Moose-Deer Island House People: A History of the Native People of Fort Resolution

Edwin G. Higgins was a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario.

This work is a detailed, interesting ethnohistory of the Chipweyan trading into Fort Resolution on Great Slave Lake. It provides a comprehensive overview of the hunting economy of Chipweyan living in the tundra or transitional forest, home of the great caribou herds.

Contact with white traders was made with the Northwest Company in 1786; the Hudson’s Bay Co. arrived in 1803 and later established Fort Resolution. Encouraged by the traders, some bands moved into the boreal forest areas, which were richer in fur-bearing animals. This required the acquisition of trapping skills and changes in life style. Since the old life style needed only a hatchet, a file, and a knife from the traders, many natives did not wish to change their habits; in times of scarcity many returned from the boreal forest to the caribou grounds. Thus, it was the traders who were economically dependent upon the natives, who also retained political independence.

The missionaries arrived in the 1850s and were readily accepted by the Chipweyan. Religious festivals provided a further reason for visiting the fort, and the authority of the priest gradually undercut that of native leaders.

With increased trapping came increased loss of independence. The Hudson’s Bay Company appointed trading chiefs, who competed for authority with the traditional chiefs. A further effect of the increased trapping was the establishment of semi-permanent native villages on the lake as fishing increased in importance.

The late contact period, 1890-1950, saw increasing dependence upon white institutions. By the 1880s, steamboats were in use in the area. In 1890 the railroad reached Edmonton and free traders appeared at the lake with a greater abundance and variety of goods. This made the trading chiefs redundant and further reduced native leadership. The 1890s were the time of the Yukon gold rush. Some fortune seekers came via Edmonton and got no further than Fort Resolution. All this increased white activity led to the signing of Treaty No. 8 for the area, which brought in the RCMP and government officials and regulations.

Chronic and contagious diseases were especially serious around 1930, making the health services of the fort and the assistance of whites further incentives for living at the fort. The 1950s saw the transition to life at the fort, but the Barren grounds bands continued with fewer adaptations. Settled town living involved wage employment or welfare, which deprived young men of the old skills and resulted in political and economic domination by white personnel.

This is a detailed interesting account of the history of the Fort Resolution area. It would be of interest to the general reader, students, departments of anthropology and Native studies. It includes a bibliography of more than six pages and a list of the 81 publications in the Mercury Series of the National Museum of Man.