The Indians of Iowa

A Closer Look: Indian Houses and Landscapes

A CLOSER LOOK Indian Houses and Landscapes Iowa’s tribes lived in large villages in the major river valleys during the warmer farming season from late spring to fall. The rivers were the major travel and trade routes, especially before the coming of the horse. Most of Iowa’s tribes used dugouts rather than bark canoes. The crop fields were located on the lower river terraces where annual flooding replenished the fertility of the soil. Corn was the staple crop, but beans, squash, pumpkins, sunflowers, melons, and tobacco were grown as well. The summer village itself was built on the higher terraces, out of the reach of floodwaters. These larger villages were moved about every five to seven years, when soil and resources like firewood were depleted. The arrangement of the village houses may have looked somewhat haphazard to strangers, but it was based on kinship and other practical considerations. There were also special structures like drying racks for crops, sweatlodges, and small shelters to provide privacy for women during their menstrual periods. Trails led up and out of the valleys, passing such features as areas for lacrosse games and horse racing. Finally, most graveyards and burial mounds were built on the valley rims or other high points, so as to provide an easier path to the Milky Way and the lands of the dead. The usual type of summer house was the bark-covered lodge, oval in form, built on a gridlike frame of saplings that were tied together ; other bark lodges were square. Bark houses were too leaky and drafty for winter use. People tended to live and work outside, often under the shade of an arbor attached to the front of the lodge. Smoky fires drove away insects. The family used the indoors only for sleeping and storage and during rainy and unpleasant weather. There were benches along the Indian Houses and Landscapes 73 walls used for sitting and sleeping, covered with finely woven bulrush mats and hides. Storage areas were under the benches, in cache pits built into the floors, and on overhead shelves. In bad weather and at night, cooking could be done indoors, but generally most cooking was done outdoors. During the annual buffalo hunts, the people adopted the use of the tentlike buffalo-hide tipi, which was very portable. It also could withstand the fierce winds and storms of the open prairies and plains. When the cold part of the year approached, most people left the village and split up into smaller family groups to trap beavers or hunt wildfowl, to gather sap for maple sugar, or to ice-fish. Those who were too old or ill to travel stayed behind, with family members to look after them. These smaller winter camps were located in side valleys thick with trees and brush, which gave good protection against the winds. Also, camps were not located in the bottoms, as cold air tends to flow downslope to settle. Around the houses one could see other areas for curing hides and boiling sap. Winter houses were much smaller, dome-shaped, and covered with tightly woven cattail mats and worn bulrush mats. Mats also covered the floors. While the bark lodges were large to accommodate extended families, the winter houses provided space only for the nuclear family; their small size, tight coverings, and small cooking fires kept them warm all winter long. ...