STORING FOR WINTER
_The Cache Pit_
We stored our corn, beans, sunflower seed and dried squash in cache pits
for the winter, much as white people keep vegetables in their cellars.
[Illustration: Figure 25
Redrawn from sketch by Goodbird.]
A cache pit was shaped somewhat like a jug, with a narrow neck at the
top. The width of the mouth, or entrance, was commonly about two feet; on
the very largest cache pits the mouth was never, I think, more than two
feet eight, or two feet nine inches. In diagram (figure 25), the width of
pit’s mouth at _BB´_ should be a little more than two feet, narrowing to
two feet a little higher up.
In my father’s family, we built our cache pits so that they were each of
the size of a bull boat at the bottom. Other measurements were, as I
here show with my hands, one foot eight inches from the top of the mouth,
where it is level with the ground, down to the puncheon cover that lay in
the trench dug for the purpose; and two feet and a half from this plank
cover to the lower part of the neck, marked _BB´_ in the diagram.
Descent into one of these big cache pits was made with a ladder; but in a
small one, such as I have made you in vertical-section model, in a bank
by the Missouri, and which you have photographed, the depth was not so
great. In one of these smaller pits, when standing on the floor within,
my eyes just cleared the level of the ground above, so that I could look
around. When such a pit was half full of corn, I could descend and come
out again, without the help of a ladder. At other times I had to be
helped out; I would hold up my hands, and my mother, or some one else,
would come and give me a lift.
Usually, two women worked together thus in a cache pit, one helping the
other out, or taking things from her hands. One of my mothers was usually
my helper.
The digging and storing of a cache pit was women’s work. For digging the
pit, a short handled hoe was used; of iron, in my day; of bone, I have
heard, in olden times.
I have dug more than one cache pit myself. I began by digging the round
mouth, dragging the loosened earth away with my hoe. As the pit grew in
depth, the excavated earth was carried off in a wooden bowl. I stood in
the pit with the bowl at my feet and labored with my hoe, raking the
earth into the bowl. When it was full, I handed the bowl to my mother,
who bore it away and emptied it.
It took me two days and a good part of a third to dig a cache pit, my
mother helping me to carry off the dirt; such a cache pit, I mean, as we
used in my father’s family, and which, as I have said, was large enough
for a bull boat cover to be fitted into the bottom.
A trench for the puncheon cover of the mouth was the very last part of
the cache pit to be dug; but I will describe the use of this trench a
little farther on.
_Grass for Lining_
When the cache pit was all dug, it had next to be lined with grass. The
grass used for this purpose, and for closing the mouth of the cache pit,
was the long bluish kind that grows near springs and water courses on
this reservation; it grows about three feet high. In the fall, this kind
of grass becomes dry at the top, but is still green down near the roots;
and we then cut it with hoes and packed it in bundles, to the village.
This bluish grass was the only kind used for lining a cache pit. We knew
by repeated trials that other kinds of grass would mold, and did not keep
well.
_Grass Bundles_
I remember, one time, I went out with my mother to cut grass. I took a
pony along to pack our loads home. I loaded the pony with four bundles
of grass, two on each side, bound to the saddle. A bundle was about four
feet long, and from two and a half to three feet thick, pressed tight
together. One bundle made a load for a woman.
Besides the four bundles loaded on my pony, my mother packed one bundle
back to the village, and three or four dogs dragged each a bundle on a
travois.
We reckoned that three of these bundles would be needed to line and
close a large cache pit; and two and a half bundles, for a smaller pit.
A hundred such bundles were needed to cover the roof of an earth lodge.
Long established use made us able to make the bundles about alike in
weight, though of course we had no scales to weigh them in those days.
_The Grass Binding Rope_
Each bundle was bound with a rope of grass. In a bed of this grass as it
stands by the spring or stream, there is often found dead grass from the
year before, or even from two years previous, standing among the other
grass stems that are still somewhat green at the roots. To make a binding
rope I must use only dead grass. I did so in this manner:
I stooped, took a wisp of grass in my hands, twisting it to the left and
at the same gently lifting it, when all the dry stems would break off at
the roots. I took a half step forward, laid the twisted end of the strand
on the ground, and grasped another wisp of grass, which I twisted to the
left and broke off as before; but I twisted the new wisp in such manner
that it made part of the continued twisted strand. I continued thus until
I had a strand long enough to tie my bundle. Figure 26 is a sketch made
after my description of a grass bundle, showing the grass rope and the
tie.
[Illustration: Figure 26
Exact reproduction of sketch by Goodbird. The tie is pronounced accurate
by Buffalobird-woman.]
