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The Ashkee Indians

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The Ashkee Indians The Ashkee Indians DAVID H. PENTLAND University of Manitoba In 1719 Henry Kelsey recorded in the York Factory account book that he had given presents to 5 leading Indians, to encourage The Trade & keeping Peace, Viz., Vaupissoo, at the head of Churchill River; Weeshcai, at the head of Severn; Maytuhkohp epoet, a Stone Indian, at the head of Albany near where the French are; Ashkee Ethinu, about the Mountain Near Redd Deer River; [and] Apishtathineecau, at the head of Port Nelson (PAM HBCA B.239/d/10, fo. 3a).1 These five were among the very large number of Indians who visited York Factory in the spring of 1719. On June 13, Kelsey wrote "here is more Indians now then ever I saw att one time & all well freight'd with furrs" (B.239/a/5, fo. 52d). The flood of Indians began with eight canoes of "Strangers" on May 21, and included large numbers of Uplanders, Sinne Poets or Stone Indians (Assiniboine), Sturgeon (a Cree group), and others not specifically named, in addition to the Woods Cree who lived closer to the fort (B.239/a/5, fo. 50-52). By June 17 all the Upland Indians had traded their furs and left for home, but not before Kelsey had interviewed the leaders and entered the information they provided in his journal. The main piece of news that spring was that "the french Woodrunners are very breif up in the Lakes", at a lake called JI have supplied all the punctuation in the quotations from Kelsey's journal and account books; all other additions and alterations to quotations are indicated by square brackets. I would like to thank the staff of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives for their assistance in a wide-ranging hunt through the documents in their care. 151 152 DAVID H. PENTLAND Thucummaumewan which "lyes nearer this place then it does to Albany" and has connections both to the Nelson River and "towards Kennedy [Canada]". There were said to be about 40 Frenchmen under a leader the Indians called "Moosooh" (Monsieur?), who promised to bring 100 men more the follow­ ing year to drive the English into the sea. However, many of the young men who went to trade with them were killed by the Sioux, and the Uplanders were sure "that the french Decoy'd them into that snare" (B.239/a/5, fo. 51, 52). The following day Kelsey made further inquiries, seeking especially those Indians "whose Country lyes nearer the fore sd Lake then any [other?] Indians that comes here does"; these told him "it is all lyes and that their is no french their, but the Indians talk of their Coming there" (B.239/a/5, fo. 52d). However, the more than 100 canoe-loads of Uplanders who not only believed the French to be there but could also name their leader and his location were probably right: Zacharie Robu- tel de La Noue had set off from Montreal in 1717 to establish posts at Kaministikwia, Rainy Lake, and, if possible, Lake of the Woods. He remained at Kaministikwia until 1721, and in 1718 had sent Jean-Daniel-Marie Viennay-Pachot to Taka- mamiouen, the outlet of Rainy Lake (Margry 1888 (6):508).2 To reach Pachot's little post on Rainy River the Uplanders would have had to pass dangerously close to Sioux territory, and it is hardly surprising that the Sioux attacked them in this traditional border area. However, the French were as put out by the attacks as the Uplanders, and had no idea they were drawing them into an ambush. That some Indians denied the Frenchmen's existence may mean only that Kelsey had asked people from the wrong district. It is also possible, however, that they not only knew of the French but had traded with them, and feared losing their usual presents from the English for coming to York Factory and having to share the French trade with other tribes if they admitted that Pachot was at Rainy River. Those who had been invited by the French to trade at Rainy River were "some of the Mountain Indians" (B.239/a/5, fo. 51). Ray (1974:55-57) identifies them as Mandan or Hidatsa, since 2In 1721 Charlevoix requested that (Viennay)-Pachot be assigned him as a guide to the Lake Superior region (Hayne 1974:105), and makes some very complimentary remarks about his abilities (Margry 1888 (6):529). THE ASHKEE INDIANS 153 a group of Mountain Indians who visited York Factory in 1715 and 1716 told James Knight that they grew Indian corn, had moose, buffalo, and red deer, wore ornaments of white and yel­ low metal, and had mountains in their country so high that the tops could not be seen except in good weather. But one of these Mountain Indians also told Knight that he had been to Fort Al­ bany on James Bay 16 years before, and