in a handful of dried grass, the
smoke arising from which the buffaloes soon smell and start away from it
at the top of their speed. The man now rides up alongside of the herd,
which, from some unaccountable propensity, invariably endeavour to cross
in front of his horse. I have had them follow me for miles in order to
do so. The hunter thus possesses an unfailing means, wherever the pound
may be situated, of conducting them to it by the dexterous management of
his horse. Indians are stationed at intervals behind the posts, or dead
men, provided with buffalo robes, who, when the herd are once in the
avenue, rise up and shake the robes, yelling and urging them on until
they get into the enclosure, the spot usually selected for which is one
with a tree in the centre. On this they hang offerings to propitiate the
Great Spirit to direct the herd towards it. A man is also placed in the
tree with a medicine pipestem in his hand, which he waves continually,
chaunting a sort of prayer to the Great Spirit, the burden of which is
that the buffaloes may be numerous and fat." (Kane, (1), pp. 117-119.)
Quite similar to this is the description of a pound constructed by the
Cree a few years later. This was some 120 feet across, "constructed of
the trunks of trees, laced with withes together, and braced by outside
supports," and within "lay tossed in every conceivable position over two
hundred dead buffalo." Another pound erected at this time had the "dead
men" extending for a distance of 4 miles from the entrance. (Hind, (1),
I, pp. 356-359.) Maximilian, Lewis and Clark, and other explorers of the
upper Missouri Valley refer to enclosures into which the Indians drove
antelope. And that the custom was followed by the tribes far east of the
Mississippi is proved by the writings of early explorers. Champlain in
1615 gave an account, accompanied by an interesting drawing, of such a
hunt, and Lahontan nearly a century later presented an illustration
bearing the legend: "Stags block'd up in a park, after being pursued by
y^e Savages." Many other references could be quoted, as the ways of
hunting followed by the Indians have always been of interest to the many
writers who have described the manners and customs of the people.
What was probably a characteristic view in a Sioux village of half a
century ago, after a successful hunt, is shown in the old photograph
reproduced in plate 5, _b_. Here, in front of the group of skin tipis,
are quantities of meat suspended and being "jerked" or dried in the air.
Buffalo skins are stretched on the ground, and in the immediate
foreground are two women scraping a skin. This is a picture of the
greatest interest and rarity.
The sight of the great herds roaming unmolested over the far-reaching
prairies proved of interest to all who saw them, and many accounts are
left by the early travelers. One brief description of such a scene may
be quoted. It refers to a place in the upper Missouri Valley, not far
from a Mandan village, and was written June 22, 1811:
"We arrived on the summit of a ridge more elevated than any we had yet
passed. From thence we saw before us a beautiful plain, as we judged,
about four miles across, in the direction of our course, and of similar
dimensions from east to west. It was bounded on all sides by long
ridges, similar to that which we had ascended. The scene exhibited in
this valley was sufficiently interesting to excite even in our Canadians
a wish to stop a few minutes and contemplate it. The whole of the plain
was perfectly level, and, like the rest of the country, without a single
shrub. It was covered with the finest verdure, and in every part herds
of buffaloes were feeding. I counted seventeen herds, but the aggregate
number of the animals it was difficult even to guess at: some thought
upwards of 10,000." (Bradbury, (1), pp. 134-135.) And this was but one
of innumerable similar scenes to have been witnessed throughout the wide
range of the vast herds.
"The Indians say ... that in travelling over a country with which they
are unacquainted they always follow the buffalo trail, for this animal
always selects the most practicable route for his road." (Warren, (1),
p. 74.) This is a well-known fact, and many roads both east and west of
the Mississippi which have now developed into important highways owe
their origin to this cause.
The story of the buffalo will ever be one of interest, becoming more and
more so as the years pass; and so it is gratifying to know that nearly
all the available information bearing on the customs of the animal, the
migration of the herds, their ancient habitat, and their rapid reduction
in numbers was some years ago brought together and preserved in a single
volume. (Allen, (1).) This was done while the buffalo were still quite
numerous, and many facts recorded were derived from hunters or others
acquainted with the customs of the times.
