Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 3

Comparison of the Faunal Remains from French and British Refuse Pits at Fort Michilimackinac: A Study in Changing Subsistence Patterns

by Charles E. Cleland

The Functional Integration of Subsistence Patterns

A thorough analysis of any subsistence pattern must account for the functioning of this system within the context of the culture in which it operates. The generalized cultural patterns which characterized Fort Michilimackinac during its two periods of occupation were fundamentally different. Binford (1962) has pointed out some of the implicit cultural factors which influenced the structure of these societies.

While the French occupied Michilimackinac, the fort functioned primarily as a trading and mission center. The society of this establishment must have been a rather egalitarian one composed of a few soldiers, private traders and their wives (who were frequently Indian) and children. These residents were more or less isolated in the back country of New France at the end of a long and tenuous supply line extending from Montreal to Quebec, hundreds of miles to the east. As a result, these people had to be capable of surviving by their own devices.

The character of Michilimackinac was abruptly changed under British domination. Then the fort became a military garrison linked to other British army posts by a fairly well-developed line of supply and communication. The social interaction of the inhabitants was no longer based on egalitarian principles but was now highly stratified with a privileged class consisting of the officers and wealthy traders. The affluence of this society with its farms, storehouses and comparatively heavy marine traffic far outstripped the earlier French colony. When we can observe such remarkable differences in the technological, social and ideological systems of these two societies, it is logical to assume that differences in these systems would have resulted in significant differences in the subsistence patterns.

The statement has been made that the differences between the subsistence patterns of the aboriginal and historic occupations considered in this study result from the dependency of historic settlers on non-local storable foods. The availability of additional food resources seems to have been dependent upon three factors: (1) logistic support from the outside; (2) the ability or desire to produce foodstuffs locally, and (3) the availability of food through Indian trade channels.

Turning first to the French occupation, we can see at once from the food remains that these people were doing more for aging than the British; they were also more heavily dependent upon large wild game and less upon domestic species. This situation might be expected, since the French occupants were not strongly supported by supplies from the outside. A letter from De Beauharnois, Governor of New France, to the French Minister dated in 1745 gives us some clue to these problems.

I offered licenses for nothing — especially to Detroit, in order that there should be abundance of goods at that post — only ten went up this year: I was obliged to give seven of these licenses gratis, in return for conveying the effects of the Commandant and of the garrison [11,400 pounds according to a marginal note] which could not otherwise be carried up without great expense to his Majesty. I have not been able to find sale, either for the usual number of licenses for the post of Missilimakinac, to which place only nine canoes have gone, after considerable solicitation: for the same reasons that I have just had the honor to set forth, which apply equally to all the other leased posts; also to those of Niagara and Fort Frontenac, which are hardly better provided with goods necessary for the Indian trade there, and will be much less so next year, no supplies of any description having reached us this year (Thwaites 1906, 17: 449).

It is not surprising that the French at Michilimackinac were not utilizing many domestic animals, especially if one considers the difficulties of transporting a cow in a freight canoe. To supplement their diet, the French grew some crops (but probably with no great success), imported some domestic species such as the pig, and traded for food with the Indians. The Indian trade was probably a major food source, and the volume of such trade was no doubt partially the result of kin ties with local populations. The Ottawas, for instance, complained to the governor of New France in 1742 that the Jesuit fathers of Michilimackinac took such a large percentage of the income of the indentured gunsmith, Amiot, that his Indian wife, Sakise, and their eight children were forced to come daily to the Ottawa camp to beg for food (Thwaites 1906, 17: 372-3). Although the exact volume of the Indian trade in foodstuffs is unknown, we have indications that it was carried on at a high level. La Potherie observed that "They [Saulteur] carry on an extensive traffic in this fish at Michilimackinac, where both the savages and the French buy it at a high price" (Blair 1911: 276). Elsewhere La Potherie refers to tribes such as the Huron and Ottawa who lived near Michilimackinac saying that:

They make a profit on everything. They catch whitefish, herring and trout four to five feet long. All the tribes land at this place, in order to trade their peltries there. In summer the young men go hunting, a distance of thirty to forty leagues, and return laden with game, in autumn they depart for the winter hunt..., and return in the spring laden with beavers pelts, various kinds of fat, and the flesh of bears and deer. They sell all of which they have more than enough. They would be exceedingly well-to-do if they were economical; but most of them have the same traits as the Sauteurs (Blair 1911: 282-3).

