Quay Yay Ke We 'Tom' Floodwood

Tom was a man from the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe

Ojibwe oral history tells us that the migration of our ancestors to the Minnesota region beginning in approximately 900 CE resulted from a series of prophecies. In the telling of the story, seven prophets appeared out of the ocean and each told a prophecy of what would happen to the Ojibwe people.

The first prophet said the Ojibwe should move west from the eastern ocean or they would perish, and that they would know that they had reached the chosen land when they came to a place where food grew on water. The food was mahnomen (wild rice), found in Minnesota's shallow northern lakes. The journey took about 500 years.

Nett Lake Reservation of Ojibwe, ca. 1920, Minnesota Historical Society
From 1890 to 1910, timber speculators and lumbermen patented most of the valuable pine lands in north-central Minnesota—the homeland of the Bois Forte Ojibwe. By the 1920s, dams and deforestation had so damaged the landscape that it could no longer support the tribe’s subsistence economy, and its members were forced onto their reservation at Nett Lake.

Wirt Cook, a Duluth timber speculator, organized expeditions to the Bois Forte area to select the best white pine. He and other lumbermen fronted the $400 price for 160 acres. In a scheme later denounced as bribery by the Duluth Evening Herald, they then paid entry men and women $50 to $100 for each timber and stone patent, and within ten years, lumbermen had patented hundreds of claims. But with no means of bringing the timber to market, they remained absentee landlords, and most of the Bois Forte Ojibwe continued to subsist on their ancestral lands.

Duluth land agent Charles H. Maginnis realized that he could buy land certificates given to Spanish American War veterans as a bonus for service. He could then sell these soldiers’ additional homesteads (SAHs) cheaply and easily. He carefully selected his pine lands in townships that had already attracted the attention of lumbermen; to the north and northeast of Pelican Lake, he used over 450 SAHs to patent Bois Forte lands.

Maginnis sold much of his land to Cook and to timber dealers Turrish and Daniels. In August of 1901 Cook decided to begin harvesting his vast timber holdings north of Virginia. Turrish and Daniels, meanwhile, incorporated the Virginia and Rainy Lake Railroad (V&RL) and began laying track north towards the forest. To process the logs into lumber they also constructed a lumber mill on Silver Lake in Virginia. The mill would turn out 300,000 board feet of pine a day.

A year later Cook formed a partnership with St. Croix lumberman William O’Brien. Their Minnesota Land and Construction Company expanded the Virginia mill and started cutting pine on their holdings. In 1905 they incorporated the Virginia and Rainy Lake Company, and the railroad crept into the southern part of the forest.

Virginia and Rainy Lake Lumber Camp 39 - Minnesota Historical Society
Lumber companies associated with the Frederick Weyerhaeuser cartel were also buying timber lands in the area. Many of the SAHs patented by Maginnis were sold and resold until they were purchased by the Weyerhaeuser cartel. By 1909, Weyerhaeuser companies had bought up nearly a quarter of Maginnis’s Bois Forte SAHs.

Lumberman Edward Hines of Chicago then proposed a consolidation of all the timber interests north and northeast of Pelican Lake. He and the Weyerhaeuser companies combined with Cook to expand the Virginia and Rainy Lake Company. Hines provided the cash to double the size of the Virginia mill while Cook and Weyerhaeuser contributed close to 2 million dollars of timber.

With the railroad running north of Pelican Lake and the largest white pine lumber mill in the world ready to process over a million board feet of logs a day, the Bois Forte forests were under attack...
Millikan, William. “Destruction of Bois Forte Ojibwe Homeland, 1891–1929.” MNopedia, 4 Dec. 2019, www.mnopedia.org/event/destruction-bois-forte-ojibwe-homeland-1891-1929.

The seventh prophet said there eventually would be a time of healing from the period of great suffering and described the cultural and spiritual renaissance the Ojibwe are experiencing "today" when some Ojibwe would return to their language and spiritual teachings, and to live out the values of the Good Path (Mino-Bimaadiziwin). Gitchi Manito (Great Spirit, or God) gave these values to the Ojibwe at the time of our creation.

Biography:
Tom Floodwood, born Qyay Yay Ke We Wind, to unknown parents, seems to have remained single for his entire life. Although there is one census report that appears to show him married, late in life, to a woman named Petit, and father of a daughter who was young at age three when she died, living only 3 years 1905-1908.

According to Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha Tom was admitted to the Canton Asylum on May 13, 1923, with no diagnosis.

