JENKS] FOOD OF WHITES TODAY 1105 
settlers and traders to the present time. If it could be cultivated with 
any certainty it would long ago have become a staple in America for 
the white population, as it was a staple for many thousand Indians 
before them. It will be interesting to notice its present use, for which 
purpose a few citations are presented. 
Wild rice was offered for sale in 1896 in several towns in Wisconsin 
and Minnesota. Among those in the former state were Rice Lake, 
Chetek, and Cumberland, in Barron county, Bloomer in Chippewa 
county, Shell Lake in Washburn county, and Hayward in Sawyer 
county. In Minnesota it was sold in Bermidji and Park Rapids in 
Hibbard county, in Tower, St Louis county, in Grand Rapids, Itasc: 
county, and in Minneapolis. Besides in the aboye markets it is also 
sold at the various Indian reservations and at towns in their vicinity.! 
Mention is made that it has been shipped quite extensively, during the 
past few years, from Chetek to Menomonie, Chippewa Falls, and other 
places, and Mr C. W. Moore retailed in Chetek, in 1894, about 1,500 
pounds. His letter” also states that ‘tall old residents of Barron and 
Dunn counties are very fond of it.” Myr Charles C. Oppel,* of C. H. 
Oppel & Sons, wholesalers and retailers in Duluth and Tower, Minne- 
sota, wrote from Tower: ‘* Most of the cruisers, explorers, and home- 
steaders take it [wild rice] out into the woods with them. They claim 
that it is better than tame rice, because it don’t take so long to pre- 
pare it. We also ship considerable; fact is, we handle from 1 to 2 
tonsa season.” Mr J. A. Gilfillan* wrote from White Earth, Min- 
nesota: ** Among whites in Minnesota it is used only by missionaries 
and their families, old Indian traders, and very old settlers, and by a 
few merchants along the line of the St Paul Railroad.” It is used in 
various lumber camps in the regions where it grows, and is also sold 
to gun clubs quite extensively; they plant it in small lakes as food for 
waterfowl. Besides the dealers above mentioned, Currie Brothers, 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, advertise it in their Horticultural Guide for 
1899. They have sold it in small quantities, one or two hundred 
pounds a year, for the past ten years.? L. L. May & Co., of St Paul, 
Minnesota, advertise it in Farm and Floral Guide for 1899. This latter 
firm sells about 3,000 pounds during the season.’ All of the grain 
thus sold is gathered by the Indians. 
The foregoing facts are sufficient to show that wild rice was a valu- 
able and valued food to the pioneer whites of the northwest. It must 
be regretted that so nutritious a cereal was a precarious crop and has 
not, apparently, warranted extensive cultivation. 




17am indebted to Mr Gardner P. Stickney, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the use of manuscript 
letters concerning most of the facts here presented about the present use of wild rice by the whites. 
20. W. Moore, letter, Chetek, Wisconsin, April 29, 1896. 
8Charles ©. Oppel, letter, Tower, Minnesota, May 4, 1896. 
4J. A. Gilfillan, letter, White Earth, Minnesota, May 4, 1896. 
5Currie Brothers, letter, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 6, 1899. 
6L.L. May & Co,, letter, St. Paul, Minnesota, May 10, 1899. 
