Traditional Hide Tanning Techniques of the Saskatchewan Woods Cree

ANNA LEIGHTON Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

A Cree woman introduced me to the practical art of hide tanning when I was doing a study of Saskatchewan Woods Cree plant names and uses in 1979 and 1980. She asked me to help her tan a hide and taught me what to do as we went along. After a time she began to see my involvement as an opportunity to write a booklet to teach people how to tan hides; she asked me to record the process and write it up with her help. The booklet was an important project to her because older women, like herself, are getting too old to do the hard work of tanning and few young women are learning the craft. This is affecting the supply of traditionally tanned leather that people like her rely on to make moccasins and mittens for their own use and for sale. So, at her initiative, we put together a how-to booklet on hide tanning based on the method she learned as a young woman from her mother (Hastings and Leighton 1993). I was very glad to work on this hide tanning booklet for several reasons. First, I quickly became interested in the hide tanning process. The more I learned about it, the more I realized that it is a complex and intricate process that requires a great deal of know-how. In addition, it produces a very high quality of leather for clothing that is flexible, soft, warm, tough and unharmed by moisture. Secondly, I became interested in the process of recording a technology like hide tanning, which, aside from several tools, a few raw materials and some home-made equipment, is simply a series of processes, done in a certain sequence and in a certain way. It is the kind of thing that is best learned by working with someone who knows how to do it, and is difficult to describe in words. The Woods Cree woman I worked with described hide tanning as a process involving ten procedures that are named in Cree. I took these named procedures to be fundamental and used these, in translation, to be the framework for describing her method of hide tanning. The details of 196 ANNA LEIGHTON each step were learned from what she showed me and in discussions with her about what was important and how to do things right. What I will present here is a description of the hide tanning method of this particular woman and then a brief comparison of her method with two other Saskatchewan methods, to give an idea of the kind of variation that exists. Although tanning involves a lot of hard physical work, it is actually a chemical process. Fundamental to every tanning method are chemicals, called tanning agents, that alter the structure of the hide to give it the properties of leather. Native North Americans typically used fatty animal tissues, such as brain, liver and fat, as tanning agents. This kind of tanning is called oil tanning. Many groups, like the Cree, used smoke, in addition to fatty tissues, as a tanning agent. This is referred to as smoke tanning and is what this paper is about. What do the chemicals do? They enter the hide and replace the water molecules that, in the living animal, bind together the collagen fibres which make up the animal's skin. The water in the hide must be replaced because it is a poor binding agent; as the hide dries, the water evaporates and the hide becomes stiff. If the untreated hide comes into contact with water, water molecules will bind to the collagen fibres again, attract more water, and soon cause the hide to rot. The tanning chemicals are good binding agents because they do not leave the hide as it dries. Their presence keeps the hide flexible and water repellant, so that even if the hide does get wet, the water will not bind to the collagen fibres and cause damage. Tanning, then, is the process of replacing the bound water with other chemicals. Much of the hard physical work involved helps to bring about this replacement. The Cree smoke tanning method I recorded can be summarized as follows. The hide is stretched on a wooden frame before it is fleshed and dehaired. When the flesh layer and then the hair layers have been removed, the tanning agents, the cooked brain of the animal and some grease, are applied to the hide. The hide is gently heated to ensure complete penetration of these two throughout the hide. When the hide has been heated enough, it is placed in warm soapy water and worked with the hands by squeezing water through the pores of the hide. When the hide has been sufficiently softened by this method, all the water is TRADITIONAL HIDE TANNING TECHNIQUES 197

Figure 1: a stretched hide, showing the placement of the ropes wrung out of it on a powerful wringer and the hide is then pulled until it is completely dry. When the hide is dry, the flesh side is scraped again to make it smooth and soft and then the hide is placed over a smoky fire to allow the smoke to penetrate the hide and turn it a brown colour. I will explain in more detail how each of these steps is done.

