Project
Methods
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No single information source, or group of
sources, is sufficient to document the Bois
Forte occupation of the area. Accordingly,
this project synthesized a wide range of
information from a few well-known and many
lesser-known documents to provide an overview
of Bois Forte life on the park’s chain
of lakes. Although many of the available
sources provide only limited data, when
dozens of such references are examined and
analyzed in concert, the result is a detailed
account of their local history.
This project utilized a wide variety of
historic sources, published and unpublished,
in combination with archeological data from
Midwest Archeological Center inventories
and limited evaluative testing efforts to
develop an overview of the Bois Forte occupation
of what later became Voyageurs National
Park.
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John Rottenwood's family summer (left) and
winter (right) homes. Photograph taken in
the early 1900's, possibly 1917.
Wigwam at Crane Lake, Photograph courtesy
of Minnesota Historical Society, date unknown.
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Drying moose meat Lake of the Woods,
1912. Image courtesy of Minnesota
Historical Society.
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Examination
and interpretation of various
historic records and archeological data
from the project area indicate that
there were specific residential bands
of Bois Forte who lived within or very
near the current boundaries of Voyageurs
National Park. Other bands lived only
a few miles distant at locations like
Pelican and Vermilion Lakes. |
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of this study, no one source of data
is sufficient to define and document
the composition of these bands, but
when the various sources are combined,
individual bands can be identified
and band membership can be traced
over several decades. A minimum of
four bands resided in or very near
the park from the 1880s into the twentieth
century. Matches of names (and locations)
of individuals and families across
annuity rolls, allotment lists, interest
payment rolls, census records, local
newspaper accounts, oral histories,
photographs, and other sources provide
the basis for identifying and tracing
these bands through time. The time
depth for this occupation certainly
goes back further than 1880 by at
least a century, but we currently
lack sufficient documentation to trace
the groups back further in time. NEXT
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These
images are for personal, educational,
and/or research use only and may
not, under any circumstances,
be copied or printed for commercial
or for-profit use. |
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