Ojibwa Transportation
Canoes
When people think of Ojibwa and transportation they almost always think of canoes. Ojibwa canoes opened up this country. Cunningly made from birchbark they were strong, light and able to carry very heavy loads. Designs varied from community to community and sometimes from family to family.
My grandparents were the only people I knew that still used birchbark canoes regularly. My parents had bought a red cedar strip canoe before I was born and it was the one they usually used for travel...until Kokum decided enough was enough and taught my parents how to build their own birchbark canoe.
Ojibwa children literally grew up in their family's canoes. My brother, for example, began a four day canoe trip the same day he was born. Like all babies, he'd been bundled into a tikinogan (cradle board) to keep him safe and quiet on the journey.
Snowshoes
Snowshoes are another item that people name when they think of Ojibwa transportation. Different tribes were known to have developed different designs, but basically snowshoes were made egg shaped or long and narrow.
Traditional snowshoes had hardwood frames with rawhide lacing. Hunters needing to travel swiftly through heavily forested areas built long narrow snowshoes with upturned toes that were less likely to catch in the underbrush .
Bearpaw snowshoes are oval shaped, rounded and upturned on both ends for manoevering in tight places.
Toboggans
Ojibwa transportation wouldn't be complete without mention of toboggans even though the Anishnaabe never used that word themselves. They used nobugidaban because nobug means flat and daban means drag. Somewhere back in time, I think one of the French couer du bois mixed it up with one of their words, but I don't speak French well so I don't know for sure.
The slats for the toboggans were split from straight logs of hard wood that had been cut in winter when the sap wasn't running. The front end was heated in boiling water then bent upwards. In the old days rawhide covered the bent front end to protect riders, loads were tied to cleats or rawhide straps on the sides, and they were pulled either by dogs or people.
A traditional Ojibwa nobugidaban had a strap at the back that was often held by a companion who ran behind the load. He could pull hard if it looked like the toboggan would slide out of control on a big hill.
