Spruce

Common Name: 
black and white spruce
Alestine Andre
Alestine Andre
Ital Katz
Ital Katz
Model Fish Trap - Canadian Museum of Civilization VI-I-51, Ingrid Kritsch, GSCI
Gwichya Gwich'in Name: 
ts'eevii/ts'iivii
Teetł’it Gwich’in Name:: 
ts'iivii
Latin Name: 
Picea mariana and Picea glauca

As food

Spruce gum, dzèh kwan' (G) dzih drinh' (T), is the hard, older kind of tree sap or pitch, with a red or rose colour. It can be picked year round from the trees with a knife, stick or fingers. It can then be chewed like a piece of gum. Both the gum and the juice it produces can be swallowed as you chew. Spruce gum was commonly given to children as a treat when out in the bush cutting wood or picking berries.

As medicine

Spruce cones are used to make a tea that relieves colds and helps maintain good health. Of all the parts of the spruce tree, some Elders believe the cones make the best medicine (Andre 1995). Cones are picked year round from the tops of young trees. Usually five to 15 cones are gently boiled for 10 – 15 minutes in a pot of water. The longer they boil, the stronger the medicine becomes. Branches are sometimes put into the pot with the spruce cones. Some people prefer straining the liquid before drinking it. Spruce tea relieves coughing and sore throats and chests. Those who are sick with colds can take it three or four times a day for about five days. Some Gwich’in drink between one-quarter cup and one cup of spruce tea every day to stay healthy. You can drink this medicine when it is hot or after it is cooled, though it should never be gulped. Many people keep the medicine in a jar in the fridge for later use.

According to Laura Pascal (COPE), the roots can be pounded and boiled to make a liquid medicine. 

Sticky gum is the clear, sticky sap that can be found year round on spruce trees and in green firewood. This is new sap that has recently run from the wood of the tree. The gum can be used to soothe irritated skin and, when applied to cuts, helps healing and reduces the chance of infection. Mary Kendi, from Fort McPherson, said to spread sticky gum on warm canvas and then place it on the chest. The dressing is kept on until it drops off by itself. This remedy helps relieve the symptoms of chest and tuberculosis (TB).

Spruce gum can also be boiled, strained and cooled to make a tea. Like spruce cone tea, this tea is used to relieve colds and maintain good health. It tends to be very concentrated though, so only small amounts are sipped.

As tools

In the old days, people used roots for string, rope and to sew the rims of baskets, and skin and birch bark boats. Roots from any evergreen tree or willow were used; however, tamarack roots were considered the strongest. Alfred Semple described how his grandmother (Caroline Ts’ii gii; d. 1946) collected spruce roots from river banks after spring ice breakup. If the roots had a straight grain they were split and used to make fish nets. When not in use the fish nets were stored in water so that they did not dry up.

Spruce wood is used for making the following items.

  • axe and ice chisel handles
  • snow shovels (zhoh ch’ik)

Many of these tools are also constructed with birch wood. Trappers used spruce trees for a number of purposes. Young green trees, stripped of their bark, were used to make tsee tr’ill, or beaver pelt stretchers. If a trapper did not have a spruce pole suitable for a tsee tr’ill, he could stretch the pelt by nailing it to a large tree. Originally, snowshoes are made of birch wood; however, in spring, spruce is favoured because it absorbs less water and remains light through this wet season. Alfred Semple recommends using young spruce trees from river banks, because they are strong and flexible, having grown in a windy location. He makes a “disposable” pair of snowshoes by shaping the wooden frames and using shoelaces or string for the lacing.

Tony Andre noted that willow can also be used for the frames. Long spruce poles (about five metres or 16 feet long) with the bark removed can be used to set fish nets under the ice.

Source: Andre, Alestine and Alan Fehr, Gwich'in Ethnobotany, 2nd ed. (2002)   

Take cones and branches and boil, cool it and drink one cup in the morning, afternoon and night.

- Annie Norbert describes Julienne Andre’s medicine

Making Salve with Sticky Gum

Collect pitch (sticky gum) that’s really sticky and clear, even if it’s only a couple of tablespoons. Take it and warm it in water until it’s melted, and then put an equal or slightly smaller amount of Vaseline or other fat into it. Don’t use cold fat though, it should always be room temperature. Use a clean stick and stir it slowly. Make sure the water is always fairly hot and that everything is liquid. Take it off the heat and then pour it into a container.

- Ruth Welsh

 

Porcupines make spruce gum.

- William Teya

 

Caribou fur skins were used as a mattress which covered the whole inside where the bedding is. It is placed on top of well laid spruce tree branches. With all this there is no cold under, everything was made from caribou fur skin and it was very warm.

- Mary Husky (COPE).

