The following is the fifth installment of book excerpts the LCO News will feature from local author, John Dettloff. The excerpts will be from his new book.
Detloff has lived on the Chippewa Flowage, near New Post, for over 50 years. His family has had a small resort just east of New Post for 56 seasons and for 40 years he has been writing historical articles about the flowage, tribal history (especially Old Post), old guides, old resorts, and fishing.
His new book called Whispers of the Past, A History of the Chippewa Flowage, released on November 1st, gives a comprehensive history of the flowage going back to the fur trade era.
According to Detloff, the book profiles in great detail the people of the "Chippewa Basin" (the area that became flooded by the flowage) and talks about the 300 plus people who were affected by and displaced by the flowage. There were probably 250 plus tribal members and nearly 100 non-tribal members that were affected.
From the Book:
Prior to the late 1800s, most Ojibwe people of the Wisconsin northwoods lived in wigwams, oval or dome shaped structures that were designed to be easily moved, quickly erected, and used as temporary housing. Often built about ten to sixteen feet in diameter, wigwams were constructed by creating an arched framework of young bent saplings in the shape of an inverted halfsphere, followed up by wrapping other young saplings horizontally around the structure to give it strength. The framework was lashed together with strands of roots and covered with materials such as bark, woven matts of reeds, or cloth. Larger longhouses were built with a pole framework and bark or matt coverings, but they were more permanent structures.
By the start of the sugarbush season in March, the people of Pahquahwong had returned from their southern winter hunting camps and re-established their wigwams at the village site, renewing their seasonal cycle of life. If they hadn’t met up with any traders over the winter, the men would have to procure supplies at the nearest trading post, located at Lac Courte Oreilles. There, they could barter any pelts they had trapped over the winter for clothing, ammo, tobacco, or liquor. Families could also get re-supplied by tapping into their private hordes of provisions that they had stored away the previous fall.
Before the ice would go out in spring, the men speared fish through the ice by hanging carved decoys from a cord to lure in larger fish like maashkinoozhe (muskellunge). After the ice went out, they would sometimes fish by placing large nets across the streams. Spring was still a great time to trap fur bearing animals, as their fur was thick and prime at that time.
This was also the season to strip the bark off birch trees for the building of canoes, an activity which was signaled by the first flocks of geese migrating overhead towards Canada. The skilled elder men and women of the village, who were expert at constructing canoes, would be assisted by the young... who learned the craft by doing. Strips of cedar wood were built into a framework that was tied together with small pine roots, to which birchbark was attached and covered with pine pitch. With Pahquahwong surrounded by a labyrinth of streams, rivers, and lakes, it should come as no surprise that the Ojibwe were masters of water travel.
Late spring was when the women replanted the gardens with corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and squash – some of the seeds of which were introduced to the natives by the first Europeans they had encountered a century before. The men would be hunting small game during this time. Spring is also when the sacred Midewiwin rights would be performed, with those participating having vigorously prepared all winter long.
During the summer, the women picked and dried berries and gathered herbs and plants for both food and the making of many effective natural remedies. They also gathered reeds that were used to create baskets and matts. Summer was also a time of socializing with friends and relatives and playing games and having contests. Summer had long been a time of war; but by then, the Sioux were no longer a threat. The young bucks of the village no doubt remained prepared and were ready to fight if the occasion arose. A young man’s need to prove his manhood and keep up his skills was likely accomplished by engaging in various contests of strength, skill, and agility amongst the other men of the village.
Late in the summer (usually in August), families gathered near the shallow pockets and flats of the rivers and lakes where the wild rice fields grew in abundance. Around Pahquahwong, there were several prime wild rice sites in close proximity to the village. For those families who had to travel further, they would pack their wigwams and processing equipment into their canoes to reach the ricing fields where they set up temporary camps. This two-week process would often be followed by a much-anticipated annual feast to celebrate the end of a successful ricing season.
Ojibwe elders, being aware of the fragility of nature, were sure to reseed their prime ricing areas each year. Those especially in tune with the process had observed a cycle in which the rice beds would go into decline every seven years. It was especially critical during those times to reseed the rice stands by planting previously prepared seed balls of mud and rice – that had been in storage – into key areas.
