Interesting Place Names and History of America

Interesting Place Names and History of America
Compiled by
Emily Stehr
[email protected]

Let America Be America Again
By Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free’.)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today - O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a ‘homeland of the free’.
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again The land that never has been yet And yet must be - the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine - the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath -

America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain All, all the stretch of these great green states And make America again!

Two notes:
1. I served in the US military for 11 years. One common introduction method is to switch
geographical origin information with the person being addressed. Mine went something like
this: “I’m from Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania.” What followed was usually a look of incredulity,
like, “That’s an actual place?” This kind of kick started my interest in interesting place names.
And that’s why I’ve compiled this book …
2. The internet is ever-changing. The links in this book were current when I researched the entries.
Some are not current anymore. This is a history book about interesting place names in America,
and it’s also a snap shot of what the internet was when I was researching those place names, at
that moment. Old history and new history, side by side.
Cheers! Emily Stehr

*TABLE OF CONTENTS*
*TOPONYMY*
**AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY**
**DUST BOWL**
**HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE 19TH CENTURY**
**IMMIGRATION**
**JAPANESE-AMERICAN TREATMENT DURING WORLD WAR II**
**NATIVE PEOPLES**
**NATIVIST MOVEMENT**
**SPANISH EXPLORERS**
**WESTERN EXPANSION**
**WOMEN IN AMERICA**
**ALABAMA**
***ARAB, MARSHALL COUNTY1, ALABAMA***
***BLACK WARRIOR’S TOWN, WALKER COUNTY2, ALABAMA***
***CHOCCOLOCCO, CALHOUN COUNTY3, ALABAMA***
***LICKSKILLET, DEKALB COUNTY4, ALABAMA***
***OAKFUSKUDSHI, TALLAPOOSA COUNTY5, ALABAMA***
**ALASKA**
***ANAKTUVUK PASS, NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH6, ALASKA***
***ATKA ISLAND, ANDREANOF ISLANDS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS7, ALASKA***
***BOCA DE QUADRA, KETCHIKAN GATEWAY BOROUGH8, ALASKA***
***CHICKEN, SOUTHEAST FAIRBANKS BOROUGH9, ALASKA***
***CHILKOOT PASS, MUNICIPALITY OF SKAGWAY BOROUGH10, ALASKA***
***COLDFOOT, YUKON-KOYUKUK BOROUGH11, ALASKA***
***COOK INLET, GULF OF ALASKA12, ALASKA***

1

http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/al/marshall/arab.cfm

2

http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,151556,n,black%20warrior%20town.
cfm
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choccolocco,_Alabama
4
http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/al/dekalb/lickskillet.cfm
5
http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,158382,n,oakfuskudshi.cfm
6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaktuvuk_Pass,_Alaska
7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atka_Island
8
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,1420556,n,boca%20de%20quadra.cfm
9
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ak/southeast-fairbanks-ca/chicken.cfm
10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilkoot_Pass
11
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ak/yukon-koyukuk-ca/coldfoot.cfm
12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_Inlet

***DEMARCATION POINT, NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH13, ALASKA***
***EEK, BETHEL CENSUS AREA14, ALASKA***
***JAPONSKI ISLAND, BOROUGH OF SITKA15, ALASKA***
***KALIFORNSKY, KENAI PENINSULA BOROUGH16, ALASKA***
***MARYS IGLOO, NOME CENSUS AREA17, ALASKA***
***MASSACRE BAY, ATTU ISLAND OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS18, ALASKA***
***MOUNT WILLIWAW, ANCHORAGE BOROUGH19, ALASKA***
***REVILLAGIGEDO ISLAND, KETCHIKAN GATEWAY BOROUGH20, ALASKA***
***SAINT MICHAEL, NOME CENSUS AREA21, ALASKA***
***SEDUCTION POINT, HAINES BOROUGH22, ALASKA***
***SITKA, BOROUGH OF SITKA23, ALASKA***
***SOURDOUGH GULCH, MATANUSKA-SUSITNA BOROUGH24, ALASKA***
***TOTEM BAY, ALEXANDER ARCHIPELAGO25, ALASKA***
***UNALASKA, ALEUTIANS WEST CENSUS AREA26, ALASKA***
***VALLEY OF TEN THOUSAND SMOKES, KATMAI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE27, ALASKA***
***WOLVERINE PEAK, ANCHORAGE BOROUGH28, ALASKA***
**ARIZONA**
***ALPINE, APACHE COUNTY29, ARIZONA***
***APACHE MAID MOUNTAIN, COCONINO COUNTY30, ARIZONA***
***BAGDAD, YAVAPAI COUNTY31, ARIZONA***
***BARBERSHOP CANYON, COCONINO COUNTY32, ARIZONA***
***BLOODY TANKS, GILA COUNTY33, ARIZONA***
***BONEYARD, APACHE COUNTY34, ARIZONA***

13

http://www.placenames.com/us/p1401108/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eek,_Alaska
15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonski_Island; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka,_Alaska
16
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ak/kenai-peninsula/kalifornsky.cfm
17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary's_Igloo,_Alaska
18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_Bay
19
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,1412071,n,mount%20williwaw.cfm
20
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revillagigedo_Island
21
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael,_Alaska
22
http://www.placenames.com/us/p1414582/
23
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka,_Alaska
24
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,1409899,n,sourdough%20gulch.cfm
25
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupreanof_Island
26
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unalaska,_Alaska
27
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Ten_Thousand_Smokes
28
http://www.placenames.com/us/p1412235/
29
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
30
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
31
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/bagdad.cfm
32
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
33
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
34
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
14

***BUMBLE BEE, YAVAPAI COUNTY35, ARIZONA***
***BURNT WATER, APACHE COUNTY36, ARIZONA***
***CHLORIDE, MOHAVE COUNTY37, ARIZONA***
***CHRISTMAS, GILA COUNTY38, ARIZONA***
***FORT DEFIANCE, APACHE COUNTY39, ARIZONA***
***FORT MISERY, YAVAPAI COUNTY40, ARIZONA***
***GRASSHOPPER JUNCTION, MOHAVE COUNTY41, ARIZONA***
***MONTEZUMA CASTLE, YAVAPAI COUNTY42, ARIZONA***
***SKULL VALLEY, YAVAPAI COUNTY43, ARIZONA***
***SNOWFLAKE, NAVAJO COUNTY44, ARIZONA***
***SURPRISE, MARICOPA COUNTY45, ARIZONA***
***TOMBSTONE, COCHISE COUNTY46, ARIZONA***
***WHY, PIMA COUNTY47, ARIZONA***
**ARKANSAS**
***NIMROD, PERRY COUNTY48, ARKANSAS***
***OKAY, HOWARD COUNTY49, ARKANSAS***
***SMACKOVER, UNION COUNTY50, ARKANSAS***
***SNOWBALL, SEARCY COUNTY51, ARKANSAS***
***STINKING BAY, ARKANSAS COUNTY52, ARKANSAS***
***TOAD SUCK, PERRY COUNTY53, ARKANSAS***
***TURKEY SCRATCH, PHILLIPS COUNTY54, ARKANSAS***
***UMPIRE, HOWARD COUNTY55, ARKANSAS***
***YELLVILLE, MARION COUNTY56, ARKANSAS***
35

http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/bumble-bee.cfm
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/cities/zccity,city,burnt%20water.cfm
37
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/mohave/chloride.cfm
38
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
39
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Defiance,_Arizona
40
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/fort-misery.cfm
41
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/mohave/grasshopper-junction.cfm
42
Amy D Willis, Maricopa County, Office of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, 301 W Jefferson St,
10th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003; [email protected]
43
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/skull-valley.cfm
44
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/navajo/snowflake.cfm
45
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surprise,_Arizona
46
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona
47
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/pima/why.cfm
48
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/perry/nimrod.cfm
49
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/howard/okay.cfm
50
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smackover,_Arkansas
51
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball,_Arkansas
52
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/arkansas/stinking-bay.cfm
53
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_Suck,_Arkansas
54
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/phillips/turkey-scratch.cfm
55
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpire,_Arkansas
56
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellville,_Arkansas
36

**CALIFORNIA**
***ANGELS CAMP, CALAVERAS COUNTY57, CALIFORNIA***
***BOMBAY BEACH, IMPERIAL COUNTY58, CALIFORNIA***
***COPPEROPOLIS, CALAVERAS COUNTY59, CALIFORNIA***
***EUREKA, HUMBOLDT COUNTY60, CALIFORNIA***
***HALLELUJAH JUNCTION, LASSEN COUNTY61, CALIFORNIA***
***LAST CHANCE, PLACER COUNTY62, CALIFORNIA***
***LONDON, TULARE COUNTY63, CALIFORNIA***
***MANLOVE, SACRAMENTO COUNTY64, CALIFORNIA***
***NEEDLES, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY65, CALIFORNIA***
***SIBERIA, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY66, CALIFORNIA***
***VALLEY OF ENCHANTMENT, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY67, CALIFORNIA***
***ZURICH, INYO COUNTY68, CALIFORNIA***
***ZZYZX, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY69, CALIFORNIA***
**COLORADO**
***BUCKSKIN JOE, PARK COUNTY70, COLORADO***
***GOODNIGHT, PUEBLO COUNTY71, COLORADO***
***JOES, YUMA COUNTY72, COLORADO***
***LAST CHANCE, WASHINGTON COUNTY73, COLORADO***
***MAD CREEK, ROUTT COUNTY74, COLORADO***
***MANHATTAN, LARIMER COUNTY75, COLORADO***
***NINETYFOUR, CLEAR CREEK COUNTY76, COLORADO***
***NO NAME, GARFIELD COUNTY77, COLORADO***
***NUCLA, MONTROSE COUNTY, COLORADO***
57

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_Camp,_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Beach,_California
59
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperopolis,_California
60
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka,_California
61
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_Junction,_California
62
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Chance,_California
63
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_California
64
http://california.hometownlocator.com/ca/sacramento/manlove.cfm
65
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needles,_California
66
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia,_California
67
http://california.hometownlocator.com/ca/san-bernardino/valley-of-enchantment.cfm
68
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurich,_California
69
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California
70
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckskin_Joe,_Colorado
71
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/pueblo/goodnight.cfm
72
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joes,_Colorado
73
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Chance,_Colorado
74
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/routt/mad-creek.cfm
75
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan,_Colorado
76
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,181371,n,ninetyfour.cfm
77
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Name,_Colorado
58

***PARACHUTE, GARFIELD COUNTY78, COLORADO***
***PARADOX, MONTROSE COUNTY79, COLORADO***
***SECURITY, EL PASO COUNTY80, COLORADO***
***SPOOK CITY, SAGUACHE COUNTY81, COLORADO***
***URAVAN, MONTROSE COUNTY, COLORADO***
**CONNECTICUT**
**CONNECTICUT’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
***DEVIL’S BACKBONE, BETHLEHEM, LITCHFIELD COUNTY82, CONNECTICUT***
***HASSUNADCHUAUCK, HARTFORD COUNTY83, CONNECTICUT***
***HATTERTOWN, FAIRFIELD COUNTY84, CONNECTICUT***
***MERRYALL, LITCHFIELD COUNTY85, CONNECTICUT***
***MYSTIC, NEW LONDON COUNTY86, CONNECTICUT***
***PUDDLETOWN, LITCHFIELD COUNTY87, CONNECTICUT***
***SPOONVILLE, HARTFORD COUNTY88, CONNECTICUT***
***VOLUNTOWN, NEW LONDON COUNTY89, CONNECTICUT***
***YELPING HILL, LITCHFIELD COUNTY90, CONNECTICUT***
**DELAWARE**
***APPOQUINIMINK RIVER, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***ASSAWOMAN BAY, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***BLACKBIRD, NEW CASTLE COUNTY91, DELAWARE***
***BOMBAY HOOK POINT, KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***BRANDYWINE CREEK, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***BREAD AND CHEESE ISLAND, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***BURNT SWAMP, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***KIAMENSI, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***MERMAID, NEW CASTLE COUNTY92, DELAWARE***
***MURDERKILL RIVER, KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***RELIANCE, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE***
78

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute,_Colorado
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox,_Colorado
80
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/el-paso/security.cfm
81
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/saguache/spook-city.cfm
82
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem,_Connecticut
83
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1950343,n,hassunadchuauck.cfm
84
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattertown,_Connecticut;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtown,_Connecticut
85
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Milford,_Connecticut
86
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic,_Connecticut
87
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/ct/litchfield/puddle-town.cfm
88
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/ct/hartford/spoonville.cfm
89
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntown,_Connecticut
90
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/ct/litchfield/yelping-hill.cfm
91
http://delaware.hometownlocator.com/de/new-castle/blackbird.cfm
92
http://delaware.hometownlocator.com/de/new-castle/mermaid.cfm
79

***RISING SUN, KENT COUNTY93, DELAWARE***
***SLAUGHTER BEACH, SUSSEX COUNTY94, DELAWARE***
***THE WEDGE, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
***THRUMCAP, KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE***
**FLORIDA**
**APPALACHIAN**
***BELGIUM, DESOTO COUNTY95, FLORIDA***
***CELEBRATION, OSCEOLA COUNTY96, FLORIDA***
***CORKSCREW, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***FORT LONESOME, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***HOOKER POINT, HENDRY COUNTY97, FLORIDA***
***HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, LAKE COUNTY98, FLORIDA***
***JEWFISH, MONROE COUNTY99, FLORIDA***
***LOCKSA APOPKA, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***LORIDA, HIGHLANDS COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***PANACEA, WAKULLA COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***SWITZERLAND, ST JOHNS COUNTY100, FLORIDA***
***TAINTSVILLE, SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***TREASURE ISLAND, PINELLAS COUNTY101, FLORIDA***
***TROPIC, BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***TWO EGG, JACKSON COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***WHISPER WALK, BOCA RATON, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA***
***YEEHAW JUNCTION, OSCEOLA COUNTY102, FLORIDA***
**GEORGIA**
***AMERICUS, SUMTER COUNTY, GEORGIA***
***BENEVOLENCE, RANDOLPH COUNTY103, GEORGIA***
***BETWEEN, WALTON COUNTY104, GEORGIA***
***BLOODTOWN, MURRAY COUNTY105, GEORGIA***
***CLIMAX, DECATUR COUNTY106, GEORGIA***

93

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun-Lebanon,_Delaware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughter_Beach,_Delaware
95
http://florida.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,294630,n,belgium.cfm
96
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida
97
http://florida.hometownlocator.com/fl/hendry/hooker-point.cfm
98
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howey-in-the-Hills,_Florida
99
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewfish,_Florida
100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland,_Florida
101
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island,_Florida
102
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeehaw_Junction,_Florida
103
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/randolph/benevolence.cfm
104
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between,_Georgia
105
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/murray/bloodtown.cfm
106
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax,_Georgia
94

***DOCTORTOWN, WAYNE COUNTY107, GEORGIA***
***EBENEZER, EFFINGHAM COUNTY108, GEORGIA***
***EGYPT, EFFINGHAM COUNTY109, GEORGIA***
***ENIGMA, BERRIEN COUNTY110, GEORGIA***
***EXPERIMENT, SPALDING COUNTY111, GEORGIA***
***GERMANY, RABUN COUNTY112, GEORGIA***
***HAZARD, WASHINGTON COUNTY113, GEORGIA***
***HILL NUMBER 1, 2, & 3, CHICKAMAUGA, WALKER COUNTY114, GEORGIA***
***JEWTOWN, GLYNN COUNTY115, GEORGIA***
***JOT ‘EM DOWN STORE, PIERCE COUNTY, GEORGIA***
***NAMELESS, LAURENS COUNTY116, GEORGIA***
***SNAKE NATION, ATLANTA, GEORGIA***
***TALKING ROCK, PICKENS COUNTY117, GEORGIA***
**HAWAII**
**AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT BEFORE STATEHOOD**
**DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK**
**KAMEHAMEHA**
**MISSIONARY WORK**
**MONARCHS AFTER KAMEHAMEHA**
***‘OPIHI-NEHE, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***AL-HUA-LAMA, HONOLULU COUNTY, HAWAII***
***BANZAI PIPELINE, SUNSET BEACH, O’AHU (HONOLULU COUNTY), HAWAII***
***HALA’EA, KA LAE (SOUTH POINT COMPLEX, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***JACKASS GINGER, HONOLULU COUNTY, HAWAII***
***KA-HIKI-LANI, O’AHU (HONOLULU COUNTY), HAWAII***
***KA-HUKU, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***KA-IMU-MANO, MOLOKA’I (ISLAND), HAWAII***
***KAMA’OA, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***KA-MILO, KA LAE (SOUTH POINT COMPLEX, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***KA-PALAOA, KONA (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***KA-UHA-KO, KONA (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***KE-AWA-‘ULA, O’AHU (HONOLULU COUNTY), HAWAII***
***LAU-PAHOEHOE, HONOMU (HAWAII COUNTY, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***MAHAI’ULA, KE-AHOLE (WESTERNMOST POINT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
107

Deborah A Turner, Library Manager, Wayne County Library, Three Rivers Regional Library System,
759 Sunset Blvd, Jesup, GA 31545
108
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenezer,_Georgia
109
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/effingham/egypt.cfm
110
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma,_Georgia
111
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment,_Georgia
112
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/rabun/germany.cfm
113
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/washington/hazard.cfm
114
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickamauga,_Georgia
115
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/glynn/jewtown.cfm
116
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/laurens/nameless.cfm
117
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_Rock,_Georgia

***MAKALA-WENA, KE-AHOLE (WESTERNMOST POINT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***PEARL CITY, HONOLULU COUNTY118, HAWAII***
***PEARL HARBOR, PEARL CITY, HONOLULU COUNTY, HAWAII***
***UWE-KAHUNA, KI-LAU-EA (KAUA’I ISLAND), HAWAII***
***WAI-KA-PUNA, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
***WAI-MEA, KAUA’I (ISLAND), HAWAII***
**IDAHO**
***ADAMS CREEK, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***ALMO, CASSIA COUNTY, IDAHO***
***AMERICAN FALLS, POWER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***ATOMIC CITY, BINGHAM COUNTY119, IDAHO***
***BAD BEAR CREEK, BOISE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BATHTUB MOUNTAIN, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BATTLE CREEK, FRANKLIN COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BEDBUG CREEK, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BEER SPRINGS, CARIBOU COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BITCH CREEK, FREMONT COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BLUE NOSE, LEMHI COUNTY, IDAHO***
***BOTTLE BAY, BONNER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***CALAMITY POINT, BONNEVILLE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***CEMETERY RIDGE, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***FAIRYLAWN, OWYHEE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***FREEDOM, CARIBOU COUNTY, IDAHO***
***GOOD GRIEF, BOUNDARY COUNTY120, IDAHO***
***JUDGE TOWN, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***KINNIKINNIC CREEK, CUSTER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***LAPWAI, NEZ PERCE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***LAWYERS CREEK, LEWIS COUNTY, IDAHO***
***LEGEND CREEK, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
***MASSACRE ROCKS, POWER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***MEDICINE LODGE CREEK, CLARK COUNTY, IDAHO***
***NEZPERCE, LEWIS COUNTY, IDAHO***
***PAPOOSE CREEK, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
***POISON CREEK, BONNEVILLE COUNTY, IDAHO***
***ROBBERS ROOST CREEK, BANNOCK COUNTY, IDAHO***
***SCURVY MOUNTAIN, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***SEVEN DEVILS, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
***STINKING CREEK, KOOTENAI COUNTY, IDAHO***
***STRYCHNINE CREEK, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO***
***THE GOBLIN, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
***TREASURE GULCH, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO***
***WHISKEY CREEK, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***WHOOP-UM-UP CREEK, BOISE COUNTY, IDAHO***
118

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_City,_Hawaii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_City,_Idaho
120
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Grief,_Idaho
119

***YANKEE FORK CREEK, CUSTER COUNTY, IDAHO***
***YELLOW CAT CREEK, LEMHI COUNTY, IDAHO***
***ZAZA, NEZ PERCE COUNTY, IDAHO***
**ILLINOIS**
***BIBLE GROVE, CLAY COUNTY121, ILLINOIS***
***BONE GAP, EDWARDS COUNTY, ILLINOIS***
***BOOS, JASPER COUNTY122, ILLINOIS***
***CHICKEN BRISTLE, DOUGLAS COUNTY123, ILLINOIS***
***COOPER’S DEFEAT CREEK, STARK COUNTY, ILLINOIS***
***DISCO, HANCOCK COUNTY124, ILLINOIS***
***EMBARRASS, COLES COUNTY125, ILLINOIS***
***EQUALITY, GALLATIN COUNTY126, ILLINOIS***
***JUG RUN, STARK COUNTY, ILLINOIS***
***LOST NATION, OGLE COUNTY127, ILLINOIS***
***METROPOLIS, MASSAC COUNTY128, ILLINOIS***
***PAW PAW, LEE COUNTY129, ILLINOIS***
***SKOKIE, COOK COUNTY130, ILLINOIS***
**INDIAN [AS IN ‘INDIANA’]**
**INDIANA**
**HOOSIER [STATE NICKNAME], INDIANA**
***ANTIVILLE, JAY COUNTY, INDIANA***
***BATTLE GROUND, TIPPECANOE COUNTY131, INDIANA***
***BEEHUNTER, GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA***
***CAYUGA, VERMILLION COUNTY, INDIANA***
***COLD FRIDAY, HARRISON COUNTY132, INDIANA***
***CORRECT, RIPLEY COUNTY, INDIANA***
***DEAD MAN’S CROSSING/CORNER, POSEY COUNTY133, INDIANA***
***GOSPEL GROVE, VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA***
***HANGMAN CROSSING, JACKSON COUNTY134, INDIANA***
***HYMERA, SULLIVAN COUNTY, INDIANA***
121

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Grove,_Illinois
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boos,_Illinois
123
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Bristle,_Illinois
124
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco,_Illinois
125
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrass,_Illinois
126
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality,_Illinois
127
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Nation,_Illinois
128
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis,_Illinois
129
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw,_Illinois
130
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skokie,_Illinois
131
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Ground,_Indiana
132
http://indiana.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,432746,n,cold%20friday%20hollow.cfm
133
http://indiana.hometownlocator.com/in/posey/dead-mans-crossing.cfm
134
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangman_Crossing,_Indiana
122

***LOST RIVER, ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA***
***MISHAWAKA, SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY, INDIANA***
***NINEVEH, JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA***
***PUMPKIN CENTER, ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA***
***STARLIGHT, CLARK COUNTY135, INDIANA***
***STONY LONESOME, BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY136, INDIANA***
**IOWA**
***ATLANTIC, CASS COUNTY137, IOWA***
***BLACK HAWK COUNTY, IOWA***
***BLOODY RUN, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, IOWA***
***COMMUNIA, CLAYTON COUNTY, IOWA***
***CORRECTIONVILLE, WOODBURY COUNTY138, IOWA***
***CYLINDER, PALO ALTO COUNTY139, IOWA***
***DES MOINES, POLK COUNTY, IOWA***
***LOST NATION, CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA***
***OSKALOOSA, MAHASKA COUNTY, IOWA***
***PRIMGHAR, O’BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA***
***PROMISE CITY, WAYNE COUNTY140, IOWA***
***SERGEANT BLUFF, WOODBURY COUNTY, IOWA***
***SIOUX CENTER, SIOUX COUNTY, IOWA***
***STORM LAKE, BUENA VISTA COUNTY, IOWA***
***WHAT CHEER, KEOKUK COUNTY141, IOWA***
***WINTERSET, MADISON COUNTY, IOWA***
***ZERO, LUCAS COUNTY142, IOWA***
**KANSAS**
***BELLE SPRINGS, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
***BLACK JACK, DOUGLAS COUNTY, KANSAS***
***BLOOD CREEK, BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS***
***GOOD INTENT, ATCHISON COUNTY, KANSAS***
***HAPHAZARD, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
***HIAWATHA, BROWN COUNTY, KANSAS***
***NEUTRAL, CHEROKEE COUNTY143, KANSAS***
***PROTECTION, COMANCHE COUNTY144, KANSAS***
***SHADY BROOK, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
***SOLDIER, JACKSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
135

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlight,_Indiana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stony_Lonesome,_Indiana
137
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic,_Iowa
138
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correctionville,_Iowa
139
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder,_Iowa
140
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promise_City,_Iowa
141
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Cheer,_Iowa
142
http://iowa.hometownlocator.com/ia/lucas/zero.cfm
143
http://kansas.hometownlocator.com/ks/cherokee/neutral.cfm
144
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection,_Kansas
136

***STRINGTOWN, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
***ZOOK, PAWNEE COUNTY145, KANSAS***
**KENTUCKY**
***BIG BONE LICK, BOONE COUNTY146, KENTUCKY***
***BLACK GNAT, GREEN COUNTY147, KENTUCKY***
***BUGTUSSLE, MONROE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***BURNING SPRINGS, CLAY COUNTY148, KENTUCKY***
***CRUMMIES, HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***DEADMAN’S HILL AND DEADMAN’S GRAVE, LAUREL COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***DECIDE, CLINTON COUNTY149, KENTUCKY***
***DREAMING AND DROWNING CREEKS, MADISON COUNTY150, KENTUCKY***
***FELICIANA, GRAVES COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***HELECHAWA, WOLFE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***HORSE CAVE, HART COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***LICKSKILLET, LIVINGSTON COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***LONESOME CREEK, WAYNE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***MUMMIE, JACKSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***NO CREEK, OHIO COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***PROVERTY, MCLEAN COUNTY151, KENTUCKY***
***RABBIT HASH, BOONE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***REBEL’S ROCK, HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***RED HOT, GREENUP COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***ROGUE’S HARBOR, LOGAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***SACRED WIND, LAWRENCE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***SALLY’S ROCK, WARREN COUNTY152, KENTUCKY***
***TEN SPOT, HARLAN COUNTY153, KENTUCKY***
***THEALKA, JOHNSON COUNTY154, KENTUCKY***
***THOUSANDSTICKS, LESLIE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***TYWHAPITY, HANCOCK COUNTY155, KENTUCKY***
***WAX, GRAYSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
***WHOOPFLAREA, OWSLEY COUNTY156, KENTUCKY***
***ZACHARIAH, LEE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***

145

http://kansas.hometownlocator.com/ks/pawnee/zook.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bone,_Kentucky
147
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/ky/green/black-gnat.cfm
148
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Springs,_Kentucky
149
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decide,_Kentucky
150
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Kentucky
151
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/ky/mclean/poverty.cfm
152
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,502814,n,sallys%20rock.cfm
153
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Spot,_Kentucky
154
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thealka,_Kentucky
155
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,2743755,n,tywhapity%20bottoms.cfm
156
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopflarea,_Kentucky
146

**LOUISIANA**
**BAYOU**
**CREOLE**
**MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA, LOUISIANA**
***ALOHA, GRANT PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***BAYOU FUNNY LOUIS, LA SALLE PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***BERMUDA, NATCHITOCHES PARISH157, LOUISIANA***
***CHAPPEPEELA, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***CHAUTAUQUA, LINCOLN PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***CHICKASAW, LA SALLE PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***CHIHUAHUAITA, RAPIDES PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***FORT NECESSITY, FRANKLIN PARISH158, LOUISIANA***
***GOLD DUST, AVOYELLES PARISH159, LOUISIANA***
***HOOKER HOLE, UNION PARISH160, LOUISIANA***
***HOUMA, WEST FELICIANA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***MUDVILLE, GRANT PARISH161, LOUISIANA***
***OPOSSUM, EAST FELICIANA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***OSCEOLA, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***PINHOOK BRIDGE, TENSAS PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***PONCHATOULA, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
***WATERPROOF, TENSAS PARISH162, LOUISIANA***
**MAINE**
**MAINE’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
***AMBEJACKMOCKAMUS FALLS, PISCATAQUIS COUNTY, MAINE***
***CANADA FALLS LAKE, SOMERSET COUNTY163, MAINE***
***CARIBOU, AROOSTOOK COUNTY164, MAINE***
***CARRYING PLACE, SOMERSET COUNTY, MAINE***
***DEAD MAN’S CORNER, AROOSTOOK COUNTY165, MAINE***
***DEADWATER, SOMERSET COUNTY166, MAINE***
***KOKADJO, PISCATAQUIS COUNTY167, MAINE***
***MOUSE ISLAND, LINCOLN COUNTY168, MAINE***
***ROBIN HOOD, SAGADAHOC COUNTY169, MAINE***
***ST ALBANS, SOMERSET COUNTY, MAINE***
157

http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/natchitoches/bermuda.cfm
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/franklin/fort-necessity.cfm
159
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/avoyelles/gold-dust.cfm
160
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/union/hooker-hole.cfm
161
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/grant/mudville.cfm
162
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterproof,_Louisiana
163
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Branch_Penobscot_River
164
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribou,_Maine
165
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/aroostook/deadmans-corner.cfm
166
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/somerset/deadwater.cfm
167
http://24timezones.com/mapa/usa/me_piscataquis/kokadjo.htm
168
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/lincoln/mouse-island.cfm
169
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/sagadahoc/robinhood.cfm
158

***WITCH ISLAND, LINCOLN COUNTY170, MAINE***
**MARYLAND**
***ACCIDENT, GARRETT COUNTY171, MARYLAND***
***BALD FRIAR FERRY, CECIL COUNTY172, MARYLAND***
***CABIN JOHN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY173, MARYLAND***
***INDIAN BONE, DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND***
***MATTAWOMAN, CHARLES COUNTY174, MARYLAND***
***PORT TOBACCO, CHARLES COUNTY175, MARYLAND***
***SCIENTISTS’ CLIFFS, CALVERT COUNTY176, MARYLAND***
***SHANTYTOWN, ALLEGANY COUNTY177, MARYLAND***
***SPOOK HILL, BALTIMORE COUNTY178, MARYLAND***
**MASSACHUSETTS**
**MASSACHUSETTS’ NATIVE AMERICANS**
***CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAGOGGCHAUBUNAGUNGAMAUG LAKE, WORCESTER COUNTY,
MASSACHUSETTS***
***SALEM, ESSEX COUNTY179, MASSACHUSETTS***
***SATAN’S KINGDOM, FRANKLIN COUNTY180, MASSACHUSETTS***
***THE X, HAMPDEN COUNTY181, MASSACHUSETTS***
***TREE OF KNOWLEDGE CORNER, PLYMOUTH COUNTY182, MASSACHUSETTS***
***ZYLONITE, BERKSHIRE COUNTY183, MASSACHUSETTS***
**MICHIGAN**
***BATTLE RUN, ST CLAIR COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
***CALVIN CENTER, CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
***COLON, ST JOSEPH COUNTY184, MICHIGAN***
***DOLLAR SETTLEMENT, CHIPPEWA COUNTY185, MICHIGAN***
***DRY PRAIRIE, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN***

170

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_Island; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bristol,_Maine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accident,_Maryland
172
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,589071,n,bald%20friar%20ferry.cfm
173
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_John,_Maryland
174
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/md/charles/mattawoman.cfm
175
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Tobacco_Village,_Maryland
176
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientists_Cliffs,_Maryland
177
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1713457,n,shanty%20town.cfm
178
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/md/baltimore/spook-hill.cfm
179
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem,_Massachusetts
180
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satans_Kingdom,_Massachusetts
181
http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/hampden/the-x.cfm
182
http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/plymouth/tree-of-knowledge-corner.cfm
183
http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/berkshire/zylonite.cfm
184
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon,_Michigan
185
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/chippewa/dollar-settlement.cfm
171

***FINGERBOARD CORNER, CHEBOYGAN COUNTY186, MICHIGAN***
***FREE SOIL, MASON COUNTY187, MICHIGAN***
***HELL, LIVINGSTON COUNTY188, MICHIGAN***
***KALAMAZOO, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
***NIRVANA, LAKE COUNTY189, MICHIGAN***
***PAYMENT, CHIPPEWA COUNTY190, MICHIGAN***
***SHAVEHEAD, CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
***SLAPNECK, ALGER COUNTY191, MICHIGAN***
***SOUTH ASSYRIA, BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
***TEAPOT DOME, VAN BUREN COUNTY192, MICHIGAN***
***WHISKEY CREEK, OCEANA COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
**MINNESOTA**
***AH-GWAH-CHING, CASS COUNTY193, MINNESOTA***
***BATTLE LAKE, OTTER TAIL COUNTY194, MINNESOTA
***BLUE EARTH CITY, FARIBAULT COUNTY, MINNESOTA***
***CASTLE DANGER, LAKE COUNTY195, MINNESOTA***
***COFFEEPOT LANDING, CLEARWATER COUNTY196, MINNESOTA***
***GOOD THUNDER, BLUE EARTH COUNTY197, MINNESOTA***
***HAPPY WANDERER, LAKE COUNTY198, MINNESOTA***
***KNIFE RIVER, LAKE COUNTY199, MINNESOTA***
***QUAMBA, KANABEC COUNTY200, MINNESOTA***
***SLEEPY EYE, BROWN COUNTY201, MINNESOTA***
***TENSTRIKE, BELTRAMI COUNTY202, MINNESOTA***
***THIEF RIVER FALLS, PENNINGTON COUNTY203, MINNESOTA***
***WABASHA, WABASHA COUNTY, MINNESOTA***
**MISSISSIPPI**

186

http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/cheboygan/fingerboard-corner.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Soil,_Michigan
188
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan
189
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/lake/nirvana.cfm
190
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/chippewa/payment.cfm
191
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/alger/slapneck.cfm
192
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/van-buren/teapot-dome.cfm
193
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ah-gwah-ching,_Minnesota
194
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Lake,_Minnesota
195
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Danger,_Minnesota
196
http://minnesota.hometownlocator.com/mn/clearwater/coffee-pot-landing.cfm
197
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Thunder,_Minnesota
198
http://minnesota.hometownlocator.com/mn/lake/happy-wanderer.cfm
199
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_River,_Minnesota
200
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quamba,_Minnesota
201
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Eye,_Minnesota
202
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenstrike,_Minnesota
203
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_River_Falls,_Minnesota
187

***ALLIGATOR, BOLIVAR COUNTY204, MISSISSIPPI***
***COTTON GIN PORT, MONROE COUNTY205, MISSISSIPPI***
***DRAGON, FORREST COUNTY206, MISSISSIPPI***
***FREE RUN, YAZOO COUNTY207, MISSISSIPPI***
***FREE TRADE, LEAKE COUNTY208, MISSISSIPPI***
***HOT COFFEE, COVINGTON COUNTY209, MISSISSIPPI***
***IMPROVE, MARION COUNTY210, MISSISSIPPI***
***MERRY HELL, SIMPSON COUNTY211, MISSISSIPPI***
***MIDNIGHT, HUMPHREYS COUNTY212, MISSISSIPPI***
***PANTHER BURN, SHARKEY COUNTY213, MISSISSIPPI***
***SHAKE RAG, TUPELO, LEE COUNTY214, MISSISSIPPI***
**MISSOURI**
***ARROW ROCK, SALINE COUNTY, MISSOURI***
***CHAIN OF ROCKS, LINCOLN COUNTY215, MISSOURI***
***CHERRY BOX, SHELBY COUNTY216, MISSOURI***
***DEFIANCE, SAINT CHARLES COUNTY217, MISSOURI***
***DEVIL’S ELBOW, PULASKI COUNTY218, MISSOURI***
***FORT HANNAH, COOPER COUNTY219, MISSOURI***
***FRANKENSTEIN, OSAGE COUNTY220, MISSOURI***
***HERCULANEUM, JEFFERSON COUNTY221, MISSOURI***
***LITHIUM, PERRY COUNTY222, MISSOURI***
***MEXICO, AUDRAIN COUNTY, MISSOURI***
***NOGO, GREENE COUNTY223, MISSOURI***
***NOVELTY, KNOX COUNTY224, MISSOURI***

204

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator,_Mississippi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Gin_Port,_Mississippi
206
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/forrest/dragon.cfm
207
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/yazoo/free-run.cfm
208
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/leake/free-trade.cfm
209
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffee,_Mississippi
210
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/marion/improve.cfm
211
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/simpson/merry-hell.cfm
212
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight,_Mississippi
213
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panther_Burn,_Mississippi
214
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupelo,_Mississippi
215
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_of_Rocks,_Missouri
216
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/shelby/cherry-box.cfm
217
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance,_Missouri
218
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Elbow,_Missouri
219
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boonville,_Missouri
220
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein,_Missouri
221
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum,_Missouri
222
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium,_Missouri
223
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nogo,_Missouri
224
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty,_Missouri
205

***PECULIAR, CASS COUNTY225, MISSOURI***
***PROHIBITION CITY, WORTH COUNTY226, MISSOURI***
***SEVENTY-SIX, PERRY COUNTY227, MISSOURI***
***STE GENEVIEVE, STE GENEVIEVE COUNTY228, MISSOURI***
***TIGHTWAD, HENRY COUNTY229, MISSOURI***
***ZODIAC, VERNON COUNTY230, MISSOURI***
**MONTANA**
***BAD ROCK CANYON, FLATHEAD COUNTY231, MONTANA***
***BANNACK, BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA***
***CHARLO, LAKE COUNTY, MONTANA***
***DEADMAN’S BASIN, WHEATLAND COUNTY, MONTANA***
***DIVIDE, SILVER BOW COUNTY, MONTANA***
***EDWARDS, GARFIELD COUNTY, MONTANA***
***FORT CUSTER, BIG HORN COUNTY232, MONTANA***
***GARRYOWEN, BIG HORN COUNTY, MONTANA***
***GRASSHOPPER CREEK, BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA***
***HAPPYS INN, LINCOLN COUNTY233, MONTANA***
***HELLGATE, MISSOULA COUNTY234, MONTANA***
***IRON ROD, MADISON COUNTY, MONTANA***
***LAME DEER, ROSEBUD COUNTY, MONTANA***
***LANDUSKY, PHILLIPS COUNTY, MONTANA***
***LAZY DAY COURT, FLATHEAD COUNTY235, MONTANA***
***LOESCH, POWDER RIVER COUNTY, MONTANA***
***PRICKLY PEAR, JEFFERSON COUNTY, MONTANA***
***RATTLESNAKE, BLAINE COUNTY, MONTANA***
***ROBBERS ROOST, MADISON COUNTY, MONTANA***
***WEEPING CHILD, RAVALLI COUNTY, MONTANA***
***WHOOP-UP TRAIL, PONDERA COUNTY236, MONTANA***
**NEBRASKA**
***AUDACIOUS, CHERRY COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
***DEVILS GAP, GOSPER COUNTY237, NEBRASKA***
225

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peculiar,_Missouri
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/worth/prohibition-city.cfm
227
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/perry/seventysix.cfm
228
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ste._Genevieve,_Missouri
229
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tightwad,_Missouri
230
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/vernon/zodiac.cfm
231
http://montana.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,779250,n,badrock%20canyon.cfm
232
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Custer_(Montana)
233
http://montana.hometownlocator.com/mt/lincoln/happys-inn.cfm
234
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Gate,_Montana
235
http://montana.hometownlocator.com/mt/flathead/lazy-day-court.cfm
236
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad,_Montana
237
http://nebraska.hometownlocator.com/ne/gosper/devils-gap.cfm
226

***GUIDE ROCK, WEBSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
***MAGNET, CEDAR COUNTY238, NEBRASKA***
***MOOMAW CORNER, MORRILL COUNTY239, NEBRASKA***
***RAIN, HAYES COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
***WAHOO, SAUNDERS COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
***WEEPING WATER, CASS COUNTY240, NEBRASKA***
***WINTER QUARTERS, DOUGLAS COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
***WYNOT, CEDAR COUNTY241, NEBRASKA***
**NEVADA**
***AWAKENING, HUMBOLDT COUNTY242, NEVADA***
***BATTLE MOUNTAIN, LANDER COUNTY243, NEVADA***
***BEOWAWE, EUREKA COUNTY, NEVADA***
***BURNING MOSCOW, STOREY COUNTY, NEVADA***
***COURT OF ANTIQUITY, WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA***
***CRICKET CREEK, ELKO COUNTY, NEVADA***
***DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA***
***RAGTOWN, CHURCHILL COUNTY, NEVADA***
***SQUAW VALLEY, WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA***
***STRAWBERRY VALLEY, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA***
***TREATY HILL, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, NEVADA***
***VALLEY OF FIRE, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA***
***WHIRLWIND VALLEY, LAUDER COUNTY, NEVADA***
***WILLIAMS STATION, LYON COUNTY, NEVADA***
**NEW HAMPSHIRE**
**NEW HAMPSHIRE’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
***ASQUAMCHUMAUKE RIDGE, GRAFTON COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
***BREAKFAST HILL, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY244, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
***HART’S LOCATION, CARROLL COUNTY245, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
***HELL HOLLOW, SULLIVAN COUNTY246, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
***SANDWICH, CARROLL COUNTY247, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
**NEW JERSEY**
***BARGAINTOWN, ATLANTIC COUNTY248, NEW JERSEY***

238

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet,_Nebraska
http://nebraska.hometownlocator.com/ne/morrill/moomaw-corner.cfm
240
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_Water,_Nebraska
241
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynot,_Nebraska
242
http://nevada.hometownlocator.com/nv/humboldt/awakening.cfm
243
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Mountain,_Nevada
244
http://newhampshire.hometownlocator.com/nh/rockingham/breakfast-hill.cfm
245
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart's_Location,_New_Hampshire
246
http://newhampshire.hometownlocator.com/nh/sullivan/hell-hollow.cfm
247
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich,_New_Hampshire
248
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/atlantic/bargaintown.cfm
239

***BLUE ANCHOR, CAMDEN COUNTY249, NEW JERSEY***
***CHEESEQUAKE, MIDDLESEX COUNTY250, NEW JERSEY***
***DOUBLE TROUBLE, OCEAN COUNTY251, NEW JERSEY***
***LUST FOR RUST, HIGHLANDS, MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY***
***ONG’S HAT, BURLINGTON COUNTY252, NEW JERSEY***
***SEVEN STARS, OCEAN COUNTY253, NEW JERSEY***
***SHIP BOTTOM, OCEAN COUNTY254, NEW JERSEY***
***SKIN CORNER, BURLINGTON COUNTY255, NEW JERSEY***
***TIMBUCTOO, BURLINGTON COUNTY256, NEW JERSEY***
***WATER WITCH, MONMOUTH COUNTY257, NEW JERSEY***
**NEW MEXICO**
***AEROPLANE MESA, CATRON COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***ALBUQUERQUE, BERNALILLO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***ALCATRAZ, SAN JUAN COUNTY258, NEW MEXICO***
***ANGEL FIRE MOUNTAIN, COLFAX COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***ANIMAS RIVER, SAN JUAN COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***APACHE KID WILDERNESS, SOCORRO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***AZTEC, SAN JUAN COUNTY259, NEW MEXICO***
***BLACKDOM, CHAVES COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***BRILLIANT, COLFAX COUNTY260, NEW MEXICO***
***GHOST RANCH, RIO ARRIBA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***GUT ACHE MESA, CATRON COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***HERMITS PEAK, COLFAX COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***HIGH LONESOME, HIDALGO COUNTY261, NEW MEXICO***
***HORSETHIEF MEADOWS/CREEK, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***JORNADA DEL MUERTO, DONA ANA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***KNEELING NUN, GRANT COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***LA LUZ, OTERO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***LAS CRUCES, DONA ANA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***PIE TOWN, CATRON COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***SATAN PASS, MCKINLEY COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***SOLDIERS FAREWELL HILL, GRANT COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***STARVATION PEAK, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
249

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Anchor,_New_Jersey
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/middlesex/cheesequake.cfm
251
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/ocean/double-trouble.cfm
252
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ong's_Hat,_New_Jersey
253
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/ocean/seven-stars.cfm
254
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Bottom,_New_Jersey
255
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/burlington/skin-corner.cfm
256
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/burlington/timbuctoo.cfm
257
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/monmouth/waterwitch.cfm
258
http://newmexico.hometownlocator.com/nm/san-juan/alcatraz.cfm
259
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec,_New_Mexico
260
http://newmexico.hometownlocator.com/nm/colfax/brilliant.cfm
261
http://newmexico.hometownlocator.com/nm/hidalgo/high-lonesome-wells.cfm
250

***SWASTIKA, COLFAX COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
***TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, SIERRA COUNTY262, NEW MEXICO***
***WEREWOLF HILL, EDDY COUNTY263, NEW MEXICO***
***ZUZAX, BERNALILLO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
**NEW YORK**
**ERIC CANAL, UPSTATE NEW YORK**
***ANTHONY’S NOSE, WESTCHESTER COUNTY264, NEW YORK***
***CALCIUM, JEFFERSON COUNTY265, NEW YORK***
***DEPOSIT, DELAWARE COUNTY266, NEW YORK***
***HANDSOME EDDY, SULLIVAN COUNTY267, NEW YORK***
***LAUGHING WATERS, SUFFOLK COUNTY268, NEW YORK***
***NEVERSINK, SULLIVAN COUNTY269, NEW YORK***
***PAINTED POST, STEUBEN COUNTY270, NEW YORK***
***PENN YAN, YATES COUNTY271, NEW YORK***
***RED JACKET, ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK***
***SUICIDE CORNERS, GENESEE COUNTY272, NEW YORK***
***VILLAGE OF THE BRANCH, SUFFOLK COUNTY273, NEW YORK***
**NORTH CAROLINA**
***BLACK CAT, CARTERET COUNTY274, NORTH CAROLINA***
***BLOODRUN CREEK, CHATHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***BOOGERTOWN, GASTON COUNTY275, NORTH CAROLINA***
***BURNT CHIMNEY CORNER, POLK COUNTY276, NORTH CAROLINA***
***CAT SQUARE, LINCOLN COUNTY277, NORTH CAROLINA***
***CHARLIE’S BUNION MOUNTAIN, SWAIN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***CHOCOWINITY, BEAUFORT COUNTY278, NORTH CAROLINA***
***CHUNKY GAL MOUNTAIN, CLAY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***COLDASS CREEK, CALDWELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***DEVIL’S BALL ALLEY, MCDOWELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
262

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
264
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony%27s_Nose_%28Westchester%29
265
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium,_New_York
266
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit,_New_York
267
http://newyork.hometownlocator.com/ny/sullivan/handsome-eddy.cfm
268
http://newyork.hometownlocator.com/ny/suffolk/laughing-waters.cfm
269
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neversink,_New_York
270
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Post,_New_York
271
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Yan,_New_York
272
http://newyork.hometownlocator.com/ny/genesee/suicide-corners.cfm
273
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_the_Branch,_New_York
274
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/carteret/the-black-cat.cfm
275
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/gaston/boogertown.cfm
276
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/polk/burnt-chimney-corner.cfm
277
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/lincoln/cat-square.cfm
278
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocowinity,_North_Carolina
263

***DEVIL’S TRAMPING GROUND, CHATHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***ESTATOE, MITCHELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***GRAVEYARD RIDGE, HAYWOOD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***GRIMESLAND, PITT COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***HALF HELL, BRUNSWICK COUNTY279, NORTH CAROLINA***
***KILL DEVIL HILLS, DARE COUNTY280, NORTH CAROLINA***
***LABORATORY, LINCOLN COUNTY281, NORTH CAROLINA***
***LISTENING ROCK, ASHE COUNTY282, NORTH CAROLINA***
***LIZARD LICK, WAKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***MATRIMONY CREEK, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***NANTAHALA GORGE, GRAHAM/SWAIN COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA***
***PAINT ROCK, MADISON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***PEE DEE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY283, NORTH CAROLINA***
***ROANOKE ISLAND, DARE COUNTY284, NORTH CAROLINA***
***SCREAM RIDGE, MACON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***SEVEN DEVILS, AVERY COUNTY285, NORTH CAROLINA***
***SHOOFLY AND SHAKERAG, GRANVILLE COUNTY286, NORTH CAROLINA***
***SOCO GAP, HAYWOOD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***STANDING INDIAN MOUNTAIN, CLAY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
***WARRIOR, CALDWELL COUNTY287, NORTH CAROLINA***
***WOODSTOCK, BEAUFORT COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
**NORTH DAKOTA**
***BONETRAILL, WILLIAMS COUNTY288, NORTH DAKOTA***
***DEVILS LAKE, RAMSEY COUNTY289, NORTH DAKOTA***
***FOUR BEARS VILLAGE, MCKENZIE COUNTY290, NORTH DAKOTA***
***MEDICINE HOLE, DUNN COUNTY291, NORTH DAKOTA***
***ON-A-SLANT VILLAGE, MORTON COUNTY292, NORTH DAKOTA***
***YPSILANTI, STUTSMAN COUNTY293, NORTH DAKOTA***
**OHIO**
279

http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/brunswick/half-hell.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Devil_Hills,_North_Carolina
281
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/lincoln/laboratory.cfm
282
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/ashe/listening-rock.cfm
283
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Dee,_North_Carolina
284
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Island
285
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/avery/seven-devils.cfm
286
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/granville/shoofly.cfm
287
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/caldwell/warrior.cfm
288
http://northdakota.hometownlocator.com/nd/williams/bonetraill.cfm
289
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Lake,_North_Dakota
290
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Bears_Village,_North_Dakota
291
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Hole,_North_Dakota
292
http://northdakota.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1940259,n,on-aslant%20village.cfm
293
http://northdakota.hometownlocator.com/nd/stutsman/ypsilanti.cfm
280

***ANTIQUITY, MEIGS COUNTY294, OHIO***
***BLOWVILLE, CLERMONT COUNTY295, OHIO***
***BRILLIANT, JEFFERSON COUNTY296, OHIO***
***BROKEN SWORD, CRAWFORD COUNTY297, OHIO***
***DEADMAN’S CURVE, CLERMONT COUNTY298, OHIO***
***DEFIANCE, DEFIANCE COUNTY299, OHIO***
***DODO, CLARK COUNTY300, OHIO***
***FORT FIZZLE, HOLMES COUNTY301, OHIO
***GNADENHUTTEN, TUSCARAWAS COUNTY302, OHIO***
***JUMP, HARDIN COUNTY303, OHIO***
***KNOCK-EM-STIFF, ROSS COUNTY304, OHIO***
***LIARS CORNER, ATHENS COUNTY305, OHIO***
***MAGNETIC SPRINGS, UNION COUNTY306, OHIO***
***PLUGGY’S TOWN, DELAWARE COUNTY307, OHIO***
***WHITEWOMAN, COSHOCTON COUNTY308, OHIO***
**OKLAHOMA**
***ALABASTER CAVERNS, WOODWARD COUNTY309, OKLAHOMA***
***BOOKERTEE, OKFUSKEE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***BROKEN ARROW, TULSA COUNTY310, OKLAHOMA***
***CAMP NAPOLEON, GRADY COUNTY311, OKLAHOMA***
***CHICKIECHOCKIE, ATOKA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***CUTTHROAT GAP, KIOWA COUNTY312, OKLAHOMA***
***DEAD WOMAN CROSSING, CUSTER COUNTY313, OKLAHOMA***
***FORT SILL, COMANCHE COUNTY314, OKLAHOMA***
294

http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/meigs/antiquity.cfm
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/clermont/blowville.cfm
296
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant,_Ohio
297
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokensword,_Ohio
298
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Counties/Clermont/deadmanscurve.html
299
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance,_Ohio
300
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/clark/dodo.cfm
301
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/holmes/fort-fizzle.cfm
302
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten,_Ohio
303
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/hardin/jump.cfm
304
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockemstiff,_Ohio
305
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/athens/liars-corner.cfm
306
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_Springs,_Ohio
307
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1068737,n,pluggys%20town.cfm
308
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1067518,n,white%20womans%20town.cfm
309
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabaster_Caverns_State_Park
310
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Arrow,_Oklahoma
311
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verden,_Oklahoma
312
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutthroat_Gap_Massacre
313
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Women_Crossing,_Oklahoma
314
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawton,_Oklahoma
295

***GHOST MOUND, CADDO COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***LAST CHANCE, OKFUSKEE COUNTY315, OKLAHOMA***
***MORAL, POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***MOUNDS, CREEK COUNTY316, OKLAHOMA***
***OGEECHEE, OTTAWA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***PAW PAW, SEQUOYAH COUNTY317, OKLAHOMA***
***REMUS, POTTAWATOME COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***SLAPOUT, BEAVER COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***SPIRO MOUND, LEFLORE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
***THE HOLY CITY, COMANCHE COUNTY318, OKLAHOMA***
**OREGON**
***ALECS BUTTE, YAMHILL COUNTY, OREGON***
***BABY ROCK, LAND COUNTY, OREGON***
***BLOODY RUN, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON***
***CAPE PERPETUA, LINCOLN COUNTY, OREGON***
***CAPTAIN COOK POINT, LINCOLN COUNTY, OREGON***
***CHIEF JOSEPH MOUNTAIN, WALLOWA COUNTY, OREGON***
***GRAVE CREEK, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON***
***HALF.COM [HALFWAY], BAKER COUNTY319, OREGON***
***JUMPOFF JOE CREEK, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON***
***LOOKINGGLASS, DOUGLAS COUNTY320, OREGON***
***MEMALOOSE ISLAND, WASCO COUNTY, OREGON***
***NEAHKAHNIE MOUNTAIN, TILLAMOOK COUNTY, OREGON***
***NENAMUSA, TILLAMOOK COUNTY, OREGON***
***RHODODENDRON, CLACKAMAS COUNTY321, OREGON***
***SISKIYOU MOUNTAINS, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON***
***SKOOKUM LAKE, CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON***
***STARVOUT, DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON***
***SWASTIKA, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON***
***THE DUNGEON, CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON***
***THREE FINGERED JACK, JEFFERSON COUNTY, OREGON***
***THREE SISTERS, DESCHUTES COUNTY322, OREGON***
***TOMBSTONE PRAIRIE, LINN COUNTY, OREGON***
***UMPQUA, DOUGLAS COUNTY323, OREGON***
***WHISKY CREEK, WALLOWA COUNTY, OREGON***
**PENNSYLVANIA**
315

http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/okfuskee/last-chance.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mounds,_Oklahoma
317
http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/sequoyah/paw-paw.cfm
318
http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/comanche/the-holy-city.cfm
319
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfway,_Oregon
320
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookingglass,_Oregon
321
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron,_Oregon
322
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters,_Oregon
323
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpqua,_Oregon
316

***ALIQUIPPA, BEAVER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***AMITY, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***ASYLUM, BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNYSLVANIA***
***BETHLEHEM, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***BIRD-IN-HAND, LANCASTER COUNTY324, PENNSYLVANIA***
***BLOODY RUN, BEDFORD COUNTY325, PENNSYLVANIA***
***BLUE BALL, LANCASTER COUNTY326, PENNYSLVANIA***
***BURNT CABINS, FULTON COUNTY327, PENNSYLVANIA***
***CONNOQUENESSING, BUTLER COUNTY328, PENNSYLVANIA***
***FRENCH MARGARET, LYCOMING COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***GNADENHUETTEN, CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***HARMONY, BUTLER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***HERMIT SPRING, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***HUNGRY HOLLOW, ARMSTRONG COUNTY329, PENNSYLVANIA***
***ICE MINE, POTTER COUNTY330, PENNSYLVANIA***
***INTERCOURSE, LANCASTER COUNTY331, PENNSYLVANIA***
***JERSEY SHORE, LYCOMING COUNTY332, PENNSYLVANIA***
***KING OF PRUSSIA, MONTGOMERY COUNTY333, PENNSYLVANIA***
***LANGUNTOUTENEUNK, LAWRENCE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***MAGHINQUECHAHOCKING, VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***MANHATTAN, TIOGA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***MASON AND DIXON, FRANKLIN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***MURDERING TOWN, BUTLER COUNTY334, PENNSYLVANIA***
***PUNXSUTAWNEY, JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***SCALP LEVEL, CAMBRIA COUNTY335, PENNSYLVANIA***
***SCHUYLKILL (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
***SEVEN STARS, JUNIATA COUNTY336, PENNSYLVANIA***
***SHADES OF DEATH, MONROE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***STANDING STONE, HUNTINGDON COUNTY337, PENNSYLVANIA***
***SUSQUEHANNA (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
***TALLYHO, MCKEAN COUNTY338, PENNSYLVANIA***
***TIOZINOSSONGACHTA, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
324

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird-in-Hand,_Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Run_(Raystown_Branch_Juniata_River)
326
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ball,_Pennsylvania
327
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Cabins,_Pennsylvania
328
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connoquenessing,_Pennsylvania
329
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/armstrong/hungry-hollow.cfm
330
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/potter/ice-mine.cfm
331
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Pennsylvania
332
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania
333
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Prussia,_Pennsylvania
334
http://www.visitbutlercounty.com/cultural-origins
335
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalp_Level,_Pennsylvania
336
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/juniata/seven-stars.cfm
337
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntingdon,_Pennsylvania
338
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/mckean/tallyho.cfm
325

***TORPEDO, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***VIRGINVILLE, BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
***WAYNE (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
***WELAGAMIKA, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY339, PENNSYLVANIA***
***WHISKERVILLE, BUTLER COUNTY340, PENNSYLVANIA***
***WYOMING (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
**PUERTO RICO**
**RHODE ISLAND**
**RHODE ISLAND’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
***ANNAWOMSCUTT, BRISTOL COUNTY, RHODE ISLAND***
***NOOSENECK, KENT COUNTY341, RHODE ISLAND***
***PURGATORY, NEWPORT COUNTY342, RHODE ISLAND***
***QUONOCHONTAUG, WASHINGTON COUNTY343, RHODE ISLAND***
**SOUTH CAROLINA**
***BELLY ACHE CREEK, DARLINGTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***CATEECHEE, PICKENS COUNTY344, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***CHEROKEE SPRINGS, SPARTANBURG COUNTY345, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***COOSAWHATCHIE, JASPER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***COWPENS, SPARTANBURG COUNTY346, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***DUE WEST, ABBEVILLE COUNTY347, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***EARLE, OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***FAIR PLAY, OCONEE COUNTY348, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***HAPPY BOTTOM, BARNWELL COUNTY349, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***HAPPYTOWN, LEXINGTON COUNTY350, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***HELLS HALF ACRE, BARNWELL COUNTY351, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***HURL ROCKS, HORRY COUNTY352, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***ISAQUEENA FALLS AND CREEK, OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***KETCHUPTOWN, HORRY COUNTY353, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***KIBLER, NEWBERRY COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
339

http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1210869,n,welagamika.cfm
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/butler/whiskerville.cfm
341
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nooseneck,_Rhode_Island
342
http://rhodeisland.hometownlocator.com/ri/newport/purgatory.cfm
343
http://rhodeisland.hometownlocator.com/ri/washington/quonochontaug.cfm
344
http://wikimapia.org/3695490/Cateechee-South-Carolina
345
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Springs,_South_Carolina
346
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpens,_South_Carolina
347
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_West,_South_Carolina
348
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Play,_South_Carolina
349
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/barnwell/happy-bottom.cfm
350
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/lexington/happytown.cfm
351
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/barnwell/hells-half-acre.cfm
352
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/horry/hurl-rocks.cfm
353
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchuptown,_South_Carolina
340

***NINE TIMES, PICKENS COUNTY354, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***NINETY SIX, GREENWOOD COUNTY355, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***NO MAN’S LAND, UNION COUNTY356, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***PELHAM, SPARTANBURG COUNTY357, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***PLAYCARD, HORRY COUNTY358, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***ROUND O, COLLETON COUNTY359, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***STYX, LEXINGTON COUNTY360, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***THREE TREES, CHARLESTON COUNTY361, SOUTH CAROLINA***
***WHOOPING ISLAND, EDISTO ISLAND, CHARLESTON COUNTY362, SOUTH CAROLINA***
**SOUTH DAKOTA**
***BAD WOUND, BENNETT COUNTY363, SOUTH DAKOTA
***BADNATION, MELLETTE COUNTY364, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***BALANCE ROCK, GARRETSON, MINNEHAHA COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***BRANDON MOUNDS, MINNEHAHA COUNTY365, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***DEAD MAN CREEK, CORSON COUNTY366, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***DEADWOOD, LAWRENCE COUNTY367, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***DEVIL’S GULCH, GARRETSON, MINNEHAHA COUNTY368, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***ENEMY SWIM LAKE, DAY COUNTY369, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***GUMBO, MEADE COUNTY370, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***HANGMAN’S TREE, RAPID CITY, PENNINGTON COUNTY371, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***HIDDEN CITY, RAPID CITY, PENNINGTON COUNTY372, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***IGLOO, FALL RIVER COUNTY373, SOUTH DAKOTA***

354

http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/pickens/nine-times.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety_Six,_South_Carolina
356
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1232995,n,no%20mans%20land.cfm
357
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Tit,_South_Carolina
358
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/horry/playcards.cfm
359
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_O,_South_Carolina
360
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1244400,n,styx.cfm
361
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/charleston/three-trees.cfm
362
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edisto_Island,_South_Carolina
363
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/bennett/bad-wound.cfm
364
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/mellette/badnation.cfm
365
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon,_South_Dakota
366
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,1265179,n,deadman%20creek.cfm
367
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood,_South_Dakota
368
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garretson,_South_Dakota
369
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_Swim_Lake
370
http://www.mytopo.com/locations/index.cfm?fid=1264192&utm_expid=23437130&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
371
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_City,_South_Dakota
372
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_City,_South_Dakota
373
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/fall-river/igloo.cfm
355

***IRON LIGHTNING, ZIEBACH COUNTY374, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***JESSE JAMES’ CAVE, GARRETSON, MINNEHAHA COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***MAIDEN’S ISLAND, STONY POINT, WATERTOWN, CODINGTON COUNTY375, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***MEDICINE ROCK, GETTYSBURG, POTTER COUNTY376, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***PRAIRIE QUEEN, LAKE COUNTY377, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***PUNISHED WOMAN’S LAKE, CODINGTON COUNTY378, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***RED SCAFFOLD, ZIEBACH COUNTY379, SOUTH DAKOTA**
***SILVER CITY, PENNINGTON COUNTY380, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***SISSETON INDIAN RESERVATION, ROBERTS COUNTY381, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***SITTING BULL PARK, STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***SQUAW HILL, MARSHALL COUNTY382, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***THREE SISTERS, PIERRE, HUGHES COUNTY383, SOUTH DAKOTA***
***WOUNDED KNEE BATTLEFIELD, PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION384, SOUTH DAKOTA***
**TENNESSEE**
***BITTER END, CARTER COUNTY385, TENNESSEE***
***BLONDY, LEWIS COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***BONE CAVE, VAN BUREN COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***BUSY CORNER, COFFEE COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***DAYLIGHT, WARREN COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***DEFEATED, SMITH COUNTY386, TENNESSEE***
***DIFFICULT, SMITH COUNTY387, TENNESSEE***
***FARRAGUT, KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***FRENCH BROAD, COCKE COUNTY388, TENNESSEE***
***FROG JUMP, CROCKETT COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***GABTOWN, WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***GOAT CITY, GIBSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***HANGING LIMB, OVERTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***LICK SKILLET, DECATUR COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***LOUSE CREEK, MOORE COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
374

http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/ziebach/iron-lightning.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown,_South_Dakota
376
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg,_South_Dakota
377
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1263178,n,prairie%20queen.cfm
378
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Shore,_South_Dakota
379
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/ziebach/red-scaffold.cfm
380
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_South_Dakota
381
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Traverse_Indian_Reservation
382
http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=2596156
383
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre,_South_Dakota
384
John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
385
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/carter/bitter-end.cfm
386
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeated,_Tennessee
387
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/smith/difficult.cfm
388
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/cocke/french-broad.cfm
375

***MARROWBONE CREEK, CHEATHAM COUNTY389, TENNESSEE***
***MEMPHIS, SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***MILKY WAY, GILES COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***NAMELESS, JACKSON COUNTY390, TENNESSEE***
***NO BUSINESS CREEK, BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL RIVER AND RECREATION AREA391, TENNESSEE***
***PROMISED LAND, DICKSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***RASCAL TOWN, LAWRENCE COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***RED BOILING SPRINGS, MACON COUNTY392, TENNESSEE***
***SHACKLE ISLAND, SUMNER COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***SHINEY ROCK, DEKALB COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***SKULLBONE, GIBSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***STINKING CREEK, CAMPBELL COUNTY393, TENNESSEE***
***SUCK CREEK, MARION COUNTY394, TENNESSEE***
***SWEET LIPS, CHESTER COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
***TATER PEELER, WILSON COUNTY395, TENNESSEE***
***YUM YUM, FAYETTE COUNTY396, TENNESSEE***
**TEXAS**
***ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO, BEXAR COUNTY397, TEXAS***
***BABYHEAD, LLANO COUNTY398, TEXAS***
***BEN ARNOLD, MILAN COUNTY399, TEXAS***
***BLANKET, BROWN COUNTY400, TEXAS***
***BLOWOUT, BLANCO COUNTY401, TEXAS***
***BOOTLEG, DEAF SMITH COUNTY402, TEXAS***
***BUG TUSSLE, FANNIN COUNTY403, TEXAS***
***CUT AND SHOOT, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TEXAS***
***[OLD] DIME BOX, LEE COUNTY404, TEXAS***
***FAIRY, HAMILTON COUNTY405, TEXAS***
***FALFURRIAS, BROOKS COUNTY, TEXAS***
389

http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/cheatham/marrowbone.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nameless,_Tennessee
391
http://www.nps.gov/biso/learn/historyculture/nobusiness.htm;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_South_Fork_National_River_and_Recreation_Area
392
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Boiling_Springs,_Tennessee
393
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/campbell/stinking-creek.cfm
394
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/marion/suck-creek.cfm
395
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1312887,n,tater%20peeler.cfm
396
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum_Yum,_Tennessee
397
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio
398
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1351376,n,baby%20head.cfm
399
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Arnold,_Texas
400
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanket,_Texas
401
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/blanco/blowout.cfm
402
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/deaf-smith/bootleg.cfm
403
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_Tussle,_Texas
404
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Dime_Box,_Texas
405
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy,_Texas
390

***FOG TOWN, HOUSTON COUNTY406, TEXAS***
***FORT SPUNKY, HOOD COUNTY407, TEXAS***
***GOOBER HILL, SHELBY COUNTY408, TEXAS***
***GUN BARREL CITY, HENDERSON COUNTY409, TEXAS***
***GUNSIGHT, STEPHENS COUNTY410, TEXAS***
***HOOT AND HOLLER CROSSING, WILBARGER COUNTY411, TEXAS***
***MONKSTOWN, FANNIN COUNTY412, TEXAS***
***NAMELESS, TRAVIS COUNTY413, TEXAS***
***NECESSITY, STEPHENS COUNTY414, TEXAS***
***NOBILITY, FANNIN COUNTY415, TEXAS***
***POETRY, KAUFMAN COUNTY416, TEXAS***
***POOR BOY, CASS COUNTY417, TEXAS***
***SEVEN SISTERS, DUVAL COUNTY418, TEXAS***
***SOUR LAKE, HARDIN COUNTY419, TEXAS***
***TARZAN, MARTIN COUNTY420, TEXAS***
***TELEGRAPH, KIMBLE COUNTY421, TEXAS***
***TELEPHONE, FANNIN COUNTY422, TEXAS***
***TESNUS, BREWSTER COUNTY423, TEXAS***
***TROPHY CLUB, DENTON COUNTY424, TEXAS***
***UNCERTAIN, HARRISON COUNTY425, TEXAS***
***WEALTHY, LEON COUNTY426, TEXAS***
***WEEPING MARY, CHEROKEE COUNTY427, TEXAS***
**UTAH**
***ANGELS LANDING, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH***
406

http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/houston/fog-town.cfm
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/hood/fort-spunky.cfm
408
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/shelby/goober-hill.cfm
409
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Barrel_City,_Texas
410
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/stephens/gunsight.cfm
411
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoot_and_Holler_Crossing,_Texas
412
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/fannin/monkstown.cfm
413
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nameless,_Texas
414
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/stephens/necessity.cfm
415
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/fannin/nobility.cfm
416
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry,_Texas
417
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/cass/poorboy-landing.cfm
418
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/duval/seven-sisters.cfm
419
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_Lake,_Texas
420
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan,_Texas
421
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph,_Texas
422
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone,_Texas
423
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/brewster/tesnus.cfm
424
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_Club,_Texas
425
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertain,_Texas
426
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/leon/wealthy.cfm
427
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_Mary,_Texas
407

