THE LEGEND OF BLACK STURGEON LAKE
I've been saying for years it feels like something is off when up at Black Sturgeon Lake... Our family camped up there for 14 years of my life, not counting they years before I was born, as my grandparents also camped there. But one thing I noticed, it always seemed like there was something strange every time I was there, something was off, like we were being watched... Just, something. I couldn't ever put my finger on it.
Well in digging through the old Northshore Sentinel today looking for oddities in our neck of the woods I came across an article from the early 1960's. I was definitely intrigued when I read the title: CRAFT AND CRUELTY THE LEGEND OF BLACK STURGEON LAKE! I read it and snapped a photo with my camera, rather than write the whole thing up, I will share the photo with you and you can read the article for yourselves.
Firstly here's how these things seem to come about. Something happens historically, and if not written into recent archive, it just turns into a story, and from there it turns into a legend where most people will shrug their shoulder and walk away and say "bah, it's just a legend." Is it though? The snake part is a hard pill to swallow, but these things tend to happen in native legend...
Okay now that I have some time, here is what the article says:
"This article was taken from the book "The Eagle of Thunder Cape", a collector's item written by W.S. Piper. The book can be seen in the Port Arthur Library,
The village of Mahkuda Nahma Sahguhegan (Black Sturgeon Lake) was less fortunate when it became the scene of a deadly battle. At Black Sturgeon Lake the Sioux and Ojibways had met previously in a number of bloody encounters, although it was at Black Sturgeon Lake that the greatest craft and cruelty were shown.
Black Sturgeon Lake is situated South of Lake Nipigon, its North-West extremity being about half a mile from South Bay and is connected thereto by a portage known as Flat Rock Portage and the Black Sturgeon River, draining the lake, empties into the Nipigon River below the Victoria Rapids.
The sturgeon of this lake were very dark in the skin, a condition induced by a peculiar pigment in the water, and were consequently known as "black sturgeon", being noted for their rich delicious flavor and much preferred beyond any sturgeon found in the other waters of the District. They were always eagerly sought after and commanded a high exchange value in the barter of the Country.
One Summer while at their annual work of catching and curing these famous fish, one of the Band, on going to lift his net found entangled therein an immense sturgeon nearly ten feet in length.
There was a great rejoicing amongst the inhabitants of Sturgeon Village and the one who was credited with the catch was feted by everyone, although he boasted of his catch in much the same manner as would the lucky fisherman today.
The fish was taken the to tribal fish house and there placed on exhibition, the whole Band being invited to view this wonder and to participate in the fest and dance to be held in honor of this truly royal fish, the feast and dance of Ogama Nahma, the King of Sturgeon.
At that time there was a band of Sioux warriors on the trail between Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior which lay in part by way of Sturgeon Lake and its outlet river.
They were under the command of a famous magician named Kenehig who sent forward one of his spies to visit the Ojibway camp to obtain a report on its disposition and the number of its warriors. Speaking the Ojibway language freely he was gladly welcomed as a friend and was treated with every kindness.
On being taken to see the King of Sturgeon he appeared to be keenly interested and when leaving, at the end of the day, declared that he must take one more look at this wonderfully large sturgeon.
Every member of the Band attended the dance with the exception of one woman who was compelled to remain in her own camp to care for a sick child and although she was quite isolated and a considerable distance from the village she could nevertheless see the reflection of the fire and hear the roll of the drums.
Near midnight everything seems unusually and ominously quiet; the fire was not visible and the roll of the drums had ceased. The fact that her husband, with other members of her family were attending the feast caused her some uneasiness at this strange occurrence.
As the first day and night passed and neither firelight or roll of drums returned, her uneasiness increased until she became convinced that some serious, terrible thing must have happened. So, on the second day, after a restless night, she set out for the village.
On arriving, she was stunned when no visible sign of life was apparent although the whole ground seemed strewn with sturgeon bones. Loudly she called for her friends but no answering call came back to her ears. Running from camp to camp she found no living soul but, on looking into the fish camp, she was horrified to find it swarming with snakes of an immense size.
The depth of her terror may be readily imagined; not a living soul in sight and swarm of those writhing, hissing and loathsome reptiles surrounding her. She lost no time in making a precipitous retreat to her own camp where she was compelled to remain some time until her child had sufficiently recovered to travel.
Then making her way through the trackless forest as only an Indian can, she reached Nipigon and poured out her story, imploring the medicine man to send a party to look for her people. This plea he rejected, stating that such an expedition would be entirely useless as the Spirit of the Maintou Nahama had taken this method of punishing the Band and had turned them into snakes because they had neglected to return the bones of the Ogama Nahma to the waters from whence they came.
Many years elapsed before this camping ground was again visited when the discovery was made that the bones of the long dead Indians were scattered in the bush.
It was afterwards related by a Sioux chief that this huge sturgeon which had given promise of so rich a feast had been secretly poisoned by one of their spies who had visited the village disguised as an Ojibway stranger.
The snakes seen by the woman were Sioux warriors, disguised as snakes, who had lain in ambush until they saw the Ojibways in the throes of convulsion after partaking of the poisoned fish and then rushed out on them with yells of delight, attacking those who were still alive with their clubs and pounding them to death, making of the whole affair a massacre rather than a battle.
To this day no Indian will fish in this lake or eat ___ fish taken therefrom, believing that to do so would provoke the wrath of the Spirit of the Ogama Nahma. The name, Black Sturgeon Lake, has clung to this place all the years since, with it, the fear of the Spirit of the Ogama Nahma."
