The spruce tree has been very important to northern Aboriginal people.
Wood
o used to make toys household items
o poles for teepee, chair, firewood, cabin, frame for hide canoes and boats
o black spruce especially used for poles because it has no limbs
Sap
o sweet in spring - sweetness attracts bears
o boiled to drink - used to treat hiccoughs
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Photograph provided by Larry Burke
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Photograph provided by Larry Burke |
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Branches
o shelter
o used for bedding, brooms, flooring
o usde to cover food from animals and insects
o dried branches good for fire starter
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Spruce wood was also used to build cabins and as teepee poles like the models you see to the right and below.
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Model crafted by Larry Burke and available for viewing at the R.L. Angus Learning Resources Centre
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Model crafted by Larry Burke and available for viewing at the R.L. Angus Learning Resources Centre |
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Anoriginal People of Fort Nelson also used Teepees and Tents as dwelling places. The poles or frames were usually spruce.
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Identify the following on the photographs on this page: Cache, Snowshoes, Birch Bark Canoe, axe.
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Model crafted by Larry Burke and available for viewing at the R.L. Angus Learning Resources Centre
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Photograph provided by Larry Burke |
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Decayed spruce wood - used in smoking moose hide
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Spruce Gum
o was heated and melted and used:
o as medication for wounds
o to build canoes [stopping leaks]
o as chewing gum
o sometimes wrapped in moosehide an applied to infections
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Roots
Roots from Spruce trees growing near near muskeg were used to:
o weave into baskets
o to attach bark to the gunwhale on canoes
o used as a lace to fasten materials together
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Photograph provided by Larry Burke
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