In addition to fish and game, the French bought corn from local Indian groups. La Potherie observed that these groups "reserve the slenderest provision of grain [for their families], and sell the rest at a high price" (Blair 1911: 281-2). In fact when the Ottawa of Michilimackinac tried to move to more productive farming country in the valley of the Muskegon, De Beauharnois, then Governor General of New France, tried to persuade them to find suitable lands near the fort. In part he said,

Choose, My Children, that one of all those Places that Suits you, and reflect well upon the matter. Remember the advantages you have enjoyed in Being near the French, who buy your Canoes, your gum, your Indian corn, your fats and all that your industry produces; this enables you to live more Comfortably with your families, and you would not enjoy those advantages if you Were far Away from them (Thwaites 1906, 17: 352).

It thus seems apparent that the French inhabitants of Fort Michilimackinac were largely living off the land by hunting, fishing and trading with the Indians, but nonetheless a great margin of economic security was provided by domestic stock, gardening and imported foods.

When we look at the variety of species, number of species and the meat provided by the animals represented by British food remains, it is immediately evident that the British were not heavily dependent on local food sources. The meat of domestic species such as pig, cow and sheep all but replaced wild game meats such as the moose and bear. Table 4, which was constructed from Appendices A, B, and C, shows that while the French obtained roughly one-third of their meat from domestic animals and slightly less than one-half from big game, the British obtained more than three-fourths of their meat from domestic stock and less than one-tenth from big game. The greater use of domestic species seems to be due primarily to the development of a better transport system and may be considered as both a matter of convenience and economy.

The economic aspects become apparent if we calculate the average amount of meat provided by the large animals killed by peoples of the three occupations involved. Each mammal killed by Juntunen people, who had no large domestic species, produced an average of 99 pounds of usable meat; each large animal killed by the French produced about 144 pounds of meat on the average while those large mammals killed by the British produced 164 pounds of meat. These figures demonstrate the advantage of keeping domestic stock.

The heavy traffic of sailing vessels on the Lakes during the British period of occupation brought not only more livestock but a much greater quantity of other foreign foodstuffs to Fort Michilimackinac. The papers of John Askin, a wealthy British trader who lived at Michilimackinac from 1768 to 1780, are filled with numerous references to the importation of such livestock as horses, oxen, pigs, sheep, and preserved foods such as barrels of salt pork, and beef, peas, hominy, rum, tea, sugar, cheese, butter and thousands of pounds of flour and corn. Even so, the volume of goods and material imported was inadequate, especially in winter. In April 1778, John Askin wrote:

I am informed from Detroit that it (corn) will cost 24/ the Bushell Unhulled & without Bags, but thats not the worst how to get it here now the Vessells are Stopt, the Kings Vessell will come as usual perhaps, but besides Kings Stores, she has to carry for so many persons, that each can have very little on Board. I myself could [load] her twice. . . (Askin 1928: 74).

Askin also notes at one point that the fort's flour store had gone bad during the winter and that he had "2,000 weight" of flour made into bread for himself and the garrison's officers. In the same context he observes that:

My own family consists of about 20 persons always, none of which I assure you is accustomed to live without bread nor ever Shall as far as in my power to prevent it, & I really should think it very hard even to be put on the footing of the Inhabitants of Detroit, many of which seldom eat Bread (Askin 1928: 105).

The less wealthy citizens and soldiers of Fort Michilimackinac were even less fortunate.

