Hist Arch https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-018-0102-2 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Culturally Modified Red Pine, Birch-Bark Canoes, and the Strategic Geography of the Fur Trade on Lake Saganaga, Minnesota, U.S.A. Lane B. Johnson & Lee R. Johnson & Evan R. Larson & Kurt F. Kipfmueller Accepted: 2 August 2016 # Society for Historical Archaeology 2018 Abstract Culturally modified red pine (Pinus resinosa) can be added to the long list of natural and artificial features that comprise the cultural landscape of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota, U.S.A. This study provides historical context for the first cultural-modification dates derived from the dendrochronological evaluation of primary-growth, firekilled red pine in the Border Lakes region. The treering-based data are interpreted in the context of archaeological records, fur-trade era travel accounts, and ethnographic information to shed new light on the economy of the Border Lakes Ojibwe from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. Multiple lines of evidence from Lake Saganaga suggest that these culturally modified red pine were intentionally wounded in order to extract pitch, which was used to make the gum critical for constructing and repairing birch-bark canoes. Culturally modified L. B. Johnson (*) Cloquet Forestry Center, University of Minnesota, 175 University Road, Cloquet, MN 55720, U.S.A. e-mail: lbj@umn.edu L. R. Johnson Heritage Resources Office, Superior National Forest, United States Department of Agriculture, 8901 Grand Avenue Place, Duluth, MN 55808, U.S.A. E. R. Larson Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, 1 University Plaza, Platteville, WI 53818, U.S.A. K. F. Kipfmueller Department of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, U.S.A. red pine are a tangible artifact class that may serve to reframe modern perspectives on the critical role of the birch-bark canoe for transport in the historical Border Lakes landscape. These trees are living symbols of historical land-use patterns and are indicative of the strategic geography of the fur trade. Extracto Se puede añadir el pino rojo americano modificado culturalmente (Pinus resinosa) a la larga lista de elementos naturales y artificiales que forman el paisaje cultural del área salvaje de Boundary Waters Canoe en Minnesota (Estados Unidos). Este estudio ofrece el contexto histórico de las primeras fechas de modificación cultural a partir del análisis dendrocronológico del pino rojo americano, de crecimiento primario y extinguido por el fuego en la región de Border Lakes. Los datos basados en los anillos del árbol se interpretan en el contexto de archivos arqueológicos, relatos de viaje de la época del comercio de pieles o información etnográfica para arrojar nueva luz sobre la economía de Border Lakes Ojibwe entre finales del siglo XVIII y principios del XX. Múltiples pruebas del lago Saganaga sugieren que el pino rojo culturalmente modificado fue dañado de forma intencionada para extraer brea, que se utilizaba para fabricar pegamento, fundamental en la construcción y reparación de canoas de corteza de abedul. Los pinos rojos culturalmente modificados constituyen una clase de artefacto tangible que puede servir para redefinir las perspectivas modernas sobre el papel esencial de estas canoas en el transporte en los paisajes históricos de Border Lakes. Estos árboles son símbolos vivientes de Hist Arch los patrones históricos del uso del suelo e indicativos de la geografía estratégica del comercio de pieles. Résumé Les pins résineux (Pinus resinosa) culturellement modifiés peuvent être inscrits sur la longue liste des caractéristiques naturelles et artificielles qui composent le paysage culturel de la Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness du Minnesota aux É.-U. La présente étude dresse un contexte historique pour les premières dates de modification culturelle dérivées de l’évaluation dendrochronologique des pins résineux tués par le feu depuis la croissance primaire. Ces données dendrochronologiques sont interprétées dans le contexte de données archéologiques, de récits de voyage datant de la traite des fourrures et de renseignements ethnographiques pour réexaminer l’économie du peuple Ojibwé de Border Lakes des années 1700 au début du 20e siècle. Plusieurs preuves récoltées à Lake Saganaga suggèrent que les pins résineux culturellement modifiés furent volontairement entaillés pour en extraire de la résine utilisée pour fabriquer la gomme essentielle à la construction et la réparation des canots en écorce de bouleau. Les pins résineux culturellement modifiés appartiennent à une catégorie d’artefacts concrets pouvant permettre de restructurer les points de vue modernes sur le rôle essentiel des canots en écorce de bouleau dans le transport du paysage historique de Border Lakes. Ces arbres sont les symboles vivants des modèles d’utilisation historique des terres et indicatifs de la géographie stratégique de la traite des fourrures. Keywords red pine . culturally modified tree (CMT) . Border Lakes region . fur trade . dendroarchaeology . birch-bark canoe . Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) . Lake Saganaga The first thing to do is to make a canoe of birch bark and sew it with cedar roots, and pitch it with pine pitch, and go to the Lake. –––Grandma to Wenabuzu (Michelson 1911:249) Introduction The understanding of landscapes, culture, and how the two merge and change over time arises through histories told using records of many kinds. Efforts to understand the evolution of physical and cultural landscapes commonly face the problem of a fading record, where the temporal and spatial precision of history diminishes as one looks farther back in time. Multiple lines of evidence can sharpen understanding of the past, and, at times, landscape features or cultural objects can connect disparate historical records in a specific time and place. Culturally modified trees (CMTs) are an artifact class that provides unmatched spatial and temporal precision when assessing particular types of historical human use in forested landscapes. CMTs are trees that indigenous people altered and utilized for traditional purposes. Where they persist on the landscape they serve as unique reminders of discrete and measurable forest utilization by indigenous groups (Andersson 2005). Cultural modification types vary by bioregion, period, and tree species, but are most frequently described as cut marks, bark scrapes, carvings, or inscriptions that damage, but have not killed, the tree. The intent of tree modifications also varied, including obtaining medicine, harvesting subsistence or starvation food, marking trails, acquiring wood and bark for construction, and inducing the flow of resin for disparate reasons (Zackrisson et al. 2000; Bergman et al. 2004). The information derived from CMTs has resulted in growing attention, internationally, among natural and cultural resource managers since the 1980s (Swetnam 1984; Eldridge 1997; Östlund, Keane et al. 2005). Large numbers of CMTs have been identified as cultural features in forested landscapes globally, most notably in northern Fenno-Scandinavia (Östlund, Bergman et al. 2004), the American Southwest (Kaye and Swetnam 1999), the American Intermountain West (Josefsson et al. 2012), the transnational Pacific Northwest (Mobley and Eldridge 1992), and eastern Australia (Morrison and Shepard 2013). Opportunities exist to expand the study of CMTs to additional regions where the activities of people