STATE ONCE HAD MORE CANE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE

Make it 20 feet tall with a lot of shoots that are an inch thick. Now let it expand over a four-mile stretch about 1/4 mile wide. This bamboo thicket has no trees and is a forest unto itself. Little else grows above or beneath it.

It sounds like something from China where you might find a panda bear, right? Surprisingly enough, this lush bamboo forest could be found closer than you think. ... at least it could at one time.

These huge fields of bamboo were called canebrakes and could be found close to our streams and creeks. Although canebrakes varied in size, they occurred in a healthy portion of the southern half of Missouri. Many of our communities and farm fields rest on former canebrake sites. Canebrakes indicated good soils, were close to water and were easy to clear.

Early explorers take note

Early explorers recorded immense stands of cane that proved very difficult to penetrate.

Early explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft found numerous canebrakes along Missouri's river bottoms. In November of 1818 he wrote, "within a mile from our last night's encampment, we met with the first cane, and found new difficulties in forcing our way through it."

John Audubon recorded an incident where a young naturalist examining such a canebrake was frightened by a bear. He fell backwards into the cane thicket and could not get up to run!

President Teddy Roosevelt had this to say about canebrakes he had visited in 1907: "... well nigh impenetrable to a man on horseback; even on foot they make difficult walking unless free use is made of the heavy bush knife. It is impossible to see through them for more than fifteen or twenty paces, and often not for half that distance."

The all-purpose cane

Native American cultures used cane for tools and craft projects. They made spears, atl-atl darts, drills, handles, flutes, baskets, fish traps, gates, and so much more. Having cane near a settlement was a lot like having a hardware store next door.

Cane shoots were eaten by natives and settlers as a pot herb and the seeds were very nutritious. Seed gathers had to beat the wildlife to get them though. Another advantage to having cane growing on field borders and around your village was that it attracted game animals. Deer, elk, bison, black bears and rabbits grazed on tender cane shoots. Today we would call it a food plot or a wildlife planting. To the Native Americans it was just plain smart.

In addition, cane provided protection to a village. Because thick cane was difficult to travel through, it worked like a low maintenance fence or wall.

Four hundred years ago our area was highly altered by native tribes. Large agricultural fields were farmed and open woods were created by frequent fires. The tribes were well organized and probably able to shape the land more than we give them credit for. Cane bordered a lot of agricultural fields.

The European arrival

During the 1500s and 1600s Europeans began to cross the Atlantic and settle North America. Unwittingly, they brought their diseases with them. The natives had never been exposed to diseases such as small pox and the plague so they had no natural immunity. The result was 90 percent of the Native American population dying in a very short time period.

Disease spread very rapidly, totally wiping out villages within a few years. Because one tribe would infect another, disease eventually spread to tribes in our area. Villages with no inhabitants were reclaimed by nature. Farm fields were quickly colonized by the cane that was once kept on the borders. Cane expanded like crazy creating the enormous canebrakes, and the animals that utilized cane flourished like never before described by explorers and settlers. Two hundred years later, European explorers would see these overgrown fields now consumed by cane.

Ironically those canebrakes were created indirectly by the earlier explorers and settlers that introduced disease to the natives.

Cane is nutritious

Cane is unusual in that it is our largest grass, and it is woody. When fresh shoots pop through the ground they are tender and very nutritious. Researchers indicate cane is the most nutritious native grass forage available in the southern United States, being rich in phosphorus, calcium, and crude protein. Cattle grazing on cane exhibit significant weight gains and are said to produce superior milk and butter.

Canebrakes were not only a good place to graze livestock but were tall enough to provide protection from wind and rain. Livestock were able to push through a canebrake, taking advantage of their size. Many settlers used canebrakes to pasture horses, cows, and sheep. Settling near a canebrake was an exceptional idea. Settlers were quick to notice cane grew in excellent soil.

Rich farmland was easily found by looking for cane and clearing it. Cane was easier to clear than trees and was a great location for a farm field. Thus many farm fields, established by natives 200-400 years earlier, were once again cleared for crops.

Cane becomes history

Clearing combined with overgrazing began to spell the decline of cane. Where it was left to stand, it was grazed down faster than it could grow back. After a canebrake was no longer useful for grazing it was eventually cleared for farm land. This occurred all over southern Missouri until no true canebrakes existed. Cane still grows in bottomland field edges and in scattered locations along streams and creeks. Perhaps less than 2 percent of the cane, once thriving in Missouri, is still present. Small patches of cane still remain, but they are nothing compared to the large stands once common to our region. True canebrakes are extremely rare.

Cane is an important plant in Missouri's history and to its wild inhabitants. Canebrakes supported a variety of life that is a story unto itself.

I am sure that many of you have some stories about canebrakes or even some old historic family photos that might have cane in the background. If you do, we would like to hear from you. Please contact me at (573) 290-5730, ext. 247 or write to the Conservation Department Regional Office, 2302 County Park Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701. Or contact me online at Hendea@mail.conservation. state.mo.us.

The information you have may help us tell the story of Southeast Missouri canebrakes so much better. We may even use it in an article in the Conservationist magazine!

A.J. Hendershott is an education consultant with the Missouri Department of Conservation.