Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-03-14
THEY DIG GINSENG.

A Curious People Who Live In west
Virginia. ..
Ginseng grows In all the rich upland
woods of North America, from Canada
to the mountains Of the Southern
States, but especially in the Ohio and
Mississippi valleys. 1t grows supera.
bundantly in the West Virginia noun.
tains. and there the professional sanger
Is found in all his u~niqueness. The sang,
or ginseng, diggers of Minnesota, Penn
~sylvania, and other States are usually
farmers and their families, who har.
vest this crop as IN incidental, though
profitable, addition to their regular
farm products, but in West Virginia
there are whole communities the dwell
ers in which do no other work than dig
ging ginseng and have no other income
than the proceeds of the sale Of the root
1t is probably hardly necessary to say
that these sangers are of II low order
of humanity. There are scattering, no.
madic tribes Of them in other parts OF
the State, but In the isolated counties
of Greenbriar, Webster, Pendleton and
Nicholas a ace of these people have a
fixed habitation. They are Il people by
themselves, and a curious one. Their
origin is unknown.
There are deer and bear a-plenty in
the mountains, but the sanger Is no hun.
ter. He does not take to a gun, yet
shot Is always among the supplies he
orders in return for his ginseng. He is
US expert fisherman, though, and fol-
lows the rare trout streams of his habl-
tat with great results.
The sangers of West Virginia are Of
small stature, a five-footer being an Az
erage-sized man. They are tough, tire
less and agile. They are peaceful and
not given much to the use Of intoxi-
cants. Their garb is grotesque in the
extreme, being made up Of any and all
kinds Of cast-off things, and frequently
a covering, OF half covering, Of rags and
tatters. The only attempt at agricul-
ture these people make Is the scratch
ing up Of a little ground to raise the to-
bacco they use-and they oil use 1t, re-
CARELESS Of age OF sex, chiefly by smok-
ing 1t in a corncob pipe. The women
drink a tea made from pungent roots or
sassafras bark. The members of the
tribe live in log huts, with chimncys
made Of clay. There is never more than
one room to a hut, and that serves for
all the needs Of the occupants. They
sleep on the floor, and, although in the
winter time they are frequently put to
great straits for the necessarics of
life, they seem happy amid their want
and squalor. Il =
Ginseng root is sold green to the
try stores by the diggers. The rural
dealers frequently offer prizes for the
heaviest single root, and for the great
est number of pounds brought in by the
sanger. The price paid varies with the
season, all calculations being made up
on the basis of dry sang. AS Don as the
root is bought from the sanger 1t Is
either dried in the sun or in kilns made
for the purpose, or steamed and quick
" evaporated. 1t behooves the man who
IS dealing direct with the sanger to be
mp to all the tricks Of the trade, for IL
he isn't he will get left. The exporter
will not buy a pound of ginseng that Is
not as dry as punk and absolutely free
fromlll other roots. The tricky sanger
has q deft way of mixing poke root,
colts foot, angelica, ~elecampane, and
other roots that are difficult Of detec-
ton with his sack of ginseng. The sang
is very porous, and the sanger long ago
discovered that by soaking it in water
before taking it to market he could add
materially to it's weight. But rammin(
shot into the roots and skillfully hidi,s
the holes where they vent in has {
ways been the fraud of which he wa
most proud.