Stretching the hide: A properly stretched hide is tight and flat. The entire surface of the hide must be accessible to the tanner and the hide must be stretched tight enough to provide resistance to the fleshing and dehairing tools. Stretching is done by suspending the hide by ropes inside a square wooden frame, called a stretcher, and pulling the ropes as tight as possible. Holes are cut around the edge of the hide and a rope is passed down through each hole and over the stretcher pole. The hide is then pulled up into the centre of the stretcher and stretched tight by tightening the ropes again and again, until they cannot be tightened further. Fleshing the hides: When the hide is stretched, fleshing begins. First, the flesh layer is covered to keep it from drying out and a pole is placed across the stretcher to support the tanner. Fleshing begins at the top of the hide; the flesh layer is removed as one large sheet as the tanner works down the surface of the hide. The fleshing tool is a moose hind leg bone (metatarsus), with a blade shaped at one end. A sling for the 198 ANNA LEIGHTON

Figure 2: fleshing a hide with Figure 3: scraping the hide with a bone fleshing tool. a metal bladed scraper. tanner's wrist allows her to deliver force through her arm as well as her hand. This tool is very effective. The blade is directed with a steady chopping motion at the point of attachment of the flesh layer and acts like a wedge that pries the flesh layer away. Fleshing a moose hide takes one person about a day.

Dehairing: Next the stretcher, with the hide attached, is turned over so the hair side of the hide is up. The hair and the underlying hair- producing layer, which is embedded in the hide, are removed with a metal-bladed tool called a scraper. This step includes not just removing the hair but also thinning down the hide to a useable thickness. In fall and winter when the animal is growing and maintaining a heavy coat, the hair-producing layer is very thick and requires a lot of shaving with the scraper to thin the hide. The scraper has a metal blade and is used with great force against the surface of the hide. It is honed, frequently to razor sharpness. The scraper is used in two hands — one pushes the tool against the hide, the other pulls it down across the surface. Edward Ahenakew (1948) describes the tanner dehairing a hide as having "the appearance of a patient horse galloping as she wields her tool". This strenuous job takes at least a day. TRADITIONAL HIDE TANNING TECHNIQUES 199

Figure 4: turning the long pole Figure 5: using a pole to pull to wring out a deer hide. the hide as it dries.

The fleshed and dehaired hide is rawhide, i.e., the dry, unprocessed layer of hide that is tanned to make leather. Rawhide has many uses but it is unsuitable for clothing because it is rigid, it rots after prolonged wetness, and it becomes stiff on drying.

Applying brain and grease to the hide: The rawhide is cut off the stretcher and the actual tanning begins with the application of brain and grease to the hide. The brain is prepared by cooking and mashing it in a small amount of water to make a thick solution. The grease is melted and applied as a warm liquid. After these are spread over the hair side of the hide, the hide is heated in the sun or over a smudge until these substances penetrate deeply into the hide.

Squeezing water through the hide: When the brain and grease have penetrated the hide and start to show through on the other side, the hide is soaked in warm soapy water and worked until it is very soft. This is done by squeezing water through the entire hide with the hands. At intervals it is taken from the water, wrung on a wringer (Fig. 4), draped over a pole and scraped with the fleshing tool. Then it is put back into the water for more squeezing. This is repeated until the hide feels soft and flexible. Wringing the water out of the hide: When the hide has been thorough­ ly softened by working it in the water, it is given a final wringing on the 200 ANNA LEIGHTON

Figure 6: a hide, edged with canvas at the bottom, hung over a smoky fire. wringer. The wringer is made of two poles to which the hide is attached in a loose figure eight. Water is squeezed from the hide as the longer of the two poles is turned around the shorter, stationary one.

Pulling the hide as it dries: When the hide has been wrung dry, it is pulled at about half hour intervals until it is completely dry. Two people can pull the hide working together, or one person can pull the hide alone against a pole attached to a tree (Fig. 5).

Scraping the flesh side: The next to the last step is scraping the flesh side with the metal-bladed scraper. This smoothes and softens the surface of the hide.