According to Dr. L.L. Culp in his letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated February 23, 1934, Tom died September 26, 1923, at age 62 (=b. 1861), and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery, tier 2 plot 56.

His profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.

Research Notes:
-Tom appears to have lived alone most of his life...
-The 12/5/1908 census does not list Tom but lists two possible relatives when Tom was age 47

• Chief Tay Bah Ko Wind, M age 41
• Bay Bah Kah Quay Jo We Wind, M age 29

-Tom Floodwood is ONLY in the 1923 Canton Asylum census, admitted on May 13, 1923, and died September 26, 1923, 4 months and 4 days...

Further Reading Recommendations:
1. Millikan, William. “Destruction of Bois Forte Ojibwe Homeland, 1891–1929.” MNopedia, 4 Dec. 2019, www.mnopedia.org/event/destruction-bois-forte-ojibwe-homeland-1891-1929.
2. Peacock, Thomas D. “The Ojibwe: Our Historical Role in Influencing Contemporary Minnesota.” MNopedia, 15 Nov. 2013, www.mnopedia.org/ojibwe-our-historical-role-influencing-contemporary-minnesota.
3. Whittlsey, Charles. “Among the Otchipwees: I, II and III.” Chequamegon History, WordPress , 20 Nov. 2016, chequamegonhistory.com/2016/05/28/among-the-otchipwees-i/.
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Sources:

1908 Jul 19 - "Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZM5L-X9ZM : Sun Oct 15 12:51:33 UTC 2023), Entry for Floodwood and Tom Floodwood, 19 Jul 1908, pg. see Minnesota Deaths, 1887-2001 for certificate
no image (Death of Daughter age 3)

1910 Oct 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XCN-JBKR : Thu Oct 05 13:34:30 UTC 2023), Entry for Quay-Yay-Ke-We- Wind, 1910, pg. 105/531, line 579, census of the Chippewa Indians, Bois Fort Agency, Minnesota

1912 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XHX-HBVS : Fri Oct 06 10:33:21 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1912, pg. 180/531, line 226, census of the Chippewa Indians, Nett Lake Agency, Minn

1913 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XHV-4RKL : Fri Oct 06 04:43:02 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1913, pg. 237/531, line 253, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa, Nett Lake Agency, Minn.

1914 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XHV-H6CB : Thu Oct 05 04:52:57 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1914, pg. 317/531, line 241, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa, Nett Lake Agency, Minnesota

1915 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XZ4-H3HD : Thu Oct 05 14:24:45 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1915, pg. 383/531, line 244, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa Indians, Nett Lake Agency, Minn.

1916 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XH6-XH4M : Fri Oct 06 23:16:57 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1916, pg. 421/531, line 242, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa Indians, Nett Lake Agency, Minn

1917 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XXD-4J7N : Thu Oct 05 06:24:06 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1917, pg. 461/531, line 242, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa, Nett Lake Agency, Minn.

1919 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QRCL-34W2 : Tue Oct 03 09:10:45 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, pg. 674/764, line 235, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa Indians, Nett Lake Agency, Minn.

1920 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7ZMC-3K2M : Thu Oct 05 13:57:48 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, pg. 748/764, line 240, census of the Bois Fort chippewa Indians, Nett Lake Agency

1921 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP79-XLZC : Fri Oct 06 14:23:06 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, pg. 207/545, line 237, census of the Bois Fort Chippewa, Nett Lake Reservation

1922 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGR1-MYBS : Fri Oct 06 22:52:44 UTC 2023), Entry for Quay Way Ke We Wind, pg. 372/545, line 328, census of the Chippewa Indians of the Nett Lake Reservation

1923 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FH6-6B34 : Thu Oct 05 07:55:50 UTC 2023), Entry for Tom Floodwood, 1923, pg. 195/1023, line 224, census of the Nett Lake Chippewa Indians, Con. Chip. Indian Agency

1923 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=31, line 9, Annual Report 1923, Harry R Hummer, male census

1923 Sep 29 - Hilton, M. (Ed.). (2023, July 10). Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians Historical Marker. Historical Marker. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=183486 Photo by Ruth VanSteenwyk, July 10, 2023, courtesy of HMdb.org

Aloysious Moore 5-12-23 · Tom Floodwood 9-29-23 · James Black Bull 2-9-26

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493903/tom-floodwood: accessed February 12, 2024), memorial page for Tom Floodwood (–), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493903, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).