Densmore on wigwam interior

A blanket (or in older times a hide) was hung over the [wigwam] doorway, having a heavy stick or pole at the lower edge, which rested on the ground. A person entering the doorway usually lifge.ted the stick at one end and rolled the lifted corner of the blanket inward and upward, thus holding the drapery as he entered. If the wind blew strongly into the doorway, it was customary to separate the rush mats at the opposite end of the lodge, and use the opening thus formed as a temporary entrance. If the wind was so severe as to blow through the rush matting, it was customary to tie the blanket on the outside of the lodge as a further protection. The fire space was in the middle of the lodge, being outlined by logs. A short pole was fastened across the smoke hole, and on this pole pieces of meat were hung to dry above the fire. Hooks to hold kettles were commonly made of crotched sticks of green wood and suspended from this pole by strips of green bark. Similar hooks were suspended from the lower of the two encircling braces of the lodge. These hooks were commonly made of chokecherry wood. Rush mats were placed on the ground beside the fire, and personal belongings were stored in rolls or in woven bags of cedar bark, or of yarn, and placed along the walls of the wigwam. In the old days a dwelling of this or of the type mentioned was occupied by two or three families, representing two or perhaps three generations.

from

Frances Densmore, Chippewa Customs (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1979), 24.