The few period (circa 1774-1821) drawings of the tents used
by Europeans in the Northwest are by Red River immigrant Peter Rindisbacher. All
of them depict wedge tents. Cold Night Camp on the Inhospitable Shores of
Lake Winipesi [Lake Winnipeg] in Oct. 1821 is a watercolor that
includes six tents (Newman, Caesars, 135). Although it's hard to make out
details of several of the tents, one tent (and possibly a second) is definitely
a bell-back wedge tent. In a bell-back wedge tent, the back wall of the tent has
extra fabric allowing it to extend or 'bell' out beyond the ends of the two
sides, creating extra room inside the tent. Two more tents are also clearly
wedge tents, although it's hard to tell if they have bell backs or not.
The painting The Murder of David Tally [Tully] and Family by the Sissetons
Sioux, a Sioux Tribe dates to 1823-1830 (Josephy, 48-49). The tent of the
family of Selkirk settlers is prominently featured. It isn't clear if this tent
is a square diamond fly (a wedge-shaped tent open at both ends) or a wedge tent,
but other details do show up clearly. The tent is supported by a ridge pole
which projects past the round end pole ; a wooden tent peg (picket) secures the
front corner. Rindisbacher's Departure of the Second Colonist
Transport from York Fort to Rockfort, September 6, 1821 shows five wedge
tents outside the walls of the Hudson's Bay Company's York Fort (Newman,
Illustrated, 132). This all convinces me that wedge tents were definitely
used in the Northwest by the Selkirk settlers, and probably by the fur traders
also. In Britain and Canada, civilians were familiar with wedge tents. In 1784,
British army surveyor James Peachey painted Encampment of the Loyalists at
Johnstown, A New Settlement, on the Banks of the St. Lawrence, in Canada
(Brown, 218). The Loyalists are living in wedge tents. In 1815, an
aquatint of Buckingham Palace includes a square diamond fly being used as a
shelter by skaters (Barr, 46).
Many reenactors favor tipis. Here are some notes on what I
have been able to find on the subject. In his memoirs, David Thompson describes
a tent used in the 1780's on Hudson's Bay. 'Each [hunting] party has a canvas
tent, like a soldier's bell tent with the top cut off to let the smoke out.'
(Thompson, Narrative, 28) In the 1780's, a military bell of arms was a
small conical tent used to store muskets (Darby, 10). Thompson later describes
how the tent was put up :
'The tent poles were now cut, and placed to form a circular
area of about 12 to 14 feet diameter and 12 feet in heighth ; the door poles are
the strongest, about these poles we wrapped our tents, the fire place is in the
centre, and our beds of pine branches, with a Log next to the fire.' (Thompson,
Narrative, 29)
Note the small size of this tent, compared to modern tipis of
20' or so. Another fur trader, Nor'wester Daniel Harmon, describes how, on
January 4, 1801,
'...the greater part of our People (Men, Women & Children)
were sent to go and pass the remainder of the Winter in the Plains about two
Days march from this [spot], and where they will live upon the flesh of Buffaloe
which they will kill themselves, and during their stay there, their Dwellings
Will be Tents or Lodges made of the Skins of either Buffaloe, Moose or Red Deer
after being dressed or tanned & then sewed together, one of which contains from
ten to twenty of those Skins and when erected assume the form of a Sugar-Loaf
[cone], and in one of those tents ten or fifteen persons will find sufficient
space, for when they are there they are always either seated or lying down.'
(Harmon, 41)
Harmon was at Fort Alexandria, where he traded with the
Siouian Assiniboines, so the tipis he describes could have been Sioux-style.
Tipis were made of white leather (Henry, 382), and there are
many references to leather tents in fur trade journals. Alexander Henry the
Younger constantly complains about his leather tents. '[I was] happy to get
clear from that smoky dwelling,' he writes of his leather tent at Rocky Mountain
House (Henry, 657). His wet leather tents are too heavy to move, and can 'heat
and spoil,' so time is lost waiting for them to dry (Henry, 634, 637). 'Leather
tents become leaky and uncomfortable dwellings when situated long on the same
spot.' (Henry, 619)
Some journal entries mention traders obtaining tents from
Natives. William Tomison's Edmonton House journal of April 9, 1799 notes that he
'Traded some provisions, tents and shoe leather from the Indians that arrived on
the other side [of the river] yesterday.' (Johnson, 162). A
week later, on April 14, he traded two more tents from them. These were 'Muddy
River' Indians, today known as the Peigans of the Blackfoot confederacy. Tomison
may have needed to acquire tents for his men for that spring's voyage to the
Bay. In 1810, near Edmonton, Alexander Henry the Younger writes 'Got a leather
tent from Soldier ...' (Henry, 632). Soldier was a Native hunter who was camping
with some Cree. The HBC's Peter Fidler traded three tents to Natives in
1802, but in each case the exchange took place under unusual circumstances : two
tents were part of a very large payment for a slave (the deal later fell
through), and the third was traded as Chesterfield House was being abandoned
under threat of attack (Johnson, 311, 321).