were intimately connected to forests and where these forests survive today. The recent identification, in the Border Lakes region of Minnesota and Ontario, of numerous long-lived red pine trees (Pinus resinosa) bearing scars visually similar Hist Arch to CMTs studied elsewhere indicated the possibility of obtaining time- and place-specific evidence of Ojibwe land use over past centuries. The following is the first precise dating and interpretation of CMTs in the Border Lakes. The information contained in the annual growth rings of these culturally modified red pine provides evidence of Ojibwe land use and economic activity in the Border Lakes of northern Minnesota during the furtrade era (ca. 1730–1860) that is not available from other historical sources. Study Area The geographic focus of this study is an archaeological site complex on Lake Saganaga within the federally designated Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) (Fig. 1). The BWCAW makes up the southern half of a larger international wilderness ecosystem called the Quetico-Superior, or Border Lakes region, a roadless, 850,000 ha area managed by the United States Department of Agriculture––Superior National Forest (SNF) and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources––Quetico Provincial Park. The Border Lakes region of Minnesota and Ontario holds the largest remaining tracts of primary-growth forest in the Upper Great Lakes region of North America (Heinselman 1996), including approximately 20,000 ha of primarygrowth forest within the BWCAW. Lake Saganaga is a 5,598 ha lake in the east central BWCAW along the “Border Route,” an ancient travel route between Lake Superior and the interior waters of Lac La Pluie (Rainy Lake), which is often referred to as the “Voyageur’s Highway” (Nute 1941). Four adjacent archaeological sites are located at the mouth of the Granite River where it empties into Red Sucker Bay of eastern Lake Saganaga. SNF archaeological staff identified and inventoried three of the sites in the 1980s, while the fourth was documented in 2007. The first two sites, referred to as Saga Island and Bag-a-Bead, are on islands; the third site, Saganaga Falls Portage, is a 17 m overland carry adjacent to the outlet of the Granite River; while the fourth, Handle of Sand, is on a small peninsula that protrudes west–east into Red Sucker Bay, toward what is now the international boundary between the United States and Canada (Fig. 1). These four sites are known collectively as the Petit Rocher de Saganaga (PRS) archaeological site complex. From the peninsula, both island archaeological sites are in a direct line of sight, separated only by a channel of water 150 m wide at its narrowest. Artifacts recovered from this cluster of sites document histories of extended and mixed cultural use. Characterizing the Border Lakes Fur Trade While the North American fur trade spans a period from 1650 to the 1870s and has been characterized in many ways, the fur trade in the Border Lakes began in the 1730s and saw several transformations in trade type through the 1860s (Innis 1999) until the system of Indian reserve lands fundamentally changed the socioeconomic geography of the Border Lakes Ojibwe Geopolitical forces affected both the intensity of use and cultural identity of travelers along the Border Route, which was an important linkage in a worldwide commercial system that involved both European and Native American participants from the late mid-17th century through the early 19th century. Though the French visited the Border Lakes as early as 1680, it was not until the La Vérendrye expeditions west, from 1731 to 1736, that posts and missions along the route were established (Burpee 1927). Concurrent with French presence in the Border Lakes, Algonquian-speaking tribal groups including the Ojibwe, also known as the Ojibwa, Ojibway, Chippewa, or Anishinaabe (Richner 2002:1), began migrating west and established population centers at La Pointe (Madeline Island, Wisconsin) and Sault St. Marie (eastern Upper Michigan) by the mid-17th century (Warren 1885). Additional tribal groups present in the Border Lakes included the Dakota (Sioux), Cree, and Assiniboine. The territory of these tribal groups gradually shifted west and north as the Ojibwe migrated westward from Lake Superior, eventually occupying strategic water routes across northeast Minnesota in the early 19th century (Warren 1885; Hickerson 1988; Peers 1994). In 1736 La Vérendrye reported a group of Ojibwe present at the Vermilion River, 110 km west of Lake Saganaga (Burpee 1927:238). The rise of the Border Lakes fur trade, beginning in the 1730s, resulted in countless voyageurs (fur- Hist Arch Fig. 1 Regional map of the Border Lakes region of Minnesota and Ontario, showing the historical Grand Portage and Northern canoe routes. The Northern Route is also commonly referred to as the “Kaministiquia” route. Note: In order to protect the archaeological record, archaeological site locations are not shown on this map, nor are specific site locations referenced. (Map by Lane B. Johnson, 2015.) company laborers) and canoes, and thousands of tons of trade goods passing along this corridor (Nute 1941). In the heyday of the British Northwest Company (NWC), from ca. 1779 to 1802, trade goods typically arrived at the NWC depot at Grand Portage on Lake Superior via 11 m long birch-bark “Montreal” canoes capable of hauling 3 tons of cargo on the open waters of the Great Lakes. After transport along the Grand Portage between Lake Superior and the Pigeon River, cargo would be packaged into smaller sized “North” canoes, which were better suited to the range of water conditions and frequent portages that typified the route into the Pays d’en Haut, or Upper Country, of Canada’s interior reaches (Kent 1997). British interests in the Border Lakes intensified during the late 18th century, with the 1783 Treaty of Paris demarcating the border between British Canada and the United States. The treaty expressly forbade British interests to conduct business on American soil, yet it would take the NWC some 20 years to move the base of its operations from the U.S. side of the border (Grand Portage) to Fort William on British Territory, present day Port Arthur, Ontario. On paper, the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) consolidated operational rights to the Canadian side of Lake Saganaga and the Border Lakes (known then as the “Lac La Pluie,” or Rainy Lake District) following its merger with the NWC in 1821. In 1833, competition between the HBC and American Fur Company (AFC) was said to have nearly exhausted the supply of beaver in the Border Lakes, and the AFC agreed to withdraw operations from the region (Fleming and Rich 1940:lix). From 1833 to 1847, when the agreement between the two rival companies was discontinued, HBC maintained a string of posts along Hist Arch the northern side of the Border Lakes, and Ojibwe trappers from present-day Minnesota traveled to the British side of the border to trade. Despite documentation that the fur trade in the Border Lakes was declining through the first half of the 19th century, review of annual returns of fur recorded in HBC records indicates that Ojibwe continued to harvest substantial numbers of fox, marten, muskrat, lynx, and other fur-bearing species through the 1850s (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives 1823–1859). Based on HBC records ca. 1820 to 1850, the decline in the fur trade could be viewed more as a “shift in emphasis” from beaver to a greater variety of fur-bearing species (Jeffrey J. Richner 2016, elec. comm.). HBC was still purchasing furs from both sides of the present-day U.S./Canada border (Delafield 1943:412) and had wintering posts within 30 mi. of Lake Sagagana between 1822 and 1840. Private American companies were also present, however, and would become the dominant trading enterprises leading up to and following the Treaty of 1854 (Treaty of LaPointe), whereby the Ojibwe of western Lake Superior ceded what is now northeastern Minnesota to the U.S. government in exchange for reserved lands and recognition of usufructuary hunting and gathering rights. The Border Lakes Ojibwe used these hunting and gathering rights to continue living on the landscape, providing goods and services to European American traders and, later on, to surveyors, prospectors, and logging companies. Following the end of the fur trade, federal management of the area evolved over time. The SNF was formed in 1909, with the U.S. portion of the Border Lakes designated a “roadless area” in 1926. This designation limited development to rustic resorts and summer homes (J. White 1967). The U.S. portion of Lake Saganaga was formally designated as wilderness through federal passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act and 1978 BWCA Wilderness Act, which allow only canoe and light motorboat traffic to access fishing and backcountry camping areas. Ojibwe use of Lake Saganaga diminished over this period, but many Ojibwe in northern Minnesota continue to exercise treaty rights by harvesting moose, fish, wild rice, and other traditional forest products. Tree-Ring Dating Methods and Results During fieldwork for a dendrochronological study on the fire ecology of red pine in the BWCAW, the authors identified roughly a dozen red pine trees on Saga Island that exhibited distinct cambial injuries (bark peels), where the living tissue beneath the inner bark of the tree had been killed locally through purposeful, mechanical removal (Fig. 2). The scars were differentiated from firecaused injuries based on scar height, shape, dimensions, evidence of tool use (blade incisions, chops), and regularity of vertical scar edges (Swetnam 1984). Based on the physics of fire-scar formation, well-developed basal scars that do not reach the ground are highly unlikely to be fire damage (Gutsell and Johnson 1996). A subsequent survey during leaf-off conditions resulted in the inventory of 29 living and dead red pine trees with apparent cultural modifications across the southern half of Saga Island (Table 1). Seven of the twenty-nine red pines were alive at the time of the fieldwork. Mortality of the 22 dead bark-peeled red pine was likely the result of a fire that burned across the southern half of the island in 2007. Ten of the dead trees were standing and intact, and twelve were down due to wind-broken boles or uprooting at their bases. Eight of the twelve dead and downed red pine were sampled for dendrochronological analysis with a crosscut saw. The cross sections were air dried and surfaced with a belt sander, using successively finer grits to obtain a surface where individual xylem cells were easily distinguishable under 10×–40× magnification (Stokes and Smiley 1968). Each cross section was examined for patterns of ring-width variability, false rings, and other distinct morphological features, and compared to a previously developed master ring-width chronology for the region (Kipfmueller et al. 2010). This process, formally referred to as “crossdating,” enables the exact dating of tree rings and associated features, such as cambial scars, and has been used extensively in previous archaeological research (Nash 1999). Crossdating provided exact calendar dates for the annual growth rings of the 8 red pine cross sections, with 14 peel scars in 9 different calendar years over a 21-year window from 1829 to 1849 (Table 2) (Fig. 3). The highest frequency of peeling occurred in 1840, with four trees exhibiting modification. Two outlying peel events occurred in 1906 and 1908 on two different trees (Table 2) (Fig. 3). No further peel events were observed after 1908. Seven fire scars were distinguished from the peel scars based on scar morphology and were dated to the years 1843, 1844, and 1881. The 1843 and 1844 fires on Saga Island were likely of human origin, due to the fire years’ co-occurrence with tree modification Hist Arch Fig. 2 Top: Wind-snapped, barkpeeled red pine (BAB24) recorded at Saga Island. Note the Garmin GPS receiver for scale. The size of the healing lobe and depth of the modification within the trunk suggests the tree was modified well before the 20th century. This tree was not sampled. Bottom left and bottom right: Standing live red pine on Saga Island, not sampled, but likely modified ca. 1840. (Photo by Evan R. Larson, 2014.) dates. Modification dates from the eight dead trees sampled on Saga Island coincide with a mixed European American and Ojibwe period of use of the island during the late fur-trade era. These peel dates represent the first formal documentation and dendrochronological dating of CMTs in the Border Lakes. Discussion The modification dates for the bark-peeled red pine on Saga Island provide exact years of activity on a longer timeline of fur-trade era use at Red Sucker Bay. In combination with archaeological, historical, and ethnographic records, a picture begins to emerge of strategic site utilization by the Border Lakes Ojibwe. The sections below review the archaeological information for Saga Island and its surrounds, what is known about the Ojibwe occupation of the study area, the purpose of peeling pines in the Border Lakes, and the importance of resin or gum in the fur trade. Collectively, this information suggests that the bark-peeled pine on Saga Island were modified by the Border Lakes Ojibwe to harvest materials for birch-bark canoe repair and construction. Archaeological information from the site complex is particularly relevant in that the material culture recovered from the area (1) brackets the dates of the bark-peeled red pine on Saga Island, (2) provides a strong understanding of the human history of Red Sucker Bay, Hist Arch Table 1 Inventory of culturally modified red pine on Saga Island Status DBH (Cm)a BAB01 Dead, downed 40.06 Yes 1 Rectangular BAB02 Dead 37.0 No 1 Rectangular Rectangular Tree ID Sampled No. of Peels Peel Type BAB03 Live 45.3 No 1 BAB04 Dead 36.8 No 2 Tapered BAB05 Live 46.0 No 1 Test BAB06 Dead, downed 35.0 Yes 1 Rectangular BAB07 Dead, downed 43.0 Yes 1 Rectangular BAB08 Dead 49.5 No 2 Compound BAB09 Dead 48.0 No 1–2 Small test BAB10 Dead, high stump 41.0 Yes 1 Small test BAB11 Dead, high stump 40.0 Yes 1 Tapered BAB12 Live 43.0 No 2–3 Tapered BAB13 Dead 44.1 No 1 Tapered BAB14 Dead, downed 50.8 No 1 Tapered BAB15 Live 51.3 No 1 Rectangular BAB16 Dead; downed 45.8 No 2 Rectangular BAB17 Live 32.5 No 1 Rectangular BAB18 Dead 40.0 No 1 Small test BAB19 Live 35.8 No 1 Rectangular BAB20 Dead, downed 39.8 No 1 (ambiguous) Tapered BAB21 Dead 42.4 No 1 Small test BAB22 Dead, downed 48.5 Yes 2 Rectangular BAB23 Dead 53.0 No 1 Rectangular BAB24 Dead, downed 54.0 No 1 Rectangular Small test BAB25 Live 50.5 No 1 BAB26 Dead 36.2 No 1 Tapered BAB27 Dead, downed N/A Yes 1–2 Indeterminate BAB28 Dead, downed N/A Yes 2–3 Small test; rect. BAB29 Dead 42 No 2 Tapered; rect. a N/A=no bole to measure at 1.2 m height––a stump below breast height. particularly use by the Border Lakes Ojibwe, and (3) is at a strategic location along the Border Route (Fig. 4). Archaeological Overview of the Petit Rocher de Saganaga Site Complex