_Drying the Grass Bundles_
These grass bundles we fetched home and laid on the drying stage until we
were ready to use them. Just before using, we took the bundles up on the
roof of the earth lodge, broke the binding ropes and spread the grass out
to dry, for one day.
_The Willow Floor_
The walls of the cache pit were left bare for the grass lining; but a
floor was laid on the bottom. This was rather simply made by gathering
dead and dry willow sticks, and laying them evenly and snugly over the
bottom of the pit.
_The Grass Lining_
Over this willow floor, the grass, now thoroughly dried, was spread
evenly, to a depth of about four inches. Grass was then spread over the
walls to a depth of three or four inches, and stayed in place with about
eight willow sticks. These were placed vertically against the walls
and nailed in place with wooden pins made each from the fork of a dead
willow, as shown in figure 27. The ends of the sticks should reach to the
neck of the cache pit, at the place marked _B_, in diagram (figure 25,
page 87).
We were careful to spread the grass lining evenly over the walls; and we
were especially careful not to let the root ends get matted together, as
they were very apt to do.
It will be noticed that the willow flooring of the pit, the willow
staying rods, and the wooden pins that held them in place, were all made
of dead and dry willows; this was done that everything within the pit
might be perfectly dry.
It did not take long to place the grass lining of the cache pit.
[Illustration: Figure 27]
_Skin Bottom Covering_
If the cache pit was a small one, we covered the bottom with a circular
piece of skin, cut to fit the pit bottom, and laid it directly on the
grass matting that covered the willow floor; but if the cache pit was a
large one, we fitted into the bottom the skin cover of a bull boat, with
the willow frame removed.
_Storing the Cache Pit_
The cache pit was now ready to be stored.
My mother and I—and by “my mother” I mean always one of my two mothers,
for my mother that bore me was dead—fetched an old tent cover from the
earth lodge, and laid it by the cache pit so that one end of the cover
hung down the pit’s mouth. Upon this tent cover we emptied a big pile of
shelled ripe corn, fetched in baskets from the bull boats in which it had
been temporarily stored inside the lodge. We also fetched many strings of
braided corn, and laid them on one side of the tent cover. Lastly, we
fetched some strings of dried squash and laid them on the tent cover.
Of dried squash, I fetched but one string at a time, doubled and folded
over my left arm. A string of dried squash, as I have said, was always
seven Indian fathoms long; and I have described an Indian fathom as
the distance from the tips of the fingers of one hand to the tips of
the fingers of the other, with both hands outstretched at either side.
As these measurements were made by the women workers, an Indian fathom
averaged about five and a half feet in length. A string of dried squash,
seven Indian fathoms in length, we knew by experience to be just about
the weight that a woman could conveniently carry. A string eight fathoms
long would be too heavy; and one six fathoms long would be rather short.
[Illustration: Figure 28
Plan of cache in horizontal section: A, floor ready for storing; B, the
first series of braided strings; C, loose corn; D, first squash string.
In vertical section: E, the first series of braided strings of corn; F,
adding loose corn; G, the first squash string; H, loose corn filled in
around squash.]
All being now ready, my mother descended into the cache pit. Leaning over
the mouth, I handed her a string of braided corn. In my father’s family,
we usually braided fifty-four, or fifty-five ears, to a string; and a
woman could carry about three strings on her left shoulder. These braided
strings, as I have said, my mother and I fetched from the drying stage;
she stood on the stage floor and handed me the braided strings, and I
bore them off to the cache pit.
Leaning over the pit then, as I have said, I handed my mother one of the
braided strings that now lay in a heap on the tent cover. My mother
took the string of corn, folded it once over, and laid it snugly against
the wall of the cache pit, on the skin bottom covering, with the tips of
the ears all pointed inward. Folding a string thus kept the ears from
slipping, and stayed them more firmly in place; and the ears, laid husk
end to the wall, were better preserved from danger of moisture.
My mother continued thus all around the bottom of the pit, until she had
surrounded it with a row of braided corn laid against the wall, two ears
deep; for the strings, being doubled, lay therefore two ears deep.
My mother now started a second row, or series, of strings of braided corn
doubled over, laying them upon the first series; and like these, with the
ears all pointed inward. When this series was completed, the bottom of
the cache pit was surrounded by strings of braided corn, which, because
doubled, now lay four ears deep.
My mother now called to me that she was ready for the shelled, or loose,
corn. Obeying her, I pushed the shelled corn that lay on the tent cover,
down the overhanging end of the skin into the cache pit, until the floor
of the pit was filled up level with the top of the four-tiered series of
strings of braided corn. It will be seen now how necessary it was that a
hide or bull boat cover be put in the bottom of the cache pit, to receive
this shelled grain.