Traders from the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company
were accustomed to visiting Native tipis and to being guests in them for
extended periods, so they would likely be comfortable with using tipis
themselves. I should also note that not all tipi-style tents had large smoke
flaps. They may have had smaller flaps, like those shown in a 1743 sketch by the
HBC's James Isham (Williams, 18). A sketch by George Back made in 1820 shows
Plains Cree tipis with no visible smoke flaps (Dempsey, 50; also in
Macdonald, 21). Not every tipi-style tent had a tipi liner on the inside,
either. They are not mentioned in either of the accounts above, and two period
sketches of tipi interiors do not show liners : Peter Rindisbacher's Indian
Women in Tent, c. 1830 (Gilman, 78) and Robert Hood's sketch of the interior
of a Woodland Cree tipi, made in 1820 (Dempsey, 58) both show tipis with no
liners.
Now for a small digression : Thompson relates an incident
that illustrates just how strong a tipi could be (among other things) and it's
just too good a story to omit here. Two men, Budge and Mellam, were camping on
their way back to York Factory. They were accompanied by Mellam's country wife.
One evening, cooking smells attracted a polar bear to their tent. The bear
circled the tent, and then stuck its head in the door. Budge panicked and
climbed the tent poles inside the tent, leaving Mellam and his wife to deal with
the bear. Most of the guns were still wet from cleaning, but fortunately a
musket was dry & loaded. The musket went off as Mellam grabbed it, so he held it
by the muzzle and clubbed the bear in the head, breaking the stock. He continued
to hit the bear with the barrel and lock still in his hands. Meanwhile, Mellam's
wife snatched up an ax, and started hitting the bear in the head with it. This
assault from both sides discouraged the bear, and finding that tent poles kept
him from getting into the tent, the bear decided to go dig into the food cache
outside the tent. Mellam quickly dried a gun, loaded it with two balls, and shot
the bear dead. Budge now decided that it was safe to come down from the top of
the tent ; however, he found that he was mistaken : '...the Woman with her axe
in her hand (2˝ lbs) heaped wood on the fire, and threatened to brain him if he
came down.' Mellam took the axe away, but the woman never forgave Budge for his
cowardice (Thompson, Narrative, 29).
Getting back to the subject at hand, I feel that there may
well have been two different types of tents used by the traders : tipis, which
were unusual enough to rate a description ; and 'regular' tents, which were so
familiar to the writers of fur trade journals that they were essentially
ignored. (Why describe something everyone is familiar with?) Both types would be
described by the term 'tent'. I think that the 'regular' tent of my hypothesis
would be the wedge tent.
Whatever their style, tents were made from a wide variety of
fabrics : Russia sheeting (twill-woven linen–Minhinnick, 82), oilcloth, gray
cotton (unbleached canvas?), vitry (a kind of light durable canvas), and raven
duck (a kind of canvas) (Henry, 1, 441-443; Thompson, Narrative, 110;
Johnson, 70). There are also many references to leather tents. In a 1796 letter
from York Factory, Joseph Colen complains 'Only 100 yards of vitry sent out this
season, out of which Mr. Oman has had a tent made. No raven duck to be purchased
[in England]. What we shall do for tents next summer I know not.' (Johnson, 70).
These shortages may have been due to a demand for tent cloth by the Army due to
the war with France. Colen's frustration suggests that leather tents are either
unfamiliar or undesirable to him. Leather tipis were used on the plains hundreds
of miles from York Factory.
Tent poles were often made at the campsite rather than
dragging them from camp to camp, unless it was known that there were would be no
trees suitable for tent poles at the next camp (Henry, 312 ; Thompson,
Columbia, 13). The job of pitching the tents likely fell to the country
wives, just as it did to their Native mothers (Henry, 634).