VILLAGES AND FORMS OF STRUCTURES.
The villages as well as the separate structures reared by the many
tribes who formerly occupied the region treated in the present work
presented marked characteristics, causing them to be easily identified
by the early travelers through the wilderness of a century ago. The mat
and bark covered wigwam predominated among the Algonquian tribes of the
north, although certain members of this great linguistic family also
used the skin tipi so typical of the Siouan tribes of the plains, while
some of the latter stock constructed the earth lodge similar to that
erected by the Caddoan tribes. Thus, it will be understood no one group
occupied habitations of a single form to the exclusion of all others,
and again practically all the tribes had two or more types of dwellings
which were reared and used under different conditions, some forming
their permanent villages, others, being easily removed and transported,
serving as their shelters during long journeys in search of the buffalo.
The villages of the several groups will now be mentioned in detail.
ALGONQUIAN TRIBES.
The numerous tribes and the many confederated groups belonging to the
great Algonquian linguistic family extended over the continent from the
Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast, and from Labrador on the north
southward to Carolina. They surrounded the Iroquoian tribes of the
north, and, at various places came in contact with members of other
stocks. The combined population of the widely scattered Algonquian
tribes was greater than that of any other linguistic family in North
America.
The native tribes of tidewater Virginia and those who were encountered
by the New England colonists, tribes so intimately associated with the
early history of the Colonies, belonged to this stock, as did the later
occupants of the Ohio Valley and of the "country of Illinois." In the
present work the villages of other members of the linguistic group will
be considered, including those of the Ojibway and the related Cree, and
of the Blackfoot confederacy, Arapaho, and Cheyenne, usually termed the
western division of the stock. Several tribes whose villages stood east
of the Mississippi in early historic times will also be mentioned.
OJIBWAY.
The Ojibway (the Sauteux of many writers) formed the connecting link
between the tribes living east of the Mississippi and those whose homes
were across the "Great River." A century ago their lands extended from
the shores of Lake Superior westward, beyond the headwaters of the
Mississippi to the vicinity of the Turtle Mountains, in the present
State of North Dakota. Thus they claimed the magnificent lakes of
northern and central Minnesota--Mille Lac, Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and
Red Lake--on the shores of which stood many of their camps and villages,
serving as barriers against invasions and attacks by their inveterate
enemies, the Sioux. The Ojibway are essentially a timber people, whose
manners and customs were formed and governed by the environment of lakes
and streams, and who were ever surrounded by the vast virgin forests of
pine. While game, fish, and wild fowl were abundant and easily
obtained, yet during the long winters when the lakes were frozen and
the land was covered by several feet of snow there were periods of want
when food was scarce.
The habitations and other structures of the Ojibway, which have already
been described and figured (Bushnell, (2)), were of various forms,
constructed of several materials, and varying in different localities,
according to the nature of the available supply of barks or rushes.
In the north, on the shores of Lake Superior and westward along the
lakes and streams, as in the valley of Red River and the adjacent
region, the majority of structures were covered with sheets of birch
bark, secured to frames of small saplings.
About the year 1804 Peter Grant, a member of the old North-West Company,
and for a long period at the head of the Red River Department of the
company, prepared an account of the Sauteux Indians, and when describing
the habitations of the people, wrote: "Their tents are constructed with
slender long poles, erected in the form of a cone and covered with the
rind of the birch tree. The general diameter of the base is about
fifteen feet, the fire place exactly in the middle, and the remainder of
the area, with the exception of a small place for the hearth, is
carefully covered with the branches of the pine or cedar tree, over
which some bear skins and old blankets are spread, for sitting and
sleeping. A small aperture is left in which a bear skin is hung in lieu
of a door, and a space is left open at the top, which answers the
purpose of window and chimney. In stormy weather the smoke would be
intolerable, but this inconvenience is easily removed by contracting or
shifting the aperture at top according to the point from which the wind
blows. It is impossible to walk, or even to stand upright, in their
miserable habitations, except directly around the fire place. The men
sit generally with their legs stretched before them, but the women have
theirs folded backwards, inclined a little to the left side, and can
comfortably remain the whole day in those attitudes, when the weather is
too bad for remaining out of doors. In fine weather they are very fond
of basking in the sun.