During the fall, the cranberry harvest was an important event, with the best cranberries being found where the shallows of the east end of Pokegama Lake morphed into a large cranberry marsh which drained into a small creek (Pokegama Creek) that meandered its way into the West Fork of the Chippewa River. There, the people of Pahquahwong reaped a fine annual harvest and got to work drying and storing the berries in preparation for the long winter ahead. With nature’s seasonal clock ticking away, the men of the village hunted ducks and geese in order to store away as much food as possible.
Many extended family or clan groups created a supply horde for themselves every fall that included rice, dried berries, maple sugar, various other food items, provisions, and even personal property – hiding it in a place known only to their own group. This cache of food and supplies would remain in storage for each family until they returned from their winter camp the following spring.
Once the first snows began to fall, the Pahquahwong villagers would split into smaller family groups and journey to their individual winter hunting camps to the south. Each family would disperse into different areas because there wasn’t enough game in any one place to feed more than a small group of people. Some Ojibwe villages would be vacant during the winter while others were left to be occupied by small groups to watch over the elders who chose to remain for the winter. They would be left with enough provisions to last during the four-month hunting season. Whether or not Pahquahwong maintained a small winter population during the late 1700s and early 1800s is not known.
Once settled into their winter camps, the men would go out hunting for deer and other large game, and the woman would cure the meat by drying it over a low fire. In the evening, the women would mend moccasins and clothing, often making shirts and leggings from deer or elk skins. The old women keep busy with domestic duties, cooking, and caring for the young. The men busied themselves tending to their hunting equipment and making snowshoes.
Winter was the time for storytelling. Some Ojibwe felt that stories should only be told from the time the leaves fall until Mother Earth springs things back to life. Telling stories out of season was believed to be bad luck. Stories were told both for entertainment and education. An elder would tell the same story, over and over again, for the purpose of the tale becoming so ingrained in the mind of the listener, that – someday – the listener would be able to tell the story himself... ensuring the oral traditions of the tribe be passed on to future generations.
In the Spring, the families would return to Pahquahwong from their southern winter hunting grounds and set up their wigwams close to the sugar maple groves. This would be the first time they would see the other families and their friends of the village since their move to the south, so it was a joyous time to catch up on news. Upon returning to Pahquahwong, each family group or clan would tap into their secret stash of food and supplies that was waiting for them in winter storage. The men would go out and hunt for additional food as needed. Each family had their own section of the sugar bush, where they would get to work tapping their trees, collecting the sap, and boiling it down.
And so, completes the seasonal cycle of life that the Ojibwe people of the Chippewa Basin experienced for more than a century prior to the late 1800s. As the southern areas near their former winter hunting camps became settled after that time, the Ojibwe became less nomadic. And following their introduction to the first log buildings that were built in their village by the Europeans, the Ojibwe began to construct log houses to live in for themselves, living a more permanent existence. The days of living in wigwams – especially during the inhospitable winter months – were pretty much gone after that time.
They still set up their March sugar bush and August ricing camps every year, but those sites were much closer to home and didn’t require long periods of absence from their villages. In addition to the people who were living in the community of Pahquahwong, along the West Fork of the Chippewa River and the shores of Cranberry, Little Devil, Pokegama, Desire, and Pahquahwong Lakes, there were also tribal members living near Meda Lake, Blueberry Creek, and on the southwest corner of Akwawaywaning Lake – later known as Chief Lake.
(To order a copy of John Dettloff's new book, send a check or money order for $29.95, plus $6 shipping and 5 1/2% sales tax, made out to Trails End Publishing and send it to: Trails End Publishing, 7431 N Flowage Rd., Couderay, Wi 54828.)
The wigwam and cabin of Makade Wigwanebi on Meda (Scott) Lake in 1916. (Photo courtesy of the Chippewa Valley Museum.)
Ricing season in August was when the Ojibwe harvested their wild rice. (Artist credit by Bryan Dove)