The Algonquians lived on the eastern side of United States and Canada.  They lived in long houses.  They bent branches that were covered in birch bark.
    The Algonquians hunted for most of their food.  They hunted moose, deer, elk, bison, and a lot more.  They picked nuts, wild berries, and other plants.  The Algonquians fished and grew vegetables.  For hunting they used bows, spears, guns, traps, and knives.  Sometimes they dressed up in the skins of animals to sneak up on their prey.
    The men of the tribe wore leather aprons and leggings made of animal skins.  They would shave the right side their head so their bow strings would not get tangled in their hair.  Before war they would color their bodies to frighten their enemies.  They would also wear a lot of jewelry. The women would wear deer skin aprons and had long hair.
    The Algonquians traded beads, meat, fur, and leather with the English settlers.  They used beaver skins for money.
 

     The Chippewa Indians were located near the Mississippi River and along the northern border of Michigan.  They lived in teepees and wigwams.  Wigwams are little round houses that they used in the  spring .  The wigwams and teepees were made  of  birch bark.  They usually made their villages near rivers and lakes.  They used rocks for sharpening tools.  Instead of chopping down trees they burned around the bottom of the tree.
    They used canoes for traveling and to harvest their rice.  Their canoes were made of birch bark. The birch bark was sewn together with roots.
    They lived on the corn and wild rice they harvested as well as hunting deer, moose, bears, and other small game.  Fishing was a well liked sport as well as an important part of the food chain for them in order for their survival. They made sugar sap from maple trees.  They used sugar to season their food because they didn't know about salt yet.
    The tools they made were their own.  They made their own arrows out of sticks and tips out of rocks.  They used lots of different tools, such as snowshoes, birch bark canoes, wooden sleds, and spears.
    They moved with the animals when they hunted.  Each time a bear was killed a special ceremony was held.  The Chippewa thought that every animal was their brother.  They also believed that the animals were placed on earth by Great Spirits.  In the 1600's the Indians started trapping.  They traded furs and other tools for guns and cooking supplies.  By the 1800's all the Chippewa Indians were on reservations.
 

    The Fox Native Americans were called " Mesquakie."  Mesquakie means " the people."  The Fox tribe ate mostly the food they grew.  They grew squash, beans, tobacco, gourds, corn, and pumpkins.  They caught fish. The houses were built from tree bark and branches. They made their houses in the forests. Their clothes were made from the skins of game. They hunted deer, bear, moose, and rabbit. Their medicines were natural. They were made from berries, leaves, roots, and more. For transportation they either rode horses or took a canoe since they lived on the Great Lakes. The tools they used were feathered fans, hid scraps for tanning, wooded paddles for mixing food, knifes, sheaf, bows, spears, arrows, and guns.
 
 

     The Iroquois were very interesting. They  wore masks called false faces, which were carved from live trees, to scare away spirits. There were meetings of the False Face Societies, and there were minor feasts and dances.  The boys (at one point) would go about the village wearing the masks and demand presents on a trick-or-treat basis.  They wore the masks and ran around chanting with turtle rattles to drive away the demons of disease.  The Iroquois held six great occasions each year. Each had several days of ceremonies, feasts, and fun.
    They were good at woodworking.  They carved all their utensils, such as ladles and spoons.  They smoked tobacco pipes.  The Iroquois used many herbs.  They lived in long houses in the woodlands.  They would hunt woodland animals for their fur, meat, and bones.  They were not wasteful and used the whole animal.  They would also use fish they speared for food.  They had dogs. They played the game of Lacrosse and Snowsnake.
    The Iroquois used canoes for transportation but they were not very good at constructing them.  Instead of birch bark they mainly used elm and sometimes butternut or hickory.  As a result their canoes were crude, heavy and didn't last very long.

     Kickapoo Indians were a tribe who lived in the Great Lakes region of the United States, before white settlers arrived.  Until the 1800`s, the Kickapoo inhabited woodland areas. They built dome shaped wigwams covered with bark to live in.  They hunted bison, deer, and other woodland animals in those areas. Fishing was also a way of providing food for the tribes. The Kickapoo traded beaver pelts (that were very popular in Europe) and other pelts and skins with the traders.  They also grew beans and tobacco and harvested wild rice.  They collected sap from maple trees and used it to sweeten their foods.
    Today the Kickapoo Indians are divided into three groups.  One of the groups lives near Oklahoma City, another is in southern Texas and northern Mexico, and the third group lives in northeastern Kansas. It is believed that the Wisconsin River is really the Kickapoo River.
 
 

     The Menominee were located on most of the eastern half of Wisconsin, stretching as far south as Milwaukee and including most of the upper peninsula of Michigan.  The Menominee Indians had two kind of houses.  A summer house for the hot summer days, that was rectangular, and made out of elm or cedar bark.  The winter house was a dome shape, it was made from poles that were bent and covered with long strips of bark.  Both of the houses were called "wiikiops" (wike-ee-ups).
    The tools that the Menominee Indians used were mostly the bow and traps.  Their way of transportation was by foot and water.  In the winter they used snowshoes.
    Their clothing of skirts, leggings and breechcloths were made out of deer skin.  They also wore moccasins.  The Menominee traded with the French for furs and they traded with other tribes for the things they needed.
    The food that they ate was deer, moose, elk, fox, wolf, rabbit, otter, mink, and marten.  They also had berries and nuts.  People today still call the Menominee Indians " the wild rice people."