What about sleeping arrangements inside your tent? The
Hopkins painting mentioned at the beginning of this article shows voyageurs
sleeping right on the stony beach, but sometimes bough beds provided a soft
place to sleep.
'To make a place to lie down, the people scraped away the
Snow and lay down a few Branches of a species of Pine...and then upon the top of
that, a Blanket or two, and where after a Day of hard labour I am persuaded a
person will sleep as sound as if on a Feather Bed.' (Harmon, 34).
In general, this is one historical practice that isn't wise
or practical to reproduce. However, if you are cutting new tent poles in the
Forest Reserve anyway, you might want to keep bough beds in mind and plan to
follow up your pole-cutting trip with a primitive camp.
Where can you get an historic wedge tent or tipi today? See
'Factor's Cassette' in this volume (pp. 37-39) for information about wedge
tents. It is possible to mail order tipis, but look in the local yellow pages
first ; here in Calgary, there are two tent manufacturers specializing in tipis,
and two more that make tipis along with other types of canvas tents. If you
decide to go with a tipi, I strongly recommend you resist the temptation to
paint it. Painted lodges were very rare in the early 1800's and earlier (Jennys,
47). Also, even today painted tipis are strongly associated with Native
religion, which puts ownership of one perilously close to being both
'un-Christian' and 'going Native' from the 18th century viewpoint (Ewers,
114-115). If you just can't resist, maybe you could paint it in a very European
style. For example, you might put your name on it in two-foot-high letters, or
paint a picture of the company flag, or a picture of a fur fort. I strongly
recommend keeping your tipi cover white, though.
No matter what you do, I'm sure you'll enjoy the extra
dimension that having an historically correct period tent will bring to your
reenacting experience.
References
Barr, John. Britain Portrayed : A Regency Album 1780-1830.
British Library : London, 1989.
Brown, Craig (ed.). The Illustrated History of Canada.
Lester & Orpen Dennys : Toronto, 1987.
Darby, Samuel L. The Sketchbook on the Tents of the Fur
Trade. Panther Press : Normantown, West Virginia, 1987.
Dempsey, Hugh A. Indian Tribes of Alberta. Glenbow
Museum : Calgary, 1988.
Ewers, John C. The Blackfeet : Raiders on the Northwestern
Plains. University of Oklahoma : Norman, Oklahoma, 1958.
Gilman, Carolyn. Where Two Worlds Meet: The Great Lakes
Fur Trade. Minnesota Historical Society : St. Paul, 1982.
Harmon, Daniel Williams. Sixteen Years in the Indian
Country : The Journal of Daniel Williams Harmon, 1800-1816. W. Kaye Lamb
(ed.) Macmillan : Toronto, 1957.
Henry, Alexander (the younger). New Light on the Early
History of the Northwest : The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry...
Elliot Coues (ed.) Reprint-Ross & Haines : Minneapolis, 1965. Originally
published 1897.
Jennys, Susan. 'The Tipi in the Early 1800's : What About the
Outside?', in Muzzleloader, January/February 1996. pp. 45-49.
Johnson, Alice M. (ed.) Saskatchewan Journals and
Correspondence : Edmonton House 1795-1800, Chesterfield House 1800-1802.
Hudson's Bay Record Society : London, 1967.
Josephy, Alvin M. (Jr.). The Artist Was a Young Man
: The Life Story of Peter Rindisbacher. Amon Carter Museum : Fort Worth,
Texas, 1970.
Macdonald, Robert The Uncharted Nations : A Reference
History on the Canadian Tribes. Ballantrae Foundation : Calgary, 1978.
Mackenzie, Alexander. The Journals and Letters of Sir
Alexander Mackenzie. W. Kaye Lamb (ed.) Cambridge University Press : London,
1970.
Newman, Peter C. An Illustrated History of the Hudson's
Bay Company (formerly Empire of the Bay). Viking Studio/Madison Press
: Toronto, 1995.
Newman, Peter C. Caesars of the Wilderness. Viking :
Markham, Ontario, 1987.
Thompson, David. Glover, Richard (ed.) David Thompson's
Narrative, 1784-1812. Champlain Society : Toronto, 1962.
Williams, Glyndwyr. 'The Hudson's Bay Company and the Fur
Trade : 1670-1820', The Beaver, Autumn 1983. Reprinted 1991.
