How We Know
Above: Woman on Her Way to Rice Beds. Photo by Albert Ernest Jenks in Albert Ernest Jenks, The Wild Rice Gatherers of the Upper Lakes, 1897 (Newberry Library, Ayer 301 .A2 1897-98, pl. 70). View catalog record
The courts have relied on the work of scholars in deciding treaty rights cases such as those dealing with hunting and fishing. This is because scholars are trained to research and interpret the historical context in which treaties were negotiated and the perspective of Indian participants in treaty councils. For example, historian Helen Tanner did research and testified in the Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band case. At issue was whether or not the Indians believed the 1855 treaty affected their rights to hunt, fish, and gather on ceded lands. Working with documents from the National Archives in Washington DC, Tanner studied the handwritten notes taken during the treaty council. She demonstrated that all parties viewed this treaty solely as a land sale. In other words, they made no mention of ceding their hunting and fishing rights. Moreover, Tanner used these proceedings and a historical atlas of the state of Minnesota, published in 1874, to document that non-Natives, including political leaders, acknowledged hunting and ricing to be a continuing part of the lifestyle of Natives. In fact, this lifestyle was important to the economy of non-Natives in Minnesota at the time.
The work of scholars also enables us to understand how and why natural resources are used in different ways at various times by different peoples. For example, archaeologists study how technologies develop through time and how changing technologies are related to population size and to the ways people interact socially.
Do you want to learn how archaeologists interpret artifacts from pre-contact fishing sites?
On the south side of Lake Superior, the Sand Point site, occupied between A. D. 1100 and A. D. 1300, is significant because excavations recovered not only copper hooks and gorges but also sinkers from a discarded net. Archaeologist W. Moore found that not far from the remains of a house was a series of flat pebbles with curious nicks made on opposite sides. Most people would toss such rocks aside without a second thought. The trained eye, however, can recognize them for what they were—sinkers for fishing nets.
It is apparent from numerous Late Woodland sites with quantities of whitefish and lake trout bones that by A. D. 800, the people there were exploiting the fall-spawning species. Unlike the spring spawning runs that occur in shallow water onshore, the fall-spawning species gather in offshore shoals that are often as deep as 30 fathoms. Not only are these incredible concentrations of fish not visible from shore, but their exploitation requires a means of fishing in deeper water. This problem was solved by the redesign of existing net technology, which led to the development of the gill net. This device is a long, coarse, mesh net set to form an underwater “curtain” in which fish become ensnared by their gills. These nets are kept vertical in the water by means of sinkers and floats and can be set at any depth . . . . [Lake trout and whitefish] are also nutritionally of superior quality to spring-spawning species and are most easily taken after the arrival of freezing weather in the fall, thus facilitating preservation for winter use . . . . Lakeside settlements increased in size and duration. These sites are more numerous, leading to the conclusion that there was a dramatic increase in population. (Charles E. Cleland, “The Inland Shore Fishery of the Northern Great Lakes: Its Development and Importance in Prehistory” in American Antiquity 47, 4 (1982): pp. 771, 774).
Anthropologists also try to understand how living peoples perceive and interact with their environment. In this kind of research, anthropologists observe what people do, for example, when they fish, hunt, or engage in other occupations. And they learn about attitudes and values from listening to what people say in various kinds of social situations. In the late 19th and early 20th century, many anthropologists obtained information about subsistence activity in the past by interviewing elderly people. Anthropologist Larry Nesper wanted to understand how the people at Lac du Flambeau viewed hunting and fishing and what the fishing rights struggle meant to the contemporary Ojibwa.
Do you want to learn how he went about it?
Doing Contemporary Field Research
I lived at Lac du Flambeau for seven months from February to September of 1991, doing fieldwork on the cultural dimensions of a conflict that was at that point largely over. I began my work by informing Mike Allen, then tribal chairman, of my interest, giving him a copy of my dissertation proposal. As we had become somewhat acquainted during the spearing season of 1989, he agreed that such a study would be worthwhile. I then sought out Tom Maulson, Nick Hockings, Scott Smith, and Gilbert Chapman—whom I had also met in 1989—told them of my interest, provided them with copies of my first published work so they could understand my goals, and secured their support. As I met more of the people who appear in the book, I told them of my interest and intentions . . . . I had a great many breakfasts in the Outpost Café talking with spearers. In the afternoons, I visited Family Circles, one of the tribal social program offices that sought to involve tribal members more deeply in their culture. It was there that I spoke with Ernie St. Germaine, who would soon become the band’s chief judge. I also attended language classes, ceremonies, public events, and meetings, which led to visits with people in their homes. In addition, while my wife, Julie, worked as a home health nurse, I worked as a part-time substitute teacher a day or two a week from February to June in both the elementary school on the reservation and at the high school in Minocqua. Since 1991 I have returned to Flambeau for numerous visits that now, collectively, exceed my original period of research in 1991. Though it could be said that I conducted informal interviews at Lac du Flambeau over the last twelve years, I prefer to think of them as organic conversations indicative of deepening relationships with people, a number of whom have become my friends. (Larry Nesper, The Walleye War: The Struggle for Ojibwe Spearfishing and Treaty Rights, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002, pp. xi-xii).
