1034 WILD RICE GATHERERS OF UPPER LAKES (ETH. ANN. 19 
1767, wrote, ‘tin fome places it is with difficulty that canoes can pafs, 
through the ob{tructions they meet with from the rice ftalks, which 
are very large and thick.”' Featherstonhaugh wrote, in 1847, that 
near Fort Winnebago there were several thousand acres of wild rice. 
He estimated the fields as at least 5 miles long and 2 miles wide.” He 
said that on Fox river they were obliged to stop paddling and ‘‘all 
took to warping the canoe through by hauling upon the tall stalks.”* 
In 1888 a writer stated that north of the portage of the Fox and Wis- 
consin rivers, “tas far as the eye can reach, there is a stretch of 
wild-rice swamp.” + 
Fox river illustrates well the influence of the current upon the exist- 
ence of wild rice. From the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers to Lake Winnebago, Fox river is 104 miles long, with a total fall 
of only 40 feet, and, as has been seen, it is filled with the plant. On the 
other hand, from lake Winnebago to Green bay, where the stream is 
only 374 miles long, with a fall of 170 feet, the plant does not flourish. 
Wild rice is found along Wisconsin river even below the portage 
just referred to,° while the headwaters of the Wisconsin are often dense 
wild-rice beds. Wolf river and its tributaries also grow the plant. 
The upper waters of the Red Cedar, Chippewa, and St Croix rivers 
are filled with the growth, and it is from this supply that the Ojibwa 
Indians of Lac Courte Oreille reservation gather their annual crop* 
(see plate Lxvir 4). In speaking of the Menomini, Wolf, Fox, Wiscon- 
sin, Red Cedar, Chippewa, and St Croix rivers and systems, it must 
be remembered that the various lakes, ponds, and streams in all this 
section of country are considered. 
Although Dr Jedidiah Morse’ reported in 1822 that wild rice did 
not grow within 150 miles of Lake Superior on the south, yet it is 
now annually gathered in many of the streams flowing into Lake 
Superior from this region, and in 1860 J. G. Kohl stated that ** the 
plant is very prevalent in the southern part of the lake [Lake 
Superior|.”* 

The headwaters of Mississippi river in Minnesota are in the heart 
of the Minnesota rice fields." The regions about Mille Laes, Leech 
lake, Sandy lake, Gull lake, and Lake Winnibigoshish, all draining 
into the Mississippi, are abundantly supplied with wild rice.’” Maps 
' Carver, Travels, p. 38; see also p.536. Brown, Western Gazetteer, p. 261. Coues, Pike, vol. 1, p. 302. 
* Featherstonhaugh, Canoe Voyage, vol. 1, p. 184 
’ Ibid., p. 190 
‘Thwaites, op. cit., p. 145; see also Edward Tanner in Detroit Gazette, January 15, 1819. 
»Atwater, Indians, p. 181. 
° Mrs Ellet, Summer Rambles, pp. 151, 152; also Schoolcraft, Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes, pp. 
369 

3, 380, 383, 385; Schoolcraft, Summary Narrative, appendix, p. 543; Carver, Travels, p. 533; also 
teport of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1850, p. 54 
’ Morse, Report, appendix, p. 30. 
* Kohl, Kitchi-Gami, pp. 117-118 

Schooleraft, Indian Tribes, vol. rv, pp. 193-194; also Schoolcraft, Summary Narrative, pp. 134, 235, 
239, 249 
"Hennepin, Nouvelle Découverte, p. 313* (fol.0*4). See also Indian Affairs Report, 1850, pp. 56, 61; 
Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, vol. 1, pp. 186-187. 
