Home >> The Beginnings >> Technology >> Shelter >> Early Métis Homes

A typical early Métis home was constructed from hewn logs. Men built high platforms so they could hoist logs up and saw them. Broadaxes and a large 2.7 metre long (eight feet), two-handled whip saw was used to cut logs. One man stood on the platform while another man stood on the ground. The two men then pulled the saw up and down, with the downward stroke doing the cutting. Logs were stacked, chinked, and plastered with clay. Corners were generally dovetailed and in some log homes, dormer windows were built in a high pitched roof. Roof rafters were built on a quarter pitch angle and were placed about 1 metre (3 feet) apart. Rafters were laid with spruce bark shingles and pinned down with long crosswise poles.Instead of a shingle roof, some early Métis homes had grass sod placed over the rafters. In place of glass windowpanes, skinned fawn skin was wetted then nailed across the window opening. When the skin dried, it shrunk to the point that it was opaque and would let in some light.

Indoor fireplaces were made of hay and clay. The exterior of a fireplace was topped with white clay. The chimney was extended a good distance from the roof. Flooring was also made from hewn wood. The floor near the fireplace was plastered to prevent the fire from spreading. In some Métis homes, interior walls were adorned with kettles and drying skins. Food was kept off the floor by a canvas cloth sling. Although metal pots existed, many Métis women knew how to make containers out of birch bark. They would sew the bark with fine roots and seal any seams with spruce gum. Bedding that could be neatly rolled up come morning, included wild bird feathers stuffed into Hudson's Bay Company blankets as well as blankets made out rabbit skin or buffalo robes.

With time and prosperity, Métis homes reflected their owners' ingenuity and status. For example in 1891, Indian Affair Inspector McGibbin described the homesteads on the Michel Reserve, a band of Alberta Métis who took treaty instead of scrip. Michel Callihoo was their chief. McGibbon reported that the people had nice homes that were white washed inside and out. The interior of their homes had box and cooking stoves, bedsteads, tables and other homemade furniture. Out buildings included well-built and maintained fences, stables and pig, hen, and milking houses. The people made their own hay racks, sleds, oars, fork handles, and in some cases, their own harnesses.

[Top] [Back]