Arikara Yellow 
80 days — It is an early maturing, determinate, compact, bush-type heirloom variety that produces tannish-yellow beans with a dark ring around the eye. 'Arikara Yellow' is drought tolerant and reportedly exhibits moderate resistance to white mold. Although primarily used as a dry bean, it can also be harvested at about 45 days, when it is young and tender, as a snap bean.
It was commercially introduced as 'Yellow Indian' by the Oscar Will Seed Company in the 1880s, it was later renamed to 'Arikara Yellow'. A landrace variety, Mr. Will collected the bean from local Indians in the vicinity of Fort Berthold in South Dakota.
Although Will is who helped this bean reach a broad gardening public, its "discovery" is credited to the
Lewis & Clark Expedition. It seems that it was a staple food crop of the Arikara people and helped to sustain the expedition's members during the difficult winter of 1805 at Fort Mandan.
[2]By 1810, Thomas Jefferson had already been growing the bean, which he referred to a "Ricara," for two years. In a letter dated October 6, 1810 to renowned botanist, Benjamin S. Barton, President Jefferson wrote, "
. . . you expressed a wish to have some Ricara snap beans . . . brought from the Western side of the continent by Govr. Lewis. The Ricara bean is one of the most excellent we have had: I have cultivated them plentifully for the table two years."
[1]Listed in McMahon's 1815 nursery catalog, 'Arikara Yellow' was one of the first plants collected by the
Lewis & Clark Expedition to be made available commercially.
[3] Now quite rare, it is listed by Slow Food USA as being seriously threatened and has been added to their "
Ark of Taste" registry. USDA accession number PI 633617. Each packet contains one ounce, which is approximately 60 seeds.
- Although we continue to select for the traits described above and clean up the variety, do not be surprised if you experience a small percentage of plant variation -