"When the family is very large, or when several families live together,
the dimensions of their tents are, of course, in proportion and of
different forms. Some of these spacious habitations resemble the roof of
a barn, with small openings at each end for doors, and the whole length
of the ridge is left uncovered at top for the smoke and light." (Grant,
(1), pp. 329-330.) And referring briefly to the ways of life of the
people: "In the spring, when the hunting season is over, they generally
assemble in small villages, either at the trader's establishment, or in
places where fish or wild fowl abound; sturgeon and white fish are most
common, though they have abundance of pike, trout, suckers, and
pickerel. They sometimes have the precaution to preserve some for the
summer consumption, this is done by opening and cleaning the fish, and
then carefully drying it in the smoke or sun, after which it is tied up
very tight in large parcels, wrapped up in bark and kept for use; their
meat, in summer, is cured in the same manner.... Their meat is either
boiled in a kettle, or roasted by means of a sharp stick, fixed in the
ground at a convenient distance from the fire, and on which the meat is
fixed and turned occasionally towards the fire, until the whole is
thoroughly done; their fish is dressed in the same manner." (Op. cit.,
pp. 330-331.)
The method of cooking food, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, is
graphically illustrated in the old sketch made a century ago, now
reproduced in plate 6, _a_. This shows a family gathered about a small
fire where food is being prepared, and beyond is a bark-covered wigwam.
The sketch bears the legend, "A family from the tribe of the wild
Sautaux Indians on the Red River. Drawn from nature." It indicates the
primitive dress and appearance of the people, and it is of interest to
compare this with the photograph which is reproduced in plate 6, _b_,
showing another small group of the people three-quarters of a century
later. Such were the changes within that period.
Similar to the preceding were the habitations shown by Kane in a sketch
made during the early summer of 1845, the original painting being
reproduced as plate 7, _a_. This was described as an "Indian encampment
amongst the islands of Lake Huron; the wigwams are made of birch-bark,
stripped from the trees in large pieces and sewed together with long
fibrous roots; when the birch tree cannot be conveniently had, they
weave rushes into mats ... for covering, which are stretched round in
the same manner as the bark, upon eight or ten poles tied together at
the top, and stuck in the ground at the required circle of the tent, a
hole being left at the top to permit the smoke to go out. The fire is
made in the centre of the lodge, and the inmates sleep all round with
their feet towards it." (Kane, (1), pp. 6-7.) The interesting painting
could well have been made among the Ojibway camps or settlements of
northern Minnesota instead of representing a group of wigwams located
many miles eastward, but this tends to prove the similarity of the small
villages in the region where large sheets of birch bark were to be
obtained.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 6
[Illustration: _a._ "A family from the tribe of the wild Sautaux Indians
on the Red River." Drawn from nature, 1821]
[Illustration: _b._ Ojibway wigwam. Leech Lake, Minnesota, 1896]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 7
[Illustration: _a._ "Encampment among the Islands of Lake Huron." Paul
Kane, 1845]
[Illustration: _b._ Ojibway camp on bank of Red River. Photograph by H.
L. Hime, 1858]
Between the loosely placed sheets of bark were necessarily many openings
through which the wind could enter, and in addition was the open space
at the top intentionally left as a vent through which the smoke could
escape from the inside. In describing the appearance of the interior of
such a structure it was told how--
"Around the fire in the centre, and at a distance of perhaps 2 feet from
it, are placed sticks as large as one's arm, in a square form, guarding
the fire; and it is a matter of etiquette not to put one's feet nearer
the fire than that boundary. One or more pots or kettles are hung over
the fire on the crotch of a sapling. In the sides of the wigwam are
stowed all clothing, food, cooking utensils, and other property of the
family." When referring to the great feeling of relief on arriving at
such a shelter in the frozen wilderness the same writer continued:
"When one has been traveling all day through the virgin forest, in a
temperature far below zero, and has not seen a house nor a human being
and knows not where or how he is to pass the night, it is the most
comforting sight in the whole world to see the glowing column of light
from the top of the wigwam of some wandering family out hunting, and to
look in and see that happy group bathed in the light and warmth of the
life-giving fire ... and no one, Ojibway or white, is ever refused
admission; on the contrary, they are made heartily welcome, as long as
there is an inch of space." (Gilfillan, (1), pp. 68-69.) As a missionary
among the Ojibway of northern Minnesota for a quarter of a century, Dr.
