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Wild Rice is an annual grass which grows naturally in many Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin lakes. The Chippewa word for grain of berry is "min." To this, the adjective "mano" (good) is added to make "manomin" (good berry). By this name, wild rice was known to the Chippewa's and to most of the early white explorers and settlers of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Wild rice has also been cultivated in rice paddies.
Through the years, 60 popular names for wild rice have been identified. The early French noted similarities between wild rice and both oats and rye and named it folle avoine (wild oats). English terms were numerous but the most commonly accepted name became wild rice.
Rice Lake is a natural wild rice producing lake. American Indians still gather at the lake to harvest the rice as their ancestors did before them. The methods used to harvest rice has gone unchanged for centuries. A canoe is pushed through the rice beds with a long forked pole. The "poler" stands in the front, while the "knocker" sits in the rear of the canoe. The knocker uses two carved cedar sticks to harvest the rice grains. The knocker will use a stick to gently bend the rice stalks over the side of the canoe and the other stick to stroke or tap the rice kernels off the stalk.
Past generations would process the "green" rice at the landing using traditional methods. Today, the rice is put into large bags upon returning to the landing and taken to rice processing facilities.