Archaeological investigations at the Petit Rocher de Saganaga (PRS) site complex are limited, but provide sufficient information to outline a reasonable timeline of occupation and site function. Four sites are included in the archaeological complex: Saga Island, Bag-a-Bead, Saganaga Falls Portage, and Handle of Sand (HOS). Together, the sites within the PRS complex display a broad range of artifacts characteristic of use by precontact Native Americans for perhaps 1,700 years prior to European presence. The stand of 29 bark-peeled pine described above is co-located with the Saga Island site, one of two island sites within the complex. Historical period artifacts and archaeological features suggest use of the complex from at least the late French period (1740–1750) through the middle of the 19th century, and include tools that were likely used in the manufacture and repair of birch-bark canoes (Kohl 1860; Kent 1997; Adney and Chapelle 2007). In particular, Hist Arch Table 2 Modification and fire dates for red pine on Saga Island Sample ID Inner-Ring Datea Outer-Ring Dateb Modification Date(s) Fire Date(s)c BAB01 1847P 2011B 1906 –– BAB06 1756P 2011B 1833, 1848 1881 BAB07 1760P 2008B 1829, 1848, 1908 1843L BAB10 1780P 1912d 1840 1843L BAB11 1761P 1960d 1829 1844E BAB22 1762P 2010B 1838, 1840 1843L BAB27 1758P 1878 1840 –– BAB28 1794 1994B 1837, 1840, 1849 –– a P=pith. b B=bark. c E=earlywood scar, L=latewood scar. d Exact date of death undetermined. several artifacts recovered at the HOS site (Fig. 4) fit the description by Adney and Chapelle (2007:21) that the “boring tool most favored by the Indians” for canoe construction “was the common steel gimlet.” Similarly, early period nails recovered from the HOS site may have been repurposed as awls or could have been used to hold birch-bark sheets together prior to stitching (Fond du Lac Cultural Center and Museum 2010). Overall, the density, number, and range of artifacts recovered from limited sampling suggests comparatively heavy use during the fur-trade era. Brief descriptions of the sites follow. Fig. 3 Modification dates for the eight bark-peeled red pine sampled at Saga Island. Each triangle represents a modification event for a recording tree. The historical events denoted with letters are (A) 1775: Alexander Henry the Elder travels through Lake Saganaga and reports Ojibwe living at the mouth of the Granite River; (B) 1800: Alexander Henry the Younger reported canoe manufacturing at the mouth of the Granite River as well as Basswood and Lac La Croix; (C) 1823: John Bigsby reported an Ojibwe family at the Handle of Sand and traded with the family; (D) 1823–1850: Mixed use of the Border Route by the American Fur Company, Hudson’s Bay Company, and independent American traders; (E) 1861: R. B. McLean reports a trading post on Lake Saganaga, possibly at Handle of Sand; and (F) 1909: Superior National Forest is established. (Figure by Kurt F. Kipfmueller, 2015.) Hist Arch Fig. 4 A select assortment of furtrade era artifacts collected during archaeological assessments at the Handle of Sand site. Artifacts such as these are indicative of a site used by the Ojibwe for canoe manufacture: (A) possible kettle bail hook, (B) straight-razor blade, (C) copper awl, (D) three iron awls, (E) drill bit, (F) gimlet, and (G) knife fragment. (Photo by Lane B. Johnson, 2015.) Saga Island and Bag-a-Bead Sites Saga Island (USDA-FS Site No. 09-09-02-162), the larger of the two islands in the complex (2.8 ha) and the location of the bark-peeled red pine considered in this study, was first surveyed by SNF archaeologists in 1980. The Bag-a-Bead site (USDA-FS Site No. 09-0902-152), on the eastern end of an unnamed island of 0.7 ha that lies approximately 220 m northwest of the northern end of Saga Island, was also identified in 1980. Both sites were initially located during walkover survey, when surface artifacts were observed in exposed soils within BWCAW campsites. In 2000, both island sites were tested with shovel probes and excavation units (covering 8 m2 total). Testing revealed the presence of mixed historical and late precontact period archaeological deposits at both sites. A variety of fur-trade era artifacts of European American manufacture were recovered, including glass seed beads, faceted beads, white clay-pipe fragments, blade-style gunflints, brass kettle scraps, glass and metal buttons, lead runnel, and machine-cut nails. The historical artifact assemblage from these sites is consistent with other ca. 1800– 1850, seasonal Ojibwe occupation sites that have been recorded in the region (Richner 2002). Slightly below these strata, and in some cases co-mingled with the furtrade assemblage, archaeologists recovered lithic debitage, triangular projectile points, calcined bone fragments, and low-fired earthenware ceramics associated with the Terminal Woodland Blackduck and Sandy Lake cultural tradition (ca. A.D. 750–1650). Saganaga Falls Portage Site The Saganaga Falls Portage site (USDA-FS Site No. 0909-02-063) is an historical canoe-carrying place (Birk 1994) and subsurface archaeological site located on the western side of Saganaga Falls, where the north-flowing Granite River joins Lake Saganaga. The portage is still used by wilderness canoeists to bypass a short set of rapids and a waterfall. The portage, which is the 18th of 37 portages between Lake Superior and Rainy Lake, was referred to by British traders as “Petit Rocher de Saguinaga,” or “little Rochers of saguinage” (MacDonell 1933:101). The Saganaga Falls Portage site was recorded in 1982 and intensively surveyed in 2013 by metal detector, shovel probes, and detailed mapping. Surface collection from the canoe landing and portage tread included wirewound beads; lead shot; lithic debitage; lithic tools, including scrapers and bifaces; and a cupriferous button. Subsurface sampling identified scattered historical and precontact artifacts near the portage landings and an intact archaeological deposit on an elevated terrace near the Lake Saganaga portage landing. Subsurface artifacts identified included a rose-head square nail, a gun worm, ferriferous fragments, lead shot, a ferriferous awl, a copper awl, two white pipe-stem fragments, kettle- Hist Arch brass scrap, precontact ceramic sherds, a spherical wirewound bead, wire nails, and lithic debitage. Handle of Sand (HOS) Site To the west of Saga Island is the Handle of Sand site (USDA-FS Site No. 09-09-02-774), which in historical records is alternatively referred to in French as “L’Anse aux Sable.” The site is on a low-slung, sandy peninsula approximately 1.0 ha in size that extends out from the shoreline into Red Sucker Bay of Lake Saganaga. The site was located by SNF archaeologists in June 2007. Lithic debitage, Sandy Lake ceramics (ca. A.D. 1150– 1650), and glass seed beads were observed in surface contexts and in tree-root throws throughout the peninsula. Additionally, a private collection derived from the HOS site was examined by Douglas Birk (2010, elec. comm.) in 1982. Birk reported that there were numerous French period artifacts within the collection, including ax heads with visible makers’ marks, and clasp- and sheath-knife blades (Douglas A. Birk 2010, elec. comm., 2014, elec. comm.). SNF archaeologists carried out additional survey and limited excavation during the 2009, 2010, and 2015 field seasons. Surveys included both shovel-test transects and a metal-detector sampling strategy utilized previously by Birk (2007). While the metal-detector survey and shovel probes identified subsurface deposits throughout the