The 18Th and 19Th Century Cree Landscape of West Central Saskatchewan: Implications for Archaeology

The 18th and 19th Century Cree Landscape ofWest Central Saskatchewan: Implications for Archaeology A Thesis Submitted to the Collegt~ of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfillment ofthe Requirements for the Degree ofMaster ofArts in the Departn:J.ent ofArchaeology University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Wade Leslie Dargin © Copyright Wade Dargin, December 2004. All rights reserved. Permission to Use The author has agreed that the Libraries ofthe University ofSaskatchewan shall make this thesis freely available for inspection. It is also agreed that permission for extensive copying ofthis thesis for scholarly purposes in any manner, in whole or in part, may be granted by the professors who supervised the work, or, in their absence, by the Head ofthe Department or the Dean ofthe College in which this thesis work was undertaken. It is understood that any copying or publication or use ofthis thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without the written permission ofthe author. It is further understood that due recognition shall be given to the author and to the University ofSaskatchewan in any use ofmaterial in this thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use ofmaterial in this thesis, in whole or in part, should be addressed to: Head ofthe Department ofArchaeology 55 Campus Drive University ofSaskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5Bl 1 ABSTRACT The eighteenth and nineteenth century Crees ofwest central Saskatchewan are the focus ofthis thesis. This research has involved obtaining infonnation relating to the cultural landscape ofthese Crees for the period encompassed by the study. An examination ofone aspect ofthis cultural landscape, the named landscape, has been the primary aim ofthis research. Infonnation regarding the named landscape ofthese Crees was obtained from relevant historic documents and ethnographic research. A number ofhistoric documents have been consulted in this study. In particular, much use has been made ofthe journal accounts ofHudson's Bay Company traders who travelled to the study region in the mid 1700s. Ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken with elders from several ofthe study region's Cree communities who provided infonnation on the traditional named landscape. The relationship that existed historically between the Crees ofwest central Saskatchewan and their landscape is the subject ofthis thesis. How this infonnation relates to archaeological interpretations in the study region has also been considered. Guiding this research has been an approach which considers the cultural landscape as representing a socially construed space. An examination ofnamed localities from the study area indicates that the named landscape ofthe region's Crees did not significantly change over the course ofthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This suggests that the relationship ofthese Crees to their landscape, how they conceptualized, structured and organized this environment, also remained largely unchanged throughout this period. 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my thesis advisor, Dr. David Meyer, whose support and guidance throughout this project have been considerable, I extend my gratitude. I would also like to thank the other members ofmy thesis committee, Dr. Margaret Kennedy and Dr. Ian Dyck for the interest they have shown in this project and for their support. My appreciation to the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation and the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society (SAS) for their financial support. A special thank you to Judy Bear ofthe Sweetgrass Band who organized interviews with Sweetgrass elders and acted as interpreter for these meetings. I would also like to thank Judy and family for the hospitality they showed to me during my fieldwork at Sweetgrass. Thank you to the Sweetgrass Band for making the board room ofthe clinic available for meetings and for providing meals and honourariums. Thank you to Donald Favel and Erik Tootoosis ofthe Poundmaker Band and Onion Lake resident Leo Paul for their assistance in introducing me to elders from their respective communities. Many thanks to Dale Russell for all the help and for obtaining for me access to the Hudson's Bay Company archival material used in this thesis. Thank you to the Hudson's Bay Company archives at the Public Archives of Manitoba for making this material available. To my family, as always, thank you for the support. Finally, to the elders ofthe Sweetgrass, Poundmaker and Onion Lake bands, who participated in this project, I offer my deepest gratitude. