Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-08-05
INDIAN MAPLE SUGAR
THE RED MAN TAUGHT THE WHITE
MAN TO MAKE THE DAINTY.

1850 'S es
MAN TO MAKE THE DAINTY.
Its Manufacture Was PracticAd by
All Northern Indians and Was
known TO Those Living ia Enr
South rs Florida and Texas.
Very few Of the people to whom ma
pie sugar is an entirely familiar and
commonplace thing are aware Of the
fact that the method Of making sugar
was taught to the white people by the
Indians and that they made sugar long
before the discovery OF America. This
Is only n Of the many things that the
white people learned from the Indians.
Others were the weaving of cotton, the
cultivation Of Indian corn and the use
Of tobacco.
Some Of the early writer's tell us that
the French were the first to make this
sugar and that they learned how to
make 1t from the Indian women. The
sap was collected in a rude way, a cash
being cut in the tree, and into this a
stick was thrust, down which the free
~ flowing sap dripped into a vessel Of
birch bark or a gourd or into wooden
troughs followed out by fire or the ak.
Then into larger wooden troughs full
of the sap redhot stones were thrown,
just as in old times they used to be
thrown into the water in which food
was boiled, and by constantly throwing
In hot stones and taking out those that
had become cool the sap was boiled
and 'evaporated, and at length strip
was made. which later became sugar.
This manufacture of the sugar was
no confined to any n tribe, but was
practiced by all northern Indians and
was known to those living as far south
as Florida and Texas. Among the
sugar making tribes a special festival
was held, which was called the maple
dance, which was undoubtedly q re-
ngious festival in the nature of a
prayer or p~ropitfatory ceremony, ask
ing for an abundant flow of sap and
for good fortune in collecting it.
Among many if not all the Indians
fnhabiting the northern United States
maple sugar was not merely a luxury,
something eaten because it was tooth
some, but was actually an important
part Of their support. Mixed with
pounded, parched corn, it was put up
In small quantities and was a n
trated form Of nutriment not much
less valuable in respect. to it's quality
of support than the pemmican which
was used almost down to our own
times.
Among all the older writer's who had
much familiarity with the customs Of
the Indians accounts are given Of the
manufacture Of sugar, and this custom
was so general that among many
tribes the month in which the a ran
best was called the sugar month. By
the Iroquois the name R~atirontaks,
meaning tree eaters, was applied to the
Algonquin tribes, and an eminent au-
thority, Dr.. Brinton, has suggested
that they were probably $50 called
from their love of the product Of the
sugar MAPLE" On the other hand,
A. b. Chamberlain has very plausibly
said that it is hardly likely that the
Iroquois distinguished other tribes by
this term, If it's origin be as suggested,
since they themselves were sugar max
ers and eaters" '':i
A more probable origin of the word is
that given by Schoolcraft, in substance
as follows: "~Ratirontaks, whence Adj
rondacks, was applied chiefly to the
Montagnais tribes, north Of the st.
Lawrence, and was a derisive term in
dicating a well known habit Of these
tribes Of eating the inner bark Of trees
In winter when food was scarce or
when on war excursions"
This habit Of eating the inner bark Of
trees was, as is well known, common
to many: tribes of Indians, both those
who inhabit the country where the sug-
ar maple grows and also those in other
parts of the country where the maple
is unknown. q 81 -
On the western prairies sugar was
made also from the box elder, which
trees were tapped by the Indians and
the sap boiled down for sugar, and to-
day the Cheyenne Indians tell us that
1t was from this tree that they derived
all the sugar that they had until the
arrival of the white man on the plains
something more than so years ago.
1t is interesting to observe that in
many tribes today the word for sugar
is precisely the word which they APP
piled to the product Of the maple tree
before they knew the white mans sug-
ar. 1t is interesting also to see that
among many tribes the general term
for sugar means wood or tree water
that is to say, tree sap. This is true of
the Omahas and Poncas, according to
J: 0. Dorsey, and also Of the Kansas.