The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1902-02-08
GAVE THRM sAOAluTTRR.


AISer Oo SOTO ana his followers, TIA
Arst corn eaten BY white men upon the
1oil Of the Louislans purchase was that
which Louis Joliet and Pere Jacques
Marquette received from . hospitab bic
band Of Indians. whose village lay up.
On the banks of "Smau stream" sup
posed to be the Des Moines. On June
Is. is7s. a. the explorer and his priestly
eomPanion and historian were pad
ding down the Mississippi on their voy-
age Of discovery. they saw tracks of
men on the bank somewhere near the
southern end of what is now Iowa.
Leaving their canoe in charge of the
hve boatmen, they followed the tracks
to the village. where they were well re-
ceived.
A feast was spread for them,o which
the pisces de resistance" were Saga
mittee." boiled dog, dried buffalo meat
and other delicacies relizhed by the
Indian palate. For the boiled dog the
guests could not conceal their disgust,
and 1t was considerably removed from
the board. But they ate sufficiently of.
the buffalo meat, as we'll as of the
| Which, was nOtnAuk UuOIC
nor less than cornmeal .mush favored
with grease. The historian does not
nominate the kind Of grease that the
Indians put into their mush. Surely
the dish was not so appetizing as the
cracked corn homiDy which. softened
with fresh Jersey butter, is such IA
vorite on many dainty breakfast
table among the southerners and the
Jerseymen, but the explorers ate 1t
with good appetite.
When they got down into the Arkan-
sas country they had more sagamittee
from the Indians, and roasting ears
and watermeJons plenty. The wa
termeiOn is native to Africa, but
these Indians showed their apprecia-
ton Of a good thing by getting the
seds from Spanish or English colonists
and planting them, says the ST. Louis
Republic.
The corn crop of the Louisiana coun-
try is larger now than it was then, and |
II is put to more diversified and vastly |
more profitable uses. In the pioneer
days it was the staff of life of the race |
that has possessed the great valley. 1t |
was the only breadstutf carried among
their supplies by Joliet and Marquette.
The French settlers at Old Kaskaskia
rejected it as victuals fit only for cattle
and swine. The men who crossed the
Alleghenies with Boone and Sewer, and |
Robertson, and Shelby, as well as those
who came into Ohio and Kentucky
higher up. Travelled and fought Indians
often with no other supplies than a
sack of parched cora and a little bag of
salt per man. Their powder horns, bull
let pouches;. and straight-shooting
rifles provided all the turkey, bear, and
deer meat they needed.
In these days of commercial figures
and figuring II is Of special interest TO
learn from The statistician of the treas
ury at Washington that in good years
the states and territories Of the Louisi-
ana purchase make 100000 bushels Of
com. which IS just about half or lit
tie more than half. Of the American
crop. Magnify this prodlgious quanti-
tyDf gra,H Esnot now consumed in, the
form Of 81 9hamittee and roasting ears.
Much Of A3es o.feed the mules and
the nen va, make the great cotton
crops Of thfS9onth. Vast quantities of
It go into TIL beef, pork and poultry
tha: feed ihSfn on tht.of thed9nse man-d :
add comm erciaI population. l
'fthe porting steEh sea board states :. i
By Ife ans RI cotnAmerica gives pow
rftti aid alM comfort to Europe. and
Fesare ourselves somewhat cumfbrted r.
nsre tnrn. OF corn and cGrnmeaJ we
ient 'abroadSf hst year some 500. 600. 900 ! (
worth and at the money. Then there
re the Indk comforting and also
more proftaEe items of beef hams,
bacon, lard, ]nd it's compounds. sau-
age and sausage meats, butter, cheese,
md other animal products. the basis of
which is mainly corn. OF these we
blessed the outside world with an
bundance that brought nearly $780,
100000 into American pockets Half
# it all comes out of the soil of the
louisiana purchase.
Iowa. on whose soil Joliet and Mar
Iuette were fed sagamittee by the Il
mi Indians, is the greatest of all corn
tates. Nine-tenths of all the corn
'rown west Of the Mississippi comes
nut Of the soil of Iowa, Kansas, Nebras-
"a and Missouri. Illinois is the only
tate east of the river that turns out
corn eqnaling or surprising that Of
ny one Of these states; it is close be-
ween her and Iowa.
Corn is the mightiest of all the dyna-
mic forces of America. II makes rs
Apply and prosperous in peace, power
nj in war Great is corn; great is the
purchase country, the nat
raj home Of corn.