peninsula, two intrasite locations were identified that had dense subsurface concentrations and artifacts and features that suggested different functional and temporal associations. Both locations were subsequently sampled with test excavation units that covered a total of 12 m2. The first concentration location (Area D) is a 500 m2 area located on a slight rise near the center of the peninsula. Area D produced wrought rose-head nails, cupriferous buttons with drilled shanks and spun backs, iron offset awls, a ferriferous drill bit, a gimlet, faunal fragments, kettle-brass scrap, seed beads, kettle-brass “tinkling cones,” an engraved bone cutlery handle of European manufacture, and several fur-trade era tools that appear to have been repurposed and modified beyond their original function. A broken, fur-trade-period straight razor with a partially visible maker’s mark appears to have been bent and repurposed, potentially for use as a crooked knife. Use wear on a broken case-knife fragment is also suggestive of reuse as a boring tool (Fig. 4G). The rose-head nails were recovered in disparate locations throughout Area D and were not found in association with building features or other architectural hardware. Artifacts of European manufacture were recovered up to 10 cm below surface, however, 90% of this assemblage was within 5 cm of the surface. As with the island sites discussed previously, artifacts of European manufacture in Area D were co-mingled with Woodland period ceramics and lithic debitage. However, the former artifacts represent 74% of the archaeological assemblage recovered from Area D. The second concentration, Area TP4, covers a 2000 m2 area and includes surface features. The features represent two pits, two collapsed cobble piles, and two linear berms. Shovel-test and metal-detector survey identified dense subsurface archaeological deposits, most notably near the features listed above. The intrasite activity area, tentatively identified as a mid-19thcentury structural foundation, is on the westernmost portion of the peninsula, on an elevated terrace where the peninsula meets the mainland. Test-excavation units were placed near a 2 m diameter cobble-mound feature in 2009 (2 units) and 2015 (4 units) in order to confirm whether the feature was associated with a collapsed, historical period fireplace (Birk 1991; B. Smith 2003; Franzen 2004). Artifacts recovered from the test pits and excavation units at TP4 include significant quantities of fired and unfired daub (chinking), machine-cut nails with hand-applied heads, window glass fragments, a fire steel, a file with the touchmark: IBOTTSON-CAST STEEL, white clay-pipe bowls and stem fragments, a four-hole glass button, a blade-style gunflint, a twopiece white-metal button, a hand-painted pearlware sherd, a ferriferous drill bit, caribou (Rangifer tarandus) bone, fish vertebrae, bone needles, seed beads, multifaceted beads, and lead bar stock. The 2015 excavation also identified clay lenses, concentrations of daub, and high frequencies of faunal materials associated with the cobble-pile feature. The spatial distribution and frequency of both domestic and architectural features and artifacts suggest a mid-19th-century structure, potentially a wintering post associated with either the HBC or an independent American trader. At present, the PRS archaeological site complex is one of the richest fur-trade period site clusters identified in the BWCAW. The presence of 29 bark-peeled red pine at Saga Island dating from 1829 to 1849 is an indicator of how the site was utilized by its Ojibwe inhabitants over a longer period of time, at least since the mid-late 1700s, due to its strategic geography. The Hist Arch artifact assemblage from Area D at the HOS site includes tools that are associated with the manufacture of birch-bark canoes, while the structural remains at Area TP4 date to the same time period as bracketed by the majority of tree-modification dates. Sandy points and beaches are uncommon along the historical Grand Portage to Rainy River canoe route, which bisects the rugged, bedrock-dominated Canadian Shield. Sand points, such as HOS, were ideal locations for the construction of birch-bark canoes. Flat, rock-free areas were a preferred ground surface to mold convex-hulled canoes (Adney and Chapelle 2007:37), and dry, windblown peninsulas provided much-needed relief from the hordes of mosquitos and black flies of spring and summer. Alexander Henry the Younger used the place name “L’Anse aux Sable” to refer to two additional Border Lakes sites west of Saganaga at Sand Point Lake, near present-day Voyageurs National Park, and Lac La Croix (BWCAW), where he observed Ojibwe making canoes in the summer of 1800 (Coues 1965:16–17). The Purpose of Peeling Red Pine Throughout the entire Border Lakes fur-trade period, the primary mode of transportation was the birch-bark canoe. The construction of a traditional Ojibwe canoe involves a meticulous combination of derived forest products. Large birch-bark sheets are stitched together with split spruce (Picea spp.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), or northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) root, called watappe, and reinforced with a wood skeleton made of cedar and ash. The seams of canoes were treated with gum derived from conifer trees and applied in a process referred to variously in the historical record as gumming, pitching, or caulking. Gum is not obtained directly from conifer trees, but is a product made from the resin or pitch of conifers mixed with crushed charcoal and melted animal fat (Adney and Chapelle 2007:25). Resin can either be harvested from conifers as natural secretions, or resin flow can be induced by mechanical damage to the inner bark of a conifer. Resin used to make gum could be obtained from a variety of tree species. Black and white spruce (Picea mariana and P. glauca) are commonly considered the preferred source of resin or pitch used in birch-bark canoe manufacture across the Upper Great Lakes. McKenney (1827) and Kohl (1860) observed that the gum used in pitching canoes was made from pine resin. The Ojibwe historian William Warren, however, stated that canoes were “gummed with the pitch of the pine, balsam, or tamarack” (Warren 1885:98). Likewise, the ethnographer Huron Smith reported in his 1932 article on Ojibwe ethnobotany that red pine resin, twice boiled and mixed with tallow, was used as a caulking material (H. Smith 1932). Smith also reported that resins from balsam fir (Abies balsamea), black spruce (Picea mariana), and white pine (Pinus strobus) were used to make a waterproofing gum. Ritzenthaler (1950) reported that by 1947 white pine was the preferred source of resin for traditional birch-bark canoe construction, but the use of resin harvested from conifers had become rare due to the use of petroleum-based sealants. With the resin of numerous conifer species suitable for the production of gum, it seems likely that the preferred resin type was from whatever source species was most readily available (Adney and Chapelle 2007:25). The historical abundance of lakeside red pine in the BWCAW would have made the species a common source of resin for gum production. The scar morphology and spatial grouping of the peeled pines on Saga Island also agree with historical descriptions of Ojibwe methods of harvesting resin. The ethnographer Francis Densmore briefly explained the process of gum production in her book, Chippewa Customs, as she had observed it on the White Earth Reservation in north central Minnesota (Densmore 1929). One of Densmore’s (1929:149) ethnographic informants explained that “the gum [resin] of any evergreen tree could be used in making pitch,” but “trees growing near the water had the best gum [resin].” Densmore wrote (1929:149) that it was the “custom to go to the woods in summer and scrape the bark from portions of selected trees.” The resin was then boiled in water, skimmed from the surface leaving debris behind, and thickened with pulverized cedar charcoal to create a firm gum. Once mixed, the gum could be applied to a canoe with a thin cedar spatula (Fig. 5). On the Lac du Flambeau Reservation in northern Wisconsin, resin was collected for gum production from white pine by removing a section of bark from the bole of the tree and cutting a notch at the base of the wound where the resin could collect. This was done to groups of trees, Ritzenthaler observed, sometimes with up to three “taps” on a single tree (Ritzenthaler 1950:89). Contemporary ethnobotanical information regarding the use of pine pitch or resin among the Ojibwe of the western Lake Superior basin corroborates the historical record. The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Hist Arch Fig. 5 Black-and-white photograph of an Ojibwe man applying gum to the seams of a birch-bark canoe at Lake of the Woods, Minnesota, 1912. (Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, ID No. E97.35 m5.) Commission, an intertribal agency that manages offreservation treaty resources within the 1837, 1842, and 1854 ceded territories, published a substantial study of nonmedicinal plant use among the Great Lakes Ojibwe (Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission 2002). The report, which relied heavily on interviews with Ojibwe elders recognized for their traditional knowledge, included a database crosslisting informants’ descriptions of traditional plant use. Eighteen informants noted that pitch from spruce and various pine species was utilized to seal birchbark canoes or baskets (Table 3). Sixteen, or 80% of the informants, mentioned canoe sealant as the primary, nonmedicinal use for pitch, with pine species as the preferred source (Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission 2002). Pitch and Gum as Fur-Trade Commodities Gum was an important resource in the fur-trade economy. Ray (1998) refers to foodstuffs and forest products, such as those utilized in birch-bark canoe repair, as “country produce,” the gathering of which was vigorously adopted into the Ojibwe seasonal round to augment the trade in furs. Gum, as well as other products necessary for canoe manufacture, made up a large proportion of the provisions the Ojibwe supplied to furcompany posts, as well as passing canoe brigades. For instance, the NWC records for June 1797 note that the fort inventory at Grand Portage included “two new canoes as well as 95 rolls of wide birchbark, 1,159 rolls of narrow bark, 3,955 bundles of wattape, and 5,088 pounds of gum” (B. White 2005:152). Likewise, in 1820, the NWC stores at Fort William, in present-day Thunder Bay, Ontario, contained “20 barrels of gum totaling, 4,356 pounds and 4.5 barrels of pitch” (Kent 1997:122). These gum stores were used to construct and repair canoes on site and to provision canoe brigades so repairs could be made en route. Alexander Henry the Younger, for instance, recorded four kegs of gum, bark, and “wattap” among the provisions of canoe brigades at “Panbian River” [Pembina River] on 1 June 1808 (Coues 1965:441–442). In addition to stores of gum, records suggest that gum was also procured from Native Americans while traveling (Allen 1834; Connor 1933:249– 251,276; Faries 1933:238; MacDonell 1933:71). This may have been a more expedient and opportunistic source of gum for routine maintenance that allowed limited repair stores to be conserved. Hist Arch Table 3 Traditional Ojibwe uses of pine pitch Oral-History No. Informant Namea 1742 1744 Band Affiliation Tree Species Lorretta Deitzler Mille Lacs Myra Pitts Mille Lacs 2170 Carol Denruiter 2176 Purpose Harvest Season Pinus banksiana Pitch Canoe sealant Summer Pinus banksiana Pitch Canoe pitch — Fond du Lac Pinus spp. Pitch Boat sealant — Don Wiessen Fond du Lac Pinus spp. Pitch Birch-bark basket sealant — 2181 FDL elder Fond du Lac Pinus spp. Pitch Sealant — 2182 FDL elder Fond du Lac Pinus spp. Pitch Sealant — 2183 FDL elder Fond du Lac Pinus spp. Pitch Seal canoes — 2209 Red Cliff elder Red Cliff Pinus spp. Pitch Waterproof canoes — 2212 Rose Tainter Red Cliff Pinus spp. Pitch Canoes — 2220 Rose Tainter Red Cliff Pinus spp. Pitch Repair birch-bark baskets — 2405 Joseph Chosa Lac du Flambeau Pinus resinosa Pitch Canoe pitch Summer 2497 Fond du Lac elder Fond du Lac Pitch Canoe sealant — Picea spp. Component 2500 Freeman Barry Fond du Lac Picea spp. Pitch Canoe construction — 2507 Mille Lacs elder Mille Lacs Picea spp. Pitch Sealant — 2511 Red Cliff elder Red Cliff Picea spp. Pitch Canoe sealant — 3307 Joseph Chosa Lac du Flambeau Pinus strobus Pitch Canoe repair — 3308 Joyce Einerston Mille Lacs Pinus strobus Pitch Canoe pitch — 3310 Peter Geshick Mille Lacs Pinus strobus Pitch Sealant — Source: Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (2002). a Some informant names have been withheld to maintain anonymity. Original source material documenting canoe travel during the fur-trade period suggests that canoes were “gummed” frequently, and possibly on a daily basis, along some shallower, rocky stretches of water (MacDonell 1793–1806; McKenney 1827; MacKenzie 1911; Faries 1933; Coues 1965). At least one trader noted that canoes were typically gummed before setting off on a lake and after passing a portage or rapid (MacDonell 1793–1806:57). The following account by the Jesuit missionary Joseph Lafitau, ca. 1715, describes the necessity of gum for routine canoe upkeep: If these little boats are convenient, they have also their inconveniences, for it is necessary to use great care in getting into them and to be careful not to upset and keep the balance of the canoe when it is in motion. They are very fragile besides. If they so much as touch on sand or stones even a very little, they open chinks by which the water enters and spoils the goods or provisions which they are carrying; so that scarcely a day passes in which there is not some place which needs to be gummed. (Lafitau 1977:124–125) Over 140 years later, in 1855, the ethnographer Johann Kohl observed and recorded the construction of birch-bark canoes at La Pointe (present-day Madeline Island, Wisconsin) and described the process in detail. He began by stating: New canoes are being constantly built around me, or old ones repaired, and I saw them in every stage of perfection. The Indians expend as many bark canoes as we do hunting-boots, and, regarding the stuff of which they are made, we can imagine they must be constantly under repair. (Kohl 1860:28) Canoe manufacturing was a family activity that included men, women, and children (Fig. 6). Kohl (1860:32) reported seeing “girls, women, and men, all engaged in hammering and pitching the canoes.” The cooperative efforts of an Ojibwe family often yielded great dividends. For instance, Alexander Henry the Younger purchased a canoe on Basswood Lake in Hist Arch Fig. 6 Photograph of an Ojibwe family constructing a 6 m long birch-bark canoe. (Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, ID No. E97.34.p19.) July 1800 for the value of 60 skins, nearly equivalent to the credit given to some Ojibwe for an entire year (B. White 2005:158). About the same year, John Tanner