***BLUE JOHN CANYON, WAYNE COUNTY, UTAH***
***BOUNTIFUL, DAVIS COUNTY, UTAH***
***DANCE HALL ROCK, KANE COUNTY, UTAH***
***DEAD HORSE POINT, GRAND COUNTY, UTAH***
***DUTCH JOHN, DAGGETT COUNTY428, UTAH***
***ECHO, SUMMIT COUNTY, UTAH***
***ELMO, EMERY COUNTY429, UTAH***
***FERNS NIPPLE, WAYNE COUNTY, UTAH***
***FLAT NOSE GEORGE CANYON, GRAND COUNTY, UTAH***
***GHOST ROCK, EMERY COUNTY, UTAH***
***GOBLIN VALLEY, EMERY COUNTY, UTAH***
***GREAT SALT LAKE, SALT LAKE COUNTY, UTAH***
***GREAT WHITE THRONE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH***
***HARDUP, BOX ELDER COUNTY430, UTAH***
***HURRICANE, WASHINGTON COUNTY431, UTAH***
***IOSEPA, TOOELE COUNTY, UTAH***
***KOOSHAREM, SEVIER COUNTY432, UTAH***
***MEXICAN HAT, SAN JUAN COUNTY433, UTAH***
***MUKUNTUWEAP CANYON, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH***
***NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH***
***ORDERVILLE, KANE COUNTY434, UTAH***
***PORCUPINE RIDGE, SUMMIT COUNTY, UTAH***
***QUICHAPA CREEK, IRON COUNTY, UTAH***
***RAINBOW BRIDGE, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH***
***SHIVWITS, WASHINGTON COUNTY435, UTAH***
***SPEARMINT, SANPETE COUNTY436, UTAH***
***SPIRIT LAKE, DAGGETT COUNTY, UTAH***
***UPHEAVAL DOME, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH***
**VERMONT**
**VERMONT’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
***BREAD LOAF MOUNTAIN, ADDISON COUNTY437, VERMONT***
***CHECKERBERRY VILLAGE, CHITTENDEN COUNTY438, VERMONT***
***LOST NATION, ESSEX COUNTY439, VERMONT***

428

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_John,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmo,_Utah
430
http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/box-elder/hardup.cfm
431
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane,_Utah
432
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koosharem,_Utah
433
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Hat,_Utah
434
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orderville,_Utah
435
http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/washington/shivwits.cfm
436
http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/sanpete/spearmint.cfm
437
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_Loaf_Mountain
438
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/chittenden/checkerberry-village.cfm
439
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/essex/lost-nation.cfm
429

***MOSQUITOVILLE, CALEDONIA COUNTY440, VERMONT***
***NOTOWN, WINDSOR COUNTY441, VERMONT***
***POMPANOOSUC, WINDSOR COUNTY442, VERMONT***
***RESCUE LAKE, WINDSOR COUNTY443, VERMONT***
***SATANS KINGDOM, ADDISON COUNTY444, VERMONT***
***SMUGGLER’S NOTCH, LAMOILLE COUNTY445, VERMONT***
***TINMOUTH, RUTLAND COUNTY446, VERMONT***
**VIRGIN ISLANDS**
***ANNAS HOPE, SAINT CROIX447, VIRGIN ISLANDS***
**VIRGINIA**
***BACKBONE, ALLEGHANY COUNTY448, VIRGINIA***
***BUSTHEAD, TAZEWELL COUNTY449, VIRGINIA***
***FORT NONSENSE, MATHEWS COUNTY450, VIRGINIA***
***FRONT ROYAL, WARREN COUNTY, VIRGINIA***
***JAMESTOWN, JAMES CITY COUNTY451, VIRGINIA***
***KING GEORGE (COUNTY), VIRGINIA***
***KING WILLIAM (COUNTY), VIRGINIA***
***MODEST TOWN, ACCOMACK COUNTY452, VIRGINIA***
***ROACHES CORNER, CHARLES CITY COUNTY453, VIRGINIA***
***SCREAMERSVILLE, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY454, VIRGINIA***
***SCUFFLEBURG, FAUQUIER COUNTY455, VIRGINIA***
***TRUE BLUE, ORANGE COUNTY456, VIRGINIA***
**WASHINGTON**
***BREIDABLICK, KITSAP COUNTY457, WASHINGTON***
***CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT, PACIFIC COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***CLOQUALLUM CREEK, MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
440

http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/caledonia/mosquitoville.cfm
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/windsor/notown.cfm
442
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/windsor/pompanoosuc.cfm
443
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Rescue_(Vermont)
444
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satans_Kingdom,_Vermont
445
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smugglers'_Notch_State_Park
446
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinmouth,_Vermont
447
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annas_Hope,_United_States_Virgin_Islands
448
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/alleghany/backbone.cfm
449
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/tazewell/busthead.cfm
450
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Nonsense,_Virginia
451
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia
452
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Town,_Virginia
453
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaches_Corner,_Virginia
454
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/chesterfield/screamersville.cfm
455
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/fauquier/scuffleburg.cfm
456
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/orange/true-blue.cfm
457
http://washington.hometownlocator.com/wa/kitsap/breidablick.cfm
441

***DECEPTION PASS, SKAGIT COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***DRUNKEN CHARLIE LAKE, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***ENUMCLAW, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***FOOLS PRAIRIE, STEVENS COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***FRIDAY HARBOR, SAN JUAN COUNTY458, WASHINGTON***
***GOLD BAR, SNOHOMISH COUNTY459, WASHINGTON***
***GRANDMA CREEK, CHELAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***HAMMA HAMMA, MASON COUNTY460, WASHINGTON***
***HARD-TO-GET-TO RIDGE, GARFIELD COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***HEE HEE STONE, OKANOGAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***HUMORIST, WALLA WALLA COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***HUMPTULIPS, GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY461, WASHINGTON***
***JUMP OFF CREEK, STEVENS COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***KLICKITAT RIVER, KLICKITAT COUNTY462, WASHINGTON***
***LA PUSH, CLALLAM COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***MASSACRE BAY, SAN JUAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***MUTINY BAY, ISLAND COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***SKOOKUMCHUCK, THURSTON COUNTY463, WASHINGTON***
***SPIRIT LAKE, SKAMANIA COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
***SUQUAMISH, KITSAP COUNTY464, WASHINGTON***
***TUMTUM, STEVENS COUNTY465, WASHINGTON***
***WALLA WALLA, WALLA WALLA COUNTY466, WASHINGTON***
**WASHINGTON, DC**
**WEST VIRGINIA**
***BETTY ZANE, OHIO COUNTY467, WEST VIRGINIA***
***BIG STICK, RALEIGH COUNTY468, WEST VIRGINIA***
***BOZOO, MONROE COUNTY469, WEST VIRGINIA***
***BURNT HOUSE, RITCHIE COUNTY470, WEST VIRGINIA***
***FAME, PENDLETON COUNTY471, WEST VIRGINIA***
***HUNDRED, WETZEL COUNTY472, WEST VIRGINIA***
458

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Harbor,_Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Bar,_Washington
460
http://washington.hometownlocator.com/wa/mason/hamma-hamma.cfm
461
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humptulips,_Washington
462
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klickitat_River
463
http://washington.hometownlocator.com/wa/thurston/skookumchuck.cfm
464
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suquamish,_Washington
465
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumtum,_Washington
466
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walla_Walla,_Washington
467
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Zane,_West_Virginia
468
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Stick,_West_Virginia
469
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/monroe/bozoo.cfm
470
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/ritchie/burnt-house.cfm
471
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fame,_West_Virginia
472
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred,_West_Virginia
459

***PAW PAW, MORGAN COUNTY473, WEST VIRGINIA***
***PETROLEUM, RITCHIE COUNTY474, WEST VIRGINIA***
***PLUTO, RALEIGH COUNTY475, WEST VIRGINIA***
***SKULL RUN, JACKSON COUNTY476, WEST VIRGINIA***
***SPY ROCK, FAYETTE COUNTY477, WEST VIRGINIA***
***STRANGE CREEK, BRAXTON COUNTY478, WEST VIRGINIA***
**WISCONSIN**
***BLUE MOUNDS, DANE COUNTY479, WISCONSIN***
***BRITISH HOLLOW, GRANT COUNTY480, WISCONSIN***
***DEVILS CORNER, PEPIN COUNTY481, WISCONSIN***
***EXILE, PIERCE COUNTY482, WISCONSIN***
***FAIR PLAY, GRANT COUNTY483, WISCONSIN***
***HURRICANE, GRANT COUNTY484, WISCONSIN***
***LITTLE HOPE, WAUPACA COUNTY485, WISCONSIN***
***LUCK, POLK COUNTY486, WISCONSIN***
***MAIDEN ROCK, PIERCE COUNTY487, WISCONSIN***
***MISHA MOKWA, BUFFALO COUNTY488, WISCONSIN***
***NEW DIGGINGS, LAFAYETTE COUNTY489, WISCONSIN***
***OCONOMOWOC, WAUKESHA COUNTY490, WISCONSIN***
***ROMANCE, VERNON COUNTY491, WISCONSIN***
***RURAL, WAUPACA COUNTY492, WISCONSIN***
***SPIRIT, PRICE COUNTY493, WISCONSIN***
***TOMAHAWK, LINCOLN COUNTY494, WISCONSIN***

473

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw,_West_Virginia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum,_West_Virginia
475
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto,_West_Virginia
476
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/jackson/skull-run.cfm
477
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/fayette/spy-rock.cfm
478
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Creek,_West_Virginia
479
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mounds,_Wisconsin
480
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Hollow,_Wisconsin
481
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Corner,_Wisconsin
482
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile,_Wisconsin
483
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Play,_Wisconsin
484
http://wisconsin.hometownlocator.com/wi/grant/hurricane.cfm
485
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Hope,_Wisconsin
486
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck,_Wisconsin
487
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Rock,_Wisconsin
488
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misha_Mokwa,_Wisconsin
489
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Diggings,_Wisconsin
490
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oconomowoc,_Wisconsin
491
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance,_Wisconsin
492
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural,_Wisconsin
493
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit,_Wisconsin
494
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk,_Wisconsin
474

***WINNEBAGO, WINNEBAGO COUNTY495, WISCONSIN***
***WINNEBOUJOU, DOUGLAS COUNTY496, WISCONSIN***
**WYOMING**
**OREGON TRAIL, WYOMING**
**PONY EXPRESS ROUTE, WYOMING**
***ARLINGTON, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***BATTLE, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***BONE CABIN QUARRY, ALBANY COUNTY, WYOMING***
***BOZEMAN TRAIL, CAMBPELL COUNTY, WYOMING***
***CHUGWATER, PLATTE COUNTY497, WYOMING***
***CRAZY WOMAN CREEK AND HILL, JOHNSON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***CROWHEART, FREMONT COUNTY498, WYOMING***
***DEAD INDIAN CREEK, PARK COUNTY, WYOMING***
***DEVIL’S DEN, PARK COUNTY499, WYOMING***
***DEVIL’S GATE, NATRONA COUNTY, WYOMING***
***DEVILS TOWER, CROOK COUNTY, WYOMING***
***FORT LARAMIE, GOSHEN COUNTY, WYOMING***
***FORT PHIL KEARNY, JOHNSON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***GRATTAN MASSACRE, GOSHEN COUNTY, WYOMING***
***GREEN RIVER RENDEZVOUS, SUBLETTE COUNTY, WYOMING***
***HOLE-IN-THE-WALL, JOHNSON COUNTY500, WYOMING***
***JACKSON HOLE, TETON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***JAY EM, GOSHEN COUNTY501, WYOMING***
***LITTLE AMERICA, SWEETWATER COUNTY502, WYOMING***
***MAGGIE’S NIPPLES, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***MOTHER FEATHERLEGS MONUMENT, GOSHEN COUNTY, WYOMING***
***MOUNT SACAJAWEA, FREMONT COUNTY, WYOMING***
***OLD FAITHFUL, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING***
***SPECIMEN RIDGE, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING***
***TEN SLEEP, WASHAKIE COUNTY503, WYOMING***
***TETON RANGE, TETON COUNTY, WYOMING***
***THREE CROSSINGS, FREMONT COUNTY, WYOMING***
***YELLOWSTONE RIVER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING***

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*TOPONYMY*
Toponymy is the study of place names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use, and typology.
The word ‘toponymy’ is derived from the Greek words topos ‘place’ and onoma ‘name’. Toponymy is a
branch of onomastics, which is the study of names of all kinds.504
**AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY**
DJ McInerney observes: “By the last quarter of the seventeenth century, however, several
trends reshaped the face of labor in the Chesapeake – and eventually reordered American society for all
time. First, property owners in Southern colonies increasingly consolidated their lands into larger
estates requiring more workers. Secondly, prices for their key cash crop, tobacco, dropped in the 1660s
and stayed low, encouraging cost-cutting measures. Thirdly, the pool of indentured servants declined as
the rate of population increase in England slowed and economic opportunities improved. Fourthly, the
laws of Virginia and other colonies began to undermine the status of blacks and to institutionalize the
system of chattel slavery. Free blacks started to find their civil, legal, and property rights constrained;
whites could extend the period of ‘service’ they might exact from black servants; longer service soon
became unlimited service; and the offspring of black female slaves began to inherit their mother’s
status. Fifthly, the Royal African Company’s monopoly on the slave trade came to an end in 1697,
expanding the supply of slaves (and the number of slave-trading businesses) in the marketplace. Sixthly,
racist assumptions about the inferiority of dark-skinned people reinforced the readiness (and
willingness) of whites to enslave blacks.
“Looking in cold, hard, economic terms at the choices available to them, more whites began to
prefer slaves to servants as the long-term answer to their labor needs. Slaves cost more to begin with,
but over time the expense of a slave labor force was low. As health conditions in Southern colonies
improved, the number of years a master could get out of a slave increased. Rather than dealing with
temporary workers, masters could now have a permanent work force. Slaves were also controllable,
subject to the rule (and punishment) of white owners. And slaves formed a self-reproducing labor force
(since masters owned the children of slave mothers).
“At first, the Portuguese and Spanish dominated the slave trade in the New World. Later, the
Dutch entered the system along with the English and the French. In the grisly game of human
commerce, Africans supplied the traders with other Africans in exchange for goods produced in Europe.
Most of the captives came from the west coast of Africa, out of a wide range of cultures, political units,
religions, languages, and family systems, from Angola up to Senegambia.
“Ships carried their shackled cargo across 5,000 miles of the ‘Middle Passage’ from Africa to the
Americas. Captains packed 100, 200, or more slaves into horribly small, cramped spaces for the
voyages. Up to a fifth of the slaves died en route to buyers in the West. From the early 1500s to the
mid-1800s, European traders forcibly removed 10-12 million Africans from their homelands. By the later
eighteenth century, the largest group to arrive in the colonies of North and South America were
Africans, not Europeans.
“Of those transported to the Western Hemisphere, 80 percent were taken to the West Indies
and Brazil. A small fraction (4-5 percent of the total) entered what would become the United States.
Most of those slaves were sold to Southern masters who generally put them to work in tobacco or rice
fields. The Chesapeake’s tobacco-producing areas were comparatively healthier by the later 1600s and
the labor less excruciating than rice production. Masters often purchased females and created more of
a gender balance in the slave population, providing a measure of solace for blacks who could try to
recreate some semblance of the family life from which they had been torn. There was something in it
for whites as well: the offspring of sexual unions with female slaves (whether the father was black or
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white) added to the master’s ‘property holdings’. In Carolina rice fields, both the labor and the
environment were harsher, life expectancy was shorter, and female slaves were less common.
Plantations in the Deep South were deadlier and more brutal than those in the upper South.
“The total number of slaves in the American colonies was approximately 7,000 in 1680; 3,000
were held in Virginia alone. By 1700, the number more than tripled to 25,000, or 20 percent of the
population of the South. The general figures, however, mask the large concentrations of slaves in some
areas. For example, in 1720, blacks formed 70 percent of the population in South Carolina. Blacks also
formed the majority of the population in the river settlements of Virginia where Europeans had first
settled 100 years earlier.
“Slavery existed in all the English colonies of America. The highest demand for slave labor was
in the South, the lowest in New England. Middle Atlantic colonies, with soils and growing conditions
that favored larger-scale grain production than the Northeast, had nearly twice as many slaves as New
England (and, earlier, more indentured servants). But New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
Delaware had more diverse economies that the South, with greater levels of commerce and small-scale
manufacturing. Their slave populations were small compared to colonies from Maryland down to
Georgia.”
DJ McInerney recounts: “Of course, the ‘equality’ they noted was relative, not absolute.
Compared to Europe, America seemed a level field, but examined on its own terms, the colonies’ social
terrain was rough, jagged, and uneven. One in five human beings was a slave. Half of all immigrants
came to the colonies in some state of labor bondage. Half the population occupied a permanently
subordinate status based on gender with few legal, property, or political rights. In New England, a rising
proportion of the population became landless by the 1700s. And a homegrown aristocracy evolved in
Southern colonies, fashioning itself on a ‘cavalier’ tradition. Yet, while the region’s planter elite may
have come closest to traditional social models, its power and prestige derived more from the control of
labor than the ownership of land. Speculation in real estate remained a lively sport, and the families
that occupied its ranks moved in and out of their elevated position in a fairly steady stream.”
DJ McInerney says: “While school, prison, and asylum reformers believed that republican
disorder stemmed from the absence of basic social services, two other movements insisted that the
problem lay in the presence of a great social injustice: the dangerous, extensive, and corrupting exercise
of power long permitted over two groups in American, slaves and women.
“Turn-of-the-century opponents of slavery tended to focus on the deleterious effects that the
labor system had on whites. The American Colonization Society, for example, emphasized gradual
emancipation, compensation to masters, and resettlement of ex-slaves outside the United States. Free
blacks rejected the arguments, calling instead for immediate emancipation and equality within America.
By the early 1830s, the abolition appeals of African-Americans were echoed by white reformers,
especially William Lloyd Garrison, who, in 1831, launched a bold emancipation newspaper, the
Liberator, and two years later organized the American Anti-Slavery Society.
“Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, Frederick Douglass, Angelina Grimke, and others, urged Americans
to restore liberty to those denied its protections, end the absolute power wielded by masters, condemn
the ‘sin’ of slavery, and guarantee the equality of freedmen. If the nation failed to act, it would only
condone the inhumanity, tyranny, and corruption it so vigorously condemned in its struggle for
independence. None of their arguments, abolitionists insisted, departed from past ideals but merely
returned the nation to its proper foundations.
“Upwards of a quarter of a million Northerners joined the abolition movement. Advocates
spread their message through tracts, pamphlets, speakers, economic boycotts, and Congressional
petitions. Their broad assault on slavery met with broad resistance. Anti-abolition mobs in the North,
often led by ‘gentlemen of property and standing’, harassed and attacked reformers. Southerners

banned the distribution of anti-slavery materials through the mails. The House of Representatives
approved a ‘gag rule’ in 1836 that tabled all petitions from abolition groups.
“Internal disputes also hampered the abolitionists. African-American abolitionists saw evidence
of racism among many white reformers. Women witnessed how male leaders neglected their
contributions or dismissed their guidance. Garrisonians condemned the Constitution as a pact with
slaveholders. A few groups tied abolition closely to pacifism, non-resistance, and disunion. Some
advocates emphasized moral persuasion, others political action. However divided on strategies and
tactics, those who called for immediate abolition pressed for a more thorough-going reform than more
moderate ‘anti-slavery’ forces – who focused mainly on containing (rather than eliminating) slavery in
the Old South and preserving fresh Western lands for free, white labor.”
DJ McInerney spotlights: “Costume-epics and potboiler romances are right about one thing:
slavery was at the core of the Old South’s daily life. The institution determined the fates of most
African-Americans, defined the area’s economy, crystallized racial attitudes, and established the region’s
routines. It is hard imagining the pre-Civil War South without conjuring up images of the chattel system.
“Yet, at the end of the eighteenth century, things looked quite different. Slavery’s strength,
growth, and endurance did not seem certain. Thomas Jefferson recognized the toll taken on Southern
soils by tobacco, understood the geographical limits of rice and long-staple cotton production, saw the
beginnings of abolition in Northern states, considered the conundrum of enslavement in a ‘land of
liberty’, and conceived of a different order for Virginia – and America – in the coming decades. The
republic’s interests depended not on duplicating the world the planters had made but on releasing the
energy of a different group, independent yeoman farmers, and allowing their labor, their freedom, and
their presumed virtue to shape the United States. Jefferson’s ideas took shape in the Ordinance of 1784
dealing with lands north of the Ohio River: he proposed that there should be no slavery. The clause was
rejected, but three years later the prohibition did become part of the ‘Northwest’ Ordinance of 1787.
Jefferson was not alone in this thinking. Prominent slaveholders such as George Washington, Patrick
Henry, and James Madison also expressed concern about the vitality and validity of the chattel system.
The results of their soul-searching were limited, though. Concerned that the abolition of slavery would
constrain the ‘liberty’ and property rights of whites – and release a presumably inferior people into
white society – no Southern state did away with the chattel system. All except North Carolina, however,
eased laws allowing masters to set free (or ‘manumit’) their slaves. And Southern leaders, for a period,
reconsidered the course of their region. For this time being, Jefferson and his contemporaries would
retain the institution of slavery as a ‘necessary evil’ and as a bulwark of racial ‘order’. But the future did
not seem to belong to the chattel system. The coming decades presumably would not look like the past.
“Slavery, of course, did not wither away. It only grew larger and more dominant. How did a
system riddled with economic, moral, and political uncertainty endure and expand? How did an
institution so problematic become so strong? The answer turned, to a considerable degree, on a simple
mechanical device that transformed a humble plant into an economic monarch.
“One of the most promising and potentially profitable crops that Southerners could raise was
short-staple, or green-seed, cotton. Unlike the luxurious long-staple variety, short-staple cotton was
suited to the soils and climate of the South as a whole. Southerners could grow it abundantly and
consistently, but short-stapled cotton posed one awkward little problem: the seeds took a very long
time to remove from the fiber. One individual in one day could clean a grand total of one pound of
cotton; this was hardly the mode of production that would generate fortunes.
“In 1793, a Northerner named Eli Whitney, preparing to serve as a tutor in South Carolina,
inadvertently taught Southerners one of the most important economic lessons of the era. Whitney,
with the assistance of Catherine Greene, widow of Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene, devised a
contraption to remove seeks from the lint. The cotton engine (or ‘gin’) allowed one worker in one day
to clean over 50 pounds of short-staple cotton. With efficiencies in labor to gain (and a simple

mechanical design to purloin), cotton gins popped up all over the South. Green-seed cotton soon
became the crop of choice, and the basis of future wealth.
“There were, of course, several other reasons why cotton became so important. World demand
for cotton grew tremendously. Textile factories in Britain consumed huge quantities of the fiber.
Growers received a good price for their cotton, and the production of cotton fitted well with the
demands of the slave labor system. Masters bought slaves in order to work them, work them hard, and
work them steadily. Cotton gave masters just what they wanted. The crop took a full year to bring to
market, keeping workers well-occupied preparing fields, planting, tending, thinning, cropping,
harvesting, and cleaning. Since the demands placed on laborers varied during the year, masters could
put crews to work on food production, buildings, and general maintenance, making plantations
considerably, although not entirely, self-sufficient.
“The production of short-staple cotton spread quickly, from the coastal southeast across to
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. From 1790 to 1820, the number of bales
produced grew eighteenth-fold. Another eighteen-fold increase occurred from 1820 to 1840. The 1.3
million bales produced in 1840 nearly tripled to 3.8 million by 1860.
“More significant than the amount of cotton produced was its importance to the economy:
cotton became America’s largest single product for shipment abroad. Before 1810, cotton represented
less than 10 percent of all US exports; by 1820, 33 percent; by 1860, nearly 60 percent. One item,
produced in one region, dominated the export sector of the entire country and influenced America’s
balance of trade, available credit, and payment for imports. It would have been hard to miss the larger
significance that cotton, and the slave labor that produced most of it, held for the entire nation. South
Carolina Senator James H Hammond understood the economic and political clout of the South.
‘Without firing a gun, without drawing a sword, should they make war on us, we could bring the whole
world to our feet’, the senator declared in 1858. ‘No, you dare not to make war on cotton. No power
on earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king.’
“Cotton may have been monarchic in its dominion and influence, but ultimately its power was
dependent on the labor provided by African-American slaves. The rise in cotton production occurred
along with a rise in the slave population of the South. There were 700,000 slaves in the United States in
1790. The number more than doubled by 1820 to 1.5 million. By 1840, 2.5 million slaves toiled in the
United States, and by 1860, the figure increased to nearly four million slaves. Part of the total number
derived from the transatlantic slave trade: masters bought 250,000 slaves from the time of the
Revolution to 1808, the year slave importations officially ended. The rest of the increase came mostly
from reproduction, something that masters touted as proof of the slaves’ humane and beneficent
treatment. Of course, masters were also willing to move slaves freely wherever the market action was
found. A new, internal slave trade developed. From the birth of the new republic to the eve of the Civil
War, upwards of one million slaves were moved by masters or ‘sold down the river’ to new owners
setting up operations in the Lower South.
“Three-quarters of all slaves were field workers; and nearly three-quarters of that number were
engaged in cotton production. They did the long, difficult, and draining work most whites preferred to
avoid. Little wonder. The cotton crop required nearly double the labor-hours of corn production and
almost four times the labor-hours of wheat production. It was the labor of African-American slaves that
produced the crop that generated the wealth that provided the economic success of the South in
particular and the nation as a whole.
“By the 1830s, Southerners had moved away from Jefferson’s reluctant embrace of slavery as a
necessary evil and developed, instead, a vigorous defense of the chattel system. Part of their argument
was scriptural, noting the slaves held by God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, Paul’s call for
servants to obey masters, and the absence of any condemnation of slavery by Jesus. A second argument
was quasi-scientific, asserting the inequality found throughout nature, the inferiority of blacks, and the

superiority of Caucasians. A third argument was historical, pointing to traditions of slaveholding in
revered Grecian and Roman societies. A final argument was humanitarian. Southerners claimed to
perform a generous service by enslaving a people who could not compete with a superior race and who
would otherwise never learn valuable skills, proper behavior, and Christian truth. Masters envisioned
themselves as beneficent, paternal figures who uplifted a group that would otherwise remain ignorant
and backward. There could be no reason to question such a decent and honorable institution. Slavery
was a positive good.
“While the slave system was widespread in the antebellum South, slave ownership was not. In
1860, 12.25 million people lived in the South: eight million whites, 250,000 free blacks, and four million
slaves. The slaves were owned by 400,000 masters, 5 percent of the white population. If one changes
the math and figures ‘ownership’ on a family rather than individual basis, about 25 percent of Southern
white families held slaves. Either way, a minority of Southern whites owned slaves, and a minority of
that minority owned large numbers of slaves: ‘planters’, with 20 or more slaves, made up less than 12
percent of the slaveholding class and only 0.5 percent of the South’s white population.
“What of the other 75 percent of Southern whites with no slaves? Most were yeomen farmers.
They worked modestly sized farms, held little cash, relied on family labor, and achieved a rough selfsufficiency by raising corn, potatoes, pigs, and chickens. They were tied to small, rural communities
rather than far-flung markets; they valued local ways and local control and remained suspicious of
distant, centralized authority. To judge by the basic facts of their condition and the simple statistics on
slaveholding, one might think that the chattel system had little impact on their lives. But the numbers
tell one story, historical experience quite another.
“A minority of Southern whites owned slaves, but the slave system was of central importance in
Southern affairs. That is because slavery did not simply form an individual investment, a labor system,
or a mode of production; it was a way of life. It shaped the basic contours of Southern existence for
blacks, for white slaveholders, and for white non-slaveholders.
“Slaveholding defined capital investment. In 1860, the region’s four million slaves were worth
$3-4 billion – and yielded handsome profits. Masters could expect a 10 percent return on their slaves,
better than many Northern industrialists could expect from their ventures. Slave prices rose by the
1850s, making the investment pay off even more. Profits went back into more slaves and more land;
why tinker with a winning formula? Slaveholding also defined Southern wealth. The average
slaveholder was ten times as wealthy as the average non-slaveholding Southerner. The quarter of
Southern white families who owned slaves in 1860 controlled 90 percent of the South’s chief asset, its
agricultural wealth. And in a region with less economic diversity than the North, slaveholding offered
one of a few available paths to success.
“Slavery also defined the region’s social relations. The South was a caste society in which a
permanent group of superiors dominated a permanent group of inferiors. Skin color defined one’s rank;
enslavement secured one’s place. No black (free or enslaved) could rise above his or her base position;
no white (rich or poor, smart or stupid, virtuous or criminal) could sink to the level assigned to blacks.
All whites rose above the hardship and toil reserved only for the lowliest orders. Senator Hammond
noted that ‘in all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery
of life … It constitutes the very mud-sill of society’. All whites in the Southern social order, whether
slaveholders or non-slaveholders, benefited from the chattel system.
“Those harmed by the expansion of the chattel system included free blacks as well as enslaved
blacks. Before 1810, free African-Americans formed the most rapidly growing segment of the Southern
population. Some had purchased their freedom from enslavement, others earned freedom by virtue of
military service. Still others were freed by masters. After 1810, as cotton production and the slave
system widened, conditions changed. Whites increasingly viewed free African-Americans as a
dangerous influence on the discipline of enslaved blacks; free people of color muddied the otherwise

sharp and stark divisions in Southern life between independent, ‘superior’ whites and servile, ‘inferior’
blacks. Southern states began to tighten laws that governed the freeing (or ‘manumission’) of slaves. At
the same time, Southern legislatures passed tighter ‘Black Codes’ to regulate the lives, and restrict the
rights, of free African-Americans. By the end of the 1850s, Arkansas had even ordered all free blacks to
leave the state.
“Socially speaking, the least precarious group in the South was the planter elite who enjoyed
wealth, prestige, and leadership in the region. In 1860, some 10,000 families owned 50 or more slaves.
As people of considerable privilege, the wealthiest built lavish homes, practiced a highly conspicuous
form of consumption, and fashioned themselves to be arbiters of taste and style as well as investments
and politics. The architectural results of their efforts still stand in places such as Natchez, Mississippi,
which boasts antebellum places befitting the wealthiest county in America in 1850. The elite also
presumed to display a model character. While accentuating traits of dignity, grace, and decorum in
personal and public conduct, they adhered as well to aristocratic notions of obligation and guidance
towards the lesser folk of the community.
“Slaveholders who defined the marketplace and society also shaped the politics of the region.
Slave owners occupied 50-85 percent of the seats in Southern states legislatures and a large percentage
of Southern Congressional seats. For the most part, they determined the region’s political policies,
arguing forcefully for the protection, and expansion, of slave interests.
“Slavery also defined what historian William J Cooper calls the ‘particular politics’ of the region
in which Southerners, ironically, tied their fundamental concepts of ‘liberty’ to enslavement. Southern
whites understood perfectly well what happened to a people deprived of freedom: they could see the
consequences in the degradation, oppression, and dependence of their slaves. That ever-present sight
made whites all the more anxious and vigilant about any infringement of their own independence. Their
central right, the one that served as a touchstone of their liberty, was the right to enslave blacks. If
whites were not free to hold African-Americans in bondage, if whites were not free to make that kind of
‘local’ choice, then whites were not free of all. The enslavements of blacks symbolized the freedom of
whites.
“Slavery also shaped the culture of the South. One sign of this influence was the very phrase
Southerners used when referring to slavery: it was their ‘peculiar institution’. The words sound odd to
modern ears: ‘peculiar’ connotes oddness or strangeness. Southerners meant something quite
different: the phrase referred to the distinctiveness of slavery. The chattel system set the South apart
from the rest of the nation. The region remained rural and non-industrial, agrarian and noncommercial; its society displayed deference, stability, and structure. Politicians, preachers, journalists,
and essayists boasted of the South’s singular balance and unique identity.
“The chattel system produced a special world not only for the slave owner but for all Southern
whites. Slavery generated wealth, defined leadership, structured society, and shaped policy. Its
arrangement of people, resources, and production presumably reflected the order and harmony of
nature. Each group had its proper place; every part contributed to the wealth, security, and stability of
the whole. There was little need for change or alteration in such a society; the South had created the
best of all possible worlds.
“Of course, one had to overlook a few problems to reach such a conclusion. Morally, the South
was increasingly isolated by its peculiar way of life: one of every three human beings in the region was a
slave. Economically, slavery proved profitable for individuals but detrimental to the long-term
development of the region. The steady production of cotton took its toll on Southern soils; the
impressive profits from cotton tended to go into more slaves and more land. Meanwhile, the South
lagged behind the North in manufacturing, transportation, and urbanization. Since the region focused
heavily on the production of raw materials, the North and Britain would end up marketing the area’s

crops and creating the processed goods that Southerners consumed. The South, in other words, found
itself in a condition of colonial dependence.
“Politically, Southern leaders pressed for the territorial expansion of slavery in order to ease
problem of soil depletion, to expand a valuable labor system, and to gain greater power (through more
slave state admissions) in the House, Senate, and Electoral College. On this issue, however, the South
faced considerable opposition. Northern politicians accepted slavery in the existing Southern states and
even protected the institution through various Constitutional means. But when it came to new,
unsettled territories in the West, the story was quite different: those lands were considered a reserve
for free – white – laborers. In other words, the North was concerned about slavery where it might exist,
not where it did exist. The competing interests of the two regions would, eventually and tragically,
collide. While Southerners may have believed they created the best of all possible worlds through their
peculiar institution, they had in fact only laid the groundwork for a horrible conflict that would leave
idealized vision in ruins.
“State codes throughout the South asserted that slaves were pieces of property held and
controlled by masters. Slaves were things. As such, they had no inherent rights, no will, and no
humanity. In purely legal terms, slaves were creatures stripped of personhood, mere possessions
directed by their owners. Whatever the legal fiction, all but the most ruthless masters knew they were
dealing with human beings. Despite the stark division between ‘mastery’ and ‘enslavement’, slaves
exercised considerable judgment and choice, and despite the concerted efforts of slaveholders, AfricanAmericans constructed communities among themselves. Slaves deemed passive in Southern theory
were, in fact, active players in the life of the region.
“The family was perhaps the most important social structure slaves created. In the eyes of the
law, marriages between slaves were not recognized. In the eyes of one another, enslaved husbands and
wives were permanent partners heading strong families. Slaveholders commonly allowed such unions,
since marriage could produce a measure of peace and stability on the plantation, and offspring to add to
the master’s wealth. Slaves found something quite different in these unions: an identity for themselves,
a sense of commitment to other slaves, and a source of continuity with their heritage. The ‘families’
that slaves developed went beyond the core of woman, man, and children. Slaves usually built strong
ties to a wider group that included ‘relations’ not tied by blood. Whether acknowledging elders as ‘aunt’
and ‘uncle’ or addressing peers as ‘sister’ and ‘brother’, the slaves’ extended family network also
provided one way of dealing with the instability that masters created by buying, selling, and trading
slaves from one plantation to another. The slaves’ family ties were precarious but invaluable, providing
an important refuge in a hostile world.
“A second source of comfort and identity sprang from the slaves’ religious communities. By the
late 1790s, masters stirred by evangelicalism felt an obligation to bring Christianity to slaves. Confident
that they were not only saving souls but instilling a higher discipline in their work force, masters often
brought slaves to Sunday services to hear the lessons imparted by white ministers. Slaves were not
seated by the master’s side, however. Instead, they listened from separate, segregated areas of
churches. Returning to their homes after these sanctioned ceremonies, slaves often gathered again for
another set of services that they conducted among themselves. Their meetings commonly took place
away from the master’s view, often at night, sometimes in wooded areas. Here, slaves voiced their
spiritual thoughts. The beliefs of the ‘invisible institution’ (as Albert Raboteau terms it) were quite
different from the tenets the masters taught. In a blend of Christian and African traditions, slaves
danced and spoke and sang of a loving God who dispensed hope rather than wrath, a liberating Savior
who befriended the poor and oppressed, and a coming Day of Jubilee when, like the ancient Israelites,
they would be delivered from Pharaoh’s lash. Far from acting as an opiate, the slaves’ religion
stimulated a strong sense of personal worth and collective endurance that countered the intentions of
the masters.

“A third way African-American shaped their world was by manipulating the labor routines of a
farm or plantation. While whites assumed that masters simply commanded and slaves dutifully obeyed,
the rhythms of work usually proceeded in quite a different manner. Masters did work their slaves from
sunrise to sunset, 10 hours in winter, and 14 hours in summer. Slaves who balked faced whippings and
other severe punishments. Watched by masters and overseers, slaves had few opportunities to control
such a system. Yet in covert and astute ways, slaves tried to construct a more reasonable pace and
intensity of labor. A tool broken here, an illness feigned there, an animal spirited away, a piece of
machinery misplaced, a building burned, an overseer played off against a master – strategies such as
these could help in small ways to create more manageable workloads and to draw limits around a
master’s demands.
“A related response to enslavement involved deliberate concealment, guile, and deception,
presenting a false (but pleasing) front to the masters while recognizing the bitter truth of their
condition. The ex-slave Frederick Douglass commented to this tactic in the Narrative of his life. Slaves
who spoke frankly and honestly could often expect punishment rather than reward for their words,
Douglass wrote. ‘The frequency of this has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that
a still tongue makes a wise head. They suppress the truth rather than take the consequences of telling
it.’ Slavery inverted the proper order of things and made deceit a virtue.
“Another form of resistance was to run away from a master. Those who fled were mostly young
men who ventured out on their own, often trying to avoid a punishment, reunite with loved ones, or
simply taste freedom. They usually returned. Others sought a permanent escape, but perhaps only a
thousand or so attempts per year succeeded. Most slaves, who lived in the lower South, had too far to
travel to freedom. White patrols made the attempt even riskier. At times, fugitives received help along
the way. Free African-Americans in Southern cities offered important assistance. So, too, did a loose
network of abolitionist allies who concealed, sheltered, and guided runaways to liberty through the socalled ‘Underground Railroad’. Harriet Tubman of Maryland, for example, made 19 trips into the South,
leading some 300 slaves to freedom.
“Of the different ways to endure, control, or resist the chattel system, the one least chosen by
slaves in the United States was overt rebellion. Rumors of insurrection swirled constantly among
anxious whites, but only three major instances of rebellion occurred in the first part of the nineteenth
century. In 1800, Gabriel Prosser drew as many as a thousand slaves into a plan to seize Richmond,
Virginia, and attack whites. In 1822, whites’ charges that a free black, Denmark Vesey, had hatched a
plot to lead slaves into Charleston, South Carolina, and there wreak havoc, seize weapons, and even
broad ships to take them out of the United States. In both cases, the plans leaked out, whites rounded
up suspected African-Americans, and jailed, expelled, or killed them. A bloody revolt did occur,
however, in Southampton County, Virginia. A slave named Nat Turner was inspired by mystical visions
to punish whites for the terror they had imposed on enslaved blacks. In August 1831, he led a band of
followers to different houses in the county, killing 55 whites. White patrols and courts caught,
punished, and executed some 100 blacks.
“To many Southern whites, the dearth of insurrections proved that slaves were docile or content
in their condition. In the end, however, the decision not to engage in rebellion reflected insight, not
passivity. How could rebels succeed? They were outnumbered in most areas by whites. Slaves could
not have weapons. State laws prohibited them from learning how to read and white. And even if
successful, where would rebels flee? Their knowledge of the land was limited because of restrictions on
their movement. They lived in the midst of an armed and hostile white police state. And if state
governments could not contain slave threats, the federal government was constitutionally bound to
quell insurrections. The odds were simply staked against slaves.
“While the conditions of enslavement were determined, the conduct of the enslaved was not.
In technical terms, the law denied a slave’s humanity; in practical terms, slaves quietly, skillfully asserted

their self-worth and dignity. Their strategies combined adaptation, indirection, modest challenge, and
subtle subversion. They exercised a measure of control over the conditions of their lives, a level of
power that proved most advantageous when its presence was least apparent. The slaveholders’
‘mastery’ was incomplete, not absolute. The slaves’ ‘servility’ was similarly partial, owning in great part
to the basic humanity that ‘chattels’ preserved for themselves.
“Even the ‘peculiarity’ of Southern society had its limits: in their language, religion, cultural
background, and revolutionary heritage, Southerners were strong partners in the larger, American
nation. Yet, as the century progressed, Southern states increasingly moved in a separate direction,
attuned to a distinctive set of values and committed to a way of life that had less and less in common
with the aspirations of the North. The two regions contained their differences for decades, but a
collision between their competing orders proved, eventually, inescapable.”
DJ McInerney underscores: “The last of the measures, the Fugitive Slave Act, sparked intense
controversy. As Philip S Foner has written, the act made the federal government a major player in the
capture of runaway slaves. Federal commissioners supervised reclamations and named marshals to
make arrests. Marshals could demand the assistance of bystanders to seize suspected runaways;
citizens who refused to cooperate faced fines or jail. Masters merely had to supply oral or written proof
of ownership in order to pursue a ‘fugitive’, and commissioners decided cases without a jury. Their fee
doubled if they ruled in favor of the master rather than letting the suspect go free. Those arrested could
not testify on their own behalf. Such was the nature of republican ‘compromise’ in 1850.
“Although sponsored by advocates of limited government power, the Fugitive Slave Act was one
of the strongest federal laws in US history up to that time. The exercise of that authority raised a storm
of protest. Federal officials seized 200 suspected runaways between 1850 and 1856. The enactment of
the law was felt almost entirely in ‘free’ states, not slave states. Northern reformers, incensed at the
law’s legalized ‘kidnapping’, formed rescue committees to disrupt arrests and hearings. Several
Northern legislatures passed ‘personal liberty laws’ to block enforcement of the act. Some AfricanAmericans urged emigration as the only safe way to escape oppression in the United States, and one
Northern woman, deeply distressed at the misery and suffering caused by the law, responded with her
pen to the new national crisis.
“Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter of Congregational minister Lyman Beecher. Brought
up in a family committed to social service, Harriet was keenly aware of the pressing social and moral
problems tied to slavery. Her father served as president of Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, the
site of debates over abolition. The city, across the Ohio River from Kentucky, was the scene of dramatic
slave escapes. Harriet followed the controversy close at hand and through tracts written by reformers
such as Lydia Maria Child and Frederick Douglass.
“During a church service one Sunday, Stowe claimed she was overtaken by the vision of a pious,
gentle slave. She began recording her thoughts in a work she entitled Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The novel
focuses on a man who stands at the center of a slave community until torn from his family and sold
‘down river’ to a vicious master. Tom finds redemption not through emancipation but through death.
Other characters include a young woman who escapes to freedom, a passionate man who envisions a
black republic, and a mischievous girl who plays havoc with the conventions of white society. They
inhabit a world dominated by whites, some of whom defend slavery, some of whom subvert it, and
some of whom remain paralyzed by uncertainly.
“The range of Stowe’s characters gave the romance its sweep. The complexity of her message
gave the work its power. Stowe did not simply pit immoral Southerners against virtuous Northerners:
her most reprehensible character, the villainous master Simon Legree, was a New Englander. Her
argument revolved around two themes: that slavery was a sin requiring immediate repentance; and that
the whole nation shared in the guilt of the sin. Stowe’s insistence on Northern complicity lent her work
a cutting edge that left no side in the debate comfortable and secure. She urged all regions of the

country to work for the abolition of slavery. And she assumed, in the end, that the impetus for change
would come not from meeting halls or marketplaces controlled by men but from the domestic circle of
love and faith maintained by women. The female power that defined home, hearth, and soul should,
Stowe assumed, extend its influence to the world at large.
“The work proved enormously popular. In its first year, 1852, the story sold over 300,000
copies. It was the first American novel to sell a million copies. The book also became a play that toured
Northern states. The story of slavery’s threats to family life, republican ideals, and Christian
commitments left readers moved, fearful, and angered. One Chicago observer hoped the novel would
‘exert a favorable influence for the rights of humanity and have a happy tendency towards the
enfranchisement of the down trodden millions of our own land’.
“In the South, the novel evoked shock and derision. Stowe seemed to be another wild-eyed
radical who passed off lies as truths, who fed suspicion and hatred in her audience, and who recklessly
condemned a region, its people, and their way of life. Southerners expressed alarm that a work
allegedly so false could prove so popular in the North. The nation had reached such a fragile state that
an author’s book, not just a lawmaker’s bill, drove a wedge between Americans. When President
Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1863, he reportedly remarked, ‘So you’re the little
woman who wrote the book that made this great war?’”
DJ McInerney comments: “In the midst of the Kansas struggle, another branch of the federal
government tried its hand at resolving the slavery debate. Up until the mid-1850s, the Supreme Court
had not ruled on questions concerning slavery in the territories. The opportunity to issue a decision
arose when the Court accepted a case first raised in a Missouri courtroom – by a slave, Dred Scott.
“Scott’s master had taken him from a slave state, Missouri, to Illinois, on to Wisconsin Territory,
and then back to Missouri. Scott, assisted by white reformers, sued for his freedom on the grounds that
his residence in a free state and a free territory made him a free man. A ruling in Scott’s favor was later
reversed by a higher court in Missouri. The case came before the Supreme Court in 1856, and in March
1857, the Court issued its rulings.
“The Court declared that no black persons, enslaved or free, could qualify as a citizen of the
United States. Constitutionally, Chief Justice Roger B Taney argued, blacks were ‘beings of an inferior
order [who] had no rights which white men were bound to respect’. Blacks, according to Justice Peter V
Daniel, formed a separate group of persons removed from ‘the family of nations’ and were never meant
to be included among American citizens. Furthermore, the justices declared, slaves were property. By
virtue of the Fifth Amendment, Congress could not violate the property rights of citizens (such as
masters) without due process of law. The 1820 Missouri Compromise had already deprived citizens of
their property in the territories. Congress had rendered the Compromise obsolete in the KansasNebraska Act, and now the justices of the Supreme Court declared that it had been null and void all
along.
“If the national legislature had no authority to exclude slavery from the territories, did territorial
legislatures possess such power? The answer, according to Taney, was no. Neither the federal
government nor territorial governments could deny the property rights of masters. The concept of
popular sovereignty was moot: territorial settlers could debate slavery but not ban it.
“One other issue remained unclear. If national and territorial legislatures had no power to
exclude slavery, could state governments? The legislatures of New York and Massachusetts, for
example, had already abolished slavery within their borders. Had they exceeded their lawful authority
by violating the Fifth Amendment? Were their laws abolishing slavery null and void? The justices said
nothing, but the logic of their position seemed to indicate that no legislature could make laws conflicting
with the Fifth Amendment. Slavery appeared to enjoy secure, national protection while freedom held
only local, and tenuous, protection.

“Southerners celebrated the rulings issued by the justices (the majority of whom were
themselves Southern). Northerners questioned the Court’s ‘judiciousness’ in defining questions of
citizenship, property rights, and legislature power. Observers recognized that more cases about slavery
would be likely to come before the Supreme Court, and the next time the Court spoke, it might clear up
lingering issues concerning state legislatures. The South hoped for continuity in the Court’s makeup and
thinking. Northern Republicans hoped for something different. Their party needed to galvanize
support, elect a Republican president and Senate, and let the new administration make appointments to
the Court that would change the next decision.”
DJ McInerney emphasizes: “Hearing of Lincoln’s victory, Southern political leaders met to
discuss the threat to their region. A new president and party came to power owing absolutely nothing
to Southern states. President-elect Lincoln would not allow slavery to expand onto fresh public lands
and without that expansion, slavery would wither and collapse. The containment of slavery equaled the
eradication of slavery. Southerners believed a longstanding fear had come to pass: ‘abolitionists’
controlled the federal government. As president, Lincoln would nominate like-minded men for Supreme
Court openings. How would his justices decide the next test case on slavery? As chief executive, Lincoln
enforced the laws of the land. How eagerly would he administer the Fugitive Slave Act? As commander
in chief, Lincoln guided US military forces. How quickly would he respond to raids like that of John
Brown? As party leader, Lincoln doled out offices. How many Republican-appointed postmasters would
be likely to destroy incendiary abolitionist literature sent through the mails? Southerners saw
themselves in jeopardy at all points.
“For decades, extremists had urged one escape from sectional catastrophe: secession. On 20
December 1860, South Carolina decided to make the break. The state repealed its ratification of the
Constitution and declared its union with other states dissolved. By February 1861, six other Lower
South states joined in succession. The seven adopted a provisional constitution for the Confederate
States of America (CSA) and elected a provisional president, Jefferson Davis.
“Members of the Confederacy argued that, with Lincoln’s election, they had to act before it was
too late. Republicans would certainly dismantle federal protections of slavery. If the national
government distanced itself from the chattel system, slave insurrections would soon sweep across the
South. Supporters also argued that secession was a legitimate and lawful step. States that presumably
had exercised their sovereignty in the 1780s by the Constitution only invoked their sovereignty again by
repudiating the government at its Union. Furthermore, Southern leaders were convinced the North
would do nothing to retaliate. The North was far too dependent economically on the South – and far
too incompetent militarily – to force the issue. Finally, even if Northerners did provoke a struggle over
secession, Southerners believed they could count on support from their loyal customers (and presumed
political allies) in Britain and France.
“While seven states had seceded by early 1861, eight other slave states stayed within the Union.
The Upper South hoped to win federal concessions for slavery that would coax the Lower South back.
Congress failed to achieve a compromise; the proposals appeared to reward the seceding states while
punishing the victorious Republicans. Out-going President Buchanan denounced secession as illegal but
did not act decisively against the Confederate States. Incoming President Lincoln refused to discuss the
controversy publicly. He remained convinced that secession was unconstitutional, that bargaining with
seceders was pointless, and that Union sympathizers in the South would soon wrest control from an
extremist minority.
“Matters remained in limbo for a month. On 4 March 1861, Lincoln took the oath of office. His
inaugural address expressed both firmness and conciliation. Lincoln declared secession illegal, vowed to
preserve the Union, pledged to hold federal property in the Lower South, and insisted that slavery
would not expand into the territories. At the same time he would not interfere with slavery in the states
where it existed. Lincoln looked forward to the seceded states’ return to the Union, and he appealed to

the ‘bonds of affection’ that tied Americans together even in times of passionate conflict. In little more
than a month, however, those bonds broke apart.”
DJ McInerney gives: “Southerners called it the ‘War between the States’, Northerners the ‘War
of the Rebellion’. Even nominal agreement escaped the two sides. Yet differences over designation
were minor compared to the chasm that separated Americans on questions of nationhood and freedom.
Nathaniel Hawthorne concluded that ‘We never were one people, and never really had a country since
the Constitution was formed’. The Civil War stood as a tragic, epic voyage of American rediscovery,
exploring not the land but its principles. The struggle clarified the meaning of union and redefined the
idea of liberty – but at a price that was unimaginable and agonizing.
“Four years of conflict, a million casualties, and the devastation of a region brought both the
Confederacy and slavery to an end. But the war did not define how to reunite the republic. And the
struggle did not clarify how (or even if) ex-slaves could act on their newly won freedom. The course of
reconstructing the nation after war proved almost as divisive as the events that led America into
conflict. There were bitter disputes among those who presumably won, renewed strength for those
who presumably lost, and a brief period of hope for those who became free.
“For the Lincoln Administration, the immediate cause of hostilities involved the need to
preserve and protect the Union. The violent assault on federal property at Fort Sumter marked an
insurrection against the legitimate government of the United States. Lincoln was moderate, at best, on
questions of slavery: he would not allow the chattel system in the West but would not interfere with the
peculiar institution in the Old South. Lincoln was also moderate, at best, on questions of race: he
assumed that blacks held basic rights deserving protection, yet he also shared general white suspicions
about the inferior nature of African-Americans. But Lincoln was rigid on questions of Union: the
principles of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the future greatness of America all depended on a
perpetual and indissoluble Union. Compromise on matters of slavery or race was possible and
preferred; compromise on matters of Union was unthinkable. The suppression of a rebellion against the
Union was the immediate cause of the Civil War.
“Slavery in and of itself had not brought the country to this state. The peculiar institution was
part of the republic since its founding. But the prospect of slavery outside the Old South, the image of
masters leading slaves to fresh Western lands, and the fear that opportunities for free white laborers
might dwindle all raised serious political problems. Southerners insisted on their right to take slave
property west into territories jointly held by the states. The Republican Party remained equally
steadfast that slave interests should not gain more land for the chattel system. One after another,
compromises on this question collapsed; year after year, politicians failed to find a stable middle ground
in the controversy. The expansion of slavery led to the breakup of the Union.
“A people with a seemingly rational, enlightened political system held profoundly different ideas
about the meaning and purposes of their government. Quite simply, Americans had never reached
consensus on the nature of their political union. They engaged in a war for independence; they created
a written constitution to clarify the arrangements of power and the protection of freedom; they
expanded rapidly under their Constitutional banner; and they created a popular identity for themselves
as Americans. But they never clearly understood if their republic was one, central, unitary political order
or a group of smaller, sovereign, and cooperating political units.
“As historian David M Potter pointed out, ‘perhaps the United States is the only nation in history
which for seven decades acted politically and culturally as a nation, and grew steadily stronger in its
nationhood, before decisively answering the question of whether it was a nation at all.’ Americans, in
their basic political grammar, had not agreed on whether the ‘United States of America’ was a singular
or plural noun. ‘Thus’, Potter noted, ‘the phrase ‘E pluribus unum’ was a riddle as well as a motto.’ It
took a civil war to answer the riddle. Over 600,000 men gave up their lives in order to end the debate

over nationhood. A mass democracy suffered mass slaughter in order to understand what it was all
about.”
DJ McInerney pens: “Antietam’s carnage stood out in American military history, but the battle
also marked a turning point in American social, political, and racial history. When the fighting subsided,
Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. As of 1 January, slaves living in areas under
rebel control were ‘thenceforward and forever free’. Up to September 1862, the North fought a war to
reunite the states; after Antietam, the North fought a war for both union and liberty.
“Lincoln recognized that slavery was central to the war’s origins, but he did not make its
elimination central to the war’s purpose. Politically, Republicans wanted to contain rather than abolish
slavery; opposition Democrats would have denounced anything more. Constitutionally, Lincoln believed
he did not have the authority to break up the slave system; he hoped states would take the initiative.
Socially, the president sensed that any move to end slavery meet with intense Northern white hostility.
Strategically, he feared that a call for emancipation would alarm border state residents and push them
into the arms of the Confederacy.
“Meanwhile, other events moved the issue more decisively. Slaves who labored for rebel
armies or who worked in fields at home provided the Confederacy with steady supplies while also
freeing more whites for military service. Leaving slavery intact only sustained the South. In increasing
numbers, however, slaves made their way to, or found themselves behind, Union lines. By late spring
1961, Northern officers began treating escaped or captured slaves as ‘contraband of war’, putting them
to work for Union forces. A few commanders went further and actually liberated slaves. Congressional
Republicans passed ‘confiscation acts’ to clarify the procedures, first authorizing seizures and then
freeing slaves held by the Northern military.
“Guided by military necessity, presidential war powers, and higher ideals, Lincoln decided to
support emancipation by the summer of 1862. He waited for a significant military achievement before
making the announcement. Union ‘victory’ at Antietam gave Lincoln what he wanted, and he issued the
preliminary proclamation. On 1 January 1863, he signed the Final Emancipation Proclamation. In
practice, the proclamation emancipated no slaves that day; it only affected slaves in areas still controlled
by the CSA. But the proclamation clarified that, in coming days, a victory over the South’s rebellion
would also mean the end of the region’s peculiar institution.
“What started as opposition to slavery’s expansion widened into an attack on slavery’s very
existence in the Confederacy. As the war went on, several border states and occupied states chose to
end slavery within their jurisdictions. In 1865, Congress passed and sent to the states an amendment
abolishing slavery entirely. On 18 December 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment became part of the
Constitution. A forced labor system based on race, which had been in place for over 200 years and
controlled the lives of most African-Americans, came to an end.
“Many who gained freedom acted on it quickly. Nearly 200,000 African-Americans, mostly from
the South, served in the US military. The troops were underpaid, poorly housed, assigned menial tasks,
and segregated in black units led by white commanders, but their regiments saw significant battlefield
action. The First Carolina Volunteers staged successful in raids in Florida and elsewhere. Half of the
Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw died in an attack on Fort
Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina. The Second US Colored Light Infantry helped seize Fort Fisher
in North Carolina. Confederate troops killed several dozen black soldiers who surrendered to Rebel
forces at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. African-American units made a significant contribution to the Union
cause, but at a high price. Suffering a higher mortality rate than whites, 20 percent of African-American
soldiers died in the war.”
DJ McInerney scribes: “The policy of total war worked on Southern battlefields and on Southern
minds. A crisis of confidence and commitment existed throughout the Confederacy. Supplies ran
desperately low. Few Southern whites were available for military service and those within rebel ranks

deserted in record numbers. In March 1865, Confederate leaders took an unprecedented step: they
authorized the arming of slaves to assist in the war effort and promised freedom to bondsmen who
volunteered. The war came to an end, however, before any black regiments saw action.
“Sherman continued his devastating march, moving north from Savannah. By April, he reached
Raleigh, North Carolina. Grant extended his grip on Petersburg, and by 2 April, Lee’s forces could hold
out no longer. They abandoned Richmond and Petersburg and moved west, with Grant close behind.
The chase ended on 9 April at Appomattox, some 70 miles west of Richmond, where Lee and his 25,000man force surrendered to Grant. By late May, all other Confederate armies had surrendered, and the
war ended.
“The Union was saved, its indivisibility assured, and its principles of liberty expanded. But the
sacrifice of human life had not yet ended. On 14 April, a Confederate sympathizer pulled one more
trigger against one more Northern target. At Ford’s Theater in Washington, John Wilkes Booth shot
Abraham Lincoln in the head. The president died the next day. Lincoln and 620,000 others had given
their lives in the republic’s most catastrophic struggle.”
DJ McInerney states: “Perhaps the most serious problem facing Reconstruction was racism. As
historian William Gillette notes, ‘most white Americans believed unquestioningly in white supremacy’.
Racism hampered any sustained effort to guarantee the rights of blacks. Whites generally viewed
African-Americans as inferiors who were, at best, unprepared and, at worst, unfit for full participation in
American life. Northern whites were reluctant to accept the Civil War as a struggle for the liberty of
slaves; they had less patience with post-war efforts to secure the equality of blacks. Southern whites
viewed the extension of equal rights to African-Americans as a further affront to their region, a threat to
social order, and an ominous experiment in black supremacy. When their political challenges to black
equality failed, Southern whites applied terrorist tactics. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan, organized in
1866, buttressed efforts to undermine Reconstruction.”
DJ McInerney alludes: “In response, Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869
prohibiting states from denying the vote to its citizens ‘on account of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude’. The measure prohibited certain restrictions on voting but not all. If a person could not be
denied the vote because he was black, he might, in the nineteenth century, still be denied the vote for
not meeting literacy or property requirements – or she could be denied the vote for not meeting gender
requirements. Such loopholes pleased both Southerners and Northerners. The Northern states had a
sorry record on African-American suffrage: only five Northern states granted full voting rights to blacks
in 1865; and from 1865 to 1868, six Northern states rejected attempts to extend the franchise to
African-Americans. When the amendment went out for ratification, several Northern and border states
refused to approve it. The measure finally passed, in part, because the four remaining Southern states
had to ratify it in order to gain readmission.
“By 1870, with the Fifteenth Amendment ratified, all ex-Confederate states were once again
part of the Union, and a two-party system operated again throughout the United States. The nation
seemed to be back to normal. Also by 1870, African-Americans had been granted citizenship, the vote,
and equality under the law: blacks seemed to be on an equal footing with whites. Having made the
political world whole again and having brought blacks to the point where they presumably could fend
for themselves, most Republicans felt confident that they had accomplished Reconstruction’s major
goals. The momentum behind reform slowed.
“Emancipation did not simply end a system of restraint but also opened a process of autonomy.
The freed people of the South were key players in reconstruction. African-Americans carved out new
lives to match their new freedom. Because of their actions, the post-war South was not merely a world
defined by the absence of black enslavement; it was also a world defined by the presence of AfricanAmerican empowerment.

“For most slaves, freedom did not come with the Emancipation Proclamation; the decree only
covered slavery in areas outside Union control. Actual release from bondage usually came with an
advancing Northern army, with word from an agent of the Freedman’s Bureau, or by an announcement
from one’s master. Freed people greeted the news in various ways. For some the announcement was
expected; for others it came as a surprise. Some gathered together; others reflected alone. Some
reacted with anticipation and joy, others with confusion and concern. Noticeably absent were acts of
retaliation or vengeance against former masters.
“Freedom brought more than choice to former slaves. Historian Leon Litwack argues that
emancipation also brought ‘a leap of confidence in the ability to effect changes in their own lives
without deferring to whites’. For thousands of male ex-slaves, service in the Union military provided a
way to fulfill one’s own freedom. Seventy percent of the African-Americans in Northern forces came
from liberated areas of the South. Even more freed people made another decision: to be mobile. Most
did not travel far or continuously; few merely roamed. Some wanted to try economic opportunities in
different areas; others sought a larger black community in towns and cities; most hoped to reunite
family members separated by the slave trade and war. Whether joining the service or rejoining loved
ones, the movement of African-Americans was remarkable in a region where their movements were
once so constrained.
“Freedom also provided a chance to clarify one’s identity and reaffirm one’s dignity. Ex-slaves
took on surnames or selected names for themselves. Husbands and wives sought to have their
marriages recognized. Men frequently asserted their role as head of household, sometimes beneficially
to protect family members from exploitation, sometimes restrictively in order to confine wives to
domestic activities. Outside the home, African-Americans challenged deferential social codes. Whether
keeping one’s place on busy sidewalks or refusing to doff one’s hat at the approach of whites, freed
people redefined basic conventions of conduct.
“Southern blacks also tried to create decent economic circumstances for themselves. Freed
people knew that land ownership provided the security and autonomy they desired, and hopes ran high
that they would gain title to the soils they had worked as slaves. Their anticipation of ’40 acres and a
mule’ was fed by popular discussion, Congressional debate, the actions of a few Union military
commanders, and scattered federal experiments that leased sections of plantations to former slaves.
But the North but no intention of confiscating and redistributing Confederate land; the sanctity of
private property outweighed appeals for economic justice. Most freed people had to make do as
landless agricultural workers.
“In their limited circumstances, blacks tried to secure fair rewards, a reasonable work day,
control over the pace of labor, and a measure of leisure time. At first, however, they found themselves
tied to labor contracts with planters who wanted to recreate large, permanent work forces. Blacks
resisted the gang labor, harsh supervision, and unfair compensation that too closely resembled
enslavement. They forced a change in these arrangements. What emerged was the ‘sharecropping’
system under which plantations were divided into small farms rented to workers for a portion of the
crop they produced. Planters owned the land, annual leases provided them with labor through harvest
time, and their limited supplies of cash could go to other purposes. Blacks, although frequently caught
in a cycle of debt both to landlords and merchants, still held some autonomy. They were freed from
white oversight; they controlled their daily labor; they had part ownership of the crop they produced;
and they often lived on the individual plot they worked rather than in the old, clustered slave quarters.
Sharecropping was flawed and constraining, but as historian William L Barney points out, it was ‘in place
by the end of the 1860s because blacks wanted it’. The system offered one limited way in which freed
people could define labor conditions fit for human beings rather than chattels.
“Emancipation also led to a wave of institution building by African-Americans. Some of the
organizations were fraternal or mutual aid societies designed to aid and protect the community. Blacks

also supported educational institutions to acquire the literacy and skills their masters had long denied
them. Starting with meager facilities staffed by missionaries, reformers, and Northern blacks, the freed
people sparked campaigns for more extensive, tax-supported schools, which helped to establish the first
public education system in Southern communities. Southern African-Americans also created their own
churches. The congregations, usually of Baptist or African Methodist Episcopal affiliation, formed the
center of black life, providing spiritual guidance, social contact, emergency support, and community
organization. The churches’ ministers were commonly the most respected figures in black society, and
their prestige carried from the pulpit to public affairs. The black clergy took a lead both in political
advocacy and political office.
“Freed people pursued an active role in politics. As early as 1865, black conventions met to
discuss collective needs and to define political goals. As suffrage widened under Congressional
Reconstruction, African-American men voted, served as delegates to state constitutional conventions,
allied themselves with Republicans, and ran for political office. Within Southern governments, blacks
held 15-20 percent of offices; within Congress, 14 blacks served in the House and two in the Senate. Top
state posts, however, went to whites, and the number of black officeholders did not correspond to the
size of the black electorate.
“The Republicans who controlled Southern state governments for a brief period were composed
of three groups: African-Americans, including ex-slaves and free blacks; Northerners who came South
after the war in search of a livelihood (and earned the derisive nickname ‘carpetbaggers’); and Southern
whites with little attraction to the Democratic Party or planter interests (tagged as ‘scalawags’). The
Republicans pushed ambitious programs to protect political and civil rights, promote public works, and
establish public institutions.
“They faced several problems. First, their public projects were expensive, and the taxes needed
to pay for improvements alienated many supporters. Secondly, their activities were occasionally
questionable, especially with railroad programs that encouraged waste and corruption. Still, the fraud
and extravagance paled in comparison to the high-stakes swindles of Northern politicians during the
same period. Thirdly, Southern Republicans constantly tried to keep their fragile coalition of supporters
together. And fourthly, they faced racial as well as political challenges from Southern whites who
bitterly denounced the ‘Black Republican’ regimes that exercised power in the region. Beginning in
1869, control of Southern governments began changing to Democratic hands, and the reforms of
Reconstruction gradually broke down.
“By 1872, amnesty programs left most whites eligible to vote, and the relative electoral strength
of African-Americans declined. Planters and merchants turned powerful economic screws to dissuade
blacks from voting. The Ku Klux Klan used fear, intimidation, and violence to keep both blacks and
whites on the straight and narrow path. Resurgent Democrats relied on persuasive and blatantly racist
sets of appeals to voters. They painted a terrifying portrait of ‘black rule’ that threatened the region
(even through whites held four-fifths of all political offices and African-Americans enjoyed a legislative
majority only in South Carolina). They branded as ‘unrepublican’ the military rule and centralized
control imposed on Southerners by Congress. Party members expressed outrage over the corruption of
state governments (keeping quiet about Democrats who were on the take), and they championed
traditional values of local control and states’ rights.
“Above all, Democrats promised a return to ‘home rule’ and the ‘redemption’ of Southern
governments. Whites would regain control, quash the influence of African-Americans and the national
government, and revoke Reconstruction reforms. By 1871, Democrats dominated Virginia, Tennessee,
North Carolina, and Georgia. South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, all with large African-American
populations, also passed to Democratic control by 1877.
“As the influence of Democrats in the South rose, the zeal for reform in Congress fell. To some
Congressional Republicans, blacks who had achieved freedom, the vote, and legal rights were now on an

even playing field; no further assistance from the national government was necessary. Other
Republicans grew uneasy with the charges of ‘organized robbery’ pinned on Southern governments, and
grew more concerned about the bribe, kickback, fraud, and corruption scandals that swirled around the
Republican presidency of Ulysses S Grant. The General’s military brilliance helped win him the election
in 1868; his political dimwittedness cost him the support of many party regulars when he ran for reelection in 1872. Those who bolted, including the radical advocate Charles Sumner, encouraged the
party to cut its losses in the South, end federal intervention, limit government power, and allow a free,
open, and competitive market to reign once more. The retreat from reform was well under way.
“Other events also helped derail Reconstruction. Beginning in 1873, the American economy
plunged into a half-decade of depression, and political attention turned from social equity to economic
recovery. Democrats made hay with the collapse in the 1874 election, winning a majority of seats in the
House and racking up gains in the Senate. In addition to market jitters and opposition victories, the
Supreme Court began to chip away at Reconstruction measures. In 1873, the Court held that the
Fourteenth Amendment protected only those rights tied to national citizenship rather than state
citizenship. An 1876 ruling declared that the amendment covered discrimination by states but not by
individuals or groups. Another 1876 decision maintained that the Fifteenth Amendment did not provide
a blanket ‘right’ to vote but only prohibited specific limitations on suffrage. An 1883 case declared
unconstitutional the 1875 Civil Rights Act that prohibited discrimination in public places. The Court’s
decisions opened the door to new forms of voting restriction, continued racial discrimination, and wider
segregation.
“By the mid-1870s, Reconstruction had become dispensable. The opportunity to abolish it came
in the disputed presidential election of 1876. Democrat Samuel J Tilden held 51 percent of the popular
vote, but both he and Republican Rutherford B Hayes claimed victory in the Electoral College. At stake
were 20 contested electoral votes from four states. Party leaders met to settle the decision. Democrats
recognized Hayes as the winner after receiving assurances that his administration would remove all
remaining federal troops from the South, sponsor economic development in the region, and allow
‘home rule’ on social and racial issues. By placing the fate of Southern blacks in the hands of Southern
whites, the ‘compromise’ of 1877 brought Reconstruction to an end. The withdrawal of forces was one
promise Hayes kept. But the troops would eventually return, in 1957, to back up federal policy at a
school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Historian C Vann Woodward pointed out that ‘eighty years set a record
for durability among the sectional compromises of American history. This compromise set no records in
justice and statesmanship, but justice and statesmanship rarely make much history anyway.’
“In the end, local control, laissez-faire principles, and white superiority triumphed. Still, a
significant set of transformations had occurred in the nation. The agents of Reconstruction had
abolished slavery, repudiated secession, amended the Constitution (by expanding federal power),
reaffirmed the unitary nature of the republic, and granted freedman both the vote and public office. In
comparison to emancipation elsewhere in the West, Eric Foner notes, America ‘was the only society
where the freed slaves, within a few years of emancipation, enjoyed full political rights and a real
measure of political power’. Freedom made a difference – but not in all cases and not for a time. Nearly
a century would pass before its possibilities would be taken up again.”
DJ McInerney communicates: “When federal troops pulled out of the South at the end of
Reconstruction in 1877, African-Americans found themselves in a region ‘redeemed’ by whites from the
supposedly tyrannical grip of national authority. Into the first four decades of the twentieth century, the
area remained overwhelming rural, agricultural, decentralized, and impoverished. But two significant
changes occurred. Political dominance returned to the Democratic Party, which would control the ‘solid
South’ for the next 100 years. And whites formalized racial separation and white supremacy.
“The consequences for African-Americans were devastating. The door that briefly opened for
black political participation quickly closed. Voting rights were soon denied to most African-American

males. Those who tried to exercise the franchise faced new obstacles in the form of poll taxes and
literacy tests plus blatant intimidation and violent threats. The number of black officeholders dropped
precipitously. Lacking political leadership and clout, the limited economic autonomy of AfricanAmericans became more uncertain. Sharecropping might have answered some needs of black farmers
who found themselves without money, tools, and other resources; a ‘crop-lien’ system might have
allowed them to borrow from merchants against future harvests. But the combination of chronic
indebtedness and political dispossession reduced the possibilities of Southern blacks even further. In
addition, they faced new social and legal barriers. Whites systematized segregation, creating two
different public worlds for themselves and blacks through ‘Jim Crow’ laws. In education, recreation,
transportation, and accommodation – even in cemeteries – whites inhabited one realm, blacks another.
An 1896 Supreme Court case, Plessy v Ferguson, upheld the institutionalization of ‘separate but equal’
facilities, although it was common knowledge that blacks inhabited a separate and inherently unequal
world. Violence completed the work the law left unfinished. In the 1890s alone, nearly 2,000 lynchings
of blacks took place. Most happened in the South – and continued well into the twentieth century.
“One response to institutionalized segregation was gradualistic in nature. Booker T Washington
believed that blacks temporarily had to endure the limits whites imposed on them. The nature rested
on principles of racial inequality. Recognizing that unjust, degrading, yet stubborn fact, AfricanAmericans should turn away from utopian dreams of social transformation. Instead, they should work
strenuously at any task open to them, improve their material condition, and demonstrate that they
were both essential to the nation’s prosperity and the equals of anyone. Eventually, whites would no
longer be able to justify and defend their racist beliefs. In Up from Slavery (1901), Washington offered
his own experience as a model for what blacks could achieve. His Tuskegee Institute in Alabama offered
the training in agriculture, trades, and industrial labor that Washington hoped would improve the lives
and prospects of African-Americans.
“A second approach was agitational in nature. WEB DuBois insisted that African-Americans had
to resist the limits imposed on them by white society. A subordinate status in a caste society was simply
intolerable; injustice had to end. DuBois did not pin his hopes primarily on the efforts of common
African-Americans to improve their condition, he also rejected the notion that vocational training would
guide blacks out of their predicament. DuBois insisted that full academic opportunities must be opened
for blacks. Those most capable of leading the struggle were trained, educated blacks, a Progressive
‘elite’ as it were, whom DuBois referred to as the ‘talented tenth’. Relying on political action and legal
challenges, African-American professionals would break down the walls of racial discrimination. In The
Souls of Black Folk (1903), DuBois outlined his challenge to Washington’s patient, accommodations
stance. With a small group of white reformers, DuBois helped form the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP) in 1909 to lead the fight for equality.”
DJ McInerney depicts: “The 1920s also witnessed a flowering of African-American expression. In
fiction and criticism, in anthologies such as The New Negro, and in journals such as The Crisis,
participants in the ‘Harlem Renaissance’ explored the history and culture of blacks in America. Claude
McKay examined African-American life in the North in Home to Harlem (1925). Jean Toomer’s Cane
(1923) contrasted Northern, urban blacks with Southern, rural communities. Zora Neale Hurston
brought her anthropological study of African-American folk ways to literature. Pulled from simple, rural
roots to an urban, academic life, she felt ‘like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against
a wall in company with other bags, white, red, and yellow.’ Langston Hughes celebrated black identity in
poetry that often challenged conventions of form and voice. The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1920) offered
a solemn summation of black heritage; The Weary Blues (1923) provided a melancholy tone poem on
suffering and endurance.
“Black performers also expanded on America’s original, indigenous contribution to music: jazz.
Rooted in African-American musical forms such as spirituals, ragtime, and blues, jazz pieces often

started with a steady rhythm and straightforward melody – before the real work began. Players moved
the sound they had laid down in unexpected directions, shifting off the anticipated beat in a syncopated
style, diverting from a lyrical path through ‘scat’, or extending a musical line to extremes. The key to
jazz was its individualized, unpredictable improvisation on musical themes. Artists such as Jelly Roll
Morton, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and Bessie Smith made music filled with
surprise, discovery, and innovation.”
DJ McInerney enumerates: “[During World War II] The war resonated in a special way for people
of color in the United States. The Aryan doctrines of Nazism equating national greatness with racial
purity stood as a potent reminder that the United States needed to do more than defeat a military
machine abroad; it also had to overcome deep-seated prejudices at home. Most African-Americans
viewed the war effort as a chance to prove their loyalty and individual worth to a society that had long
belittled both. Nearly a million blacks served in the military during the war, encountering a world as
segregated as in civilian life. The armed forces desegregated officer training, allowed blacks to serve as
pilots, and permitted African-Americans to serve in combat units. But for the most part, blacks found
themselves in separate units, with separate barracks, and even segregated blood supplies.
“On the home front, the exclusion of blacks from most war production jobs led labor leader A
Philip Randolph to threaten a mass protest march on Washington in 1941. Roosevelt responded with an
executive order in June 1941 that tied defense contracts to non-discriminatory hiring and set up a Fair
Employment Practices Committee to oversee employment practices. To expand food production, the
federal government also instituted a bracero program to bring more than 200,000 Mexican workers
across the border to do farm labor.
“The possibility of jobs led to another great migration: 750,000 – 1.5 million blacks left the South
for the West, Midwest, and Northeast. Most moved to cities where they faced the hostility of whites. In
1943, riots broke out in over 40 US cities; the bloodiest took place in Detroit, leaving 34 dead. The
Congress of Racial Equality, for example, formed in 1942. The 30-year old National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) saw a nine fold increase in its membership. The NAACP
created the ‘Double V’ campaign to remind the nation of its military and social problems, calling for a
‘Double Victory’ of democracy, both ‘Abroad [and] At Home.’”
DJ McInerney gives an account: “African-Americans who received veterans’ benefits [after
World War 2] still found themselves restricted by discriminatory practices. Segregation in education,
housing, and employment continued despite their service in time of war. Whatever the limits of the GI
Bill, most of its better-educated, better-paid, and better-consuming recipients kept feeding national
economic expansion for decades to come.”
DJ McInerney points out: “[President Harry] Truman also appointed committees to examine the
status of African-Americans. Their reports called for equality in education, desegregation of the military
(begun in 1948), and federal leadership against segregation and civil rights violations. Through legal
channels, the Justice Department pursued cases aiding minority groups. Through legislative channels,
Truman pursued proposals to end lynching, assure voting rights, and guarantee housing and
employment opportunities. But Southern Democrats aligned with Republicans to block the measures.
“Truman pushed civil rights issues further than any administration since Reconstruction and
used the White House as a ‘bully pulpit’ to promote causes of justice and equity. As a presidential
activist, a defender of the welfare state, and an advocate of federal programs for economic growth and
social change, Truman was very much in the mold of his predecessor. Unlike Roosevelt, he did not win
Congressional approval for many of his ideas. It would be another decade and a half before political
leaders took up his liberal agenda again.”
DJ McInerney relates: “[President Dwight] Eisenhower also stepped back from presidential
activism in the area of civil rights. He argued that compulsory measures would not change engrained
habits of racism. He would not use his office even to persuade white Americans to alter their prejudices.

