WILD RICE — CHL^^MBLISS 379 



The Indians known as wild-rice gatherers belong to the two great 

 linguistic stocks,*' the Algonquian and the Siouan. The former in- 

 cludes the Chippewa, Menomini, Cree, Fox, and other small tribes. 

 Among the latter the principal tribes are the Sioux, Winnebago, and 

 Assiniboin. Probably the Menomini and Winnebago were the first 

 important tribes to enter the eastern border of the great wild-rice 

 country, for when found by Nicollet in 1634 they were well estab- 

 lished in the vicinity of Green Bay, an area now within the State of 

 Wisconsin. They had migrated from the Atlantic seaboard. 



According to Indian tradition the Menomini tribe has been identi- 

 fied with wild rice for remote ages. Their name is usually translated 

 to mean "wild-rice people." It has been their belief that "whenever 

 the Menomini enter a region the wild rice spreads ahead, whenever 

 they leave it the wild rice passes." ^ In their economy agriculture 

 had a veiy minor place. They lived almost exclusively on game and 

 on plants requiring no cultivation. They put a high valuation on 

 wild rice and considered it a gift from the spirit powers, and, for 

 these reasons, this grain has always been an essential basis for their 

 ceremonial feasts and offerings. 



In 1852 the Federal Government assigned to this tribe a large 

 timber tract on the upper Wolf River as a permanent reservation. 

 Here they are today, no longer "wild-rice people" but foresters en- 

 gaged in lumbering, having a tribally owned mill at Neopit that has 

 been in operation since 1908. Within their reservation there are a few 

 wild-rice patches, but they receive no attention because they are too 

 small to produce a worthwhile crop. Although the Menomini do not 

 gather wild rice today, they still use it ceremonially. 



The Winnebago Indians were less nomadic than the other Siouan 

 tribes and lived near the waterways in preference to a life on the 

 plains, which the Sioux enjoyed so much. For food they, lilve the 

 Menomini, depended upon fish, small mammals, wild rice, maple 

 sugar, and berries. 



Wlien the Chippewa, one of the largest tribes north of Mexico, began 

 to move westward, they were driven forward by the Iroquois, who 

 occupied land that was not overstocked with game but was well suited 

 for cultivation. These newcomers, being hunters, were not welcome 

 by the tillers of the soil and were forced by circumstances to continue 

 westward. As the Chippewa moved onward, they encountered the 

 eastern bands of the Sioux Tribe occupying the lake region now a 

 part of Wisconsin and Minnesota. 



This part of the gi-eat central valley of this continent is filled 

 with innumerable shallow lakes and sluggish streams that at one 



fl Jenks, Albert Ernest, op. clt., p. 1038. 



'' Keesing, Felix M., The Menomini Indians of Wisconsin. Mem. Amer. Phil. Soc, vol 10 

 xi + 261 pp., 1939. 