Smoking the hide: The last step in tanning is to place the hide over a smoky fire until the hide turns brown. For this step, the hide is sewn along three sides to form a bag which is suspended over a very smoky fire for several hours, open end down to catch the smoke. The firei s made by placing rotten wood on a bed of hot coals. The rotten wood of spruce, birch or tamarack can be used and are often mixed with pine or spruce cones. In this case, a mixture of rotten spruce wood and dry, open, jackpine cones was used. The hide is smoked for several hours. Smoke is a tanning agent and introduces chemicals deep into the hide similar to those introduced by the brain and grease. It also helps preserve the hide. TRADITIONAL HIDE TANNING TECHNIQUES 201

Table 1: Comparison of two tanning methods with the Woods Cree method.

Steps in the Woods Cree method Chitek La Corne

Stretching the hide X X Fleshing the hide X X Dehairing the hide X X Applying the brain 1 X Applying grease and heating the hide 2 3 Squeezing water through the hide 4 5 Wringing the hide dry X 6 Pulling the hide dry 7 8 Scraping the flesh side of the hide 9 10 Smoking the hide X X

Hide tanning is a lengthy process that involves many steps. To what extent are the steps described here followed by other tanners? Table 1 compares two other Saskatchewan Cree tanning methods with this one. The X's indicate a similarity; the numbers, a difference. "Chitek" stands for a group of Plains Cree tanners at Chitek Lake who published an account of their tanning method in 1974 (Saskatchewan Indian Arts and Crafts Advisory Committee, 1974) and "La Corne" refers to two people at Fort-a-la-Corne whose method was described by Edward Ahenakew (1948). Both locations are Plains Cree communities in north-central Saskatchewan. Stretching, fleshing and dehairing are the same in all three cases. 1) The Chitek Lake tanners apply both brain and grease but they apply the grease before the brain, and 2) they don't heat the hide after applying either one, but they smoke the hide briefly over a smudge before they apply the grease and brain. 4) They work the wet hide in water for several hours then pull it across a scythe blade. The process of working in the water is not stated. 7) The hide is worked as it dries by pulling it across the scythe blade. 9) The Chitek Lake tanners scrape the flesh side before the hide is dry and use the bone fleshing tool rather than a metal- bladed scraper. 3) Although the Fort-a-la-Corne tanners don't apply grease as a separate step, it may be applied with the brain; this point is not made clear in the description. 5) No details of the procedure are given, only 202 ANNA LEIGHTON

that the hide is wetted "through and through until very soft". 6) The Fort-a-la-Corne tanners wring the hide between an upright tree and a pole turned in the same plane as the tree, i.e., vertically. 8) The hide is worked as it dries by pulling it across a sharpened scapula bone (a precurser to the scythe blade). 10) Scraping the hide is not done as a separate step, but is probably accomplished as the hide is rubbed over the scapula. It is clear from this brief comparison that the steps included in hide tanning, and their sequence, vary within a relatively small region (north- central Saskatchewan) and within closely related groups (Plains and Woods Cree). There are however certain essentials common to all smoke tanning methods, including these three: fleshing, dehairing, applying brain or grease, working the hide in water, wringing the hide with a powerful wringer, working the hide as it dries, and smoking the hide. The differences shown in Table 1 probably represent individual as well as regional variation; also, there are a number of other differences, not illustrated here, that reflect the season and location in which tanning takes place. Although the current study limited itself to a detailed documentation of one tanning method, there are many individuals who are still active tanners in north-central Saskatchewan whose methods remain undocumented. If details of these methods were known, they could be the basis for a very good comparative study. A study of this type would be timely since detailed written accounts of hide tanning methods of subarctic peoples are rare. This apparent lack of interest in traditional hide tanning technologies by researchers does not reflect the importance of these technologies in native communities, where, even today, they are considered essential, and steps such as the present research project are being undertaken to preserve them.

REFERENCES Ahenakew, Edward. 1948. Tanning of leather. MS, library of the American Philo­ sophical Society, Philadelphia, Pa. Hastings, Demar, and Anna Leighton. 1993. How to tan a moose hide. La Ronge, Sask.: Lac La Ronge Indian Band. Saskatchewan Indian Arts and Crafts Advisory Committee. 1974. Smoke tanning: traditional Indian method of preparing animal hides. Ottawa: Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.