He let others take the lead. One of the most prominent figures was Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court. In the landmark 1954 case, Brown v Board of Education, the Court ruled against
segregation in public education. The decision argued that ‘separate educational facilities are inherently
unequal’, creating in minority students ‘a feeling of inferiority … that may affect their hearts and minds
in a way unlikely ever to be undone’, and violating ‘the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the
Fourteenth Amendment’. In 1955, the Court ruled that desegregation must advance ‘with all deliberate
speed’. But throughout the South, states moved with all deliberate lethargy, and Eisenhower moved
with deliberate passivity in enforcing the decision. By 1957, however, in the face of white threats
against African-American youngsters trying to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, the
president finally acted, sending in federal troops (and federalizing the state’s National Guard) to
guarantee the safety of black students. For the first time since Reconstruction ended in 1877, the nation
used its armed forces to protect the rights of African-Americans. The same year, Eisenhower endorsed
the first Civil Rights Act in eight decades, designed to safeguard voting rights. Clear in its objectives but
weak in its enforcement, the measure marked a turn in national policies on race.”
DJ McInerney stipulates: “[President Lyndon] Johnson’s larger goal was to expand progressive
reform through programs of social justice. He first addressed racial equality. The Civil Rights Act of
1964 banned discrimination in jobs and public accommodations, withheld federal funds from public
agencies that refused to comply, and authorized the Justice Department to investigate racial inequities.
In addition, the 24th Amendment outlawed the poll taxes that whites had long used to prevent blacks
from voting.
“Johnson’s second initiative was a ‘war on poverty’. The federal government already had the
responsibility for relieving economic emergencies and providing ‘economic well-being and prosperity’.
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 outlined a third task: ‘to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the
midst of plenty’. The drive for equality and opportunity, both for minorities and the poor, formed the
basis of Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ program.
“Coming off his 1964 victory, Johnson worked on a legislative program rivaling Roosevelt’s first
100 days in office. One set of bills attacked poverty through financial aid, job training, educational
opportunities, and ‘community action’ programs. A second addressed issues of equality through Voting
Rights and Civil Rights Acts. A third measure provided national health insurance for the elderly
(Medicare) and the indignant (Medicaid). A fourth act established broad federal aid to education. A
fifth package of bills addressed environmental protection. Johnson later moved the judicial branch in a
more liberal direction by nominating Abe Fortas and Thurgood Marshall (the first African-American) to
the Supreme Court.
“The Great Society marked the greatest expansion of federal authority and responsibility in a
third of a century. To a considerable extent, it worked. The percentage of Americans living in poverty
was cut almost in half. The percentage of African-Americans registered to vote in the South nearly
doubled during the 1960s. The economy grew at a faster rate than in the 1950s. The expansion helped
in part to pay for new programs (which Johnson was loath to fund through higher taxes). More dollars
went to social needs: under Johnson, about a third of government spending addressed ‘human
resources’ compared to a quarter of Eisenhower’s outlays.”
DJ McInerney writes: “While a broad consensus supported an enlarged welfare state and
military state, other voices called attention to the nation’s neglected concerns, asserting that the quest
for national security could not ignore or derail the drive for popular freedom, equality, and power.
“African-Americans stood at the forefront of this struggle in the post-[Second World] war
period. Since the turn of the century, in the work of Booker T Washington and WEB DuBois, in the court
cases of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and in the political
pressure applied by labor leaders such as A Philip Randolph, African-Americans took on long-standing
traditions of racism by invoking long-standing traditions of liberty and equality. Opponents slowed,

limited, or obstructed political and legislative change, however. As the Brown v Board of Education
decision demonstrated, the formulation of a ruling was one thing, implementation quite another. Two
years after the Court handed down its opinion, not one black child in the Deep South attended school
with whites.
“By the mid-1950s, African-American activism had undergone a subtle and significant change,
brought to national attention by the simple action of an ordinary woman in a small Southern city. In
December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, 42-year-old Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a
white as required by law. She was arrested. Blacks boycotted the bus system, brought suit, and won a
favorable Supreme Court decision. The events in Montgomery moved black protest in a different
direction, building a wider, more intense, and more diverse campaign for racial justice. Parks was a local
leader, not a national leader. Her supporters were common people, not prominent celebrities; her
actions took place first on the streets, not in the halls of government or justice. Her approach was to
defy the law and take the consequences, not to organize nationwide, petition officials, or gather
lawyers. The boycott effort was guided by a local minister who would soon redefine the quest for
equality.
“Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, had recently come to Montgomery as a pastor. He directed
the bus boycott, bringing a commitment to nonviolence inspired by Gandhi and a commitment to
service inspired by the Social Gospel. In the face of oppression, he called for passive resistance and
disobedience to civil authorities, urging African-Americans to wield love rather than force as a way to
create social change. To steer the movement, he helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference and, later, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. For over a decade, he was the
face, the voice, and the spirit of the civil rights movement.
“King spelled out his approach in a 1963 letter, written from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama,
where he was arrested after leading protest demonstrations. The powerless, he argued, had few
resources against the powerful. Violent confrontation was not sanctioned by Scripture. Patience and
endurance were ineffective. Negotiation was fruitless since those holding authority and privilege had no
compelling reason to alter their ways. Change might come, however, through ‘tension’, by generating,
through non-violent means of direct action, a crisis that drew attention to injustice and compelled those
in power to confront their own assumptions and policies. A disciplined, ‘self-purified’ community of
protest could prick the conscience (and the interests) of society. Blacks will take action, King noted: ‘The
question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be
extremists for hate or for love?’
“King’s campaign of peaceful provocation spread out of Montgomery to include sit-ins at
segregated lunch counters, ‘freedom rides’ against discrimination, voter registration drives, and
marches against inequality. In August 1963, a quarter of a million marchers in Washington heard King
speak of his dream of human brotherhood. The movement helped to secure laws that built up voting
rights and broke down segregation. But protests also met with violence through the terror of the Ku
Klux Klan, bombings of black churches and homes, and the killings of African-American leaders including,
on 4 April 1968, King himself.
“The civil rights movement also encountered division among African-Americans. Some grew
disenchanted with King’s moral strategy, arguing that it offered no escape from the cycle of poverty, no
answer to informal patterns of segregation, no release from menial jobs, shabby housing, or
substandard education, and no realistic alternative to the lives most blacks lived outside the South.
Some disagreed with King’s goal of integration, arguing that blacks had to cut themselves off from
whites who were hopelessly infected by racism. Some disagreed with King’s non-violence, arguing
about the need for vigorous self-defense against a hostile society.
“One sign of growing rifts came in waves of urban rioting during the mid-1960s in New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Newark, and Detroit. A second division came with the growing appeal of black

‘separatist’ groups such as the Nation of Islam which, under the dynamic leadership of Malcolm X, urged
blacks to develop their own resources, defenses, and community strength against the brutality of
whites. A third division came with the rise of the ‘black power’ movement in the later 1960s. Shifting
from King’s moral tone and the Nation of Islam’s religious voice, black power advocates such as Stokely
Carmichael promoted a cultural and political message emphasizing racial pride, solidarity, and power.
“By the end of the 1970s, one other, economic line of division emerged as the ranks of the
African-American middle class expanded. Incomes rose during the 1970s, and by the end of the decade,
a third of all blacks were part of the middle class. Nearly half of all African-American workers held
‘white-collar’ jobs by 1990. In the same year, 12 percent of all university students were AfricanAmerican, a figure roughly equal to the percentage of blacks in the US population. Black suburban
populations also increased as individuals moved out of the inner city. They often left behind another
African-American community trapped by the overwhelming presence of poverty, crime, and drugs and
the faintest hopes of opportunity and release. As Clayborne Carson wrote in 1976, ‘the battle against
racism has widened rather than narrowed the class divisions among blacks’. Two years later, William
Julius Wilson observed that ‘class has become more important than race in determining black lifechances’. Economic condition generated greater diversity among African-Americans.”505
**DUST BOWL**
Daniel J McInerney articulates: “Even nature seemed to conspire against recovery when, in
1931, the rains stopped falling regularly in the southern plains. A severe drought, high winds, and
intense heat ravaged parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, creating a ‘Dust
Bowl’ that lasted throughout the decade. The expansion of agriculture in the fragile area had, as Donald
Worster notes, upset the region’s delicate balance. The ‘Dust Bowl’ encompassed 50 million acres of
land, almost half of which lost at least two inches of topsoil. Hundreds of thousands left the area in
search of a better life. John Steinbeck passionately told their story in The Grapes of Wrath (1939). John
Ford’s film adaptation added a visual depth to the tale of the Joad family on their trek from the scorched
Plains to the promised land of California.”506
**HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE 19TH CENTURY**
DJ McInerney describes: “The civil rights movement demonstrated to many minority
communities the value of actively organizing and defending a group’s common concerns. The lesson
was learned by Hispanic-Americans whose population rose sharply after World War II. MexicanAmerican workers entered the United States in large numbers during the war in response to labor
shortages. More came to the Southwest to work on post-war water projects. Puerto Rican settled in
increasing numbers in the Northeast. After Castro’s rise to power, over 300,000 Cubans entered the
United States during the 1960s, often settling in Florida. Between 1960 and 1995, the HispanicAmerican population grew nearly nine fold to 26 million.
“Hispanic-Americans were often subordinated into continuing poverty and marginalized through
discrimination. Separated from one another by culture, history, and region, it also proved difficult to
find common ethnic ground. Puerto Ricans, while the poorest of the group, came into the United States
as citizens because of the peculiar political status of their home island. Among Cuban-Americans,
leadership often fell to the educated, professional groups who fled Castro. Their economic success in
the United States, and the vitality of Cuban-American communities, created a voting bloc wooed by both
political parties. Mexican-Americans were often lured to the United States by job prospects, were
exploited as cheap factory and field workers, and at the same time pursued by immigration and
505
506

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

naturalization officials cracking down on illegal aliens. The Mexican-American Political Association, La
Raza Unida, and Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers provided organizational means of countering the
problems that Mexican-Americans confronted.”507
**IMMIGRATION**
DJ McInerney establishes: “Among the groups most threatened by city disorder – and most
helped by party machines – were those who most changed the nation’s urban history. The main source
of population growth in American cities at the turn of the [20th] century came not from rural areas nor
from natural increase but from the waves of immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1870
and 1920. Within those 50 years, 25 million people came to America. Eighty percent entered through
one gate: Ellis Island, in New York harbor, within sight of the Statue of Liberty.
“Immigration was the oldest story in America. After tens of thousands of years, one might think
that the arrival of new groups held no surprises. Turn-of-the-century immigration, however, stood in
sharp contrast to earlier patterns. The new arrivals came largely from Southern and Eastern Europe
rather than Northern and Western regions of the continent. They were mainly Catholic and Jewish
rather than Protestant, complicating the religious ‘norms’ of the United States. Most spoke a foreign
language. Most came from countries with different political systems from those of republican America.
They entered the United States in the millions rather than the thousands. Their settlement was largely
urban and concentrated rather than rural and scattered; they drifted more towards industrial than
agricultural labor. And they were generally poorer than earlier immigrants.
“The immigrants were both ‘pushed’ and ‘pulled’ to America. In part, they moved from a
worsening act of economic, political, and social circumstances in Europe. Some left communities
burdened by over-population, dwindling resources, mechanization, and the loss of jobs. Others left
poor, less developed regions dominated by new power centers. For others, high taxes, military
obligations, or natural disasters made life miserable. For East European Jews in particular, systematic,
state-organized persecution made life perilous.
“In part, immigrants also moved to America’s economic and political possibilities. Growing
industries needed cheap, unskilled workers and actively recruited European laborers. Steamship lines
needed to fill berths and widely advertised their inexpensive and frequent sailings to US ports. Once in
those harbors, immigrants lived under a relatively passive government that had little interest in
restricting the arrival of new laborers and little authority to interfere in their daily lives.
“Attracted to the United States and repelled by Europe, the new immigrants often, but not
always, came to America to stay. European Jews were most likely to make the United States their
permanent home, having no desire to return to a world where violent pogroms could destroy a
community’s security or an individual’s life. But Italian immigrants, who fled economic paralysis rather
than organized terror, often traveled as ‘birds of passage’, working hard, saving what they could, and
moving back and forth between the United States and their home country before settling permanently.
“Whether fixed or ‘mobile’, immigrants most often lived in communities of familiar faces. Large
Italian, Jewish, and Slavic neighborhoods sprang up in US cities. The districts teemed with newcomers
who ate customary foods, prayed in traditional houses of worship, played familiar music, read
newspapers in their native language, and supported one another through fraternal and benevolent
societies. From New York to Detroit to Chicago, 80 percent of urban residents were foreign born or the
children of immigrants. America’s largest cities were places where the native born stood out like a sore
thumb. Down to the present, four out of every ten Americans trace their family history to the
individuals who came to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.”508
507
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Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

**JAPANESE-AMERICAN TREATMENT DURING WORLD WAR II**
DJ McInerney highlights: “Fervent support for the war inspired great personal sacrifice but also
generated hysteria against one particular group, Japanese-Americans. Having endured discrimination
for decades in the Pacific states where most lived, Japanese-Americans encountered new dangers after
Pearl Harbor when they faced charges of disloyalty, treason, and threats to national security. Although
most of the 127,000 Japanese-Americans were citizens, one military leader warned that their ‘racial
strains are undiluted’ and ‘there are indications that these are organized and ready for concerted action
at a favorable opportunity’. Investigations revealed no such evidence of espionage or subversion. Yet,
in February 1942, Roosevelt signed an ‘Executive Order Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe
Military Areas’ where nearly all Japanese-American residents of the West Coast states were relocated.
That meant liquidating their property and possessions immediately, suffering $400-500 million in losses.
The order also meant living for 2 ½ - 3 years in one of ten spare, enclosed, guarded internment camps
set up in interior areas of the United States. The policy confined a total of 112,000 Japanese-Americans.
Some young males offered their services to the military where they fought with distinction in the Italian
campaign; some received temporary leave for agricultural work; but most remained imprisoned during
the war. The Supreme Court upheld the policy in 1944, and not until the 1980s, did the government
issue apologies and monetary compensation to those who had been held in the camps.”509
**NATIVE PEOPLES**
DJ McInerney portrays: “The story of America is the story of immigrants. At the start of the 21st
century, nearly 10 percent of Americans were foreign born. Most new arrivals came from the Western
Hemisphere. The second largest group came from Asia, the likely home of the first American
immigrants.
“In the late 1990s, debate stirred about the origins and routes of the first people to inhabit the
land. On the basis of excavations in Chile and the Eastern USA, some concluded that the earliest
migrants (from Asia or perhaps from Europe) came by sea, moving along the western or eastern coasts
of the Americas over 16,000 years ago. The prevailing theory, in sharp contrast, has held that hunters
from eastern Siberia came by land, crossing the wide plain of Beringia (which once connected Asia and
North America) over 12,000 years ago. As glaciers melted, a corridor opened from northern Alaska
through northwestern Canada to the present-day Dakotas. Groups moved throughout North America
and, by 8000 BC, ventured down to the tip of South America. The population north of the Rio Grande
River reached a peak of 4-12 million, while the number living in North and South America combined
reached 40-110 million.
“Nomadic ‘Paleo-Indian’ hunters moved throughout the hemisphere from 10,000-9000 BC.
Their descendants, ‘Archaic Indians’, were pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers in the period from 80001500 BC. Archaic peoples had more diverse diets and greater populations. Most migrated, but some
societies created large settlements. Agricultural practices that began in the Western Hemisphere 7,000
years ago spread to North America by 3500 BC, reached the southwestern areas of the present United
States by 1500 BC, and extended into southeastern regions by AD 200. Early cultivators produced maize
(corn), potatoes, beans, squash, and tomatoes. Where food production became more predictable,
populations rose, settlement became more permanent, trade expanded, and cultures grew more
complex. One other consequence was that the status of women often grew more diverse. In many
groups, women tended fields; in some societies they even controlled the land and owned tools.
Matrilineal social structures and women’s participation in political decisions marked some later tribes.

509

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

“Complex cultures developed after 1500 BC, especially in Central and South America. The
Olmecs of Gulf coastal Mexico, the Mayans of the Yucatan Peninsula, the Toltecs of central Mexico, the
Aztecs (or Mexica) of central and southern Mexico, and the Incans of Peru developed writing,
mathematical and astronomical calculations, urban societies, and elaborate religious ceremonies. The
Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, with a population of 100,000 to 200,000, was one of the world’s largest
cities, occupying the site of present-day Mexico City.
“A few Indian cultures that lived in the present-day United States also created societies and
communities of a striking scale. Some of the largest, located in the Illinois, Ohio, and Mississippi River
valleys, were ‘mound-builders’ who created earthwork constructions ranging from 20 to 70 feet high,
covering acres and, in some instances, several square miles of ground. The geometric and natural
shapes they formed served a variety of religious purposes. Some 3,500 years ago, one such culture
flourished at a site known today as Poverty Point in northeastern Louisiana, creating elaborate
semicircular, conical, and bird-like mounds and embankments in an urban center that served as a hub
for trade in quartz, copper, and crystal. A later group, the Adena-Hopewell culture, dispersed over a
wide area of the Ohio and Illinois valleys from 500 BC to AD 400. A well-preserved, quarter-mile long
‘Serpent Mound’ of the Adena culture sits on a plateau in southern Ohio some 60 miles east of
Cincinnati. The ‘Mississippian’ culture built the large city of Cahokia in Illinois (east of modern St Louis),
which, at its height in the twelfth century, served as a six-square-mile trading center and home for
20,000-40,000 people.
“At roughly the same time, the Anasazi people of the Southwest created a remarkable group of
social, religious, and commercial centers. Their culture emerged in the ‘Four Corners’ region of Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado as early as the first century AD. But from the 900s through the
1200s, the Anasazi created their most striking constructions whose ruins may be viewed today. At Mesa
Verde, in southwestern Colorado, the ‘Ancient Ones’ lived for more than seven centuries, from the 500s
to the 1200s, dwelling in caves or simple structures. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, however,
the Anasazi built large, multi-story, apartment-like complexes called pueblos in the overhangs and
ledges of the canyon walls. The largest of these, the Cliff Place, contained over 150 rooms and more
than 20 kivas or ceremonial spaces. At Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona, where Indians had
lived since the fourth century, the Anasazi created another group of stunning cliff dwellings in the 1100s
and 1200s. Chaco Canyon, in northwestern New Mexico, holds dozens of masonry structures built by
the Anasazi, each containing scores of rooms. The largest construction was Pueblo Bonito, composed of
four stories and 600 rooms. One other remarkable feature of the site is the complex, carefully built
roadway system that connected Chaco to 75 other communities in the region, some located more than
60 miles away. For reasons that remain unclear, the Anasazi left their massive and elaborate centers by
the later thirteenth century, perhaps because of drought, perhaps because of war.
“Though the mound-building and Anasazi cultures built large urban centers and created
remarkable engineering projects, most tribes inhabiting the lands of the modern United States lived on a
more modest scale. Their societies were smaller in size; many migrated in the search for food; kin-based
systems commonly defined the organization of their communities; regional trade networks kept groups
in contact with one another. Throughout the continent, natives created patterns of life and cycles of
activity in large measure by the environment in which they found themselves. Indian groups were not,
as some modern legends have it, ‘nature lovers’ who existed in passive harmony with the landscape.
Rather, they (like all societies) actively shaped, developed, and at times, depleted the resources around
them.
“At the time of European contact, ‘Woodlands’ tribes formed one major region of native life in
the northeast and southeast. Their languages were varied (Algonquian and Iroquoian in the Northeast,
Muskogean in the Southeast). They relied on diverse natural resources from fields, forests, rivers, and
the ocean. They usually inhabited villages built along the many waterways of the region. The tribes’

economies revolved around a number of tasks including fishing, farming, hunting, and gathering. Many
Northeastern groups migrated seasonally. Southeastern areas were home to larger and more
permanent settlements with more complex social and political systems.
“The Great Plains formed the more sparsely settled home of nomadic societies. The lives of the
Cheyenne, Comanche, Teton Sioux, and others revolved around the hunt for large game, especially the
buffalo of the area. They pursued game on foot; it was not until Spanish colonization that native
peoples were introduced to horses. Plains tribes such as the Mandans and Pawnees, often living along
the region’s rivers, engaged in agriculture.
“Great Basin tribes concentrated on medium to small game while also depending on the
nutrition from seeds and nuts. Six to seven hundred years ago, Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone tribes
entered the area, roamed the hard, arid, and varying environment in small, mobile bands, and took on
the ways of the region’s ancient hunter-gatherers.
“The arid Southwest was home to a number of tribes. The Hopi and Zuni were descendants of
the Anasazi; the Pima and Papago traced their lineage on the Hohokam culture that developed in
southern Arizona in the third century BC. Their farming communities controlled valuable water supplies
by constructing dams, canals, and irrigation systems. In the 1200s, Athapascan tribes from the north
entered the region, skilled more in hunting, gathering, and warfare than agriculture. Their descendants
became known as the Apaches and Navajos.
“Along the Pacific coast, tribes from the Northwest down to California lived in a rich
environment. The abundance of the ocean and, in many areas, the wealth of resources in rivers,
streams, and forests provided more stable food supplies than in regions such as the Great Basin. Larger
and more concentrated populations grew. Permanent to semi-permanent villages were found along the
coast. Because the sea and land provided so many of their needs, tribes of the area did not rely as much
on agriculture but remained tied mainly to a hunter-gatherer existence.
“Inuit (Eskimo) and Aleut peoples in the Arctic and Subarctic hunted sea mammals such as seals
and whales. Further east and south, in the upper regions of present-day Canada, Inuits, Crees, and
others pursued land animals such as caribou and moose. In Hawaii, settlement did not begin until the
300s when travelers from the Marquesas Islands reached the area.
“The cultures of native peoples: Generalizations about the rich and varied cultures of native
groups at the time of contact with Europeans are difficult to make. However, two sets of ideas were of
particular significance in the societies that inhabited the present United States before 1492.
“One of the central principles of Indian life involved the importance of the community. Native
peoples commonly based their notions of identity not on the isolated self but on the wider society.
Extended family networks of kin and clan grounded a person both to the present world and to the past
while also serving as the basis of social and political organization for all. The distinctive patterns of
‘reciprocity’ that most cultures displayed reinforced a sense of connection and interdependence within
the group. Methods of disciplines that focused on ‘shaming’ also emphasized the responsibilities and
expectations that individuals owed to the larger society. Ideals of order and equilibrium revealed a
commitment to preserve balance among the different elements of the group. And concepts about the
communal ‘ownership’ of land pointed to a belief that nature’s resources were meant to serve many,
not just the few.
“A second informing principle of native life was the importance of religion. Indians held that the
world was alive with spirits. Spiritual powers were, in part, external, contained in creative, distinctive,
ancestral, and guardian forces outside the tribe. Spiritual powers were also, in part, internal, developed
by a person’s reflection and vision and enhanced by their balance with the world. But such powers were
also, in part, mutual, composed of the collective spirituality of a people. Because spirit suffused the
world, even the most mundane features of experience could take on extraordinary meaning. Native folk
often associated the different directions of the landscape with particular values; the form of the circle

commonly assumed special spiritual significance; for the Hopi, the colors of corn kernels expressed
guiding principles of life.
“The universe of native peoples was filled with many gods rather than one god. The gods that a
tribe honored were tied in a unique way to the particular group. As a result, a tribe did not see its
particular religion as ‘universal’, applying to all peoples, at all times, in all places. Instead, their religious
understanding applied to one people, in one place, at one time.
“Indians north of the Rio Grande did not have written languages; they did not study ‘scripture’;
they did not invoke sacred texts. Instead, they preserved their traditions through an oral culture. The
spoken word rather than the written word conveyed the core of a tribe’s beliefs. In such a world, the
elders of a society usually received exceptional respect and deference on religious matters. Their age,
experience, and memory kept a people’s truths and traditions alive.
“Religious life also revolved around a wide variety of rituals. The stages of life, the seasons of
the year, or the cycles of economic activity were all appropriate occasions for spiritually significant
ceremonies. Shamans, the spiritually endowed members of a society, commonly led such events.
Through its rites and observances, a tribe might invoke aid, offer thanks, placate gods, seek counsel,
eliminate veil, repair relationships, or restore equilibrium. Its rituals might include prayers, songs,
dances, stories, and costumes. In all of these forms, religious life was largely a matter of enactment and
performance, witnessed or realized by the group, as part of the regular rounds of daily life.
“Although rich, evocative, and meaningful for native societies, most Europeans viewed Indian
spirituality as anything but ‘religious’. The animistic, polytheistic character of native beliefs only
demonstrated the natives’ ‘pagan’ qualities. The absence of God’s written word testified to the
‘backward’ character of Indian religion. But matters of faith formed only one of many areas of conflict
that would emerge when native and European cultures confronted one another.”
DJ McInerney remarks: “The tactic paid off in Jay’s Treaty of 1795. While British notions of
‘neutrality’ prevailed in the agreement, the treaty arranged for the evacuation of western posts and
reparations for intercepted cargo. Jeffersonians saw the settlement as a defeat for America’s interests
at home and liberty’s interests around the world, but Senate Federalists secured passage of the accord.
The treaty was probably the best that the young republic could manage and helped spark an expansion
of trade in the latter part of the decade. Two other agreements in 1795 also helped US ambitions on the
frontier. The Treaty of Grenville forced Indian tribes to make large land cessions in the Old Northwest.
And the Treaty of San Lorenzo (with Spain) granted the United States navigation rights to the Mississippi
River. For a government caught in the squeeze of European conflict and domestic political debate, the
Washington administration managed to pull off some fairly respectable diplomatic accomplishments as
it also strengthened American sovereignty in the West.”
DJ McInerney shares: “While Easterners denounced British threats on the seas, Westerners
fumed over British challenges on the frontier. Settlers and their political allies complained that the
Empire purposely stirred up Indian tribes in order to halt American settlement. In the Old Northwest,
whites were particularly upset over the activities of Shawnee leaders Tecumseh and his brother
Tenskwatawa who had the audacity to defend tribal lands and culture and unify their people. The
Shawnee effort met defeat at the Battle of Tippecanoe in northern Indiana Territory in the fall of 1811.
Congressional ‘war hawks’ such as Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C Calhoun of South Carolina called
for armed hostilities with Great Britain as a way to stop Indian threats, defend American honor, and gain
more territory for the republic in Canada and Florida.”
DJ McInerney stresses: “The War of 1812 also led to a significant change in the position of native
peoples. One of the key strategies for survival used by American Indians for over two centuries was to
play whites off against one another, keeping expansionist settlers in check by creating shifting alliances
with imperial European forces. The intention was to control white behavior by making Americans and
Europeans fear reprisal – from Americans and Europeans. Native people hoped that any levers they

could pull in the balance of power might help contain the spread of white settlement. But by 1815,
French and Spanish power had been eroded, and, with the conclusion of the War of 1812, US-British
tensions eased considerably. It became increasingly difficult for native people to build defensive
alliances that could hold back the tide of white American expansion.”
DJ McInerney composes: “Consider President [Andrew] Jackson’s stance toward Native
Americans. Officially, the federal government accorded native peoples the status of sovereign nations
during the republic’s first eight decades; diplomatic decorum and propriety surrounded the ceremonies
of policy. Practically, however, the government finessed notions of ‘sovereignty’. In this area of
diplomacy, informal premises prevailed. Most whites viewed Indians as less than fully human and
portrayed native people as nobly savage, entirely savage, or essentially childlike. Indians were not held
in the same regard as other nations but seen as inherently unequal to whites.
“In response, ‘gradualists’, such as [Thomas] Jefferson, defined native peoples as wards of the
state unable to manage their own affairs. As the Supreme Court ruled in 1831, they formed ‘domestic
dependent nations’. Teachers and missionaries could help Indians shed native habits, assimilate with
whites, and become ‘civilized’. White expansion posed no problem because Indians held their lands by
prior occupancy, not full title; their claims were tentative, not permanent. Anyway, Indians could
eventually find another ‘place’ for themselves by accepting (rather than resisting) white ways. An
‘agency’ system that monopolized trade with native people would also keep them on the straight and
narrow. And imposed treaties (or occasional battles) would help nudge tribes along in the right
direction if they happened to tarry in their unenlightened state.
“‘Separationists’, such as Jackson, planned to solve the Indian ‘problem’ by creating space
between whites and natives, forcibly distancing the latter from the former. Native peoples might
eventually give up their primitive and wasteful habits, but in the meantime they could not stand in the
path of white progress. Society had to remove such obstacles, not negotiate with them.”
DJ McInerney designates: “Relations with Native Americans provided one example of how the
United States dealt with ‘sovereign’ nations in the nineteenth century. Indian policy revealed the
approaches the United States adopted towards other societies, the military means of enforcing national
goals, and the ideological arguments used to justify official actions.
“As whites changed their thinking about the land, the fate of native peoples also changed. In
the 1830s, white society ‘solved’ the Indian question by removing eastern nations to territory west of
the Mississippi. Looking at a map today, one may wonder why the dominant group ‘conceded’ so much
space to groups they so despised. The answer was simple. Land west of the 98th meridian was semiarid, barren, and inhospitable, useless in the eyes of most whites. If the ‘Great American Desert’ served
no market function, perhaps it could serve a political and social purpose: as an enclave where Indians
remained separate from whites.
“Whites established ‘Indian Territory’ and forced the Five Civilized Tribes to relocate to the area
of present-day Oklahoma. The Great Plains was already home to other native peoples such as the Sioux,
Blackfeet, Crow, Cheyenne, Comanche, Arapahoe, and Kiowa. These ‘Plains Indians’ were adept at
horsemanship, skilled as fighters, and nomadic in their patterns, creating an economic, social, and
religious way of life that revolved around the buffalo hunt.
“By the mid-1800s, whites had a change of heart about the Great Plains. Settlers moved
through overland trails to the Pacific coast. Railroads hoped to clear the middle of the region as a
corridor for transcontinental lines. Mining, cattle, and agricultural interests discovered the market
potential of the area, and lands that had been presumed worthless suddenly took on great utility. Why
let such valuable resources became, as Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘a game reserve for squalid savages’?
From 1851 to the early 1880s, federal officials launched a policy of ‘concentration’. The plan restricted
particular tribes to particular areas, moving some north and some south in order to open up the Central
Plains. Treaties outlined federal subsidies for tribes that agreed to limit themselves to well-defined

‘reservations’, lands which native peoples would hold ‘as long as the grass should grow and the rivers
flow’.
“The promises did not last long. As whites swindled and stole ‘protected’ lands, tribes defied
federal policy and resisted the confinement of the reservation. Conflict erupted in a series of ‘Plain
Wars’ from the 1860s through the 1870s. At Sand Creek, Colorado, in 1864, a militia force slaughtered
over 100 Cheyenne and Arapahoe, who gathered under what they thought was the protective cover of
the army. In 1876 at Little Big Horn in Montana, Cheyenne and Sioux forces under Sitting Bull, Gall, and
Crazy Horse, annihilated Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. Across the region, whites
eliminated the buffalo around which Indian life revolved. Some 13 million bison roamed the plains at
mid-century; by the 1880s, the animals were nearly extinct. Organized warfare and plunder, along with
alcohol and disease, also took a heavy toll on Native Americans; their numbers declined to under
250,000.
“For half a century, since Jackson, native peoples had had their military power broken and their
lives confined to tribal reservations. Over the next half-century, federal officials seized on a new
initiative: native peoples would become less Indian and more American. Rather than concentrating
tribes on reservations, they would be assimilated into the dominant society.
“One method of acculturation involved land. Under the 1887 Dawes Severalty Act, the federal
government began to dismantle reservations, dividing up a tribe’s collective holdings among its
members. Landowning Indians would be less communal-minded and more ruggedly individual, less
inclined to identify with a tribe and more inclined to stand on their own, less dependent on federal
assistance and more capable of fending for themselves. And the United States could conveniently take
over ‘excess’ tribal claims. Through the Dawes ‘allotment’ policy, the landholdings of Indians declined
by over two-thirds.
“A second method of acculturation involved children. Rather than allowing Indian youth to
grow up in their traditional- and backward-world, policymakers expanded an educational program that
separated children from their parents and sent them to ‘boarding schools’ for instruction in white ways.
The motto of one school in Pennsylvania suggested the larger goal: ‘Kill the Indian and save the man’. A
government that once had deemed it best to remove Indian tribes from the white world now thought it
best to remove Indian children from their own world.
“From the 1830s to the 1930s, native peoples faced a government that wanted to strip them
first of their home and then of their identity. Policies allowed a more ‘efficient’ society to bring order
and bounty out of the land. Civilized whites hastened the evolutionary progress of inferior savages,
guiding native peoples to a higher (and more uniform) level of cultural existence. If the formalities of
negotiation, the influence of trade, and the benefits of cultural contact, did not achieve the desired
result, armed coercion would: the United States met resistance with a war of attrition. Indian policy
revealed the capacity of the federal government to define the fate of other peoples, to control the
conditions of their lives, and to reduce them to a state of dependency. With moral certainty and
scientific confidence, officials who proved remarkably passive in most other projects secured one
particular national interest aggressively and energetically.
“What worked at home could also work abroad. The experience came in handy for a society
that was about to learn that its own open spaces had closed. In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner
reminded an audience that the census just three years earlier had declared the frontier ‘gone’. This was
no mere statistical curiosity, Turner asserted: ‘The existence of an area of free land, its continuous
recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development.’ The
nation’s democratic, individualistic, fluid character had grown out of its environment. Now, the frontier
had passed but, as Turner noted, ‘the American energy will continually demand a wider field for its
exercise’. Some believed the nation needed new lands, new markets, and new opportunities to keep

passing its special destiny. The domestic frontier had already provided a training ground, complete with
military drill, for that goal.”
DJ McInerney expands: “The federal government had, of course, already tried its hand at social
experimentation – in the 1800s with Native Americans. Roosevelt’s advisors tried to reform the work
earlier administrations had botched so badly. One change was already in place: in 1924, Congress
conferred citizenship on Indians born in the United States. A decade later, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs John Collier sponsored the Indian Reorganization Act. Economically, the measure stopped the
policy of allotment by restoring control of lands to tribes and providing funds to buy back lands lost in
the previous half century. Politically, the act challenged traditions of subjugation by calling for the
reestablishment of tribal governments under constitutions that federal authorities would recognize.
Culturally, the new law reversed the policy of forced assimilation by promoting the study, preservation,
and development of Indian culture.”
DJ McInerney illustrates: “One way the [Eisenhower] administration contained activism was to
make yet another shift in Indian policy, touting the change as a way to cut both costs and controls. After
decades of New Deal programs designed to protect the interests, identity, and sovereignty of tribes,
Republicans chose a different path. The administration sought to terminate treaty rights and the
reservation system, limit tribal sovereignty, and relocate native peoples off traditional lands into the
heart of mainstream, urban America. Eisenhower saw the strategy as a way to end dependence and to
speed assimilation. As historian David R Lewis notes, ‘Congress intended to get out of the Indian
business’. Promising to ‘free’ Indians from federal control, the program allowed officials to relieve
themselves of what they felt was an unnecessary expense, and also permitted private enterprises to
exploit native resources with greater ease.”
DJ McInerney maintains: “The interests, claims, and tribal unity of Native Americans weakened
in the 1950s as Republicans withdrew long-standing federal services. Democrats in the 1960s changed
course and terminated ‘termination’. But even ‘Great Society’ problems proved inadequate, and Indians
faced the worst poverty, the highest unemployment, and the poorest living conditions in the United
States.
“Some Indian leaders responded with cultural efforts to reclaim their heritage, preserving tribal
languages, ceremonies, and religions as ways of revitalized Indian life. Best-selling books such as N Scott
Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, Vine DeLoria, Jr’s, Custer Died for Your Sins, and Dee Brown’s Bury
My Heart at Wounded Knee brought native readings of American life to large popular audiences. Others
relied on political strategies for changing public policy. Congress passed the Indian Civil Rights Act of
1968, which extended many guarantees of the Bill of Rights to reservations while acknowledging tribal
sovereignty, and the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1974, which gave tribes greater control over social
and educational programs on their reservations. Some native peoples emphasized legal approaches to
reform. The Native American Rights Fund, in particular, focused on upholding treaties, reclaiming lost
lands, expanding self-determination, and guaranteeing Indian sovereignty. Other groups, like the
American Indian Movement (AIM), advocated a more militant course of action. AIM’s agitational
program led to a highly publicized occupation of Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, demonstrations at the
Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, and a deadly confrontation with FBI agents at Wounded Knee in
South Dakota. The organization’s call for ‘Red Power’ echoed those who championed the causes of
‘Brown Power’ and ‘Black Power’.
“Racial and ethnic communities often described themselves as part of the ‘other’ America that
mainstream groups kept out of sight and out of mind. Where the powerless identified a crisis, the
powerful saw no problem. Those on the margins saw a society that had broken apart and failed; those

on the inside saw a society that served all and functioned smoothly. Currents of bitter, rancorous
division stirred beneath the apparent surface calm of American life.”510
**NATIVIST MOVEMENT**
DJ McInerney presents: “Some pinned the blame for the nation’s presumed disorder and decay
on ‘un-American’ groups. Supporters of ‘nativist’ causes assumed that those outside the mainstream of
white, rural, native-born, Protestant America had imposed an alien system of values on the rest of the
nation. True ‘100 percent’ Americans needed to contain the foreign threat and take back control of
their society. Nativist sentiment stirred during the 1920-1 trial of two Italian immigrant anarchists,
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, convicted and later executed for murder and robbery. Nativist
fears also escalated with the 1928 presidential campaign of Democrat Al Smith, an Irishman, from an
immigrant family, raised in New York City, experienced in Tammany Hall politics, and, most alarming of
all, a Roman Catholic.
“A legal nativist effort, wrapped in the raiment of legislation, involved immigration restriction.
The 1924 National Origins Act excluded East Asian immigrants from entry into the United States and set
a quota on new immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe based on the 1890 census – taken
before large numbers of Italians, Jews, and Slavs had entered the country. An extra-legal nativist
campaign, wrapped in the garb of white robes and pointed hoods, involved the resurgence of the Ku
Klux Klan. Weakened since the 1870s, the Klan came back to life in Georgia in 1915, the year DW Griffith
released The Birth of a Nation, a film that celebrated the group’s legacy. Klan members lashed out at
Jews, Catholics, and immigrants, not just African-Americans – and won support in the North and urban
centers, not just the rural South. With a base of four million members by the mid-20s, prominent Klan
leaders themselves fell victim to the temptations of sex and money that the organization so harshly
condemned in modern society. The resulting scandals reduced the organization’s size and appeal.”511
**SPANISH EXPLORERS**
DJ McInerney renders: “Spanish interest focused on lands south of the Rio Grande River,
although explorers drawn by legends of immortality and wealth also ventured into other North
American areas. At the time, the land that would become the United States showed little promise.
Ponce de Leon explored Florida in 1515 and 1521, searching for a fountain of youth. From 1539-42,
Hernando de Soto wandered through the southeast from Tampa Bay to North Carolina to Arkansas
looking for another Aztec empire. In 1565, the military post at St Augustine in Florida became the first
permanent settlement in the future United States. But Spanish interest remained focused on the West.
In the early 1540s, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and the
edges of the Great Plains looking for a fabled city of gold. Missionaries accompanied military forces
under Juan de Onate into New Mexico in 1598 in a search for gold, silver, and souls. The city of Santa Fe
became the center of government in the royal province in 1610. In the last two decades of the
seventeenth century, Pueblo peoples of the region rose in rebellion against Spanish rule; colonial forces
finally subdued their resistance in 1696. In the last third of the eighteenth century, Spanish military and
religious power expanded along California’s Pacific coast. Authorities constructed a series of military
outposts starting in San Diego. Under the direction of a friar, Junipero Serra, Franciscans built 21
missions in places such as San Gabriel, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. The largest
settlement was a town named Los Angeles, founded in 1781, which boasted a few hundred inhabitants
by 1800.”512
510

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
512
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
511

**WESTERN EXPANSION**
DJ McInerney sheds light on: “One reason for the great transformation of America is tied to one
of the great myths of America: the settlement of the West. In 1800, less than ten percent of the
population resided west of the Appalachians; by 1860, over half the population lived west of the
mountain chain. Legend speaks of the heroic movement of rugged settlers longing to be free,
unfettered, and independent. Attracted by open spaces, they presumably tamed a wild terrain through
personal courage and fortitude. In many ways, the myth rings true; it took a hardy soul to leave coastal
settlements and launch a journey that held few guarantees. There was natural abundance to tap, in the
rich soils and on the plentiful rivers of the new lands, but there is much that the legends ignore or
distort.
“Rather than occupying far-removed territories around the Rockies or the Pacific Coast, the
‘West’ that most settled in the early nineteenth century was located between the Appalachians and the
Mississippi. Rather than moving out on their own and separating from others, pioneers generally came
west as families and often settled in areas inhabited by folks from their home area. Rather than
abandoning community life, they recreated it. And rather than establishing only small, rural villages,
they quickly built large cities such as Cincinnati, St Louis, and Chicago.
“Settlers moved west not to flee the modern world but to plunge into it. They headed out not
simply to provide for themselves but also to produce surpluses for others. Western lands cost as little as
a tenth of the price of Eastern lands and could produce twice the yield. Farmers tried to settle near
rivers to enjoy the fastest access to booming markets. In the West, they could grow much, deal much,
and make much. They were oriented towards markets, not isolation. They focused on the sale, not the
solitude. They were people of enterprise, not escape.
“The ‘opening’ of the West came about through deliberate policy rather than fortunate
happenstance. Four examples stand out. First, the federal government created standard procedures for
surveying, selling, and administering western territories. Ordinances in the 1780s created townships
measuring six miles by six miles, composed of 36 sections, each one mile square, further subdivided into
halves, quarters, and eighths. These units formed the regular building blocks of settlement. Revenues
from the sale of one section in a township supported public education. Once the population of a
territory grew to 60,000, it could seek admission to statehood. The ordinances’ right angles, simple
proportions, and exact formulas spread freedom and opportunity throughout the region with
mathematical precision and predictability. The ordinances also had an interesting aesthetic effect,
which is visible today to airborne travelers: uneven, irregular terrain ended up divided into neat,
uniform squares, imposing a rectangular grid over millions of acres. The lay of the land was no match
for the law of the land; legislation ensured that geometry dominated over topography. The ordinances
opened the ‘wild’ West of the imagination through an orderly and rational system of management.
“Secondly, the federal government purposely enlarged the national domain through agreements
with states, negotiations with European empires, and military pressure on native peoples. In a land deal
struck with First Consul [Napoleon] Bonaparte, a war fought to reestablish national independence,
treaties signed with fading colonial powers, and organized efforts to open rich soils for agricultural
interests, white Americans turned out to be bad news for Native Americans. A cruel inverse ratio
defined their relationship: as the former grew, consolidated, and succeeded, the latter were destroyed
in large numbers, uprooted, and subjugated.
“Thirdly, the federal government made public lands more affordable. The price per acre
dropped 37 percent between 1796 and 1820; the minimum acreage required for purchase fell 87
percent. By the third decade of the nineteenth century, a farm sold for $100. Buyers snapped up the
land. The federal government sold 68,000 acres of the public domain in 1800, 1.3 million acres in in
1815, 3.5 million in 1818, and 20 million in 1836. Wittingly, the regulations brought landownership

within the reach of many, filled space with settlers, launched commercial farming in the West, and
spurred domestic economic development. Unwittingly, land sales often fed (and fed off) investment
frenzies; as a result, speculators finished up with most of the acreage. In the end, individual farmers
who bought from real estate agents acquired both rich soils and hefty debts.
“Fourthly, the federal government sponsored efforts to move settlers and products more
efficiently over the public lands it sold. In 1807, Congress approved a National Road linking the Potomac
and Ohio Rivers. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually stretched to
Illinois. The highway opened an important path, but it did not launch the federal government on a road
building spree: Constitutional concerns over national funding for local projects saw to that. A century
passed before federally sponsored highway systems came into being, creating roadways such as US 40
and Interstate 70 that roughly parallel the route of the old National Road. The concrete ribbons that
today’s road warriors think of first for long-distance, overland travel were actually the last of the major
transportation links to come into being.
“Whether organizing territory, expanding control, selling property, or clearing pathways, the
national government was a key player in the opening of new lands. Settlers found themselves dispersed
(and connected) in the frontier not only by individual determination but also through federal
intervention. Still, whatever the historical record shows, popular culture remains critical of the
government and its ‘meddling’ in the lives of pioneers. It is still more comforting to argue that passion,
pluck, and providence – not policy – explain the opening of the West.”
DJ McInerney suggests: “In 1805, [Thomas] Jefferson spoke of an ‘empire of liberty’ with ample
land for virtuous republican farmers. In 1845, newspaperman John O’Sullivan wrote of America’s
‘Manifest Destiny’ to acquire more land and to bestow its blessings on other peoples. Later in the
1840s, the ‘Young America’ movement conceived of the United States as the model for a world
renovated by republicanism. It was all heady stuff, premised on America’s cultural, social, political, and
racial superiority – and on national growth as necessary, proper, and preordained.
“Sometimes dreams come true, and the results turn into nightmares. In the second half of the
1840s, the republic quickly expanded but failed to determine whose benefit and what interest the
enlarged domain served. For 15 years, the nation endured a series of rapid, continuous, and
increasingly volatile crises that polarized its people and paralyzed its government. The cause lay in an
issue that appeared manageable but proved uncontrollable: the growth of slavery in a growing nation.
Over time, expansion’s bright promise resulted in catastrophic loss.
“The contentious course that the nation traced began with apparent triumph in the Southwest.
A new star in the national flag soon brought new scars to the national scene.”513
**WOMEN IN AMERICA**
DJ McInerney calls attention to: “The most divisive issue abolitionists faced involved the status
of women. Should women participate fully in the campaign as both members and leaders? Should
abolitionists demand an end to all forms of subjugation whether based on race and gender? On these
questions, the organization split in 1840. The controversy encapsulated debates that swirled for
decades in antebellum America over the roles, rights, and responsibilities of women in American society.
“Advocates lined up behind one of several positions. Some contended that women occupied a
separate sphere of activity, one centered on the care and nurture of home and family, where their
presumably superior moral capabilities focused on refining human character. In her Treatise on
Domestic Economy (1842), Catherine Beecher wrote that ‘the success of democratic institutions …
depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the mass of the people’. The highest social task
was to shape the conduct of the young, extend women’s ‘blessed influences’ over ‘degrated man, and
513

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

‘clothe all climes with beauty’.’ Proponents of the ‘cult of domesticity’ insisted that they honored
women with the most important possible role in reforming society.
“Others pushed the arguments behind ‘separate spheres’ to their logical conclusions and
contended that women had critical public functions to perform. If women’s moral and spiritual qualities
were superior to those of men, then women also had a duty to apply their talents to the corrupt and
chaotic world outside their homes. One organization built on such premises was the American Female
Reform Society, which brought guidance, order, and moral reform to workers, servants, prostitutes, and
other women living largely on their own. If such reformers were merely ‘cleaning house’, they were
doing so on a grander social scale than Beecher anticipated.
“A third group of proponents dispensed with the language of ‘spheres’ and ‘moral superiority’
and embraced a message of ‘natural rights’. Rather than claiming distinctive female qualities, Sarah
Grimke wrote in 1837 that ‘men and women were created equal’. Since both were endowed with
intelligence and responsibility and possibility, ‘whatever is right for man to do, is right for woman’. Start
with this simple fact, her sister Angelina wrote, and it was apparent that ‘the present arrangements of
society … are a violation of human rights, a rank usurpation of power, a violent seizure and confiscation
of what is sacredly and inalienably hers’. The recognition of a woman’s rights and equality relied on no
special favors or novel experiments but only on the restoration of what was naturally and properly hers.
“A decade after the Grimkes, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton sounded the argument
of equality at the first American conference to discuss women’s rights. Held in Seneca Falls, New York,
in July 1848, the convention stated its platform in language modeled on the Declaration of
Independence and Revolutionary creeds. The participants’ ‘Declaration of Sentiments’ proclaimed the
‘self-evident’ truth of women’s equality with men, condemned the ‘long train of abuses and
usurpations’ that degraded women, and ‘submitted to a candid world’ examples of their subjugation.
They argued that women ‘have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to
them as citizens of the United States’. Decades passed before those rights were acknowledged; it was
not until 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the vote. But those who assembled at
Seneca Falls formally launched the project of reforming a republican order that denied freedom and
independence to half of all Americans.”
DJ McInerney connotes: “One of the most important – and, in retrospect, most curious – of
Progressive reforms involved women’s political rights. Earlier advocates such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton
had pressed for women’s suffrage on the basis of equality and liberty. For Stanton, the vote was a
natural right to which women were entitled. With the ballot, women could define their destiny free of
male control. The bold arguments challenged long-held notions of women’s presumably submissive and
domestic character. However unconventional the appeals, ten Western states granted the vote to
women between 1869 and 1914. By 1913, an Eastern state (Illinois), also joined the list.
“The Progressive campaign for a Constitutional amendment on women’s suffrage drew strength,
in part, from Western state precedents, in part from better reform organization, but also in part from
less radical forms of argument. Sponsors commonly stressed women’s distinctive ‘character’ as strong
moral agents, arguing that female voters would elevate political life and counterbalance the violent,
passionate, and blemished character of males. As a committee of the National American Women
Suffrage Association argued in 1912, an amendment would answer ‘the need of Mother’s influence in
the State’. Playing up common anxieties, the committee added that women formed ‘the most religious,
the most moral and the most sober portion of the American people. Why deny them a voice in public
affairs when we give it for the asking to every ignorant foreigner who comes to our shores?’ The
Nineteenth Amendment, adopted in 1920, granted women the vote based on appeals to social progress
as well as to social fear.
“While ‘progressivism’ connotes advancement, betterment, and forward thinking, the
movement sponsored a number of campaigns that appear reactionary and undemocratic today.

Attention to social ‘disruption’ and ‘disorder’ prompted assaults on the powerful and privileged but also
led to attacks on the weak and defenseless. Progressives pushed for restrictions on immigration, based
on the ‘scientific’ claims of eugenicists who warned of threats on the nation’s racial stock. Reformers
expanded temperance campaigns into agitation for prohibition, leading, in 1919, to the Eighteenth
Amendment that banned ‘the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors’ nationwide.
And Progressive whites, for the most part, turned a blind eye to the legalized system of segregation that
had marked national life since the end of Reconstruction.”
DJ McInerney details: “[During World War II] New opportunities opened for women in the
military beyond nursing and clerical jobs. The armed forces formed special units for women including
the Army ‘WACs’, Navy ‘WAVEs’, and the Women’s Army Service Pilots (or ‘WASPs’). Women were
barred from combat duty, although nurses were sometimes brought to frontline action. Most of the
350,000 women who served during the war engaged in a wide range of support and administrative
tasks.
“With so many men in the service, new opportunities for women also opened in civilian jobs.
Women made up less than a quarter of the total work force before the war; during the war, they
composed over a third. In some ways, the expanded role of women at work pointed to significant
changes. As the war continued, the word went out from political and economic centers that women
were welcome and needed in the workplace. Industrial tasks, especially at defense plants, were now
seen as open, suitable, and acceptable for women. Even the profile of the ‘typical’ woman worker
changed considerably from the pre-war years. By 1944 and 1945, most female workers were older,
married women, unlike the average younger and single counterparts at the start of the decade. In other
ways, however the experiences of women in the work force only echoed familiar refrains about their
‘place’ and ‘sphere’. Most employers viewed the hiring of women as a temporary phenomenon that
would end when men came home from the war. Most work tasks were categorized and assigned
according to gender. Women received about a third less pay than men for the same work. Government
and industry often promoted jobs for women as extensions of housework and family responsibilities,
describing tools and machines as larger versions of home appliances and portraying defense work as a
way of providing for husbands and sons in the service. And veneration of women as mothers caring for
their offspring at home meant that child care facilities for defense workers were usually limited and
underfunded.”
DJ McInerney explains: “Not all Americans shared equally in the benefits, however. Women
were encouraged to leave their wartime work, focus on domestic matters, and ‘open up’ employment
for returning [World War 2] veterans. But by early 1947, the number of working women returned to
wartime highs although the slots women filled usually paid far less than the jobs they had held during
the war.”
DJ McInerney imparts: “The contrast that American minorities drew between superficial
serenity and underlying discontent spoke to America’s majority as well. In her provocative, 1963 book
The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan took up a problem that many not only failed to see but also
refused to say, a problem ‘that has no name’. Friedan argued that post-[Second World] war culture
prescribed home and family as the focus of female experience. It seemed to matter little that women
felt constrained by these expectations, that the percentage of women in the labor force kept rising, and
that pre-war culture often held up a remarkably different ideal of independent and self-reliant women.
The ‘modern’ world taught that women could ‘find fulfillment only in sexual passivity, male domination,
and nurturing maternal love’. Friedan argued that there was a wide gap ‘between the reality of our lives
as women and the image to which we are trying to conform’. A culture that claimed to satisfy women’s
needs left them, instead, confined, dependent, and powerless.
“By the 1970s, the nation had witnessed a remarkable renewal of feminist thought in the United
States, the likes of which had not been seen in the half century since the 19th Amendment granted

women’s suffrage. Part of the work of women’s rights movements was to open up discussion, to let
women talk about their lives and name the problem ‘that has no name’. The ‘consciousness raising’ that
took place through small groups, large rallies, and published works served as both a strategy and a goal
of the movement. A second part of reform activity involved organization. One important group,
founded in 1966, was the National Organization for Women (NOW), whose goal was to allow women
‘full participation in the mainstream of American society NOW, exercising all the privileges and
responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men’. Public demonstrations formed a third part
of the movements’ activities, whether in headline-grabbing protests against beauty pageants or more
historically minded celebrations of the Seneca Falls Convention or the suffrage campaign. Political
activism was a fourth component of women’s movements, promoted in large part by the National
Women’s Political Caucus and led by scores of women elected to positions in the House, Senate, and
state government. Legislation formed yet another part of the work of women’s groups. State and
national laws tackled problems of equal pay, fair credit, educational programs, and employment
opportunities.
“Controversies within and outside of women’s movements surfaced by the early 1970s. In 1972,
Congress passed a proposed ‘Equal Rights Amendment’ to the Constitution prohibiting the denial or
abridgement of equal rights under the law ‘on account of sex’. Nearly three dozen states approved the
amendment, but the measure fell short of the three-quarters majority needed for ratification. In 1973,
the Supreme Court ruled in favor of women’s reproductive rights and their rights to privacy. Roe v
Wade legalized abortion in the first trimester. While feminists hailed the ruling, the decision galvanized
conservative religious and political groups who condemned abortion along with other social and legal
reforms sponsored by women’s groups. The movement also split into different directions, as advocates
of ‘women’s rights’ focused their efforts on legal channels of change, and proponents of ‘women’s
liberation’ created more radical agenda to transform society. Finally, groups such as NOW tried to hold
together women who, while bound by gender, often found themselves separated along lines of race and
class.”514
**ALABAMA**
HB Staples writes: “In considering the name of Alabama, we go back to the expedition of
[Hernando] De Soto in 1541. His last battle was at Alibamo on the Yazoo River. This was the famous
fortress of the brave tribe sometimes called the Alibamons, and sometimes the Alabamas. Le Clerc who
resided in the Creek nation twenty years and wrote a history published in Paris in 1802, says that the
Alabamos came to the Yazoo from the north part of Mexico, and that after the battle with De Soto, they
removed to the river which now bears their name, that they are the same people as the Alibamos who
fought De Soto. Pickett in his History of Alabama states that ‘from these people, the river, and the state
took their names’. Allen’s History of Kentucky says Alabama is an Indian name signifying ‘here we rest’.
We have not been able to discover anything very restful in the history of the Alabamos, which is one of
migrations.”515
www.archives.alabama.gov illustrates: “The name Alabama occurs in three accounts of De
Soto’s 1540 expedition. Garcillasso de la Vega wrote Alibamo, while the Knight of Elvas wrote Alibamu.
The name as recorded by these authors was the name of a subdivision of the Chickasaws, not the
Alabamas of later times.”516

514

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
516
http://www.archives.alabama.gov/statenam.html
515

***ARAB, MARSHALL COUNTY517, ALABAMA***
VO Foscue tells: “Arab received its name when the town’s post office officials mistook the
handwritten ‘d’ for a ‘b’ in the application for a post office. The town was meant to be named ‘Arad’
(for the son of the first postmaster, Stephen T Thompson, appointed in 1888).”518
***BLACK WARRIOR’S TOWN, WALKER COUNTY519, ALABAMA***
WS Harris reports that in 1811: “Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee orator who hoped to bring the
Southern Indians to his Red Stick cause, was forced out of the Choctaw Nation because that tribe was
not interested in hostile interactions with the white settlers. A group of Choctaws, under the leadership
of David Folsom, their chief who was of mixed race, accompanied Tecumseh’s party to the Tombigbee
River, making sure that Tecumseh’s group left Choctaw lands. During the night, while the Choctaw party
was camping on the west bank of the river, warriors from Black Warrior’s Town attacked the Choctaw
party without warning, killing several of them. The chief of Black Warrior’s Town, Oce-oche-motla,
welcomed Tecumseh and his party to the town. His community then voted to join the Tecumseh’s Red
Sticks. In the meantime, a wounded Folsom and his Choctaw colleagues returned to their home town
and formed a war party of Choctaws to enact revenge on Black Warrior’s Town. The Choctaw party
made a raid on Black Warrior’s Town, where they stole horses, burned several cabins, and killed a few
Creek inhabitants.
“In the spring of 1812, a group of Creeks returned to the area under the leadership of Little
Warrior, after visiting with Tecumseh in Detroit. At the mouth of the Duck River in Tennessee, Little
Warrior’s party killed several white settlers and kidnapped Mrs Crawley. Little Warrior and his party
sold Mrs Crawley to Oce-oche-motla, as the party passed by Black Warrior’s Town. Tandy Walker, a
government blacksmith and interpreter at St Stephens, learned that Mrs Crawley was being held
prisoner and attempted to free her. Mr Walker visited Black Warrior’s Town on the pretense of hunting
game in the area, and later made a daring escape with Mrs Crawley by canoe.
“In October, 1813, 800 soldiers under Colonel John Coffee destroyed the Black Warrior’s Town.
Davy Crockett, who participated in this engagement, described the action, ‘The Indian town was a large
one; but when we arrived we found the Indians had all left it. There was a large field of corn standing
out and a pretty good supply in some cribs. There was also a fine quantity of dried beans, which were
very acceptable to us; and without delay we secured them as well as the corn, and then burned the
town to ashes; after which we left the place.’”520
***CHOCCOLOCCO, CALHOUN COUNTY521, ALABAMA***
VO Foscue clarifies: “Choccolocco is named for the nearby creek, which shares the same name.
Choccolocco is derived from the Creek words chahki ‘shoal’ and lako ‘big’. The translation Big Shoals
Creek appears on some early maps of the area.”522
Public Library of Anniston and Calhoun County documents: “Choccolocco Creek is a wide shallow
stream with big shoals. Later the term was applied to the valley, to a mountain ridge, and to a particular
community in the valley. Although less accepted, another translation of the term is ‘Big Horse’, the
517
518

http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/al/marshall/arab.cfm
Virginia O Foscue; Place Names in Alabama; University of Alabama Press; 1989

519

http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,151556,n,black%20warrior%20town.
cfm
520
W Stuart Harris; Dead Towns of Alabama; University of Alabama Press; 1977
521
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choccolocco,_Alabama
522
Virginia O Foscue; Place Names in Alabama; University of Alabama Press; 1989

name of an Indian Chief. When William Bartram was traveling from the Cherokee Country to the Creeks
in 1777, he noted the town of Chocke Clucca. Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, an Indian agent who entered
the area in 1796, referred to the Indian settlement Chou-ke-thlucco. A recent authority, reaching his
determination through phonetics as well as philological sources, tells us that the word should be spelled
tcha hki lako, meaning ‘Big Shoal’.”523
***LICKSKILLET, DEKALB COUNTY524, ALABAMA***
VO Foscue observes: “Lickskillet is so named because the residents of the town were so poor
that they had to lick their frying pans (or skillets) to obtain enough food to survive.”525
DR Brandon recounts: “Another community with an unusual name is Lick Skillet. The older
residents said that SD Wills and Henry Burt, who ran a store there, were nicknamed ‘SD Lick Skillet’ and
‘Double O Potleg’ respectively, by Newt Bowman. When Burt sold his share of the business the place
was then called Lick Skillet.”526
***OAKFUSKUDSHI, TALLAPOOSA COUNTY527, ALABAMA***
Sharon Gaither says: “Oakfuskudshi simply means ‘Little Okfuskee’. Okfuskee (one of many
spellings) was a major Upper Muscogee Creek town. The great chief Menawa, who led 1,000 Redstick
Creek warriors in their last stand against Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (March 1814),
was from Okfuskee. Creek Indian towns were not static or restricted to one location. The principal
Okfuskee town was located on the Tallapoosa River on ground now covered by Lake Martin. Okfuskee
had many outlying villages along the Tallapoosa River from Kowaliga Creek northward to present day US
Highway 431. Oakfuskudshi was one of these Okfuskee settlements located on Moore’s Creek (now
County Line Creek) near the present day community of Buttston. It was located about 4 miles upriver
from Nuyaka (also spelled Niuyaka, New Youka, and New York – named for the 1790 Treaty of New York)
and was destroyed in 1813 by General White.”528
William Read spotlights: “‘Point between streams’, or ‘promontory’, from the Creek ak ‘down
in’, and faski ‘sharp’ or ‘pointed’.”529
WS Harris notes that: “British traders built a fort at Oakfuskee around 1735, in response to
French trading competition with the Creek Nation. The site of the fort was on the Tallapoosa River, 40
miles northeast of the site of Fort Toulouse. The British traders initially had support from some of the
Upper Creeks, but the fort was ultimately abandoned after a few years.”530
**ALASKA**
JW Phillips establishes: “Commonly accepted to mean ‘great land’, the name is derived from the
Aleut term variously spelled Alashka, Alaesku, and Alyeska that was used to those natives to
differentiate the mainland from their islands. When in 1867 the United States purchased the region
internationally known as Russian America, a new title was obviously needed. Among the names
suggested were Aleutia, Aliaska, Oonalaska, Sitka, Yukon, and Walrussia, a humorous contraction of
walrus and Russia. Although credit for the suggestion of the final choice has been alternatively
523

