First Nations in the Pringle Creek Valley Area
Contributed by: David A. Cook, a Colony Scouter with 15th Whitby Beavers
About 13,000 years ago, the glaciers of the last ice age receded northwards from southern Ontario leaving behind large melt-water lakes. One of the largest of those lakes is referred to by geologists as “Lake Iroquois.” It encompassed an area much larger than current Lake Ontario with a water level about 40 metres higher than today's lake. The shoreline was, therefore, farther north and much higher.
Around 11,700 years ago, a new outlet formed for Lake Iroquois. While it used to empty into the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River, the shift resulted in the St. Lawrence becoming the drainage route. The change resulted in a drop in the lake’s level over a 300 year period down to 100 metres below that of today's Lake Ontario. The shoreline also shifted as a result and was far to the south of the modern one.
About 11,000 years ago, a few small groups of people moved into cold, sub-arctic, ancient Ontario from the south following the herds of large game animals. Because their campsites now lie under modern Lake Ontario, little detail is known of these people. From other archaeological sites across southern Ontario, we know that these early people relied on fishing and gathering. For large game, there was caribou, mastodons and mammoths. The landscape consisted mainly of tundra and these small families needed to travel great distances to sustain themselves.
Over the next few thousand years, the climate warmed and the landscape changed to temperate forests much like those we enjoy today.
By about 8,000 years ago, much of the big game had become extinct, the caribou migrated north, and white-tailed deer moved in to take their place.
While Pringle Creek was unlikely to ever have been navigable, The Humber and Rouge rivers to the west became convenient routes north across the Oak Ridges Moraine, into the Lake Simcoe drainage basin and beyond to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. This became known to archaeologists as the “Toronto Passage.” The Trent River to the east afforded access to Rice Lake and beyond to the Kawarthas.
As societies became more complex, related family groups began to come together in late spring and early summer near the mouth of rivers to catch fish, trade, and engage in social and spiritual events around 3,000 years ago. Pottery and more advanced hunting weapons were developed in this same time. Trade expanded to include items from far away. Corn, beans, squash, tobacco, and sunflowers were introduced to this area from trade with families farther south. Dependence on these new crops became more important and the people migrated toward a agriculture-based society. About 1,100 years ago, these people spoke a similar language, referred to by archaeologists as Iroquoian group. These people foreshadowed the Iroquois culture to follow and were made up of two similar cultures; the Glen Mayer culture in western Ontario and the Pickering culture, here and to the east. The other main indigenous language group in Southern Ontario was Algonkian.
The shift from a hunting and gathering culture to an agricultural society resulted in much less mobility and the development of semi-permanent villages. Hunting and gathering continued to supplement their farming.
About 700 years ago, these communities consisting of longhouses, often surrounded by stockades for defence. The villages overlooked their cultivated fields. Each village was inhabited from 10 to 20 years until the soil quality deteriorated and fire wood became depleted.
By 1550, goods from across the Atlantic had reached Natives in this area as a result of trade. There had been no direct contact with Europeans, but the goods had arrived with Native traders who had, in turn, received the goods from other Native intermediaries.
In the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, the Iroquoians of this area slowly moved north to the Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe region to join the developing Wyandot (Huron) confederacy in Huronia. Some also may have helped form the Tionnontaté (Petun) in the Nottawasaga area and Atiouandaronk (Neutral ) on the Niagara Peninsula. As their homeland moved north, the new Huron confederacy used the Toronto Passage as a convenient route south to use this area as a place for hunting and other purposes. The migration north may have been due to the excellent fishing and extensive trade opportunities created by the great network of northern rivers. Additionally, they came into more frequent conflict with the Hodenosaunee (Iroquois) from modern New York state.
First contact with Europeans occurred some time in the 17th century. While it is unlikely that Étienne Brűlé, the protégé of Samuel de Champlain, or Champlain himself ever came directly to this area, they did pass at the west end of Lake Ontario on their way to fight the Wyandot 's Hodenosaunee enemies in New York. Champlain also travelled southeast from Huronia to the Bay of Quinte before crossing Lake Ontario to attack the Iroquois in 1615.
Continued on the button - First Nations cont'd
