Native Americans | Page 39

Metal sap spigot

Metal spigot used to direct maple sap from a tree. Used by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, 1920–1925.

Wooden sap spigots

Three wooden sap spigots made no later than 1961. Forms part of the Jeannette O. and Harry D. Ayer Ojibwe Collection.

Ojibwe people have made maple sugar, a traditional dietary staple, for centuries. It is easily accessed in the woodlands of Minnesota and can be stored for months without spoiling. While the technology used in the process has changed over the years, Ojibwe people continue to harvest maple sugar in the present day.

Henry Schoolcraft

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Copied from a daguerreotype by Beal Brothers, ca. 1855.

Map of place names related to Ozaawindib

Map of places named after Ozaawindib in present-day north-central Minnesota: Ozaawindibe-Zaaga’igan (Ozaawindib Lake, also called Lake Plantagenet), Ozaawindibe-Ziibi (the Ozaawindib River, also called the Schoolcraft River), Yellow Head Point on Lake Itasca, and Ozawindib Lake in Itasca State Park. Created by Lizzie Ehrenhalt, 2018.

Ozaawindibe-Zaaga’igan (Ozaawindib Lake)

The lake in Hubbard County named for the Ojibwe leader Ozaawindib (also called Lake Plantagenet), ca. 1930.

Ozaawindib (late 1700s‒?)

Ozaawindib was a prominent figure among the Cass Lake Ojibwe in the early 1800s. As an agokwa (a person deemed male at birth who took on women’s roles), she interacted with white travelers and traders in Minnesota and was active in conflicts with the Dakota. In 1832, she led Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and his expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi. As a result, Schoolcraft gifted her a medal to designate her chief of the local Ojibwe.