Public Library of Anniston and Calhoun County, PO Box 308, 108 East 10th St, Anniston, AL 36202
524
http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/al/dekalb/lickskillet.cfm
525
Virginia O Foscue; Place Names in Alabama; University of Alabama Press; 1989
526
Douglass R Brandon, DeKalb County Historian, 132 Cty Rd 483, Collinsville AL 35961
527
http://alabama.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,158382,n,oakfuskudshi.cfm
528
Sharon Gaither, Tallapoosee Historical Society; [email protected]
529
William A Read; Indian Place Names in Alabama; University of Alabama Press; 1937
530
W Stuart Harris; Dead Towns of Alabama; University of Alabama Press; 1977

attributed to Secretary of State William H Seward, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, or Gen Henry
W Halleck of the Pacific Division, USA, the selection was, in essence, a popular extension of the already
established name of the Alaska Peninsula (prominently so marked on long-existing maps) to the whole
region. Alaska, purchased for a price of $7,200,000, comprises 586,000 square miles, which are
encompassed by 33,000 miles of coastline. It contains 10 rivers over 300 miles long, 3 million lakes
larger than 20 acres, more than half of the world’s glaciers, and 19 mountains higher than 14,000 feet,
including Mount McKinley, 20,320 feet, the tallest peak in North America. And as an added oddity,
Alaska boasts the northernmost (Point Barrow), westernmost (Amatignak Island), the easternmost
(Semisopochnoi Island) points in the United States. Alaska was changed from a possession to a territory
in 1912 and given statehood in 1959.”531
***ANAKTUVUK PASS, NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH532, ALASKA***
JW Phillips highlights: “Pass and Eskimo village names derive from the river of the same name.
The river’s title stems from the native word anaq pertaining to ‘place where dung is found’.”533
***ATKA ISLAND, ANDREANOF ISLANDS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS534, ALASKA***
JW Phillips portrays: “Largest of the Andreanof group, the island bears a native name of
unknown definition and a 4,852-foot volcano with a name derived from the Russian word korova,
meaning ‘cow’. Atka possibly stems from an Aleut term variously recorded as atchu and atghka. The
volcano’s name, Korovin, is an adoption of the surname of a trader who sailed southwestern Alaska
waters in the 1760s.”535
***BOCA DE QUADRA, KETCHIKAN GATEWAY BOROUGH536, ALASKA***
JW Phillips remarks: “The ‘estuary of Quadra’ entering Revillagigedo Channel at the Keta River
honors Spanish Capt Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. The name was assigned by Lt Jacinto
Caamano in 1792 in recognition of his superior and was confirmed the following year by Capt George
Vancouver, Royal Navy, who was Quadra’s English counterpart in the Nootka Sound meetings to
negotiate British-Spanish territorial claims on the northwest coast of America.”537
***CHICKEN, SOUTHEAST FAIRBANKS BOROUGH538, ALASKA***
www.chickenalaska.com underscores: “In the late 1800s, early miners traveled far in search of
gold. Food was sometimes scarce, but a particular bird near the South Fork of the 40-Mile River was
abundant in Ptarmigan, which is also the Alaska state bird. The Ptarmigan resembles a chicken. The
miners kept themselves alive in part by eating Ptarmigan. In 1902, Chicken became incorporated. The
name ‘Ptarmigan’ was suggested. Many people liked the name, but felt the quotation marks were
presumptuous. The name was shortened to Ptarmigan. However, no one could agree on a correct

531

James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaktuvuk_Pass,_Alaska
533
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
534
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atka_Island
535
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
536
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,1420556,n,boca%20de%20quadra.cfm
537
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
538
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ak/southeast-fairbanks-ca/chicken.cfm
532

spelling. The citizens of the town didn’t want the name to be the source of ridicule, so they decided on
‘Chicken’.”539
Doug, from www.chickenalaska.com, comments: “The Willow Ptarmigan was plentiful in the
area when they arrived (it looks remarkably like a chicken). They relied on the bird for sustenance and
decided to name the town ‘Ptarmigan’, though couldn’t agree on a spelling. So, rather than appear
stupid, they decided to call the town ‘Chicken’.” 540
***CHILKOOT PASS, MUNICIPALITY OF SKAGWAY BOROUGH541, ALASKA***
JW Phillips shares: “The pass through the Coast Mountains over which ran the gold rush trail
from Dyea to Lake Lindeman derives its name from the Chilkoot tribe of the Tlingit Indians. Initially
residents of the east arm of Lynn Canal, they historically used – and jealously guarded – the pass as their
exclusive trade route to the Tagish Indians of the interior. Gold seekers arriving by the thousands at
Skagway and Dyea flocked to this short, but rigorous, entry to the headwaters of the Yukon River.
Unimagined hardships – freezing cold, drenching rain, avalanches, and rugged slopes – forced thousands
to turn back, crippled or killed many hundreds, and left the hardier and more determined to lockstep
over the pass to face more hardships and slim prospects of finding the riches they sought.”542
***COLDFOOT, YUKON-KOYUKUK BOROUGH543, ALASKA***
The USGS Geographic Names Information System emphasizes: “As early as 1899, the town of
Slate Creek was started at the mouth of the creek which bears that name. In the summer of 1900, one
of the waves of green stampeders got as far up the Koyukuk as this point, and then got cold feet, turned
around, and departed. This incident was enough to change the first, unromantic appellation of the
settlement to Coldfoot. A post office was established here in 1902 and discontinued in 1912. According
to Marshall in 1902, Coldfoot consisted of ‘one gambling hole, two roadhouses, two stores, seven
saloons, and ten prostitutes’. Activity subsided when the mining activity moved upstream to Nolan and
Wiseman Creeks, and a new town, called Wiseman, was established about 1912.”544
Wiki gives: “In the early 1970s, during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Coldfoot
was revitalized when a busy pipeline camp was established not far from the original town site. All that is
left today is a couple of shop bays still being used by the Department of Transportation at their Coldfoot
camp. In 1981, Alaskan dog musher, Dick Mackey, set up an old school bus here and began selling
hamburgers to truck drivers. The truckers found that Coldfoot was a convenient halfway place to stop
and wanted to help make it a more comfortable place to relax while having a cup of coffee and
something to eat. They started to drop off the packing crates that had been used to haul the pipeline
insulation, to be used as building materials. During their stops here, the truckers began to pound nails
and helped to build the Coldfoot truck stop. They helped raise the center pole (the cash register is
beside it now) and you can read their engraved names on the pole. The pole is still used as a
communication center with messages hung for truckers, miners, and other folk in the area.”545
***COOK INLET, GULF OF ALASKA546, ALASKA***
539

http://www.chickenalaska.com/
[email protected]
541
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilkoot_Pass
542
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
543
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ak/yukon-koyukuk-ca/coldfoot.cfm
544
USGS Geographic Names Information System
545
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldfoot,_Alaska
546
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_Inlet
540

JW Phillips stresses: “Name honors British explorer Capt James Cook, Royal Navy, who on his
third voyage to the Pacific discovered the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands and charted much of the
northwest coast of America. Cook was in Alaskan waters from March to October 1778 and voyaged as
far north as Icy Cape, where the ice pack blocked his search for a northern water route from the Pacific
to the Atlantic. Cook was killed by natives in February 1779, while wintering in Hawaii, pending return
to Alaska. When the rest of his expedition reached England, Cook’s patron, John Montagu, 4th earl of
Sandwich and the first lord of the Admiralty, honored the explorer by attaching the name Cook’s River
to the waterway between the mainland and the Kenai Peninsula, which Cook had charted but left
unnamed. In Alaska with Cook in the HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, in addition to Lt William Bligh
of subsequent Bounty munity infamy, Midshipman George Vancouver, Master’s Mate Nathaniel
Portlock, and George Dixon, armorer, who returned as captains to explore Alaska and leave their names
along its coast.”547
***DEMARCATION POINT, NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH548, ALASKA***
JW Phillips composes: “So named by Sir John Franklin, Royal Navy, in 1826 because it marked
the boundary between Russian and British territory on the north coast of America.”549
***EEK, BETHEL CENSUS AREA550, ALASKA***
Debbie Herman says: “Eek has nothing to do with seeing a mouse! It comes from the Eskimo
word eet, meaning ‘two eyes’. A nearby creek has the same name. But the reason for the name is
unknown.”551
***JAPONSKI ISLAND, BOROUGH OF SITKA552, ALASKA***
JW Phillips designates: “This small island in Sitka Sound derives its name from a Russian word
pertaining to ‘Japanese’, because it was occupied in 1805 by shipwrecked Japanese sailors.”553
***KALIFORNSKY, KENAI PENINSULA BOROUGH554, ALASKA***
James Kari writes: “There is an abandoned Indian village located on the Kenai Peninsula adjacent
to Cook Inlet, about two miles north of the Kasilof River mouth that appears on US Geological Survey
maps as ‘Kalifonsky’. It is named after its founder, a Dena’ina (Tanaina) Athabaskan, Nikolai Kalifornsky.
His Russian surname means ‘the Californian’, and was given to him because he journeyed to Fort Ross,
California, as a sea otter hunter for the Russians from about 1812 to 1820.”
Kari continues, stating that Nikolai Kalifornsky: “Was a Dena’ina Indian from Shk’ituk’t village
near modern Kenai. His Indian name was Qadanalchen, which means ‘bounces up and out’, or ‘he who
is alert’. Upon Qadanalchen’s return to Alaska from Fort Ross he was known as Kalifornsky. … During
Kalifornsky’s absence his father, who had been chief, had died. Upon his return, Kalifornsky declined to
succeed his father as chief and left Shk’ituk’t to establish his own village at the small creek known as

547

James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
http://www.placenames.com/us/p1401108/
549
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
550
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eek,_Alaska
551
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
552
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japonski_Island; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka,_Alaska
553
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
554
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ak/kenai-peninsula/kalifornsky.cfm
548

Unhghenesditnu that means ‘the furthest creek over’. The Russians called the village Kalifornsky for its
founder.”555
***MARYS IGLOO, NOME CENSUS AREA556, ALASKA***
JW Phillips expands: “The now virtually abandoned Eskimo settlement on the Kuzitrin River was
initially a boat landing where goods destined for mining camps upstream were transferred from steamer
to flat-bottomed barges. At the site, an Eskimo woman named Mary held perpetual open house for
weary travelers and served them food at all hours of the day or night. The miners called the village
Mary’s Igloo, incorporating their hospitable hostess’ given name with the Eskimo word meaning
‘shelter’. The apostrophe was later dropped from the official name.”557
***MASSACRE BAY, ATTU ISLAND OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS558, ALASKA***
JW Phillips illustrates: “Named around 1800, this bay marks the site of the 1745 slaughter of all
the Aleut males of the Attu Island village by promyshlenniki when the natives objected to the rape and
seduction of their women by the Russian free-booting fur traders.”559
***MOUNT WILLIWAW, ANCHORAGE BOROUGH560, ALASKA***
JW Phillips details: “So named by the Mountaineering Club of Alaska to commemorate six
soldiers who died of exhaustion and exposure on its slops when they were caught in the cold, gale-force
winds, known as williwaws that rise suddenly in Alaska. The term derives from the Australian Aborigine
name for cyclone.”561
***REVILLAGIGEDO ISLAND, KETCHIKAN GATEWAY BOROUGH562, ALASKA***
JW Phillips maintains: “This Alexander Archipelago island, separated from the mainland by Behm
Canal, was named in 1793 by Capt George Vancouver, Royal Navy, in support of the name assigned the
adjoining channel in the previous year by Spanish explorer Lt Jacinto Caamano. Caamano was honoring
Juan Vicente de Guemes Pacheco de Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, conde de Revilla Gigdeo, who was
viceroy of Mexico, 1789-94, during the controversy between England and Spain over claims (by right of
first exploration) to the area surrounding Vancouver Island. While the Anglicized version of the island
name, phonetically shown above, is simpler than the correct Spanish pronunciation, Alaskans generally
shorten the title in conversation to ‘ruh-VIL-luh’.”563
***SAINT MICHAEL, NOME CENSUS AREA564, ALASKA***
JW Phillips presents: “Community on the tundra island of the same name in southeastern
Norton Sound was established about 1833 as a fortified post, Mikhailovskii Redut, named after the
name saint of Capt Mikhail Dmitrievich Tebenkov, Imperial Russian Navy, who charted the area in 1831
555

James Kari; Kalifornsky, The Californian from Cook Inlet; Alaska Historical Commission; Vol V, Num 1;
1983
556
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary's_Igloo,_Alaska
557
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
558
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_Bay
559
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
560
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,1412071,n,mount%20williwaw.cfm
561
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
562
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revillagigedo_Island
563
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
564
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael,_Alaska

and subsequently served as governor of Russian America. The name was soon changed to Fort Saint
Michael, and the town served as the starting point for Russian excursions to the interior. After American
purchase, Saint Michael became the deep-water port where ocean-going vessels transferred cargo to
shallow-draft stern-wheelers for cartage up the Yukon River. The first gold from the Klondike passed
through Saint Michael en route to Seattle, and the town boomed as the jumping-off point for gold
seekers journeying upriver to the Dawson diggings.”565
***SEDUCTION POINT, HAINES BOROUGH566, ALASKA***
JW Phillips renders: “Southern tip of Chilkat Peninsula was so named by Capt George Vancouver,
Royal Navy, because of the ‘designing nature’ of the Indians whom Master Joseph Whidbey encountered
there.”567
***SITKA, BOROUGH OF SITKA568, ALASKA***
JW Phillips sheds light on: “Administrative capital of Russian America, 1804-67, and of Alaska
Territory, 1867-1906, the city derives its name from the Tlingit word shitka, meaning ‘by the sea’, which
was the native term for the whole of Baranof Island. Following destruction of Old Sitka, or Mikhailovskii
Redut (Fort Saint Michael), which was built in 1799 and razed by Tlingit warriors in 1802, Alexander
Andreevich Baranov returned to the island, defeated the natives, and constructed Novoarkhangelsk.
This fortified town became headquarters of the Russian-American Company and the seat of government
for Russian America, and territory stretching along the Pacific Coast from the Arctic to Fort Ross,
California. With the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867, the city adopted its present name.
Sitka National Monument, established on 23 March 1910, marks the site of the Indian ‘fortified’ log
town destroyed by Russian and Aleut forces, which were led by Governor Baranov and supported by the
cannons of the Neva, commanded by Capt Yurii Federovich Lisianskii, Imperial Russian Navy, when Sitka
was recaptured from the Tlingits in 1804.”569
***SOURDOUGH GULCH, MATANUSKA-SUSITNA BOROUGH570, ALASKA***
JW Phillips suggests: “Name applied to a ravine in the Alaska-Yukon miners’ slang term for a
person who has wintered in the Northland. It comes from the prospectors’ and trappers’ custom of
carrying a starter of fermented dough to make sourdough pan bread.”571
***TOTEM BAY, ALEXANDER ARCHIPELAGO572, ALASKA***
JW Phillips calls attention to: “This bay next to Kupreanof Island was so named by the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1886 because pillars of rock on its shore resembled the Indian
totem poles prevalent throughout southeast Alaska. The term was loosely adopted by the white man
from the Chippewa Indian word ototeman, meaning ‘brother-sister kin’, and applied to the carved poles
of Northwest Coast Indians – house poles and mortuary poles – decorated with heraldic clan or family
crests and mythological symbols.”573
565

James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
http://www.placenames.com/us/p1414582/
567
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
568
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka,_Alaska
569
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
570
http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,1409899,n,sourdough%20gulch.cfm
571
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
572
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupreanof_Island
573
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
566

***UNALASKA, ALEUTIANS WEST CENSUS AREA574, ALASKA***
Debbie Herman spotlights: “One explanation behind the name Unalaska is that it is derived from
Ounalahka, the name the Aleut (Unangan) people called it, meaning ‘near the mainland’. Some say it
means ‘this great land’.”575
***VALLEY OF TEN THOUSAND SMOKES, KATMAI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE576, ALASKA***
JW Phillips connotes: “Discovered in 1916 by a National Geographic Society expedition which
gave the 17-by-4-mile valley a name descriptive of the smoke wisps and steam jets curling skyward.”577
***WOLVERINE PEAK, ANCHORAGE BOROUGH578, ALASKA***
JW Phillips explains: “One of many geographic features in Alaska and the Yukon Territory with
this faunal name. The largest member of the weasel family (mustelidae) is a physically strong scavenger
with a voracious appetite and a notorious camp and trap raider that sprays a foul-smelling mush on
whatever food he is unable to eat that the moment. Called ‘evil one’ by the Eskimos, this northern
North American predator has been labeled with a diminutive form of the word ‘wolf’ because of its
supposed fierce and blood-thirsty disposition.”579
**ARIZONA**
DT Garate pens: “Arizona is a Basque word meaning ‘good oak tree’. He argues that the
Rancheria Arizona was established between 1734 and 1736 by Bernardo de Urrea, who was of Basque
descent but born in Mexico. The Rancheria Arizona became notable when silver was discovered nearby.
Garate records that a 1737 report by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza describes a slab of silver weighing
more than 2,500 pounds, having been discovered ‘between the Guevavi Mission and the Rancheria
called Arizona’. He notes that the place name Arizona can be found in Central and South America,
where the Spanish, including the Basque, settled.”580
***ALPINE, APACHE COUNTY581, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes clarifies: “In September, 1880, the author was with Troop E, 6th Cavalry, Captain
Adam Kramer, scouting through here. Indians under Victorio had gone through this valley ahead of the
troops and killed several men and women who were buried by the soldiers as they were found. It was
then known as Bush valley, after Anderson Bush, first settler, who was not a Mormon. Called Frisco by
the Mormons later because near headwaters of Frisco river. About 1882 name was changed to Alpine
because of its altitude.”582

574

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unalaska,_Alaska
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
576
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Ten_Thousand_Smokes
577
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
578
http://www.placenames.com/us/p1412235/
579
James W Phillips; Alaska-Yukon Place Names; University of Washington Press; 1973
580
Donald T Garate, Chief of Interpretation/Historian,Tumacacori National Historical Park;
http://www.azlibrary.gov/links/AZmeaning.aspx
581
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
582
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
575

***APACHE MAID MOUNTAIN, COCONINO COUNTY583, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes documents that the Mountain starts at the “Head of Wet Beaver creek. ‘About 1873
the troops in a fight with Indians at this point killed an Apache woman. Her living baby was taken to Fort
Verde by the troops who gave the mountain this name.’ (Letter RW Wingfield, Camp Verde) Forest
Ranger Oscar L McClure writes: ‘The first settlers came through this region with troops moving from
Santa Fe to Camp Verde. From the Mahan Mountain they sent a scout ahead who was to start a big
smoke for them to follow when he found a good trail. When the smoke first raised, a young Apache girl
saw it and come to the fire. She had been lost for several days and nearly starved. She stayed with the
party and was eventually adopted by one of them.’ McClure says this story was told him by a member
of the party named Gash, who vouched for its truth.”584
***BAGDAD, YAVAPAI COUNTY585, ARIZONA***
Kimberly Silveira writes: “Hello, I'm the Librarian. There is a widely held myth about how our
town got its name, and I've included it (from CNN) in the package, but the real name origin is because
the original claim owner loved the Arabian Nights and named the claim Bagdad. All info is included.”
The first handout arrived with a handwritten note attached stating: “This name origin is the
truth”. Included is a photocopied page of Arizona's Names X Marks the Place by Byrd Howell Granger,
which reads: “Bagdad: When John F Lawler bought a mining claim here (then known as Copper Creek) in
1883 from its 1882 locators, WJ Pace and JM Murphy, Lawler's brother William named the place Bagdad
because he was a ‘diligent reader of the Arabian Nights’.”
The second handout had a handwritten note attached stating: “This is the myth”. Included was
a printed off copy of a CNN Article entitled So that's how ‘bag, dad’ got its name, by Gary Tuchman
dated Monday, October 30, 2006:
“Have you ever heard of Bagdad? Not Baghdad, but Bagdad, without the ‘h’. As in Bagdad,
Arizona.
“My producer Amanda Townsend and I were in Arizona recently covering a couple of stories in
the cities of Kingman and Tucson. On the drive from Kingman to Tucson, we saw on the map that there
was a small town named Bagdad, just a little bit out of the way of our route. What, we wondered, do the
people of Bagdad think about what is going on in Baghdad? Was there an interesting story to tell?
“Well, we found out that Bagdad is a copper mining town with about 2,700 residents. We also
learned it's a generally conservative place, with what appears to be a higher level of support for the war
than the country as a whole. We also discovered that a decent percentage of the town's young people
have wound up traveling from Bagdad to Baghdad as members of the military. One woman told us that
ten percent of her son's high school class was in Iraq at the same time.
“The town enjoys its attention-getting name. The nickname of the sports team at Bagdad High
School is the Sultans. The logo is a genie on a magic carpet. But the name of the town does not have
Mesopotamian origins. [Highlighted text by Ms Silveira begins.] Legend has it that a father and son were
mining for copper in the late 1800s. The son wanted a sack for his copper and said to his father, ‘Do you
have a bag, dad?’
“Of course, we can't be absolutely positive this story is true, but everyone we talked to in town
has heard it. [Highlighted text by Ms Silveira ends.] Everyone we talked to in town also has an opinion
about this war. Nobody was shy with us.
“When we walked into the Miner's Diner, we talked with a couple that had a son in Iraq for nine
months. We also talked with a woman whose husband was in Iraq for the first Gulf War. Most of the
583

Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
585
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/bagdad.cfm
584

people we met completely backed President Bush's stance on this war. But others made a point to tell
us that while they used to support the war, the time has now come to bring home the troops.
“We enjoyed meeting Arizona's Bagdadians. And one of the great aspects of CNN's international
scope is that the televised story of our visit can be watched in Bagdad as well as Baghdad.”586
***BARBERSHOP CANYON, COCONINO COUNTY587, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes observes that the Canyon: “Heads about 3 miles east of Generals springs. Runs
north into East Clear creek. ‘On the east slope of Dick Hart Ridge, at a spring, there was a sheep
shearing plant. One of the men was a good barber and shaved the men and cut their hair. So they
called it Barbershop Spring and Canyon.’ (Letter ER Smith, Forest Ranger).”588
***BLOODY TANKS, GILA COUNTY589, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes recounts that the Tanks started at a “Wash rising in southeast corner. Flows
northeast into Miami Flat, near Black Warrior mine. Bloody Tanks are at head of this wash. So named
from a fight here in winter of 1863-4 between whites and Maricopa Indians on one side, and Apaches on
the other. King Woolsey was captain. Encounter was also known as the ‘Pinole Treaty’ because
Woolsey offered the Apaches a feast of Pinole (Apache corn) before the fight as a token of friendship. It
has often been stated that Woolsey put strychnine in the food. Bancroft alludes to it as ‘an outrageous
massacre, the Indians being coaxed to the feast and nearly all slaughtered by Woolsey’s party’. Peeples,
who was present, denies this. McClintock says: ‘The spot was about 9 miles across the hills from Globe,
near the present site of Miami.’ McClintock’s story of this affair is undoubtedly as nearly correct as it
can be made. ‘Pinole is the heart of Indian corn baked, ground and mixed with brown sugar. When
dissolved in water it affords a delicious beverage. It quenches thirst and is very nutritious.’ (Emory’s
Report, 1846).”590
***BONEYARD, APACHE COUNTY591, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes says: “In fall of 1880 two men brought some cattle from Texas and located them in
these high mountains. Heavy snows caused the death of them all. Their bleaching bones marked the
spot for years.”592
***BUMBLE BEE, YAVAPAI COUNTY593, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes and BH Granger tell: “The first prospectors who entered this area in 1863 found a
bumblebee nest full of honey in the cliffs along the creek. The bees objected in the usual way to being
disturbed, and the prospectors named the place Bumble Bee Creek. In the early days a stage station
was run by a man named Mr Bobs where Bumble Bee community is now located. Mr Snyder bought the
place from Bobs circa 1887. When the post office was established the name Bumble Bee was selected.

586

Kimberly Silveira, Community Librarian, Bagdad Public Library, PO Box 95, Bagdad, AZ 86321
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
588
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
589
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
590
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
591
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
592
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
593
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/bumble-bee.cfm
587

In 1948 it was a town of about sixty persons. The fourteen buildings were owned privately. The town
was put up for sale in April 1949. Bumble Bee is today an abandoned place.”594
***BURNT WATER, APACHE COUNTY595, ARIZONA***
Carolyn Des Champs records: “We received your request for information on Burnt Water, AZ.
Unfortunately, after researching online and in books, there is not much information available. What my
colleague from the Sanders Public Library was able to find, was by word of mouth from the Sanders
area.
“There was a great, great grandmother who lived in the area of Burnt Water many, many years
ago. There was a well and the grandmother did not want anyone else to use it. She wanted it all to
herself. She built a large fence around it using large cedar posts to keep people away from the well. One
day someone burnt the fence to the ground, hence the name of Burnt Water. It is near Sanders. The
grandmother was then called asdzaa To diilidii (‘Woman of burnt water’). This is first hand from a
relative of the great, great grandmother.
“One more resource was a book in the Sanders Public Library's Dine collection called Navajo
Place Names. We looked in this title because it is written in Navajo and found nothing about Burnt
Water. We have come to the conclusion that it is not really a town. Today it is a community of Navajo
families who descended from the ‘woman of Burnt Water’. The native people do not own the land, but
this woman dug the well, built her Hogan, grazed her sheep and farmed the land. Her home and the
name were passed on to her children and their children. It is said that there was a trading post there at
one time. It is more like rural community, where families live in communities.”596
***CHLORIDE, MOHAVE COUNTY597, ARIZONA***
Roman Malach spotlights: “Chloride was named from the character of the rich silver ore in the
area. As a mining camp, Chloride dates from the 1860s, and as a town from the early 1870s. It is located
in the foothills of the Cerbat Mountains, a range in which three other mining camps came to exist, at
about the same time; Mineral Park, Cerbat and Stockton Hill. Chloride was the first incorporated town in
Mohave County. It is estimated that it reached a population of 2,000 people at its peak.
“Prospecting and mining brought many people to the Chloride area. The first tragedy with the
loss of human life took place in 1866 in the Silver Hill area - adjacent to today's Chloride. Information on
the killing of four miners and a shooting of another by the Hualapai Indians appeared in a letter written
by HL Haskell in Hardyville. The letter was to William H Hardy, then a legislator attending the Territorial
Assembly in Prescott. Ira Woodworth, Andrew Judson, James L Conover, Sam Knoodle, Metcalf Baker
and Urich Benjamin were working in the Silver Hill area mines at the time of the Indian attack. Only
Knoodle, although severely wounded, and Conover, survived.
“The newspaper, Mohave County Miner, dated April 15, 1883, gave the following account of the
1866 tragedy: ‘In the summer of 1865, a company was organized in Sonoma County, California, to send a
small party into Mohave County for prospecting. The names of the unfortunate men were Ira
Woodworth, Metcalf Baker, Andrew Judson and Urich Benjamin. They arrived in the Sacramento District
in September 1965, and on the 11th day of the same month located the Silver Hill lode. The location
notice had the names of nineteen men interested in the company, and the claim took up 3,000 feet in
594

Arizona Place Names; by Will C Barnes; revised and enlarged by Byrd H Granger; University of Arizona
Press; 1960
595
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/cities/zccity,city,burnt%20water.cfm
596
Carolyn Des Champs, Manager, St Johns Public Library, PO Box 766, 35 South 3rd West, St Johns, AZ
85936
597
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/mohave/chloride.cfm

all. When the lode claim was first discovered, it was worked as a gold ledge, and the four men worked
for eight months, sinking the main shaft to a depth of about one hundred feet beside two or three small
prospect shafts. Two other men, Sam Knoodles and James Conover, were working on their claim about a
mile south. Those six men were the only white people in the area at the time. They all lived together at
what is now called Chloride.
“‘The Indians were in the habit of hanging about the camp with a friendly appearance, but
Knoodles and Conover always distrusted them and never went unarmed. One day about eight months
after their arrival in the area, the men were all at work in the mine; Baker and Judson being at the
bottom of the 100 foot shaft and Woodworth and Benjamin at the windlass. About 10 o'clock in the
morning, the Indians opened fire on them without a moment's warning. Woodworth fell over the dump,
shot through the heart; Benjamin, although wounded, seized his shotgun and made for the open valley,
but was overtaken and killed before he had run a mile. In the meantime, the men in the shaft met with a
most horrible death, the Indians throwing great boulders and rocks down upon them from above.
Judson was evidently killed outright, as his body was found underneath the rocks, but Baker must have
made a fearful struggle for life, for when found he was lying on a pile of rocks, with which the shaft was
filled, to the height of six feet above the body of Judson.
“‘While this horrible butchery was going on, another party of Indians attacked Knoodles and
Conover who were working on their claim; Conover being in the shaft and Knoodles in the windlass. He
grasped his rifle in his left hand and pointed it. The Indians opened fire, and Knoodles was struck by a
rifle bullet, which went through his right shoulder as he stood by the windlass. He held his rifle in his left
hand and pointed it at the Indians, at which motion they jumped behind the rocks. While keeping his
rifle pointed in their direction, he called to his partner in the shaft. Upon gaining the surface Conover
took the rifle, and they started across the valley with the intention of trying to reach the settlement on
the Colorado River at Hardyville. This was the nearest place where assistance could be found. Conover
sent Knoodles on ahead while he walked backwards keeping his rifle pointed at the Indians and shooting
whenever one came within range. The Indians followed them for some distance, but gave up the chase
and returned to their mountain retreat. The two men continued their long journey across the valley for
some sixteen miles. When within five miles of Union Pass, Knoodles gave out from loss of blood and lay
down. Conover made his way to Hardyville, and a party was sent out to pick up Knoodles and bury the
dead. When found, Knoodles was nearly dead. After careful nursing and treatment, he recovered,
although he carried his arm hanging limp and useless by his side.’”598
***CHRISTMAS, GILA COUNTY599, ARIZONA***
WC Barnes underscores that Christmas was a “post office and mining camp at end Winkelman
branch, Arizona-Eastern Railroad. In Dripping Springs Mountains, 22 miles northwest Winkelman.
‘Dennis O’Brien and Bill Tweed located copper claims in Dripping Springs Mountains about 1878. In
1882 Dr James Douglas located claims adjoining. All were found to be within San Carlos Apache Indian
Reservation, and prospectors were forced to leave. In 1900 someone at Washington became interested,
and eventually reservation lines were changed. This decree was signed a few days before Christmas,
1902. A wire was sent to George Crittenden and his partner NH Mellor, which reached them at their
camp on Christmas Eve. They acted promptly; reaching the Gila at midnight they waited for daylight,
forded the stream, and made their locations. ‘I guess we jumped the claims of O’Brien, Tweed, and Dr
Douglas all right,’ says Mellor, ‘but it was Christmas day in the morning so we filled our stockings and
598

Roman Malach, Mohave County Historian; Chloride Mining Gem of the Cerbat Mountains; 1978;
provided by Jan Garoutte, Chloride Library Coordinator, Mohave County Library, Chloride, PO Box 111,
4901 Pay Roll Ave, Chloride, AZ 86431-0111
599
Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988

named the place Christmas in honor of the day.’ (Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Dec 24, 1930) In recent
years the little post office here is swamped with Christmas letters and cards sent under cover from all
parts of the United States to be mailed out from the office bearing official stamp ‘Christmas’.”600
***FORT DEFIANCE, APACHE COUNTY601, ARIZONA***
Harrison Lapahie Jr recounts: “Fort Defiance was established as Arizona's first military post for
the US Army to patrol the entire Navajo Country. It was later used to subdue the Navajos on their
homeland, and then, be slowly phased into a Navajo Agency to govern the Navajos, after their return
from their 4 year ordeal at the concentration camp Ft Sumner. Fort Defiance is located at the mouth of
Canyon Bonito in Apache County, about 7 miles north of Window Rock, Arizona, or 25 miles northwest
of Gallup, New Mexico. It is at an elevation of 6,836 feet above sea level, with a 1980 population census
of 3,431 residents. It is located at Latitude: 35 degrees 44’40”, and Longitude: 109 degrees 4’33”. Fort
Defiance contains a school system first started in 1870 and the Fort Defiance Medical Center first
established in 1938. It was originally the location of the first Navajo Medical Center on the entire Navajo
Reservation. There is a small reinforced concrete dam in Canyon Bonito that irrigates about 25 acres.
“The Spaniards called the area Canyon Bonito (‘Beautiful Canyon’), because of its luscious grassy
green fields and green marshes. It was a popular location where the Navajos and Mexicans met to graze
their horses and sheep, and have horse races and betting in the pre-American era. Medicine men here
collected herbs known as Líí' Be’éze’ (‘Horse Medicine’), and the bubbling springs were shrines into
which white shell and turquoise were thrown as payment or pleas for further blessings.
“The first known visit by Americans to the site of Fort Defiance was in the fall of 1849. This
occurred, when the expedition led by Colonel John Washington stopped to rest by the lush grassy fields
on their return journey to the Rio Grande River after concluding the Navajo Treaty of 1849 with the
Navajo Chiefs at Chinle.
“Colonel Edwin V Sumner established Fort Defiance under its present name in the fall of 1851.
Captain Electrus Backus built the sod and log fort on the area where the land had the greatest value and
recreational pleasure to the Navajos. The US Army used the surrounding area to graze their horses.
Navajos got angry when the US Army wouldn't let Navajo horses and sheep graze on land surrounding
the fort. Initially, the Navajos accepted their situation, and got along with the soldiers, and the
traditional horse races and betting were now between the Navajos and US soldiers. The Mexicans that
originally had horses races with the Navajos mostly returned to Mexico, because of US soldiers winning
the Spanish-American war and Anglo-Americans believing they now had the right to strip the Mexicans
of their land, property, and civil rights. The last horse race occurred in 1856 between the Navajos and
soldiers when a US soldier tripped a Navajo horse during a horse race. The Navajos said the soldiers had
cheated, an uproar occurred among the Navajos, and the soldiers went back into the fort and opened
fire, killing about 30 Navajos. This initiated a new wave of guerrilla warfare by the Navajos on the
American military at Fort Defiance between 1856 and 1863. In April 1860 Fort Defiance was attacked by
some 2,000 Navajos. They were driven off by a garrison of 150 soldiers of the First US Infantry under
Captain OL Shepherd. One private, Sylvester Johnson, was killed and 3 other soldiers wounded. No less
than 20 Navajos, including 1 Navajo Chief from the Canyon de Chelly, were killed. A tombstone in the
old Fort Defiance Post Cemetery marks Private Johnson's grave.
“In 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, Fort Defiance was abandoned in favor of Fort
Fauntleroy (later Fort Lyon), which was built at Bear Springs. But the continued raiding and plundering of
Anglo-Americans, Mexicans, and other Indian Tribes by the Navajos led General Carleton to send Kit
Carson to solve the Navajo problem. Even though the Navajos had signed the Navajo Treaty of 1849, the
600
601

Will C Barnes; Arizona Place Names; University of Arizona Press; 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Defiance,_Arizona

Navajos were scattered over vast area of Navajo Country, and only a few knew of the Navajo Treaty of
1849, therefore most were unable to abide by it. Kit Carson and a group of army officers from Fort
Union near Mora, New Mexico, then went into Navajo country in the summer of 1863 to establish a
military post on the Pueblo Colorado to defeat the Navajo people. Kit Carson established the ‘Scorched
Earth Policy’, and the party recommended the reestablishment of old Fort Defiance. In the fall of 1863
Carson and companies of New Mexico Volunteers with some regular army officers, Ute Indians, Zuñi
Indians, and New Mexico irregulars, occupied the fort, which for a short time bore the name of Fort
Canby. Throughout the winter, the troops shot all Navajo livestock and horses in view, burned their
hogans and material possessions, and initially shot any Navajo that was in view. Navajos began to hide
among the canyons and mesa and slowly started to starve and freeze. Starving Navajos surrendered,
and the fort served as a concentration camp. Many of the Navajo and Mescalero Apache prisoners died
from exposure and from eating food to which they were not accustomed. In the spring of 1864, the socalled Navajo War ended, and about 8,000 Navajos and some Mescalero Apaches were marched off to
Fort Sumner during the winter. Fort Defiance was again deserted and roaming bands, who had eluded
the troops and scouts of Carson, burned the cane and timbered sections of the fort, leaving only the
thick sod and rubble walls.
“Upon the signing of the Navajo Treaty of 1868 at Fort Sumner, which allowed the Navajos to
return to their own country, Fort Defiance was selected as the site of the Agency. The old buildings were
repaired, and Major Theodore Dodd, called by the Navajos, Na’azisí Yázhí (‘Little Gopher’), became the
civil agent. Upon his death shortly after, Captain Frank T Bennett, whom the Navajos called Chaatsohí
(‘Big Belly’), succeeded him. In the fall of 1869, Bennett issued the sheep and goats stipulated in the
Navajo Treaty of 1868 to the Navajo bands. Over 13,000 ewes and 300 rams, purchased from Vicente
Romero, a large operator in the vicinity of Fort Union, New Mexico, as well as 900 female and 100 male
goats, were distributed and formed the basis of the present Navajo herds.
“Development of the fort into an agency was slow in getting under way. The first school, started
in 1870 in one of the abandoned adobes, was short lived, and the first mission, established by John
Menaul in 1871, also failed. Regular medical service did not begin until 1880, and not until 1883 did the
Indian Boarding School become established.
“Until 1899, Fort Defiance continued as the agency for all Navajos and Hopis, but in that year a
separate Hopi agency was established at Keams Canyons, Arizona, and in the next ten years four other
Navajo agencies were set up. In 1936, Commissioner Collier again centralized these, and chose Window
Rock, Arizona, as the Navajo Central Agency for the entire Navajo Reservation. Window Rock, Arizona,
would later become the Capitol of the Navajo Nation. The Fort Defiance Agency contains many Navajo
Chapters that help govern the Navajos in the Fort Defiance Agency area.”602
***FORT MISERY, YAVAPAI COUNTY603, ARIZONA***
The Arizona Pioneer and Cemetery Research Project comments: “There is a spring near this
location by the name of Misery Spring. Knowing water was as good, or in some cases more valuable than
gold in those days, it would make sense to name this location Misery or Misery Springs. Al Francis, who
lived here, seems to have had a sense of humor and with tongue in cheek, dubbed it ‘Fort Misery’ due to
his difficult and bleak living conditions at his residence, this name stuck. Although it has been written
there was a military fort, there is no military documentation that we have found to substantiate this. We
have found a Fort Misery in military documents, but no reference to a physical location. … Hunkered
602

Harrison Lapahie Jr; Fort Defiance (Tséhootsooí – ‘Meadow in Between the Rocks’);
http://www.lapahie.com/fort_defiance.cfm; provided by Dale V Underwood, Gallup Historical Society,
301 West Hwy 66, Gallup, NM 87301
603
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/fort-misery.cfm

against the steep wall of a narrow canyon high in Arizona's Bradshaw Mountains, the decaying remains
of old Fort Misery waits out their last fleeting years. Saggy buildings stare through empty windows at the
weed-grown parade ground - and at the grave-dotted knoll beyond.”604
***GRASSHOPPER JUNCTION, MOHAVE COUNTY605, ARIZONA***
Kay Ellermann emphasizes: “There was a small Lodge built where the road connects to Chloride
from what is now Hwy 93. [Grasshopper Junction] was never really anything but a café and small store.
It was a publicity name given to the area. A few miles down the Hwy there was a subdivision (Santa
Claus Acres) which never materialized now known as Santa Claus, AZ. The café and service station
(Christmas Tree Inn) were built like Santa’s house and workshop, and next to the service station were
small play houses for kids. One was the house of the 3 little pigs with a wolf trying to get down the
chimney and another one was Cinderella’s doll house. They were in business for many years and made
wonderful pies. I remember playing in the little houses when I was a child, and we would go out there
for a special dinner. Now it is all in ruin.”606
***MONTEZUMA CASTLE, YAVAPAI COUNTY607, ARIZONA***
The National Park Service gives that Montezuma Castle, a “pueblo ruin in Verde River valley of
central Arizona has no connection with the Aztec emperor whose name it bears. The name was given by
early settlers in the Verde Valley in the belief that the striking 5-story ruin with its 20 rooms had been
built by Aztec refugees, fleeing from central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. It follows
naturally that the small lake inside a hill 7 miles away should be named Montezuma Well. While the
story of the [Aztec] flight is known to be false, the names remain. The aboriginal builders of the Castle
left no records, but they did leave broken pottery, trash, and other debris of their everyday life. [These
indigenous people were] named Sinagua and were peaceful farmers who occupied this area from 11001400 AD. … As a result of the war with Mexico (1846-8), the US acquired the Verde Valley. By 1865,
enough settlers had come into the valley to warrant the establishment of Fort Verde near the location of
present day Camp Verde. The earliest date of a pioneer visitor’s scratched inscription in Montezuma
Castle is 1880. However, it is known that the ruin was visited by army personnel in the 1860s. Dr Edgar
A Mearns, who was assigned to the fort, wrote the first detailed account of Montezuma Castle. It was
published in 1890 in the Popular Science Monthly, and described the ruin very much as it is today: ‘Upon
my first visit in 1884, it was evident that nothing more than a superficial examination had ever been
made. In 1886 I caused the debris on the floors to be shoveled over. This material consisted of a
quantity of dust and broken fragments of pottery and stone implements, together with accumulation of
guano from bats that inhabited the building. This accumulation, in the largest room of the top floor, was
4 feet in depth. As no one had ever disturbed it, the floor was found in exactly the same condition in
which it was left by the latest occupants.’ On December 8, 1906, by Presidential proclamation, 160
acres were set aside from the public domain to preserve Montezuma Castle as a National Monument.
By Presidential proclamation of February 23, 1937, 366 acres were added to the area to give better

604

http://www.apcrp.org/Fort%20Misery/Ft_Misery_010708.htm
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/mohave/grasshopper-junction.cfm
606
Kay Ellermann, Librarian, Mohave Museum of History & Arts, 400 W Beale St, Kingman, AZ 86401;
[email protected]
607
Amy D Willis, Maricopa County, Office of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, 301 W Jefferson St,
th
10 Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003; [email protected]
605

protection to the monument entrance and to the area in the foreground of the ruin. On April 4, 1947,
Montezuma Well was acquired by the Federal Government through purchase from private owners.”608
***SKULL VALLEY, YAVAPAI COUNTY609, ARIZONA***
Mary Kukal pens: “How did we [Skull Valley] get our name? It is best told by Will C Barnes in his
book, Arizona Place Names, in which he said, ‘There is documentation to demonstrate that the name
Skull Valley dates back to at least 1864, when the first gubernatorial party arrived in the future Prescott.
There were several severe battles with Indians after the arrival of white men in Skull Valley. However,
the name actually derives from the fact that the first white men who entered Skull Valley found piles of
bleached Indian bones. The skulls were the remains of a bitter battle between Apaches and Maricopas.
The dead were left where they fell. At least 35 more skulls were added to the bleaching bones as a result
of a fight on August 12, 1866, in which six freighters, five citizens, and four soldiers battled more than
100 Indians.’”
Kukal continues: “Skull Valley is an old settlement, with the first people of European descent
coming here in 1864. Joseph Ehle and son John were among the first settlers. The second Walker Party which included Alfred Shupp, John Dickson, and the Miller brothers, who settled here - was one of the
first expeditions of European heritage adventurers and gold seekers to come to Prescott and Skull
Valley. Shupp's grave stone is in the Skull Valley cemetery. The Walter L Roberts family was early
settlers, and their original ranch has stayed in the family for more than 100 years. Skull Valley has had
several stage stops and was a temporary military camp to help protect the freighters and settlers from
the Indians. Several Indian attacks occurred in Skull Valley prior to 1874, and it was necessary to carry a
gun for protection when going to work in the fields.”610
***SNOWFLAKE, NAVAJO COUNTY611, ARIZONA***
CH Ellis states: “Snowflake, Taylor, Shumway, Three Prosperous Towns, is the title of the entry in
Harry Locke's 1913 Arizona Good Roads Association Illustrated Road Maps and Tour Book. For $2, a
person could purchase this ‘first book of road maps and touring information ever published in Arizona’.
Locke described Snowflake as a ‘thriving farming and stock-raising town of about 750 inhabitants ...
Three crops of alfalfa are raised in a season, and 40 bushels of wheat or 75 bushels of oats to the acre
are not uncommon. Some fine openings for settlers of the right type lie right at our doors merely for the
taking.’ He noted that Snowflake had a bank, three general stores, three good hotels, one restaurant,
two barbershops, two livery and feed stables, a high school, a district school, a church, and ‘a fine Opera
House’. Finally, Locke mentioned the anomaly of a Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
town in the West: ‘Although the town has been settled for over 24 years it has the distinction of never
having a saloon within its boundaries.’”
Ellis continues: “Snowflake's Mormon history began with the 1878 purchase of the James
Stinson ranch on Silver Creek, which 20 miles downstream contributes to the Little Colorado River.
William J Flake pledged $11,000 in cattle for the ranch. Flake then opened the area up for Mormon
settlement. Snowflake received its distinctive name from combining his name with the name of Erastus
Snow (a Mormon apostle who supervised Arizona colonization).”

608

Montezuma Castle NPS, http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/27/hh27t.htm; Montezuma
Castle National Monument; Historical Handbook #27; National Park Service; 1958
609
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/yavapai/skull-valley.cfm
610
Mary Kukal; The Skull Valley Story; Skull Valley Historical Society; Skull Valley, AZ; provided by Ida
Downing, PO Box 257, Skull Valley, AZ 86338
611
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/navajo/snowflake.cfm

Ellis concludes: “Della F Smith, a daughter of historian Joseph Fish, was one of the sturdy
pioneers who stayed. Her poem Snowflake's Sunset, published in the Snowflake Herald on March 25,
1921, notes both the beauty and the hardships these pioneers found in northeastern Arizona.
‘Had you but seen
The setting sun on Snowflake hills
And felt the grandeur it instills,
Like on great dream,
You'd know the Gods had done their best
To show their skill along the west.
The sky is blue, the clouds are white
To lend a charm of mellow light,
Then dashes of a golden red
Along the horizon are spread.
In all the world there cannot be
Another sight so far to see;
For Nature placed the colors grand
As recompense for wind and sand.’”612
***SURPRISE, MARICOPA COUNTY613, ARIZONA***
Debbie Herman underscores: “There are different stories behind the origin of Surprise. As one
story tells it, an early settler said she’d be surprised if the small community ever became a town. Well,
surprise, surprise! It’s now a city, with more than 100,000 residents! In fact, it’s one of the fastest
growing communities in the United States!”614
***TOMBSTONE, COCHISE COUNTY615, ARIZONA***
Debbie Herman comments: “In 1877, when Ed Schieffelin decided to mine for silver in Apache
territory, people thought he was crazy! They told him he would find nothing but his own tombstone.
Not only was Schieffelin unharmed, he succeeded in finding silver. Jokingly, he named his first mining
claim, Tombstone! The town that sprung up in the area took on this name.”616
***WHY, PIMA COUNTY617, ARIZONA***
Anna, from the Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ, alludes:
“The book, Arizona's Names: X Marks the Place, by Byrd Howell Granger (1983), states the following for
Why, Arizona: ‘This small settlement began as a store at the junction of the Tucson-Ajo road with the
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Road. According to Mrs Peggy Kater, an original settler, it earned
its name in 1965 because tourists kept asking, ‘Why are you living way out here?’”
Anna continues: “There is also an ‘unverified’ version of how this town got its name: The
unusual name of the town comes from the fact that the two major highways, State Routes 85 and 86,
612

Catherine H Ellis; Images of America Snowflake; Arcadia Publishing; 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surprise,_Arizona
614
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
615
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona
616
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
617
http://arizona.hometownlocator.com/az/pima/why.cfm
613

originally intersected in a Y-intersection. At the time of its naming, Arizona law required all city names to
have at least three letters, so the town's founders named the town ‘Why’ as opposed to simply calling it
‘Y’. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) later removed the old Y-intersection for traffic
safety reasons and built the two highways in a conventional T-intersection south of the original
intersection.”618
**ARKANSAS**
HB Staples communicates: “The State of Arkansas takes its name from its principal river; the
river from the tribe of Indians formerly living nears its mouth. Till quite a recent period the river was
called the Akansas, and the tribe the Akansas tribe. Mr Schoolcraft says that both the names Arkansas
and Missouri embrace aboriginal words, but we hear the sounds as modified by French orthoepy and
enunciation. The same author farther relates that there is a species of acacia found in Arkansas, from
which the Indians, on the arrival of the French, made for themselves bows. It is light yellow, solid and
flexible. ‘This is thought to have led to the appellation of Arc or Bow Indians.’ As they belonged to the
Kansa race, and had lately separated from them, that term would naturally be adopted by the French as
the generic name. In the Contributors’ Club of the Atlantic Monthly, May 1881, in reference to the
name Arkansas occurs this curious passage, ‘Does not the name come from the arc-en-sang of the early
French traders, its likeness to Kansas being accidental? Whether the bloody bow was a special weapon
like the medicine bow that has given its name to a creek, mountain range, and railway station, in
Wyoming, or ‘the bloody bows’ were a band like the Sans Arcs, cannot now be determined.’”619
As to the pronunciation of the name, the Arkansas Office of the Secretary of State depicts:
“‘ARKan-SAW’ or ‘Ar-KANSAS’
“The state's name has been spelled several ways throughout history. In Marquette and Joliet's
Journal of 1673, the Indian name is spelled ‘AKANSEA’. In LaSalle's map a few years later, its spelled
‘ACANSA’. A map based on the journey of La Harpe in 1718-22 refers to the river as the ‘ARKANSAS’ and
to the Indians as ‘LES AKANSAS’. In about 1811, Captain Zebulon Pike, a noted explorer, spelled it
‘ARKANSAW’.
“During the early days of statehood, Arkansas' two US Senators were divided on the spelling and
pronunciation. One was always introduced as the senator from ‘ARkanSAW’ and the other as the
senator from ‘Ar-KANSAS’. In 1881, the state's General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that the
state's name should be spelled ‘Arkansas’ but pronounced ‘Arkansaw’.
“The pronunciation preserves the memory of the Indians who were the original inhabitants of
our state, while the spelling clearly dictates the nationality of the French adventurers who first explored
this area.”620
***NIMROD, PERRY COUNTY621, ARKANSAS***
Mike Polston enumerates: “Fertile soil and the confluence of the Fourche La Fave River with the
Arkansas River attracted settlers as early as 1808. However, until the decade preceding the Civil War,
most of that settlement centered on the eastern reaches of the river, where the town of Perryville
(Perry County) was founded. By 1850, James Wilson built the first house at what later became Nimrod.
Among other early settlers were the Young, Cherry, James, Cobb, Hill and Holmes families. A church of
618

Anna, Joel D Valdez Main Library, Pima County Public Library, 101 N Stone Ave, Tucson, AZ 85701;
[email protected], http://www.library.pima.gov
619
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
620
The Office of the Secretary of State; The Traveler’s Guide to Arkansas; 2009; accessed at
http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/ar_intro.htm
621
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/perry/nimrod.cfm

unknown denomination was the first in the settlement. It was followed by the Methodist church,
constructed on land donated by an early settler named Dr Holmes. James Cobb established an early
cotton gin. Once a settlement began to develop, the name Nimrod, referencing a hunter from the Bible,
was reportedly to have been selected by Eliphalet Cole Van Dalseim during the petition for the
establishment of a post office. Van Dalseim is said to have then become the first postmaster. However,
no post office with the name Nimrod appears in the record for that time. Other sources state that the
settlement may have been named by settlers who had migrated from Nimrod Hill, Tennessee. The Civil
War hampered the development of the community, with some local men serving in the Confederate
army, while others remained loyal serving for the Union. While there were no major battles fought in
the area, wandering guerrilla bands caused considerable damage. It took years for the settlement to
recover.”622
***OKAY, HOWARD COUNTY623, ARKANSAS***
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas gives us an account: “Until the late 1980s, the town of Okay
(Howard County) was home to a major limestone mining operation located on a peninsula on the east
side of Millwood Lake. Most of what remained of the once-thriving company town, founded in the late
1920s, had almost disappeared by the end of the twentieth century.
“In 1926, Charles Boettcher, founder of Ideal Cement Company, based in Denver, Colorado,
dispatched Tom Dodson and Joe Hargis from a branch plant in Oklahoma to scout out a potential
Arkansas plant site after learning of the growing movement in Arkansas to improve roads and bridges. A
remote site in Howard County was chosen due to its rich deposits of limestone and chalk.
“A railroad spur necessary for moving in equipment was first built connecting the site to the
main railroad line. Cement foundations were poured in November 1928. Almost a year later, the $1
million Arkansas Portland OK Cement Company was dedicated with an explosion of a 20,200-pound
dynamite blast at the new quarry. On October 2, 1929, less than a month before the stock market crash,
the plant began production. Roy King tied the first bag of cement to come off the production line, and,
on October 2, the first 125 car loads of cement were shipped. The original capacity of the plant was
approximately 4 million sacks a year.
“While the plant was under construction, an employee village of some forty small homes was
also built. Named after the company’s OK brand cement, it included everything needed by residents.
Indoor water, sewer, electricity, and gas were available, with water and electricity provided free by the
company. On February 11, 1930, a post office opened. The Okay Mercantile, run by Frank Norden and
Jim Smith, provided shopping opportunities for the residents. On the second floor of the store was a
meeting hall, and church services were held there for a time. A separate clubhouse was provided for
management.
“Recreational facilities were built for tennis, golf, croquet, basketball, and baseball. On May 24,
1936, a baseball diamond, home of the company team the Okay Cementers, opened. The Cementers
became one of the area’s best semi-professional teams.”624
***SMACKOVER, UNION COUNTY625, ARKANSAS***

622

Mike Polston; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; provided by Sandra Duke,
Administrative Secretary, Baylor House, Perry County Judge, 310 West Main Street,
PO Box 358, Perryville, AR 72126
623
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/howard/okay.cfm
624
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=6343
625
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smackover,_Arkansas

Debbie Herman emphasizes: “Smackover is an American mispronunciation of the French name
Sumac Couvert, which means ‘sumac-covered’. The area was covered with sumac trees.”626
***SNOWBALL, SEARCY COUNTY627, ARKANSAS***
[email protected] points out: “A Masonic Hall (building) was constructed there about 1888, and
the community was being moved a short distance from the old post offices called Calf Creek and Blanco.
The community leaders decided to call it Snow Hall after prominent citizen Benjamin Franklin Snow and
the new Masonic Hall. However, when they sent the post office application in, the ‘h’ from hall looked
very much like a ‘b’ so the application came back approved for ‘Snowball’. I have seen the application
and the small ‘h’ really did look like a small ‘b’.”628
***STINKING BAY, ARKANSAS COUNTY629, ARKANSAS***
Jennifer West relates: “The information that I have found by asking older people in the county is
that the Big Lagrue Bayou runs behind this community. Supposedly there was a great amount of fish
that were killed there and it stunk up the whole area for a very long time so the local people started
calling it Stinking Bay.”630
***TOAD SUCK, PERRY COUNTY631, ARKANSAS***
[Note from compiler: This entry is my absolute favorite.]
http://toadsuckarkansas.net/ stipulates: “Long ago, steamboats traveled the Arkansas River
when the water was at the right depth. When it wasn't, the captains and their crew tied up to wait
where the Toad Suck Lock and Dam now spans the river. While they waited, they refreshed themselves
at the local tavern there, to the dismay of the folks living nearby, who said: ‘They suck on the bottle 'til
they swell up like toads.’ Hence, the name Toad Suck. The tavern is long gone, but the legend lives
on.”632
John Metcalfe writes: “The Army [Corps of Engineers] oversees Toad Suck Park, whose manager,
Scott Fryer, quickly pointed out that Toad Suck is ‘not actually a town, just a spot on the river’. Fryer
then got down to the business of explaining the ‘legend’ behind the spot's unlikely moniker.
“‘It's where the ferry used to cross the Arkansas River from Faulkner County to Perry County,’ he
begins. ‘Well, the story is that at the time of the ferry boat, there was a tavern on the Perry County side
of the river that was a local hangout for folks to go down and drink alcohol and do other things frowned
upon by the local communities. Some church ladies from nearby would say, ‘If you can't find so-and-so,
go down to the tavern. He'll be sucking on a bottle so much he's swollen up like a toad.’
“Fryer doesn't see the appellation as anything bad. If anything, it's helped attract ‘a lot of
positive attention,’ he says. ‘It's a name that draws people in.’
“For more than three decades, for instance, the nearby city of Conway has held a three-day
festival in May called Toad Suck Daze that raises money for scholarships. The event organizers promise
626

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
627
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball,_Arkansas
628
[email protected]
629
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/arkansas/stinking-bay.cfm
630
Jennifer West, Secretary, Arkansas County Judges Office, 101 Court Sq, Dewitt, AR 72042;
[email protected]
631
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_Suck,_Arkansas
632
http://toadsuckarkansas.net; provided by Sandra Duke, Administrative Secretary, Baylor House, Perry
County Judge, 310 West Main St, PO Box 358, Perryville, AR 72126

that it is Arkansas' premiere destination for ‘great food and everything TOAD; the Toad Market, the
Toadal Kidz Zeon, the world championship Toad Races, along with our lineup of headlining live
entertainment. You are sure to have a toadtastic time.’
“While there's so much toad pride floating around the area, today there's not much left of that
ferry tavern and its sinful regulars who called the Suck home. The most drinking you'll find might be
shady teenagers chugging SouthPaw Light by the shore (though not on Fryer's watch). Rather, the locale
is a pleasant recreational haunt that just happens to attract a steady stream of tourists from the
highway, who whip out their cameras to pose with the sign name.
“Popular pastimes in Toad Suck include camping, fishing, picnicking, and ‘just watching the river
go by,’ says Fryer, who sounds quite immune by now to visitors laughing at his park's weird name.
“‘I think most people in Arkansas know about Toad Suck,’ he says.”633
***TURKEY SCRATCH, PHILLIPS COUNTY634, ARKANSAS***
Alice Gatewood tells: “Mr AB Thompson of Turkey Scratch has an interesting story on the origin
of the name ‘Turkey Scratch’! He was told by his father, Arthur Thompson that the name came from the
custom of the turkeys to scratch the area where they were to roost. The hunters would find these areas
and know the turkeys were there.
“Turkey Scratch as told to Carolyn R Cunningham by Jessie Holtzclaw Thompson
“They used to tell a story that when you left Marvell and headed north toward the county line,
you could stop at every house and ask, ‘Where is Turkey Scratch?’ and for a few miles everyone would
give the same answer, ‘Oh, it's right on up the road a ways,’ until unexpectedly a person would answer,
‘Oh, you've just passed it, turn around and go back a ways.’ You see, it was such a funny name, no one
wanted to admit to living there.
“But in 1930 when Jessie Holtzclaw, daughter of Mr HL (Dock) Holtzclaw of Vineyard, married
Arthur Thompson of the Turkey Scratch community, he said, ‘Jessie, let's give Turkey Scratch a home.’
And that's what they did.
“They built their store there, and Jessie's brother Aubrey and a friend of his, built a big sign for
it. On it they printed Turkey Scratch, and they painted a large picture of a wild turkey in all its brilliant
plumage. And there he stayed until the wind and rain faded him into oblivion, as the real turkeys have
faded into oblivion. Up on the road they built a sign, Welcome to Turkey Scratch, and Turkey Scratch has
had a definite home ever since.
“A long time ago there were thousands of wild turkeys in the vicinity, and naturally, drainage
was not as good then as it is now. The high water often came up and everything would be covered
except perhaps a ridge of little knolls. The turkeys lived on these and in the trees. Mrs Thompson says
she has heard it said that the knolls looked like gardens, they were scratched up so by the turkeys
looking for worms and insects.
“Mrs Thompson laughs as she tells this story of a little community she has come to love. She and
her husband made a home for Turkey Scratch, and Turkey Scratch was a home to them.”635
***UMPIRE, HOWARD COUNTY636, ARKANSAS***

633

John Metcalfe; The Unlikely History of Toad Suck, Arkansas; http://theatlanticcities.com/; provided
by Sandra Duke, Administrative Secretary, Baylor House, Perry County Judge, 310 West Main St, PO Box
358, Perryville, AR 72126
634
http://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/ar/phillips/turkey-scratch.cfm
635
Alice Gatewood, Phillips County Library, 702 Porter St, Helena, AR 72342
636
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpire,_Arkansas

Debbie Herman pens: “Umpire got its name in the 1890s, after the community decided to host a
baseball game against a neighboring community. But baseball was a new sport back then, and neither
town knew how to play. Luckily, a visitor who did know how to play was in town. He acted as umpire
and explained the rules. Everyone had a great time, and the residents named their town after this
event. Interestingly, not only is there an Umpire, Arkansas, but there’s also a Catcher, Arkansas!”637
***YELLVILLE, MARION COUNTY638, ARKANSAS***
Debbie Herman gives: “The town of Yellville does not have loud residents. It was named for
Arkansas Governor Archibald Yell, who fought in the War of 1812.”639
**CALIFORNIA**
Jack Elliott describes: “The name ‘California’ derives from a novel written by Garcia Ordonez de
Montalvo in the 16th century titled, Las Sergas del muy esforzado caballero Esplandian, hijo del
excelente rey Amandis de Gaula. It was the fifth book in a series of Spanish romance novels.
“The story tells of a mythical island called ‘California’ ruled by Queen Calafia and warrior women
‘of vigorous bodies and strong and ardent hearts and of great strength.’ The queen and her warriors
venture forth on forays, where they seize and kill men they come upon. Any man found in their domain
they eat. And although sometimes they have children from those they make peace with, they keep only
daughters and murder sons. It is a land near the Terrestrial Paradise, where the only metal in existence
is gold. A land where griffons abound, which the women take as pets and feed to them the men they
capture and the sons they bear.
“Where Montalvo got the idea for the name remains unknown, but several plausible theories
exist. One idea holds that it stems from an Islamic term for leader, which is caliph, the Spanish
equivalent being Calif. In Montalvo’s novel Queen Calafia is a sovereign ruler who is allied with infidels
against Muslims. Thus the name ‘California’ is a logical designation for the land she ruled over.
“Montalvo’s novels were popular reading material, and the legend of California Island was not
unknown to New World explorers of the time. But like much in history, no definitive understanding
informs us today of the events surrounding the actual naming of the land that is now part of the United
States. ‘No clear account has come down to us,’ Dora Beale Polk writes, ‘about how the name was
chosen, where, when, or by whom. All we have to date are tantalizing scraps of information.’ What is
understood is that the name was first applied in some manner to the Baja peninsula. Either the
headland known today as Land’s End, near where Cabo San Lucas is located, or in reference to the entire
peninsula itself.
“Spanish explorers of the 16th century thought California was an island. It was a myth that
ebbed and flowed through the centuries based on the reports of various maritime explorers of different
nationalities. Despite occasional doubt cast upon the legend and contrary evidence, the mistake was
reflected on maps for a couple hundred years and became one of the great cartographic errors of alltime.
“Upon landing on the Baja California peninsula in 1535, Hernán Cortés believed he had found an
island. In describing his discovery as insular, he is credited as the originator of the island theory. Cortés
thought the body of water later named in his honor, the Sea of Cortés, was actually a strait separating
mainland Mexico from the island of California. In 1539, he sent an expedition led by Francisco de Ulloa
637

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
638
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellville,_Arkansas
639
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011

to circumnavigate the imagined island, and it was Ulloa that named the Gulf of California in Cortés’
honor. Ulloa, however, was unable to lay the myth to rest and correct Cortes’ erroneous belief. The
legend lived on.
“Yet, as early as 1542, the notion of California being an island was largely dismissed, and
cartographers began showing the region attached to the mainland. Despite the change in general
sentiment, though, all views remained at most ‘ambiguous or fence-straddling theories,’ Polk writes. The
myth proved hard to kill.
“Maps drawn in subsequent years … resurrected the island myth. It was not until 1747 that the
true nature of California was finally settled. In that year, Spanish monarch Ferdinand VI issued a royal
proclamation based on the exploration of the Jesuit missionary, Fernando Consag, and informed the
world that ‘California is not an island.’ There was finally too much evidence for myth and fantasy to
outweigh empirical facts on the balance of reason. At long last the uncertainty was over.”640
DJ McInerney clarifies: “A different community sprang up on the Pacific coast, inspired by
dreams of earthly riches rather than heavenly rewards. In January 1848, gold was discovered in the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Over a two-year period, settlers swept up in a ‘Gold Rush’
swelled California’s population from 14,000 to 100,000. In only eight years, San Francisco grew from
200 to 50,000 residents. Economically, the territory boomed. Socially, the area grew more diverse with
European, Mexican, Chinese, and native people. Politically, the numbers of Californians quickly reached
the point where they could seek admission to the Union as a state.”641
***ANGELS CAMP, CALAVERAS COUNTY642, CALIFORNIA***
OH Mace establishes: “As the war between the United States and Mexico was winding down
during the latter part of the 1840s, many military units were disbanded, and a great number of former
soldiers began to arrive in San Francisco. When news of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill reached that
city, hundreds of these men headed up the tributaries of the San Joaquin River into the Sierra Foothills.
Many were formerly of Colonel Jonathan Stevenson's Seventh Regiment of the New York Volunteers,
some were from a variety of other companies, and a few had arrived in California a bit ahead of the
others - as deserters.
“Henry Angel may have been from any one of these three groups, but it is likely that he made
his way into the foothills with a band of Stevenson's men that included James Carson, and John and
Daniel Murphy. (Henry may have had a brother, George, who was also part of this troop. In the past, it
was often assumed that George and Henry were the same man.) The group eventually began to break
up as various members settled into diggings along streams and gulches throughout the area. Henry
worked the creek that now bears his name, possibly as early as the summer of 1848. Carson went
further south. The Murphy brothers went east.
“Like many early prospectors who met with limited success, Henry Angel decided that there
might be more money in selling provisions than in working the ‘digs’ - it was certainly less backbreaking.
His ‘store’ was a simple canvas building, sitting not far from the creek whose banks were by then
crowded by perspective customers. However, Henry had apparently not shaken the gold bug, for in 1849
he sold his ‘Angel's Trading Post’ to John C Scribner. (The Scribners were very active in the early
development of Angel's Camp - John Scribner was the first Wells Fargo agent, both John and his brother
Philip had a turn as Angels Camp Postmaster, and Philip was also the town's first druggist.) After lending
his name to a booming gold town, Henry Angel tried his hand at several new enterprises around the

