THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be
read and considered within the historical context in which it was composed and
printed. The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the
opinions or standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are,
rather, indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the
document was published.
The Wild Rice Gatherers of the Upper Lakes
19th Annual Report
Burea of American Ethnology
(pages1033-1037).
by A.E. Jenks
Chapter II: Habitat.
Introduction
(p. 1028)
In the preparation of this chapter text-books on botany have been of little or
no assistance. They have very generally given the habitat of Zizania
Aquatica in such indefinite language as the
following: "Common from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to
Minnesota." For the material of this chapter correspondence has been
conducted with college and university teachers of botany and with directors of
experiment stations in most of the commonwealths of the United States and
Canada. The effort has been to gather data from each section so that a fairly
representative habitat may be described. Perhaps the most striking result of
the investigation is that which shows how limited the knowledge of some of our
economic plants is, and that, too, in states in which they are common. It is to
be hoped that more attention will be given to a systematic study of our
economic plants.
Professor J. W. Harshberger presents the following reasons for the study of ethno-botany, a term which well might be ethno-economic-botany: It aids in elucidating the culture-position of the tribes which used the plant; it helps in deciding the ancient trade routes; and it suggests new lines of manufacture today. (Harshberger, The Purposes of Ehno-botany, Botanical Gazette, March, 1896, p. 146 et seq.)
Zizania Aquatica grows in North America from about latitude 50 degrees on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and from the Atlantic ocean to the Rocky Mountains. In Manitoba it extends farther northward than 50 degrees in the Winnipeg drainage, and in Ontario toward Hudson bay. It grows abundantly in the brackish, almost stagnant, waters of the Atlantic and Gulf states, and along the sloughs of Mississippi river from its headwaters as far south as the state of Mississippi; indeed it doubtless occurs along the entire course of this river. It fringes the north shore of Lake Ontario, the northwest, west and southwest shores of Lake Erie, Georgian bay of Lake Huron, the shore of Lake Huron south of Georgian bay, St. Clair lake, and Green bay of Lake Michigan. Besides growing in these great water-ways, it flourishes in countless small lakes, ponds, and streams in the eastern half of the United States. It is especially abundant in the region, which this memoir designates the "wild-rice district." (See Chapter VI. This wild rice district is Wisconsin except its southwestern part and a part of eastern Minnesota.)
In fact, the plant is quite common in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and in Canada as far north as latitude 52 degrees, in lakes, ponds, and slow-flowing streams which have an alluvial bed. Nowhere will it grow in water having a sand or clay bed, or in swiftly flowing streams.
Habitat by States
In this section is presented the wild-rice habitat in the various states so far as data could be collected (see plate IXVI).
(p. 1029)
ILLINOIS.
Quite common in Carroll county, Bluff lake in Union county, and in ponds formed
by Illinois river in Peoria and Fulton counties (letter of G. P. Clinton,
Urbana, Illinois, May 3, 1899). It is also very abundant (one thousand acres)
in Grass lake, Lake county (letter of L. A. Paddock, Grass lake, Lake county,
Illinois, January (p. 1030) 20, 1899). It also grows plentifully in slughs of
the Mississippi and in small streams in Jo Daviess county.
INDIANA.
Found in Gibson, Monroe, and La Porte counties.
MICHIGAN.
Found throughout the state on mud-bottomed lakes and sluggish streams; also
found commonly in Grand river valley (letter of C. F. Wheeler, Michigan
Agricultural College post-office, Michigan). It is found also in Huron river,
Washtenaw county (letter of F. C,. Newcombe, Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 9,
1898). The plant is also very abundant in St. Joseph river in southwestern
Michigan, and is found also in various streams and small alluvial lakes in
Kalamazoo and Barry counties.
(p. 1031)
NORTH DAKOTA.
Grows in Ramsey and Benson counties in Sweetwater lake and in Twin lake, where
it is very abundant, and also in Devils lake (letter of Melvin A. Brannon,
Grand Forks, North Dakota, December 10, 1898). Cones (New Light on the Greater
Northwest, vol. 1, p. 138) says that in 1800 wild rice was plentiful in a
marais (now Morse's slough) at Washvillle, Walsh county. It is also quite
plentiful in the Dakotas, east of the Mississippi. It is often so abundant in
Sioux river as to cover the entire bed for long distances (grasses and Forage
Plants of the Dakotas, U.S. Dept. of Agric,., Div. of Agros. Bull.6, p. 17).
OHIO.
Grows in the state as far south as 40 miles below Columbus, and is also
reported from Cincinnati in the catalog of Joseph F. James (letter of W.E.
Kellerman, Columbus, Ohio, May 18, 1899). It grows also in the shallow waters
of Lake Erie.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Abundant along Delaware river and its tributaries, but probably does not extend
far inland (letter of John R. (p. 1032) Macfarlane, Philadelphia, December 12,
1808). It is reported in Brandywine river in Chester county, by Flora Cestrica,
p. 93, edited in Westchester, Pennsylvania, 1837. Thomas C. Porter (A List of
the Grasses of Pennsylvania, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, vol. xx, 1893, p. 197) says that it grows in
Lancaster county above Shocks Mill.
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