Making the Carry: The Lives of John and Tchi-Ki-Wis Linklater

by Timothy Cochrane

An extraordinary illustrated biography of a Métis man and Anishinaabe woman navigating great changes in their homeland along the U.S.–Canada border in the early twentieth century

John Linklater, of Anishinaabeg, Cree, and Scottish ancestry, and his wife, Tchi-Ki-Wis, of the Lac La Croix First Nation, lived in the canoe and border country of Ontario and Minnesota from the 1870s until the 1930s. During that time, the couple experienced radical upheavals in the Quetico–Superior region, including the cutting of white and red pine forests, the creation of Indian reserves/reservations and conservation areas, and the rise of towns, tourism, and mining. With broad geographical sweep, historical significance, and biographical depth, Making the Carry tells their story, overlooked for far too long. John Linklater, a renowned game warden and skilled woodsman, was also the bearer of traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous heritage, both of which he was deeply committed to teaching others. He was sought by professors, newspaper reporters, museum personnel, and conservationists—among them Sigurd Olson, who considered Linklater a mentor. Tchi-Ki-Wis, an extraordinary craftswoman, made a sweeping array of necessary yet beautiful objects, from sled dog harnesses to moose calls to birch bark canoes. She was an expert weaver of large Anishinaabeg cedar bark mats with complicated geometric designs, a virtually lost art. Making the Carry traces the routes by which the couple came to live on Basswood Lake on the international border. John’s Métis ancestors with deep Hudson’s Bay Company roots originally came from Orkney Islands, Scotland, by way of Hudson Bay and Red River, or what is now Winnipeg. His family lived in Manitoba, northwest Ontario, northern Minnesota, and, in the case ofJohn and Tchi-Ki-Wis, on Isle Royale. A journey through little-known Canadian history, the book provides an intimate portrait of Métis people. Complete with rarely seen photographs of activities from dog mushing to guiding to lumbering, as well as of many objects made by Tchi-Ki-Wis, such as canoes, moccasins, and cedar mats, Making the Carry is a window on a traditional way of life and a restoration of two fascinating Indigenous people to their rightful place in our collective past.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 2023

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Well researched. Photos were integral to creating the understanding of these lives and times. We strain to understand another culture and it seems an impossible task but the author does a great job spotlighting this man and wife as they navigate their lives between two cultures. Of course I loved any bits of information about my beloved Isle Royale.

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and well-illustrated bio of Minnesota Indigenous couple at turn of the last century. The photographs are amazing.

[Alan Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with the other reviewers who posted their very positive remarks on Goodreads. I liked the author and found his writing to be easy to read. Also, he approached his subject with fairness, sympathy, respect, and sensitivity. I think this renders “Making the Carry” readable and sometimes inspiring, particularly for those of us who live in or close to the areas where John Linklater and his wife, Tchi-Ki-Wis lived.

Linklater, though he was not boastful, spoke of being able to hear or sense or, in some way, intuit Nature. He was said to be able to speak to animals and he had a keen sense of approaching bad weather. Cochrane considered the question of what this sense consisted of and how it was possible but he could not reach a definite conclusion. I found this approach appropriately, mildly skeptical and yet sympathetic to the possibility that a non-rational, intuitive way of thinking might lead to a truer understanding of Nature than would an exclusively scientific approach.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it as much for the landscape in which it took place (now the BWCA) as for the story of the Linklaters. I tend to think of the boundary waters area as uninhabited wilderness but I keep finding stories that tell this was home to many people for centuries before Europeans “discovered”! it.

It was a remarkable life John and Tchi-Ki-Wis made in canoe country. It is told with a sensitivity to the difficulty of straddling two cultures and bearing the subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination of their white friends, who were friends but never equals. If only we had learned from them instead of insisting only we had omething to teach.

[Joe Stattine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The introduction to this book was academic and bit difficult to read. The main body of this book reveals a rich history of northern Minnesota and Quetico areas. A history, as native Minnesotan, I was never taught. An important book for anyone who is interested in the Boundary Waters area and the history of the early 20th century as told through the lives of John and Tchi-Ki-Linklater.

[Amber Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have had to be difficult to write with minimal information but I am so glad the author made the effort. What a story and an amazing couple in a time of transition. Native Americans were never given the credit they deserved but to me John did by purely being kind and generous and extremely knowledgeable.