640

http://yankeebarbereno.com/2011/10/13/the-origin-of-the-name-california-and-the-island-myth/
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
642
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_Camp,_California
641

area, none of which met with any great success. He passed away in the County Hospital on March 17,
1897, at the age of 72.
“There are numerous colorful tales related to the accidental finding of gold. While most of these
stories were no doubt born in gold rush saloons and roadhouses, it is certainly not infeasible that vast
amounts of gold were discovered by accident in those days when it was so plentiful (if illusive). In Grass
Valley, it is said that Mr McKnight went searching for his stray cow, and stumped his toe on a gold-rich
quartz outcropping. At Yankee Jims, the burial of a departed minor was said to have led to the discovery
of rich deposits at the bottom of the grave. And in Angel's Camp, it was Bennager Rasberry's ramrod ...
“During the gold rush years, the standard weapon carried by miners was a single-shot muzzleloading musket. It was loaded by pouring a measured amount of black powder into the barrel, followed
by a lead ball, which had to be shoved down the muzzle with a long metal ‘ramrod’. While hunting
rabbits one day, so the story goes, Bennager Rasberry got his ramrod stuck in the barrel of his rifle. Try
as he might, he couldn't pull it out by hand, so he decided to simply fire the gun, sending the ramrod
spiraling into the roots of a Manzanita bush. When he pulled the rod out, a chunk of quartz came along
with it and ... Low and behold, the rock glittered with veins of gold.
“Regardless of how the first quartz gold was discovered at Angels, by the mid-1850s, two
brothers named Winter were working a quartz lead lying just west of Main Street. Later known as the
Davis-Winter ledge, this extensive lode eventually gave birth to a number of highly successful ‘deep
rock’ mines including the Angels, Lightner, and Utica. There were a total of eleven claims filed along this
ledge during the years 1855-7. The Boulder Ledge, located further west, spawned the Gold Cliff, North
Star, Angels Deep, and many others. In all, the Angels Camp Gold Mining District would generate more
than 65 active lode mines.”643
***BOMBAY BEACH, IMPERIAL COUNTY644, CALIFORNIA***
David Alexander highlights: “Bombay Beach was born as the Salton Sea became a playground for
vacationers in the [19]40s and 50s. This whole area was going to be California's version of the French
Riviera. A number of problems arose: increasing salinity in the Salton Sea, which created major fish and
bird die-offs, and a series of floods from tropical storms in the 70s. The area has never recovered and
now lies in basic ruins. Bombay Beach has a few residents that hide out from the blazing sun in trailers.
The shoreline of Bombay Beach is entirely flooded, and salt build-up has over-run all of the buildings and
trailers that were in the area. This is where the supposedly most photographed abandoned trailer is
located.”645
***COPPEROPOLIS, CALAVERAS COUNTY646, CALIFORNIA***
EG Gudde portrays: “About twelve miles southwest of Angels Camp. The copper deposits were
discovered in 1860 by prospectors searching for gold. The production was mainly copper, but there
were some lode mines in the vicinity, for which the town was the trading center. A post office was
established in 1861, and in 1868 it is said to have had a population of nearly 2,000. A major asbestos
mine, about five miles south of the town, is now active.”647

643

O Henry Mace; Between the Rivers: A History of Early Calaveras County, California; Paul Groh Press;
Murphys, CA; 2002; provided by Angels Camp Museum, PO Box 667, Angels Camp, CA 95222
644
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Beach,_California
645
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/bombaybeach.html
646
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperopolis,_California
647
Erwin G Gudde; California Gold Camps; University of California Press; 1975

***EUREKA, HUMBOLDT COUNTY648, CALIFORNIA***
Debbie Herman scribes: “Eureka, meaning ‘I found it!’ in Greek, was so named in 1850 for the
cry of gold miners striking gold. Thousands of immigrants rushed to California to discover gold between
1848 and 1859, in what became known as the California Gold Rush. The gold rush was at its peak in
1849, which is why miners were often referred to as ‘49ers.”649
***HALLELUJAH JUNCTION, LASSEN COUNTY650, CALIFORNIA***
TI Purdy remarks: “Hallelujah Junction (Long Valley) 4,980 feet. Since the 1850s, the region has
always been referred to as a junction to Beckwourth Pass and the Sierra Valley. It has been told that
emigrants in the 1850s, when they arrived at this spot, shouted ‘Hallelujah’ when they saw Beckwourth
Pass - at 5,228 feet, it's the lowest pass over the Sierra. In 1932, Orville Stoy took up an 80 acre
homestead there. Stoy built a gas station, and it became a popular stop, known as Hallelujah Junction. In
time, a bar, restaurant, and motel were constructed. There was even the ‘Hallelujah International
Airport’ that consisted of a couple of airplane hangars and a runway that was an abandoned stretch of
Highway 70. In 1973, the state of California purchased Hallelujah Junction. It was obliterated for the
construction of the four lane freeway from there to the Nevada State line. In 1991, a gas station and
convenience store was built at the junction of Highway 395 and 70.”651
Susan Couso adds: “The Stoy family who lived there many years ago, had to drive their son into
Susanville to go to school. That was a daily trip of over 100 miles through some really bad weather. Even
though we are in ‘sunny California’, we do get some tremendous snow and ice storms in the area and
the summer heat can climb into the 110 degree range. We are in what they call the ‘high desert’.”
Couso continues: “The emigrants had a really tough time crossing the desert to get here, then
they had the daunting task of crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Most were very frightened after
hearing of the terrible results of the Donner Party's attempt to cross. Beckwourth Pass (named after
James Backwourth - a very interesting explorer/pioneer) was a much easier climb and had must less
rugged terrain.”652
***LAST CHANCE, PLACER COUNTY653, CALIFORNIA***
The Directory of the County of Placer for the Year 1861 shares: “The village of Last Chance is
situated high up in the mountains, on a ridge south of the main branch of the North Fork of the Middle
Fork of the American River, at an altitude of nearly five thousand feet. Diggings were discovered in the
canons and gulches in the section of country in which Last Chance is situated, in the spring of 1850, but
there was no permanent settlement made there until 1852. The general topography of the country is of
the roughest description; the hills being precipitous, with here and there are large space of nothing in
sight but bluff rocks, with scrub timber or chaparral growing out of the crevices. On the tops of the
ridges, and on the benches of the hillsides, there is a heavy growth of excellent timber, of the various
species most prized for lumbar or fuel. On the ridge commencing immediately above the village, an
648

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka,_California
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
650
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_Junction,_California
651
Tim I Purdy; Lassen County Almanac: An Historical Encyclopedia; Lahontan Images; 2002; provided by
Susan Couso, Secretary, Lassen County Historical Society, 115 North Weatherlow St, PO Box 321,
Susanville, CA 96130
652
Susan Couso, Secretary, Lassen County Historical Society, 115 North Weatherlow St, PO Box 321,
Susanville, CA 96130
653
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Chance,_California
649

open glade commences, and extends for several miles to the eastward; but on both sides of this bald
spot is growing forests of the finest kind of timber, reaching far down the mountainsides towards the
canons.
“The village is composed of about twenty-five houses upon the main street, and contains about
seventy-five inhabitants, all of whom are industrious and steady miners, or careful and money-making
traders. The mines are rich, and within the last two years have been paying well. In the summer of
1859, Messrs Parkinson and McCoy succeeded in bringing water into the diggings from the main prong
of the American River, in that part of the mountains, since what time the miners have been enabled to
work their claims on the hillsides and in the heads of the canons, by the hydraulic process; and as they
have been supplied with water throughout the whole of the warm season, have never failed to make
good wages.
“Gold was discovered in the Last Chance diggings by a mere accident, the singularity of which is
worth recording. A party of prospectors had encamped upon a small stream near where the town now
stands, and having firearms with them, one or more of the party were generally sent out each day to
hunt, and thus keep the party in meat, the balance of the company being engaged during the day in
examining the gulches, ravines, and canons, and prospecting for gold. After being upon the ridge for
several days, and the want of success having discouraged them, they were about to break up their camp
and return to Bird’s Valley, from whence they had set out on the tour, one of them remarking that ‘was
the last chance they would have to find gold on the west slope of the mountains’, for they were so near
the summit, he thought if they went further up they would have to pass over to the eastern side of the
mountains before they could find any more auriferous soil. While this counsel was being held, one of
the hunters, on his return to camp, and but a few hundred yards distant from it, finding a flock of
grouse, fired at and killed one, which had taken refuge in a tall pine. The bird fell to the ground at the
crack of the hunter’s rifle, who after reloading his piece, proceeding to bag his game. On reaching the
place where the bird lay is discovered that in its dying struggles it had scratched away the leaves, leaving
the ground bare. In stooping down to pick up the bird he noticed a rock which drew his attention, and
picking it up, on examination, discovered that it contained gold. He proceeded to the camp to report to
his companions the success with which he had met, when, remembering the remark of one of the party
who was in a most desponding mood during the consultation; they agreed to call the place Last Chance.
“The diggings thus discovered was one of those outcroppings on the hillside, where, by some
convulsions of nature, the rim rock has been broken off, leaving the rich gravel which contains the gold
exposed to view. This discovery led to further prospecting and the discovery in the neighborhood of
Little Duncan, Big Duncan, and Miller’s Defeat Canons, and also other mines, which have been worked
more and less during the last ten years.”654
***LONDON, TULARE COUNTY655, CALIFORNIA***
The Visalia Times Delta stresses: “The community may also be known as New London.
According to [Lacy] Bierman, who bought one of the first lots from founder Henry Barch in 1946, it could
have been dubbed for the English city because of the thick fog that shrouds the town in winter.
“In addition to starting New London in 1941, said Bierman, Barch was the founder of nearby
Delft.
“Bierman said Barch was ‘poor man’s friend’, willing to allow low monthly payments on the lots
he created.
654

Directory of the County of Placer for the Year 1861: Containing a History of the County, and of the
Different Towns in the County; publishers; 1861; provided by Debbie Poulsen, Placer County
Administration, 175 Fulweiler Ave, Auburn, CA 95603; [email protected]
655
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_California

“New London may have lost its prefix when the sign at the Post Office recently changed to read
only London.
“’Well,’ said Bierman, ‘it wasn’t new anymore.’”656
***MANLOVE, SACRAMENTO COUNTY657, CALIFORNIA***
WJ Davis composes: “William Start Manlove, MD. Dr Manlove’s ancestors were originally from
Yorkshire, England. Grandfather Christopher Manlove was commissioned Surgeon or ‘Apothecary’s
Mate’, on his Majesty’s Hospital in North America, August 5, 1761, during the reign of George III, King of
England, by General Amherst, Commander-in-chief of the British troops in this country. This was before
the Declaration of Independence. He settled first in New Jersey for a few years, and then moved into
Virginia; was married in Petersburg, and resided there until his death. He had five sons and five
daughters. His third child, John Manlove, was born in Dinwiddie County, that State, on a plantation
adjoining the city of Petersburg. There he grew up to manhood, studied medicine under the tutelage of
his father, and was a prominent physician of that county for eighteen or twenty years – until his death,
which occurred in 1825. He married Miss Ann King, a Virginian, who survived him for about twenty-five
years, and died in 1857. They had one son and one daughter. This son, the subject of this sketch, was
born December 9, 1824, at the old Virginia homestead in Dinwiddie County. His preliminary education
was had at private schools, he then attended an academy, and then the University of Virginia at
Charlottesville, and subsequently he attended medical lectures, and afterward a course in the medical
department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, graduating there in 1847. He practiced his
profession in his native State until 1849, when a stock company of about 125, then organizing in
Richmond, VA, for a trip to California during the gold excitement, Dr Manlove became a shareholder.
They sent a committee to New York, who purchased the ship Mary Ann, brought it to Richmond, loaded
it with supplies, and in March embarked on their long journey around Cape Horn. Four days out the
vessel sprang a leak, and from that until they reached Rio Janeiro, they had to keep a gang of men
pumping, passengers alternating with the sailors at this laborious task. At Rio Janeiro they spent an
enjoyable month, repairing the ship and recruiting. They celebrated the Fourth of July at the Falkland
Islands. The weather was cold and rough as they rounded Cape Horn, but the eight days which they
passed at Port Conception, Chili, were delightful; they arrived at San Francisco on the last day of
September. The company then disbanded, sold the vessel and effects, and scattered to various points in
the State. After remaining some six weeks in San Francisco, Dr Manlove went to the Southern mines in
Amador County, and was there until the spring of 1851, mining, trading, and practicing medicine. Then
selling his interest, he went to Nevada City, and mined and prospected through the mining regions in the
northern part of the State. Not meeting with success, and tired of roaming, he selected this county for a
permanent residence, purchasing his present place, consisting of half a section of land, and here he has
since remained, farming and practicing his profession, with the exception of two years, when he was
sheriff of Sacramento County, 1857-9. Among the very first to realize the future of grape culture in this
favored locality, as early as 1858, he began planting the Mission variety, which was at the time thought
to be the best; out of the abundant experience he now favors the Burgundy, and the finer varieties of
table grapes, Tokays, Muskats, Cornichons, etc, of these having fifty acres, or about one-half his
vineyard. The Doctor is the standard authority in his section on all questions pertaining to fruit culture,
and he thinks cherries the best paying crop; he has half a hundred acres devoted to them, and to plums,
apricots, and peaches of the best varieties. The Seedling orange does well – trees seventeen years old,
656

London: Portrait of a Town; Visalia Times Delta; July 30, 1983; provided by Rodney Soares, Reference
Librarian, Tulare County Library, 200 W Oak Ave, Visalia, CA 93291;
[email protected]
657
http://california.hometownlocator.com/ca/sacramento/manlove.cfm

well filled with luscious fruit. He has more orange trees than any other man in this section, including a
considerable planting of trees obtained from Florida direct. He also has pecans, butternuts, Eastern and
English walnuts, Japanese persimmons, dates, etc, all fruiting. Politically the Doctor has always been a
Democrat, and has filled many positions of trust and responsibility, beside that of sheriff for two years,
to which reference has already been made. In 1887 he was appointed by Governor Bartlett a member
of the State Board of Viticulture, a position which he fills with credit, but perhaps his greatest public
work has been his connection with the ‘Patrons of Husbandry’, sixteen years ago he was chairman of the
Farmers’ Association, which was merged into the ‘Grangers’ or ‘Patrons’, movement. He was chosen the
first master of the new organization in this county, and was organizing ‘deputy’ for the district
composing El Dorado, Amador, and Sacramento counties for the three first years, during which time he
organized and put into successful operation no less than fourteen local granges. Of his home life we
need say but little. His wife, to whom he was united in September 1859, who came to California from
Coldwater, Michigan, at an early day, was a merchant in the city of Sacramento, and associate county
judge under the old Constitution; he was afterward a rancher in this county, where he died some fifteen
years ago. The family comprises an only son, J Edward, who takes charge of the various farming
operations, and a daughter, Catherine A. The homestead is situated on the old ‘Jackson road’, seven
miles east of the Capital City; the Placerville railroad cuts in twain, and affords them a convenient station
almost at their gates. The house a commodious modern structure, sheltered by gigantic ‘black’ oaks,
and surrounded by beautiful flowers, tended evidently by some loving hand, is a picture of home
comfort and genial hospitality. Here then we see resting from his labors a man whose life has been one
of the more than usual activity, truly a representative man, one who has done much to advance the
agricultural and fruit-growing interests in this favored section of the State, and we gladly accord to him a
prominent place in the annals of this county.”658
***NEEDLES, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY659, CALIFORNIA***
Debbie Herman states: “The city of Needles, in the Mohave Valley, was named for a group of
pointed peaks called the Needles, at the valley’s southern end. The Mohave Valley straddles the
California-Arizona border.”660
***SIBERIA, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY661, CALIFORNIA***
EG Gudde designates: “Siberia was named by Southern Pacific Railroad in 1883. The choice of
the name was probably inspired by the striking contrast between the temperature of the [Californian]
desert and that of Siberia [in Asia].”662
***VALLEY OF ENCHANTMENT, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY663, CALIFORNIA***
[email protected] emphasizes: “My Great-Grandfather Frank A Tetley, Sr, named the area. It
was first called Rim of the World Park in the 1920s, but ran into other developments that were also
658

Winfield J Davis; An Illustrated History of Sacramento County; Lewis Publishing; Chicago; 1890;
provided by James Scott, SPL Correspondence Librarian, Sacramento Public Library, 828 I Street,
Sacramento, CA 95814; [email protected]
659
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needles,_California
660
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
661
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia,_California
662
Erwin G Gudde; California Place Names: the Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names;
University of California Press; 2004
663
http://california.hometownlocator.com/ca/san-bernardino/valley-of-enchantment.cfm

using similar names since the Rim of the World Highway had just been completed (1915) and was about
to be upgraded and paved in the 1920-30s.
“He chose the name Valley of Enchantment as it sounded like a wonderful place to be. It is
located in a valley between the mountain ridges and was one of the first areas even used during the
logging era of this mountain in the 1850s.”664
***ZURICH, INYO COUNTY665, CALIFORNIA***
Bill Steel expands: “Zurich was the first town south of Laws, CA, on the ex-Carson & Colorado
narrow gauge railroad (later the Southern Pacific Railroad narrow gauge Owens Valley Branch), which
originally ran from Mound House, NV, to Keeler, CA. After standard gauging of the northern section to
Mina, NV, and abandonment of the line over Montgomery Pass, only the line from Laws, CA, to Keeler
remained (finally abandoned in 1960). [Zurich] died when the rails were pulled up from Tonopah, NV, to
Keeler, CA. Named by the residents because the sharp jagged peaks of the White Mountains, located
just east of the town, and the Sierras to the west looked like the Alps in winter when covered by snow.
The last resident was a family whose daughter Josephine (the last person born in Zurich) married a
railroad conductor and moved to Mojave, CA. [She is] now 74 in 2000. She still resides in Mojave
today.”666
***ZZYZX, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY667, CALIFORNIA***
Debbie Herman alludes to: “ZZyzx is pronounced ‘ZYE-ziks’. The name was made up by a man
who built the settlement, in 1944, which included a mineral springs, health spa, and radio station. He
chose the name because he wanted it to be the last word in the dictionary! The land didn’t actually
belong to him, however. It belonged to the Federal Government! In 1974, the government took back
the land and eventually replaced the spa with a research center.”668
**COLORADO**
HB Staples illustrates: “Colorado is named after the great Rio Colorado, which rises in the Rocky
Mountains and falls into the Gulf of California. The name signifies in Spanish ‘ruddy’, ‘blood red’, in a
secondary sense ‘colored’, in allusion to the color of its waters. The river is not within the limits of the
State, and only belongs to it by some of its tributaries.”669
www.statesymbolsusa.org tells: “[Colorado] came into use after the discovery of gold in the
Pike's Peak region because of the red sandstone soil of the region. The name was chosen for Colorado as
a Territory by Congress in 1861. Colorado is also called ‘Colorful Colorado’ because of the magnificent
scenery of mountains, rivers and plains.”670
***BUCKSKIN JOE, PARK COUNTY671, COLORADO***
Kathy Weiser maintains: “Buckskin Joe, established in 1859, is just northwest of Fairplay on
Highway 9, near the present-day town of Alma, Colorado. Like many mining camps that flourished
664

[email protected]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurich,_California
666
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/zurich.html
667
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California
668
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
669
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union by; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
670
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Colorado/name_Colorado.html
671
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckskin_Joe,_Colorado
665

during the Gold Rush, Buckskin Joe was formed as a mining district by a small group of prospectors when
placer gold was located in the river nearby.
“The group of prospectors was led by an eccentric man named Joseph Higgenbottom, who wore
buckskin clothes and was therefore called ‘Buckskin Joe’.
“Despite attempts to officially name the settlement Laurette (for Laura and Jeanette, the wife
and daughter of Old Man Dodge, who wielded some influence in the area), it was called Buckskin Joe by
most, and the name stuck.
“News of the gold discovery quickly spread, and by the spring of 1860, other miners began
pouring into the new settlement. One mining claim made by a man named Mr Phillips; [he] originally did
not look rich, and Phillips, a drifter, soon moved away without further development. Buckskin Joe
claimed Phillips discovery as his own, but, he, too, soon left the area for the San Juan Mountains, trading
the claim for a revolver and a few other articles.
“Too late for Mr Phillips or Buckskin Joe, the claim was discovered to be rich, and it wound up
providing much of the ore for the mill that was later built. Sluice boxes were built, and considerable gold
was recovered from the creek bed. To crush the soft ore from the load, the old Spanish method of
arastras was employed first.
“At its zenith, the town of Buckskin Joe [had] saloons, gambling halls and traveling minstrel
shows. The street was lined with stores, saloons, an assay office, a courthouse, a mill, and three hotels.
It boasted such famous inhabitants as Horace and Augusta Tabor and Father Dyer.
“In August 1861, Horace and Augusta Tabor loaded their supplies, groceries and household
merchandise and moved to Buckskin Joe. Their store soon became the areas’ most successful. During
the next seven years, Horace invested in local mines and became the postmaster. In reality, Augusta ran
the post office, although she could not legally hold that position. Horace became increasingly involved in
community affairs before moving to Leadville, where his enterprising skills again drew attention.
“Buckskin Joe had itinerant preachers, the newest famous of whom was Father John L Dyer, a
Methodist from Ohio whose circuit covered Fairplay, Park City, Buckskin Joe and Breckenridge. To
stretch parishioners' contributions in the early days, Dyer would prospect when not in the pulpit. As
easy placer findings vanished and the cost of staples soared ($40.00 for a bag of flour), Dyer added mail
carrying to his church duties. He trekked weekly from Mosquito Gulch and Buckskin Joe over passes to
Leadville and Breckenridge. Neither winter nor the absence of improved roads deterred him. Often on
skis ten feet long with 30 pounds of mail on his back, Father Dyer would climb through deep snow and
wind-swept alpine heights to dispense his earthly and spiritual messages.
“Buckskin Joe began to thrive and by 1861 had a population of 2,000. In 1862 it became the
county seat, an honor it retained until 1867, when the courthouse was moved to Fairplay. The
settlement boasted a newspaper, a post office, and two banks, as well as several saloons, dance halls
and gambling houses.
“All that is left of Buckskin Joe now is the cemetery and its memories. Close inspection of the
tombstone dates reveal a cemetery population boom in 1861 and 1862. The cemetery, which is down
the road on the right from the settlement, also reveals the struggles of the miners and settlers. The
stone grave of young Thomas Fahey records that on a blustery February day, he left his cabin to go to his
mine and did not return. His body was found the following June.
“Many of the miners were immigrants from Europe. Images of home and echoes of their
languages can be seen on some stones. The stones and gravesites, with their ornate rails and gates,
exhibit a craft and workmanship that has outlasted the modest cabins and other structures in the town.
The town of Alma still uses the cemetery.
“The mining district reportedly produced 16 million dollars in gold from 1859, until the mill
closed in 1866. After the mill closed, most of the people left to seek their fortune in other mining camps
and towns throughout the Rocky Mountain West.

“A few stalwarts remained. One was JP Stansell, who made a fortune working the leavings of the
Phillips Mine long after the miners left. Another was Horace Tabor, who would later make his fortune in
Leadville.
“A local hero and legend emerged in the town in 1861 - a dance hall girl named ‘Silver Heels’.
From the day she stepped off the stagecoach at Buckskin Joe, her beauty captivated the entire mining
camp. Her real name was never known, for the miners had long since dubbed her ‘Silver Heels’, perhaps
for her dance shoes or her enchanting performances. In any event, the beloved Silver Heels prepared to
travel on after a few nightly performances, but when the miners showered her with gifts and begged her
to stay, she agreed.
“In the winter of 1861, the deadly disease small pox invaded the mining camp. The epidemic
swept through the town, and miners and families became very ill, almost overnight. Within a matter of
days, the rutted dirt road to the cemetery became lined with the living carrying the dead up the hillside
for burial. The citizens of Buckskin Joe sent to Denver for nurses, but none came. All who could help did
so, including Silver Heels, especially Silver Heels.
“All through the deadly horror of the smallpox explosion, Silver Heels stayed in cabin after cabin,
nursing the sick, caring for the families, burying the dead. By the spring of 1862, the worst was over, at
least for the mining camp of Buckskin Joe. In the aftermath, Silver Heels had vanished. The surviving
miners searched the entire mountain area. Her cabin was clean, yet she was gone. She had not left by
stage or horse. Some say she, herself, had contracted smallpox, leaving her once beautiful face horribly
scarred. A few years later, it was said that a heavily veiled woman was seen in the Buckskin Joe
cemetery that many thought might have been the missing Silver Heels.
“The people of the area named a mountain ‘Mount Silver Heels’ in gratitude to this brave
woman.
“Legend has it that Silver Heels has never left. Several members of the community claim to have
seen the ghost-like presence of a heavily veiled woman, dressed all in black walking through the
cemetery. Carrying flowers, the once-beautiful Silver Heels has been seen and her presence felt for over
a century. The ghost is said to vanish into the mountain air if approached. Once so beautiful, but then
scarred. She was still loved, she just didn't know it.
“Another restless spirit is said to inhabit the bones of J Dawson Hidgepath. The man came to
Fairplay to find gold and a wife, but instead found tragedy. In July 1865, Dawson's broken, lifeless body,
was found at the bottom of the west side of Mount Boss, where he had apparently fallen several
hundred feet, while trying to prospect for gold on the mountainside. Soon after his burial, Dawson's
bones were discovered on the bed of a prostitute in the town of Alma. Believing a tasteless prank had
taken place; townspeople reburied the bones in Buckskin Joe Cemetery. Nevertheless, time after time
again, the bones showed up at the house of some ‘fair lady’. By 1872, Dawson's bones were the talk of
the state, and people were throwing them down outhouses to get rid of them. What really went on is
almost impossible to determine today, but whatever ‘force’ kept Dawson's bones from staying buried is
said to still reside in the old cemetery.
“In the 1950s Karol Smith desired to restore Buckskin Joe, but did not find the people he needed
to help him in his effort until sometime around 1957. It was at this time that he met Don Tyner and
Malcolm F Brown. Brown was an art director at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Tyner was the
owner of the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway. Each was interested in the rebuilding of Buckskin Joe. It was
decided the rebirth of the mining city would take place next door to the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway.
“The investors purchased land approximately eight miles east of Canon City where the presentday town of Buckskin Joe was recreated.
“Each building and structure represents the actual buildings from the original town of Buckskin
Joe, and all are original buildings from various ghost towns in the region. As each structure was
acquired, it was dismantled at its original site, transported to the new site, and reassembled. Each

structure was chosen to represent a different type of building, such as a saloon or a jail. The main town
site is a long street with another street heading at right angles between the main street and the Royal
Gorge Railroad.
“Buckskin Joe opened in 1958 to the general public. The Tabor building was actually moved here
from the original town of Buckskin Joe. It was the last remaining building at the time. In each case, an
effort has been made to maintain the atmosphere of a mining town in the mid 1800s. No modern
vehicles are permitted on the streets, and the dress of the inhabitants is like that worn in the ‘good old
days’.
“Until 2010, the spirit of the Old West exploded to life at Buckskin Joe Frontier Town & Railway.
The park combined actual Colorado history with family entertainment, creating a truly unique
experience. This authentic old west town was brought to life with hourly gunfights, some historical and
some humorous, exciting live entertainment, barnyard animals for the kids, numerous buggies and
wagons and one Concord type stagecoach. John Wayne was shooting movies here in the early 70s, and
as recently as 2001, the History Channel was filming a documentary entitled The Haunted Rockies on
location.
“In the summer of 2010, Karol Smith announced he was selling the tourist attraction to an
unknown buyer, who was more interested in the historic structures than the actual town itself. In
August of 2011 it was revealed that the buyer was billionaire William Koch, who has already moved
some of the buildings to his private Colorado ranch.”672
***GOODNIGHT, PUEBLO COUNTY673, COLORADO***
CG Simms scribes: “We received your inquiry about Goodnight Town in Pueblo. Goodnight
Town never existed. We have a street named Goodnight, and we have a historical building named
Goodnight Barn and at one time it was a Railroad stop. We got the names from Charles Goodnight, who
was once one of the richest cattleman in Colorado.”
Ms Simms included an article called Goodnight Ditch:
“Also Goodnight had an irrigation ditch for his Arkansas Valley ranch. From this he irrigated his
feed crops and his orchard of about a thousand trees, the first orchard of any size in Pueblo County.
“Bill Hall worked for Goodnight for years, beginning in 1871. He was the Bill Hall, who while in
Pueblo, just happened to be practicing throwing his lasso and pulled down the big sign board in front of
the notorious saloon, Bucket of Blood.
“For six years the Goodnights lived happily in their Colorado home, in the Arkansas Valley, not
far from the Goodnight railroad station.
“The Goodnight losses in the panic years were disastrously heavy. In 1876 he found it necessary
to borrow $30,000 from a Denver brokerage firm, giving in security his Pueblo County lands, paying
interest at the rate of 18 percent. Becoming discouraged at the slowness of recuperating his financial
losses, he returned to the trail to counteract the adversities of fortune, the call of the virgin soil led him
to the plains of Texas, and they made their home at Pala Duro Canon at the headwaters of the Red
River.
“Goodnight cherished the ideals of law and order and the sanctity of property above the hazards
of life. As he had been on the western trails, and as he was in Southern Colorado, so in the Panhandle

672
673

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-buckskinjoe3.html
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/pueblo/goodnight.cfm

Plains country, he became the dominant personality, maintaining his code often at a severe personal
cost, but feared by the lawless and respected by all.”674
***JOES, YUMA COUNTY675, COLORADO***
Debbie Herman depicts: “The village of Joes, originally called Three Joes, was named for three
early settlers named Joe.”676
***LAST CHANCE, WASHINGTON COUNTY677, COLORADO***
The Denver Post presents: “In 1926, two men – Archie Chapman and Essa Harbert – opened a
creamery, store and filling station and called the spot Last Chance, so named because it was the last
chance motorists had to buy gasoline before going on west to Denver or east to St Francis, Kansas, on
Highway 36.”678
***MAD CREEK, ROUTT COUNTY679, COLORADO***
Jim Stanko renders: “Mad Creek: Named for its fast flowing water. In 1877 a horse died in the
torrent while his rider narrowly escaped death. A small village developed here on the banks of the Elk
River in the early 1900s and continued to grow, even after the schoolhouse closed in 1929.”680
***MANHATTAN, LARIMER COUNTY681, COLORADO***
Wayne Sundberg sheds light: “There are two stories about the name. One is that it was named
for the Island of Manhattan [New York City]; the other is that an old prospector lived up there whose
name was Hattan and people would speak of Old Man, Hattan!! The town kind of flourished in the
late 1880s, but the gold ore was very low grade. It had a brief revival around the turn of the century, but
then just disappeared. There is a graveyard (not a cemetery), where there are a few burials,
including Rattlesnake Jack, the last burial there.”682
Kenneth Jessen suggests: “In a mine explosion at the Black Hawk tunnel in 1892, two Manhattan
miners were killed. A cemetery was established, and they were buried north of the present-day road
through the town site. Later, another miner was killed and buried in the cemetery. It is possible that
others who died in Manhattan also were buried there.
“FC Goodell was born in Manhattan and tells of a trip he took when he was 12 years old. He
drove one of two wagons loaded with ore from Manhattan to Denver to be milled. The mine's owner

674

Charlene Garcia Simms, Genealogy and Special Collections Librarian, Pueblo City-County Library
District, Special Collections Department, 100 East Abriendo, Pueblo, CO 81004;
[email protected]
675
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joes,_Colorado
676
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
677
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Chance,_Colorado
678
Richard Johnson; Last Chance; Denver Post; January 4, 1987
679
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/routt/mad-creek.cfm
680
Jim Stanko, Sureva Towler, and Judy Seligson; The Historical Guide to Routt County; Routt County
Board of County Commissioners; 1979; provided by Tread of Pioneers Museum, PO Box 772372, 800 Oak
St, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477; http://www.treadofpioneers.org/photos/
681
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan,_Colorado
682
Provided by Gordon Hazard, Corresponding Secretary, Larimer County Genealogical Society, PO Box
270737, Fort Collins, CO 80527-0737; [email protected]; http://www.lcgsco.org/

drove the other wagon. When the owner received payment for the gold content, he figured he had been
working his mine for a dollar a day.
“As late as 1898, mines in the area were being patented, but Manhattan was all but abandoned.
The post office was closed and moved to Elkhorn; some of the buildings were moved to other locations.
For reasons known only to the US Forest Service, these cabins that remained were burned by the Forest
Service during the 1930s.”683
***NINETYFOUR, CLEAR CREEK COUNTY684, COLORADO***
Kenneth Jessens calls attention to: “Another camp in the general area was Ninety-Four, and as
the name suggests, it was founded in 1894. The mines that supported Ninety-Four were the NinetyFour, Lalla and Princess Alice. The camp was a cluster of buildings in the general vicinity of the mines,
but it was never a town as such. It did not have such things as a store, post office or school. The steep
mountainside precluded Ninety-Four from expanding. Besides, the town of Alice was just across the
valley. The view, however, from Ninety-Four was spectacular and included two peaks in excess of 14,000
feet and across the valley, the St Marys Glacier.”685
***NO NAME, GARFIELD COUNTY686, COLORADO***
Debbie Herman communicates: “Some simply state that No Name was named for No Name
Creek and No Name Canyon. Others explain that when Interstate 70 was completed, the Colorado
Department of Transportation put up highway signs. One area had no name, so on the sign for Exit 119
– the exit leading to the area – officials wrote No Name. Residents got so used to it, when officials gave
the place a ‘proper’ name, they fought to have it changed back!”687
***NUCLA, MONTROSE COUNTY, COLORADO***
Dallas Holmes connotes: “Nucla was originally settled as an intentional community by a group
known as the Altrurians. Their mission, to bring water from the river several miles to the top of
Tabeguache Park, was a massive undertaking that they achieved through communal living. The
Colorado Cooperative Ditch Company still exists today as the owner of the Highline Canal and CC Ditch,
miles of tunnel, earthen canal, and flume.”688
***PARACHUTE, GARFIELD COUNTY689, COLORADO***
GR Eichler details: “[named] for Parachute Creek on which it is located. That name is derived
from the East, West, and Middle Forks of the creek which, from on high, resembles the shrouds of a
parachute. In spring 1976, a proposal to return to the name Parachute [it had been changed to Grand
Valley] was defeated at the polls. In anticipation of the change, however, the name appeared for one

683

Kenneth Jessen; Ghost Towns Colorado Style; JV Publications; 1998
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,181371,n,ninetyfour.cfm
685
Kenneth Jessen; Ghost Towns Colorado Style; JV Publications; 1998
686
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Name,_Colorado
687
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
688
Dallas Holmes, Rimrocker Historical Society of Western Montrose County, CO, PO Box 913, Nucla, CO
81424; http://www.rimrocker.org/
689
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute,_Colorado
684

year on the state map and in the index. (The first human parachute descent was made from a balloon,
in France, in 1797.)”690
Maxine Benson explains: “Another story is told of hunters on the cliffs above who exclaimed,
‘We need a parachute to get down there!’”691
***PARADOX, MONTROSE COUNTY692, COLORADO***
William Bright imparts: “The town and the adjacent Paradox Creek were named for Paradox
Valley, so called because the Dolores River cuts through its cliff walls at right angles. Early settlers found
the valley almost inaccessible; they had to unload their wagons, take them apart, and lower the pieces
by ropes from a ledge to the floor of the valley.”693
***SECURITY, EL PASO COUNTY694, COLORADO***
A newspaper piece entitled Security Village Clipping File mentions: “The idea of a Security
Village was conceived over the idea of water, following a serious drought in 1954. There are seven fresh
water wells in the area yielding a seemingly endless supply of water. In the spring of 1954, four men
(Robert M and Robert K Willis, Leon Snyder and EW Hayes) formed the Security Development Company
and built 65 small Federal Housing Administration approved homes. The first two intersecting streets
were Easy Street and Security Boulevard. Mrs Willis Sr remarked how wonderful it would be to live on
Easy St in Security. Hence the name.”695
***SPOOK CITY, SAGUACHE COUNTY696, COLORADO***
Perry Eberhart puts into words: “This camp, located about two miles beyond Bonita, was
apparently named for the Spook lode, and doesn't have the interesting story behind it one might expect.
The Spook lode was a secondary location. The Lost Dickey was the better claim.
“There was some activity here in 1879-80, but the biggest boom which caused the city to be
named took place after 1893, when the Spook and the Lost Dickey were located.
“The mines produced both gold and silver, but apparently not too much of either. A Danish
syndicate purchased the claims in 1894 for $5,000, and gained from the Dickey, but little work was done
on the Spook.
“The site is a true Spook City, as nothing remains.”697
***URAVAN, MONTROSE COUNTY, COLORADO***
Dallas Holmes reports: “Uravan was originally started in 1912 as a radium processing mill, the
Joe Junior Camp. In the 1930s it was a vanadium processing plant, and in the 1940s it was used by the
690

George R Eichler; Colorado Place Names: Communities/Counties/Peaks/Passes with Historical Lore
and Facts plus a Pronunciation Guide; Johnson Publishing; 1977; provided by Samantha Hager, Librarian,
Colorado State Publications Library, 201 E Colfax Ave, Room 314, Denver, CO 80203;
[email protected]
691
Maxine Benson; 1001 Colorado Place Names; University Press of Kansas; 1994
692
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox,_Colorado
693
William Bright; Colorado Place Names; Johnson Printing; 1993
694
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/el-paso/security.cfm
695
Security Village Clipping File; dated 1963; provided by William Thomas, Special Collections, Pikes Peak
Library District, Carnegie Special Collections, PO Box 1579, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1579;
http://ppld.org/
696
http://colorado.hometownlocator.com/co/saguache/spook-city.cfm
697
Perry Eberhart; Guide to the Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps; Swallow Press; 1959

Manhattan Project for milling uranium during World War 2. The town’s name is a combination of
uranium and vanadium, the two minerals it is most well known for.”698
**CONNECTICUT**
HB Staples shows: “The name of Connecticut, spelled Quin-neh-tukqut, signifies ‘land on a long
tidal river’. The name is so spelled in Cotton’s Vocabulary, and in the Cambridge Records it appears as
Quinetuckquet. This explanation rests upon the authority of Dr Trumbull.”699
KB Harder talks about: “From Mohican Quonehtacut or Quinnehtukguet or Connittecock, ‘the
long river’. The colony and state were named for the river.”700
**CONNECTICUT’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
RA Douglas-Lithgow catalogs: “The Pequots were if not the most numerous, the most
formidable as well as the fiercest and bravest of the aborigines of Connecticut. They, together with the
Mohegans, belonged originally to the same race as the Mahicans, Mohicanders, or Machanders, who
resided on the banks of the Hudson. The territory they claimed as their own represented an area of
about 500 square miles, and it extended from the Niantic River, on the west, to Wecapaug, ten miles
east of the Pawcatuck River, which divides Connecticut from Rhode Island; - their most northern clans,
the Mohegans, extending northward for a distance of about 10 or 12 miles from Long Island Sound: in
fine, the suzerainty of their chief sachem was, at one time, said to extend from Narraganset to Hudson
River, and all along the Connecticut shore, including Long Island.
“Although their numbers have been estimated as aggregating 4,000, the probability is that the
tribe never exceeded 2,000; but almost incessant warfare, and especially the war against the combined
Narragansets, Mohegans, and the English. In 1638, [the war] completed their overthrow, and they
ultimately became the subjects of the white settlers. In 1680, the estimate of the General Court as to
the number of the Indians in Connecticut amounted to only 500 warriors as representing about 2,500
individuals.
“Throughout the State of Connecticut, there were many Indian tribes of comparatively minor
importance, such as the Paugussets and Wepawaugs, the Potatucks, the Quinnipiacs, the
Hammonassets, and the Tunxis, also the so-called River tribes living on the banks of the Connecticut
River, consisting of the Podunks, and the Wangunks: none of these, however, calls for detailed attention
here.
“Sassacus was the chief Sachem of the Pequots, and a man who terrorized all the neighboring
tribes. He was said to have had 26 sachems under him, and his principal residence was on the River
Thames, near New London.”701
***DEVIL’S BACKBONE, BETHLEHEM, LITCHFIELD COUNTY702, CONNECTICUT***
CA Brown conveys: “It refers to a stretch of road along Magnolia Hill Road in our town. The
section is very twisted with curves going downhill and across a small brook and curves going up
again. The devil was supposed to be twisted and deformed as well as evil. This section of road must
698

Dallas Holmes, Rimrocker Historical Society of Western Montrose County, CO, PO Box 913, Nucla, CO
81424; http://www.rimrocker.org/
699
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
700
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
701
Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow; Native American Place Names of Rhode Island; Applewood
Books; 2001
702
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem,_Connecticut

have been torture on horses in the old days and still is for all of us in all seasons. The name is one given
colloquially and not usually found on the old maps. Magnolia Hill Road is a designated scenic road in
Connecticut. The view from the top four corners is magnificent. Even the descent into the Devil's
Backbone is very beautiful.”703
***HASSUNADCHUAUCK, HARTFORD COUNTY704, CONNECTICUT***
Carol Ganz discusses: ‘Hassun-Adchu-Auk: Indian name for their village at Brush Hill; hassun
‘stony’, adchu ‘hill’, auk ‘place’: ‘a place by a stony hill’.”705
***HATTERTOWN, FAIRFIELD COUNTY706, CONNECTICUT***
Debbie Herman enumerates: “If you’re looking for the Mad Hatter, you won’t find him here in
Hattertown, though this community was named for a hatter, or hat maker, in the early 1800s. Elam
Benedict started a hat-making business in this community with his business partner, Levi Taylor. They
decided it was a good place to set up shop because there were no other hatters in the area, and the
streams were filled with beaver and muskrat, animals whose fur was used in making hats. But other
hatters did eventually start working here, and by 1846 there were seven hat factories in town. At least
Benedict and Taylor had a head start!”707
***MERRYALL, LITCHFIELD COUNTY708, CONNECTICUT***
Debbie Herman points out: “In the 1700s, land surveyors were surveying a piece of land in
Milford, Connecticut. When stopped for the night, they started drinking and ‘all became merry’. That’s
how Upper Merryall and Lower Merryall got their names. This is one of the only a few cases where a
New England community was named for a frivolous, or silly reason.”709
***MYSTIC, NEW LONDON COUNTY710, CONNECTICUT***
Debbie Herman gives an account: “Mystic is not a mystical town. The name is derived from an
Algonquian word meaning ‘Great tidal river’. Mystic was first applied to a stream, and then to the
village. It was also applied to other features and places in the area.”711
***PUDDLETOWN, LITCHFIELD COUNTY712, CONNECTICUT***
703

Carol Ann Brown, President, Old Bethlehem Historical Society, PO Box 132, Bethlehem, CT 06751;
[email protected]; http://www.ci.bethlehem.ct.us/obhsi.htm
704
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1950343,n,hassunadchuauck.cfm
705
Carol Ganz, Librarian I, History and Genealogy Unit, Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Ave,
Hartford CT 06106; [email protected]; http://www.cslib.org/
706
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattertown,_Connecticut;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtown,_Connecticut
707
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
708
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Milford,_Connecticut
709
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
710
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic,_Connecticut
711
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
712
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/ct/litchfield/puddle-town.cfm

New Hartford Historical Society expounds: “Heading east on Rte 44 from Pine Meadow, one
quickly enters what appears, aside from one or two older houses, to be an area dominated by mid-late
twentieth century development, from the old Waring Factory (now Collinsville Antiques), to the
condominiums of River Run, to the Foothills Plaza. One might be forgiven for assuming that this section
of town, pinched as it is between the ledges of Satan’s Kingdom and the Farmington River, had little
historic activity prior to the widening of Rte 44. After all, while the railroads ran on the southwest side of
the river, the other side has a wider floodplain, more suitable for farming, and was the earliest
alignment of the road to Albany, the Farmington River Turnpike, now an almost forgotten dirt road.
However, for a brief period between 1847 and 1863, this section of town was a center for industrial
activity. Puddling iron was the process by which iron was purified by melting bog iron with charcoal to
remove impurities. The process required massive amounts of charcoal, which was procured from the
surrounding hills, though by the 1860s, wood was increasingly in short supply in the region.
Puddletown included an iron foundry, iron-works, charcoal pits, and about half-a-dozen tenement
houses.
“In 1847, New Hartford was the ideal location for this sort of industry. Wood was in ample
supply, as was iron from the nearby Berkshire Hills. It was a dynamic center of development, Elias Howe
had just invented his sewing machine in New Hartford, the Chapin Company was rapidly growing, and
other industries, mostly textile, were also being established. However, when a fire destroyed
Puddletown’s iron foundry in 1863, the factory was never rebuilt. It remained as a ghost town until the
floods of 1936 and 1955, at which time the buildings were almost entirely erased from physical memory.
“Puddletown was probably not rebuilt because it was an expensive, labor intensive process of
iron refining, which by the 1860s, could not compete with the modern methods. By this time, readily
accessible iron was mostly played out in the Berkshires, and charcoal was also hard to come by, though
resurgence in charcoal would occur about forty years later as abandoned fields regrew into forests.
Additionally, as the factories upstream and downstream grew, water rights to the power provided by
the river were increasingly hard to defend. In any case, Puddletown vanished from New Hartford,
remaining only as a particularly obscure, if vivid, piece of history.”713
***SPOONVILLE, HARTFORD COUNTY714, CONNECTICUT***
Carol Ganz impresses: “William B Cowles began the manufacture of German silver spoons here
around 1840. The Rogers Brothers here drove him out of business around 1851.”715
***VOLUNTOWN, NEW LONDON COUNTY716, CONNECTICUT***
Debbie Herman relates: “If you thought Voluntown had something to do with volunteering, then
you thought right! The land, originally called Volunteer Town, was given to settlers who volunteered to
fight in King Philip’s War, a war between American Indians and English settlers in the years 1675-6.”717
***YELPING HILL, LITCHFIELD COUNTY718, CONNECTICUT***
713

http://newhartfordcthistory.org/2012/05/23/puddletown/; New Hartford Historical Society, PO Box
41, 537 Main Street, New Hartford, CT 06057; [email protected]
714
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/ct/hartford/spoonville.cfm
715
Carol Ganz, Librarian I, History and Genealogy Unit, Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Ave,
Hartford CT 06106; [email protected]; http://www.cslib.org/
716
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntown,_Connecticut
717
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
718
http://connecticut.hometownlocator.com/ct/litchfield/yelping-hill.cfm

Carol Ganz notates: “Name explained locally as 1) from yelping of abundant colonial foxes; or 2)
‘I grew up in Cornwall Hollow almost in the shadow of Yelping Hill. ... We were told that a family had
lived there who had a couple of deaf-mute children who, when angered or excited, made uncouth
sounds which could be heard in the valley.’ Adella Merwin, 1953 letter.”719
**DELAWARE**
HB Staples puts pen to paper: “The counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex ‘upon Delaware’,
granted by the Duke of York to Penn in 1682, were known as the territories of Pennsylvania. In 1701,
Penn granted them certain autonomy. The State was named after the bay of that name and the bay
after Lord De-la-war who explored it. It has been claimed that the bay and the river were named after
the Delaware Indians, who in 1600 dwelt upon their shores. This claim is unfounded. The Delaware
name for the river was Lenapehittuk, meaning ‘Lenape River’.”720
KB Harder represents Delaware: “(or De La Warr), Thomas West, Lord (1577-1618), first British
governor of the colony of Virginia. Delaware Bay was named for him by Captain Samuel Argall, who
discovered it while en route from England to Virginia in 1610. The river, the Indian tribe (also Leni or
Leni-Lenape), the colony, and the state are named for the bay. The tribe originally occupied the central
Atlantic states, but they had been pushed to Kansas by 1835. In 1867 they settled in what is now
eastern Oklahoma.”721
www.statesymbolsusa.org states: “Sir Thomas West (Lord De La Warr) was governor of the
English colony at Jamestown, Virginia in 1610.”722
Wiki alludes: “De La Warr may originate from Norman French de la guerre or de la werre, ‘of the
723
war’.”
***APPOQUINIMINK RIVER, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 communicates: “Appoquinimink is an Indian name, probably
meaning ‘wounded duck’ or ‘view of settlement’. Bohemia River (originally Appoquimimi) formed with
Appoquinimink Creek, an almost continuous water route from Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware for the
Minquas Indians and other travelers.”724
***ASSAWOMAN BAY, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 depicts: “This bay was originally called Assateague, an
Algonquian word meaning ‘stream or inlet in the middle’ or ‘across’. It was later changed to Assawoman
Bay, also an Algonquian name, meaning ‘midway fishing stream’.”725
***BLACKBIRD, NEW CASTLE COUNTY726, DELAWARE***
Debbie Herman writes: “According to legend, the town of Blackbird was originally called
Blackbeard, for the greatly feared pirate of the early 1700s. Later, residents wanted to change the name
719

Carol Ganz, Librarian I, History and Genealogy Unit, Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Ave,
Hartford CT 06106; [email protected]; http://www.cslib.org/
720
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
721
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
722
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Delaware/name_delaware.html
723
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_name_etymologies
724
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
725
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
726
http://delaware.hometownlocator.com/de/new-castle/blackbird.cfm

of their town, without making it too different. Lucky for them, the area had many blackbirds, so the
switch was easy. Blackbeard became Blackbird! Others say Blackbird was simply named for the local
Black Birds Creek, or for the large flocks of blackbirds.”727
***BOMBAY HOOK POINT, KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 enumerates: “Bombay Hook is an altered Dutch name appearing
to be a translation of the Lenape Indian names Mettocksinowousingh, sometimes shortened to
Neuwisings or Neusink, meaning ‘Little tree point’, Canaresse, meaning ‘at the hedge’, ie, thicket; and
Ruyge-Bosje, a Dutch name meaning ‘Shaggy bushes’. On the oldest maps it seems to refer to Bakeoven
Point.”728
***BRANDYWINE CREEK, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 gives an account: “The derivation of the name Brandywine, used
as early as 1665, has never been satisfactorily explained. The variant name Wawaset is an Indian term
meaning ‘near the winding bend’. The Indian name Suspecough means ‘at the muddy pond’, referring to
the junction with the Christina River, and Tancopanican is also Indian for ‘stream of little tubers’,
referring to the ground nut or Indian potato found on the banks of the river. The Swedish variant
Fiskiekijlen means ‘fishkill’, and the Dutch name Visscherskil is an inexact Dutch translation.”729
***BREAD AND CHEESE ISLAND, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 points out: “The name Bread and Cheese is a translation of the
Dutch name Kees und Brodts, first recorded on Lindestrom's maps of 1654-5. Reasons for the use of this
name are speculative.”730
***BURNT SWAMP, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE***
James Diehl specifies: “There's possibly no place in Sussex County that has been the subject of
more legends, ghost stories and all-out tall tales than the Great Cypress Swamp, a vast eleven-thousandacre labyrinth that the locals call the Burnt Swamp because of all the fires that have raged within its
borders. Stories about the Burnt Swamp go back nearly five centuries to 1524, when European explorer
Giovanni da Verrazano first wrote about the swamp, calling it Arcadia for the abundance of tall cypress
trees located there.
“Owned at one time by local ware hero General John Dagworthy, who cultivated the swamp's
cypress trees for use as roofing shingles, the often-described ‘dark corner’ of Sussex County has a
mysterious and storied past. There have been many fires in the swamp over the years, the worst
occurring in 1929, when a homemade still is believed to have sparked a blaze that burned for eight
months and could be smelled from as far away as Wilmington, about one hundred miles away.
“The many fires have taken a toll on the swamp, which today is only about 20 percent of its
original size. No longer do Atlantic white cedar and bald cypress trees dominate its acreage; what was
once described as ‘one of the most frightening labyrinths you can imagine’ by English botanist Thomas
Nuttall in 1808, is today a much smaller and more friendlier environment.
“But don't tell that to anyone growing up in south central Sussex County in the 1960s - to them,
the hundreds of ‘boogeyman’ sightings in the swamp through the years became a reality. To this day,
727

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
728
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
729
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
730
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966

many are convinced that a strange creature lurks in the swamp, ready to strike at anyone who dares
enter its boundaries.
“The legend of the Selbyville Swamp Monster, in 1964 when Ralph Grapperhaus, the respected
editor of the Delmarva News, created the tale and contacted local resident, and practical joke
enthusiast, Fred Stevens about playing the role of a yeti-like creature that roamed the dark corners of
the swamp. All too willing to play along, Stevens grabbed a costume he made out of his Aunt Dorothy's
old raccoon coat. A scary mask and a club with a spike driven through it later, the Selbyville Swamp
Monster was born.
“One night, dropped off by Grapperhaus, Stevens climbed into the woods and began jumping
out at cars as they drove through the swamp, and a local legend was born. News of the sightings spread
around central Sussex County like wildfire, and Grapperhaus followed the story religiously in his
newspaper. Then came a challenge from the longtime editor - he wanted readers to own up to their
fears and try to snap a photograph of the creature to ‘establish its entity’.
“It turns out that it was Grapperhaus himself who finally got the lucky shot, arguably the most
famous image ever to originate in tiny Selbyville, in April 1964. It sparked fear, bread even greater
speculation and created more than an occasional belly laugh in the Stevens household.
“Splashed across the front page of the Delmarva News on April 23 was a photo of the creature
himself, coming out of the woods and looking ready to strike anything that dared get close. Along with it
was a note from the newspaper's editor that read, ‘Night after night, thru rain and along muddy roads
we used every device known to man to track down the Swamp Creature ... Finally after frustrating nights
in the rain, and in the mud, our efforts paid off.’
“The first and only image of the creature created frenzy around Sussex County, and it wasn't
long before newspapers around the region began reprinting Grapperhaus' infamous photo. Stevens
became a local legend, though no one outside of his family knew it was him behind the mask. It became
more than simply masquerading as the swamp creature for Stevens, then a young man of twenty-six. He
even joined in search parties for the mysterious inhabitant of the Burnt Swamp.
“He remembers one time sitting in the back seat of a car with friends as they roamed the
swamp, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious creature. They had no idea that the hideous
monstrosity was actually locked in the car with them the whole time.
“For years after the photo of the creature became public, people continued to report sightings
of the Swamp Monster. Though the hysteria eventually died down, the creature was never captured.
The true identity of Sussex County's very own Big Foot remained a closely guarded secret - per
Grapperhaus' wishes - until 1987, when Stevens finally came clean after the longtime editor's passing.
“But even though Stevens came forth with the truth more than twenty years ago, there are
many in town who still believe that a creature roams the woods of the Burnt Swamp. And as long as
stories are told and legends are revisited, the mysterious creature will continue to have a home in local
lore.”731
***KIAMENSI, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 relates: “The name may be derived from Hwiskakimensi, a
Lenape name for ‘young tree’. Local tradition has it that Kiamensi was the name of an Indian maiden
who jumped to her death at a ‘lovers leap’ on Red Clay Creek.”732
***MERMAID, NEW CASTLE COUNTY733, DELAWARE***
731

James Diehl; Remembering Sussex County From Zwaanendael to King Chicken; History Press; 2009
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
733
http://delaware.hometownlocator.com/de/new-castle/mermaid.cfm
732

Debbie Herman stipulates: “Sorry, no mythological sea creatures here! The Mermaid Tavern,
built around 1746, was a stagecoach stop. But over the time it became more than just a place for weary
travelers to lay their heads or have a drink. It became a hangout for locals and a full-service station for
stagecoaches and wagons, with horse stables, a blacksmith and a wheelwright – the auto mechanic of
the olden days – housed nearby. As a single-street village grew up around the tavern, it was naturally
called Mermaid. And that’s no fish tale!”734
***MURDERKILL RIVER, KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 stipulates: “The earliest form of the name appeared on
Lindestrom's maps as Mordare Kijhlen, Swedish for ‘the Murderer Creek’. The reason for this name is
unknown.”735
***RELIANCE, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE***
James Diehl tells: “It's hard to imagine there ever being a woman more evil, more hated and
more feared that the infamous Patty Cannon, the ringleader of probably the largest kidnapping gang
ever to roam the lands, and waters, of the First State. Moving to the Delmarva Peninsula from Canada in
the early 1800s and marrying local farmer Jesse Cannon, Martha ‘Patty’ Cannon terrorized free blacks
for years from her home in Johnson's Crossroads, now Reliance. Taking advantage of a law passed by
Congress in 1808 that made importing slaves from Africa illegal, Cannon and her gang of evildoers began
turning a healthy profit in the slave trade by kidnapping free blacks and selling them to dealers in the
Deep South.
“It was the well-meaning legislation that started it all, leading to severe labor shortages in the
southern United States, where the cotton industry was booming. During the months and years that
followed, slaves could fetch up to $1,000 at market. Patty, her husband, her daughter's family and many
more members of her gang, saw an opportunity to make some good money, and they pounced on it.
“At its peak, Patty's gang was more than two dozen men - and women - strong. Kidnapping free
blacks from throughout Delaware, Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania and delivering them to traders in
the South proved to be a lucrative business, and the gang flourished.
“Operating out of her home on the Delaware-Maryland line, Patty and her cohorts often kept
their captives chained in the structure for up to several months at a time, while actively seeking out
potential buyers. Their location in Johnson's Crossroads - renamed in 1882 to purge any bad feelings
caused by Patty and her gang's infamous misdeeds - was a perfect place from which to conduct an illegal
business.
“Johnson's Tavern, which until 2004 was widely believed to have been the actual house where
Patty lived, was actually the home of her daughter and son-in-law. Patty's home was a couple hundred
yards away. This location made it easy for the county's most notorious resident to avoid capture - when
Delaware authorities came to confront her, she would step across the state line into Maryland, and vice
versa. Her capture could have easily been coordinated between officials from the two states, but for
years her activities were allowed to continue. One reason could very well have been that even the
authorities of the day lived in fear of the members of the gang, not wanting to get on their bad sides.
“Capturing free blacks by several different methods, including luring them with promises of
work and/or free passage to the North, Patty and her partners in crime kept many a future slave
shackled in her basement, in her attic, in the woods behind her home and in secret passageways inside
Johnson's Tavern. It's also believed that she kept some of her victims shackled to trees on a small island
734

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
735
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966

somewhere along the shores of the Nanticoke River or its tributaries. Though its location is not known,
nor has it been definitely proven that it even exists, it's rumored to have been along Broad Creek near
present-day Phillips Landing, outside of Laurel. Others believe it's near Sharptown, Maryland, and others
aren't sure it ever existed at all. Over the years, many people have come forward to report their
discovery of ‘Shackle Island’, ‘Patty Cannon's Island’ or one of many other names given to the legendary
piece of land over the years.
“Perhaps it's a piece of Sussex County folklore, or maybe a piece of history that is merely waiting
to be found. Patty did supposedly utilize her family's ferry, the present-day Woodland Ferry, to help
transport her victims across the Nanticoke River for their long trek to the Chesapeake Bay and
eventually to the Deep South, so a location that allowed easy access to the river would have made
perfect sense.
“She and her gang largely operated outside of interference from the law, but they were arrested
and indicted at least once, in the spring of 1822. But only Joe Johnson, Patty's son-in-law and most
notorious partner in the crime ring, was convicted and sentenced to thirty-nine lashes at the local
pillory.
“Seven years later, Patty's luck finally ran out when she was indicted on four counts of murder,
after a farmer plowing a field on her property uncovered four bodies, including the remains of an infant
girl. The evildoing ways of Patty Cannon finally came to an end with her arrest in 1829. It was the end of
the road for Patty and her infamous gang of kidnappers, torturers and murderers. But she would
ultimately have the last say, refusing to let the powers that be in Sussex County dictate her final days.
“In a world dominated by men and during a time when women didn't have many rights, Cannon
nonetheless prospered. She's been called the ‘wickedest woman in the world’, a ‘she demon’ and ‘the
face of evil’, but she was also a charming woman who easily lured men into her home under the ruse of
kindness. But one thing is certain - if you lived in Sussex County, or in one of the neighboring counties of
Maryland, Patty and her gang were people you wanted to avoid, particularly if you were black.
“No photos or portraits are known to exist of Patty Cannon, but she's believed to have been a
charming and attractive woman in her younger years, who kept in good physical shape. She possessed
enormous strength and was filled with ruthlessness and vindictiveness.
“Very little documentation has survived on the life and times of Martha ‘Patty’ Cannon, making
her notorious deeds the topic of much speculation, storytelling and outright gossip over the years. But
many facts are indisputable. Patty Cannon was as evil a woman as any who has ever lived in Sussex
County. Though she was convicted of four murders in 1829, it's widely believed that she was responsible
for many, many more.
“Many lifelong western Sussex County residents will also tell you that she murdered her
husband in the early 1820s, though she was never arrested for that particular misdeed.
“In the end, the law finally caught up with Patty Cannon. Seeing the writing on the wall, the
county's most notorious outlaw decided she would have the final word - she reportedly poisoned herself
on May 11, 1829, while awaiting trial in the Sussex County Jail in Georgetown. Initially buried in a small
graveyard, behind the prison, her remains were later moved to a county potter's field.
“Cannon's home was torn down in 1848, though Johnsons' Tavern still stands today as a
daunting reminder of the life and times of one Martha ‘Patty’ Cannon.
“Patty was a character who was often thought to be larger than life. Her reputation preceded
her and kept her out of prison for many years, but as is almost always the case, her luck finally ran out.
“Patty Cannon was an evil, distasteful wretch of a woman, but her tales continue to make good
stories today. There has been some embellishment through the years, to be sure, but many of the facts

remain without question. She was the face of evil in Sussex County, and every one of her day, and ours,
knew it.”736
***RISING SUN, KENT COUNTY737, DELAWARE***
Debbie Herman articulates: “As one story tells it, the town of Rising Sun, like many places in
early America, was named for a tavern of the same name.”738
***SLAUGHTER BEACH, SUSSEX COUNTY739, DELAWARE***
Yell0w_birds chronicles: “I live in Hockessin, DE, but my grandparents have a beach house in
Slaughter Beach, DE. Really cool place. Feels like I'm in a time warp when I go there! History: Slaughter
Beach, Delaware, is a tiny town of 133 on the Delaware Bay. Founded in 1681 and incorporated in 1931,
it was home to the only wooden frame lighthouse still standing in Delaware, which was recently
destroyed by lightning. Slaughter Beach, Del, has no grocery store, though it once did. It has no gas
station, no hotel, and no boardwalk, though it once did. There are fewer inhabitants in this fishing town
of 130 than it had at the turn of the century. Once a popular resort town for vacationing families,
population in Slaughter Beach declined as erosion devoured its shoreline. A powerful hurricane in 1962
ravaged the beach, dumping sand into the main street and filling summer cottages with water. The
disaster seemed to set off a chain reaction that included the closing of the liquor store, the general
store, and finally, the restaurant that once operated adjacent to the now deserted Mispillion Lighthouse.
There are at least two stories of where the town’s name came from: The first is that it was named after
William Slaughter, a local postmaster in the mid-1800s. The second story claims ‘the name came from
the horseshoe crabs that wash up on shore and die each year. They come near shore to shallow water to
lay their eggs and the low tide strands them leaving them to die, thus the slaughter.’ I just LOVE going to
the house and feeling like I'm walking among ghosts around the town - this past summer I went just
about every weekend. I don't have too many great pictures that display the atmosphere, but next time I
go (we've closed the house for winter) I will take more pictures! One of the best things about the place
is this abandoned fort. Fort Saulsbury. It's privately owned and last time I was there I actually got chased
off by the owner (oops). I swear he is hiding something in that fort. He is so protective of it, although I
can see why. It was first used for defense in WWI, but held prisoners of war in WWII! The ‘inside’ was so
creepy; I got these icy chills from the moment I stepped in. It's completely untouched, dark dark dark;
you can clearly see the cells where the prisoners were held. This site www.fortsaulsbury.org has some
low-quality pics on it. Definitely worth taking a look! (Click ‘virtual tour’.)”740
***THE WEDGE, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 writes: “This area is bounded on the west by the Maryland
boundary, on the North by the Pennsylvania boundary, and on the East by a continuation of the arc 12
miles from New Castle, extending from Mason and Dixon's Tangent Stone, 2.5 miles southwest of
Newark, to Arc Corner, 3 miles northwest of Newark. The ownership of this area was disputed for many
years between Pennsylvania and Delaware. Mason-Dixon's Survey of 1765 designated it as part of

736

James Diehl; Remembering Sussex County From Zwaanendael to King Chicken; History Press; 2009
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun-Lebanon,_Delaware
738
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
739
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughter_Beach,_Delaware
740
http://abandonedplaces.livejournal.com/1519091.html
737

Pennsylvania, as did those by Col Graham in 1849, but their conclusions were not accepted by Delaware,
and in 1893 a joint commission awarded the land to Delaware.”741
***THRUMCAP, KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE***
Geological Survey Bulletin 1245 articulates: “Thrumcap is probably a mariner’s term from
Maine, referring to a clump of trees that serves as a landmark. It may be derived from the similarity in
appearance between clumps of trees at a distance over the water and a thrum or tuft of yarn on an
early seaman's cap.”742
**FLORIDA**
HB Staples declares: “The origin of the name of Florida is a matter of general agreement among
historians. The story of Ponce de Leon sailing to the West in 1512 in search of the fountain of youth,
seeing land on Pascua Florida or ‘Flowery Easter’, and on account of its profusion of flowers naming it
Florida is familiar to all.”743
www.statesymbolsusa.org describes: “Florida was named Pascua Florida by explorer Ponce de
Leon on Easter in 1513. Translation: means ‘Flowery Easter’ or ‘Flowering Easter’ (after Spain's ‘Feast of
the Flowers’ Easter celebration).”744
**APPALACHIAN**
GP Donehoo displays: “The name given to the mountain system along the eastern part of the
[United States] continent. Probably derived from the Choctaw a’palachi, ‘people on the other side’.
Apalachee was one of the native tribes of Florida. They were visited by Narvaez in 1528 and by DeSoto
in 1539.
“While they were agricultural and very industrious, they were noted as great fighters. They
resisted the Spanish until after 1600, when they were conquered. The name Appalachian is sometimes
used as being synonymous with Allegheny, in reference to the mountain system. This is an error.
Appalachian is the general designation of the entire system of mountains: Allegheny is the name of one
of the main ridges of this system.
“Governor Hamilton said in 1750, in a letter to the Board of Trade, ‘The Apalaccian Mountains –
would make a good boundary between the English and French Dominions in North America.’
“Apalaccian Mountains (1751); Appalaccin Hills (1758); Montagnes des Apalaches (1744); Mont
d’ Apalaches (1720)
“Franquelin’s map of La Salle’s discoveries, 1684, notes the Apalatche village, in Florida, but
does not note the mountain system.”745
***BELGIUM, DESOTO COUNTY746, FLORIDA***
DeSoto County Historical Society expresses: “In 1913, the Seaboard Air Line Railway organized
the East and West Coast Railway as a subsidiary. Tracks were laid from Bradenton to Arcadia, and the
first train arrived in 1915. A station west of Peace River, built in 1914, was named Belgium to
commemorate the first battle of World War I. Now known as the Battle of Mons, it was where the
British Expeditionary Force fought the German troops in Belgium before trench warfare began. Belgium
741

Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
Delaware Place Names; Geological Survey Bulletin 1245; US Government Printing Office; 1966
743
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
744
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Florida/FloridaNameOrigin.html
745
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
746
http://florida.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,294630,n,belgium.cfm
742

[Florida] had a depot, a saw mill, and a citrus packing house. The East and West Coast Railway were
discontinued in the early 1930s, and the tracks were taken up. The old route parallels State Road 70 for
much of its length.”747
***CELEBRATION, OSCEOLA COUNTY748, FLORIDA***
Gabriela Stephan notes: “Our town’s name was invented by Disney. Walt Disney always had the
dream to build an old fashion American town, where neighbors sit on their front porches, walk
downtown or take bike rides around town. That is the reason, when Celebration was established 1994,
the first residents moved in 1996, why Disney named the town Celebration. Their plan was that is a daily
celebration to live, work and play here.”749
***CORKSCREW, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris records: “Corkscrew (Swamp, Village, Sanctuary): The late Dr Robert O Vernon,
former director of the Division Resources, State Department of Natural Resources, said the name of the
swamp likely was derived from its shape. The outline of the swamp resembles a corkscrew with a
handle across the top, then dwindling to a point. The sanctuary is under the protection of the National
Audubon Society. At its heart is an untouched stand of bald cypress trees, their roots underwater and
their branches reaching 100 feet or more into the sky. Beneath these towering giants is a lush tangle of
vines, Spanish moss and aquatic plants, so impenetrable that until a few years ago, most people were
content to leave it to the alligators. In the mid-1950s, the pressures for land in south Florida became so
intense that even that inaccessible swamp was threatened with drainage and development.
Conservationists stopped in to preserve this unforgettable remnant of the original Florida wilderness as
a wildlife sanctuary. Today, visitors can stroll among the cypresses on a boardwalk. Corkscrew is the
largest remaining nesting place for the wood ibis, the only North American member of the stork family.
Near the sanctuary is the village of Corkscrew.”750
***FORT LONESOME, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris reveals: “Never a fort but it is lonesome - a Miami Herald article by Nixon Smiley in
1971 said even the cows ‘sounded lonely’. How the name was applied to this crossroads, where State
Route 30 and State Route 674 intersect, has two explanations passed along by Mrs James D Bruton, Jr,
of Plant City. One is that Mrs Dovie Stanaland, who had a store here, applied the name because there
was a sense of loneliness, with only flat land as far as the eye could see. The other, which has a martial
ring to it, holds that the name was applied by a detachment of the National Guard stationed at the
crossroads, during the year-long blockade of central Florida, to prevent spread of the Mediterranean
fruit fly, after the infestation was discovered in Orange County on April 6, 1929.”751

747

DeSoto County Historical Society, PO Box 1824, Arcadia, FL 34265; http://www.historicdesoto.org/;
provided by Carol Mahler, PO Box 1644, Nocatee, FL 34268; [email protected]
748
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida
749
Gabriela Stephan, Celebration Welcome Center, 690 Celebration Ave, Celebration, FL 34747;
[email protected]; http://www.ccmcnet.com/
750
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
751
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of