Interesting for sure... I knew something was up.
Well in digging through the old Northshore Sentinel today looking for oddities in our neck of the woods I came across an article from the early 1960's. I was definitely intrigued when I read the title: CRAFT AND CRUELTY THE LEGEND OF BLACK STURGEON LAKE! I read it and snapped a photo with my camera, rather than write the whole thing up, I will share the photo with you and you can read the article for yourselves.
Firstly here's how these things seem to come about. Something happens historically, and if not written into recent archive, it just turns into a story, and from there it turns into a legend where most people will shrug their shoulder and walk away and say "bah, it's just a legend." Is it though? The snake part is a hard pill to swallow, but these things tend to happen in native legend...
Okay now that I have some time, here is what the article says:
"This article was taken from the book "The Eagle of Thunder Cape", a collector's item written by W.S. Piper. The book can be seen in the Port Arthur Library,
The village of Mahkuda Nahma Sahguhegan (Black Sturgeon Lake) was less fortunate when it became the scene of a deadly battle. At Black Sturgeon Lake the Sioux and Ojibways had met previously in a number of bloody encounters, although it was at Black Sturgeon Lake that the greatest craft and cruelty were shown.
Black Sturgeon Lake is situated South of Lake Nipigon, its North-West extremity being about half a mile from South Bay and is connected thereto by a portage known as Flat Rock Portage and the Black Sturgeon River, draining the lake, empties into the Nipigon River below the Victoria Rapids.
The sturgeon of this lake were very dark in the skin, a condition induced by a peculiar pigment in the water, and were consequently known as "black sturgeon", being noted for their rich delicious flavor and much preferred beyond any sturgeon found in the other waters of the District. They were always eagerly sought after and commanded a high exchange value in the barter of the Country.
One Summer while at their annual work of catching and curing these famous fish, one of the Band, on going to lift his net found entangled therein an immense sturgeon nearly ten feet in length.
There was a great rejoicing amongst the inhabitants of Sturgeon Village and the one who was credited with the catch was feted by everyone, although he boasted of his catch in much the same manner as would the lucky fisherman today.
The fish was taken the to tribal fish house and there placed on exhibition, the whole Band being invited to view this wonder and to participate in the fest and dance to be held in honor of this truly royal fish, the feast and dance of Ogama Nahma, the King of Sturgeon.
At that time there was a band of Sioux warriors on the trail between Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior which lay in part by way of Sturgeon Lake and its outlet river.
They were under the command of a famous magician named Kenehig who sent forward one of his spies to visit the Ojibway camp to obtain a report on its disposition and the number of its warriors. Speaking the Ojibway language freely he was gladly welcomed as a friend and was treated with every kindness.
On being taken to see the King of Sturgeon he appeared to be keenly interested and when leaving, at the end of the day, declared that he must take one more look at this wonderfully large sturgeon.
Every member of the Band attended the dance with the exception of one woman who was compelled to remain in her own camp to care for a sick child and although she was quite isolated and a considerable distance from the village she could nevertheless see the reflection of the fire and hear the roll of the drums.
Near midnight everything seems unusually and ominously quiet; the fire was not visible and the roll of the drums had ceased. The fact that her husband, with other members of her family were attending the feast caused her some uneasiness at this strange occurrence.
As the first day and night passed and neither firelight or roll of drums returned, her uneasiness increased until she became convinced that some serious, terrible thing must have happened. So, on the second day, after a restless night, she set out for the village.
On arriving, she was stunned when no visible sign of life was apparent although the whole ground seemed strewn with sturgeon bones. Loudly she called for her friends but no answering call came back to her ears. Running from camp to camp she found no living soul but, on looking into the fish camp, she was horrified to find it swarming with snakes of an immense size.
The depth of her terror may be readily imagined; not a living soul in sight and swarm of those writhing, hissing and loathsome reptiles surrounding her. She lost no time in making a precipitous retreat to her own camp where she was compelled to remain some time until her child had sufficiently recovered to travel.
Then making her way through the trackless forest as only an Indian can, she reached Nipigon and poured out her story, imploring the medicine man to send a party to look for her people. This plea he rejected, stating that such an expedition would be entirely useless as the Spirit of the Maintou Nahama had taken this method of punishing the Band and had turned them into snakes because they had neglected to return the bones of the Ogama Nahma to the waters from whence they came.
Many years elapsed before this camping ground was again visited when the discovery was made that the bones of the long dead Indians were scattered in the bush.
It was afterwards related by a Sioux chief that this huge sturgeon which had given promise of so rich a feast had been secretly poisoned by one of their spies who had visited the village disguised as an Ojibway stranger.
The snakes seen by the woman were Sioux warriors, disguised as snakes, who had lain in ambush until they saw the Ojibways in the throes of convulsion after partaking of the poisoned fish and then rushed out on them with yells of delight, attacking those who were still alive with their clubs and pounding them to death, making of the whole affair a massacre rather than a battle.
To this day no Indian will fish in this lake or eat ___ fish taken therefrom, believing that to do so would provoke the wrath of the Spirit of the Ogama Nahma. The name, Black Sturgeon Lake, has clung to this place all the years since, with it, the fear of the Spirit of the Ogama Nahma."
Interesting for sure... I knew something was up.
~ Dee McCullay - Dark History
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