recounted a time he sold a “large birch bark canoe” to fur traders in the Rainy Lake District west of Saganaga for $100, a price he viewed as standard for a canoe of that size (Tanner 1830). John MacDonell, a clerk with the NWC in 1793, references provisioning gum from local Indians while traveling in exchange for receipts to be remitted at the company’s posts (MacDonell 1793–1806:51). Roderick McKenzie, who was appointed chief trader of the HBC’s concerns in the Rainy Lake District, was directed in August 1821 to “trade all the sugar and rice he can get at a moderate price, and send in a sufficient quantity of bark, pitch and roots, to Norway House, for six new canoes” (Fleming and Rich 1940:4). Perhaps the most telling reference regarding the importance of gum for waterproofing birch-bark canoes comes from Lieutenant James A. Allen, who accompanied Henry Schoolcraft on his expedition to the Mississippi headwaters in 1832. Schoolcraft and Allen’s route took them from present day Detroit, Michigan, across Lake Superior, and to the Upper Mississippi River by way of the St. Louis and Savanna rivers, and back to Lake Superior via the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Bois Brule rivers. Upon entering the St. Croix River, the parties were separated, and Allen struggled to maintain his canoes in the shallow, late-summer waters of the St. Croix River: It is our greatest misfortune to be out of gum, for without it the canoes cannot be repaired, and without great repairs my canoes will not be in a condition to carry us much farther. I have procured all the gum I could from the Indians I have met with on the St. Croix, but my canoes have been so often broken as to have required it all. From the wreck of an old canoe found in the river this evening, we have procured a little, with which we have repaired, as well as we could, for tomorrow. (Allen 1834:62) Hist Arch The following day, Allen relates his relief in procuring gum from several Ojibwe that Schoolcraft had sent downriver to meet him: All my canoes were leaking badly; they have been so often repaired that their bottoms were nearly gummed over, and every touch on a stone knocked some of it off, and opened a leak. At 8 o’clock, however, I met two Indians, in a very little canoe, whom Mr. Schoolcraft had sent from the mouth of the river, to bring me gum, and pilot me down. The gum was of great service in enabling me to proceed with my canoes. (Allen 1834:63) Birch-bark canoes continued to be used for transport in the Border Lakes through the early 20th century. Historical photographs of canoe trips in the Border Lakes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Donaldson Photo Company 1878; MacGowen 1894; Bushnell 1899; Linde 1911) all document the continued use of birch-bark canoes by Ojibwe off reservation, as well as government agency reliance on birch-bark canoes for patrolling the newly created SNF into the early 1900s. Joseph Fitzwater, SNF supervisor from 1910– 1912, noted that forest rangers used birch-bark canoes extensively in the early 20th century, and that they were purchased from local Ojibwe (J. White 1974). Fitzwater relates the need for frequent maintenance of birch-bark canoes in the following passage from a July 1970 interview: I sat with my feet in the water for many miles. We would have to stop at every portage and tar the darn thing. Invariably you would hit a rock with those darn things and then you would get a hole and you would have to go to the portage and turn them over, tar them up and then go on. (J. White 1974:43) The Strategic Geography of Saga Island Saga Island, in Red Sucker Bay, is situated at a critical point on the Border Route, a water corridor that played a central role in the fur trade for the entire region (Fig. 1). The historical Border Route is composed of a series of lakes, rivers, and portages that begins at Lake Superior with the Grand Portage, a 14.5 km overland canoe carry that terminates at the Pigeon River. Canoe brigades then followed the Pigeon River to the eastern Border Lakes and eventually Lake Saganaga via the Granite River and Red Sucker Bay. Saga Island, located near the mouth of the Granite River, was a high-visibility site along the Border Route that the local Ojibwe used to engage in economic and political interactions with passing canoe brigades. The relatively frequent mention of Red Sucker Bay in the historical record suggests that the PRS site complex was a location on the Border Route where passing European American traders and resident Ojibwe families interacted and engaged in provisioning trade. Unlike the highly regulated trade that occurred at company posts, trade relations at geographically distant waysides like Handle of Sand were, potentially, on an equal footing and possibly weighted in favor of resident Ojibwe. As the fur trade matured in the Border Lakes, the local Ojibwe adapted and, increasingly, offered other resources and services through the intensification of preexisting subsistence practices to obtain the European American goods to which they had grown accustomed. The production and repair of birch-bark canoes for passing trade parties in the spring and early summer was just one way Ojibwe families could diversify their income and obtain trade goods (B. White 2005). Ojibwe occupany at Red Sucker Bay was ephemeral and incorporated into a dynamic seasonal round that mirrored the spatial and temporal availability of resources most needed for subsistence and trade. The first written record of Ojibwe residing at Red Sucker Bay comes from Alexander Henry the Elder, who, on 20 July 1775, reported a small group of Ojibwe living there: We reached Lake Sagunac, or Saginaga, distant sixty leagues from the Grand Portage. This was the hithermost post in the north-west, established by the French; and there was formerly a large village of Chipeways here, now destroyed by the Nadowessies [Sioux]. I found only three lodges ... of whom I bought fish and wild rice, which latter they had in great abundance. When populous, this village used to be troublesome to the traders. Lake Sagunac is eight leagues in length by four in breadth. The lands, which are every where covered with spruce, are hilly on the south-west; but, on the north-east more level. (Henry 1809:241) In August 1793, John MacDonell, on his way from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipeg, spent one night at “l’Anse au Sable” downstream from the “two little Rochers of saguinage” (MacDonell 1933:101), but did Hist Arch not report any interactions with Ojibwe inhabitants. MacDonell passed through the area in late summer, a time when the local Ojibwe may have moved to another part of the region to harvest berries or wild rice. Alexander Henry the Younger traveled through Lake Saganaga on 25 July 1800: At four o’clock we embarked, and having descended several rapids came to Petit Rocher de Saginaga, a small portage of about 50 paces. At 9 o’clock we entered Lake Saginaga and came to L’Anse de Sable. Here we found some Indians making canoes for sale; but as none of them were to my taste we proceeded to the Detroit in the lake. My canoe ran afoul of a sharp rock and in an instant was full of water. We put ashore to repair the damage, and in the meantime dried our goods, which had got wet, and embarked. (Coues 1965:12–13) The English geologist John Bigsby reported a family of Ojibwe living at the mouth of the Granite River in early July 1823. He traveled through the area with a joint American/British survey party that included David Thompson. He wrote in his journal: We were ... exceedingly glad to see, on entering Lake Keseganaga [Saganaga], a large wigwam, on a marshy point [Handle of Sand], belonging to a well-known old Indian named Frisée. He had two or three strong sons and three or four daughters and daughters-in-law, and their children, all looking brown and fat, although said to be starving. (Bigsby 1850:249) Bigsby’s party left a sick voyageur in the care of the Ojibwe man and his family. The family was paid in “tobacco and coarse blue cloth” and in gifts of “scarlet and yellow riband to the girls” to care for the man until he was well enough to travel (Bigsby 1850:250). Major Joseph Delafield, who traveled through Lake Saganaga several weeks after Bigsby and Thompson, did not report any Ojibwe at L’Anse de Sable when he passed by on 20 July 1823 (Delafield 1943:412). It is worth noting, however, that Delafield reported Ojibwe residing along the Border Lakes west of Lake Saganaga who actively attempted to engage in trade with members of his party as they passed through Basswood Lake, Crooked Lake, and Lac La Croix. The primary theme throughout these historical accounts is that canoe brigades reliably entered Lake Saganaga via the Granite River and Red Sucker Bay, by which point brigades had paddled a winding, sometimes shallow, 100 km route and carried over 20 portages, including the 73 rod Portage du Hauteur des Terres, or Height of Land portage, that divides the waters of the Great Lakes from those of Hudson Bay. The canoes of the brigades at that point on the route would undoubtedly have needed repairs and maintenance, and the mouth of the Granite River was a strategic location for local Ojibwe families to assert control over the fur trade by providing provisions and services to passing canoe brigades. Just as Bruce White (2005) considers Grand Portage to be a funnel for trade activity at the west end of the Lake Superior basin, Red Sucker Bay can be viewed, at a local level, as a bottleneck of trade traffic on the route west to Rainy Lake and the continental interior. Following the path of least resistance, canoe brigades had little option but to pass by Saga Island and Handle of Sand on their way across Lake Saganaga. It was here that Ojibwe families could aggressively pursue trade with each passing group. Conclusions The 29 bark-peeled red pine trees on Saga Island are biological artifacts that corroborate claims of historical Ojibwe land tenure and forest stewardship in a landscape presently managed as federal wilderness. The stand of bark-peeled pine at Saga Island is just one archaeological feature of a larger site cluster known as the PRS archaeological site complex. Dendrochronologically dated modification years from 8 of the 29 barkpeeled red pine were merged with archaeological, ethnobotanical, and historical records to strengthen and enhance modern understandings of history within the Border Lakes during the mid-19th century. The modification of these trees took place concurrently with the use of birch-bark canoes to traverse the Border Lakes and ceased after 1909 with the creation of the SNF and the decline in use of the birch-bark canoe. The preceding discussion illustrates the importance of the PRS area as a funnel for water-based traffic in the Border Lakes during the fur-trade era, from at least the mid-18th century into the early 20th century. Historical accounts of Ojibwe presence and canoe manufacture at the mouth of the Granite River, the recovery of artifacts consistent with canoe manufacture, and the presence of Hist Arch bark-peeled red pine used to produce resin for “gumming” canoes demonstrate the importance of the birchbark canoe and the provisioning of gum and other materials necessary to keep the fur trade afloat. Red pine was not the only tree species used in gum production and traditional canoe manufacture in the Border Lakes, but it is one of the longest lived in these forests. It is likely that bark-peeled red pine are but a subset of many CMTs that would have been observable across the Border Lakes landscape during the fur-trade era (Ahlgren and Ahlgren 1984). Other species that were heavily utilized for canoe manufacture include paper birch, northern white cedar, basswood (Tilia americana), white pine, and black spruce (Adney and Chapelle 2007). Whole stands of modified paper birch and spruce likely existed. Historical logging activities, high-wind events, and stand-replacing fire events limit the current distribution of primarygrowth forests and the abundance of CMTs in the Border Lakes. Maximum ages of trees based on tree biology and environmental conditions are another limiting factor. The residence time of most trees in nearboreal landscapes seldom approaches 300 years. Barkpeeled pine are an ephemeral cultural resource of limited time depth, but still span the height of the fur-trade era in the Border Lakes (1770s–1860s) (Johnson 2015) to ca. 1910 (Eldridge 1997). Bark-peeled red pine are part of the subtle human imprint on the landscape of the Border Lakes and are of significant scientific and historical value in that they provide tangible, place- and time-specific evidence of past human activity (Mobley and Eldridge 1992:105) in a natural area with limited documentation of archaeological resources. This dataset is the first portion of a growing network of cataloged and dated CMTs within the Border Lakes that will be used to further delineate areas of heavy traditional Ojibwe use, economic activity, and ecological impacts. As the primary-growth forests of the Border Lakes continue to age, the hundreds of bark-peeled red pine scattered along the Voyageur’s Highway will inevitably disappear, being lost to wind, fire, disease, and rot. Meanwhile, diligent and timely collaboration among subject experts will ensure that the information contained within these unique trees will be gathered, and their history kept alive. Acknowledgments: The field-research component was jointly funded by the National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences Program Grants No. 1359868 and 1359863, and by the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin–– Platteville. John Ludwig, Tim Straub, and Brett Ewald were among several volunteers working with the Forest Service Passport in Time Program, who played a vital role in the archaeological fieldwork at the Petit Rocher de Saganaga site complex. Thank you to Elizabeth Schneider for verifying dendrochronological dates, as well as Doug Birk, Jeffrey Richner, and Sigrid Arnott for providing historical references. Thank you to Sean Dunham, Bill Latady, and David Mather for providing helpful and constructive feedback on an initial draft of this manuscript, as well as Michael Nassaney and two anonymous reviewers for providing thoughtful critiques of an additional draft. Additional thanks to Tom Kaffine, Stephen Veit, Timothy Cochrane, Bill Clayton, Seth DePasqual, and Elizabeth Tanner. Miigwetch to Rose Berens and the Bois Forte Band elders. References Adney, Edwin T., and Howard I. Chapelle 2007 Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Skyhorse, New York, NY. Ahlgren, Clifford E., and Isabel Ahlgren 1984 Lob Trees in the Wilderness. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. Allen, James A 1834 Schoolcraft and Allen––Expedition to North-West Indians. Letter from the Secretary of War Transmitting a Map and Report of Lieutenant Allen and H. B. Schoolcraft’s Visit to the Northwest Indians in 1832. U.S. House of Representatives Document 323, Washington, DC. 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