Even the intermittent supply network of the British was far superior to that of the French in that it not only brought more food more often but also the means of producing food. John Askin, in fact, started a farm on which he grew, or tried to grow, peas, onions, beans, squash, cucumbers, spinach, pumpkins, cabbage, turnips, parsley, lettuce, carrots, beets, potatoes, corn, rye, buckwheat and oats. Askin's success in this venture was probably quite limited because of the short growing season and poor soil, but at least the available food supply must have been implemented by some of these locally grown crops.

The proportional rise in the volume of imported foods and the added ability to produce more food locally must have acted to decrease reliance upon wild game and foods obtained from the Indians. In fact, by the last few years of the British occupation, the loss of local Indian hunters due to acculturation and the depletion of local game populations resulted in the virtual abandonment of the Indian food trade. In June of 1779, Major De Peyster, commandant of Fort Michilimackinac, brought this fact to the attention of his superior, General Haldimand.

I am sorry to acquaint your Excellency that the scheme by supplying the Troops here with anything but store provisions is impracticable, the taking of fish is too precarious most of what they (fishing details) take now I supply the Indians with. And as to the Indian meat there are not five carcasses of any kind brought to this Port in the course of a year. Formerly there used to be more, but there are fewer animals, and the Indians since the beginning of the War are become very idle, even in the hunting Season. I am obliged to help to maintain all who live within fifty or sixty miles of this place, were if not for the sugar in the spring many would starve. If purchased a dried carcass or two is brought from afar in the Spring, the buyer pays at the rate of two shillings per pound (Michigan. Historical Comm. 1886, 9: 383).

During the British period hunting for game, particularly water fowl and passenger pigeon, seems to have taken on a sports-like quality and become more a profitable pastime than a serious economic pursuit.

Just as the different technologies and social structures of the French and British occupants of Fort Michilimackinac had their influences on the types of subsistence patterns which emerged during these periods, so must have the attitudes and beliefs of these people influenced the kinds of foods which they consumed. For instance, religious dietary regulations, such as the use of fish on meat fasting days, may be an important factor in determining how much of one kind of food or another was consumed. The Catholic population of the French fort may therefore have consumed more fish per capita than the predominantly Protestant British.

Another perhaps more significant but less easily defined set of attitudes which set apart the French and British occupations of Michilimackinac was the way in which the people of these cultures related to their homelands. May (1963) points out that the old concept of Michilimackinac being a crude frontier outpost whose inhabitants had few, if any, comforts of life did not apply to everyone who lived there. The British trader, John Askin, for instance, boasted that his wife and daughter wore the latest London fashions, while he himself was carried about in a sedan chair borne by his two Negro slaves, Jupiter and Pompey. Certainly Askin felt himself a part of wider circles than those imposed by the fort's stockade. The same can be said for the British military establishment whose officers and men were, no doubt, all familiar with the streets of London. In short, the British of Michilimackinac were "transplanted Englishmen," men who must have preferred roast beef, salt pork, biscuits and Bristol beer to spruce beer, moose, sagamity and corn gruel. Fortunately, the British logistic system was sophisticated enough to gratify most of these food preferences.

The French residents of Mackinac could not maintain such exotic food preferences. Moreover, it is probable that most of the French inhabitants, whether immigrants from France or French Canada, were not accustomed to fare much different from what was available to them at Michilimackinac. Few, if any, of the French of Michilimackinac came from the high strata of French society. While the British were seeking to maintain or to imitate the traditions of contemporary England, the French did not display such tendencies. They were, in essence, French peasants being French peasants at Michilimackinac. The artifacts from the houses of French traders and soldiers clearly indicate that these people were not participating in the mainstream of French culture. It is not, therefore, logical to expect that the French at Michilimackinac longed for coq au vin or crêpes suzette, but were probably quite satisfied with the foods provided by themselves and their Indian compatriots.