BULL. 301 



ROOT DIGGERS ROOTS 



395 



Mich., in 1723.— Albany Conf. (172,3) in 

 N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist, v, 693, 1855. 



Root Diggers. A band, probably Sho- 

 shoni, but given by Culbertson (Smith- 

 son Rep. 1850, 144, 1851) as a Crow clan. 

 See Digger. 



Roots. For economic as well as for re- 

 ligious purposes the Indians used the va- 

 rious parts of plants to a greater extent 

 than substances of animal or mineral char- 

 acter. This was the case even in the arid 

 region, although plants with edible roots 

 are limited mainly to areas having abun- 

 dant rainfall. The more important uses 

 of roots were for food, for medicine, and 

 for dyes, but there were many other 

 uses, as for basketry, cordage, fire-sticks, 

 cement, etc., and for chewing, making 

 salt, and flavoring. 



Plants of the lily family furnished the 

 most abundant and useful root food of 

 the Indians throughout the U. S. The 

 Eskimo of Kowak r. ate roots of the wild 

 parsnip, which they secured from the 

 caches in the nests of field-mice. The 

 Indians of C. Flattery ate camas bulbs, 

 procured by trade from tribes to their 

 southward, as well as equisetum roots, 

 and roots of fern, grass, water plants, 

 clover, cinquefoil, and eelgrass. Equi- 

 setum tubers and eelgrass roots were 

 eaten raw; other roots were boiled by 

 means of hot stones or baked in pitovens. 

 Camas (q. v.) was a staple root-food from 

 the Wasatch mts. in Utah, northward 

 and westward; it was an article of wide- 

 spread commerce, influenced the migra- 

 tion of tribes, and might have become in 

 time the basis of primitive agriculture, 

 especially in the valley of Columbia r. 

 Lei berg says: "Every meadow was a 

 camas field. The plant was so plentiful 

 in many places that it is no exaggeration 

 to say that in the upper St Mary basin 

 more than half of the total herbaceous 

 vegetation in the lowlands was composed 

 of this one species." The Skitswish 

 peojile congregated here in the summer 

 to dig camas and to hunt deer. The root 

 was dug with a sharp-pointed stick. In 

 part of this area the kouse root (q. v.), 

 second only to camas in importance, was 

 dug in April or INIay, before camas was 

 in season. This root is the racine hlanc 

 of the Canadian voyageurs. It was 

 pounded and made into thin cakes, a foot 

 wide and 3 ft long, which were ribbed 

 from the impression of the poles on which 

 they were laid over the fire to smoke-dry 

 or bake. 



The tubers of the arrowhead plant 

 {Sagitiaria arifoUa and S. latifnlin) , wap- 

 patoo (q. V.) in Algonqnian, were widely 

 used in the N. W. for food. When pass- 

 ing across Chewaucan marsh of the 

 Oregon plains, e. of the Klamath res., 

 Fremont noticed large patches of ground 



that had been torn up by Indian women 

 in digging the roots of the wappatoo. 

 The Chippewa and AtlanticCoast Indians 

 also made use of them. The roots of the 

 cattail flag and bur reed were eaten by 

 the Klamath of Oregon, who used also 

 the roots of caruUi, calochortus, and 

 valerian. The Nez Percys of Idaho ate 

 the balsam root {Bulsumorrhiza incana 

 and B. sagittata), as well as the roots 

 of Carum gairdneri, CaUirrhoJ pedata, and 

 Ptilocalais sp. 



The pomme blanche, Indian turnip, or 

 prairie potato {Psoralea esculenia) was 

 prized by tribes living on high plains from 

 the Saskatchewan to Louisianaand Texas. 

 The root was dug by women by means 

 of a pointed stick, then dried, jjounded 

 to meal, and cooked with jerked meat 

 and corn. For winter use these roots 

 were cut in thin slices and dried. The 

 Sioux varied their diet with i oots of the 

 Indian turnip, two kinds of water lily, 

 the water grass, and the indo of the 

 Sioux, called by the French pomme de 

 terre, the ground-nut {Ajjios apios). To 

 these may be added the tuber of milk- 

 weed {Asdepias tuherom), valued by the 

 Sioux of the upper Platte, and the root 

 of the Jerusalem artichoke {IfelianfhiiH 

 tiiherosa), eaten by the Dakota of St 

 Croix r. Other Plains tribes gathered 

 esculent roots to eke out their food sup- 

 ply; among them the immense roots of 

 the wild potato {Ipounmleptophiilht) were 

 dug with great labor and eaten by the 

 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa. The 

 Miami, Shawnee, and other trilies of the 

 middle W. ate the "man of the earth" 

 (Ipomwa pandnrata) and Jerusalem arti- 

 choke (Helkmtlms ttdjerosus). From the 

 universal habit among Calif ornian tribes, 

 especially the Paiute, of gathering food 

 roots, the name "Diggers" was applied 

 to them by the early settlers and has 

 remained to this day in popular usage. 

 The esculent roots growing in great vari- 

 ety in California were a considerable addi- 

 tion to the Indian larder. Among the 

 plants thus utilized were the brake, tule, 

 calochortus, camas, and various lilies. 

 Calochortus bull)s, called wild sago, were 

 eaten also by the tribes of Utah and 

 Arizona. The bulbs are starchy and 

 palatable, and it is said that the Mormons, 

 during their first five years in Utah, con- 

 sumed this root extensively. 



In the S. W. few edible roots are 

 found, though many medicinal roots are 

 gathered. The Hopi, Zufii, and other 

 tribes eat the tubers of the wild potato 

 (Solanum jduin^ii). The Southern and 

 Eastern tribes also made use of the jiotato. 

 Though this acrid tuber is unpalatable 

 and requires much preparation to render 

 it suitable for food, many tribes recog- 

 nized its value. The Navaho, especially, 



