Chimneys
There are several known chimneys in the French River and Lake Nipissing areas. One or more or of the chimneys are believed to be from a trading post or home used by Chief Michel Migisi Dokis and his brothers Francois and Joseph Restoule in the 1800 and 1900’s. Others are thought to be posts of rival fur traders like the Hudson’s Bay Company. Regardless of their origin, there remains a great deal of curiosity about them.
Most of the chimney sites are located ON PRIVATE PROPERTY and should not be accessed (especially without prior consent). We have obtained drone footage and photographs of two of them, for informational and educational purposes. The goal is to reduce the need for individuals or groups to unintentionally trespass to view the sites. They are actually not easy to get to so much of the work was left to the drone!
We will continue to add new details about the other chimneys as they are collected. To start with we can take you to two of the chimneys – Chimney Island and Pukwana and talk a bit about three of them. The drone footage can be accessed on the Ganawandaagwad YouTube channel.
Chimney Island
This chimney is located below Chaudière Falls. It is a remnant of a 19th century Hudson’s Bay Post which sits up high and perched up on a cut rock. This site was advantageous for a defensive position as well as being located where the French and Restoule Rivers merge. Although it probably wasn’t used for very long because of its steep location. This chimney has copper ore in it, and it is unknown where the raw copper came from – possibly from Okikendawt portage area before it was blasted to construct the Portage Dam. The site is not recorded in Hudson’s Bay Company records, but evidence of it can be found in the notes of The Georgian Bay Shipping Canal – which reads something like “this post lies near the Indians Graveyard which is decorated in trinkets.”
Dokis Point Chimney - Nipissing First Nation, Lake Nipissing
This site was said to have been the home of Chief Michel Migisi Dokis in the late 1800’s and may have also served as a trading post at the mouth of the Sturgeon River. This house was described by a reporter with the Toronto Star as a very nice home with luxuries and maid service. The Hudson’s Bay Company moved their trading post from the mouth of the La Vase River to the Sturgeon River in order to compete with Dokis.
We do hope to gain permission to spend time at Dokis Point to capture images of this chimney in the future. It is designated as part of Nipissing First Nation’s Heritage Lands.
Okikendawt Rock Pots
Okikendawt means “land of the pots”. This photograph is one of the pots before the channel was blasted for the hydro dam near the second bridge. The rock pots vary in size, but the ones at the Chaudière portage are consistently around 2’ (60cm) in diameter. Offerings were placed into the pots as a prayer for a safe journey.
We find some pots high up in the bush and these were from a time when the river flowed to the east and the water levels were much higher.
Our people compared the pots to pipe bowls and tobacco was placed in them.
The Dodems of our people are a signature of our clan – many of us are of the Eagle and Muskrat Clans. The rock pots are not necessarily a signature of our people but rather a shared resource much like our view of the lands in general – we don’t own them.
Another point of interest for interpretative value is you that you can see the direction of the water flow by the curvature of the pot.
The Okikendawt Warrior (Ogichidaa) Route
The Okikendawt Warrior Route was only to be used by the Nipissing Warriors. Quartz was knapped (shaping a piece of stone) here and made into tools and arrowheads. The unusually large juniper bushes on the top of the portage were used for weapons and bow construction.
Drum Rock
Drum Rock and Offering Caves Warrior Lookout are sacred sites where coins or tobacco are offered, and the drum rock can be sounded. It’s said that these stones were clapped together to ring a warning tone to the local families. At the base of the caves there is also a flat rock which, when stepped on, rings a loud bass tone which can be heard for miles, and it sounds like thunder.
The small caves once housed two round bell rocks that were removed by tourists in the year 2000. The site was also used as a warrior lookout.
There is an abundance of history in this small geographical area of a square mile including the ancient village and a large historic graveyard in which many of our ancestors rest.
Cradle Rapids
Cradle Rapids is named after Cradle Rock which resembles a tikanagan and was repaired by Leonard Dokis and other community members after it was damaged by lightning. Lightning is very prolific at this point. There are no large trees on the site, and you will see lighting scars on many of the trees. We are told never to camp here because it is so dangerous.
Rock paintings at Cradle Rapids are signs of the Midewiwin (the Grand Medicine Society) and hand washing symbols signify a very sacred area.
Nanabush
Nana-Boozhoo, better known as Nanabush, left his mark throughout our lands and he also left us stories which on most occasions have profound meanings.
Nanabush was part Manitou and part man. He is our best known of the Manitous because he much resembled us and he carried our same flaws – we best connect with him.
Nanabush taught us how to dance and tell stories and brought much peace to our peoples, unlike his brothers who would rather bash heads and wage war. Nanabush is long gone but he hopes that we can continue his stories – this is why when we greet each other we often say “Boozhoo” in honour of Nanabush; this means “did you see him”.
Nanabush’s Chair is a large indentation on the rock shoreline; it is imagined to be an outline of his “bum cheeks”. It is located on the Upper French River.