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Long ago on South Foul, Northern Light, Gunflint, and Saganaga Lakes, there were many small Anishinaabe villages. The population of these villages was small because of the long winter seasons, which can have snow on the ground for six months. This is the only time the Nanabozho stories can be told.
Otter Track Lake up that way, was long ago given that name because on the cliffs were the trail of the sacred otter sliding into the water.
In the 1950s and later, the Canadian and American government officials told the native people living on the border lakes to travel to the nearest telephone and inform the government if they found uranium and other minerals. Benny Ambrose, the old man trapper, was allowed to stay within the Boundary Waters “Canoe Qeea” at Otter Track Lake. My brother Jack Blackwell’s book “The Boundary Boy” shows a picture of Benny as he writes about this man. After Benny died, they found on an outside table three unique rocks containing minerals.
Over a few hundred years ago, at Northern Light Lake, “Wa Wa Tey Sa Gai gan,” which means the northern light lake, is a cliff with a pictograph on it. Many arrowheads were found there. This is the location where the Ojibwe had driven away the Sioux. People in canoes splash water with their paddles onto the rocks and they can see the pictographs. For many years arrowheads were found near the borderline battle areas. Finally, the elders told us not to pick up and take the arrowheads because of bad luck associated with them.
I taped Charlie Cook of Gunflint Lake as he passed down stories he had heard from his grandmother. Charlie lived to be 96. One night during a full moon, the Anishinaabe saw lights in the sky. They saw people on top of the cliff standing, dressed in scarlet clothing and wearing many other clothing colors. Some of the sky people wore a special type of hat. The native people spent all night in their canoes smoking their pipes, offering tobacco to the “sky” people. For many nights after the sky people left the cliff, the northern lights filled the sky. Later, the Anishinaabe began having dreams and were given songs and instructions. They made a large hand drum with drawings on it and they built a log lodge. They dressed in similar clothing to the sky people and danced a different way than they do today. Many of these ceremonies stopped in the early 1960s.
Later, I saw one of the drums and knew the people it belonged to. Those people still had clothes from that society.
After the 1854 Lake Superior settlers and miners traveled by canoe deep into the borderline lakes, Northern Light Lake had miners working nearby. During the early 1900’s (I do not know precisely when), the Anishinaabe died of smallpox on Northern Light Lake, although some might have escaped to other villages.
“Saganaga Sa gai gan” is called the lake of the islands and has at least one hundred islands. Next to it is “Little Sag Lake,” where a German trapper, Jack Powell, married Mary Ottertail. Their family descendants still live there today. Dick Powel, in his upper 70’s, still lives there, where he raised his two daughters. When we get together, he and I still speak of many of the stories of the area. But, of course, we always would shout out, “Where is Chief Blackstone’s gold?” Later, you will hear more about the hidden history of Chief Blackstone.
Over one hundred years ago, the Ojibwe moved into the Saganaga Lake area. The fish, moose, and caribou were plentiful, but the agony of a long, terrible cold winter was there as well. Two of Jack Powell and Mary Ottertail’s daughters had gone out trapping and were stuck far away in the forest in a bitter winter storm. They had almost nothing with them, and yet they somehow managed to survive for weeks in the vast wilderness during this long storm.
Later, their brother Mike Powell married Sophie Blackstone Connors, whose mother was Mary Blackstone, a daughter of Chief Blackstone. One son in their family was Joseph Milt Powell, whose great grandmother was “Shaubo Geezhiok,” meaning rumbling thunder of the sky. She was the daughter of one of the most secret chiefs of the Ojibwe. The government kept his history secret. Later, I will do a whole story about Chief Blackstone and his descendants in Cook County and Ontario.
Milt Powell, who left us a few years ago, told us of the battle with the Sioux at “Massacre Island” at Saganaga Lake. Today the island is called “Spruce Island.”
The Ojibwe came by canoe, chased the remaining Sioux back to their island, where they fled into earth dwelling mounds. The Ojibwe lit their flint arrowheads and shot smoking birch into the mounds. Finally, coughing and on fire, the Sioux came running out of the mounds. When they came out they were hit and killed on Massacre Island. No one knows the number of Sioux who lost their lives that day, but slowly, the Sioux were driven further west. Much later, the Sioux lived in South Central and the western part of what today we call Minnesota. Later, in the middle 1800s and until 1915, the Ojibwe were led by Chief Blackstone one and two. The first Chief Blackstone died in 1885, and then his son, the second Chief Blackstone, became chief. The first Chief Blackstone had three wives, although that doesn’t mean he had three wives at one time. Still, some men at that time had two wives. The first Chief Blackstone’s life has been kept a secret by the U.S. and Canadian governments. As I said, I will do a history of him later.
North of Saganaga Lake is Agawabay of Lake Kanipi, which is on Canadian land. This land was made into a reservation, and Chief Blackstone’s people moved to it. Chief Blackstone’s father was an English Army high-ranking man. His mother was the daughter of a chief. It is hard to find much of this information, but some of it is in writing. His native name was “Bah in dey geezhik,” which refers to a “hole in the sky”, which the creator uses to look down on the earth.
Chief Blackstone joined Sitting Bull and Louis Riel, the half-breed Frenchman who, along with the Canadian Cree, all fought to drive the white man from further taking their land, their Buffalo, their religion, and their way of life.
They held up a train, took the gold, and tried to finance a revolt. Blackstone had his own gold mine. In the battle of Little Bighorn and the defeat of Custer, some say Chief Blackstone was somehow involved. After Louis Rich and the Cree were defeated and Sitting Bull was killed, the army could not find Chief Blackstone. Records show that in 1881, Chief Blackstone was taken to England to see Queen Victoria. English history says that Blackstone gave the most prominent gold nugget to the queen of England that she was ever given. He came back and lived until 1885. At that time, his village was wiped out by the white man’s smallpox. Chief Blackstone traveled to today’s Ely or Basswood Lake and asked for help from the government for his village. Receiving none, he traveled to Winter, Minnesota, and tried to wire for help from the Canadian government so his village could receive medicine. He received no support, and as he was dogsledding back to his village, Chief Blackstone died.
Blackstone’s daughter “Shaub o Geezhig ok” (rumbling thunder lady) lived to be 116 years old. She was the great-grandmother of Milton Powell. Milt Powell’s dad carried the blind old lady on his back when she picked blueberries. When Milt went to fight in the Korean War in the early 1950s, she had ceremonies constantly, praying, singing, and dreaming of him. When he returned and was finally back in Grand Marais, Milt was told that “Shab o Geezhig ok” had been taken to an old folk’s home in today’s Thunder Bay, Ontario. Milt drove to see her. Milt was far, far away from her room when he heard her cry out, “Ba Teece—Ba Teece, which means little brown bird which stays near in the fall. As she cried out in happiness, Milt hugged her and cried on her shoulder. She couldn’t speak any English, but Milt’s mother spoke it fluently. She died that year at age 116. Milt’s mother’s name was Sophie, “Deybahsanok,” which means low thunder in the sky. She told many stories of the borderline lakes. I helped the family when they were growing old in Grand Marais. I gave them tobacco and goods for teaching me medicines. Milt’s daughter, Chris Powell, was dreamt by an Ojibwe elder to be a gift for Sophie. Today Chris has the pages of this history, and she carries a CD of my tape recording with the elders. Cook County and our surrounding area is a special place with a unique history. Magwitch! Which means thank you to our elders and our past. Yes, from our hearts. William (Billy) Blackwell
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