THE 18TH CENTURY WESTERN CREE AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS: IDENTITY AND TERRITORY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon by Dale Ronald Russell April, 1990 The author claims copyright. Use shall not be made of the material contained herein without proper acknowledgement. In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements fora Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N OWO THE 18TH CENTURY WESTERN CREE AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS: IDENTITY AND TERRITORY ABSTRACT The eighteenth century historical documents fail to support the accepted view, advanced by David Mandelbaum and others, that the Cree and Assiniboin invaded the west after 1690 as a result of the introduction of the fur trade. This view, seemingly supported by nineteenth century authorities, has its only source in several brief ambiguous statements published in 1801 by Alexander Mackenzie. The western limits of the Cree and Assiniboin in the early 1700s remain unclear. Their marauding activities against members of the Blackfoot Confederacy occurred only in the late 1700s, almost fifty years after they were documented as peacefully living in central Alberta. In the mid-1700s, six major Cree groups inhabited the western parklands, plains and boreal forest: the Susuhana, Sturgeon, Pegogamaw, Keskachewan/Beaver, Athabasca and Missinipi. These groups were all obliterated by the smallpox epidemic of 1781, and it was the resultant population shifts which were noted by nineteenth century observers. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the people of Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan, who have supported me over the yea~s, especially the late Angus Bear Sr., Joe Morin and Magloire Nateweyes. Margaret Ballantyne also has patiently provided much helpful advice. I would like to thank the members of my examining committee: Dr. Ernest G. Walker, chairman, Dr. William Waiser and Dr. Urve Linnamae. I owe a special debt to my thesis adviser, Dr. Mary Marino, who went out of her way to accommodate my working hours. Shirlee Ann Smith and the staff of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives have been most helpful and have granted permission to refer to the Hudson's Bay Company material. It has been a pleasure to benefit from Dr. David Meyer's knowledge of Saskatchewan. Art Friend shared his reconstruction of Matthew Cocking's travels in the Eagle Hills. My fellow employees at the Saskatchewan Research Council have also supported me: among them, Ed Perkins drafted my maps and Peggy McKeand helped with many practical matters. Lastly, I am indebted to my father, the late Doug Russell, for fostering my early interest in northern Crees. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S i v LIST OF FIGURES ix 1 . INTRODUCT I ON 1 1 . 1 Aim............................................. 1 1 . 2 Areas of inquiry 3 1.3 The scope of the study 4 1.4 Units of study 5 1.4.1 Subdivisions of the Cree 5 1.4.2 Nomenclature 11 1.4.3 Canoe routes to the Bay 12 1.5 The nature and limitations of the historical data 13 1.5.1 Sources of data 13 1.5.2 The nature of the data 18 1.6 The course of the Cree migration 23 1.6.1 Cree participation in the fur trade 23 1.6.2 Eighteenth century Cree warfare 27 2. DAVID MANDELBAUM: THE WESTERN MIGRATION OF THE CREE .. 31 2.1 Introducti on 31 2.2 Mandelbaum's history of the western Cree 32 2.3 First contacts: 1640-1690 34 2.4 The establishment of the fur trade: 1690-1740 .. 37 2.5 Conquest of the western forests: 1740-1820 42 2.6 The occupation of the plains: 1820-1880 51 2.7 Summary 52 3. THE CREE MIGRATION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 54 3. 1 Introduction 54 3.2 The role of Sir Alexander Mackenzie 55 3.2.1 Mackenzie's Travels 55 3.2.2 A note on Andrew Graham 57 3.2.3 Mackenzie's limitations 59 3.2.4 Mackenzie on the Western Cree 61 3.3 Twentieth century scholars and the migration of the Cree~ 73 3.3.1 Post-Mandelbaum writers 74 3.3.2 Early twentieth century writers 77 3.4 Nineteenth century observers and synthesizers .. 