 

Building a Fish Trap

The fish trap was something else our ancestors (prior to the turn of the 20th century) used a great deal and perhaps it was the best and easiest method used in catching fish. The following is needed in order to build a fish trap: an eddy, long wooden poles with bark left on, long wooden poles with bark cleaned off. The first thing to do was to choose a good eddy. Directly downstream from this eddy is where the trap was built. The poles with bark are driven into the river bottom with an opening in between. Poles were then put in horizontally, like a fence. The next thing to do was to build a long basket. This was made from the clean wooden poles and set in the opening with the small end closed. Then you waited. The fish would come along and swim straight into the trap in great numbers. The fish were then scooped into the canoe with a large willow dipper with a long handle. A lot of fish were caught this way.

- Elijah Andrew (COPE, a)

 

It could save your life if you had to make a fire quick when it’s 60 below. When you are traveling in the bush and you need to make a fire, break off a bunch of dry twigs from the tree, light a match to it and place it under your wood to start a fire. (Andre 1995)

- Nap Norbert

 

Sticky gum - Gwichya Gwich'in:   dzèh ant’àt, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   dzih ant'at

Sticky gum is the clear, sticky sap that can be found year round on spruce trees and in green firewood. This is new sap that has recently run from the wood of the tree. The gum can be used to soothe irritated skin and, when applied to cuts, helps healing and reduces the chance of infection. Mary Kendi, from Fort McPherson, said to spread sticky gum on warm canvas and then place it on the chest. The dressing is kept on until it drops off by itself. This remedy helps relieve the symptoms of chest colds and tuberculosis (TB).

 

Spruce gum - Gwichya Gwich'in:   dzèh kwan’, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   dzih drinh’

Spruce gum can also be boiled, strained and cooled to make a tea. Like spruce cone tea, this tea is used to relieve colds and maintain good health. It tends to be very concentrated though, so only small amounts are sipped.

 

Inner spruce bark - Gwichya Gwich'in:   ts’eevii ch’yìdh, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   ineech’uu

The inner bark from evergreens, like spruce, and willows, can be used to produce a number of medicines. Bark is stripped off the tree, and the white pulpy layer on the inside of the bark is peeled or scraped. This part of the bark can be chewed to relieve colds or maintain good health. It can also be placed directly on a wound and covered with a bandage. Some people dry strips of the inner bark that can be reconstituted when needed. Nap Norbert recounts that when his sister, Rose, cut her finger with an axe, his step-father, Louis Cardinal, put the inner part of the bark on the wound. Nap said that the injury healed well and left no scar (Andre 1995).

 

Outer spruce bark - Gwichya Gwich'in:   aatr’ii, Teetł'it Gwich'in   aatr’ii

The outer bark is useful for making smokehouses for drying fish. Large pieces of bark are peeled from trees in the spring when the sap is running and used as shingles and siding for smokehouses. Smokehouses made with bark are preferred because a constant inside temperature is more easily maintained, compared to structures sided with plastic tarps.

 

Young spruce tips - Gwichya Gwich'in:   ts’eevii zhao lè’,  Teetł'it Gwich'in:   ts’eeviizhuu li’

Chewing the tips of a young spruce tree helps relieve itchy throats and is good for any kind of flu or cold. The tips, cones, and branches can also be mixed and boiled. Spruce tips can be collected year round and boiled with cones and branches. Mary Kendi, of Aklavik, likes to boil the tips in the house to keep sickness away.

 

Spruce boughs - Gwichya Gwich'in:   ah’, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   ah’

In addition to being an excellent insulator, spruce boughs are thought to have medicinal value. Many Gwich’in believe that the aroma of the boughs inside a tent keeps people healthy. Small young trees are considered to be particularly therapeutic. Spruce branches can also be boiled to produce a steam that relieves cold symptoms and maintains good health.

 

Spruce boughs used for flooring - Gwichya Gwich'in:   thoo’ ah, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   thoo’ ah

Spruce boughs are used for flooring in tents. Starting at the back of the tent, boughs are positioned so that the needles point toward the ground. For the next row, place the stems of the branches underneath the previous layer. This makes for a warm floor, especially in combination with caribou skins. When out at camp, the ah’ should be changed every weekend in both winter and summer.

 

Dried branches - Gwichya Gwich'in:   didich’ą̀įį, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   didich’eii

As fuel. The dried branches or twigs (gray in colour) found at the base of spruce trees, beneath the boughs, are excellent for starting fires. Even after rain they remain dry. Branches covered with the hairy or stringy-looking lichen (old man’s beard) should be used first if available. When travelling on the land, many people keep some twigs and lichen in their pockets to start a fire if needed.

 

Dry wood - Gwichya Gwich'in:   troo zheii, Teetł'it Gwich'in:   troo gaii

 

Spruce wood is used for fuel.  It is also used for building log houses, smokehouses, caches and stages.

Source: Andre, Alestine and Alan Fehr, Gwich'in Ethnobotany, 2nd ed. (2002)