TRADITIONALLY, THE HO-CHUNK built eight different types of lodges. In Van Schaick’s outdoor photographs, the most common types are a long lodge (ciiserec) used for Medicine Lodge and clan feast ceremonies and the round house (ciiporoke), which served as housing. The Ho-Chunk women were responsible for building all lodges except ceremonial ones. Variations existed according to season: the structures were bark-covered in colder months and reed- or canvas-covered in the warmer months, with combinations of these according to weather and availability of materials.
Lodges were erected by driving ironwood poles (ciišu) into the ground, bending them into an arch, and lashing the poles together with basswood bark. The covering on the outside of the lodge would be tied to the poles with more strips of basswood bark. A hole was left in the roof to allow the smoke from the fire to exit. In the summer the Ho-Chunk who still lived in bark-covered lodges would cover them with reed mats, as the mats shed water better than the bark. After its introduction, canvas was used for tents in summer because it was lightweight and easy to roll up for ventilation.
Like housing, work was also seasonal. Before removal by the U.S. government, the Ho-Chunk had been accustomed to traveling to different areas of their territory to take advantage of the bounty of the different seasons. The summers were spent in areas with good soils in which to grow their traditional crops, and the fall and winter found them living in areas with good hunting and trapping. In 1874 Congress passed legislation allowing homesteads of up to eighty acres to those who had returned to Wisconsin. Finding only marginal land available to them, the best land of the original Ho-Chunk territory having been sold to settlers, the returning Ho-Chunk had no choice but to settle on these less desirable tracts of land.
It was difficult to live the old way and support and feed their families, so many Ho-Chunk hired themselves out as farm laborers to earn money. A common way to generate income was to work the various seasonal harvests, including the cherry and cranberry harvests. Local growers would place posters requesting Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) workers for the harvest in early fall. The Ho-Chunk would harvest the crops by hand, often alongside their white neighbors.
Three Ho-Chunk children pose for a photograph in a field known as Browneagle Bottoms. The children, from left to right, are Maude Browneagle (WeHunKah), Liola Browneagle (ENooKah), and Jesse Stacy (MoRoJaeHooKah).
Frank Browneagle (HeWaKaKayReKah) and his wife, Annie Snake (KhaWinKeeSinchHayWinKah), stand in front of their homes, ca. 1906. The wigwam (ciiporoke) on the left is covered with canvas and cattail mats. The stovepipe rising from the roof indicates that they have a wood-burning stove inside. The canvas tent on the right was used as a summer home or cooking house.
A Ho-Chunk man and a dog walking near their home and cooking tent. The sides rolled up to allow air to flow through.
A Ho-Chunk couple and their dog outside of their winter home (ciiporoke), ca. 1890. A Hudson’s Bay blanket hangs over the door opening. The long tree branches leaning against the canvas were used to open and close the smoke flaps on the top of the roof. On the right side of the image is a pile of wood that has been gathered for the winter.
The Ho-Chunk used many different materials to cover their lodges. The earlier lodges had coverings made of cattail mats, deer hides, and sheets of bark. This one is covered with canvas, with a smoke hole visible at the top. When residents were not home, they would simply allow a blanket or mat to hang down over the door opening. A stick or board leaned against the door would indicate that no one was home.
Three unidentified women pose in front of a log home located near Wittenberg, ca. 1910. It seemed strange to many Ho-Chunk to live in a house that was square. Very few Ho-Chunk lived in log or framed houses until the WPA built housing for the Ho-Chunk.
An unidentified person wrapped in a blanket walks across the snow. The wigwam poles (ciišu) of a ciiporoke are visible in the distance.
Three unidentified Ho-Chunk are seated outside of their canvas-covered ciiporoke. A summer house can be seen through the trees.
Two Ho-Chunk men wearing beaded shirts gather cranberries (hoocąke) alongside a Ho-Chunk woman and a white man and woman, ca. 1900. A large group of cranberry harvesters can be seen in the background. The men, who wear beaded shirts not usually worn for work, may have been told in advance that a photographer was coming to take pictures.
A large group of Ho-Chunk and whites harvest cranberries, ca. 1900. The wooden boxes lying in the field were filled with the fruit and then shipped by railroad to the processor.
A group of Ho-Chunk men and boys stand in front of two canvas tents set up at a Ho-Chunk gathering, possibly a cranberry camp. The smiles on their faces and relaxed poses indicate how comfortable the Ho-Chunk were with Charles Van Schaick and his camera equipment.
Alice Cloud and Mrs. Mallory making frybread at a cranberry camp at Trow’s Marsh. The marsh extends from south of Merrillan to north of Millston. Frybread (wasgaptaxere) became popular after the government began providing basic commodities to the tribes. One of the simplest foods to make with the flour was frybread, which has since become an iconic Indian dish.
Seven Ho-Chunk men stand in a cranberry bog holding the hand scoops used to harvest cranberries, ca. 1920. The long narrow slats at the front of the hand scoop were used to strip the berries off the vines. Standing third from left is George Garvin Sr. (WoShipKah); second from right is Jim Swallow (MaPaZoeRayKeKah).
Van Schaick also photographed Ho-Chunk on the streets of Black River Falls. These occasional pictures offer a glimpse into the everyday life of the Ho-Chunk. Here, Harold Blackdeer (WeShipKah) waits with his wife, Nellie W. Blackdeer (CheHaCheWinKah), and their son Earl W. Blackdeer in the snow. This photograph, taken around 1915, was shot from the window of Van Schaick’s studio. The Blackdeer family have their horses packed with goods for the winter.
An unidentified Ho-Chunk man and a white man walk along a boardwalk in down-town Black River Falls, prior to the 1911 flood.
Four Ho-Chunk cross a bridge spanning the Black River. This photograph was taken before the flood of October 1911, when the bridge was completely destroyed.
Annie Massey (KeKoRaSinchKah), left, and Hester Decorah Lowery (NoGinWinKah), ca. 1915. Hester lived to be well over one hundred years old.
Two Ho-Chunk girls wrapped in Racine Woolen Mills shawls walk with a young boy down Water Street in downtown Black River Falls, ca. 1915.
A group of Ho-Chunk gather in front of Werner Drugstore on Main Street in Black River Falls, ca. 1915. The signpost on the right side of the photo indicates that English was not the first language of many of the area’s residents. One side of the post gives the Norwegian word for drug store, “APOTHEK.” The front side reads “MA KO CRO WENA,” which means “medicine sold here” in Ho-Chunk. Thomas Thunder (HoonchHaGaKah) is standing on the left, and Hester Decorah Lowery (NoGinWinKah) is seated next to the building.
Jim Swallow (MaPaZoeRayKeKah) and Pinkey Bigsolder (HoWaWinKah), as well as an unidentified child, cross at the corner of Main and South First Street in Black River Falls, ca. 1915. Jim Swallow was a tall man, at least six and a half feet in height, who lived between Sandy Plains and Shamrock. Early explorers who had contact with the Ho-Chunk often noted how tall they were.