Gilfillan learned to know and love the forests and lakes in the changing
seasons of the year and to know the ways of life of the Ojibway as few
have ever known them.
The structures just mentioned were of a circular form, with the ends of
the poles which supported the bark describing a circle on the ground. Of
quite similar construction were the larger oval wigwams, where two
groups of poles were arranged at the ends in the form of semicircles,
with a ridgepole extending between the tops of the two groups. Other
poles rested against the ridgepole and so formed the sloping supports
upon which the strips of bark were placed. One most interesting example
of this form of primitive habitation was visited by the writer during
the month of October, 1899. It formed one of a small group of wigwams
which at that time stood near the Canadian boundary, north of Ely,
Minnesota. It was about 18 feet in length and between 8 and 9 feet in
width. There were two entrances, one at each end, with hanging blankets
to cover the openings. Within, along the median line on the ground,
burned four small fires. Beautiful examples of rush mats, made by the
women, were spread upon the ground near the sloping walls, these serving
as seats during the day and sleeping places at night. Many articles hung
from the poles which sustained the bark covering, as small bags and
baskets, and many bunches of herbs. In one corner was a large covered
_mokak_, and on the opposite side was a carefully wrapped drum, owned by
the old Ojibway, _Ahgishkemunsit_, the Kingfisher, who was sitting on
the ground near by.
Quite similar to the preceding must have been the wigwam visited by Hind
in 1858. This stood a short distance from Manitobah House, of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and belonged to an Ojibway hunter. As Hind wrote:
"His birch-bark tent was roomy and clean. Thirteen persons including
children squatted round the fire in the centre. On the floor some
excellent matting was laid upon spruce boughs for the strangers; the
squaws squatted on the bare ground, the father of the family on an old
buffalo robe. Attached to the poles of the tent were a gun, bows and
arrows, a spear, and some mink skins. Suspended on cross pieces over the
fire were fishing nets and floats, clothes, and a bunch of the bearberry
to mix with tobacco for the manufacture of kinni-kinnik." (Hind, (1),
II, p. 63.) Hind was accompanied on his second journey, in 1858, by a
photographer, Humphrey Lloyd Hime, who made many interesting negatives
while in the Indian country. Among the photographs made at this time are
three views of bark wigwams of the Ojibway which stood near the banks of
Red River. These are now reproduced in plates 7, _b_, and 8 _a_, _b_.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 8
[Illustration: _a._ Ojibway camp west of Red River. Photograph by H. L.
Hime, 1858]
[Illustration: _b._ Ojibway camp on bank of Red River. Photograph by H.
L. Hime, 1858]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 9
[Illustration: _a._ Wigwams covered with elm bark]
[Illustration: _b._ Two types of wigwams covered with birch bark
OJIBWAY HABITATIONS, ABOUT 1865]
While in the vicinity of Red River the year before (1857) Hind
encountered several interesting Ojibway structures. At a point not far
north of the Minnesota boundary his party crossed the Roseau a few miles
east of Red River, and there "on the bank at the crossing place the
skeletons of Indian wigwams and sweating-houses were grouped in a
prominent position, just above a fishing weir where the Ojibways of this
region take large quantities of fish in the spring. The framework of a
large medicine wigwam measured twenty-five feet in length by fifteen in
breadth; the sweating-houses were large enough to hold one man in a
sitting position, and differed in no respect from those frequently seen
on the canoe route between Lakes Superior and Winnipeg, and which have
been often described by travelers." (Hind, (1), I, p. 163.) During the
journey, when camping on an island in Bonnet Lake, the party encountered
"an Indian cache elevated on a stage in the centre of the island. The
stage was about seven feet above the ground, and nine feet long by four
broad. It was covered with birch bark, and the treasures it held
consisted of rabbit-skin robes, rolls of birch bark, a ragged blanket,
leather leggings, and other articles of winter apparel, probably the
greater part of the worldly wealth of an Indian family." (Op. cit., p.