Mike Woodfin spells out: “I know some will want to argue with me but, there never was a fort at
Fort Lonesome. Originally a man named Snyder had a store there that was called ‘Boogerman's Corner’.
This was the place on a Saturday night your Momma told you to stay away from. The Fort Lonesome
story of how it got its name was due to a Mediterranean fruit fly outbreak in 1929. An inspection station
was located there and inspected all fruit coming up from South Florida. One of the inspectors hung a
sign reading Fort Lonesome. However never a fort. In the 1930s Fort Lonesome became a ‘boom town’
when a steam powered saw mill was built to harvest all the timber. A town sprang up that sported two
stores. Snyder's store, run by Gus Haywood, on the southwest corner and another store on the
northeast corner run by ‘Runt’ Carter. The saw mill eventually burned down, and the Fort Lonesome
‘boom’ came to an end. Carter closed his store, but Haywood kept his open. The old Haywood store has
since been torn down and replaced by a convenience store. An electric substation is near the spot of the
old saw mill.”752
***HOOKER POINT, HENDRY COUNTY753, FLORIDA***
Butch Wilson touches on: “Mr Hooker (William C ‘Bill’ Hooker) was a pioneer, farmer and
County and City Commissioner in the early days of Clewiston, Florida. He had vegetable packing houses
along the Industrial canal (on the southwest shores of Lake Okeechobee), where boats brought produce
from other towns for packing and shipping. As you may have already surmised, the area known as
‘Hookers Point’ was named to honor Mr Hooker for his civic contributions.
“The name, Hookers Point, always gets a happy face from visitors because as we all know, the
term ‘hooker’ refers to ladies of the night. This term for prostitutes was birthed when Union
commander General (Joseph) Hooker stationed his thousands of troops in Washington, DC, during the
early part of the Civil War. Many brothels sprang up due to the many young and lonely recruits roaming
the Nation’s capital unsupervised. Soon sections of the city became notorious for Hooker’s boys seeking
love in the arms of these fallen ladies. This ill reputed business soon got the nation’s attention. General
Hooker received a hard felt social black eye, prostitutes emerged as Hookers and young recruits walked
away with happy faces.”754
***HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, LAKE COUNTY755, FLORIDA***
www.howeyinthehills.org establishes: “Howey-in-the-Hills was founded by William John Howey
and incorporated as Howey on May 8, 1925. In 1927, the name was officially changed to Howey-in-theHills, to reflect the beautiful rolling hills and sparkling lakes, which he dubbed ‘the Florida Alps’. Mr
Howey envisioned a great citrus empire with the Town as its commercial and shipping hub. For four
years, he housed visiting prospective buyers in ‘Tent City’, near the shore of Little Lake Harris. Long-time
Howey resident, Helen Buck, spent her first night in Lake County in Tent City. The biographical sketch on
WJ Howey explains why this was necessary.
“After building the Floridan Hotel on the south end of town to house the buyers for his citrus
acreage, he built the Howey Mansion at the north end of town. Across the street from the Mansion to
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
752
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/fl/fortlonesome.html
753
http://florida.hometownlocator.com/fl/hendry/hooker-point.cfm
754
Butch Wilson, Clewiston Museum Director, 109 Central Ave, Clewiston, FL 33440;
http://www.clewistonmuseum.org/; provided by Janet E Papinaw, Director, Hendry County Grants &
Special Projects, Public Information Officer, PO Box 2340, LaBelle, FL 33975-2340;
[email protected]; http://www.hendryfla.net/
755
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howey-in-the-Hills,_Florida

the west, the Floridian Country Club and adjoining golf course, replaced the no longer required tents,
and the new sport of golf gained rapidly in popularity in 1928. The condition of the Country Club building
and golf course declined until take over by Packing House By-Products, a Chicago firm headed up by Nick
Beucher in 1964; the building later became the Mission Inn Pro Shop, then a real estate office, then
leveled to leave vacant land once again.
“The first citrus juice plant in Florida, also built by Mr Howey in 1921, sold canned juice under
the ‘Lifeguard’ name. It and the original Vaughn-Griffin Packing Company has periodically modernized its
capabilities since completion in 1930, first as Silver Springs Citrus Cooperative, and now as home to the
progressive Silver Springs Citrus, purchased in 1994 by Toyota Tsusho America.
“Shaping Florida's future in citrus was due in a large measure to Dodge Taylor, one of WJ
Howey's nearest neighbors (the Dodge Taylor House) and Sales manager starting in 1923.
“During the CV Griffin era, the Floridan Hotel was turned into the Administration Building for the
Howey Academy. The old hotel also included the girl’s dormitory, and for a while, a portion of it served
as Town Hall. Currently, there is a clear spot on top of the hill overlooking Little Lake Harris where the
original Floridan Hotel used to stand. The building had fallen into a state of disrepair, and on April 22,
1994, the Floridan Hotel was literally ‘blown up’, exploding in a huge fireball, and allowed to burn to the
ground during the filming of the Hulk Hogan TV series called, ‘Thunder in Paradise’.
“Town expansion accelerated in the 1950s, when CV Griffin, Sr, promoted ‘Land Cruises’ that
lured people to the central town area, where he built homes and sold them at four successful auctions.
Griffin built and donated Town Hall, established Griffin Airways and was instrumental in seeing that the
State Road 19 Bridge, linking Lake County cities and promoting commerce, was constructed over Lake
Harris. He was a major benefactor of the Howey Academy, founded in 1956. By the end of the 1970s,
the academy had seen its days of glory, and it fell into disuse until Michael Desisto took over the
operation of the facility, naming Marsha Glines, president of the new Desisto College. When the college
sued the Town in federal court, claiming zoning ordinances discriminated against the school's learning
disabled students, the judge ruled in favor of the Town. Griffin promoted major citrus reform in Florida,
was a member and committee chairman of the Florida Citrus Commission, and was a potent force in
creating statewide citrus industry standards.
“In 1964, the fourth entrepreneur in Howey-in-the-Hills, Nick Beucher purchased the Floridan
Country Club and Golf Course and within three decades has turned a simple recreational facility into the
prestigious Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort. Those grounds, along with other real estate
developments in the immediate area, comprise over 1,000 acres. The family-owned, award winning
resort and convention facility sits on beautifully landscaped grounds and offers two 18-hole
championship golf courses, a five-star tennis facility, four elegant dining areas, a restored river yacht and
a marina on Lake Harris.”756
Central Florida Scene (August 1982) clarifies Howey Mansion: “An architectural gem in the Lake
County community of Howey-in-the-Hills attests to Ernest Hemingway’s oft-quoted remark ‘the rich are
different’. To wander through the 20 room mansion built in 1925 by the community’s founder, William J
Howey, and stroll over the 15 acres surrounding, brings a nostalgic feeling of how ‘Once upon a time -.
“William J Howey purchased 60,000 acres in Lake County in 1916, founding the town that was to
bear his name four years later. Following his previous formula for successful practice in Polk County, he
planted citrus on the majority of his newly acquired acreage.
“Unlike many purchasers of Florida property in the ensuing boom years, Mr Howey was not a
speculator, but a land promoter who used the fledgling citrus industry of Central Florida as his economic
756

http://www.howeyinthehills.org/index.asp?Type=GALLERY&SEC=%7B331DFD62-65ED-4F65-A4D60BB7FF9B2DE2%7D; Town of Howey-in-the-Hills, 101 N Palm Ave, PO Box 128, Howey in the Hills, FL
34737

base. Therefore, in 1924, he and his wife, Mary Hastings Howey, completed the plans for their
permanent home in Howey-in-the-Hills, and by the end of 1925, the show place was finished, furnished
and occupied.
“The architect was Katherine Cotheal Budd, who during World War I, had designed temporary
lodgings for women who visited male relatives at military training camps. The ‘hostess home’ idea was a
new concept for that time, and Budd is credited for giving 72 lodgings a homelike atmosphere. The
Howey home is possibly the only existing example of her work.
“Designed in Mediterranean Revival style, the house is set back on a wide lawn approached
through wrought iron gates and a lengthy horseshoe-shaped drive. The time-mellowed rose stucco walls
are almost completely covered with glossy leafed creeping figine. The roof is red Spanish tile. The
entrance features an elaborate bas-relief frontispiece, which extends two full stories and incorporates
two openings – an arched double doorway topped by a square casement window. The arched doorway
has screened double doors surmounted by a fanlight of screen and ornamental grille work.
“A second doorway, opening directly into the foyer, has a magnificent semicircular fanlight,
inset with a peacock plumage design of multi-colored stained glass, with panels of diamond-patterned
stained glass outlining the sides of the door. Much of the woodwork on the first floor is pecky cypress,
including the massive front door.
“The foyer, with curved walls rising to the second story, is dominated by a wide graceful curving
stone stairway with a wrought iron banister. The wall surface of the foyer and lower hall is of Florentine
beige marble squares so expertly joined that on first inspection they appear to be of one mass. The
Austrian artisan, who compounded and poured the wall surface mixture right in the foyer, did so to
complete secrecy, banning all other workmen from the house and locking doors.
“Three immense fireplaces, a ballroom-size drawing room, massive beamed ceilings and the
servant call-bell phone system, are not surprising architectural styles and convenience refinements to
see in a house of this size. The unexpected is what delights the eye and creates visual images. For
instance, a cozy breakfast room is built in the tower on the backside of the mansion, entered midway up
the main staircase and serviced by an enclosed stairway and dumb waiter from the butler’s pantry on
the first floor.
“The library, situated directly below the breakfast room, is also of small dimension. The wall
space is divided between built-in shelves and arched windows which face a grass carpeted courtyard
with a fountain-fed lily pool. The de rigueur hidden passageway, so popular in large older homes,
emanates from behind a sliding bookshelf panel in the library. The doorway that the concealed latch
opens is located outside the library, lending even more intrigue to the basement room that may have
served as a liquor cache during Prohibition times. Whatever it contained must have been considered
valuable, as the door is a fireproof, tumbler locked bank vault type. That it was a strong house as well as
a beautiful one there is no doubt. Some of the inner walls measure over a foot thick and both wood and
stone floors are tight and smooth; even today, the heavy doors swing silently and close snugly.
“Much of the furnishings were purchased from Marshall Fields in Chicago at the time of the
home’s completion. Interior designer Earl Coleman, who was a decorator for the Ringling mansion in
Sarasota, assisted in the selection of furniture and lighting fixtures for the Howey house. An example of
Coleman’s eye for décor are small wall sconces, each set unique to its particular room, being used
throughout the five bedrooms in lieu of ceiling lights.
“An innovator in the citrus industry, Howey was one of the first growers to ship fruit to England
from Florida. His home is located across the road (Route 19) from the golf course (now Mission Inn Golf
and Tennis Resort), and his candidacy for Governor on the Republican ticket in 1932, led to various
notable visitors to the Howey home. Among them were Lord Bathhurst of England, HB McNeal,
publisher of Golfer’s Magazine, golf master Chick Evans, Kansas Governor Alfred Landon, Mr and Mrs

Frank Phillip’s of petroleum fame, and President Calvin Coolidge, who was guest of honor at an all-male
dinner party in February 1930.
“Within the 15-acre grounds, referred to as ‘The Park’, are many varieties of botanical plants
and lush shrubbery. Located on the grounds is a simple Georgian marble mausoleum where William J
Howey (1938), a daughter, Lois Valerie Howey (1941), and Mary Hastings Howey (1981) are buried. A
surviving daughter, Mrs George E Smith, Jr, resides in Eustis.
“The Park was the scene of an open air concert performed by the New York Civic Opera
Company on March 6, 1927. Those attending, estimated at 16,000, arrived in 4,000 automobiles. An
area newspaper reported, ‘In all Florida history … never has there been anyone who has attempted to
bring a musical company of such prominence to give a concert at his own expense so that the people
could have the opportunity of hearing some of the finest operatic stars … impossible had it not been for
the generosity and thoughtfulness of WJ Howey …’ From the same article it was noted, ‘… The greatest
applause was when WJ Howey was introduced, the applause ringing and ringing until it echoed from
miles around.’
“The time for a show place mansion such as the Howey House may be past; the lifestyle it
encompassed, bypassed by jet-paced modernity, and yet it should remain to remind us that ‘Once upon
a time …’”757
***JEWFISH, MONROE COUNTY758, FLORIDA***
Abra Campo documents: “I referred your inquiry to our historian as I hadn’t heard of a town in
Monroe County by the name of Jewfish. He confirmed that there is no town by that name. There is
however, a creek by the name of Jewfish Creek, and at one time there was a railroad depot near the
creek.”759
Jerry Wilkinson observes: “In my opinion, Jewfish was never a town. It was simply a small
railroad depot for supplies. The only living quarters were for the drawbridge operators. Now it has two
resorts, one each side of the creek, but no houses. Jewfish did once have a post-office name, but it was
not actually at the creek, and the name was changed to ‘Key Largo’; the bridge was not accessible from
Key Largo, as it was separated by Lake Surprise. During the railroad days.”760
Brainyblonde recounts: “The name jewfish, which some find offensive, is on the way out. In a
rare move, the group responsible for naming fish in the Americas is changing the common name of
Florida's largest grouper species.
“No one knows for sure how the jewfish got its name, although several theories exist, said
Nelson, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta.
“One theory is that when people started eating the fish, they found its flesh very clean, like
kosher food.
“A less pleasant theory is that in the 1800s, jewfish were considered trash fish, and some people
declared it was only fit for Jews.

757

http://www.howeyinthehills.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BACD34B8F-327E-4C9D-95F888E22AFF88BA%7D; Town of Howey-in-the-Hills, 101 N Palm Ave, PO Box 128, Howey in the Hills, FL
34737
758
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewfish,_Florida
759
Abra Campo, Sr Administrative Assistant, Office of Monroe County Administrator, The Historic Gato
Cigar Factory, 1100 Simonton St, Ste 2-205, Key West, FL 33040; [email protected];
http://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/
760
Jerry Wilkinson, Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys; [email protected];
http://www.keyshistory.org/

“Yet another theory is that it was called ‘jawfish’ for its huge mouth, and that later became
jewfish through Southern accents and colloquialisms. And those aren't even all the theories.”761
Zbeckabee says: “But by far the greatest source we have about our fishy friend is from the
Oxford English Dictionary, which quotes from a book published in 1697, entitled A New Voyage Round
the World, by the famed explorer, William Dampier. In the book, Dampier logs his expedition to Jamaica,
where he encounters Jews (who are an extreme minority, as they are in most other nations), who favor
a certain type of fish - the jewfish - which they consider to be the grandest kosher fish. Kosher, because
it has both fins and scales, and the grandest, because it is by far the largest kosher fish around, as it is in
Florida's Keys (second to only the shark, when including all fishes). The quote from the Oxford English
Dictionary is: ‘The Jew-fish is a very good Fish, and I judge so called by the English, because it hath Scales
and Fins, therefore a clean Fish, according to the Levitical Law.’”762
Nawlins5763 spotlights: “The poster referenced on scuba board seems to have embellished the
story. Dampier was on a piratical trip near Acapulco, when catching some Jewfish to eat reminded him
to describe the fish as follows (the full passage from Gutenberg Project): ‘JEW-FISH: The jew-fish is a
very good fish, and I judge so called by the English because it has scales and fins, therefore a clean fish,
according to the Levitical law, and the Jews at Jamaica buy them and eat them very freely. It is a very
large fish, shaped much like a cod but a great deal bigger; one will weigh three, or four, or five
hundredweight. It has a large head, with great fins and scales, as big as a half-crown, answerable to the
bigness of his body. It is very sweet meat, and commonly fat. This fish lives among the rocks; there are
plenty of them in the West Indies, about Jamaica and the coast of Caracas; but chiefly in these seas,
especially more westward.’ So it wasn't necessarily named by Jews but they did like the fish. The notion
that it was a trash fish at one time is ridiculous, as all reports from 17th century on praise it as excellent
eating. Dampier was an interesting character and was known for his clear writing and keen
observation.”763
***LOCKSA APOPKA, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris underscores: “An obsolete name for the Hillsboro River, which flows (according to
the spelling of the US Board on Geographic Names) in Hillsborough County. The old name was derived
from the Creek lokcha, (‘acorn’), and apopka, (‘place for eating’). Tampa, the city beside the river, is a
place for superb eating, but acorns are unlikely to be an ingredient of the recipes.”764
***LORIDA, HIGHLANDS COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris comments: “Florida without the ‘F’ took the place in 1937 of a name more difficult
to pronounce, Lake Istokpoga. The town’s former name was taken from the lake, which meant
‘Drowned Man’s Lake’.”765

761

http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question69761.html
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question69761.html
763
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question69761.html
764
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
765
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
762

Carole Goad emphasizes: “Lorida was called ‘Cow House’ in the early days prior to 1933,
because it was a good place to raise cattle! It was later named Lake Istokpoga, after the nearby lake. The
growing town acquired a post office in 1924, with Mary Stokes as its postmistress. The area became
known for its high quality vegetables and fruit, which were shipped out by railroad. In later years,
another post office was established on the other (Okeechobee) side of the huge Lake Istokpoga, with
the same name! This led to confusion, and the original Lake Istokpoga farmers did not want their
exports confused with the ‘inferior’ crops of the other (Okeechobee) side. So, in 1933, Mary Stokes and
the railroad superintendent agreed to take the ‘F’ from Florida, leaving the name Lorida, which has
endured to this day.”766
Marcia Penn: “I am … giving information about my Aunt (by marriage) Mary Stokes, who was a
long-time Postmistress of Lorida. As the [included newspaper] article states, the area had a couple of
names prior to this one, but problems arose when duplicate names for towns started to pop-up. At a
town meeting, Aunt Mary suggested Lorida, spelled just like Florida without the F, but pronounced ‘Loreed-uh’. Some people told her that it should be pronounced ‘Lar-a-duh’, but Aunt Mary insisted that
Lorida was pronounced correctly, and it was Florida that was mispronounced. She won the day. Her
daughter, Mary Helen used to write her letters addressed to ‘Momma, Lorida, Florida’. The good ole'
days without zip codes or a lot of formality.”767
***PANACEA, WAKULLA COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris pens: “Panacea derived its name from the ancient Greek goddess of healing
because of the springs here, which were believed to be a remedy for ills. Some of the old families still
do not accept Panacea. The story is that after the Civil War, a Northerner with political influence had
the name changed to promote a real estate development. The old-timers prefer King’s Bay, and this
name appears on some signs. People at the coast refer to their community as Ochlockonee Bay.”768
LD Thompson scribes: “Panacea is a coastal community located in Wakulla County, Florida. It is
located 35 miles from the state capital on US Highway 98. Dickerson Bay borders Panacea to the East
and was historically known as Dickson Bay, after legendary Confederate soldier JJ Dickensen. Panacea
proper extends approximately two miles in the north-south direction and one mile in the east-west
direction.
“Panacea hasn’t always been the name of this area. Two brothers, named Smith, owned
property around the present day Mineral Springs, which at that time was called Smith Springs. The local
theory is that the Smith brothers acquired the property from American Indians in the 1820s. Evidence of
prehistoric Indian inhabitants is contained in shell middens located throughout the area.
“As the population increased around Smith Springs the community grew in need of a post
office. The US Postal Service could establish the new post office only when the community submitted an
official town name. The residents decided on Panacea, a name apparently suggested by WC Tully. The
word Panacea comes from the Latin, French, and German word panakeia. Pan refers to ‘all’, and keia
translates ‘to heal’. Mr Tully thought Panacea was most appropriate since the springs were believed to
be a ‘cure-all’. Others agreed and the original post office in Panacea was established in 1898. Since that
time the post office has been located at four different sites; in a residence no longer standing near the
766

Carole Goad, Archivist, Sebring Historical Society, 321 W Center Ave, Sebring, FL 33870;
[email protected]; http://www.sebringhistoricalsociety.org/
767
Marcia Penn; [email protected]
768
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/

current ‘Gypsies’ gift shop, the ‘Gypsies’ building, the ‘Wakulla Liquors’ building and the present post
office site.
“At the turn of the century, the springs were sold by the Smith brothers, and developed for
commercial purposes. Bathhouses and changing rooms were built to accommodate large numbers of
visitors to Panacea Mineral Springs. People came from across the country and Europe to ‘take in’ the
healing spring waters. A newspaper account of the day reports on the medicinal powers from ‘TWENTY
SPRINGS’. Signs were prominently displayed identifying the benefit of individual waters for particular
ailments, such as ‘Arthritis Spring’, and ‘Kidney Spring’.”769
***SWITZERLAND, ST JOHNS COUNTY770, FLORIDA***
Jackie Feagin states: “Who'd imagine, driving through quiet, oak-shaded Switzerland in
northwestern St Johns County, that the community was once the 10,000-acre plantation of a wealthy
Swiss immigrant, the scene of burning and raiding by Indians and - just possibly - the abode of the
infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte?
“The Revolutionary War was still four years in the future, when, in 1771, Francis Philip Fatio,
with his wife and five of their children, arrived in St Augustine. With them, aboard their chartered
sailboat, were trappings of the luxurious life they'd left behind in Europe - silver, linens and furniture.
“Fatio, born in 1724 in Vevey, Switzerland, was of Italian descent, and he'd fought as a
lieutenant in the War of Austrian Succession. He and his wife, the former Marie Madeleine Crispel, had
been married in 1748 in Nice, and owned an estate there, which they'd kept during 10 years residence in
London and would continue to own in their Florida years.
“After settling his family in a house on the bayfront in St Augustine, Fatio and his eldest son, 19year-old Louis Philippe Fatio, hurried to the east bank of the St Johns River to establish a plantation on a
10,000-acre grant from the British Crown.
“The grant, where soon the land was planted in indigo and orange groves and where Fatio
would collect resin from the plentiful pine trees, included 12 miles of riverfront. The plantation also
produced sheep and cattle, and before too long Fatio was shipping products of the Florida property to
associates in England, in return for goods for his family.
“Fatio set about the task of turning a wilderness into an estate where, according to text of a
historical marker alongside State Road 13 near the Switzerland Community Church, ‘he lived the life of a
frontier baron’. He called the plantation New Switzerland in honor of his father's adopted homeland,
and with materials imported from England, built a large, elaborate house which came to be called La
Palacio.
“With the outbreak of war between England and the independent-minded colonies to the north,
Fatio volunteered his services to the British commanding general and found himself assigned to duty in
Charleston, SC. Louis remained in Florida to oversee the family's affairs in St Augustine and at New
Switzerland.
“Roots firmly planted in Florida, Fatio decided to remain here after the revolution, and stayed
on when Florida was returned to Spain.
“Fatio may have been Florida's first forest conservationist.
“In a Dec 14, 1782, report to the British government, he gave a detailed account of rivers,
harbors, bays, soils and topography along Florida's East Coast, then had this to say: ‘The barren land
now occupied in East Florida produces the best naval stores in all America.’ The St Johns River basin, he
wrote, ‘will produce any quantity of tar, pitch and turpentine’. ‘Experience,’ he continued, ‘has taught us
how to remedy the vast destruction of such crops’ from pine trees. ‘Proper provincial laws should be
769
770

Linda D Thompson; [email protected]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland,_Florida

made to prevent the setting on fire the pine bearing lands, to regulate the boxing of trees for
turpentine’, and to prevent loss of young saplings.
“He blamed ‘straggling hunters and cattle keepers’ for setting ‘these pine bearing lands on fire
in the winter and early spring to make new pastures for the cattle, who graze the whole year round’.
The fire, he said, ‘catching the coagulated turpentine and resin on the trees, destroys in an instant the
trees prepared for green tar’ and leaves ‘tracts of land useless for ages to come’.
“One hundred and fifty-three years later, his conservation efforts were recognized when the
Florida unit of Colonial Dames erected a monument to him on the campus of Rollins College at Winter
Park. The memorial also recognized Fatio's great-great-grandaughter, Lina L'Engle Barnett, a Colonial
Dame and leader in conservation and forest fire prevention efforts.
“Louis Fatio returned to Europe in 1792 to look after the family's holdings at Nice, and Philip, the
youngest Fatio son, went abroad in the Spanish diplomatic service. Fatio appealed, successfully, to an
older son and namesake - more than one Fatio son had been named Philip - to come to St Augustine to
assist with the family's enterprises. That son had remained in Europe when his parents came to Florida
and had served with the British Army in Scotland and Ireland.
“Mrs Fatio died in 1810 and was buried in St Augustine. Grief-stricken over the loss of his wife of
more than 60 years, Francis Philip Fatio died the following year and was buried in a family plot at the
New Switzerland plantation.
“About a year after the death of New Switzerland founder, Indians, smeared with war paint,
crept into slave quarters at the estate. Dublin, a faithful slave, slipped away and warned family
members, who were able to escape in a small boat, making their way from a tributary creek to safety on
the river.
“Susan Fatio L'Engle, writing in 1887 of the harrowing experience, recalled: ‘Bareheaded, some
of the children barefooted, the boat so deeply laden with the 11 persons in it as to be unsafe, we made
haste to get out of reach of the Indians' rifles before they should discover our escape. Many shots were
fired at us, and I have not yet, after the lapse of 70-odd years, lost the recollection of the balls falling
into the water near us.’
“Susan recalled, too, that a young slave named Scipio, whose task it was to clean knives, was at
work under a tree when the Indians attacked. He managed to slip away to the boat, carrying with him
the knives - the only Fatio possessions salvaged from the plantation, which was extensively damaged by
the Indians.
“Not long after the Indians' raid, so-called ‘patriots’ finished the destruction and New
Switzerland was abandoned for 12 years, until the US occupation of East Florida. During that period, the
Fatio family stayed in St Mary's, GA, and in Fernandina. Eventually, the home was rebuilt and Fatios
again resided at New Switzerland.
“Francis Philip Fatio II died in 1831.
“Five years after his death, the homestead again was destroyed by Indians early in the Seminole
Wars. That time, its only occupants were Col Miller Hallowes of England, a family member who'd come
to claim his share of the estate, and his guest, Dr William Hayne Simmons of Charleston. Simmons was
one of two men who'd been commissioned in 1823 to pick a site for Florida's capital, and with John Lee
Williams of Picolata, chose Tallahassee.
“Hallowes, shot and severely wounded by the attacking Indians, was helped to a boat by Scipio the same slave who'd assisted in the 1812 escape. The three men were picked up by the steamer
Essayon and taken to Picolata, then the site of a US military post.
“Slaves told later how the Indians feasted, drank and danced in the house and cut up the piano
before burning the structure.

“It was never rebuilt.”771
***TAINTSVILLE, SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris alludes: “The Florida Times-Union for December 16, 1971, reported the Seminole
County Commission had sanctioned the name Taintsville for a formerly nameless community between
Oviedo and Chuluota. The delegation spokesman, Theodore Peterson, was quoted as having told the
commission: ‘We are tired of telling people that we live behind the fire tower on the road that doesn’t
have a name.’ He also said the community ‘tain’t in Oviedo and tain’t in Chuluota.’”772
***TREASURE ISLAND, PINELLAS COUNTY773, FLORIDA***
Michael Suib communicates: “Treasure Island’s first residents were the Timucuan Indians,
whose first settlements date back over 1,700 years. The Spanish explorers came to this Gulf Coast Island
in 1528 and forced the Indians to flee. The island stayed mostly unoccupied until the 18th century, when
pirates and smugglers found safety along the remote coastline. Settlers, too, started to discover the
island, and by the late 19th century, several small communities had been founded. In 1908, the state of
Florida sold the island to Thomas F Pierce for $1.25 per acre.
“The Timucuan Indians had resided on what is today known as Treasure Island and the long strip
of nearby barrier islands since the fourth century. They were a peaceful people and had numerous
communities on the island, trading goods with neighboring tribes. They raised corn and beans, which
were a major part of their diet. Ponce de Leon arrived followed by Panfilo de Narvaez, and between
them, spurred on by their quest for the Fountain of Youth and the promise of gold, nearly decimated the
indigenous Indian tribes.
“Treasure Island’s Indian population had scattered, leaving the island nearly deserted, the
perfect hiding place for the numerous pirates and smugglers who plied their trade in and around the
Gulf of Mexico. In the 1700s, small villages started to crop up, and by the 1800s, settlers from Georgia
and the Carolinas had established communities along the shoreline. By then, the pirates and many but
not all of the smugglers had abandoned the area.
“The state of Florida put the island up for sale, and in 1908, Thomas F Pierce was deeded
ownership of the island for the price of $1.25 per acre. Then in 1915, the first hotel was built by
Whiteford Smith Harrell. The 25-room Coney Island Hotel was a success, ferrying tourists from the
mainland on Harrell’s own boat called ‘Don’. Other developers came, and the push was on to turn the
island into a tourist destination.
“History is somewhat vague about [Treasure Island’s name origin]. The consensus is that in the
early 20th century, somewhere along the road to development, a group of property owners got the idea
to spread the word that pirate’s treasure had been found on the island.
“The large spurt of development came in 1939 with the Treasure Island Causeway Bridge. The
bridge was advertised as ‘The Best Constructed Bridge in Florida’, and with its easy access by the
automobile, the island flourished. After World War II, the pace of development increased with more
771

Jackie Feagin; Switzerland Once Huge Plantation; St Augustine Record; June 1, 1993; provided by Amy
Ackerman, Reference Librarian, Bartram Trail Branch Library, St Johns County Public Library System, 60
Davis Pond Blvd, Fruit Cove, FL 32259; [email protected]; http://www.sjcpls.org/content/bartramtrail-branch
772
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
773
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island,_Florida

hotels, and then came the boom in residential developments. In 1955, the island’s varied communities
consolidated to form what is present day Treasure Island, which today boasts a full-time population of
more than 5,000 people, 7,500 seasonal residents and 3 miles of wide sandy beaches.”774
***TROPIC, BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris depicts: “The perfect promotional name! Short, combining the imagery of
salubrious weather and luxuriant foliage. Tropic was founded in the 1880s. Along with Fairyland,
Georgiana, Indianola, and Audubon, it was one of the communities on the Scenic Drive or Tropical Trail
of Merritt Island.”775
***TWO EGG, JACKSON COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Allen Morris enumerates: “A sign on US 90 delights tourists. It points the way to a place called
Two Egg. The story goes that Will Williams, a black man with 16 children, didn’t have enough money to
give each of them an allowance, so as each became old enough to barter at the local store, the child was
given a chicken. Traveling salesmen, who overheard the children exchanging two eggs for candy, began
calling the community, formerly called Allison, ‘Two-egg Crossing’.”776
Dale Cox relates: “Long before it was named for that most famous of breakfast delicacies, the
place that would become Two Egg was at least a spot on a trail.
“Archaeological discoveries in the area tell us this was once an important hunting and
manufacturing center for Native Americans. Artifacts recovered from the fields around Two Egg date
back thousands of years to the archaic period, a time when prehistoric hunters roamed the vast woods
in search of deer, turkey and other animals, especially buffalo.
“By the time of the American Revolution, both English and Native American travelers made
steady use of paths that crossed the present site of Two Egg, as they traveled to and from Ekanachatte
(‘Red Ground’) and Perryman's Town, two important Lower Creek villages on the Chattahoochee River.
“After the First Seminole War of 1817-8, settlers began to drift down into the upper edges of
today's Jackson County. Although Florida still remained Spanish territory, a significant community
developed along Spring Creek just north of Campbellton. The nearest frontier outpost where these
settlers could obtain supplies was Fort Scott, about ten miles up the Flint River from its confluence with
the Chattahoochee on today's Lake Seminole. To open communication with the fort, they chopped a
trail down through the forests. After 1820, when Isaac Fort established a plantation at the future
Bellamy Bridge site, this path became known as the Fort Road in his honor. The road still passes through
Greenwood and Two Egg today.
“What is now Two Egg was first settled shortly before the War Between the States. Property
records indicate that Joseph T Michaux filed for ownership of the site of Two Egg on July 1, 1857. Alfred
S Knowles filed for the adjoining lands to the east on the same day. Property filings usually reflected
that the sites had already been occupied for some time.

774

Michael Suib; http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-treasure-island-florida-28193.html
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
776
Allen Morris; Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs; Pineapple Press; 1995; provided by
Deborah Mekeel, Library Program Specialist, Reference/Government Documents, State Library of
Florida, Division of Library and Information Services, RA Gray Building, 500 S Bronough St, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-0250; http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/
775

“Although these first settlers did not prosper in their efforts to establish homes at Two Egg,
others followed with better success. Slowly a community began to grow at the crossroads.
“By the early 20th century, a business community began to grow. First there was a general store
and then another. The Allison Company built a saw mill there, and the community soon came to be
called Allison in honor of the family's contributions to its grown.
“The name might have lasted had it not been for the economic disaster of the Great Depression.
Money dried up and jobs disappeared. Families struggled to survive and, as local cemeteries attest,
hunger, malnutrition and sickness stalked the land.
“By 1930, many local families were living on little more than pride. Unable to pay for items they
needed in hard cash, they began to barter and trade with the storekeepers in Allison for the things they
could not do without. The merchants then sold the farm products in larger communities, keeping their
own families fed and their businesses alive. It was a difficult time in American history, but it produced
the Greatest Generation. And it was the Greatest Generation that gave Two Egg its name.
“There are several versions of the story, most of them similar in one way or another. [The first
story] is fairly simple. Two young boys came into the business so often on errands from their mother to
trade two eggs for sugar that regulars jokingly began calling the establishment a ‘two egg store’. The
name, according to Mr Pittman, caught on and was picked up by traveling salesmen and others who
spread it to nearby towns.
“The story may seem light-hearted on the surface, but at a deeper level it reflects an effort to
put a good face on very hard times. Many local families then were barely surviving, and at times of the
year, when fresh fruits and vegetables were not available, sugar provided one of the only available
sources of carbohydrates. Although it is difficult to conceive in today's era of ‘low carb’ diets, but
carbohydrates are a vital necessity of life. They provide the body with energy and help key organs to
function. Without them, the listless state easily recognized in people who are under nourished.
“A little sugar added to the diet each day provided just enough energy to help struggling families
make it through to the next day. In other words, two eggs worth of sugar could make the difference
between life and death among people already living on the edge of collapse.
“Times eventually did begin to improve, and people soon began to use money again instead of
eggs, but the name Two Egg stuck. It appeared on the official highway map of the State of Florida in
1940 and has remained there ever since.”777
Dale Cox stipulates: “Multiple witnesses now claim to have seen something that can only be
described as a monster roaming the woods and swamps between downtown Two Egg and the
Chattahoochee River. While the accounts very somewhat, the strange creature can best be described as
a ‘mini’ Bigfoot.
“Two accounts that have come to our attention here at www.twoeggfla.com, both originate
from within one mile of each other, although both are independent and with no connection between
the witnesses.
“The first eyewitness described hearing a noise outside his home late at night. Going outside to
investigate, he says he was stunned to see ‘something upright, running away on two legs’. The creature
or monster was of about normal human height and was pale in color. According to the witness, it ran
into a marshy area and could be heard splashing away through a pond.
“An investigation of the area the next morning revealed tracks leading straight down through
the mud into the pond, but it was impossible to determine what might have left them. They were not
human footprints, but were too large for a deer or other similar animal. The soft, wet mud had obscured
too much of their appearance to determine much more.
777

Dale Cox; Two Egg, Florida: A Collection of Ghost Stories, Legends and Unusual Facts;
http://twoeggfla.com/history.html

“The second sighting took place about three-fourths of a mile southwest of the first one and
near the intersection of Circle Hill and Oak Grove Roads. An eyewitness saw a small upright creature
with long hair running away through a marshy area. It was smaller than average human height but was
running on two legs. The individual relating the story to our website described it as a ‘hobbit’ or ‘mini’
Bigfoot.
“The sightings have prompted a great deal of speculation in the area, where strange howling are
often heard in the night. Some are calling it the ‘North Parramore Hobbit’, although the most popular
term seems to be the ‘Two Egg Stump Jumper’.
“It is worth noting that tales of small Bigfoot like creatures are not exactly new in Florida.
Residents of South and Central Florida have been reporting an animal called the ‘skunk ape’ for years.
They are, however, very new to the Two Egg area.
“Most residents take the stories with a bit of tongue in cheek, but the witnesses very plainly
believe they saw something out of the ordinary. ‘I got a really strange feeling that I was seeing
something that wasn’t supposed to be there,’ one said.
“As the water level, which is near flood stage, begins to drop, there are plans for a small
expedition into some of the area’s swamps to see if tracks or any other indication of the creature’s
identity can be found.”778
Dale Cox gives an account about the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge, Florida: “There are many different
versions of the story. Some tell of a burning bride, engulfed in flames, who streaks through the swamps
of the Chipola River at night. Others claim the spirit is more shadowy, a mere mist that roams through
the trees and floats out over the historic iron frame of the old bridge.
“Regardless of which version you prefer, the story of the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge is one of the
Two Egg area's oldest and favorite legends. It has been part of the folklore of Jackson County for more
than 100 years, so long in fact that the real facts behind the tale have become obscured by the legend.
“The story revolves around the supposed 1836 wedding of Samuel and Elizabeth Bellamy.
Although there are numerous versions, the most common holds that the wealthy young couple was
married in an expensive ceremony in Marianna. Samuel, a wealthy planter and doctor, had built a
magnificent mansion there for his new bride, and it provided the setting for a wedding that was the
social event of the season.
“According to legend, however, the day soon turned from a celebration to a tragedy. Story
tellers claim that either while dancing or while sinking into a chair to rest for a few minutes, Elizabeth
somehow touched her expensive gown to either an open fire or a lit candle.
“All of the versions agree on what happened next. The gown burst into flame, and the terrified
young bride rushed from the house, engulfed in fire. Before her husband could save her, she was
severely burned and soon died from her injuries.
“She was buried near Bellamy Bridge and, it is said, her ghost still roams there, looking for the
long lost love of her life.
“It is a sad and touching story and, regardless of its truth, is an important part of the folklore and
history of the region.
“All such stories usually have a basis in fact, and this one does as well. Samuel and Elizabeth
Bellamy were real people and were, indeed, prominent members of early Florida society. Their social
standing makes it quite easy to trace the real events that gave birth to the legend.
“Samuel and Elizabeth were both natives of North Carolina. Samuel was the son of a prominent
family there, and Elizabeth was the daughter of General William Croom, one of the wealthiest men in
the state. The two families were closely connected. Samuel's brother Edward had married Elizabeth's

778

Dale Cox; http://twoeggfla.com/monster.html

sister, and that wedding signaled the beginning of a courtship between the couple that is the focus of
the story.
“Much of the courtship was carried on through correspondence, as Samuel went away to the
University of Pennsylvania to study medicine. When he returned as a doctor in 1834, the couple was
married.
“Contrary to legend, though, the wedding took place at Elizabeth's family home in North
Carolina, not at the Bellamy House in Marianna. And Elizabeth did not die on her wedding day.
“Shortly after their wedding, Samuel and Elizabeth joined Edward and Ann in moving to Florida.
Elizabeth's half-brother and other relatives were already living there, and the ready availability of prime
land in the new territory made it attractive to elite families from the Carolinas. The couples settled in
the rich Chipola River valley near Marianna.
“Edward purchased the Fort Plantation at the site of Bellamy Bridge, while Samuel purchased
land a short distance northwest of Marianna at a place called ‘Rock Cave’. Both farms quickly thrived,
and Samuel Bellamy soon began producing high grade cotton that was shipped to Apalachicola by
Chipola River barge.
“When the couple had their first child, not long after arriving in Jackson County, they named him
Alexander. By all accounts they were both successful and happy.
“Tragedy, however, was stalking them. Samuel, Elizabeth and baby Alexander, all became
severely ill during the fall of 1835. The culprit was likely malaria, which ravaged the early settlers of
Jackson County. Letters written at the time indicate that all three were sick with fever.
“Samuel eventually recovered, but Elizabeth and the baby did not. She died on May 11, 1837
(from fever, not from fire), and baby Alexander followed her to the grave one week later. Their obituary
appeared in Florida newspapers of the time.
“Samuel survived and for a time became a successful and prominent member of society. He
represented Jackson County at the 1838 Florida Constitutional Convention and also served as an
executive for the Union Bank of Florida. Records indicate that the famed mansion in Marianna was
actually built by him more than one year after the loss of his wife and child.
“The Union Bank failed, however, and the fortunes of the young doctor soured even more. He
turned to alcohol and became a severe alcoholic. His own brother seized possession of his lands, and
Samuel finally took his own life in 1853 by slashing his throat with a razor, while on a visit to
Chattahoochee.
“The ghost story actually found its root in a 19th century novel by the writer Caroline Lee Hentz.
She described a tragic wedding night death on the ‘Bellamy Plantation’, but her book was based on
events that took place near Columbus, Georgia. Because Mrs Hentz lived the final days of her life in
Marianna, people began to associate her story with the Bellamy Plantation on the Chipola River and the
lonely grave of Elizabeth Bellamy, and the ghost story as we know it today was born.”779
***WHISPER WALK, BOCA RATON, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA***
Glenn Hoffer writes: “Whisper Walk, an active adult clubhouse community which will have 1,500
residential units when completed, is holding the grand opening of three furnished villa and patio models
in its newest neighborhood, Parklane.
“The community is being developed by Oriole Homes Corp on Lyons Road, two miles north of
Glades Road, in the Boca Raton area.
“The new Parklane section follows on the heels of the 332-unit Greenleaf neighborhood, which
sold out in the spring.
779

Dale Cox; Two Egg, Florida: A Collection of Ghost Stories, Legends and Unusual Facts;
http://twoeggfla.com/bellamy.html

“Gene Berns, vice president of sales and marketing for Oriole Homes, noted that 130 residences
have been sold in the 344-unit Parklane even before the opening of models.
“He said that additional neighborhoods are planned at Whisper Walk, each with its own
clubhouse.
“The Champagne model being introduced at this time in Parklane is priced from $69,990. The
patio home features two bedrooms and two baths with roofed screened porch and garage.
“Also making their debut is two new two-bedroom, two-bath villa designs. One of them, the
Shoreline, is priced from $68,990, while the other plan, the Waterside, starts at $59,990, with sites
included. In these designs, Florida rooms and domed screened patios are standard.
“The Champagne model includes both a greenhouse window and a scenic window in the eat-in
area of the kitchen as well as a windowed storage area in the garage.
“Some of the special features offered in the new Parklane patio homes include a private foyer
entrance, eat-in kitchen with window, large living room and dining area with vaulted ceiling, private
roofed and screened porch, master suite with its own dressing area and mirrored bi-pass doors,
separate laundry room with side-by-side washer and dryer, air conditioned walk-in closets, windowed
storage area in garage, and a privacy fence.
“The kitchen also includes a self-cleaning oven with range and 18-cubic-foot frost-free
refrigerator as well as dishwasher and garbage disposal.
“The Shoreline villa features a split-bedroom floor plan with private hallway. Its laundry area
contains a side-by-side washer-dryer. Vaulted ceilings are in the living room, dining area, Florida room,
and kitchen areas, and there is a domed screened patio off the Florida room. There is an air conditioned
double walk-in closet in the master suite and an outside ‘bonus’ storage area.
“The Waterside villa is another two-bedroom design with a split-bedroom floor plan, a laundry
area with side-by-side washer-dryer, vaulted ceilings in living-dining areas, Florida room and kitchen, a
domed screened patio off the Florida room, an air conditioned walk-in closet in the master suite, and a
‘bonus’ storage area.
“Both the Shoreline and Waterside models include a complete appliance package, according to
Electra Schwartz, sales director of Whisper Walk.
“The adult community is maintained by its own association. Located near a golf
course, Whisper Walk contains 10 tennis courts, many lighted, in the new sports and racquet club for
the use of all residents.
“In addition, residents of Parklane will have the use of a social clubhouse with heated pool
complex and whirlpool like that now existing in the Greenleaf section. There also is a lake for fishing,
while a bike and jogging trail winds throughout the property.
“Oriole Homes Corp, headquartered in Pompano Beach, has built more than 14,000 homes in its
nearly 24-year history in South Florida. It is a publicly owned company with shares traded on the
American Stock Exchange.”780
***YEEHAW JUNCTION, OSCEOLA COUNTY781, FLORIDA***
Debbie Herman describes: “As one story tells it, during the Civil War, the Southern military
raised donkeys to haul heavy loads of military equipment (some days they hauled trees from nearby
forests). The biggest donkey farm was on an area of land in central Florida. After enduring hours of yeehaw-ing donkeys, it was no wonder residents named their town Yeehaw Junction. Another reason given
780

Glenn Hoffer; Oriole Opening Parkland Models; Sun-Sentinel; November 30, 1986; provided by
Reference Desk, Palm Beach County Library System, 3650 Summit Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33406;
[email protected]; http://www.pbclibrary.org/
781
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeehaw_Junction,_Florida

for the name is that Yeehaw is derived from the Muskogee Creek word meaning ‘wolf’, because of the
many wolves in the area.”782
**GEORGIA**
HB Staples articulates: “The name of Georgia, after King George II, was by the terms of the
charter conferred upon the territory granted to the company organized by Oglethorpe in 1732.”783
DJ McInerney documents: “One other colony on the Atlantic coast, Georgia, founded in 1733,
had a history unlike that of other English settlements. Rather than responding to the political designs of
the crown, the personal ambitions of nobles, the financial dreams of investors, or the spiritual hopes of
religious outsiders, Georgia was to provide for the economic needs of the poor. General James
Oglethorpe and the other trustees who held George II’s charter intended to create a refuge for debtors.
They planned a settlement based on relatively small land holdings, worked by free labor and indentured
servants. The population would be kept sober by limits on alcohol, kept diligent by a ban on slavery,
kept peaceful by excluding blacks and Catholics, and kept useful by serving as a buffer against Spanish
Florida. The experiment in social reform failed, however. Few debtors showed up in Georgia. Those
who did settle in the colony would not agree to restrictions on landholding, slaveholding, and rum
drinking, so by the middle of the eighteenth century, the whole project reverted to royal control.”784
***AMERICUS, SUMTER COUNTY, GEORGIA***
KB Harder describes: “So named by lot, from a list of names placed in a hat. The slip of paper
withdrawn by Isaac McCrary bore the word Americus. Thus, the new town was named for Amerigo
(Americus in Latin) Vespucci (1451-1512), Italian explorer for whom America was named. Very soon the
new settlers playfully called it ‘a merry cuss’, for the difficulties in settling a new frontier area.”785
***BENEVOLENCE, RANDOLPH COUNTY786, GEORGIA***
KB Pittman describes: “Benevolence received its name because Thomas Coram, an early settler
in the area, donated five acres of land for the new church building - Benevolence Baptist Church - and
cemetery. This land was donated for this express purpose. It was either 1840 or 1842. Abner Ward
stated that this was such a benevolent act that the town should be named Benevolence in honor of this
gesture by Thomas Coram. So, that is the name.”787
***BETWEEN, WALTON COUNTY788, GEORGIA***
Terry Prater highlights: “Prior to the Civil War, Waltonians established another small settlement.
Several families settled on a suitable site six miles west of the county seat. Six miles farther, near
Walton’s west boundary, lay the city of Loganville.

782

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
783
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
784
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
785
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold; 1976
786
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/randolph/benevolence.cfm
787
Karan B Pittman, Randolph County Historian, Director of Library Services, Andrew College, 501
College Street, Cuthbert, GA 39840-5599; [email protected];
http://www.andrewcollege.edu/library.html
788
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between,_Georgia

“As the little settlement grew, a two-wheel, horse-drawn cart rolled in on certain days bringing
mail, but the ambitious pioneers talked of a post office of their own. In order to apply for such
governmental convenience, a name was necessary, and the residents discussed the matter and sought
suggestions. One proposal after another was rejected. At last, the problem was brought to Monroe
postmaster, Mrs George Schaeffer, usually referred to as ‘Miss Puss’.
“‘Miss Puss’ took a personal interest in the affair and the discussion continued at length.
Apparently, her husband wearied of the conversation. The story goes that he pointed to a nearby map
and declared impatiently, ‘It’s halfway between Monroe and Loganville, call it Between!’”789
***BLOODTOWN, MURRAY COUNTY790, GEORGIA***
Murray County Heritage portrays: “Near this place also, not far from a present large dairy barn,
in frontier days, was an interesting place named Bloodtown. Origin of the name is obscure, but the site
was a noted spot where south-bound cattle drovers penned their stock at night for feeding and resting
while en route to markets. Traces of Bloodtown have long since disappeared, but tales of the reveling
and brawling which took place there persisted long afterwards.”791
Tim Howard remarks: “There are several places across the old Cherokee Nation that was
referred to by locals as Bloodtown. My remembrance is that it was named that because of a big battle
that took place there between the Creeks, who were here first, and the Cherokees, who were being
pushed south by other tribes in the north. The Cherokees won. The fact that the name Bloodtown
continued to be known throughout the 20th century, lends credibility that it did exist of course, but by
now, I'm not even sure exactly where it was located. Different folks refer to different spots, but it was in
the mountains not far from where Carters Dam is now located. There was once an old road called
Bloodtown Road near the Dam.”792
***CLIMAX, DECATUR COUNTY793, GEORGIA***
KK Krakow shares: “Originally called Bainbridge Junction, and changed to Climax in 1833 when
the town was laid out. The post office was established January 31, 1902, and the town was incorporated
August 11, 1905. The name is from the Greek word klimax, to describe the order of plants and animals
in the natural environment.”794
George Mathis stresses: “Climax, as all South Georgia boys know, got its name because it was
the highest point on the rail line between Savannah and the Chattahoochee River (which separates
Georgia and Alabama).”795
***DOCTORTOWN, WAYNE COUNTY796, GEORGIA***
789

Terry Prater; How the Community of Between Got Its Name; Walton Tribune; October 31, 1999;
provided by William Sullivan, 2150 New Hope Church Rd, Monroe, GA 30655-5501
790
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/murray/bloodtown.cfm
791
Murray County Heritage; http://www.murraycounty.museum.com/book_01.html
792
Tim Howard, Murray County Historian, [email protected]
793
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax,_Georgia
794
Kenneth K Krakow; Georgia Place Names; Winship Press; 1975; provided by Gilbert H Gragg Library,
Decatur County; 301 S Monroe St; Bainbridge, GA 39819; [email protected];
http://www.swgrl.org/decatur.php
795
George Mathis; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; http://blogs.ajc.com/news-tome/2012/08.07/climax-georgia-slips-on-most-unfortunate-town-names-list/
796
Deborah A Turner, Library Manager, Wayne County Library, Three Rivers Regional Library System,
759 Sunset Blvd, Jesup, GA 31545

DA Turner composes: “There once lived an Indian chief named Alleck. The English word Alleck
translates to the Muskogee word, Aleckcha or Alikcha, meaning ‘Doctor’. Chief Alleck played a major
role in the settling of Wayne County. He was a principle spokesman for the Creek Indians making treaty,
surveying, and setting boundary lines between the whites and Indians. Because he was a chief, he
acquired the title, ‘Captain Alleck’. One of the main reasons Captain Alleck kept his farm at Doctortown
was that the Indians could travel the Altamaha River to Florida. In 1793 the Indians crossed the
Altamaha River, raided the settlement at Ludowici. They killed some people and took some slaves.
Because of this, Major General James Jackson ordered a fort at Doctortown. A troop of mounted
horsemen guarded this front with six pound cannon. With the safety of troops, the south bank of the
Altamaha River became a major avenue for travelers and traders. Also, with the invention of the steam
engine, it continued to grow. A railroad and saw mill were built. In 1857 a 100 foot trestle was built
across the river, which turned Doctortown into one of the largest shipping ports in South Georgia.
During the Civil War, one of our strongest defenses was at Doctortown because of its high river bluff.
On December 18, 1864, there was a terrible battle at Doctortown over the protection of the railroad
trestle. Although the railroad tracks from McIntosh to the Ogeechee River and from McIntosh to the
Altamaha River were destroyed, the Doctortown trestle still stands today.”797
***EBENEZER, EFFINGHAM COUNTY798, GEORGIA***
Commissary VonReck designates: “The lands are enclosed between two rivers, which fall into
the Savannah. The Saltzburg Town is to be built near the largest, which is called Ebenezer (‘the stone of
help’), in remembrance that God has brought us hither; and is navigable, being twelve foot deep. A little
rivulet, whose water is as clear as crystal, glides by the town; another runs through it, and both fall into
the Ebenezer. The woods here are not as thick as in other places. The sweet zephyrs preserve a
delicious coolness notwithstanding the scorching beams of the sun. There are very fine meadows, in
which a great quantity of hay might be made with very little pains: there are also hillocks, very fit for
vines. The cedar, walnut, pine, cypress and oak make the greatest part of the woods. There is found in
them a great quantity of myrtle trees out of which they extract, by boiling the berries, a green wax, very
proper to make candles with. There is much sassafras, and a great quantity of those herbs of which
indigo is made, abundance of china roots. The earth is so fertile that it will bring forth anything that can
be sown or planted in it; whether fruits, herbs, or trees. There are wild vines, which run up to the tops
of the tallest trees; and the country is so good that one may ride full gallop 20 or 30 miles an end. As to
game, here are eagles, wild turkeys, roe bucks, wild goats, stags, wild cows, horses, hares, partridges,
and buffaloes.”799
***EGYPT, EFFINGHAM COUNTY800, GEORGIA***
Historic Effingham Society expands: “The County Seat of Effingham was Indian Bluff in 1787.
The Georgia Legislature had ordered a town be developed within three miles of a place called Indian
Bluff on the north side of the Ogeechee River to be known as Elberton. The town never developed,
although court and elections were conducted at the home of Thomas McCall at Indian Bluff. The county
seat was moved to Ebenezer in 1796.

797

Deborah A Turner, Library Manager, Wayne County Library, Three Rivers Regional Library System,
759 Sunset Blvd, Jesup, GA 31545
798
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenezer,_Georgia
799
An extract of the journals of Mr Commissary VonReck, 1734; provided by Charles C Jones Jr; The Dead
Towns of Georgia; Cherokee Publishing; originally published 1878
800
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/effingham/egypt.cfm

“The area had been settled during the early years of the colony in a sparse fashion. Pioneers of
Scotch-Irish, French Huguenot, German, and English descent moved into the area from other colonies in
ox drawn carts, wagons, and on horseback. The River Road, a former Indian path along the Ogeechee
River, was only a two-rut road through the pine barrens.
“This small community of Egypt developed shortly after the Central of Georgia Railroad was built
through Effingham County in 1838. According to local lore, the name Egypt was given the town when a
railroad executive and Mr EE Foy rode the train into the village from Savannah one dark night. The
railroad executive walked to the train exit with Mr Foy and said, ‘It is dark as Egypt out there. Good
name for a town, Ed.’ It is an unincorporated community of about twenty-five houses.”801
KK Krakow illustrates: “This community is located in the northwest section of the county. It was
named for the country in northern Africa because of the fertile soil also found here to produce abundant
corn. There was formerly a community of Egypt in northeastern Oglethorpe County.”802
***ENIGMA, BERRIEN COUNTY803, GEORGIA***
Tifton Tift County Public Library maintains: “Enigma, Georgia, is a small town in South Georgia
located in the northwest tip of Berrien County, nine miles east of Tifton, on Highway 82. The town was
founded between 1876 and 1880 by John A Ball. It did not start out named Enigma. Originally a
settlement, it was commonly referred to as ‘Gunn and Weston’ until Ball decided he wanted a real name
for this town. Two names, ‘Lax’ and ‘Enigma’, were proposed to state officials for review. Lax was
already taken by another nearby settlement, and so Enigma became the official name. Enigma is an odd
name for a town; by definition it means a puzzle or mystery. Ball said, ‘It was a puzzle what to name it
anyway.’ The town was incorporated on August 21, 1906.”804
***EXPERIMENT, SPALDING COUNTY805, GEORGIA***
Evans Millican presents: “Our town of Griffin is the county seat of Spalding County. We are
located in west central Georgia and just on the lisp of metropolitan Atlanta. Experiment is a community
of a little over 3,000 located on the northern outskirts of Griffin and was once a station on the Central of
Georgia Railway. The Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station was moved to this 2,000 acre site in 1889,
one year after having been established at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. The surrounding
area around the station took the name Experiment from the obvious source.”806
***GERMANY, RABUN COUNTY807, GEORGIA***
Carol Turner renders: “Germany is not really a town and barely even a community. The people
who live on or near Germany Mountain are said to live in Rabun County's Germany Community. There is

801

Historic Effingham Society, 1002 Pine St, PO Box 999, Springfield, GA 31329;
[email protected]; http://www.historiceffinghamsociety.org
802
Kenneth K Krakow; Georgia Place Names; Winship Press; 1975; provided by Amanda Williams, Library
Associate, Live Oak Public Libraries, Kaye Kole Genealogy Room, 2002 Bull St, Savannah, GA 31401;
[email protected]; http://www.liveoakpl.org/
803
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma,_Georgia
804
Tifton Tift County Public Library, 245 Love Ave, Tifton, GA 31794; http://www.cprl.org/ttcpl.html
805
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment,_Georgia
806
Evans Millican, Public Services Librarian, Flint River Regional Library, 800 Memorial Dr, Griffin, GA
30223; [email protected]; http//doc.frrls.net/
807
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/rabun/germany.cfm

no definitive answer as to how the mountain was named; it is merely presumed that some of the early
settlers were of German origin.”808
***HAZARD, WASHINGTON COUNTY809, GEORGIA***
Kayla Jackson sheds light on: “I knew where Hazard Road was located, but I never knew we had
a Hazard Community along Hazard Road. … I talked with a lady who has lived in the Oconee/Hazard area
all of her life. She feels like it got its name from the area being a hazard as the railroad was being laid
through the area.”810
***HILL NUMBER 1, 2, & 3, CHICKAMAUGA, WALKER COUNTY811, GEORGIA***
Wiki highlights: “The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19-20, 1863, marked the end of
a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga
Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American
Civil War and involved the second highest number of casualties in the war following the Battle of
Gettysburg.”812
Archibald Gracie calls attention to Hill Number 2: “The 9th Indiana Regiment, of Hazen’s Brigade,
was called upon, under General Brannan’s directions, to go to the position on Hill Number 2, recently
occupied by Brannan’s troops.
“The 3d Kentucky regiment’s first location on Horseshoe Ridge was evidently on Hill Number 2
on the Hog’s Back, which was overrun with stragglers passing along the line of easiest convenience to
the rear. These stragglers were so numerous as to compel the 3d Kentucky to move one hundred yards
to the left, which would locate it at the ‘key point’, or the summit of the east hill of Horseshoe Ridge. I
make this deduction from the following statements in Colonel Dunlap’s Report: ‘I moved, under Colonel
Harker’s orders, to the right upon the hilltop, and found a heavy force advancing, upon which we fired
and ceased firing alternately by order, doubtful whether they were the enemy. This doubt encouraged
their advance, and just here an avalanche of retreating hordes overran us, and compelled us to rally at
the ‘key point’, one hundred yards to the left.’ The 65th Ohio fell back all the way to Snodgrass field in
the rear of the log-house. It rallied here, and Colonel Harker posted it also on Hill Number 2. He would
naturally do this, as the 65th Ohio and the 3d Kentucky, in their previous positions, were on the right of
the line, and being also nearest the Horseshoe Ridge, would close up on Brannan and leave space for
Harker’s other two regiments to be put in on the left of the line. But the 3d Kentucky did not remain on
Hill Number 2, but as we have seen moved one hundred yards to the left. General Wood, as Colonel
Opdycke tells us, posted the 125th Ohio on the crest, and the point referred to is undoubtedly the same
‘key point’ on which the 3d Kentucky was located. Here the two regiments occupied the front line
alternately. The 64th Ohio, being the only remaining regiment, is thus left to occupy the right of the line,
alternating in the front rank with the 65th Ohio. The following interesting details of the part taken by the
65th Ohio on Horseshoe Ridge are also given by Captain Powell: ‘The regiment, though having lost many
of its best officers, and its ranks having been thinned by the loss of over one third of its men, still held its
position, and did so for an hour and a half, when we were joined by Lieutenant-Colonel Bullitt with two
companies of the 3d Kentucky, who, at my request, took command.’ Thus it was about 2.30 that these
two companies of the 3d Kentucky were put in, and it seems probable that Colonel Harker sent them to
808

Carol Turner, Rabun Historical Society, 81 N Church St, Clayton, GA 30525;
[email protected]; http://www.rabunhistory.org/
809
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/washington/hazard.cfm
810
Kayla Jackson, Sandersville, GA; [email protected]
811
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickamauga,_Georgia
812
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga

the position on Hill Number 2 where he had previously posted the 3d Kentucky regiment, supposing it to
be there still, though it had before this moved to the ‘key point’.
“We have seen how the 54th Virginia allowed its prisoners to escape (when the position
occupied was on the slope of Hill Number 2 and in the deep hollow southwest of the Snodgrass house),
caused by a volley from a party of Boynton’s men concealed in the bushes, ten feet from the edge of the
little cliff at that point. If the prisoners escaped here, the locality of their recapture was accordingly in
the same bowl-shaped hollow as described and corroborated by Captain Gaines.”813
Archibald Gracie mentions Hill Number 3: “… was on Hill Number 3 of Horseshoe Ridge, on the
extreme right flank of Brannan’s command.
“Robertson’s Brigade at about 11.30 AM was in contact with the 21st Ohio on south slope of Hill
Number 3.”814
Archibald Gracie details Hill Number 1: “... the other end of the ridge, more especially to Hill
Number 1.”815
***JEWTOWN, GLYNN COUNTY816, GEORGIA***
Lynne Hoffman Keating and Tom Keating explain: “‘Come see this,’ cried Tom, with the look of a
fisherman whose bouncing rod snagged a catch. Crouched over the Brunswick, Georgia, area map, his
finger rested on a town name located in the southwest corner of the St Simon’s section. Printed in small,
bold, black letters was Jewtown.
“‘No way,’ I remarked with a shudder. ‘I’ve never seen that on the map before.’
“Over the past 40 years, we frequently visited St Simons Island and thought we had explored
every historic and ghostly haunt mentioned in travel guides. Until this past fall, when a meeting once
again brought us to the area, we never noticed or heard about Jewtown.
“Immediately, I typed Jewtown into my browser and was surprised by the number of references.
This Georgia community was highlighted not only in Wikipedia, but also on city, county, state, and
historical society websites. Yet even more fascinating was the discovery of numerous other Jewtowns in
the United States and beyond.
“A blogger remembering neighbourhoods in Chicago talked about making ‘at least one trip to
what everyone I knew referred to as Jew Town — I guess it’s now referred to as the Maxwell Street
Market. I never realized that name was offensive to Jews. I apologize if it is ... that’s just what I thought
everyone called it.’
“Urbandictionary.com identifies the Maxwell Street Market, during and after the period of
Jewish prominence, colloquially as Jew Town.
“On City-Data.com, a writer added a memory of shopping trips to a strip with high-rise projects
in Baltimore, Maryland: ‘…the whole block was called Jewtown — not derogatory, either. It was simply
an ethnic designation, the same way some people still use Greektown to refer to areas off Eastern
Avenue. But I guess it sounded bad, so now it’s Corned Beef Row.’
“Why has Jewtown on St Simons Island lasted over a hundred and twenty years?
“Trying to answer that question reminded us of our weekly endeavour at Torah study at The
Temple, where we experienced the intrigue and awe in spending nearly ninety minutes turning one
Hebrew word into an insightful discovery.

813

Archibald Gracie; The Truth about Chickamauga; Houghton Mifflin Company; 1911
Archibald Gracie; The Truth about Chickamauga; Houghton Mifflin Company; 1911
815
Archibald Gracie; The Truth about Chickamauga; Houghton Mifflin Company; 1911
816
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/glynn/jewtown.cfm
814

“On the surface, Jewtown is the name of a community on St Simons. Type Jewtown into the
search mode of Google Earth. The computer churns through the universe, plunging through longitudes
and latitudes, finally focusing on Jewtown, St Simons, GA 31522.
“And herein lays a tale of intrigue. How the community started depends on the source
researched. According to the Glynn County, Georgia, website: ‘This historic African American community
was settled by former slaves from St Simons Island plantations at the end of the Civil War. Just east of
Gascoigne Bluff, Jewtown was established near the Hilton Dodge Lumber Company mill. The area was
first called Levisonton, after Robert and Sig Levison who opened a neighbourhood store around 1880,
but then became known as Jewtown. Situated on Demere Road between the Sea Island Road
intersection on the east and the Frederica Road intersection on the west, Jewtown is home to mostly
small frame bungalows built between 1890 and the 1930s.’
“After plunging through all available material on the web, and when a series of phone calls
yielded scant results, we took a road trip to conduct some source research in person.
“When we asked a variety of islanders, ‘Do you know about Jewtown on St Simons?’ many gave
a silent shiver or looked puzzled and said no. Others smiled. Some frowned and shook their heads from
side to side. A handful with immediate recognition said, ‘Yeah, but I don’t know where it is.’
“The AW Jones Heritage Center had some resources waiting for us.
“A book entitled Images of America, St Simons Island by Patricia Morris, contains a picture of the
Levison’s store with this caption: ‘Workers in Jewtown. Sig and Robert Levison, prominent Brunswick
citizens, built a store about a mile from the mills at Gascoigne Bluff. When a few houses sprang up
around the store, the neighborhood was given the name of Jewtown, in honor of its founders.’
“A second book, Old Mills Days, 1874-1908, included an article entitled Why Is That Place Called
Jew-Town? The piece identified the Levison brothers as prominent citizens of Brunswick who conducted
a general merchandise business. ‘…A few houses sprung up around the store and the settlement was
named Jew Town, in honor of its founders ... The Levisons later moved to Brunswick and entered
business, Robert having been prominent in politics for many years.’
“A third book, Pages from the Past - St Simons Island, 1880-1886, contains actual news clippings
from a Brunswick weekly. On March 24, 1875, the first edition of The Brunswick Advertiser (which
subsequently became The Advertiser and Appeal) appeared. A Dr RJ Massey, a practicing physician and
surgeon, wrote a weekly column. Among the descriptive paragraphs about gardens, boarding houses,
lumber mill shipments, and vessels of cargoes are several mentions about the Levisons: ‘1880 February 7
— Mr Robert Levison, founder of Levisonville, is improving his place quite tastily. He is transplanting
quite a number of fruit trees and grape vines; also, he is establishing an orange grove. He has an eye to
the cent for cent. Success to you Bob!’ ‘1880 March 27—Robert Levison is strongly urged for the office
of Justice of the Peace at the ensuing election in the 25th District GM, on Saturday, 27th inst, by many
voters.’ ‘1881 October 1—Mr John Fitzgerald has just returned from a short trip up the road for his
health, and will open at the old stand at Jewtown.’ ‘1881 November 19 — Mr R Levison again appeared
on the scene last week. It is rumored that he intends again opening his stand at Jewtown.’
“Other documents from the Brunswick Glynn County Library, Heritage Room, provided
telephone directory references, birth and death data, census facts, and older maps.
“In a collection of essays on Southern Jewry published in 1979, Arnold Shankman explored how
important it was not to rely exclusively on materials written by whites to uncover the history of
Southern Jews. Little was written, he acknowledged, on the way African Americans regarded Jews from
1880 to 1935. More interviews with residents and further examination of source documents are
planned.
“Stumbling upon this nugget has only reinforced our belief that local history has delicious untold
stories filled with surprises that lend new dimensions of understanding to the broader landscape.