     The Mohawk Indians were a group of the Iroquois Indians.  They lived in the area of Canada that is north of New York.  There is an estimated number of 10,000 Mohawk Indians that live in the Canadian region.  Mohawks have a long history of their fierce battling.
    The name Mohawk comes from the phrase "eats living things," because they hunted, deer, bear, moose, rabbits, squirrels, and many other animals.  They believed in animal spirits, and therefore they did not waste any of the animal.  While men where hunting, Mohawk women grew and gathered corn, beans, and squash, and also nuts, berries, and roots.
    The long houses in which they lived were made of birch bark.  They would cut down a tree and put one end in the ground like poles.  Then they tied wood on the poles and put birch bark in the cracks.  That kept out the cold.
    They used bows and arrows until the white man came and traded guns.  Wampum belts were used as money for trading with the English.  The Mohawk Indians used canoes as a mean of travel.
 

     The Ottawa Indians lived north and east around the Great Lakes.  They were the greatest traders along the Great Lakes.  They wore buffalo skins and moccasins.  The Ottawa hunted moose, rabbit, beaver, wolverine, and grouse.  They used spears for fishing and bows for hunting.  They would burn tobacco in the fire to cure coughs and colds.  They also called upon the medicine man when a baby was born for inspection while the parents told about their heritage.
     Ottawa Indians lived in wigwams.  First the women would draw a circle on the ground.  Then they would stick poles in the ground two feet apart.  The pole would be arched to the opposite pole and tied.  The remaining poles were made into rings to make the wigwams stable.  The women would collect cattails, soak them in water, peel the outside layer and let them dry till spring.  They would take the flexible part and make a mat.  Then they tied them over the wigwam.

     These Indians are also known as the Neshrabx.  They live along the shores of Green Bay and along the Michigan shore line.  The Neshrabx brought with them from the north technology for transportation. For winter transportation they made and used snowshoes and toboggans.  For long distant travels in warm weather the people made light weight canoes.  As woodland people they lived in search of food, traveling with other groups.  Deer were very important.  The women cooked deer meat and served it fresh, or preserved it by smoking or drying it.  Bones and antlers were carved into jewelry, charms, needles  and other tools.
 
 

     The Sauk Indians belonged to the Algonquian language group. They lived with their close relatives the Fox Indians. The Iroquois drove them out of Canada and Michigan, so they settled in Wisconsin.  The Sauk Indians lived in long houses.
    When they went on long hunting trips, they built a round hut to live in.These round houses were made out of stakes covered with matting.  They traded for for guns to shoot the deer and bear they hunted.  The bows and arrows were also used for hunting for small and large game.  The Sauk made them out of wetted wood which was bent to a round stick.  The arrows were made out of strong sticks and rocks sharpened to a point sharp enough to kill a buffalo in a few blows to the heart.
    The Sauk used snowshoes for walking in the deep snow.  They used the leaves of certain plants to cure wounds and diseases.  They wore deer skins and feathers.  The women went out in the canoes and collected wild rice.  This was stored for the wither food supply.
 
 

     The Shawnee were located in the eastern forests of North America.  The tools they used were mostly bows and arrows.   They walked all the time until the 1700's.  Then horses came with the white men.   There were about 10,000 in the 1700's.  This was a decrease from 50,000 in the 1600's.  The Shawnee used bows until the late 1700's. They then used guns, but bows were still popular.
    The Shawnee culture is much like the Kickapoo.  When they were under attack they sought refuge in the woods in the Wisconsin forests.
    The Shawnee used some different kinds of herbs, weeds, and powder.  The lived in teepees because they were very easy to move and they moved a lot.
 

     Winnebago means "people of the filthy water."  This referred to the algae rich water.  The first known location of the Winnebago was in the northeastern part of Wisconsin in 1634 near Lake Michigan.  The Europeans have known them since 1634. The Europeans found them living on the shores of Green Bay.  Their closest neighbors were the Algonquians. They were divided into tow groups, or moities.  These were composed of clans named after birds and water animals.
     The Winnebago Indians lived in long houses and A frames.  The long, airy summer lodges of the Winnebago, as of the other western woodland tribes, were used primarily as shelters from rainy weather.
    They used wood and rocks for weapons. They used birch bark containers, bows, turtle rattles, war clubs, and fans for hot days.  The women used natural materials of porcupine quills, buffalo skin, and the fibers of basswood and nettles.  With these materials they made a wide variety of decorated articles and clothing.
    The Winnebago tribe harvested squash and corn.  The meat they ate came from the woodlands. They were deer, wolf, bear, elk, buffalo, rabbits, and fish.  Great care was taken in naming the children.  Usually, a very important woman of a long house would name the baby.  Sometimes there was a special person that was born with the gift of naming children.