The
St Joseph River is certainly not one of the most well known and exciting rivers
in the country but I’ve come to learn that over the course of time it wields an
awful lot of clout and influence as it meanders some two-hundred miles mostly
through Southwest Michigan.
The
uncanny thing is who would have guessed within its path rest a phenomenal
legacy way before history had any meaning. I wonder, why we as a populace
appear so vacant or maybe even casual in referencing the extensive aspect of
this waterway not to mention the potency of its regenerating nature. Turn to
the person closest to you and ask where do we get our water? Do you know the history represented along its
banks? Most importantly, why do so many
archaeologists, historians and ethnographers exalt the river’s presence and
function along with the Native people who were nourished by it in copious ways
throughout millennia prior to ever seeing the face of one French settler.
As the semester rapidly comes to a close, I
have the distinct pleasure in pulling up the rear- so to speak- in blog entries
by my student colleagues in Dr. Michael Nassaney’s Community in Anthropology
course. I personally have in the past met this topic with indifference at least,
and tepid concern at most, not knowing how to pose relevant questions, all the
while soon learning that the work is rather tedious and at times presents a
frustrating path in researching the topic on the importance of the river in the
history of Native Americans before and around the time Fort St. Joseph was
fully functioning during the fur trade.
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| "Jacklighting" for fish from birch bark canoes |
My project partner, Alicia Gregory and I have
admittedly just begun in the grand scheme of researching the lives of
indigenous peoples along with their past use and relationship to the
river. In working with our community
partner, Marcus Winchester, Cultural Director of the Pokagon Band of
Potawatomi, along with WMU history professor José Brandão and geographer Alison
Kohley we’ve located key aspects of how a waterway is akin to an artery of life
coursing through the landscape. Dozens
upon dozens of villages ranging from large to small have dotted the St. Joseph
River basin. Two hundred Native men lived across the river from the Fort. From archeological data we investigated the
abundant riverine resources -some current day Native staples- among the various
fish and wild vegetation not only for food but medicine. Also essential is the importance of
agriculture, such as maize cultivation.
Their canoes have been crafted with technological expertise used as
transportation in hunting, fishing and trade.
Water holds a highly spiritual and layered
meaning within the rituals, beliefs and ceremonial traditions of the
Anishinabek, Native culture. It is the province of women who see it as the
giver of life, and its restorative properties the life blood of Mother Earth
that need protection from harm and exploitation.
-Carole Davenport