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Pennission to Use Abstract 11 Acknowledgements 111 Table ofContents IV List ofFigures and Tables VI Chapter One: Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Theoretical Approach 3 1.3 The Landscape Approach in Archaeology 4 1.4 Research Approach and Objectives 8 1.5 Study Area 11 1.6 First Nation Reserves ofthe Study Area 19 1.7 Fieldwork 23 1.8 Conclusion 28 Chapter Two: Eighteenth Century Cree Groups ofWest Central Saskatchewan 29 2.1 Introduction 29 2.2 The Pegogamaw and Keskatchewan Cree 34 2.2.1 The Keskatchewan Cree 36 2.2.2 The Pegogamaw Cree 40 2.2.3 Sociopolitical Organization 42 2.3 Conclusion 46 Chapter Three: Eighteenth Century Named Landscape 48 3.1 Introduction 48 3.2 The Hudson's Bay Company Inland Travellers 48 3.2.1 The Journals 50 3.2.2 Anthony Henday: 1754-55 51 3.2.3 Joseph Smith: 1763-64 and William Pink: 1766-67,1767-68, 1768-69 56 3.2.4 William Pink: 1769-70 and Matthew Cocking: 1772-73 65 IV 3.3 Conclusion 71 Chapter Four: Nineteenth Century Cree Groups ofWest Central Saskatchewan 73 4.1 Introduction 73 4.2 The 1781-82 Smallpox Epidemic 74 4.3 The Plains Cree 77 4.3.1 Sociopolitical Organization 79 4.3.2 The Plains Cree ofWest Central Saskatchewan 81 4.4 Conclusion 82 Chapter Five: Nineteenth Century Named Landscape 84 5.1 Introduction 84 5.2 Nineteenth Century Historic Documents 85 5.2.1 Alexander Henry the Younger: 1808-1810 85 5.2.2 The Palliser Expedition: 1857-1860 90 5.3 The Traditional Named Landscape 96 5.4 The Traditional Cultural Landscape and the Archaeological Record 108 5.5 Conclusion 112 Chapter Six: Summary and Conclusions 113 6.1 Summary 113 6.2 Conclusions 114 References Cited 117 Appendix A: Concepts ofSpace in Science 124 A.I Introduction 124 A.2 Space and Material Environment 124 A.3 Social Space 128 AA Conclusion 131 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Map showing the study region 12 Figure 1.2: Map showing the topography ofthe study region 15 Figure 1.3: Map showing the locations ofearly reserves in the study region 20 Figure 2.1: Map showing the approximate locations ofnamed 18th century Cree groups in the study region 36 Figure 3.1: Map showing the locations ofidentifiable named localities recorded by William Pink in 1767-68 and 1768-69 63 Figure 3.2: Map showing the locations ofidentifiable named localities recorded by William Pink in 1769-70 and Matthew Cocking in 1772-73 71 Figure 5.1: Map showing the locations ofidentifiable named localities from the FortVermilion journal 87 Figure 5.2: Map showing the locations ofidentifiable named localities recorded by the Palliser Expedition 91 Figure 5.3: Map showing the locations oftraditional named localities in the southern portion ofthe study area 98 Figure 5.4: Map showing the locations oftraditional named localities in the northern portion ofthe study area 99 LIST OF TABLES Table 5.1: Table showing summary ofCree named localities in the study area 108 VI CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction This thesis examines the historic relationship between the Crees ofwest central Saskatchewan and their landscape. The research that I have undertaken has been orientated towards a study ofCree place names from west central Saskatchewan and adjacent eastern Alberta with the aim ofusing this information to provide insight into some aspects ofCree spatial organization in this region during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This study is based on information obtained from ethnographic fieldwork and historic documents. Fieldwork was conducted with elders ofthe Sweetgrass, Poundmaker and Onion Lake reserves who provided information on Cree place names in the study area. As well, historical documents from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been examined for references to named Cree localities. In this regard, extensive use has been made ofjournal accounts left by Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) inland travellers who visited the region in the mid and late 1700s. How this information relates to archaeological interpretations in the study region is also discussed. The Plains Cree societies ofnineteenth century west central Saskatchewan and their predecessors, the Pegogamaw and Keskatchewan-Beaver Cree, are the focus ofthis study. These Crees, like other Cree groups, ""occupied a well structured named 1 landscape...one whoselocations were variably imbued with meaning and significance, and which called forth varying emotional responses" (Meyer 2001 :7). For the Plains Cree of the Battleford area these locations figured prominently in cultural life. As Sweetgrass elder Augustine Paskimen (personal communication, May 2002) remarked: I learnt from my grandparents. They taught me by storytelling. Every part ofthis area was referred to in Cree terms. The lakes, creeks, rivers and hills had Cree names. My grandparents and others in their age group talked about these areas when they told stories. Locations were important to aboriginal peoples for many reasons: some were places where notable events had occurred, some marked camp sites or hunting areas, and some were spiritual in nature (Correll 1976:176). Almost always such locations were associated with recognizable geographic landforms. Traditionally, the Cree related to these places through storytelling. This oral history was a record ofhuman involvement, in all its complexity, with the landscape. This created a social landscape, one that functioned as a repository for much cultural knowledge. Learning about this landscape was the primary means by which the individual came to understand self, culture, and the world (Tilley 1996:173).

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