BURNSIDE, THE EARLY YEARS

by Gladyr Paterson

Rat Creek was generously treed along its banks, with majestic oak, birch, balsam, basswood. poplar, and cotton wood. Shrub growth was interspersed through trees. There were saskatoon, high- bush cranberries, nannie berries, pincherries, chokecherries, wild plum, hawthome, dogwood, willows, hazel nuts, and others. Poison ivy and oak, that many remember with sorrow, were present too.

When travellers ventured off the trail in summer, the wagon wheels dripped red with the juice of wild strawberries. Settlers picked all they could keep for winter.

To the artist, the panorama of colour, with the many and varied flowers: crocus, violet, wild rose, prairie lily, primrose, lady slipper and many more, mingled with the grass and trees, was a never ending delight.

Did I mention the grandeur of the prairie sunset? Many settlers wrote back east glowing accounts of Manitoba and what it had to offer. They often neglected to tell of the hardships that all had to endure.

This was Burnside as settlers fOund it. Situated some miles north and east of the first plateau, at the base of what is now called the Manitoba Escarpment: Turtle Mountains, Riding Mountain, Porcupine Mountain and Hills. In a sheltered grove by a running creek, for years it had been a popular meeting place for Indians.

Previous to this, the Manitoba area several times was covered with ice for long periods. The most recent ice age ended 7500 years ago. With it, many clues to records were erased. Two glaciers formed in the Canadian Arctic, met in northern Manitoba, creating a sheet that eventually buried the whole province. As it melted, clays, sands, pebbles, and boulders were released. End Moraines (rock debris) formed as huge hills. Also, high ridges of sand and gravel were left. These, called eskers, usually lack vegetation or have very little lichen or low bush.

When people came they used them as trails to move across the land. Some of the boulders of the moraines, when split, produced

‘ sharp edged tools and weapons.

The melting of the huge mass at first formed Lake Agassiz. Today all that remains forms lakes: Manitoba, Winnipeg, and Winnipegosis. As the water drained away into the Hudson Bay, beach ridges of sand and gravel, much like the eskers, were left.

The first growth as the ice receded was mostly dense stands of black spruce. Where the jack pine forests and grasslands grew favored camping and travel for the early people who followed the animals. They travelled along the ridges spoken of earlier. As the climate changed plants died out, other kinds grew; the dead roots and trunks left a history.

There were people living in Manitoba long before Europeans arrived. However little is known about them. The customs and descriptions of these natives in the journals of early explorers and the findings in recent excavations provide some insight into their lifestyles. Spear points found have been dated as early as 9000 B.C. These points and other forms of weapons have been radio carbon dated and documented as to period of use and association with artifacts elsewhere.

So far there is no sure evidence of a continuous sequence of peoples. It is assumed that there was. They no doubt came to the Turtle Mountain area, as that was where the land first appeared through the ice covering. As the climate and thus vegetation changed so did the types of animals and fish. Where did the animals and fish come from? They survived mainly south and north west of the ice sheet.

Among the first people of this land were those originally from the south. About 7000 years ago it appears they hunted bison on the Great Plains, no doubt, eventually camping at Rat Creek's shady

spot. As the bison were the main source of sustenance the people followed the herds northward as the climate became warmer and drier. For the next 150 generations these first Manitoba residents lived this way. For some time, as it had warmed, they were far enough north that the caribou replaced the bison.

As they progressed. wood working and hunting tools were made. Also stone axes and adzes were used.

Archaeologists have discovered corn kernels over 1200 years old and bison scapula “hoes” which prove that some agriculture was done. Researchers recently found 150 kernels, preserved because they were burned black, in the Red River area, near Lockport.

During these times, groups from different areas, from what is now Canada and the United States, made appearances in what is now Manitoba. The early natives, the first people, could have encountered Forest Dwellers, from the North West Territories, two different Northern Strangers, the Late Arrivals. and the Dene, or Chipewyan, often on unfriendly terms.

Note: Names given to early peoples by Archaeologists may differ in other publications. These were used in Les Pettipas' book “The Old Times—First People of the Land of the North Wind” generously lent to us by the Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Recreation, Historic Resources.

Respect for all life and for the rules of ones group had to be maintained. They believed the spirits shared the land. Protection from evil could be found in prayer and giving of offerings to the Creator. For sickness they used medicine from nature. Until the coming of the white man, a death was generally celebrated in a “feast of great jollity”.

Fish and small animals supplemented their mostly bison (or caribou) fare.

There is evidence that Travellers from the west met the Forest Dwellers around The Pas area and were eventually absorbed. Archaeological diggings that show this are interesting and another story.

The bow and arrow was adopted. So far it has not been discovered whether the idea passed on to others, or if a number of tribes each made its own pattern. Birch bark canoes were made, also snow shoes and toboggans. Dog teams were used. Pottery making began. Today broken fragments of the early pottery are found which help to show the way the people lived. Pottery can survive in the ground for thousands of years and give answers to a host of questions about the past. As tribes had their distinct patterns even broken pieces are historical and informative.

Wild rice, which is really a member of the grass family, Manitoba‘s only native cereal, grows in abundance in some areas, including Elie and Westboume. There is direct evidence that the Natives used wild rice in Manitoba 1000 years ago. “Ricing pits" have been found from about this time. First dried, it was then placed in a pit and the grain separated from the hulls by “dancing” on them. Carbonized kernels have been found near Bissett, Manitoba, dating back to the ninth century. Early explorers realized it was an important food. Alexander Henry stated, in his "Travels" of 1775, that his north west journey up the Saskatchewan River could not have been done without rice.

The North American bison played a more important role in sustaining southern Manitobans than any other species. So numerous were these animals and so central were they as sources of food, raw materials for clothing, and shelter that they have justly earned their position as the dominant figure on the provincial coat of arms.

The ancient natives depended on a much larger bison that had longer horns. A formidable prey for a hunter armed only with a spear. Remains of bison “antiquus antiquus“ have been found as near as Arden, Kenora, and Winnipeg. Climatic changes, warmth, and dryness of the post glacial period proved fatal to the large