| Author |
Message |
cloud_splitter
Member
Post Number: 10
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - 9:08 pm: | 
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I have been reading and extracting information from the Hudson's Bay Company journals from Temagami for a book in progress.
I though everyone would enjoy a glimpse of New Year's activity on the lake in 1866.
Words in brackets [like this] are my annotations.
"Dec. 31st [1866]--In the afternoon we had arrivals enough of men, women, children and dogs. As many as the house [post] could hold. Viz. the White Bear, Towwinney, Joseph Cahongie [a Montreal River trapper], Jannejuse [a Cross Lake trapper] and families. Lampie, Sayagauasay [living on Obabika] Do.[ ditto].
Kakake [Kekek's] son in law Tapanachintz and others. Each brought some furs more or less.
So ends the year of our Lord 1866.
Tuesday 1st [1867]—A beautiful day and a full house. Lots of furs. Employed trading more or less all day. Dancing in the evening.
Wednesday 2nd—Very cold day. Some of the Indians left again. Francois and McLean start to visit Kakake and Wendaban and Black Nose being the only Indians that did not come here at this time. Folster finds enough to do in the house.
Thursday 3rd—Fine winter day. In the afternoon the last of the Indians disappeared. To myself a pleasing sight for they are a troublesome set of bruts [sic]. And left the house as dirty as it could be made. Employed variously."
Sounds like a decent three day part to me. At least I don't have five or six teams of sled dogs included in my parties.
Have a great new year in our favourite wilderness.
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brian
Moderator
Post Number: 1007
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 1, 2009 - 4:46 pm: |
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Who was Black Nose? |
cloud_splitter
Member
Post Number: 11
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 - 7:23 pm: |
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Black Nose was a member of the Rattlesnake Clan who lived on the Montreal River. His native name is Pikudjick, which translates as A Pile of Mud probably referring to a mole on his nose. Charming.
Black Nose often traded at the Temagami Hudson's Bay Company post. He lived in the Round Lake area of the Montreal River.
Black Nose often traveled with his nephew Kohoje, The Owl's Beak.
Wendaban also was Black Nose's nephew. |
micmac
Member
Post Number: 54
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 - 4:07 pm: |
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I find this local Temagami history incredibly interesting.
Where can I find a copy of this information?
Of particular interest local personalities like Wendaban and Black Nose, and the HBC journals.
Any book suggestions (besides Brian's which I already have) where I can read more about this stuff?
Thanks
Mike McIntosh |
cloud_splitter
Member
Post Number: 12
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 - 5:13 pm: |
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There is very little in print about Temagami's rich history. I will have a book out in about two years.
The HBC journals exist on microfilm in the National Archives. There may be copies in the provincial archives in Toronto as well. Like all journals, we must wade through a lot of hard-to-read comments about the weather, amounts of firewood cut etc. to find a great story. The HBC journals also exist at the HBC archives in Winnipeg.
A lot of Temagami history was preserved at the land claim trial several years ago. The trial transcripts, which I think are not easily accessed, contain a wealth of knowledge. Craig Macdonald testified about the travel routes, archaeologists and historians presented their research, and most importantly, several Bear Island elders gave evidence which is now priceless.
The other sources are widely scattered--Robert Bell's geological notebooks, the mission records in French, a bit of census data, and the anthropologist Frank Speck's fieldwork at Temagami in 1913.
You may be able to find Speck's monograph about Temagami family hunting territories and his monograph about Temagami folklore. They have been reprinted time to time.
I had the rare opportunity to interview and become friends with several Temagami elders in the late 1970's and early 1980's. I took several hundred pages of notes and these, in addition to the sources mentioned here, will form the basis of my book.
I will gladly answer any questions if I can.
And I will continue to post some of the stories uncovered in the archives.
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curly
Member
Post Number: 155
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, January 4, 2009 - 8:56 am: |
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Love this, and look forward to the book! |
micmac
Member
Post Number: 55
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, January 4, 2009 - 11:57 am: |
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Thanks Cloud_splitter.
Can't wait for the book...
Mike |
plazatoro
Member
Post Number: 2
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 5:02 pm: |
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A question for Cloud splitter, tho' somebody else may have the answer.
Do the Temagami HBC journals contain any reference to the lake's first tripper, David Taylor?
According to his trip log, he visited the post on Friday, September 1, 1837, left Monday.
The log was published in government papers,and can be seen at
http://www.canadiana.org/view/9_00942_16/471
at pp 87-97(3rd set of pagination) |
cloud_splitter
Member
Post Number: 14
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 7:02 pm: |
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The earliest surviving Temagami post journal that I have located covers the fall, winter and spring of 1857 to 1858. The very early years are pretty much undocumented.
Around the time of David Taylor, independent fur traders often visited the Temagami area and left no records. There was a short-term post at Cross Lake for example.
I have tried for years to determine if some of the early land surveyors, such as Sinclair, left notebooks. No luck.
We probably never will know who was the first European / non-aboriginal Canadian to visit Temagami. Certainly, French traders were well established seasonally by the late 1600's. In the early 1700's, we have a few scraps of permits issued to traders for the region.
The French era is very poorly known. When the more record keeping minded Scots and English arrived, most of the native heads of families had French nicknames from years to interaction with French speaking traders--Sabourin, Old Barbu [the Bearded One], Latchee [the Slob or Lazy One] Perrault etc. We fortunately know the Algonkian names of these individuals and can recognize them in the journals. |
alscool
Moderator
Post Number: 173
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 16, 2009 - 3:43 pm: |
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Mike, have you read Hal Pink's book King of the woodsman?
It is onlineso you can pick it up during your breaks at work.
http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=893883 |
dan_carpenter
Moderator
Post Number: 51
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 16, 2009 - 9:32 pm: |
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The Bill Guppy story looks like a pretty good read. Was he a relative of Captain Guppy of the Boat Lines? Maybe a son or nephew? |
cloud_splitter
Member
Post Number: 17
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2009 - 5:10 pm: |
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Thanks for the link to Bill Guppy's story. He mentions in passing many historical figures from the Temagami area.
On page 245, the old white man who dropped his crutches or canes to join in a native dance in the Temagami area is Malcolm McLean.
McLean was a Scots highlander from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. He worked for the HBC at Temagami for many years and eventually married a widow of the Whitebear family group. From this union, McLean acquired the family trapping territory around Lake Anima-Nipisssing where he lived with his wife, children and step-children.
Many long term residents of Lake Temagami will remember the trapper George Peshabo. Malcolm McLean raised George's father, William Peshabo.
Malcolm McLean is recalled in a few local place names. The geologist Robert Bell spent an evening with him as the old Highlander, who spoke Gaelic, English and the Temagami dialect, translated stories related by Bell's local native guides. |
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