I next passed down a string of dried squash, seven fathoms long; and this
my mother coiled and piled up in the center of the cache pit upon the
shelled corn. This loose corn, I have already said, lay level with the
topmost row of ears laid against the pit’s wall, but did not quite cover
the ears. I remember, as I looked down into the pit, I could see these
corn ears lying in a circle about the loose corn within. Figure 28, drawn
under my direction, shows in a series of rough sketches how the cache pit
was filled.
Again I passed down strings of braided corn to my mother. These she
doubled, as before, and laid them around the wall of the cache pit, until
they came up level with the top of the squash heap coiled in the center.
We did not have any fixed number of rows of corn to place now; my mother
just piled the doubled braids around the wall until they came even with
the top of the coiled squash string.
My mother then called to me, and again I shoved loose corn into the cache
pit, until it just barely covered the coiled squash pile and the topmost
row of braided ears.
The object of our putting the squash in the center of the shelled corn
was to protect it from dampness. The shelled ripe corn did not spoil very
easily, but dried squash did. We were careful, therefore, to store the
strings of squash in the very center of the cache pit and surround them
on every side with the loose corn; this protected the squash and kept it
dry.
We continued working, my mother and I, until the cache pit was filled.
In an average sized cache pit we would usually store four seven-fathom
strings of dried squash, coiled each in a heap in the center of the
cache and hidden as described, in the loose corn; and as I recollect
it, I think it took about thirty or more strings of braided corn to lie
around the wall of an average sized pit; but my memory here is a little
uncertain, and this estimate may not be quite accurate.
We filled the pit about up to the point marked _B_ in the diagram (figure
25), the last two feet being filled with shelled corn only; thus the last
string of squash put in the cache pit should be covered with at least two
feet of loose corn.
Over this shelled corn, at _B_ in the diagram, we snugly fitted a
circular cover, cut from the thick skin of the flank of a buffalo bull.
A bull’s hide is thicker than a buffalo cow’s, and for this reason was
seldom made into a robe; but there were purposes for which a bull’s hide
was preferred. Thus the heavy thick-haired parts of a bull’s hide were
much used for making saddle skins, because the heavy wool protected the
horse’s back; and the short haired parts were much used for making cache
pit covers. Using these parts of the hide for covers, we did not have
to bother to scrape off the hair, which in summer is very short on a
buffalo’s flanks. The skin cover was laid hair side up, so that the flesh
side would come next to the loose corn.
On this hide cover my mother and I laid grass,[19] of the same kind as
used for lining the cache pit wall.
[Illustration: Figure 29
Redrawn from sketch by Goodbird.]
_The Puncheon Cover_
Upon this grass, if the pit was one of the smaller ones, we laid
puncheons; and these puncheons, as I have said, rested in a trench.
The puncheons, split from small logs, were laid in the trench flat side
down, so that they would not rock. There were about five main planks, or
puncheons, the middle one being the heaviest, the better to sustain the
weight of any horse that might happen to walk over the cache pit’s mouth.
On either side of these main puncheons were two shorter ones, laid to
cover the small area of the pit’s mouth not covered by the main puncheons.
Figure 29 by Goodbird, drawn from the small model I made for you in Wolf
Chief’s yard, will explain this. The puncheons shown in the figure
exactly fit the trench; and their circumscribed outline represents also
the shape of the trench. The dotted circle represents the pit’s mouth,
now hidden by the over-lying puncheons.
Upon the puncheons we now laid grass, quite filling the pit’s mouth, and
even heaped, it might be, a foot high above the level of the ground; this
we trampled down hard, well into the mouth of the pit.
Over this grass we fitted a second cover, cut as was the first from a
buffalo bull’s hide; and upon this we heaped earth until the pit was
filled level with the ground.
Lastly, we raked ashes and refuse dirt over the spot, to hide it from any
enemy that might come prowling around in the winter, when the village was
deserted.
I have said that puncheons, resting in a trench, were used to cover the
mouth of a cache pit of smaller size. If the pit was of the larger size,
I dug about two feet down in the neck or opening, a rectangular place
on either side, with my knife. Puncheons were thrust down into one of
these rectangular openings and drawn through into the other, covering
the mouth of the pit; and as in the smaller pit, there were several main
puncheons, with one or two smaller and shorter ones at either side. Grass
was stuffed into the two openings, above the ends of the puncheons, to
firm the latter. Above the puncheons, the mouth of the pit was filled in,
as was that of the smaller pit, with grass, a circular skin cover, and
earth.
The two rectangular openings which I dug with my knife in the neck of the
larger pit, were, as will be noted, a little farther down than was the
floor of the trench of the smaller pit. This was because the neck was
longer in a pit of the larger size.