“Stepping into the footsteps of history often brings us closer to contemporary challenges. The
history of Jewtown is the story of Jewish merchants, freed slaves, the struggle of a historic AfricanAmerican community to retain its heritage, and the erosive forces of development, traffic congestion,
and taxation, which alter religious and cultural life.
“Words from The Brunswick Advertiser of December 18, 1880, contain elements of truth,
historical understanding, and contemporary meaning. They capture best our response to the term
Jewtown, whatever its spelling: ‘East of the land of the Georgia Land and Lumber Company has sprung
up a flourishing little suburb known as Levisonville, in honor of Robert Levison, who was the prime spirit
in the place for many years. This place is known both off and on the Island as Jew-Town, not because
members of the Hebrew tribe first settled it, as some suppose, but because it was at first called a Jewel
of a town, afterwards Jewel Town, which soon lapsed into Jew-Town.’”817
***JOT ‘EM DOWN STORE, PIERCE COUNTY, GEORGIA***
David Baxter imparts: “Jot ‘em Down Store is not a town but simply a store that was a local
gathering spot for farmers in Western Pierce County. The building was recently torn down and had
been abandoned for several years. Its origins evidently go back to the 1920s. Farmers in that area could
purchase nearly anything they needed at the store and not have to drive all the way into Blackshear,
thus it became the local gathering place for goods or gossip. That area was always referred to as the Jot
‘em Down community, hence the confusion.”818
***NAMELESS, LAURENS COUNTY819, GEORGIA***
AH Alderman mentions: “Nameless was the name of the community now called Mount Carmel.
When citizens of the area wrote regarding a name for their post office, they could not select a name
already in use. After a number of attempts were made to name the post office, the Post Master General
wrote back, ‘Your post office to this date remains nameless.’ The community took its name, NAMELESS
from this dispatch. On February 12, 1886, the Nameless post office was established in Mr James R
Shepard’s Commissary. Mr Shepard also was the post master.”820
***SNAKE NATION, ATLANTA, GEORGIA***
FM Garrett portrays: “[Snake Nation] was a settlement devoted almost entirely to the criminal
and immoral element, and was sprawled along the old Whitehall Road (later Peters Street) from the
railroad crossing to about where Fair Street now crosses. Several murders occurred in the Snake Nation
before the section was cleaned out by the law-abiding element in the early 1850s.
“‘Along the Whitehall or Sandtown Road were a few straggling houses and Mr [Jesse] Clark’s
cabinet shop. On Pryor Street, south, there were sundry buildings. Eli Husley, IR Black, Ira O McDaniel,
Dr Cheek and some others had houses and large lots, but nearly all of that part of the now thickly settled
city was an unbroken forest. There was at that time a large spring on the west side, and a little school
house near it. All along what is now Peters Street were small log and frame houses, with now and then
817

Lynne Hoffman Keating, writer, and Tom Keating, educator, are members of The Temple in Atlanta,
GA;
http://thejewishgeorgian.com/index.php?option=com_contect&view=article&id=216%3Aunearthing=a=
namejewtown&catid=23%3Aheritage-and-history%Itemid=15%showall=1
818
David Baxter, President, Pierce County Historical Society, PO Box 443, Blackshear, GA 31516;
http://piercecounty.www.50megs.com/
819
http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/laurens/nameless.cfm
820
Amy Holland Alderman; History of Dexter, GA; provided by Terri, Dublin-Laurens Heritage Center,
Oconee Regional Library System, 801 Bellevue Ave, Dublin, GA 31021; [email protected]; www.ocrl.org

one of greater pretenses. This was Snake Nation, and was the tenderloin district of the young town for
many years. I was taught to give it a wide berth when I went out to my grandmother’s who lived
beyond Whitehall. The little house back of Whitehall [Street] was only a temporary camping place, and
in a few weeks we moved across the town to the corner of Forsyth and Marietta. Our removal was
almost contemporary with the incorporation of the City of Atlanta and the exit of the ungoverned town.
“‘Atlanta continued to grow; new streets were opened and old streets were extended. The city
government had been a mere government in name. Snake Nation was given over to iniquity, and
Murrel’s Row nobly deserved its name. The license for whiskey dens was small, and they had things
their own way. Boys met in billiard rooms and threw their coins in the pool, and feared no man. Faro
banks held an almost open session, and the vile women visited their paramours in the daytime without
shame. There was only one marshal and a deputy, and there was a city of two miles in diameter to
oversee.’
“One more item remained for the accomplishment of the forces of law and order. Many of the
worst characters of Murrel’s Row retired to the Snake Nation to continue their depraved practices
without fear, so they thought, of molestation. Finally, with a determination to eradicate this den of
iniquity, a large body of disguised Atlantans raided the Snake Nation by night. The men found in the
filthy huts were whipped by the ‘White Caps’ and warned to leave town, while the abandoned creatures
of the other sex were hauled nearby to Decatur, where they were allowed to go with a similar warning.
The shanties of both Snake Nation and Slabtown were destroyed by fire so completely that neither rose
again.”821
***TALKING ROCK, PICKENS COUNTY822, GEORGIA***
Elaine Jordan puts into words: “When someone sees or hears the name, Talking Rock for the
first time, they usually ask in puzzlement, ‘Where did THAT name come from?’
“Although several versions of how Talking Rock got its name exists, no historical record has ever
been found of who gave in that name, or why.
“Way back in time, the Cherokee Indians called the place Sanderstown, after some wealthy, ‘half
breed’ brothers who had settled there.
“Later on, that area was called Love’s Community, named for one of the first white settlers who
lived there for a time as well.
“To further confuse matters, for 40 years, maps of the area showed two separate communities
with the same exact name of Talking Rock, existing at the same time, only a few miles from each other.
“One was located where today’s Hwy 136 crosses Talking Rock Creek and was a small village of
mills, shops and a cotton factory. The other Talking Rock was where the present-day community of
Blaine stands.
“Now if that isn’t confusing enough for you, today’s modern incorporated town of Talking Rock
is neither of the above, but one that was settled further east along the Old Federal Road when the
railroad passed through there in the 1880s.
“The Cherokees called the area, Nunyu’-gunwani’ski, or ‘the Rock that talks.’ Indian historian,
James Mooney, who wrote a book, Myths of the Cherokees, said an old Trader once told him that the
area was named for a large rock where Cherokees once held council meetings. But no such rock has
ever been found.

821

Franklin Miller Garrett; Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events; Vol 2; University of
Georgia Press; 1969; provided by Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, Central Library, 1 Margaret
Mitchell Sq, Atlanta, GA 30303; http://www.afplweb.com/
822
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_Rock,_Georgia

“Talking Rock is situated on a Creek of the same name, which gives rise to popular folklore of
how Talking Rock got its name. One story maintains that somewhere along the Creek, there is a boulder
with words on it that say, ‘Turn me over!’ When this is done, an inscription on the other side says, ‘Now
turn me back so I can fool someone else.’
“Another legend tells of how the Indians found a place on the Creek where water running over
the rocks created a ‘babbling’ sound, which they attributed to ‘talking rocks’.
“An editor of the Georgia Mineral Society Newsletter, AS Furcron, believed that the name could
have indicated an area along Talking Rock Creek where an ‘echo rock’ was created by natural cliffs and
caves. This is a realistic possibility because some folks today tell of an area along the Cedar Cliffs on
Talking Rock Creek, where they have called out, and the rocks would echo back to them.
“Another popular story of how Talking Rock got its name tells of how travelers and salesmen
would depart the train at the railroad station, where Talking Rock is located today, and stay at a hotel
across the street. The hotel had a big veranda across the front facing Main Street, with several rocking
chairs placed there, so the weary folks could rest and ‘talk n’ rock’. The name soon became popular and
was given to the town.
“That story is quaint, but the area was already called by the name of Talking Rock long before
hotels were built on the Main Street facing the railroad depot.
“We will probably never know just how the unique little community of Talking Rock, Georgia got
its name. But we’re sure it will intrigue people for many years to come.”823
**HAWAII**
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini mention: “Largest island in the Hawaiian group, 76 miles
wide, 93 miles long, with an area of 4,030 square miles and a population in 1970 of 63,468. Hilo is the
major town and county seat. County and collective name for the entire island group. This name occurs
in many parts of Polynesia. In some areas, but not in Hawaii, it is the name of the homeland, or of the
underworld to which the dead went. Epithets for the island of Hawaii: Hawai’i nui a Keawe, (‘great
Hawai’i of Keawe [a chief]’); Hawai’i kua uli, (‘green-backed Hawai’i’).”824
KB Harder puts into words: “Possibly from the name of Polynesian settlers’ original home.”825
www.netstate.com reports: “Though Captain James Cook called the islands that he discovered in
1778 the Sandwich Islands, this honor to the Earl of Sandwich would be short-lived. King Kamehameha I
united the islands under his rule by 1819 as the Kingdom of Hawaii.
“A couple of theories exist on the origin of the name Hawaii. One theory has it that the name
comes from a combination of the words Hawa and ii and means a small or new homeland; Hawa
meaning a ‘traditional homeland’ and ii meaning ‘small and raging’. The other theory is that the name
comes from the traditional discoverer of the islands, Hawaii Loa.”826
www.statesymbolsusa.org shows: “What does the name Hawaii mean? Hawaii is possibly based
on the native Hawaiian word for ‘homeland’ (Owhyhee). Captain James Cook discovered the islands in
1778 and named the group ‘the Sandwich islands’ (in honor of the Earl of Sandwich). This name lasted
until King Kamehameha I united the islands under his rule in 1819 as the ‘Kingdom of Hawaii’.”827

823

Elaine Jordan; Talking Rock – The Biggest Little Community in Georgia; Apple Country Graphics; 1995
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
825
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
826
http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/hi_intro.htm
827
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Hawaii/HawaiiNameOrigin.html
824

DJ McInerney talks about: “The decade of the 1890s opened a more aggressive era in American
ambitions overseas. One area of special interest was Hawaii. From the 1820s, when American
missionaries began cultivation of the islands’ souls, to the 1870s, when American corporations
controlled cultivation of the islands’ sugar cane, Hawaii fell increasingly under US influence. The sugar
trade stayed healthy until 1890, when new tariffs gave the edge of domestic producers. Planters like
Sanford B Dole calculated that if they couldn’t beat the United States, why not join them? Dole, other
American planters, diplomats, ministers, and marines joined together in 1893 and overthrew the
nationalist Queen Lihiuokalani. President Cleveland looked warily on the proceedings, but by 1898,
after another overseas venture half a world away, Hawaii was annexed. By 1900, it had become a US
territory.”
DJ McInerney catalogs: “While Britain, France, the USSR, and the United States concentrated
their attention on Europe [during the initial phase of World War II], the Japanese government pursued
its expansion in the Far East. Control over China formed on part of a ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere’ designed to liberate Asian peoples from Western colonialism, establish Japanese dominance,
provide reliable markets, and guarantee a steady supply of natural resources. The United States
objected to Japan’s military moves into China as a violation of ‘Open Door’ principles. With the prospect
of Japanese expansion into the Asian colonies of European nations, the Roosevelt administration grew
even more alarmed.
“The United States responded economically rather than militarily, and in the summer of 1939,
announced plans to cancel a 1911 trade agreement with Japan. Negotiations broke down as Japan
rejected US demands for a withdrawal from China. In July 1940, the administration embargoed aviation
fuel and scrap metal sales to Japan. When the Japanese occupied northern Indochina and signed the
Tripartite Agreement with Germany and Italy, the United States created a broader embargo, and
increased aid to China. After Japan completed its occupation of French Indochina in July 1941, the
United States froze Japanese assets and stopped most commerce, including the trade in oil.
“The Prime Minister, Prince Konoye, chose a path of continued negotiation, but Roosevelt
insisted that Japan withdraw from occupied areas. The hardline general, Hideki Tojo, replaced Konoye
in October 1941. While the pretense of negotiations continued, neither side expected a favorable
outcome. The United States pressed for China’s sovereignty and Open Door principles; Japanese
military leaders proceeded with the war plans they had begun preparing in September.
“Having broken Japan’s diplomatic code in 1940, the United States knew an attack was
imminent but did not know where it would occur. The Philippines and British and Dutch possessions in
Southeast Asia seemed likely targets, but advisors assumed that the Japanese did not have the
intention, capacity, or ingenuity to strike American installations. On Sunday, 7 December, they were
taken by surprise as Japan’s air and naval forces attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, America’s key Pacific
base. After two hours, 2,400 Americans lay dead and nearly 1,200 wounded, some 200 aircraft were
damaged or destroyed, and nearly 20 vessels, including battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, were badly
damaged or sunk. Japan followed up with attacks on Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines, Wake
Island, and Midway.
“Standing before Congress the next day, President Roosevelt solemnly reflected on the events of
7 December, ‘a date which will live in infamy’. Congress issued a declaration of war and three days later,
Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. For Americans, who were now strongly unified
after years of debate, the Second World War had begun.”828
**AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT BEFORE STATEHOOD**

828

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

IC Campbell conveys: “Of the five colonial powers in the Pacific up to the time of the First World
War, the Americans were distinguished by their un-self-conscious style. Unhampered either by scruples
of humanitarianism, or by an obsession with imperialist imagery, the Americans adopted a pragmatic
approach. American Samoa was under a naval administration, which interfered little in Samoan life
directly; Hawaii was technically not a colony but a territory, which implied an interim condition pending
statehood. Under American law, Hawaii was a part of the metropolitan power in a sense, which was
quite different from the status of the British, German or French colonies. It was quite unashamedly a
colony of settlement, and indeed, American settlement was well advanced long before annexation in
1898, the Hawaiians, seriously depleted in numbers by now, were well acculturated and miscegenation
had been extensive; although their condition was not enviable, comparatively few of them were in a
condition, which would have justified the application of a special set of laws to be dignified by the label
‘native policy’. It was indicative of the social development of Hawaii that the Bishop Museum, which
was to become a major scientific institution, had been established before annexation, and that the
University of Hawaii was founded in 1907. Outside New Zealand, no other Pacific islands would have
universities until the 1960s.
“Hawaii, however, did have its peculiar institutions. It had developed a white-settler planter
society with elaborate notions of social gradations, which were reinforced by inflexible practices of racial
inequality. The racial prejudices of Hawaii were as effective as any labor laws could have been, in
keeping the various races of Hawaii in a state of economic and social subordination, to a caste of
wealthy, Caucasian plantation-owners and to a commercial elite. Except for the representatives of a few
aristocratic families, which had generally become blended with wealthy Caucasian families during the
nineteenth century, the Hawaiians occupied the lowest social and economic position in this hierarchy.
The Asians of various nationalities were accorded slightly higher esteem, to be placed in their turn below
the Caucasian laboring classes. Seldom has there been such a neatly-defined correlation between class
and race, with its carefully rationed privileges and obligations. This was the system which, along with
the situation in New Zealand, was presented to the world as a model of racial harmony. Harmonious it
might have been; equal and happy it was not, and the system’s cohesion was provided by the
dominance of five large firms, known as the Big Five, whose political influence and economic
stranglehold was unchallengeable until after the Second World War.”829
**DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK**
IC Campbell discusses: “[James] Cook’s second return [to Hawaii] created as great a sensation as
the first: the British government, now enthusiastic at what could be achieved by properly planned and
skillfully-led expeditions of discovery, resolved on another in which the interests of commerce, strategy
and science might join together, as they had done in the time of Byron, which, though a mere dozen
years before, belonged in technique to a different era. The particular objective of this voyage was a
dream older than the quest for a southern continent: the existence of the north-west passage, which
had been sought by Elizabethan seamen. Was there, the Admiralty and the Royal Society wanted to
know, a direct link between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific? Where were the western and
northern limits of the American continent?
“Again Cook sailed via the Indian Ocean, and visited the now familiar places of New Zealand,
Tonga, the Cook Islands and Tahiti. He refrained from mapping both Fiji and Samoa, of which the
nautically-minded Tongans had told him, and made his way to new waters in the North Pacific.
“Much of Cook’s achievement so far had been in locating or dismissing lands previously
reported: he found few places by chance. A major discovery, which had possibly been made already by
Spaniards, awaited him in the North Pacific. Cook could well have had some knowledge of rumored
829

IC Campbell; A History of the Pacific Islands; University of California Press; 1989

Spanish discoveries, and thus had some clue. Either by design or chance, however, Cook came upon the
Hawaiian chain on 18 January 1778. His journals are the earliest written records of the Hawaiian people,
the base line for all subsequent inquiry.
“Cook did not stay long in Hawaii, but continued towards the American coast to get on with the
main object of his voyage, namely to dispel more errors about geography. He spent the northern
summer making notes about the American Indians whom he encountered and mapping the coast as far
as Bering Strait and into the Bering Sea, reaching 70 degrees 44’ north latitude. For the winter he
returned to Hawaii, now named by him the Sandwich Islands, where he could both rest his crew and add
further to geography and anthropology.
“It was here on 14 February 1779, that Cook, experienced in the ways of Polynesians,
accustomed to dealing with theft and with threats of violence, and distinguished above all explorers for
the good relations with the people among who he travelled, was killed in the sort of quarrel which he
had survived several times elsewhere. The shock of the sudden and unexpected death of this
extraordinary man seems to have been as great for the Hawaiians as for his own crew. Both races
recognized his greatness; both were incredulous at what had happened; both were subdued in the
aftermath. Cook’s work, however, was complete: he had shown for all time the extent and boundaries
of the great ocean; he had banished mythology and vagueness from the Pacific geography and given a
definite location to most of the major island groups (the modern map of the Pacific is not different from
Cook’s map); he gave to Europe an extensive collection of objects and observations on the natural
history of the Pacific of immense scientific interest; he collected a detailed set of observations on
Polynesian society long before the science of anthropology was established. His career as an explorer
lasted only ten years: no explorer of his time, or in all recorded history, achieved more.
“The secret of his success was his close attention to detail in all things. This attentiveness was
nowhere more evident than in his maintaining a fit and healthy crew in well-maintained vessels during
voyages, which lasted for years. In this too, Cook’s achievement shines alone in the history of seafaring; without this, he could have achieved little else.
“For the Pacific islanders who knew him, Cook was the representative of European civilization
and humanity, and he was remembered with affection. In the late twentieth century, he is often said to
have been severe in his treatment of Pacific islanders, but the precedents, which he established of
fairness, firmness and compassion, were to be remembered as such for many years; so that for decades
afterwards it would be a proud boast to be able to say that one had met or known Captain Cook; indeed,
the Hawaiian who killed him is known to have regretted the act for the rest of his life. The next
Europeans to come to the Pacific did not need to apologize for coming in his wake, nor be apprehensive
of what he had taught the islanders to expect of Europeans. Unfortunately, few of those who followed
him were able to act as he did, and less noble behavior was quickly adopted on both sides.”830
**KAMEHAMEHA**
IC Campbell expounds: “In the Hawaiian Islands, a remarkably similar process was in train, but
here the religious overtones involved tradition gods: the god of war, Ku, and the god of peace, Lono. Ku
won, and Hawaiian politics then became more clearly a question of naked power between strong tribal
groupings which had already established strong, centralized authority.
“For some centuries, the size of political units in the Hawaiian group had been increasing, until
by the eighteenth century, the existence of a single paramount chief over each island was accepted as
the normal state of affairs. This indeed was the condition of limited centralization, which the Society
Islands were approaching during the eighteenth century. Ambitious Hawaiian chiefs, not satisfied with
limited worlds to conquer, aimed at uniting several islands under a single rule: the object of warfare was
830

IC Campbell; A History of the Pacific Islands; University of California Press; 1989

not simply to establish hegemony, collect tribute and acquire titles, but to conquer and to exercise
control. In this process Hawaii and Tonga were foremost in Polynesia.
“By about the middle of the 1770s, the several islands of the Hawaiian chain had been
consolidated into three kingdoms, and the men who had made them were growing old. Within ten
years, all were dead, and in all cases the succession was either disputed, or was divided between two
heirs. Within a short time, civil war occurred within all three inheritances, and the winners, the new
generation of paramount chiefs, then looked afresh at the territories of their neighbors. A new round of
warfare broke out, overlapping with the internal wars and confusing the details. After some see-sawing
of fortunes, one great chief, Kamehameha, having made good his claim to the island of Hawaii by rank,
warfare and murder, achieved the systematic conquest of most of the island group by 1796. The extent
of his dominion was unprecedented, and to retain it he had to break new ground in government. The
limiting factors in the sizes of the kingdoms of the predecessors were three: the uncertainty of
communications, the danger of chiefs in remote parts asserting their independence, and attracting to
them others who were impatient of control.
“Kamehameha solved this problem (common to all kingdom builders in Polynesia) by some
unusual expedients of his own and by the use of the European settlers (‘beachcombers’) who had
assisted him in his wars. He appointed to positions of authority these men, and Hawaiian commoners,
who depended for their standing entirely on him. He bound them to him by marriage, and he listened
to their advice, but retained power firmly in his own hands. For a quarter of a century, he maintained
the largest and most stable kingdom to be established by a Polynesian, and did it during a period of
profound social change occasioned by rapidly accelerating contact and commerce with adventurers
from Europe and America.”831
**MISSIONARY WORK**
IC Campbell impresses: “While the London Missionary Society, thriving on its success in Tahiti,
was beginning to spread the Word to eager audiences in the Tuamotu Islands to the east and the
Leeward and Cook Islands to the west, an American counterpart was being formed: the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The Americans, in theology, morality and method, are
scarcely to be distinguished from the English, and chose as their field of labor the Hawaiian Islands.
“Their first contingent arrived via the brig Thaddeus in 1820. For their purposes, the time could
not have been better chosen. There had been a generation of peaceful, stable government since
Kamehameha’s great victory in 1796; trade and acculturation had progressed beyond the point (unlike
Tonga or Tahiti) that the missionaries would be looked on mainly as a source of material goods; and
finally, a religious and political revolution had already taken place in the overthrowing of the old gods
with their demands and restrictions.
“Initial suspicion of the missionaries’ motives (allegations had been made that they were coming
to take over the islands – which they were, although not in the sense intended by their accusers) was
soon overcome; within two years, a printing press was producing teaching material in the Hawaiian
language; and within four years – in 1826 – the most powerful chiefs chose Christianity as their personal
religion. By the 1830s, Hawaii was virtually a Christian nation. The success had been dramatic and
sweeping, despite misgivings about possibly shallow or short-lived conversions.
“The ABCFM then – in the early 1830s – turned its attention to the Marquesas, perhaps the
most intransigent object in Pacific mission history. Notwithstanding their success in Hawaii, here their
work was as fruitless as that of the London Missionary Society, which before it finally abandoned the
place in 1842, made at least three beginnings there.

831

IC Campbell; A History of the Pacific Islands; University of California Press; 1989

“In Hawaii … A strong, single government had been established there by Kamehameha long
before the missionaries of the ABCFM arrived. He had been succeed in 1819 by his son, Liholiho, who
under the formidable and irresistible influence of Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Ka’ahumanu, had
abolished religion and tapu, and was ruling as best he could over restless chiefs and oppressed people,
with only the inherited authority of an ali’i-nui (paramount chief). The situation could not last long.
With the abolition of religion, the regime had no continuing legitimacy other than the inheritance of
Kamehameha’s victories and the willingness of some subjects to subdue those who wished to rebel.
“Liholiho died in 1824 on a visit to England, where he had hoped to cement earlier promises of
English protection and benevolence. The accession of his younger brother, Kauikeaouli, who was only
about twelve years of age, meant several years of regency under the aegis of the still-powerful
Ka’ahumanu. It was a dangerous time in the history of a nation, with tremendous social changes taking
place, and a growing foreign population inclined to be contemptuous of native claims to nationhood.
“In 1822 notices were printed in Hawaii prohibiting the boisterous conduct of visiting sailors.
These, in a sense, were the first laws. Knowing that these laws were manifestly inadequate, the
recently-converted chiefs asked the missionaries for advice. As in Tahiti, the chiefs got advice, not legal
draughtmanship; they had asked the missionaries if the Ten Commandments were a suitable basis for
law, and accordingly compiled in 1824 a list of injunctions modeled on them. Over the next few years,
piecemeal laws were added, but there was no constitution to prescribe how or by whom laws were to
be made, or what principle made a pronouncement law. A succession of visiting naval officers, English,
American and French, prompted by incidents or legal defects, gave the Hawaiian government advice
about laws and law making, and although constant adjustments were made, including a new code of law
in 1835, no comprehensive system existed, which would satisfy the turbulent foreign residents or the
quarrelsome consuls or the pedantic and protocol-sensitive naval commanders. Nor were the
missionaries wholly satisfied as they responded to appeals for advice, which was then only partly
accepted.
“By the mid-1830s, the king and ruling chiefs were becoming increasingly harassed by
opinionated foreigners, who claimed exemption from the laws of the land. At the center of this
harassment were the questions of land tenure (because traders and investors felt insecure with only a
traditional Polynesian tenure), and law enforcement; consequently in 1836, the chiefs requested the
missionaries to find a teacher of government, who could instruct them in constitutional and legal
matters.
“After almost two years of frustration and disappointment in trying to find such a person, one of
the missionaries, the Reverend William Richards, agreed to do the job, and resigned from the mission in
1838. The result of his lectures was a Declaration of Rights and Code of Civil Law in 1839, to supplement
the existing criminal provisions, and in 1840 a constitution: the first formal definition of the form of
government, providing for a house of representatives, a supreme court, definition of the roles of
officials, procedures for constitutional amendment and the rights of the people.
“These reforms were drafted by mission-educated Hawaiians and were polished with the advice
of the missionaries. Foreigners for the most part were not pleased: they saw in the laws indirect
government by priests, or at best such an ascendancy of missionary views in the minds of the Hawaiians
that it amounted to the same thing. What the foreigners wanted, however, was no native government
at all; or if there must be one, it should be one in which their own interests were paramount. There was
therefore no-one else but the missionaries to give the king and his chiefs the advice they sought; given
the needs of the Hawaiians at that time and in the future, and given the moral and intellectual context
of the early nineteenth century, the missionaries’ influence was timely and appropriate.
“Their role as political advisers was not finished with the constitution of 1840. The next
objective of the government was to secure international recognition, and in this and other tasks for

many years into the future, ex-missionaries and other Europeans were appointed as cabinet ministers,
ambassadors and public servants, some of them serving comparatively selflessly and with distinction.”832
**MONARCHS AFTER KAMEHAMEHA**
IC Campbell notates: “In Hawaii where a single unified government had been established on
native initiative, the community of settlers was eager to influence the government in its own interests.
Elsewhere, the settlers felt that they had to take the initiative in creating stable government – again, in
their own interests. Regular laws and the consistent application of them was the first requirement.
That came in Hawaii in 1840 with a constitution, followed quickly by attempts to standardize land leases,
and a code of civil law. As the trade boom generated by the whaling industry rose to a short-lived peak,
accompanied by an increasing emigration of young Hawaiian men (several thousand are estimated to
have left the country in the late 1840s, and five hundred a year in the 1850s), investors in Hawaii
became as worried about a labor supply as they were about land. The native Hawaiian population was
declining steadily, and epidemics in the late 1840s seemed to confirm a trend. Moreover, the native
Hawaiians were seen by would-be plantation-proprietors as unwilling or unsuitable for plantation work.
Extensive reforms were called for, and the Hawaiian government, seeing that economic development in
the hands of Europeans represented its best chance for prosperity and political survival, took the
necessary steps. Importation of foreign labor was authorized in a tentative beginning, and in 1848
native land holdings were individualized.
“The last measure was truly revolutionary. It was the first step in ‘The Great Mahele’, whereby
traditional communal rights to land were abolished, breaking the old feudal, serf-like relationship of
commoner to chief and land. The native Hawaiian now might claim his own block of land to sell if he
wished or to hold if he could, and no longer owed labor to his chief; as a potentially landless peasant, he
then became a potential laborer on a European-managed plantation. Despite this often tragic
consequence, the Great Mehele was not quite the act of national betrayal which it might seem: national
survival and economic development demanded land; the native population had declined to a mere
fraction of its former numbers, and much land was locked up in unproductive, inaccessible idleness.
Twentieth-century development experts have since recommended similar reforms in Melanesia. It was
a choice between preserving native culture and national survival; since the first seemed doomed
anyway, there was no real choice; the land was unlocked.
“The path of economic development was even then not smoothed. Later steps included
allowing fee-simple ownership of land for foreigners. When this was implemented in 1852, the
speculator and investor alike could be more optimistic. With imported labor, a Masters and Servants
Act, and a free land market, Hawaiian economic development still lacked two other necessary things:
capital and markets. Without the latter, the first would stay scarce. The gold rush in California in 1849
served to cushion the onset of the depression, which was to accompany the decline of the whaling
trade, but large scale access to American markets was restricted by American tariff policies. Two
solutions presented themselves: a trade reciprocity treaty with the United States, or annexation to the
United States; the first was achieved after a quarter of a century of trial and disappointment; the second
suggestion was floated as regularly as economic difficulty and native Hawaiian assertiveness in politics
commended it to the mainly American settlers.
“Much of Hawaiian politics in the second half of the nineteenth century was concerned with
these same basic issues in greater complexity: how to make Hawaii attractive to foreign investment and
especially to planter interests; how to maintain the supply of labor without provoking racial animosities
or social evils; how to secure and ensure continued access to American markets; and finally, how to
maintain the pride and dignity of a native monarchy, which too easily became the object of settler
832

IC Campbell; A History of the Pacific Islands; University of California Press; 1989

ridicule or hostility. In trying to satisfy these requirements, King Kamehameha III worked and worried
himself to death in 1854; his successors Kamehameha IV (Alexander) and Kamehameha V (Lot)
conducted ambivalent and vacillating reigns of about a decade each; Lunalilo, a notorious drinker,
survived less than a year. Kalakaua, the most flamboyant monarch, reigned from 1873 to 1891, through
a period of growing national indebtedness and threatened revolution from both white ‘reformers’ and
Hawaiian conservatives. His world tour, lavish coronation and monumental building program gave his
regime style, but could not overawe the inflated vanity of the planter society, which was increasingly
inflected by the European mood of racial superiority and the American imperialist mood and manifest
destiny. When he died in 1891, he bequeathed to his sister Liliuokalani a troubled kingdom and an
unsteady throne, neither of which lasted long. Within two years, Liliuokalani had been overthrown, the
victim of a conspiracy of a handful of fire-brand whites, who were encouraged by the US consul and
abetted by a US naval captain. A republic was established, and Sanford J Dole, an eminent planter and
son of a missionary, the most moderate of the very conservative revolutionaries, became the nation’s
president.
“The kingdom established by Kamehameha the Conqueror had lasted almost one hundred
years. That it should have survived for so long in the age of European expansion owned much to great
power rivalries and the fact that it had been well-served by its missionary advisors; but in the last
analysis, its survival depended on its fostering the development which would ultimately cause its
downfall.”833
***‘OPIHI-NEHE, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini put pen to paper: “Literally, ‘rattling ‘opihi shells’. (It was
taboo to rattle ‘opihi shells here. If one did, a ghost was heard to ask, ‘Seaward of inland?’ If the
answer, from another ghost, was ‘seaward’, the victim would be drowned; if ‘inland’, he would have an
accident on land.)”834
***AL-HUA-LAMA, HONOLULU COUNTY, HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini represent: “Stream tributary to Manoa Stream, and the
area near Pu’u-pueo, Manoa, Honolulu, where Ka-uhi killed Ka-hala-o-Puna, whom he suspected of
having an affair with Ki’i-helei. An owl ‘aumakua (personal god) saw the murder, dug up the girl’s body,
and resuscitated her.”835
***BANZAI PIPELINE, SUNSET BEACH, O’AHU (HONOLULU COUNTY), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini specify: “Surfing beach south and west of Sunset Beach,
O’ahu. ‘Pipeline’ refers to the curl of the fast-breaking waves. ‘Banzai’ is the Japanese war cry,
suggesting the surfer’s risk as he rides.”836
***HALA’EA, KA LAE (SOUTH POINT COMPLEX, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini tell: “The name of the current coming from the east at Ka
Lae (South Point), Hawaii, which meets a current from the west named Kawili; the two currents go out
833

IC Campbell; A History of the Pacific Islands; University of California Press; 1989
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
835
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
836
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
834

to sea together. Hala’ea was named for a chief. A stone on the shore nearby, Pohaku-o-ke-au (‘stone of
the time’), is believed to turn over in strong seas, an omen of coming change.”837
***JACKASS GINGER, HONOLULU COUNTY, HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini chronicle: “Pool and mud slide, Judd Trail, upper Nu’uanu,
Honolulu, named by local youths in early 1900s for a donkey that was tethered nearby and for the
yellow ginger growing by the pool.”838
***KA-HIKI-LANI, O’AHU (HONOLULU COUNTY), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini declare: “Rock near Pau-malu (Sunset Beach), O’ahu,
named for a surfer whose wife gave him lehua leis every day; once he returned from surfing with ‘ilima
leis given by another woman; the wife called on her ‘aumakua (family god) and the husband was turned
to stone.”839
***KA-HUKU, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini display: “Ka-huku Pali is a fault scarp 2.5 miles northwest of
South Point; it has a maximum height of about 600 feet, extends inland about 10 miles, and can be
traced out to sea 18 miles. In Ka’u two young chiefs raced with Pele on holua sleds but became afraid
and refused to race with her when they discovered who she was; Pele chased them, devastating the
once fertile area and creating Na-pu’u-a-Pele (‘the hills of Pele’). Village, land division, northernmost
part, golf course, ranch, schools, forest reserve, and surfing beach, O’ahu. The point here was cut off
from the island by Lono-ka-‘eho (‘Lono the stone’), a chief with eight stone foreheads. A lone rock here,
Ku’s Rock Spring, was said to give forth pure spring water. O’ahu was believed to have consisted of two
islands ruled by a brother and sister who locked fingers to pull the islands together. They did this at a
pool called Po-lou, perhaps a shortening of Pou-lou (‘hooked post’).”840
***KA-IMU-MANO, MOLOKA’I (ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini express: “Literally, ‘the shark oven’. (A cannibal sharkman, Nanaue, was caught at Kai-nalu and dragged up the gulch and hill. His body left a shallow ravine
and, near the top of Kai-nalu hill, henceforth known as Pu’u-mano (‘shark hill’), there is a rock with a
deep groove entirely around it. The people cut up Nanaue with pieces of bamboo and burned his flesh.
His father, Ka-moho-ali’i, was angry and henceforth bamboo growing here is dull. The exact location of
the oven is not known.”841
***KAMA’OA, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***

837

Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
838
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
839
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
840
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
841
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974

MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini note: “Plain near Ka Lae (South Point), Ka’u, Hawaii, a place
noted for red dust; people jumped from a cliff (Kau-maea-lele-kawa) near here into a dust heap in
imitation of the sport of leaping from a cliff into water (lele kawa).”842
***KA-MILO, KA LAE (SOUTH POINT COMPLEX, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini record: “Literally ‘twisting (of current)’. Two places here
were called Ka-milo-pae-ali’i (Ka-mile landing [of] chiefs) and Ka-milo-pae-kanaka (Ka-milo landing [of]
commoners). Drowned commoners washed in at the latter, chiefs at the former. Ka’u people traveling
to Puna cast leis tied with loincloths and pandanus clusters into the sea at Puna; when the leis drifted
back to Ka-milo, the Ka’u people knew that the travelers had reached Puna.”843
***KA-PALAOA, KONA (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini reveal: “Peak (3,436 feet high), south central Kaua’i. Cabin,
Hale-a-ka-la Crater, East Maui. Land and sea areas across from the court house. Hau-‘ula, O’ahu. Kane
and Kanaloa sent a whale here to pick up their worshiper, Makua-kau-mana (‘older perching branches’)
and take him to the legendary floating land Kane-huna-moku to live with Kane and Kanaloa in the
‘deathless land of beautiful people’. Literally, ‘the whale’ or ‘the whale tooth’.”844
***KA-UHA-KO, KONA (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini spell out: “Land section, bay, and village near Honaunau,
Kona, Hawaii. Literally, ‘the dragged large intestines’ (a chief forced his people to pull him up and down
a hill on a sledge; they became exhausted and in revenge killed him by dragging or dumping). Crater,
Ka-laupapa peninsula, Moloka’i; lava flowing from this crater built the shield volcano of the peninsula
long after the main volcano had ceased activity. A small brackish pool on the crater is said to have been
the first crater dug by Pele on Moloka’i (Ka Leo o ka Lahui); after striking water, Pele went on to
Maui.”845
***KE-AWA-‘ULA, O’AHU (HONOLULU COUNTY), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini touch on: “Cave, land division, and beach park, now known
as Yokohama Bay, Wai-‘anae, O’ahu. It was believed that spirits of the newly dead would come to a
place here called Ka-ho’iho’ina-Wakea (‘Wakea’s turning-back place’); if the personal god (‘aumakua)
thought the person was not ready to die, he would turn the spirit back to re-enter the body. The
goddess Hi’iaka opened a cave here to get water. Literally, ‘the red harbor’ (said to be named for
numerous cuttlefish [muhe’e] that color the water). The O’aho Railroad train stopped here to let
Japanese fishermen off; so many came that the bay was called Yokohama Bay. A challenging ‘left-side’
summer surfing site here is now called Yokohama.”846

842

Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
843
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
844
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
845
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
846
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974

***LAU-PAHOEHOE, HONOMU (HAWAII COUNTY, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini clarify: “Where ‘Umi was bruised while surfing incognito
before becoming a chief. A man who came from Kahiki and thence to the canoe landing at
Laupahoehoe built a heiau here called Ule-ki’I (‘penis fetching’). The man turned into a pao’o fish, and
his sister into an ‘a’wa fish. Fishermen who wanted to catch them were surprised to see them turn into
human beings. Literally, ‘smooth lava flow’.”847
***MAHAI’ULA, KE-AHOLE (WESTERNMOST POINT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini document: “Coastal area, bay, village, and ancient surfing
area, Ke-ahole, Hawaii. A stone fish goddess about a fathom from the shore was named Pohaku-oLama; she was brought gifts by fishermen except during May, June, and July. During these months the
sea thereabout turned yellowish, and the people thought the deity was menstruating.”848
***MAKALA-WENA, KE-AHOLE (WESTERNMOST POINT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini observe: “The legendary hero Ka-miki destroyed some
ghosts while fishing here at a spot called Ku’una-a-ke-akua (‘net-setting of ghosts’); these ghosts made
mullet (‘anae) and goatfish (weke) bitter. Literally, ‘release [of] glow’.”849
***PEARL CITY, HONOLULU COUNTY850, HAWAII***
www.hawaiistateinfo.com recounts: “Pearl City lies up the coasts of Oahu Island, and is situated
on four ahupua'a, or traditional Hawaiian land divisions. These divisions are: Waiawa, which means
‘from the towering mountains to the brilliant sea’; Manana, which literally means ‘bitter water’;
Waimano, meaning ‘an area where lava flows meet’; and Waiau, which means ‘swirling beautiful
waters’.
“In ancient times, the chieftains and the rest of the community enjoyed the bountiful shellfish
and marine life that decorated the fish pens on the magnificent shores of then Puuloa. But shortly after
Western travelers set foot on the magnificent shores of Oahu Island, the Pearl River proved to be a very
inviting area. Oysters, which bore pearls, were found to be bountiful in the depths of the river's flowing
waters, and eventually grabbed the attention of the great King Kamehameha I. This made the great king
ask Francisco de Paul Marin to take hold of his lucrative pearl trade in the tropical island of Hawaii. This
happened in 1815, which was a time when this great king was seeking to unite the Hawaiian Islands into
a single community under his rule.
“But in the mid-1800s, cattle raising was practiced in the mountain lands of now Pearl City. This
caused severe forest and mountain denudation, which then made the booming oyster population of
Pearl River rapidly wane.
“In the late 1800s, Benjamin F Dillingham then made plans of converting the western fertile
portions of Oahu, the now Pearl City included, into crop-producing lands. This was the start of the
headlining success of Hawaii's sugar production industry in the early 1900s. But when the Second World
War broke the silence of Hawaii's continuously booming sugar industry, the sugar plantations and

847

Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
848
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
849
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
850
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_City,_Hawaii

refineries on the lands of Oahu closed down. This made Pearl City residents look for alternative sources
of sustenance, and found that the tourism and trade industries of this place can be improved.”851
***PEARL HARBOR, PEARL CITY, HONOLULU COUNTY, HAWAII***
Wiki remarks: “Pearl City is located along the north shore of Pearl Harbor.”852
DJ McInerney says: “Northwest of Honolulu, the site evokes the beginning and the end of World
War II. The USS Arizona Memorial stands above the sunken battleship, where 1,177 crewmen died
during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941. The Battleship Missouri Memorial commemorates the
vessel on which surrender terms were signed, ending the war.”853
***UWE-KAHUNA, KI-LAU-EA (KAUA’I ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini spotlight: “Volcano observatory, bluff, and cliff, Ki-lau-ea,
Hawaii, and name of one of Kaha-wali’s priests who challenged Pele after Kaha-wali’s defeat in holua
sledding. A house stood over a pit here; when curious persons entered, the priest pulled ropes making
the floor collapse, and they fell to their deaths in the pit. Ka-miki, a hero, set the house on fire and the
priest wept (uwe kahuna).”854
***WAI-KA-PUNA, KA’U (DISTRICT, BIG ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini underscore: “Bay, Honu-‘apo, Ka’u, Hawaii. There are
springs here below sea level and on shore. In one story, a beneficent shark god, Ke-ali’i-kau-o-Ka’u (‘the
placed god of Ka’u’) married a girl here, and she gave birth to a kindly green shark. A stone in the sea
here was called Pohaku-wa’uwa’u-‘ili (‘skin-scratching stone’). A boy or girl would take a sweetheart
from elsewhere to this stone and scratch his or her skin so that others would know that he or she was
taken. Literally, ‘water [of] the spring’.”855
***WAI-MEA, KAUA’I (ISLAND), HAWAII***
MK Pukui, SH Elbert, and ET Mookini comment: “Where Captain Cook first landed (1778). …
After Captain Cook was killed at Ke-ala-ke-kua, Hawaii, on February 14, 1779, his ships called here for
water on February 27. Vancouver landed here in 1793; while drawing water in the stream, two of his
men were killed by Hawaiians who wanted their weapons. Vancouver ordered that the assassins be
killed, and two men were shot, but it is not certain that they were the murderers. Literally, ‘reddish
water’ (as from erosion of red soil).”856
**IDAHO**
KB Harder gives: “From Shoshonean Ee, ‘coming down’, dah, a stem word denoting both ‘sun’
and ‘mountain’, and how, an exclamatory phrase. The sense of the combined words has been variously
given as ‘Sunup!’, ‘Behold! The sun coming down the mountain’, ‘Light of the mountains!’, and ‘Gem of
the mountains’. The name was first applied (1859) to a village, Idaho Springs, then to Idaho County,
851

http://www.hawaiistateinfo.com/pearl-city.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_City,_Hawaii
853
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
854
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
855
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
856
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Hoyt Elbert, and Esther T Mookini; Place Names of Hawaii; University of
Hawaii Press; 1974
852

which for a time was a part of Washington State. When the Idaho Territory was organized (1863),
Senator Harry Wilson of Massachusetts led the fight for the name Idaho over Montana.”857
www.statesymbolsusa.org pens: “Idaho is an invented word! Mining lobbyist George M Willing
presented the name ‘Idaho’ to Congress for a new territory around Pike's Peak, claiming it was a
Shoshone Indian word meaning ‘Gem of the Mountains’. By the time the deception was discovered, the
name ‘Idaho’ was already in common use.”858
JV Evans scribes: “The origin of the name ‘Idaho’ lies in the politics of the early territories.
“The state of Colorado was almost named ‘Idaho’ after a word coined by a local mining lobbyist,
George M Willing. Mr Willing dreamed up the name ‘Idaho’ and urged Congress to adopt it for the new
territory of the Pikes Peak region.
“Willing told questioners Idaho meant ‘Gem of the Mountains’ in Indian language. In 1860,
Indian words were widely used, and by the end of 1860, the word Idaho had strong support in Congress.
“When the US Senate considered a bill to create an Idaho territory from the Jefferson realm,
they discovered that Idaho was not of Indian derivation but was instead an invented word.
“Meanwhile, the word ‘Idaho’ spread to the Columbia River in the form of a steamboat. By
1862, the Clearwater and Salmon River discoveries were known as the ‘Idaho Mines’.
“In 1863, Idaho once again surfaced in Congress as a motion to change the Territory of Montana
to Idaho. After much debate, the bill was amended to fix the boundaries of the territory to include all of
present day Idaho, Montana and nearly all of Wyoming.
“President Lincoln signed the bill into law in 1863. Idaho became the 43rd state on July 3,
1890.”859
***ADAMS CREEK, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone states: “Rises on Junction Mountain and flows 3 miles southwest into Fourth of July
Creek, Clearwater River drainage. Named for Walter Adams, chief engineer of the party surveying for a
road. He accidently killed himself in 1919 while getting a drink from the creek, as his gun fell out of his
holster and discharged. The shot entered his stomach, but he lived long enough to write a letter to his
mother explaining what happened.”860
***ALMO, CASSIA COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone alludes to: “In the south part of the county, 23 miles south of Albion and 8 miles east
of the City of Rocks. The source of the name is disputed. One common belief is that it derived from a
mythical 1862 massacre, because Almo was the watch word of all emigrants at that time, from
‘Remember the Alamo’, slogan from the Texas War of Independence. Another logical explanation is that
it is Spanish for the cottonwood tree, which grew profusely along Almo Creek, on which the town is
located. Still another comes from an Indian word said to mean ‘plenty of water’ or ‘battlefield’. The
name appears to have already been on the creek and on Almo Hot Springs well before the post office
was applied for. A logical explanation is that the name is a transfer from the creek and the hot
springs.”861

857

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
858
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Idaho/name_idaho.html
859
John V Evans; The Idaho Almanac; Executive Office of the Governor; 1977;
http://www.visitidaho.org/press/about/idahos_name.htm
860
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
861
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988

***AMERICAN FALLS, POWER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone communicates: “At the American Falls on Snake River, a famous landmark on the
Oregon Trail, in southeast Idaho and the north part of Power County. The name dates from the early
1800s. Some have confused the incident that brought it into being with the Wilson Price Hunt
Expedition of 1811, when Antoine Clappine drowned; but Rees, Walgamott, and Steel say it derived
from an American Fur Company expedition in 1829, when the company traveling in canoes down Snake
River, came upon the falls unexpectedly and went over them, and all but one man were drowned.
Subsequent maps carried the name as a warning to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy.”862
***ATOMIC CITY, BINGHAM COUNTY863, IDAHO***
The Morning News depicts: “Atomic City is celebrating its 47th Anniversary, Monday, Aug 4, as
being an incorporated city.
“Atomic City was named Midway prior to this date as it was the half way point between
Blackfoot and Arco on old Highway 26. John Weise ran a gas station and a café along with dry farming
much of the ground that is now INEEL [Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory] and
surrounding areas of the city.
“The Civilian Conservation Corps had a camp there in the early 1930s, as it built most of the
roads on the desert, followed by the Army Air Corps, which built the airport. After they left, the Navy
housed their men there temporarily until housing was completed in Idaho Falls.
“In the 1940s, as the INEEL began construction, the town began to grow. The people of the
village wanted to incorporate and change the name to follow suit to the Site, which was then called ACE,
Atomic Energy Commission.
“On Aug 4, 1950, at the Bingham County Courthouse, it was declared by Bingham County
Commissioners Arnfred Christensen (chairman), Walter C Bithell and WP Judge that Atomic City was an
incorporated city.
“The commissioners appointed John Weise, Quentin Fackrell, Marjorie Fackrell, JH Bartholomew
and DB Yancey as trustees until their successors were elected and qualified.
“The population at this time was 125 people, which grew to 500 for a while. Then as
construction slowed, the population reduced back down to about the original. There was a grade
school, church, restaurants, stores, etc.
“In the early 1960s, the school was taken away, and many of the residents who had small
children decided their men could drive 60 or more miles a day to work, instead of transporting the
children. This was when the big decline in the population occurred.
“Today the town consists of 20 full time residents and several others in the trailer court. They
want more people to move to Atomic City. The school bus comes out for the children who are in the
Snake River School District. A restaurant and more motels, to go along with the convenience store and
post office, are seen as developments that could enhance the city.
“Coinciding with this anniversary, the residents plan to honor their remaining most senior
residents, Marjorie Weise Fackrell and Vera Weise DeJulius. They are inviting all their friends to come
out and visit with them.
“There will be a barbecue at 6 pm and a bonfire to finish destroying the remains of trees,
lumber, etc, from the clean-up efforts.

862
863

Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_City,_Idaho

“All friends and property owners are encouraged to come out for the food and to celebrate the
city’s 47th anniversary. Horseshoes and volleyball will be available entertainment.”864
***BAD BEAR CREEK, BOISE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone enumerates: “Rises in the southwest part of the county on Freeman Peak (8,111 feet)
and Thompson Peak (10,766 feet) and flows 3 mile south into Mores Creek; Boise River drainage.
Legend has it that an early miner was severely mauled by a bear at the head of this creek.”865
***BATHTUB MOUNTAIN, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone gives an account: “According to a local story, a young man homesteaded on the slopes
of the mountain and set about building a cabin and making ready for his bride to join him. She had
made one stipulation about coming to this wilderness; she would not come if she could not have a
bathtub. He assured her that the tub would be ready. Some say he bought a bathtub, others that he
made a wooden bathtub, and in either case he set it in the open yard.”866
***BATTLE CREEK, FRANKLIN COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone points out: “Rises on the west slope of Treasureton Hill and wanders 16 miles
southeast to Bear River, 3 miles northwest of Preston. Named for the Battle of Bear River, which
occurred at the mouth of this creek, 29 Jan 1863. On this date, Colonel Patrick E Connor and his Third
California Infantry had been sent to avenge Shoshoni Chief Pocatello’s purported massacre of a
California emigrant train near the City of Rocks, Cassia County. Connor attacked an Indian winter camp
on this stream and almost annihilated the band. Two hundred sixty-seven Indians, of which 90 were
women and children, were slaughtered.”867
***BEDBUG CREEK, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone relates: “This stream flows southwest 3 miles to Kauder Creek; Clearwater River
drainage. From 1914 to 1925, bedbugs infested the entire area: woods, logging camps, rooming houses,
hotels, and homes. The church built at Crescent along this creek was called Bedbug Church, because it
was full of bedbugs from the blankets used to bed down youngsters during all-night revival meetings.”868
***BEER SPRINGS, CARIBOU COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone stipulates: “Named by Captain Benjamin LE Bonneville, 9 May 1834, when he was on
his way to rendezvous with his party; named because the natural fountains were somewhat foamy.
Later a stage station named for Soda Springs; a favorite stopping place for emigrants on the Oregon Trail
because of the effervescing and acid taste of the waters.”869
***BITCH CREEK, FREMONT COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone writes: “Rises in Wyoming; forms southeast border between Fremont and Teton
Counties until its convergence with Badger Creek; Teton River drainage. Also North Fork Teton River.
864

Atomic City to celebrate its 47th anniversary; The Morning News, Blackfoot, Idaho; August 2, 1997;
provided by Cloris Brown, Vice President, Bingham County Historical Society, 3 NW Main St, Blackfoot,
ID 83221; [email protected]; http://www.binghamcountyhistoricalsociety.com/
865
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
866
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
867
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
868
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
869
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988

The original name, Anse de Biche (‘Doe’) Creek, was reportedly bestowed by French trappers and later
corrupted by the American counterparts. The name is a corruption of the French biche ‘doe’ and was
changed to North Fork of the Teton by the Hayden expedition of 1872. Also said to be named because
its rugged canyon and fast flow make it a ‘real bitch’.”870
***BLUE NOSE, LEMHI COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone articulates: “One the Idaho-Montana border about 2 miles northwest of Valliet Spring.
Two reasons for the name are given: there are blue outcroppings of rock here and in winter it is so cold
here one’s nose is always blue.”871
***BOTTLE BAY, BONNER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone describes: “Named because Harry Bare, Walt Ritaker, and a man named Meyer
camped at the bay. Instead of throwing away their beer bottles, they stacked them behind their
cabin.”872
***CALAMITY POINT, BONNEVILLE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone establishes: “An igneous intrusion through the Swan Valley Fault; in the east part of
the county. Source of name is in dispute: Named because of the dangerous bend in the river where
several men lost their lives while floating large rafts of logs to the saw mills; named because large log
rafts holding from 10 to 20 thousand board feet of rough lumber were upset in the swift water.”873
***CEMETERY RIDGE, SHOSHONE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone highlights: “In the west part of the county, 6 miles southwest of Wallace in the Coeur
d’Alene Mountains; near Big Creek. Eighteen fire fighters were killed in the 1910 fire, a short distance to
the north of this point. The bodies were removed to the ridge and temporarily buried, thus the
name.”874
***FAIRYLAWN, OWYHEE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone portrays: “Town 2 miles east of the Idaho-Oregon border. Primarily a way station for
the stage line and a post office. The owner installed a windmill, and with a small spring, the place was
kept green. Because of the desolate surroundings, the person who settled in this area felt that it should
have an imaginative, fanciful name.”875
***FREEDOM, CARIBOU COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone remarks: “At the Idaho-Wyoming border. An early Mormon settlement (1879), so
called by the settlers who intended it as a refuge from arrest and prosecution for practicing
polygamy.”876
***GOOD GRIEF, BOUNDARY COUNTY877, IDAHO***
870

Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
872
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
873
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
874
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
875
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
876
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
877
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Grief,_Idaho
871

Debbie Herman shares: “As one story tells it, in the 1950s, a tavern was built in a community in
northern Idaho. Its owners named the tavern Good Grief, because of a beer deliveryman who’d say
‘Good grief!’ every time he walked through the door. The name caught on, and residents started calling
the community Good Grief!”878
***JUDGE TOWN, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
Samuel Swayne stresses: “No history of Clearwater County would be complete without the
recounting of the exploits of L Osenton, the Judge.
“He lived alone in a little cabin decorated with signs on the outskirts of Pierce from sometime
before my arrival on that town in the late 1920s until his death in the 1940s.
“He was a character in his own right. He was the Justice of the Peace during the entire time. He
was reputed to have come from West Virginia as the result of a shooting scrape there, and he
frequently, if not all the time, carried a pistol during his sojourn in Pierce. He was a carpenter by trade
and supplemented his various enterprises by doing odd construction jobs. After the incorporation of
Pierce, many of his construction jobs were for the city. He ruled the city (in effect) with an iron hand
and became famous for his legal pronouncements.
“I became acquainted with him during the incorporation proceedings of the town and later as
prosecuting attorney, when the town was sub-dividing the area south of Pierce, which later was
nicknamed Judge Town. At first he was very antagonistic, but when he found out that I had no designs
to oust him from the Justice of the Peace job, and indeed happy to have him maintain law and order, (if
it could be called that) in the Pierce environs. He, in turn, derived added prestige by making available
his front room for the transactions of legal business and then nailing up a big sign, ‘LAWYERS’.
“I remember one case he told me about. He said one of the local prostitutes came in and swore
out a complaint against a lumberjack for mayhem. She charged him with biting off her left nipple and,
to prove her case, exhibited the severed anatomy, which she brought to court in her hand. Apparently
the defendant was a friend of His Honor, perhaps she had otherwise incurred his displeasure, but in any
event, he made the learned pronouncement that, since her injury was one of the hazards of her trade, it
was to be expected that such things would be bound to happen, and therefore the defendant could not
be held responsible; case dismissed.
“Sheriff Anderson told me that on one occasion, he was called to Pierce to arrest a tin horn
gambler who had dropped into town, and thought he could get away with almost anything. When he
was brought before the Judge for arraignment and asked whether his plea was guilty or not guilty, he
said, ‘Not Guilty’. The Judge was equal to the occasion: ‘Well in that case, your fine will be $100.00 and
I’ll give you two hours to get out of town.’
“On another occasion when I was prosecutor, the Sheriff and I took a drunk and disorderly
defendant to Judge Osenton’s place for arraignment, just at sun up in the early summer. We banged on
his door, and he bade us enter. The judge was still in bed and looked like he had been on a bender,
having only removed his pants and shoes before retiring. He had on a striped shirt with detachable
collar, one end of which was detached, and his necktie was squarely under his right ear. When apprised
of our mission, he reared up in bed and put on his old black hat and swung his shanks clad in long johns
around behind his bedside table, which served as his desk, spat his quid of tobacco into a 10 pound lard
pail, which served as a chamber pot, put on his half lens spectacle, opened his docket, and peering out
over his glasses in the most judicial manner, administered the oath, took the plea, and made the
required entries to get the defendant ‘legally’ on his way to jail.

878

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011

“During the Wobbly Strike in 1936, the National Guard was called out, and about 100 very young
men were sent to Pierce to keep order. The commanding officer being apprised of the situation,
ordered all the prostitutes out of town. The sheriff, in furnishing their transportation, came up one
short. The mystery was not solved for a couple of days, until she came to light in the Judges premises.
“If it should happen that there was a criminal jury trial, the Judge would ask me privately, ‘Did I
want a convicting jury, or an acquittin’ jury?’ It did no good to insist that any fair jury would do; he
would give the town Marshall one of his precompiled lists to summon jurors. I never did find out if they
always fulfilled his evaluation of their probable verdict, but I would guess he had them pretty well
pegged.
“After one case, he sent his jury out of deliberate in the lean-to kitchen of his one room cabin.
The verdict was expected in a few minutes, but time dragged on. After about two hours, they brought in
a verdict. It then developed that the jury had raided his icebox and found a couple of big steaks, so they
took time out and cooked up a big dinner on the Judge.
“The Judge had other claims of fame besides his legal talent. He had cleaned out the old well at
the old log state house and recovered the old court seal and a copper box full of early court records,
part of which found their way to the local historical society, and had several relics of the Chinese
population in Pierce.
“The Judge also did some gold mining. He found a nugget in Mutton Gulch about the size of 25
cent piece, which was amazingly like the profile of Abe Lincoln. He sent it to Ripley’s ‘Believe It Or Not’
and its picture appeared in the paper.
“These are just a few insights into the type of man that L Osenton was, and the type of law that
he expected to be followed. The type of law that helped to shape the Clearwater area.”879
***KINNIKINNIC CREEK, CUSTER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone compose: “North tributary of Salmon River at Clayton. About 7 miles long, this creek
was the scene of much prospecting. Named for a plant growing in the area from which Indians and
pioneers secured dried leaves and the inner bark, to use as tobacco; probably related to the sumac. This
is an Algonquian word meaning ‘that which is mixed’ – a mixture of bark and leaves for smoking.”880
***LAPWAI, NEZ PERCE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone designates: “Nez Perce village 11 miles east of Lewiston on Lapwai Creek, a tributary
of Clearwater River from the southeast flowing through Lapwai Valley. In 1805 Lewis and Clark named
this stream Cottonwood for the trees on its banks. Pronounced ‘LAP-way’. Site of US Army’s Fort
Lapwai and Indian Agency by that name. Colonel William Craig, the first Indian agent and first
permanent resident in what is now Idaho, was buried near Lapwai in 1869. This is the administrative
and cultural center for the Nez Perce Reservation. … There are two versions of the meaning of the Nez
Perce word lapwai. Once is ‘the place of the butterflies’, used because there were always many
butterflies in the area of the mill and pond, built by Reverend Henry H Spalding when he established his
mission in this location in 1836. Lapwai is formed by the Nez Perce words lap-lap, for ‘butterfly’ and
wai, for ‘stream’. This location was sometimes called Butterfly Valley. Yellow Wolf, a Nez Perce Indian,
said concerning the name: ‘In 1926 Many Wounds said to me: ‘I will show you the true name of Lapwai.’
Leading the way to a partially dried-up quagmire lying between the Spalding Mission site and the mouth
of Lapwai Creek, he pointed to the myriads of butterflies settled on the black mud, and demonstrating
879

Samuel Swayne; Tales of Clearwater; Legacy House; 1995; provided by Bernice Pullen, Clearwater
Historical Museum, 315 College Avenue, PO Box 1454, Orofino, ID 83544-1454;
[email protected]; http://www.clearwatermuseum.org/index.html
880
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988

with his hands the slow fanning of their wings, explained: ‘that winging is laplap. The Indians knew this
spot by that name. The whites changed it to Lapwai, and so called the entire creek.’’ Lewis and Clark
said that the word lapwai was from Nez Perce Lap-pit, ‘two’, and waitash, ‘country’, meaning a
boundary line. The creek actually was a boundary that separated the territory of the Upper Nez Perce
Indians from that of the Lower Nez Perce.”881
***LAWYERS CREEK, LEWIS COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone expands: “Named for Lawyer, a Nez Perce Indian leader from 1848 to 1871, who lived
near the lower end of Lawyers Canyon. He received his name from early fur traders because of his
talents in languages and oratory. A friend of the whites, he helped the missionaries prepare dictionaries
and translate the Bible into Nez Perce and played an important role in treaty negotiations. He died in
1876. He was the son of Twisted Hair, who was a friend of Lewis and Clark.”882
***LEGEND CREEK, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone illustrates: “North tributary of Salmon River at the east extremity of the county. In the
Bitterroot National Forest. So called because Indian pictographs on the bluff above the high-water mark
depict figures on horseback; believed to have been drawn after 1750.”883
***MASSACRE ROCKS, POWER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone maintains: “In the west part of the county on Snake River, 9 miles southwest of
American Falls; on US 15. A massacre occurred near here 10 Aug 1862, when a train of 11 ox-drawn
wagons carrying 25 families from Iowa was attacked by Indians. Wagons were plundered and burned,
teams driven off; 5 men and 1 woman were slain.”884
***MEDICINE LODGE CREEK, CLARK COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone presents: “Rises in the area of Bannock Pass and along the Continental Divide in the
northwest extremity of the county, flows southeast 35 miles, and dissipates into the terrain 9 miles
southwest of Small. … Named for the Indian sweat house, or medicine lodge; applied to this stream by
early settlers because of the number of sweat houses found here. In 1820 it was called Cotes Defile for
a French Canadian member of Donald McKenzie’s party. It was part of an Indian trail from Montana
across Medicine Lodge Pass.”885
***NEZPERCE, LEWIS COUNTY, IDAHO***
KB Harder renders: “From Nez Perce, the French name for an Indian tribe that called itself
Chopunnish. The French term, literally, ‘pierced nose’, might be more meaningfully translated as
‘mashed’ or ‘flattened nose’.”886
***PAPOOSE CREEK, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone sheds light on: “Rises on Papoose Saddle 1 mile south of the Clearwater-Idaho County
line and flows 5 miles south to Lochsa River, 34 miles northwest of Hamilton, Montana. Named for an
881

Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
883
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
884
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
885
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
886
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
882

incident of the 1879 Sheepeater War on the headwaters of this creek, when Lieutenant Farrow captured
two Indian women and a baby. He sent the mother after her people and kept the baby to insure her
return, much to the discomfort of his men, who could not sleep because of the vociferous crying of the
baby.”887
***POISON CREEK, BONNEVILLE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone suggests: “Rises in northeast quadrant in Caribou Range and flows 3 miles northwest
into Pine Creek; Snake River drainage. Named because several head of sheep and cattle died in this area
from larkspur poisoning.”888
***ROBBERS ROOST CREEK, BANNOCK COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone calls attention to: “Rises in the extreme east part of the county on the south slope of
Haystack Mountain, on the Caribou-Bannock County line; flows west-southwest 5.5 miles to Portneuf
River, 3.5 miles north of McCammon. Named for the refuge of road agents, or robbers, in a recess of
Portneuf Canyon near the present site of McCammon; a place where travelers were robbed at gunpoint
and which served as a hiding place, for robbers could not be tracked over lava rocks or found in the
recesses of the canyon.”889
***SCURVY MOUNTAIN, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone connotes: “In the fall of 1907, two men from Montana, George Gorman and Clayton
Shoecraft, came into the area around Cayuse Creek. They lived in a small cabin, killing two elk for food
and established a trap line on Cayuse Creek. In midwinter they began to suffer from a disease, which
they believed to be rheumatism; according to a diary they kept, the disease had all the symptoms of
scurvy. In the last diary entry, one man reported that his partner was dead and that he could no longer
get out of bed. In the spring, the Hansen brothers reported the two men were missing, and later found
them in their cabin. They buried them in a common grave near what is now called Scurvy Mountain.
These features are named for the incident.”890
***SEVEN DEVILS, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone details: “The north cluster of peaks in the Seven Devils Mountain Range, in southwest
Idaho County, in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area; lie in a semicircle. The peaks in this group give
the entire range of Seven Devils Mountains their name. They are, from the greatest elevation down: He
Devil, She Devil, Devils Throne, Mt Belial, the Ogre, Twin Imps, and the Goblin. There are some 20
named lakes in this area and numerous creeks, rock formations, and rapids. The names all spring from
the original demonic names of the peaks or from their opposites, such as Heavens Gate and Paradise
Meadows. Seven Devils Lake lies just east of Devils Tooth. Seven Devils Mountains extend from
Heavens Gate in Idaho County, trending northeast to southwest for about 30 miles. The range includes
the Seven Devils and lies between Snake and Little Salmon rivers, with White Bird Mountain to the north
and Cuddy Mountains to the south. The extreme north and south portions of this range are high
rounded hills. The central elongated dome is from 8 to 10 miles wide. John Rees says that the Hudson’s
Bay Company named the seven high peaks in the early 1800s, because they are mysterious and weird
and must be associated with the devil. The US Forest Service says that the name springs from an Indian
legend. As the story goes, a lost Indian was surprised by a devil in this area, and as he ran away he
887

Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
889
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
890
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
888

encountered six more devils. Upon his return to his tribe, he told of the seven devils who scared him.
From this, the name Seven Devils was derived.”891
***STINKING CREEK, KOOTENAI COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone explains: “Originates 1 mile south of Inyo Mountain; flows south 3.5 miles to Big
Creek; Salmon River drainage. The stream is hard to cross, and it has an odor, possibly because of
sulphur.”892
***STRYCHNINE CREEK, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone imparts: “Rises southwest of Bald Mountain, flows 6 miles southwest to Palouse River.
According to an account by a Mr Pankey before 1905, named from the strychnine poisoning of the
stream to eliminate Chinese miners. White miners had abandoned the area and let the Chinese enter.
The Chinese worked the area successfully by ditching water from Strychnine Creek across the ridge for
their sluicing and for personal use. White miners poisoned the Chinese with strychnine in the water, but
never found the gold that had been cached.”893
***THE GOBLIN, IDAHO COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone mentions: “The easternmost peak of the Seven Devils; in the southwest part of the
county, in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Named goblin, an evil or mischievous spirit, an elf,
because it is one of the smallest of the Seven Devils.”894
***TREASURE GULCH, LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone puts into words: “Runs 1.5 miles south to Gold Creek; Palouse River drainage; in St Joe
National Forest at head of Gold Creek; an early gold-prospecting area. Named by US Forest Service
ranger WH Daugs in 1931 for the gold that miner W Carrico buried in tin cans, which he was never able
to find because he lost his sight in an explosion. A local story claims ‘greenhorn’ prospectors were sent
here to get them out of the way of successful miners, because there was no gold in this gulch.”895
***WHISKEY CREEK, CLEARWATER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone reports: “Some say the name came from the saloon that was located on the creek. It
was just outside the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, so much whiskey was sold to the Indians. Others that
it originated from a pack string taking whiskey from Walla Walla to Pierce in 1861 and getting stopped
by snow. The party camped on what was called Whiskey Flats with their cargo of 20-gallon kegs;
however, when it was possible to continue, they discovered every keg was empty. The packers had to
return to Walla Walla for another load.”896
***WHOOP-UM-UP CREEK, BOISE COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone shows: “Flows 2 miles east into Edna Creek; Crooked River, 8 miles south of Lowman.
Named by Moses Kempner, a stage driver who settled near this creek. The stage road went by the
creek, and he had to whoop and yell at his horses to get them over the nearby hill.”897
891

Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
893
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
894
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
895
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
896
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
897
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
892

***YANKEE FORK CREEK, CUSTER COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone talks about: “Northeast tributary of Salmon River. Heads south of Challis Lakes and
flows 25 miles southwest and south to Salmon River. In 1876 prospectors made a strike that they
named for General George Custer, who had just suffered disaster with the Sioux on the Little Big Horn.
Most of the prospectors who subsequently flooded this area were Yankees and named this creek
‘Yankee’ as a slap at the Confederate miners of Secesh Creek, Warren Diggings.”898
***YELLOW CAT CREEK, LEMHI COUNTY, IDAHO***
LP Boone catalogs: “Heads just south of Panther Creek; flows southwest 1 mile to Loon Creek;
Salmon River drainage. Named for a big yellow house cat that lived at the mouth of this creek for
several years.”899
***ZAZA, NEZ PERCE COUNTY, IDAHO***
Lora Feucht conveys: “Our files reveal two possible reasons for the name of Zaza. One: A man by
the name of Bill Carrick, who lived in that area, named it after a movie he saw in the early 1920s. The
movie, produced first in 1915, was remade in 1923 and again in 1939. Another reason: He simply used
the last and first letters of the alphabet. We have nothing to document either.”900
**ILLINOIS**
HB Staples discusses: “The State of Illinois is named from its principal river, the Illinois. The river
is named from the confederacy of Indian tribes called the Illinois Confederacy, which had its seat in the
central part of the State. Gallatin gives the definition of the word Illinois, ‘real men’, ‘superior men’,
from the Delaware word, Leno, Leni, Illin, Illini, as it is variously written. The termination ois is that by
which the French softened the location inflexion when they adopted an Indian word.”901
KB Harder expounds: “From an Indian tribe who called themselves the Inini, ‘perfect and
accomplished men’. The French called them Illini and added the suffix –ois to denote the tribe.”902
www.e-referencedesk.com impresses: “The state of Illinois was named after the Illinois River.
Illinois is Algonquin for ‘tribe of superior men’.
“The river was named by French explorer Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle in 1679 after the
Indians he found living along the banks.
“Illinois is the French spelling for the Illinois and Peoria Indian word iliniwok, meaning ‘men or
warriors’ and perhaps referring to members of the Illinois tribe.”903
www.enchantedlearning.com notates: “Origin of the Name Illinois - Illinois comes from the word
Illini, a confederation of the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Moingwena, Peoria and Tamaroa Indian
tribes.”904

898

Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
Lalia Phipps Boone; Idaho Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Idaho Press; 1988
900
Lora Feucht, NPCHS Registrar, Nez Perce County Historical Society & Museum, 0306 Third Street,
Lewiston, ID 83501; [email protected]; http://www.npchistsoc.org/
901
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
902
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
903
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/illinois.html
904
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/illinois/
899

www.statesymbolsusa.org puts pen to paper: “What does the name Illinois mean? Illinois is the
French version of an Algonquin Indian word for ‘warriors’ or ‘tribe of superior men’.”905
***BIBLE GROVE, CLAY COUNTY906, ILLINOIS***
EE Ernest represents: “This Township is situated in the northeast corner of Clay County. Its
name might indicate that the people are religiously inclined, and as five church buildings are to be found
here, this conclusion may not be quite amiss; however, its name is derived from the fact that a Bible was
found by hunters in a grove near where Georgetown now stands. This was many years before this
township could boast of permanent settlers, and although the original grove has long since passed away
under the sturdy stroke of the early pioneer, yet the name clings to it and is prized highly by the citizens
of the township, as are many things which are handed down to us by tradition.”907
Clay County Genealogical Society specifies: “Theories vary on source of name for Bible Grove:
“A placid little village with three name changes made in its past to please its residents in Bible
Grove. It has an exciting history to tell, even though it was known by a different label most of that time.
“Bible Grove, a village of around 100 residents, is the largest gathering of residents in the
township that carries the same name, and anchors the northeast corner of Clay County.
“The original hamlet was ‘laid out’ in 1852 by George Monical. He situated his creation on the
west bank of the Little Muddy in Section 17 of the county, and christened in Edinburg.
“But with new people came new ideas, and the burg became known as Georgetown, a choice of
the people, the 1884 history of Clay and Wayne County book said.
“The book gives no mention of the name Bible Grove in its accounts of all the towns in the
county, but after the 1880s, the citizens evidently felt it was time again to change the name and decided
upon the township name for the largest settlement in the political boundaries.
“Another theory about how the town got its name is strongly held by some members of the
community, the Bible family. They say the name originated from their family. So, the actual origin of
the naming of the town is uncertain, even today.
“The first store built in the village with 200 inhabitants, was built in 1878 by T Gould, who
offered a general merchandise lot to his customers. The store met with disaster on the night of July 3,
1914, and it burned to the ground. Along with it went the Farmers & Merchants Bank next door.
“The story of the fire is that an old tramp broke into the store between 10 pm and midnight,
with the intention of getting himself a new outfit of clothing, free of charge. In the process, he knocked
over and spilled a coal oil lamp and started the fire.
“The fire spread and eventually burned Gould’s warehouses, which stored carloads of salt, flour,
other staples and implements.
“The attempt to save the structures was the sole effort of the ‘bucket brigade’, local volunteer
firemen.
“The culprit who started the fire escaped town and was 12 miles away from the scene, or twothirds along the way to Dieterich from Bible Grove, when he was found.
“The tramp was apprehended and served several years in the penitentiary for his act in the
village.

