JENKS] HABITAT IN WILD-RICE DISTRICT 1035 
of fifty years ago present a ‘‘Great Rice M[arsh}” as extending along 
Minnesota river (then generally represented as the St Peters) from its 
juncture with the Mississippi at St Paul up as far as Beaver falls in 
Renville county, Minnesota; and Carver said of this country in 1767, 
“Wild rice grows here in great abundance.” 
Lakes and streams draining into Red riyer of the North, between 
Minnesota and Dakota, are also Minnesota wild-rice fields. One of 
these streams is Wild Rice river, which has its source in two lakes 
bearing the name Rice, which also lie in Minnesota. Another is 
Pse river, whose source is in the Dakotas. Farther north, the lakes 
and streams emptying into Lake of the Woods, Rainy lake, and 
the Winnipeg system in general, are mainly wild rice producing 
waters.’ Mackenzie said in 1801: 
Vaft quantities of wild rice are feen throughout the country [from Lake Superior 
to Lake Winnipeg], which the natives collect in the month of Auguft for their winter 
ftores.* 
Seymour wrote of Lake of the Woods, in 1850: 
The indentations of its rocky, moss-covered shores are full of the wild rice, which 
is annually collected in large quantities by the Indians.° 
Farther south the St Louis river system tells the same tale—the 
streams all bear abundant stores of wild rice." In 1883 the plant was 
reported from Minnesota as being ** common, or frequent, in favorable 
situations throughout the State; sometimes attaining, in Brown county, 
a height of 13 feet, with leaves 4 feet long.”’ Chapter vi of the 
present memoir still further aims to show the extent of wild rice, 
where Indian production was carried on, as exhibited by its influence 
on geographic names. 
Some idea of the prevalence of wild rice in the lakes of this district 
may be obtained from the following characteristic quotations: 
The Indians around Sandy lake [Aitkin county, Minnesota], in the month of 
September, repair to Rice lake, to gather their rice. In no other place does it grow 
in as large quantities as there. This lake is about 5 miles long and 3 broad. It 
might, perhaps, be called a Marrais, for the water is not over 5 feet deep, and its 
surface is almost entirely covered with rice. It is only in morasses, or muddy bottoms 
that this grain is found.® 
Warren writes of Mille Lacs in 1852, that it is a circular lake about 
20 miles across and abundantly stocked with fish. Connected with it 



1 Map accompanying Caryer’s Travels. See also Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, vol. 11, p. 97. 
* Lord Selkirk’s Settlement in North America, p. 120. See also Western Journal, May, June, July, 
August, vol. 1, number 5, 1849; Keating, Narrative, vol 1, p.37. 
“Harmon, Journal, pp. 44, 45, 142. See also McMillan, Observations on the Distribution of Plants 
along shore at Lake of the Woods, pp. 949-1023,in Minn. Bot. Studies, Bull. 9, parts 10 and 11, p.994- 
Hind, Narrative, pp. 96, 97, 115, 116, 118. 
‘Mackenzie, Voyages, pp. 61, 62. 
5 Seymour, Sketches of Minnesota, p. 233. 
®Schooleraft, Summary Narrative, p. 112; also Indian Affairs Report, 1891, vol. I, p. 471. 
7 Upham, Catalogue of the Flora of Minnesota, p. 149. 
8’ Edward Tanner, Detroit Gazette, December 8, 1820, 