CACHE PITS IN SMALL ANKLE’S LODGE
_First Account_
In diagram (figure 30), I have marked the positions of the cache pits we
had in use in my father’s family, when I was a girl. Cache _A_ was used
for hard yellow shelled corn; but the braids piled against the wall of
the pit were of white corn; so also of _B_ and _C_. In cache _D_ were
stored dried boiled corn and strings of dried squash.
[Illustration: Figure 30]
Sometimes in one of the cache pits outside of the lodge we put a bag of
beans, or sometimes two bags. Each bag was of skin and was about as long
as one’s arm; its shape was long and round.
In the fall, when we went to our winter lodges, corn, squash, beans, and
whatever else was needed, we loaded on our horses and took with us. As
soon as we came to our winter lodge we made ready a cache pit at once and
stored these things away.
We opened a cache pit whenever we got out of provisions. When should
this be, you ask? When we got out of provisions. This might happen
at any time. One winter, I remember, we got out of provisions and a
number of our people left the winter village and went to the lodges at
Like-a-fishhook village, to open a cache. The Sioux surrounded them
there. Our people took refuge in a kind of fort that belonged to the
traders and fired down from an upper room; they killed two of the Sioux.
Cache pit _F_ in the diagram, we made afterwards. Pit _E_ was also of
later make; we dug it after we got potatoes; it was inside the lodge and
near the corral for horses.
Cache pit _C_ we had to abandon because mice got into it and we could not
get rid of them. So we filled it up with earth and dug pit _D_. We stored
gummy corn in cache pit _D_ and used it for two years. The third year the
Sioux came against our village in the winter time and stole our corn and
burned down my father’s lodge.
I have been telling you how the cache pit was used for storing things
for winter; but I do not mean that it was of no use in summer time. In
early spring we put into a cache pit two big packages of dried meat and a
bladder full of bone grease. We did not take them out until about August
or a little earlier. The meat would still be good, and the bone grease
would be hard and sweet, just as if it were frozen.
A cache pit lasted for a long time, used year after year.
_A Second Account on Another Day_
We had four cache pits to store grain for my father’s family; one held
squash, vegetables, corn, etc.
A second held shelled yellow corn. In this cache the usual strings of
corn laid around to protect the shelled grain from the wall, were of
white corn. We did not braid hard yellow corn. It was corn that we did
not often use for parching.
A third cache held white shelled corn, protected by the usual braided
strings of white corn.
A fourth cache pit was a small one inside the lodge; here we stored dried
wild turnips, dried choke-cherries, and dried June berries; and any
valuables that we could not take with us to our winter village.
Our cache pits were for the most part located outside the lodge, because
mice were found inside the lodge, and they were apt to be troublesome.
In the cache pit where we stored our yellow corn, we stored the grain
loose, not in sacks.
I knew of course where each cache pit was located.
The Sioux sometimes came up against us in winter and raided our cached
corn. One winter (about 1877) they came up and burned our lodges and
stole all that was in our cache pits.
We returned from our winter quarters to our permanent village a little
before ice breaks on the Missouri, or in the latter part of March.
_Diagram of Small Ankle’s Lodge_
[Illustration: Figure 31
Redrawn from sketch by Goodbird.
A. Bed of Small Ankle and Strikes-many-women.
B. Bed of Wolf Chief and wife.
C. Bed of Bear’s Tail and wife.
D. Bed of Son-of-a-Star and his wife Buffalo-bird-woman.
E. Bed of Flies-low, Yellow Front Hair and Fell-upon-his-house, three
boys.
F. Bed of Turtle.
G. Place for storing ax, hay, wood, or any thing that could be piled or
laid away.
H. Bed of Small Eyes, elder sister of Strikes-many-women; the bed here
by the fireplace being the warmest was commonly reserved for an elderly
person. (Small Eyes is probably the same as Red Blossom).
K. Corn mortar and pestle.
L. and M. Cache pits.
N. Platform of slabs on which were stored food, utensils, etc.
P. Lazy-back or native chair.
XXX. Small Ankle’s medicines, or sacred objects.]
Figure 31 is a diagram of Small Ankle’s lodge, as I remember it. My three
brothers slept in bed _E_, but often Wolf Chief or Bear’s Tail and their
wives would be away, staying at some other lodge, perhaps at the wife’s
mother’s; sometimes they visited thus for a long time. The boys might
then make use of the vacant bed of the visiting couple.
All beds were covered with skins, as I have before described to you.
Small children slept with their parents.
I do not know why my father put his medicine shrines in the rear of the
lodge. Ours was a big family and there was not room enough for all the
beds on one side. Probably Small Ankle wanted the medicine objects near
his bed and not where the children were.