While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Assiniboin
(Chippewa: u'sin i `stone,' u'pwäwa- `he cooks by roasting': `one who
cooks by the use of stones.' W. J.).
A large Siouan tribe, originally constituting a part of
the Yanktonai. Their separation from the parent stem, to judge by the
slight dialectal difference in the language, could not have greatly
preceded the appearance of the whites, but it must have taken place
before 1640, as the Jesuit Relation for that year mentions the
Assiniboin as distinct. The Relation of 1658 places them in the
vicinity of Lake Alimibeg, between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay.
On Jefferys' map of 1762 this name is applied to Lake
Nipigon, and on De l'Isle's map of 1703 to Rainy Lake. From a
tradition found in the widely scattered bodies of the tribe and heard
by the first Europeans who visited the Dakota, the Assiniboin appear
to have separated from their ancestral stem while the latter resided
somewhere in the region about the headwaters of the Mississippi,
whence they moved northward and joined the Cree. It is probable that
they first settled about Lake of the Woods, then drift northwestward
to the region about Lake Winnipeg, where they were living as early as
1670, and were thus located on Lahontan's map of 1691.
Chauvignerie (1736) place them in the same region.
Dobbs (Hudson Bay, 1744) located one division of the Assiniboin some
distance northwest of Lake Winnipeg and the other immediately west of
an unidentified lake placed north of Lake Winnipeg. These divisions he
distinguishes as Assiniboin of the Meadows and Assiniboin of the
Woods. In 1775 Henry found the tribe scattered along Saskatchewan and
Assiniboine rivers, from the forest limit well up to the headwaters of
the former, and this region, between the Sioux on the south and the
Siksika on the west, was the country over which they continued to
range until gathered on reservations. Hayden (Ethnog. and Philol. Mo.
Val., 1862) limits their range at that time as follows: "The Northern
Assiniboin roam over the country from the west banks of the
Saskatchewan and Assiniboin rivers, in a west direction to the Woody
Mountains, north and west amongst some of the small outliers of the
Rocky Mountains east of the Missouri, and on the banks of the small
lakes frequently met with on the plains in that district. They consist
of 250 or 300 lodges.
The remainder of the tribe, now [1856] reduced to 250
lodges, occupy the district defined as follows: Commencing at the
mouth of the White Earth River on the east, extending up that river to
and as far beyond its source as the Grand Coulée and the head of La
Rivière aux Souris, thence northwest along the Côteau de Prairie, or
divide, as far as the beginning of the Cypress mountains, on the north
fork of Milk River, down that river to its junction with the Missouri,
thence down the Missouri to White Earth River, the starting point.
Until the year 1838 the tribe still numbered from 1,000
to 1,200 lodges, trading on the Missouri, when the smallpox reduced
them to less than 400 lodges. They were also surrounded by large and
hostile tribes, who continually made war upon them, and in this way
their number was diminished, though at the present time they are
slowly on the increase."
From the time they separated from the parent stem and
joined the Cree until brought under control of the whites, they were
almost constantly at war with the Dakota. As they have lived since the
appearance of the whites in the northwest almost wholly on the plains,
without permanent villages, moving from place to place in search of
food, their history has been one of conflict with surrounding tribes.
Physically the Assiniboin do not differ materially from
the other Sioux. The men dress their hair in various forms; it is
seldom cut, but as it grows is twisted into small locks or tails, and
frequently false hair is added to lengthen the twist. It sometimes
reaches the ground, but is generally wound in a coil on top of the
head. Their dress, tents, and customs generally are similar to those
of the Plains Cree, but they observe more decorum in camp and are more
cleanly, and their hospitality is noted by most traders who have
visited them. Polygamy is common.
While the buffalo abounded their principal occupation
consisted in making pemmican, which they bartered to the whites for
liquor, tobacco, powder, balls, knives, etc. Dogs are said to have
been sacrificed to their deities. According to Alexander Henry, if
death happened in winter at a distance from the burial ground of the
fancily, the body was carried along during their journeying and placed
on a scaffold, out of reach of dogs and beasts of prey, at their
stopping places. Arrived at the burial place, the corpse was deposited
in a sitting posture in a circular grave about 5 feet deep, lined with
bark or skins; it was then covered with bark, over which logs were
placed, and these in turn were covered with earth.
The names of their bands or divisions, as given by different writers,
vary considerably, owing to the loose organization and wandering habit
of the tribe. Lewis and Clark mention as divisions in 1805:
(1) Menatopa (Otaopabinè of Maximilian), Gens de Feuilles [for filles]
(Itscheabinè), Big Devils (Watopachnato), Oseegah, and another the
name of which is not stated. The whole people were divided into the
northern and southern and into the forest and prairie bands.
Maximilian (Tray., 194, 1843) names their gentes as follows:
(1) Itscheabinè (gens des filles);
(2) Jatonabinè (gens des roches);
(3) Otopachgnato (gens du large);
(4) Otaopabinè (gens des canots);
(5) Tschantoga (gens des bois);
(6) Watopachnato (gens de l'age);
(7) Tanintauei (gens des osayes);
(8) Chabin (gens des montagnes).
A band mentioned by Hayden (op. cit., 387), the Minishinakato, has not
been identified with any named by Maximilian. Henry (Jour., II,
522-523, 1897) enumerated 11 bands in 1808, of which the Red River,
Rabbit, Eagle Hills, Saskatchewan, Foot, and Swampy (round Assiniboin,
and Those-who- have - water- for- themselves only can not be
positively identified. This last may be Hayden's Minishinakato.
Other divisions mentioned, chiefly geographical, are:
Assiniboin of the Meadows, Turtle Mountain Sioux, Wawaseeasson, and
Assabaoch (?). The only Assiniboin village mentioned in print is
Pasquayah.
Porter (1829) estimated the Assiniboin population at
8,000; Drake at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1836, during
which 4,000 of them perished. Gallatin (1836) placed the number at
6,000; the U. S. Indian Report of 1843, at 7,000. In 1890 they
numbered 3,008; in 1904, 2,600.
The Assiniboin now (1904) living in the United States
are in Montana, 699 under Ft Belknap agency and 535 under Ft Peck
agency; total, 1,234. In Canada there were in 1902 the Mosquito and
Bears Head's and Lean Man's bands at Battleford agency, 78; Joseph's
band of 147, Paul's of 147, and 5 orphans at Edmonton agency;
Carry-the-Kettle band under Assiniboin agency, 210; Pheasant Rump's
band, originally 69, and Ocean Man's, 68 in number, at Moose Mountain;
and the bands on Stony reservation, Alberta, 661; total, 1,371. See
Powell in 7th Rep. B. A. E.., 111, 1891; McGee, Siouan Indians, 15th
Rep. B. A. E., 157, 1897; Dorsey, Siouan Sociology, ibid., 213;
Hayden, Ethnog. and Philol. Mo. Val., 1862.