120.)
The canoe route between the lakes mentioned by Hind was often broken by
dangerous rapids, around which it was necessary to carry the canoes, as
Catlin described the Ojibway party doing at the Falls of St. Anthony.
The ceremonial lodge of the Ojibway, where the M[)i]de rites were
enacted, was often 100 feet or more in length and about 12 feet in
width. The frame was made of small saplings, bent and fastened by cords,
similar to the frames of wigwams which were to be covered with mats or
sheets of bark, but the coverings of the ceremonial lodges were usually
of a more temporary nature, boughs and branches of the pine and spruce
being sometimes used, which would soon fall away, although the rigid
frame would stand from year to year, to be covered when required.
Somewhat of this form was the "medicine lodge," described by Kane. This
stood in the center of a large camp of the "Saulteaux" or Ojibway, not
far from Fort Alexander, which was about 3 miles above Lake Winnipeg, on
the bank of Winnipeg River. The camp was visited June 11, 1846, and in
referring to the lodge: "It was rather an oblong structure, composed of
poles bent in the form of an arch, and both ends forced into the ground,
so as to form, when completed, a long arched chamber, protected from the
weather by a covering of birch bark.... On my first entrance into the
medicine lodge ... I found four men, who appeared to be chiefs, sitting
upon mats spread upon the ground gesticulating with great violence, and
keeping time to the beating of a drum. Something, apparently of a sacred
nature was covered up in the centre of the group, which I was not
allowed to see.... The interior of their lodge or sanctuary was hung
round with mats constructed with rushes, to which were attached various
offerings consisting principally of bits of red and blue cloth, calico,
&c., strings of beads, scalps of enemies, and sundry other articles
beyond my comprehension." (Kane, (1), pp. 68-71.)
It is quite evident the frame of the large lodge encountered by Hind was
similar to the structure described by Kane a few years before. Both
stood in the northern part of the Ojibway country, a region where birch
bark was extensively used as covering for the wigwams, and where it was
easily obtained.
The temporary, quickly raised shelters of the Ojibway were described by
Tanner, who learned to make them from the people with whom he remained
many years. Referring to a journey up the valley of the Assiniboin, he
wrote: "In bad weather we used to make a little lodge, and cover it with
three or four fresh buffaloe hides, and these being soon frozen, made a
strong shelter from wind and snow. In calm weather, we commonly encamped
with no other covering than our blankets." (Tanner, (1) p. 55.) On
another occasion fire destroyed the wigwam and all the possessions of
the family with whom he lived, and then, so he said: "We commenced to
repair our loss, by building a small grass lodge, in which to shelter
ourselves while we should prepare the pukkwi for a new wigwam. The
women were very industrious in making these.... At night, also, when it
was too dark to hunt, Wa-me-gon-a-biew and myself assisted at this
labour. In a few days our lodge was completed." (Op. cit., p. 85.) And
again when near Rainy Lake, "I had no pukkwi, or mats, for a lodge and
therefore had to build one of poles and long grass." (p. 214.) It is
quite evident the shelters of poles and grass, as mentioned by Tanner,
were similar to those erected by the Assiniboin as described on another
page, and as indicated in the painting by Paul Kane, which is reproduced
as plate 25, _a_.
Two very interesting old photographs, made more than half a century ago,
are shown in plate 9. One, _a_, represents clearly the elm-bark covering
of the wigwams, and in this picture the arbor suggests a Siouan rather
than an Ojibway encampment; _b_ is more characteristic of the Ojibway.
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 shore 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 passed 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
space, 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 shores 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, Washington. 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."