Snowshoes

Description:

Cadre de bois garni de lanières de peau crue que l’on attache au chaussure pour marcher sur la neige. (Wooden frame with rawhide strips attached to the shoe for walking on snow.)

References:

Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX. James W. VanStone. 1985. Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: the William Duncan Strong Collection. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.7.

Innu Narrative:

“Before we acquired dogs, and when the snow was really deep and soft, we would have to make tracks very, very early in the morning. We would have tea quickly and then follow the leader to make tracks for the next morning. We would do this by snowshoes. You would have found it very hard. When the dogs came we didn’t have to make tracks during the night.” Etuat Mistenapeo

“Mashkushamish (little bear paw shoes) are usually made for little kids and in desperate times. If you need snowshoes right away. There is one frame across [has one crossbar], the upper part is called the forehead and that is left open. The latter part is webbed. Kautapishush asham (webbed snowshoes [beaver-tail], you take making because they are decorated on the round frame and on the bottoms. The decorations are called uashakushiuna.” Etuat Mistenapeo

“But women seem to prefer the uiuesueuasham. They can also wear the other kinds. Kids usually wear the bear paw snowshoes. If you need snowshoes right away, you can make these very quickly. Just use any old line.” Etuat Mistenapeo.

“Inuit people traded their dogs to Innu in exchange for snowshoes. We traded a pair of snowshoes for one dog. When it comes to cash, they paid $5.00 back then for a pair of snowshoes. Back in Nutak, they used to be $3.00 or $5.00. One time, there was a man named Mr. Hammond who was from Nain. He bought a pair of snowshoes for $10.00. That was the first time that a pair was sold for a higher price. Innu were talking about how high it was.” Shuashem Nui

“The Innu once used all kinds of different snowshoes. One was kautapashutsh-asham, while another was uikuesseu-asham. Another was makutumit. (Translator note: I could not understand the meaning of this word). Another one was maskusham (children used these). Another one was shakusham, while another one was mustukusham, and the other one ushetu-asham (these are the easiest and the best snowshoes to make) for younger men to use to go hunting. Men used to carve them very nicely. When Innu used to make snowshoes back then, they carved the wood into many different shapes in order to make different kinds of snowshoes.” Shuashem Nui

“I’ve seen many snowshoe racers on television, and I find it funny when I see them running because that is not how Innu run with snowshoes. The hole in the snowshoes is called matuniapin (a mouth hole). [MacKenzie lists mituniapi as “line around toe hole of snowshoe”]. You don’t put your toenails in the hole because they would be painful, and you could end up loosing your toenails. The toes were used just enough to get a grip when going up hill. When it comes to going downhill, you don’t put your toes in the hole; you just have to lay it across the bar.”  Shuashem Nui

“When children started using snowshoes, they would use muskushamitsh. I still use snowshoes. My father taught me how to snowshoe, and nowadays, men and women do the lacing. I am still learning the lacing from my wife, Mary Jane. There are two kinds of snowshoes that I make. They don’t take long to make. Mustukushamitsh are made for children, and shakushamitsh are made for women and men.” Shuashem Nui.

I only saw the snowshoes painted with designs. I saw my sister Madeline (Mishta Matinen) making the designs. Did she tell you that she made decorations on snowshoes? She was good at that. She made nice decorations but maybe she forgot how to do that now.” Pinamen (Rich) Katshinak

“First, I have to look for a birch bark or tamarack tree to use for making snowshoes [the frames]. It usually takes me three days to look for the right kind of tree. I start by making the frames. I soak them in hot water and bend them…” Innu informant

Other Info:

Visit the Exhibits section of this website for more Innu stories, images and information on snowshoes.

MacKenzie lists asham kautapishusht as “snowshoe with very short oval tail;” kautapishut as “beaver-tail snowshoe” and mituniapi as “line around toe hole of snowshoe.”

Naskapi dictionary lists waasikusiiun as “tassel on snowshoe frame.”

Eight different types of snowshoes were identified by the Labrador Innu elders. However, the Provincial Museum and Peenamin MacKenzie School collections contain only three types of snowshoes – uikuessiusham (two-bar, bearpaw), papatshitakusham (wood planks) and kautapishusht (beaver-tail). Peenamin MacKenzie School collection contains a model tent with a model snowshoe hanging from a tent post. This is a mashkusham (single-bar), bearpaw snowshoe. MacKenzie Shoebox dictionary lists uikuessiusham as “single-bar, bearpaw snowshoe” not the double-bar one shown here. Peter Armitage note

“Strong paid particular attention to the making of snowshoes, possibly because the activity took place in winter, mostly within the cramped quarters of the ridgepole lodge where it could be closely observed… He noted that the making of snowshoe frames, the boring of holes, and the stringing of primary inner and outer lashings were the work of men, while the weaving of the webbing was done by women… Decorations and personal marks on snowshoes were also the work of men… The pieces of birchwood selected for snowshoe frames were worked as soon as they were cut in order to assure a maximum of resilience. Spruce was used for the crossbars. All the wood used into making snowshoes was first worked roughly to shape with an ax and then finished, after the preliminary bending, with a crooked knife… The first step in the weaving process was the insertion of babiche selvage lines through the holes in the frames and on either side of the forward crossbars. These served for the attachment and strengthening of the webbing, which was babiche made from scraped, untanned caribou skins pegged out to freeze while wet… When a pair of snowshoes was completed, it was hung outside to dry for three or four days. Special care was taken to keep it out of the reach of the dogs, who were fond of fresh babiche. A full day, sometimes longer, was needed to weave one snowshoe and about a week for one person to make a pair, including frame and webbing.” VanStone (1985:17-19)

“The Nenenot are skilled in the manufacture and use of snowshoes of which four styles are used, viz: The ‘swallow-tail,’ ‘beaver-tail,’ ’round-end,’ and ‘single-bar’…The frame is of wood, nearly an inch wide and half an inch thick, usually in two pieces, joined by long lap splices wrapped with deerskin thongs, either at the sides or ends of the shoe…Birch is the favorite material for snowshoes, but is rarely to be had except by those Indians who ascend the Koksoak to its headwaters, so that spruce and larch are generally used…The snowshoe is held to the foot by a wide buckskin thong attached at the semicircular space back of the toe-bar.” Turner (1979[1894]:145-146)

“Some of the Indians acquire great expertness in the use of these snowshoes, and are able to run quite rapidly with them. The width of the shoes causes one to straddle widely to allow one snowshoe to pass above and over the other. Care must be exercised that while bringing the rear foot forward the frame does not strike the ankle and produce a serious bruise. In ascending a hill the toe must elevate the snowshoe to avoid a stumble. In descending the body must be thrown well back or a pitch heels over head ensues, and sometimes the frames strike the back of the head.” Turner (1979[1894]:147-148)

“Everybody wears snowshoes – men, women, and children. Without them travel in winter would be an impossibility, and as the capture of furs is made in winter and the ground to be hunted over must of necessity be of great area, the snowshoe becomes a necessity as much as the canoe in summer.” Turner (1979[1894]:148)