7 April /  1230
 
        The first introduction of European honey bees into California seems
to have been fairly well documented.  Lee Watkins, an avid historian of
beekeeping, considered 1853 to be the first introduction (American Bee
Journal, 1968, 108:190-191) into California.
 
        Sheppard wrote a very complete account of introduction of various
races into the U.S. (Am. Bee Journal, 1989, 129:617-619; 664-667.  I have
a short article that should appear in mid to late summer.  If you would
like, I can send you a typescript.  The Eva Crane book on archeology of
beekeeping, noted to you earlier, is also quite scholarly.
 
        It is important to note, though, the earliest introductions into
California were likely "German" (Dark European) honey bees and not the
Italian bee of commerce today.
 
                                        Adrian M. Wenner
                                        Prof. of Natural History, Emeritus
 
 >
> The Native Americans were, indeed, enthusiastic honey consumers---but of
> the honey produced by the European honeybee.  (The other honey product
> consumed by Native Americans was from the "honey ants" of Utah, who make a
> similar product and store it in specialized workers called "repletes," who
> have grossly distended honey stomachs.)  Once the honeybee was introduced,
> swarms escaped into the wild and became established.  I am not sure of the
> exact rate of spread in the eastern woodlands, early on, but I do know
> that it is recorded in Irving's "Adventures of Captain Bonneville" that by
> the 1830's the honeybee had reached the Great Plains and was working its
> way up the Platt River at a rate of approximately 10 miles per year.  It
> was known to the Plains tribes as "the White Man's Fly," and they were
> enthusiastic raiders of any wild hives they found.
>
> As a hobby beekeeper and avocational historian of the American West, I have
> been trying to find references to bees in the early West for some years, as
> there is a great deal of misinformation/misconception on this topic.  (For
> example, most records state that the "first" bees in California arrived in
> 1954.  In actuality, this was the first post-goldrush arrival of Anglo-
> managed bees kept in more "modern" style hives.  There are many earlier
> references to the bees kept by the Missions, and escaped honeybees in wild
> colonies were reported at least as far back as the 1830's.)  My degree
> concentration was in ethnobotany, with a special interest in historical
> plant usage, and a side interest in pollination mechanics, so I suppose an
> interest in the historic honeybee only follows.
>
> And remember, the Native American tribes didn't just disappear when the
> Europeans, and their bees, arrived!  There were "wild Indians" living here,
> coexisting with European honeybees, for nearly three centuries.
>
>  --Jane Beckman  [[log in to unmask]]
>