81 3.5 Conclusions 88 4. WESTERN CREE AND ASSINIBOIN: EASTERN APPROACHES 90 4 . 1 Introduction 90 4.2 The French in the west: 1650-1763 92 v 4.2.1 Approaches to the west: 1615-1716 92 4.2.2 Cree and Assiniboin in the west 97 4.2.3 The French in the west: 1716-1763 104 4.3 Summary 118 5.0 THE VIEW FROM THE BAY: 1612-1754 119 5. 1 Introduction 119 5.2 European observations: 1612-1714 122 5.2.1 Early expeditions to the Bay: 1612-1682 123 5.3. European observations on the inland: 1682- 1720 128 5.4 The French narratives: 1684-1714 132 5 . 4 . 1 Si Ivy: 1 684- 85 132 5.4.2 Marest: 1694-1695 133 5.4.3 La Potherie: 1697 135 5.4.4 Jeremie: 1697-1714 138 5.5 The first inland account: Henry Kelsey: 1690-1692 142 5.6 Kelsey and La Potherie 146 5.7 The French inland travellers 150 5.8 James Knight: peace-making expeditions of the 1710s 153 5.9 Summary 160 6.0 OBSERVATIONS OF THE INTERIOR: 1720-1774 162 6.1 Misconceptions of the interior: 1720-1750 162 6.2 Saukamappee: an account of the early eighteenth century interior 168 6.3. The inland travellers: 1754-1775 176 6.4. The inland travellers on the Saskatchewan River: 1754-1776 180 6.4.1 Anthony Henday: 1754-60 180 6.4.2 Joseph Smith: 1763-1764 188 6.4.3 William Pink: 1766-1770 192 6.4.4 Matthew Cocking: 1772-73 205 6.4.5 Peter Fidler: 1792-1793 211 6.5 The inland travellers on the upper Assiniboine River: 1756-1774 214 6.5. 1 Introduction 214 6.5.2 Joseph Smith and Joseph Waggoner 1756-1757: the upper Assiniboine 215 6.5.3 Joseph Smith and Joseph Waggoner 1757-58: the Touchwood Hills 218 6.5.4 William Tomison: 1767-1768; 1769-1770 221 6.5.5 Matthew Cocking: 1774-1775 226 6.6 The northern tier 230 6.6.1 Introduction 230 6.6.2 Pre-1781 accounts 230 6.6.3 Post-1781 accounts 232 vi 7. IDENTIFYING THE MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CREE GROUPS .. 235 7.1 The Southern/Keskachewan/Christinaux/Cree 235 7.2 Andrew Graham's lists of trading Indians 237 7.3 The inland HBC journals 240 7.4 Groups trading at the Bay 241 7.5 Group size 243 8. THE SOUTHERN TIER OF CREE ~49 8.1 Introduction 249 8.2 La Verendrye's observations of the Cree 250 8.3 The Southern Cree in the 17th century documents 252 8.4 The Muscotay and Askee Cree 255 8.5 The Mountain Cree 259 8.6 The Susuhana Cree 264 8.7 The Sturgeon Cree 269 9. THE MIDDLE TIER OF CREE: CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN 273 9.1 Introduction 273 9.2 The Pegogamaw Cree 276 9.2.1 Identification 276 9.2.2 History of contact 277 9.2.3 Distribution 280 9.2.4 Size of group ~ 284 9 . 2 . 5 Summa r y ...•......•••..•.......•....•..2 85 9.3 The Keskachewan Cree 286 9.3.1 Identification 286 9.3.2 Location 289 9.3.3 Size of group 290 9.4 The Beaver Cree ................•............. 290 9.4.1 Distribution 292 9.4.2 The Keskachewan and the Beaver Cree 294 9.5 Summary 295 10. THE NORTHERN TIER OF CREE AND THE CHIPEWYAN 298 10.1 Introduction 298 10.2 Historical background 300 10.3 Recent scholarly research and the Western Woods Cree 301 10.4 Identifying the Missinipi: Lake Winnipeg, Churchill River and Lake Athabasca 306 10.5 The Missinipi Cree 311 10.5.1 Lake Winnipeg Missinipi 311 10.5.2 Size of group 313 10. 6 The Athabasca Cree 313 10.7 The "r" or Athabasca Cree dialect 315 10.8 The distribution of the Missinipi and Athabasca Cree 320 10.9 The Cree of the lower Churchill River 328 vii 10.9.1 Cree and Chipewyan on the coast 329 10.9.2 Cree and Chipewyan in the central northern boreal forest 332 10.10 Summary 335 11. THE ASSINIBOIN 337 11.1 Introduction 337 11.2 Historical background 338 11.3 The western limits of the Assiniboin 344 11.3.1 Early accounts from the Bay 348 11.4 The post-1715 HBC records 353 11.5 The Northern and Southern Assinipoets 356 11.6 Assiniboin groups 362 11.7 Summary 365 12.