the whole tribe seems to have been perfectly at home in birchbark canoes: it was not one or two adventurous young men who first made the trip to York Factory, but a party of 30 canoes. Ray quite reasonably discounts the allusions to silver and gold, since they were un­ doubtedly in response to leading questions from Knight, but can see nothing incompatible in the rest of the statement. He does not identify the tall mountains in the Mandan country, nor does he explain where the Missouri River Indians picked up their canoeing skills. I think we must discard this identification (as well as several others made by Ray), and look elsewhere for the home of the Mountain Indians. At this early date it is unlikely that the visitors to York Factory were from the most obvious place, the Rocky Moun­ tains. The Hudson's Bay Company sent a number of men inland in the mid-18th century in an attempt to attract the Blackfoot and their neighbours, but were never able to get them to make the long trip to the Bay because they lacked canoes and other skills necessary for survival in the forest area (Cocking 1908:106, 111). The Athapaskan Indians of northern Alberta — presumably the Beaver and the Slavey — were more willing to trade, but Captain Swan, sent out by James Knight as "peace maker", brought back only "a sample of that Gum or pitch that flows out of the Banks" of the Athapasca River.3 He also reported that 3Besides the "Gum or pitch", Captain Swan also brought "a sample of the other Stuff that is ty'd to itt" (B.239/a/5, fo. 52); Kelsey had apparently received another sample of tar-sand the year before, when some Cree who had been on a peace mission (which turned into a massacre) brought "a Sample of Minerall whose name is Thapewin" (B.239/a/5, fo. 25). They also traded to Kelsey two boys they had captured in the attack, and a Northern Indian ("little heads boy") who happened to be at York Factory said "they are their freinds & that he understands some of their words" (B.239/a/5, fo. 24 [letter from Kelsey to Knight, 15 June 1718]). The boys therefore spoke an Athapaskan language, but not Chipewyan-Dogrib-Yel- lowknife. 154 DAVID H. PENTLAND the Natives of that Country are so fearfull that altho he winter d with them & they promised to come here with him, which they did till they come in the boarders of this peoples Country, but all the perswasions he could use he could not gett them any further (B239/a/5, fo. 52) Captain Swan arrived at York Factory in 1719 in company with a large convoy of "Stone Indians & Uplanders from Red Deer River", and it was to the latter, not to Swan, that Kelsey looked for more accurate reports of the Mountain Indians and French traders. I conclude that to Knight and Kelsey the term "Mountain Indians" was little more than a synonym for "Up­ land Indians", and in the present context probably referred to whatever tribes lived in the "mountains" of the Manitoba Escarpment. Not only the references to gold and silver, then, but also the claim that the mountain tops were in the clouds must be put down to exaggeration, mistranslation, or wishful thinking. Everything else said about the Mountain Indians will fit the Assiniboine and Alqonquians who lived in the Riding Mountains, Duck Mountains, and Porcupine Mountains west of Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis: they lived in an area where moose, red deer and buffalo could all be obtained, and at least some of them traded regularly with the Missouri River tribes for corn. They lived close enough to York Factory that they could send 30 canoes in 1715 and 60 in 1719, yet were also located in an area that would allow reasonable access to Rainy River and even to Fort Albany should more adventurous souls care to make the journey. Another group first mentioned by Ray is the Ashkee In­ dians, whom he identifies as the Atsina, or Gros Ventre as they are sometimes known. The only reference to a primary source which Ray gives concerning this tribe is the 1719 York Factory account book: one of the five "leading Indians" to whom Kelsey gave presents was Ashkee Ethinu, from "about the Mountain Near Redd Deer River". Apparently recognizing that "Ethinu" is the Woods Cree word for 'man, person, In­ dian', Ray has interpreted the personal name "Ashkee Ethinu" as 'Ashkee Indian', thus discovering the tribe of which he is the chief. To this he adds the information (from no source that I can discover) that the Ashkee Indians were from the grasslands, not the wooded areas nearer York Factory, and concludes THE ASHKEE INDIANS 155 the chief must have come from the Nut Mountain or Touchwood Hills area near the upper headwaters of the Red Deer River ...
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