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 amusements 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
[Illustration: _a._ Ojibway birch bark canoe. Northern Minnesota, 1899]
[Illustration: _b._ Ojibway Indians with birch bark canoes. North of
Ely, Minn., 1899]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 11
[Illustration: _a._ Trader's store at the village of the Pillagers, Cass
Lake in the distance on the right. November 26, 1899]
[Illustration: _b._ Outside an elm-bark structure. At the Ojibway
village of Sagawamick, on south shore of Mille Lac, Minnesota. May 21,
1900]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 12
[Illustration: _a._ Hammer, bag, and two skin-dressing tools]
[Illustration: _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
[Illustration: _a._ Ojibway mortar and pestle]
[Illustration: _b._ Delaware mortar and pestle]
[Illustration: _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 shore 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 shore. 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 grass 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 shore 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 shore. 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 hoarse 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 shore 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 shore of Cass
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 quantities 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 assemblage. To provide a place, poles are
fixed obliquely into the ground, enclosing a sufficient space 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 spacious court, or tent. The provisions consist both of dried
and of fresh meat, as it would not be practicable to prepare a
sufficient quantity of fresh meat, for such a multitude, 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
noble 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 Assiniboins, that is,
between the Saskatschawan, the Assiniboin, 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
Assiniboins, 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." (Winship, (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 circumference. They wore the
aspect of great antiquity, being partially covered with soil and grass.
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 quantity 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 grass
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, masses 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 assent 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 mass 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
Pawnee, 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 grass 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
passed 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.