How to prepare and spend the winter

From the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Center:

As we brace for winter’s arrival, this week the museum looks back on winters past, before snow machines and recreational sports, and how indigenous groups prepared and spent the winter.

Looking back to the first peoples of the region, the winter was a busy time of year.

Prior to the fur trade, the indigenous economy was at a maintainable level that required constant hunting, trapping, and fishing. Indigenous groups depended on nature itself, so if the winter were harsh, their life would be as well.

In the fall, the Ojibwa, for example, would split up into family units to hunt for the winter. The winter was spent hunting. The first months they were busy trapping. When temperatures fell after the New Year, they could switch to fishing or hunting.

The introduction to Europeans allowed them to rely on other items of necessities which would allow them to survive poor hunting seasons or severe weather. During harsh winters, trappers relied on flour and lard that they would get from the trading post in January and February.

Travelling in the winter used to be much more challenging. Rivers and lakes were the major transportation arteries of the territory, and they were linked to a complex system of summer portages and winter trails. Canoes brought them across water while snowshoes and toboggans helped them cross in the winter on the frozen waters and land.

As prospectors arrived in the north, they adopted the snowshoes and toboggans to help them on their quest for riches in the ground.

Each week, the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre provides TimminsToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.

Find out more of what the Timmins Museum has to offer at www.timminsmuseum.ca and look for more Remember This? columns here.