905

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Illinois/IllinoisNameOrigin.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Grove,_Illinois
907
Etal Elliot Ernest; History of Clay County, Illinois; Martin Printing and Album Co; 1969; provided by
Donna L Corry, Library Director, Flora Public Library, 216 North Main St, Flora, IL 62839-1510;
[email protected]; http://www.florapubliclibrary.org/
906

“The history of the township where Bible Grove is located took its name from the fact that a
Bible was found by hunters in a grove near where the village stands, the history book of Clay and Wayne
Counties said.
“Some other ‘first’ businesses established in the town during the late 1880s was a blacksmith
shop belonging to Alexander Apperson and J Smith; a general store kept by Finnemore and Apperson;
the drug store owned by Thomas W Kepley; the saw mill established by George Monical and Son and the
shoe shop belonging to a Mr Jackson.”908
***BONE GAP, EDWARDS COUNTY, ILLINOIS***
Wiki shares: “French trappers knew this area before it was permanently settled. The French
referred to this place as Bon Pas, which translates literally to ‘good step’, Kentuckians modified the
name to ‘Bone Pass’, as though it were a ‘pass’ through a mountain range. This was then changed to
‘Bone Gap’, as in the Cumberland Gap. Bon Pas is actually the name of a nearby creek not the town.
“An alternative story about the origin of Bone Gap's name involves a small band of Piankashaw
Indians, who established a village in a gap in the trees a short distance east of present day Bone Gap.
Several years later, early American settlers found a pile of bones discarded by the Indians near their
encampment - hence the name Bone Gap as given to the white man's village established about the
1830s.
“Early settlers in the area included the five Rude brothers who came from West Virginia in 1830.
Other families included the Morgans, Knowltons, Philips, Gibsons, and Rices. In 1835-6 Ebenezer Gould
and Elizabeth Gould went west with their twin sons, Philander and Ansel. Due to several members of the
farming community coming from Northeastern states, they were referred to as ‘Yankees’, and the
community was referred to as ‘Yankeetown’.
“Old Bone Gap, as it was usually called, was situated a little more than one-fourth mile east of
the present village limits. It was never incorporated as a village and consisted of a store and post office,
the office of Dr Fildes, a blacksmith shop, a Baptist church, a Methodist parsonage, and a few log
dwellings.
“On March 9, 1892, a petition was circulated for an election to incorporate as a village. On
March 29 of that year, thirty-eight votes were cast for incorporation and seven against.”909
***BOOS, JASPER COUNTY910, ILLINOIS***
GW Sunderland tells: “Though never really a town in the true sense of the word Boos (or Boos
Station) was actually on the site of a railroad station. It got its names from a Joe Boos, who operated a
grocery store close-by many years ago. Mr Boos opened the store in the middle-1800s to service the
farmers and the railroad section workers in the area.
“Mr Ralph Hawn, who still operates a blacksmith shop at Boos, said that more than twenty
people had run the store since then, his family being the last to do so. It no longer exists, but the
building houses a carpenter shop and material storage facility owned by Robert A Mattingly.
“In the late 1800s and early 1900s, red-top seed and hay were major export items produced in
Jasper County, and Boos Station was an important shipping point for these commodities. Two large hay
storage barns once stood near the siding near the station as well as a red-top holding bin. Livestock and
some grain was shipped from Boos also, destined for the markets in St Louis, Indianapolis or Chicago.

908

Clay County Genealogical Society, PO Box 94, Louisville, IL 62858; [email protected];
http://www.clayrootsillinois.com/
909
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Gap,_Illinois
910
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boos,_Illinois

“Mr Hawn, Boos’ 74 year old blacksmith, can remember shoeing horses at the rate of one shoe
every eight minutes for seven hours per day, back in the old days, but now works on modern farm
machinery. He and his family are perpetuating the legacy of Boos Station.”
GW Sunderland continues: “Joseph Boos was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1839, and is the
second son of J and Elizabeth Boos, both natives of Alsace. When our subject was a few months old, he
came with his parents to Saint Marie, and was here reared and educated. His father bought the present
Boos estate. It contained at one time 3,600 acres. Mr Boos has always lived on the farm. Boos Station
is situated on the Boos estate. For the last three years, Mr Boos has been dealing in grain and
merchandise, and has a fine brick store, the best in the township. He does the sole grain trade in this
part of the township, and is the only merchant. He was made post-master about three years ago. He
has rented all his land (1,200 acres, mostly cultivated and improved), and devotes his attention to his
present business. In 1868, he married Magdalene Litzelman, a native of Saint Marie. His present wife
(formerly Magdalene Horn) is a native of Effingham County, Ill. He has four children – Francis, Joseph,
Aloyous Odilo and Estella. Mr Boos is a Democrat and a prominent citizen.”911
***CHICKEN BRISTLE, DOUGLAS COUNTY912, ILLINOIS***
Renee Henry provides: “For Nellie Fifer Manwaring of Tuscola and other readers who wonder
about the history of the name Chicken Bristle, for the former town northwest of Tuscola (Nov 4 column):
“A Parkville reader who wanted to remain anonymous said that her late father, who lived in the
area for almost 90 years, told her that Chicken Bristle used to have cockfights.
“She said that when chickens want to show their dominance, they rear up and their feathers
bristle up.”913
***COOPER’S DEFEAT CREEK, STARK COUNTY, ILLINOIS***
WR Sandham chronicles: “Cooper’s Defeat creek was so named on account of the following
incident: A party of men, of whom David Cooper was one, under the direction of Moses Boardman, a
Putnam county commissioner, were prospecting for the location of a road from the western part of
Putnam County to the Illinois River. When this stream was reached, Mr Cooper made a bet that he
could jump across it, and in the attempt to do so, he landed on his back in the middle of the stream. The
creek was then and there named Cooper’s defeat, and it still continues to bear that name.”914
***DISCO, HANCOCK COUNTY915, ILLINOIS***
RM Cochran declares: “The name Disco comes from the Greek word Diskos, meaning flat disc
circular. It was well-named because the village of Disco is in a flat circular valley. When a glacier passed

911

Glenn W Sunderland; New and Complete History of Jasper County, Illinois and the 1884 History of
Jasper County Excerpted from 1884 History of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland Counties, Illinois; Book
Works; 1984; provided by Newton Public Library, 100 S Van Buren St, Newton, IL 62448
912
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Bristle,_Illinois
913
Newspaper clipping provided by Renee Henry, Curator, Douglas County Museum, 700 S Main St,
Tuscola, IL 61953; [email protected]; http://www.douglascountymuseum.org/
914
“The Stark County Names document was taken from an 1897 issue of a local weekly
newspaper. William R Sandham, the author of the article, was an early historian of Stark County. He
published several articles over time in the Illinois State Historical Society quarterly publication.”
Provided by Don Schmidt, Vice President, Stark County Genealogical Society, PO Box 83, Toulon, IL
61483-0083; [email protected]; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilscgs/
915
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco,_Illinois

over the valley, it left a rich black soil. A pioneer once said: ‘Disco soil is fertile and black and loamy
down to the bottom of China.’
“The town’s name is not common, and it is interesting to know that there is an island off
Greenland called Disco. The village is situated at the corner of Sections 1 and 12 of Durham Township,
and Sections 6 and 7 of LaHarpe Township. It was platted in February, 1876 by John Shutwell, first being
called Bob Town, then Ingram Station in honor of Robert Ingram, who owned the land originally on
which the northwest part of town was located.
“By the 1880s, it had become a thriving village, and by the 1900s, had four general grocery and
merchandising stores, which supplied the community with food and clothing. Old settlers related stories
of what beautiful yardage of calico, gingham, silk, silk brocade and velvet could be purchased. These in
a community whose population has never exceeded 100 inhabitants.
“Before the railroad, dry goods and groceries were delivered by wagon from the river port of
Shokokon, near Carmen, Illinois. AJ James was the first merchant, and a man named Taylor the second.
Others followed until at one time there were four.
“By the 1920s, however, the number of stores decreased, and at present there is only one
grocery store.
“In the 1880s, there was a millinery shop owned by the Sears sisters from Burnside. Two
blacksmith shops date from that period, one owned by Alec Bert, the other by Robert Shaub.
“The Disco post office was established on October 25, 1872. Among old-time postmasters were
Hugh S Dickson, Newton Hurdle, James N Bradfield, Evan James, Alfred Reynolds, Cyrus S Rice, John G
Forbes, Zarah Kern, Cyrus S Rich, and Charles W Collins.
“Rural free delivery service was inaugurated in 1896. Disco’s post office was discontinued
November 15, 1920.
“Prior to 1871, grain from Disco community was delivered by wagon to Shokokon and shipped
to market via boat, Shokokon being an active Mississippi River port. AJ James and Charles C Crum where
the first grain dealers in Disco in the seventies. In 1878 Crum disposed of his grain interests, and later
James sold his business to a Mr Knox, after some years as a partnership.
“Know built an elevator of large capacity, which burned and was rebuilt. In 1899 he sold it to
TW Kimler, and in 1905 he sold the elevator, and it was torn down.
“In the year 1880, John Schultz built another elevator and later sold it to Sam Byers. The next
owners were Antone Davier and Bert Garrett, until the death of Mary Davier, when it was sold to Harley
Stevens.
“After this sale, Garrett built a new elevator and later brought the Harley Stevens elevator. The
latter was sold and torn down.
“At Garrett’s death, in 1923, the farmers purchased the elevator from the Garrett estate and
named it ‘The Farmers’ Co-operative Elevator’ and hired Roy Scott to operate it. In 1936 Virgil S Rice
bought the elevator and named it the Disco Elevator. Robert Mapes bought the elevator in 1955 from
the Virgil S Rice estate. Since that time, Mapes has increased storage capacity by some 130,000 bushels,
expanded the feed services to include grinding and mixing and bulk delivery, and added storage and
application equipment for anhydrous ammonia and bulk plant food.
“Disco maintains its rank as one of the leading grain markets of the township and county.
“In 1871 the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, from Peoria to Iowa Junction, leased 9.3
miles of CB&Q [Chicago, Burlington & Quincy] tracks beyond Iowa Junction, connecting service from
Peoria to Burlington. Passenger service discontinued in 1927.

“The Disco railroad depot was a copy of LaHarpe’s, except smaller in size. It was struck by
lightning in 1910, was never rebuilt, but was replaced by a boxcar. Some of the town boys learned
telegraphy from the depot agents.”916
***EMBARRASS, COLES COUNTY917, ILLINOIS***
RV Hillman displays: “According to the 1905 History of Coles County Illinois, by Charles Edward
Wilson, the name Embarras (or Embarrass) was used by the French explorers: ‘The principal water
course in the county is the Embarras River, so named by the early French explorers, and their
pronunciation of the name has been corrupted into ‘Ambraw’, which is the spelling now very commonly
used. This stream often overflowed its banks in the early days ...’ ‘… The country between Fort
Vincennes and the Embarras River was swampy. A large tract between those places was then
called Purgatory Swamp, or Devil’s Holes, in which animals, and sometimes men, were lost ...’ ‘These
troublesome conditions caused the French settlers to give the name ‘Embarras’ to this stream, the
French word having a similar meaning to that [of] our word ‘embarrass’.”918
The Collins French-English Dictionary expresses: “Embarras: to put in a difficult situation;
embarrassment; to be in an awkward position; to be in difficulties; hindrance.”919
TS Arthur notes: “There was a little Irish drummer in the party who possessed an uncommon
talent for singing comic Irish songs. Colonel Clarke, ever fertile in expedients, while his men were
wading up to their air-pits in much and water, in order to divert them, placed the Irishman on his drum,
which readily floated, and the tallest man in the company was ordered to be his pilot, while he
entertained the exhausted and toiling soldiers with his comic and musical powers.
“On the evening of the 18th, they encamped within nine miles of the town below the mouth of
the Embarrass river. Here they were detained till the 20th, having no means of crossing the river. On
that day a boat was captured, and her crew detained, and in it the men and arms were safely
transported to the opposite shore. From the crew of this boat, they learned that the French population
of Vincennes were favorable to the Americans, and that not even a suspicion of the expedition had
reached the British garrison.
“The last day’s march, February 21st, was the most toilsome. Another sheet of water had to be
crossed, which, from the soundings, was ascertained to be up to the arm-pits. ‘Here,’ says Clarke, ‘I
unfortunately spoke in a serious manner to one of the officers; the whole were alarmed without
knowing what I said. I viewed their confusion for one minute – whispered to those near me to do as I
did – immediately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, blackened my face – gave the war
whoop, and marched into the water without saying another word. The party gazed, fell in one after
another without a murmur, like a flock of sheep. I ordered those near me to give me a favourite song of
theirs; it soon passed through the line, and the whole went on cheerfully.’
“Colonel Clarke had intended to have had the troops transported across the deepest part of the
water, but when about waist-deep, one of the men said that he thought he felt a path. On examination
it was found to be so; and concluding that it passed over the highest ground, it was carefully followed,
and the march was continued to a placed called ‘the Sugar Camp’ without the least difficulty, where

916

Robert M Cochran; History of Hancock County, Illinois; Board of Supervisors of Hancock County;
1968; provided by Janet Nicholas, Carthage Public Library District, 500 Wabash Ave, Carthage, IL 62321
917
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrass,_Illinois
918
Robert V Hillman, Professor, University Archivist, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Avenue,
Charleston, IL 61920; [email protected]; http://www.eiu.edu/
919
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/embarras?showCookiePolicy=true

there was about half an acre of dry ground, at least not under water, where they took up their lodgings
for the night.”920
***EQUALITY, GALLATIN COUNTY921, ILLINOIS***
Beth Wargel records: “The early history of Gallatin County centered on the salt licks on the
Saline River near, what is now, the Village of Equality. The Indians and grass eating animals had made
paths to the lick or wells. The Shawnee Indians evaporated the salt in open pans for hundreds of
years. With the coming of the white men, the production increased by using huge iron kettles, which
were needed when wood fires hurried the process of evaporation. Gallatin County is recognized as
having the first industry in the state and is credited with supplying one-seventh of the revenue in one of
the early years of statehood. When salt was produced in greater quantities elsewhere at reduced
prices, the salt operations ceased at Equality in 1873.
“Equality, one of the oldest settlements in the Illinois Territory, was established by 1811, but the
town was not incorporated until a much later date (February 11, 1852), It was named by a French
historian when he visited the ‘Saline Lick’ (Salt Lick) area and proposed that the name be changed to
‘Equality’, a popular French Revolution slogan, being ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!’ The county seat was
located in this village from 1829-51, (which was a more centrally located county seat when Gallatin
County included what is now Saline County to its west, and a portion of Hardin County to its south). In
1840, Abraham Lincoln spoke from the courthouse steps in Equality, as he campaigned for William
Henry Harrison. The monument which stands in the town square (where the courthouse formerly
stood), was erected in September 1913, in honor of General Michael K Lawler, of Civil War fame.
“The first house built in Equality was that of Samuel Ensminger as an office for the salt
wells. The original plat for the town was 105 acres.”922
NW Edwards reveals: “An act was passed in 1827, appointing Commissioners to dispose of thirty
thousand acres of the least valuable of the salt lands, provided that Congress would consent to their
sale; and also, to designate, at each situation suitable for water-works, within the reserve, twelve acres
of land, and so much of the ripple and water-course and the banks thereof as may be necessary for the
erection of dams and water-works – to be constructed so as to promote, but not obstruct, the
navigation of the Saline creek. The proceeds arising from the sale of the site for the water-works were
to be applied to the improvement of the navigation of the Saline creek, the improvement of the road
across the Maple swamp between Equality and Carlyle, and to the erection of a bridge across Eagle
creek on the road from Equality to Ford’s ferry, on the Ohio River. One-half the proceeds arising from
the sale of the thirty thousand acres were appropriated for the erection of a penitentiary at Alton, onefourth to improve the navigation of the Saline creek, the improvement of the road across the Maple
swamp and the erection of the bridge across Eagle creek, and one-fourth to improve the navigation of
the Little Wabash River by canaling around Robinson’s mill-dam, in White county, and to remove other
obstructions in said river – provided, that neither of the two last appropriations should exceed five
thousand dollars.”923
***JUG RUN, STARK COUNTY, ILLINOIS***

920

Timothy Shay Arthur; The History of Illinois, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time;
Lippincott, Grambo & Co; 1854
921
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality,_Illinois
922
Beth Wargel, Gallatin County Clerk, Gallatin County Courthouse, 484 N Lincoln Blvd West,
Shawneetown, IL 62984; [email protected]
923
Ninian W Edwards; History of Illinois, from 1778 to 1833: and Life and Times of Ninian Edwards; 1870

WR Sandham spells out: “Jug run was named from an incident that happened a few years after
the first settlement of the county. A building was to be raised somewhere on the north side of the
stream, and it was deemed necessary to have some whisky to aid the work of the raising. A messenger
was sent for it on horseback, to a small village called Moulton in what is new Essex Township. While the
messenger was away, a heavy shower of rain came up, and the stream in question became both deep
and rapid, but the returning messenger plunged bravely into the raging current. In the crossing, the
filled jug was dropped into the rushing waters and was seen no more. From that day to this the stream
has been called Jug run.”924
***LOST NATION, OGLE COUNTY925, ILLINOIS***
Ogle County American Revolution Bicentennial Commission touches on: “In the southwest
corner of Taylor Township is an area that has long been called Lost Nation. The exact origin of the name
has, to this writer’s knowledge, not been recorded, but tales passed along through several generations
have left three versions of the origin of the name.
“On version, and the one told most frequently, concerned an early settler who lived some
distance off the main traveled road. Since the road commissioner made an effort to maintain the
isolated road that led to the man’s home, the man, in his disgust, painted a sign which read, ‘Orphan
RFD [Rural Free Delivery], No one cares for me’, and placed it on the main traveled road for all his
friends and neighbors to see. Those who saw the sign thought that the isolated farmer, living back from
the road, was lost, so the area that included his farm was named the ‘Lost Nation’.
“Another version told that a few people living in this area did not attend church services so they
were considered ‘lost’. They had lost their souls. Such individuals surely must live in a ‘Lost Nation’.
“A third version told that people who lived in this general area had trails and roads that led to
their farms. When the roads were neglected, trees, bushes and vines grew close to, over, and on the
roads, so that people not familiar with the area found it most difficult, if not impossible, to locate the
residents of the area. People living here, who could not be found by their friends and relatives, were
said to live in ‘Lost Nation’.
“A recreational development was started in Taylor Township in 1963. This was known as the
Lost National Development Company and was one of the first of this type started in Illinois. Twelve
hundred acres of land were purchased. An 18-hole golf course was laid out, a club house and restaurant
constructed. In 1965 a dam was built holding back the water in Clear Creek to form a lake which
covered 40 acres. Lots were laid out and sold, where the purchaser could build either a summer or
permanent home.
“In 1970 the golf course was sold, and this took 170 acres from the original purchase.
“In 1972 the dam ‘went out’, leaving Lost Nation without a lake. In 1972 the property was sold
to Nuland Development Company. The new owners constructed a new dam at a cost of $250,000, and
the lake formed by this dam covered 80 acres. The new owners also changed the name of this land
development from Lost Nation to the New Landing of the Delta Queen.
“In a sandstone cliff, near the lake, is a small cave known as Easter Cave. Stories passed down
through several generations relate that early settlers held Easter services there each year. One custom

924

“The Stark County Names document was taken from an 1897 issue of a local weekly
newspaper. William R Sandham, the author of the article, was an early historian of Stark County. He
published several articles over time in the Illinois State Historical Society quarterly publication.”
Provided by Don Schmidt, Vice President, Stark County Genealogical Society, PO Box 83, Toulon, IL
61483-0083; [email protected]; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilscgs/
925
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Nation,_Illinois

for those who attended the services, was to bring some eggs with them, and these were colored as a
part of the day’s activity.
“At the present time, 1975, the New Landing for the Delta Queen development area contains
1,500 acres and will be divided into 2,400 building lots; 1,400 of these lots are sold and 100 homes have
been built.
“In 1960 Taylor Township had a population of 205 people. This land development project, The
New Landing of the Delta Queen, will increase greatly the population and valuation of Taylor
Township.”926
***METROPOLIS, MASSAC COUNTY927, ILLINOIS***
JD Taylor clarifies: “Metropolis means literally ‘mother or largest city’, and such did the founders
wish it to become.
“OJ Page may well be quoted at this point. ‘In the name of Metropolis,’ he says, ‘is wrapped the
dream of its founder, William A McBane, Sr, who was attracted by the inviting and beautiful location for
a modern city, considered by experienced boatmen as the most beautiful on the Ohio River and the
Lower Mississippi. Mr McBane was also a practical engineer and a New Orleans and Pittsburgh
merchant, whose business necessitated trips on the river. He reasoned that a railroad bridge must span
the Ohio, connecting the North and the South; and that this was the most natural available crossing.
Upon landing from a flat-boat of merchandise, he found JHG Wilcox, the owner and occupant of perhaps
one thousand acres of the land which struck his fancy, and he immediately purchased with his stock of
goods, a half interest in the virgin soil. On April 18, 1839, McBane and Wilcox laid out what the former
dreamed would become a mighty city, and named it without a duplicate in all the world, ‘Metropolis’
(‘largest city’).
“‘City lots were sold in 1840. Washington and Franklin Parks, the court house square, and a lot
to the Christian Church, were their benefactions to the public. James Hendricks Gaines Wilcox owned
and occupied the only residence. Immediately after the birth and christening of the city, Mr Wilcox
erected a splendid brick residence on Front Street.’928
JD Taylor stresses: “The acknowledgment to the plot of the City of Metropolis under the name
of ‘Metropolis City’ was recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Johnson County, Illinois, in
Deed Book A at page 268 and also in Deed Book B, page 21. The date of acknowledgment was May 4,
1839.
“The Wilcox House – located east of the old Quante Mill – later served as a store and as a hotel.
The ‘Thrift House’ and the ‘Parker House’ were the later hotel names. In this house, the wife of General
John A Logan lived several years as a young girl. Tradition has it that Charles Dickens occupied an
apartment of the hotel one night in 1842. It is thought that Dickens referred to Metropolis as ‘New
Thermopylae’ in his book Martin Chuzzlewit. He described the structure as a ‘barn-like hotel upon the
hill and the attendant wooden buildings and sheds’.
“The description was in keeping with the town in 1842, for there were only about a dozen
houses in Metropolis, mostly of log. The only entirely-frame building in the county stood where Elliot’s
furniture store now stands. In 1848 and 1849 there were three or four stores.”929
926

Ogle County American Revolution Bicentennial Commission; Bicentennial History of Olge County,
1976; the Commission; 1976; provided by Bill Bailey, President, The Ogle County Historical Society, PO
Box 183, Oregon, IL 61061; [email protected]; http://www.oglecountyhistoricalsociety.com/
927
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis,_Illinois
928
Oliver J Page; History of Massac County, Illinois; Metropolis; 1900
929
John D Taylor, Massac County Clerk, PO Box 429, Metropolis, IL 62960;
[email protected]; http://www.iaccr.net/CountyClerkData/MassacCounty.html

***PAW PAW, LEE COUNTY930, ILLINOIS***
Dee Duffy documents: “Paw Paw, in the eastern part of Lee County, was given its name by the
early settlers who noticed a small tree that bore a sweet fruit, somewhat like a banana in shape and
flavor, growing among the more than 2,000 acres of oaks, maples and walnuts in the vicinity.
“At one time there were three separate villages; East Paw Paw, South Paw Paw and West Paw
Paw, the last being the only survivor and site of the present village.
“In 1829, present-day Chicago Road was part of the Fink and Walker stagecoach line from
Galena, Illinois, to Chicago, though the Potawatomi Indians were the first to use the trail. The tribe
didn’t turn over the area to the US government until 1833. Fink and Walker also held the mail contract
for the area’s settlers. The route became popular and garnered a mention in the work of writer
Margaret Fuller.
“Paw Paw’s first permanent resident was David A Town in 1834, a native of Vermont. Town
settled on the south east side of a 2,000 acre (8 km2) wooded grove. The first cabin was built the next
spring by Edward Butterfield on the site of present-day Paw Paw. The first house also held the village’s
first store and would eventually become the first structure in town to burn. During its earliest days, the
town was sectioned off into East, West and South Paw Paw, all of which became known as simply Paw
Paw. In 1837, the village got its first postmaster William Rodgers. Before Rodgers, the nearest post
office was 20 miles away in Somonauk, Illinois. Two years later in 1839, a new road was constructed,
which allowed mail to be carried from Paw Paw to Princeton, Illinois. The first stage coach station
(known as a ‘Tavern’) was built along Chicago Road and operated by Isaac Balding. Balding operated the
station until the railroad came to town several years later.
“Though settlement in present-day Paw Paw began during the 1830s, by 1847, there were
probably no more than 50 people in the village. The name Paw Paw was derived from a nearby grove of
Pawpaw trees on the edge of a 2,000 acre forest. The paw paw was a fruit-bearing shrub, which
provided food for the Indians and grew in profusion throughout this area.
“American General Winfield Scott is credited with being the first person of European ancestry to
discover the area. The area that Paw Paw is located in was home to more than one stand of Paw Paw
trees and, thus, more than one settlement took the name Paw Paw. To avoid confusion the
townspeople renamed the village Wyoming Township. The new name came from the Wyoming Valley
in Pennsylvania, where many of Paw Paw’s earliest settlers originated. The Wyoming Valley was the
scene of a massacre during the American Revolution, in which over 300 American settlers were killed by
Native Americans allied with the British. Many of Paw Paw’s early settlers shared surnames with those
who are listed as having been involved in the fighting and massacre.
“In 1850, Wyoming Township experienced a growth spurt, despite being passed over for the
coveted railroad link; by this time, there were several businesses and a school. By 1878, the village
finally got a railroad connection, was home to two newspapers, three churches and was christened,
officially, as Paw Paw. The village was officially established in 1882, and celebrated its 130th anniversary
in 2012.
“In 2005, the village received some US federal government attention. On May 22, 2005, a local
Queen Anne style house, the Stephen Wright House, was listed on the US National Register of Historic
Places; it is the only property with that designation in Paw Paw. The same year the village was the

930

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw,_Illinois

recipient of a $192,000 United States Environmental Protection Agency earmark to construct an
elevated water tower.”931
***SKOKIE, COOK COUNTY932, ILLINOIS***
Chicago Daily Tribune observes: “Thru the smoke of 14 years of debate, fanned into a fire during
the last nine months. Skokie has emerged as the new name for Niles Center. It will not be official for at
least 90 days, but Mayor George E Blameuser and the village board are rushing the necessary legislation.
“Petitions for the change in name will be presented to the village board on Sept 5 and upon
acceptance, a public hearing will be set for two weeks later. The board undoubtedly will adopt the
name Skokie, according to the mayor, since five of the six trustees already have voted in favor of it.
After the public hearing, the name must be filed with Secretary of State Edward J Hughes for 60 days
before it came become official.
“Skokie gets most votes: Skokie received 15 votes on Aug 16 from the mayor’s name change
committee, consisting of village trustees and representatives of 17 civic organizations. The closest
contender was Oaklyn with four votes.
“Russel Tucker, trustee, refused to vote. Mayor Blameuser and the other trustees, Ambrose
Brod, Willard Galitz, Thomas S Rae, John W Wuerth, and Peter Conrad, voted for Skokie.
“Skokie was placed before the committee by Arthur Thompson, representing the Rotary club,
and by GD Wilson from the Civic league.
“Mr Thompson pointed out the historical background of the name to support its
appropriateness. The region from Lincolnwood, stretching almost to the Wisconsin line east of
Milwaukee Avenue, was called Skokie by a tribe of Potawatomi Indians. Mr Wilson said he did not favor
the name originally, but had become sold on its possibilities.
“Altho Skokie means ‘swamp’, for that is what it was when the Indians were here, the local
newspaper points out that to its present day citizens, Skokie should symbolize man’s triumph over
nature.
“In 1924 the North Shore railroad built its Skokie Valley route to Milwaukee thru the town.
Soon afterward Cicero Avenue was extended and widened thru the community and is now a link on
United States Highway 41. All north shore communities thru which the highway passes gave the
boulevard the name of Skokie.
“The village is directly south of the new Skokie National Park being constructed by CCC [Civilian
Conservation Corps] workers from Willow to County Line roads.
“Short, easy to spell: ‘In addition,’ states Armond D King, chairman of the planning commission
and zoning board of appeals, ‘it is short, easy to spell, and already has been established.’
“Martin Krier, chairman of the original name change committee appointed last November, is
supporting Skokie. His committee sponsored a contest for a new name in which Ridgeview was the
winner, but the Ridgeview petition was rejected by the village board by a vote of 4 to 2.
“Members of the name committee, in addition to the trustees, are Joseph J Hansen, William K
Lyon, SJ Chakow, Howard A Florus, Mrs JJ Musill, Mrs Miles T Babb, Bud A Reesman, Allan A Weissburg,

931

Dee Duffy, Lee County Board Chairman’s Secretary, Lee County Board Chairman’s Office, Old Lee
County Court House, 112 East Second St, Dixon, IL 61021; [email protected];
http://www.leecountyil.com/
932
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skokie,_Illinois

Arthur Thompson, George D Wilson, Mrs William Barkow, Mrs Louise Lockefer, EB Martin, Paul Clark, Mr
King, George Waldmann, and Mrs Ray Morrison.”933
**INDIAN [AS IN ‘INDIANA’]**
GP Donehoo recounts: “The name which was given to the Aborigines of America by Christopher
Columbus, in a letter of 1493, in which he speaks of the ‘Indios’ he had with him. Columbus believed
that he had reached India. Various attempts have been made to give a different name to the
Aborigines, but none of the names suggested has taken the place of this name, which is now so
associated with our literature, history and geography. ‘Amerind’, compounded of the two first syllables
of American Indian, has been suggested, and has been sometimes widely used, but its usage has not
become popular. Indian has been compounded with many place names, in all parts of the United States.
In Pennsylvania, a county (Indiana), and various creeks, post offices and villages have been given the
name Indian. Indian Creek (Fayette County), Indian Head (same county), Indian Orchard (Wayne
County), Indian Run (Mercer County) and many other places are known by this historic name. The list of
wild plants in Pennsylvania called ‘Indian’ contains such familiar as, Indian apple, Indian balm, Indian
cherry, Indian cigar-tree, Indian corn, Indian cucumber, Indian elm, Indian mallow, Indian paint-brush,
Indian potato, Indian turnip, Indian slipper, are but a few of the wild plants which have been given this
name.”934
**INDIANA**
HB Staples says: “Indiana derives its name from the one of the old ante-Revolutionary land
companies which had claims in that region.”935
KB Harder spotlights: “Latinized from of Indian meaning ‘land of the Indians’. The name appears
as early as 1768 in reference to a territory ceded to the Philadelphia Trading Company by the Iroquois
and was later applied to areas in what is now West Virginia and elsewhere. When the Northwest
Territory was divided in 1800, the Indiana Territory was created.”936
www.statesymbolsusa.org underscores: “What does Indiana mean? Christened in 1800, Indiana
means ‘Land of the Indians or Land of Indians’. Various American Indian tribes are a significant part of
Indiana history, including the Miamis, Chippewa, Delawares, Erie, Shawnee, Iroquois, Kickapoo,
Potawatomies, Mohican, Nanticoke, Huron, and Mohegan.”937
DJ McInerney comments on: “Many other communities were avowedly secular, forming the
good society on foundations of reason rather than faith. Robert Owen, a Scottish industrialist, led one
such experiment. Having reorganized cotton mills at New Lanark, Scotland, Owen turned next to
reordering the whole of society. Convinced of the beneficent effect that environment can have on
human life, he set out to create a planned community committed to cooperation, equality, education,
and economic diversity. Owen established his community in 1824 in ‘New Harmony’, Indiana. He
launched the society with much fanfare, great enthusiasm, and strong participation. The effort lasted
only a few years, however, as his model of social harmony soon turned into a cauldron of internal
discord.
933

Niles Center is on way out; Hail Skokie! Suburb at last picks its new name; Chicago Daily Tribune;
August 25, 1940; provided by Chicago History Museum, 1601 North Clark St, Chicago, IL 60614-6038;
http://www.chicagohistory.org/
934
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
935
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
936
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
937
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Indiana/IndianaNameOrigin.html

“Other secular utopias tended to suffer the same fate. Scores of American communities
followed the theories of Charles Fourier, a French philosopher popularized in America by Albert
Brisbane. Fourierists tried to overcome what Brisbane saw as society’s ‘distrust, isolation, separation,
conflict, and antagonism’. The key was to remove people from a large, artificial, and disjointed world
and to reorganize them into precise social and economic units called ‘phalanxes’, mathematically
measured for optimal size and scientifically calculated to offer members the ‘attractive industry’ that
suited their passions and inclinations. Like Owen, Fourier hoped that a re-engineered society would
restore the inner and outer balance destroyed by the modern world.”938
**HOOSIER [STATE NICKNAME], INDIANA**
RL Baker emphasizes: “A number of legends have arisen to explain Hoosier, the state nickname.
According to the most widely held account, pioneers in Indiana greeted visitors at the doors of their log
cabins by calling out, ‘Who’s ‘ere?’ – as in the following versions:
“1. How the word Hoosier got started? Back in pioneer days the Indians in Indiana would go by
the house of the pioneers and knock, and when they did, the pioneer, who was friendly and lazy, would
say, ‘Who’s there?’ And the Indians thought they were saying ‘Hoosiers’, so they started calling Indiana
settlers ‘Hoosiers’.
“2. I can’t remember where I first heard this story, but the story answers a question often asked
about how we Hoosiers got our nickname. Long ago when Indiana was first being settled, it was not
uncommon for the new settlers to stop by the cabins as they went on their journey. As the new settlers
stopped before the cabins, they would shout to the occupants, and in typical, friendly Indiana fashion,
the people would shout out, ‘Who’s there?’ Of course, heard through the heavy wooden doors, the
question was somewhat distorted and came out sounding more like ‘Hoosier’?
“3. Its funny how we got our name, Hoosier. When this state was first here, there was this guy
from Kentucky came up, and he was sort of drunk, and he knocked on this guy’s door. Well, the guy
inside the house was kind of drunk, too, so he says, ‘Who’s der?’ The Kentuckian walked off and said,
‘Those damn Hoosiers.’
“4. Now, I’m not sure about this, but this is the way I had it explained to me. I think one of my
grade school teachers told us. It is kind of dumb, but here it is anyway. Well, anyway, it seems that the
first people to settle in Indiana came up from the south. They couldn’t speak too clearly, had an accent
or something, so everything they said came out with a drawl. Well, I guess that when someone would
come to their cabin door and should knock on it, the owner of the cabin would holler out ‘Who’s there?’
but with that southern twang, it would come out something like ‘hoosier’.
“5. Shortly after Indiana was admitted to the Union as a state in 1816, the language of the
people living there was considered to be somewhat different from the rest of the country. Many natives
of Indiana commonly said ‘hows come you do this or that’, and this was considered to be rather strange
language by some of the people from other areas of the country. Along with this saying and others, the
people of Indiana had another very distinct saying. When someone came to visit at a person’s home,
after knocking on the door, they were greeted with a ‘Who’s ‘ere?’ Evolving from this, the saying
gradually became ‘Hoosier’, and the people of Indiana became known as the Hoosiers.
“According to a related legend, people living in Indiana called ‘Who’s here?’ rather than ‘Who’s
there?’
“6. Another man told me that the nickname Hoosier came from the question ‘Who’s here?’ that
people would yell whenever they came into a tavern.
“Other oral accounts suggest that people living in Indiana asked ‘Who’s your …?’

938

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

“7. The name Hoosier originated according to the name of ‘Who’s your ma’ or ‘Who’s your pa.’
The story was told to me by an old man down in Kentucky about 70 years ago. It was the first and last
time that I had ever heard this version. I noticed that if you went somewhere, the first thing people
would ask is where you were from and if they were familiar with this area, so they would ask ‘Who’s
your ma?’ and ‘Who’s your pa?’
“8. Do you know how Indiana got the nickname Hoosier? When it was first settled everyone ran
around saying ‘Who’s your daddy? Who’s your daddy?’
“9. The name for Indiana people is Hoosier. The word used to be associated with a phrase that
people used when crossing over the state. They would have to stay in different people’s homes along
the way, and they would ask ‘Who’s your neighbor?’ Then when the visitors would leave, they would
carry the news to the next door neighbors. Later on, the phrased question became a description of
Indiana people, by running the phrase together and coming up with a word that makes Hoosier.
“10. Back in the old days, a lot of things were moved by flatboat; the men who ran them were
rough characters. The Indiana boys were especially rough. When an unfamiliar boat came by, the
Indiana boys would call out ‘Who’s your state?’ If they weren’t from Indiana, they got the hell beat out
of them. The term Hoosier was then attached to Indiana from the ‘Who’s your’ part of the statement.
“11. I do know how we people from Indiana came to be called Hoosiers. We were talking about
the early days in history here, of how we prospered because of commercial interest that began to
develop after the [Civil] war was finally ended. And this young captain had acquired his grant from the
US Army, or government, and in due time, he began to prosper by the fact that he had built the grain
mill, pork processing plant. They had a tannery, and they did some weaving. They had all of these
things, and their business was so good that they had to look for different outlets. So at this time, they
began to search for places to sell. And, of course, the natural place was in the South because the South
didn’t have a lot of the things that we had at this time. So here came an era of the flatboat. They’d
build a flatboat and send tons of material south. And these flatboats were generally built of the tulip
tree, a large tree growing in our area. And they were not only used for the boat, but upon arrival there,
they would sell the cargo and, along with that, the boat. And, of course, they would have to tread their
way back north. Many people, of course, were lost on the way down because of severe weather and so
forth. The story that we hear around here was that these traders that would go south were friendly,
sociable people, but they were not always welcomed with open arms in being transit, of course. But
once they were there and established in the community in the South, why, they were welcome. And
they were accepted and taken into the homes and given a night’s lodging or a week, if necessary. If they
had a friend along, they had to account for him and identify him. And maybe at a late hour, they’d say,
‘Well, there are two of us here.’ They’d say, well, ‘Who’s your friend?’ And here is where we have
heard that the word Hoosier originally started.
“Another anecdote holds that a Louisville contractor named Samuel Hoosier preferred hiring
Indiana men, and his employees were known as ‘Hoosier men’ or ‘Hoosiers’. Other sources maintain
that there was a lot of fighting in early Indiana taverns, and the frontiers-men scratched, gouged, and bit
– often biting off noses and ears. Frequently following a fight a settler found an ear on the sawdust
floor of a tavern and asked, ‘Whose ear?’
“12. Okay, this is a story I heard about how Hoosiers got their name. Apparently a man got his
ear cut off in a town somewhere. People found the ear, somebody found the ear and took it around
town asking ‘Who’s ear? Who’s ear?’ And whose ear, Hoosier, is how Hoosiers got their name.
“13. Taverns at that time had sawdust on the floors, and it wasn’t uncommon for two men to
get to fighting. They’d kick and scratch and bite and maybe bite somebody’s ear off. The next day some
guy would come in, kicking through the sawdust, and kick up an ear. He’d say, ‘Whose ear?’ And that’s
where the word ‘Hoosier’ comes from.

“14. When my dad was running for office, this man was telling me how the name Hoosier came
about. He said that when the state capital was in Corydon, there was a tavern that most of the people
went to, and there was a jar on the bar that had an ear in it, and when strangers came in, they would
ask, ‘Whose ear?’ In time, this phrase became popular and was eventually shortened to Hoosier for a
nickname for people that came from around there.
“Other accounts generally agree that early settlers or Ohio River boatmen were vicious fighters
and were called ‘hussars’, because they fought like those European soldiers or ‘hushers’, because they
could hush any opponent:
“15. Early in 1819 many squatters, principally from Kentucky, had built cabins and had made
some improvements on a part of the public domain. Some of these squatters hastened back to
Kentucky to tell their friends that the country was now opened for settlement and to insist on coming to
the ‘New Purchase’. They gave such glowing accounts of the soil, fine timber, abundance of wild game,
and the level country that they were deemed by some who heard them as extremely visionary. Many of
their listeners were the Pennsylvania Dutch, who had always lived in a mountainous region. They were
especially incredulous. After listening to what they regarded as exaggerations, they would turn away
and say to others, ‘Well, he is a hoosher’ – meaning a husher, a silencer. This epithet became proverbial
until all who returned from Indiana were facetiously called ‘hooshers’. This, my Kentucky parents told
me, was the origin of the name ‘Hoosier’ as it was pronounced later.
“16. The way I heard it was that the people that first came to Indiana Territory were pretty
rough. They settled down on the Ohio River and worked flatboats and stuff. They were really big and
tough. I guess that the south, near the river, was a rough place to live, and there use to be lots of fights,
guys getting killed and things. Well, from what I hear, those guys that worked on the river loved to get
in and mix it up. They were so big and strong that any fight they got into they usually won. I guess the
word they used to describe them was ‘husher’ ‘cause they quieted things down so well. I guess that it
somehow got changed to ‘Hoosier’, but it means the same thing.
“17. Throughout the Midwest, men were extremely proud of their physical strength and
displayed it at log rollings or house raisings. They were called ‘hushers’ by fellow citizens because of
their ability to silence an opponent. The boatmen of Indiana were a primitive set and delighted in
showing their strength upon the levees at New Orleans. One day a man who was not a native of the
western world was showing his strength, and in all the excitement, he yelled in a foreign accent, ‘I’m a
hoosier. I’m a hoosier.’ Some of the New Orleans papers reported this, and the name ‘Hoosier’ was
applied to all.
“18. This is another tale that I have known for many years. I don’t remember where I first heard
it. This legend also answers the question ‘Where did the Hoosiers get their nickname?’ Back when
flatboat travel was one of the few ways to get to St Louis and New Orleans, many Indiana men hired out
as boat hands. The men were quite muscular from the farm work that they had done as children and
again from the hard work that they did on the flatboats. These men were big enough to hush any man
who said anything that did not agree with their opinion; consequently, they acquired the name ‘Husher’,
which later developed into our present-day Hoosier.
“Other accounts hold that Hoosier comes from a non-English language – for example, from the
French houssieres, ‘bushy places’, or from an English dialectical word, ‘hoose’, for roundworms.
Apparently this disease of cattle caused the animals’ hair to turn back and gave their eyes a wild look, as
Indiana frontiersmen in their coonskin caps appeared to others. Still other explanations are that the
nickname comes from hoosa, an alleged Native American word for ‘maize’. One legend suggesting a
Native American origin of Hoosier goes:
“19. Sure, I know why we are called ‘Hoosiers’. I thought everybody knew that. My mother told
me that it is an old Indian word. See, the first people to come to Indiana were terrible liars and
braggers. The one thing they had going for them was they could raise corn. I guess they talked a lot

about what great farmers they were, especially about the corn. Anyway, lots of people got tired of
hearing them brag, so they hung this Indian word, hoosier, on them. I guess it means one who brags a
lot.
“Other folks explanations say that Hoosier comes from ‘huzza’, an exclamation of early settlers,
or from a southern dialectical word meaning hick or hayseed:
“20. Hoosier was at one time a slang word in the South referring to a ‘jay’ or ‘hayseed’. The
term originated from England, where ‘hoose’ was a common name for a disease of calves. This disease
causes the calves’ hair to turn back, and it gives them a wild, staring look. The coonskin caps which the
pioneer men and boys wore made their hair lay funny, and the homemade whiskey produced the wildeyed look. Thus, the word ‘hoosier’ was used to describe these early pioneers, and then it was later
applied to all Indiana folk.
“There may be some truth in the latter legend, for field records for the Linguistic Atlas of the
Middle and South Atlantic States reveal that in the southern states ‘hoosier’ is a derogatory epithet
connoting uncouthness and is synonymous with ‘hick’, ‘hayseed’, and ‘hillbilly’. Probably the term first
was applied to settlers in southern Indiana, themselves from southern states, who were considered
rustics by their relatives back home in more established states. ‘Hoosier’, as a derogatory term, is still
current in West Virginia, the Upper Piedmont of Virginia; however, it is rare as a derogatory term west
of the Appalachians, where it simply means a native of Indiana.”939
***ANTIVILLE, JAY COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker gives: “A post office was established on September 11, 1889, but closed on October 31,
1900. According to local legend, ‘In about 1865, a group of people lived in the vicinity of Antiville, which
were very much opposed to all secret organizations, such as Masons, KKK [Ku Klux Klan], Knights of the
Golden Circle, etc. Because of this strenuous stand against the secret orders, they were given the name
of Anti-Masons, Anti-Circles, etc, by surrounding communities. This was changed to Antiville when the
blacksmith and saw mill appeared.’ Other accounts agree that the people living here, when the
settlement was established, were opposed to Masons, or opposed to slavery, or opposed to most
subjects and institutions.”940
***BATTLE GROUND, TIPPECANOE COUNTY941, INDIANA***
Tippecanoe Battlefield State Memorial pens: “A towering white monument stretching skyward
amid sixteen wooded acres in Tippecanoe County marks the site where a pioneer army defeated the
Indians in their last united attempt to drive the whites back south of the Ohio River.
“The battle has a historical as well as a military significance in the story of Indiana and the
Northwest Territory, for it marked the decline of Indian military power and opened the territory to more
rapid settlement.
“In 1800, when the Indiana Territory was organized, Indians still claimed all land within the
present borders of the state except for small areas around Vincennes, Fort Wayne, Jeffersonville, and a
strip along the southeastern border. One of the duties of Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison
was to make treaties with the Indian tribes, to dispel their land claims, and thus open the region for
white settlement. By 1810, the tribes had given up their claims to the southern third of the state.

939

Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
940
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
941
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Ground,_Indiana

“Two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, hoping to throw off the yoke of white
domination, organized the tribes of the Northwest into a confederacy. Tecumseh told the Indians the
land they claimed belonged to all tribes in common, hoping thus to prevent any further white effect.
Headquarters of the confederacy was at Prophet’s Town, on the northwest side of the Wabash River
about the present site of Lafayette.
“Governor Harrison, in 1810, invited Tecumseh to visit him at Vincennes and state his
grievances. The Indian leader accepted the invitation and arrived there with 400 armed warriors. A
council was held under the trees in front of the Governor’s house. Tecumseh stated his plans for an
Indian confederacy and declared there could be no peace between the Indians and whites until the
Indian land was returned.
“Harrison told him this could not be done, and the council broke up with both sides retiring to
prepare for war.
“A year later, Governor Harrison received orders from the President to lead an expedition
against the Indians, and the Fourth Regiment of the United States Army was transferred to Vincennes to
aid him. On September 26, 1811, Harrison set out for the Prophet’s Town with a force, which included
400 members of the Fourth Regiment, 100 Kentuckians, and 600 local militiamen raised at Corydon,
Vincennes and other points along the Ohio and Wabash rivers. The army arrived at the Indian town on
November 6 and encamped nearby; meanwhile, the greatest warriors of the Indian confederacy were
gathering at Prophet’s Town.
“Tecumseh, who had gone south to organize the southern Indians, was absent, but his brother,
the Prophet, decided on a surprise early morning attack. Fearing the cunning and treachery of the
prophet, General Harrison placed his troops in battle formation, forming a quadrangle, and instructed
each to sleep fully clothed and ready for sentinel duty at the outposts. Fires were lite for the comfort of
the men, many of whom were without tents or blankets.
“The battle began at 4 am and raged fiercely for more than two hours, before the last all-Indian
army to be assembled east of the Mississippi went down in defeat.
“The Battle of Tippecanoe did not end the Indian attacks upon white settlers, for the following
year, they struck in several places. It did, however, end the power of Tecumseh and the Prophet over
the tribes of the Northwest, and the Indian confederacy was gone. Under the influence of the British,
Indians continued to harass the settlers of Indiana and Ohio, until a peace treaty was signed, ending the
war between Great Britain and the United States. Then the way was open for further settlement in
Indiana.
“In 1821, John Tipton, one of the participants in the battle, discovered the mass grave at
Lafayette had been opened. So in 1829, when this land was offered for sale by the US Government,
Tipton purchased approximately 160 acres, including the battle ground site. Early the next spring,
Tipton invited a number of the battle survivors to gather there and place the remains of their fellow
soldiers in a common grave.
“Seven years later, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle, John Tipton deeded the site to
the state as a memorial to the men who fell there. He had a Washington architect sketch a suitable
monument, but nothing was done at the time.
“However, through the efforts of the Tippecanoe Battlefield Monument Association, an
appropriation of $25,000 was granted by Congress and the State of Indiana, and the monument was
constructed in 1908 and dedicated November 7th of that year.
“The monument site is dotted with the graves of some of the men who were killed in battle, and
the monument itself is surrounded with trees and shrubs, which are a striking contrast against the snow-

white monument. The memorial is maintained by the Indiana Department of Conservation’s Division of
State Parks.”942
***BEEHUNTER, GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker scribes: “This village was named for a local stream, Beehunter Creek, allegedly so
named because along its banks was a good place to find honey. There was a marsh here called
Beehunter, too. According to an oral account, ‘It’s called Beehunter because all that marshland was just
covered with flowers in the summertime, and all the bee hunters would go there to see which way the
bees went when they went back to their trees. They would see which way the bees went and then they
would locate the right trees and get the honey. Do you know how they usually did it? Well, we’d get a
jar of syrup and pour it out and draw the bees to it. Then we’d watch them to see which way they went.
Sometimes you had to follow them for miles, and sometimes we’d have to use another jar of syrup
before we found the trees. I suppose that the marsh was a sort of starting point.’ It is also said that the
stream was named for a Piankishaw chief, named Beehunter.”943
***CAYUGA, VERMILLION COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker states: “First called Osonimon, for an Indian chief, and formerly called Eugene Station,
for the township in which it is located, the town was platted in 1827. The post office was established on
February 12, 1886. The present name is for the New York lake and city. The name derives from the
Iroquois name Gwa-u-geh, ‘the place of taking out’, referring to the beginning of a portage. A local
legend explaining the name goes: ‘When the Model T Ford first was made, the people would drive
through Cayuga and blow their horns. The sound of the horn seemed to say ‘CAYUGA’. And that is how
Cayuga, Indiana, received its name.’”944
***COLD FRIDAY, HARRISON COUNTY945, INDIANA***
Anne Cabeniss alludes: “Cold Friday is located within the Harrison-Crawford State Forest. The
forest is the largest in Indiana with 24,000 acres and is in the western section of Harrison County with
about 5,000 acres in eastern Crawford County. The forest swallowed up Scott Township, and the rest of
it became Harrison Township. Cold Friday is located in the Harrison County part of the state forest.
“The area has been referred to as Cold Friday since at least 1847. There are several versions of
how the area got its name. The most persistent version is of a man having frozen to death in the
area. Most of the versions surmise that the man died on a Friday.”946
***CORRECT, RIPLEY COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker communicates: “A post office was established a Jimacoy, apparently coined from James
W McCoy, the name of the first postmaster, on August 19, 1881; closed on September 14, 1905.
942

Tippecanoe Battlefield State Memorial, Battle Ground, Indiana; provided by Visitor Information
Specialist, Visit Lafayette – West Lafayette, 301 Frontage Road, Lafayette, IN 47905;
[email protected]; http://www.tcha.mus.in.us/battlefield.htm
943
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
944
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
945
http://indiana.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,432746,n,cold%20friday%20hollow.cfm
946
Anne Cabaniss; History of Old Scott Township and the Harrison Crawford State Forest; 2007; provided
by Bill Brockman, Corydon, Indiana; [email protected]

According to an oral account, William Will, postmaster at Versailles, was asked to suggest a name when
a post office was established here in 1881. Since it was at the time of Halley’s Comet, he wrote ‘Comet’
on the form and sent it to the Post Office Department. The department found his handwriting difficult
to read, so returned a card with ‘Comet’ on it and asked Will to verify the name. He wrote ‘correct’, and
that became the name of the town.”947
***DEAD MAN’S CROSSING/CORNER, POSEY COUNTY948, INDIANA***
Glenn Curtis depicts: “One of my daughters showed me some comments about Dead Man’s
Crossing on a site on her computer. A map on that site showed it to be near Mt Vernon, on a county
road that once had a railroad crossing. I can only assume, at this time, that someone at some time was
killed there perhaps by a train.
“Some comments on that site indicated they had lived nearby – but, since I know that person, I
think they have it confused with ‘Dead Man’s Corner’, since I know they lived near it.
“Dead Man’s Corner is about 10 miles southwest of our county seat of Mt Vernon in Point
Township, perhaps 2 or 3 miles due west of Hovey Lake State Game Preserve.
“About a century ago – when mail was still being delivered by horse and buggy, someone found
the mail man dead at this corner of the road, his horse and buggy standing nearby.
“Most people in the neighborhood knew this man was spending too much time, quite often,
with one of the ladies on this part of his route. Apparently, the husband found out what was going on.
“No one was ever convicted of murder.
“I was never able to get any of the old folks to give me names.
“Just said they couldn’t remember.
“There are many railroad crossings where someone has been killed in Posey County – but only
one Deadman’s Corner.
“Posey County is the only county in the USA named for General Thomas Posey (revolutionary).
President George Washington appointed him Governor of Indiana Territory.
“When it came time for the citizens of Posey County to designate a town in the county as the
new county seat, a group gathered for the purpose at McFadden’s Bluff. Feeling that they needed a
new name for their county seat, instead of McFadden’s Bluff, and having been rendered creative by the
beverage being served around the room, someone suggested Mt Vernon.
“After a great deal of laughter and ‘oh no, we must not’, a motion was unanimous for Mt
Vernon.
“Since most or maybe all present were veterans of the Revolutionary War, they knew the
rumors about their General Washington being the real father of Thomas Posey, whose ‘parents’ were
neighbors of the Washington’s, how Washington helped the Posey’s financially and with Young Tom’s
school expenses, how Thomas Posey was made a ‘General’, and his further kindness of appointing him
Governor of Indiana Territory.
“Years later, some at the meeting denied this ever happened.”949
***GOSPEL GROVE, VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker enumerates: “Two oral accounts explain the name of this community: 1. ‘Gospel Grove
… was named by Gertrude Myers. Mrs Myers and her husband, ministers, bought the area and allowed
only members of their particular church to buy the land from them. The area was a religious
947

Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
948
http://indiana.hometownlocator.com/in/posey/dead-mans-crossing.cfm
949
Glenn Curtis, Posey County Historian, 9016 Schroeder Ct, Mount Vernon, IN 47620

community.’ 2. Approximately one half mile of the first stoplight in Seelyville is a residential area set in
an isolated community. The first occupants of this area were all of the same religious sect and allowed
no others to move in. This area soon became known as Gospel Grove and still is today.’”950
***HANGMAN CROSSING, JACKSON COUNTY951, INDIANA***
John Burkhart gives an account: “A copy of the introduction from the bio of John Reno that
resides at the Jackson County Historical Society’s library. You will notice that on two separate occasions,
there were members of the Reno Gang hung by members of the vigilantes just west of Seymour. This is
adjacent to a railroad crossing, and it has been called ‘Hangman’s Crossing’ since that time in our
history.”952
RW Shields points out: “John Reno, self-proclaimed leader of the infamous gang of outlaws once
composed of his three brothers and other renowned criminals, planned and executed the first train
robbery at Seymour, Indiana. Soon afterward, the Reno Gang committed three other train robberies
near the rail crossroads of southern Indiana. Each was masterminded by Frank Reno, while his brother
John was in the penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri.
“The terrible crime wave following the Civil War has been described as a period of lawlessness,
which set the stage for that yet to engulf Dodge City in the Kansas Territory. The dastardly acts of
violence were designed to radiate outward from Seymour. The reign of terror stretched across the
entire Midwest. It seemed that every criminal in the area would somehow become associated with the
Reno Gang. And the outstretched hands of those brothers were often holding those of government
officials. Many times the Reno Gang leader was able to retain competent legal counsel.
“The brothers could trace their lineage back to France. Descendants of the Renault family
migrated from Normandy in 1704. The early forebears settled first in New Jersey but soon moved
westward into Kentucky. By 1820 the Reno family had settled along White River near a village called
Rockford. Less than twenty years later, the patriarch was one of the largest taxpayers in Jackson
County. The Reno farmlands exceeded 1,000 acres, located just to the north of lands homesteaded by
Meedy Shields’ father.
“It was from this pioneer environment that John Reno would emerge into the pages of American
history as the foremost criminal leader. The Reno Gang went on a rampage which terrorized the
residents throughout a five-state area. Their crimes included murder, safe-cracking and bank robberies.
Members of the gang claimed renowned criminals of wide repute. Such desperate characters seemed
to be drawn together by the Reno magnet centered at Seymour, Indiana. Frank Sparks and John Moore
were part of the inner circle from the outset. Volney Elliott, Freiling Clifton and Charles Roseberry were
habitual thieves before joining the gang. Daniel and Silas Smith were accepted later. Of all the
members, only Roseberry was described by Allen Pinkerton as one who could stab someone or anyone
in the back.
“Sometime late in 1859, the Reno parents ended their marriage. The divorce failed to separate
them very long, but they decided to sell part of their farmland. Leaving Jackson County, they went west
and settled in St Joseph on the fringes of Kansas Territory. The Reno family soon returned east to
Bellville, Illinois, but remained unhappy. It became obvious they would eventually return to live in
Jackson County. After going through several thousands of dollars from the sale of their Rockford
farmland, they were able to rent a house in Seymour. Henceforth, the center of the Reno Gang
950

Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
951
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangman_Crossing,_Indiana
952
John Burkhart, Jackson County Visitor Center, PO Box 607, Seymour, IN 47274;
http://www.jacksoncountyin.com/

activities was destined to be fixed in the village founded by Meedy W Shields. Before long Seymour
entered a state of anarchy gutted with widespread crime.
“After the Civil War Major Allen Pinkerton, who had organized the United States Secret Service
Unit, spent more than two years tracking down the Reno Gang members. Actually, the Pinkerton
detective agents were after the leader in a massive effort to bring him to justice. Due to unusual
circumstances, Pinkerton was able to seize John Reno at the railroad depot in Seymour. Indeed, it was a
personal capture by the famous detective, of the leader of the world’s first train robbery in October
1866. Shortly afterward, John Reno was taken to Missouri, where he was to plead guilty to the Gallatin
robbery. He was then sentenced to a term of twenty-five years in the penitentiary at Jefferson City.
“The capture and imprisonment of John Reno merely intensified the Pinkerton efforts to
comprehend the rest of the gang. During the next two years, the head of the detective agents directed
the witch hunt. By mid-year 1866, the net was closing in on the Reno brothers still at large. In July a
fourth attempt to rob a railroad express car was carried out. The gang struck the eastbound Ohio and
Mississippi train near Brownstown. But the hijack failed because it was undertaken with none of the
Reno brothers involved.
“Ten days later, three gang members were cornered in the river bottomlands near the former
homestead of the Reno family. The agents were overcome by a band of masked vigilantes. Clifton,
Elliott and Roseberry never reached the Sheriff at Brownstown. They were condemned to be hung by a
verdict of lynch law. They were left swinging on ropes from the limbs on an old beech tree located two
miles west of Seymour.
“The other members of the gang were arrested four days later in Illinois. Pinkerton agents
placed Frank Sparks, Henry Jerrell and John Moore on the train destined for Seymour. Scheduled to
arrive July 25, 1868, the prisoners would be taken by wagon under heavy guard to the county seat. As
the posse approached the fatal tree where the others had been lynched, another mob of 300 masked
men seized the horses, guards and wagons. The prisoners were left dangling in the air strung up in the
limbs of the same old beech tree.
“Separate lynchings of the Reno Gang members at the same tree by vigilante had replaced
obedience to established law and order. Six of the outlaws had been deposed by masked mobs of local
citizens. That left William and Simeon Reno in jail at Lexington in Scott County. Arraignment of the two
brothers was postponed and, in the meantime, Charles Davis was arrested. The next month Frank Reno
was extradited from Canada. Three of the Reno brothers, along with two gang brothers, were behind
bars in New Albany. It was the second group of outlaws who were the leaders.
“During the early hours of December 12, 1868, a mob of masked vigilantes were willing to brave
the sub-zero temperature to gather at the Seymour depot. In complete silence, they boarded the train
bound for New Albany, where they forced entry into the jail. Sheriff Fullenlove was shot as the hooded
men grabbed the three Reno brothers. No time was wasted, and they were hung on the spot in the jail
room. Their mouths were sealed forever!
“Only John Reno, then behind bars in Missouri, remained alive to tell his story. But it was to be
ten years before the world would be able to hear it. Mob vengeance had vanished throughout Jackson
County, but memories of the vigilant hangings persisted. A decade of silence failed to heal the mental
anguish, which had been inflicted upon the community. And then, the newspapers broke the story that
the last Reno brother would soon be paroled. The date determined was set for February 18, 1878.
After completing ten years of his sentence, he was released from prison. He was then returned to
Brownstown, where his case was bound over. He was a free man and able to tell his story at last. It was
printed in pamphlet form and circulated in and around Seymour, and many understood he was trying to
explain his life of crime.
“His account provides a selective story filled with error, omission and outright embellishment.
And he remained a criminal until the day of his death. After being arrested in Seymour for

counterfeiting, John Reno died at his home located at the corner of Fifth Street and Indianapolis Avenue,
not far from his little tavern.”953
***HYMERA, SULLIVAN COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker relates: “A post office called Hymera was established on August 1, 1855. The town was
platted in 1870 and called Pittsburg, also spelled Pittsburgh, for William Pitt, who owned land here, and,
according to some accounts, ‘because, like Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, it was a coal town’. According to
one legend, the town was named Hymera by John Badders, the postmaster, for his unusually tall
adopted daughter, whose nickname was ‘High Mary’: ‘I’m not exactly sure just what class it was. I think,
oh, yes, it was … my high school literature teacher who told us one time how Hymera got its name. He
said that the postmaster in the town had a very tall daughter, and when the people saw her taking his
lunch to him they would say, ‘There goes High Mary.’ You know, like high, meaning tall. They kept this
up, and pretty soon the town itself got the name of Hymera.’ Another legend says: ‘Hymera, Indiana,
did not always have that name. It used to be called Philadelphia, Indiana. When it was a town of about
200 people, it had a makeshift post office. The woman that worked in the post office was named Mary,
and everyone that passed by would wave and call, ‘Hi, Mary.’ It soon became so widely known that the
town officially changed its name to Hymera.’ According to another tale, High Mary was a high-priced
prostitute. It seems more likely, however, that the name is classical, for the ancient city, Himera,
founded 648 BC on the northern coast of Sicily. The town’s name was changed to Hymera, already the
post office name, in 1890.”954
***LOST RIVER, ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker stipulates: “A post office was established on August 15, 1837; closed on January 28,
1878. The name comes from a local stream of the same name, which was so named because it sinks and
runs underground for several miles before it rises again. Several legends attempt to explain the stream
name:
“1. In Orange County at Spring Mill State Park, there is a river that has no beginning known as
the Lost River. Scientists have been searching for the answer to the mystery, but no one can find the
river’s beginning. They can trace it to a certain point where it seems to fall into the ground. It seems
that it would flow underground, but no such underground route can be located. The river just
disappears.
“2. Lost River is located east of Orleans, Indiana. The river received the name because it
disappears for about ten miles. It is believed that it goes under into limestone caves. People have put
such things as ducks and other material objects in the river at its origin and never see them again. At
the place where it comes up, there’s a high rock, and the water goes up rolling. At the place where it
comes up, it is like a big hole.
“3. Well, you know how Lost River got its name, don’t you? I’ve never seen the place myself,
but everybody around here almost has been up where the river just goes right into a hill. It’s up there
north of Boggs Creek somewhere. There’s like a big hole in the side of a hill, and the river flows into it.
There’s supposed to be an awful suction where the river goes into the hill, and one time when they still
drove too close to the side of the road and fell in the river. He was pretty close to that hole anyway, and
953

This is John Reno’s story as first edited in 1940 by the late Robert W Shields. It has now been reedited for the Jackson County Historical Society records. Loren W Noblitt, PhD, Jackson County
Historian, Brownstown, Indiana, June 14, 1993; provided by John Burkhart, Jackson County Visitor
Center, PO Box 607, Seymour, IN 47274; http://www.jacksoncountyin.com/
954
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995

the river was up, so the current just carried his horses, wagon, and all right to where the suction was.
The suction pulled them all in under the hill, and they’ve never been able to recover them since.
“4. Have you ever heard of this opening in the river at Orangeville? There have been divers that
have put green food coloring in it to see if it comes up anywhere else, because they don’t think it is a
part of Lost River, which supposedly doesn’t have a bottom. About two years ago, whenever it was that
they used horses and carriages, somehow or something, he drove his horses and everything out into the
river there. Everybody went out to see what had happened, and so when they got out there, they could
see the bubbles and everything and knew he had drowned. Now they say that every so often you can
hear him screaming and his horses hollering and stuff. But the real thing that gets me is, you know, they
thought the carriage and pieces of it would float back up, but they never did. So not too long ago they
sent more divers down to look for traces of it, you know. But they can’t find anything because they
can’t find a bottom. Now isn’t that mysterious?”955
***MISHAWAKA, SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker writes: “The city was laid out in 1833, and according to local legend it was named for
an Indian princess who died in 1818. Actually the name is a form of the Potawatomi m’seh-wah-kee-ki,
‘country of dead trees’, referring to a deadening, generally where trees are girdled with axes as a first
step toward clearing a forest. Apparently there was a tract of dead timber here. A post office called
Mishawaka was established on December 11, 1833. Variant spellings are Mishawauka and
Mishewaka.”956
***NINEVEH, JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker articulates: “This village was settled in 1821 by Amos Durlin, John S Miller, and Robert
Worl and named for nearby Nineveh Creek. The township in which it is located also is called Ninevah. A
post office established as Woodruffs, with J Woodruff as postmaster, on November 26, 1832, was
changed to Ninevah on February 22, 1839. The village was platted on May 24, 1834, as Williamsburg.
Although the stream name appears biblical, according to a local tradition repeated in a county history,
the stream first was named Nineveh’s Defeat, for Nineveh Berry, who fell into the stream and nearly
drowned while carrying a deer’s carcass across the stream. A number of Hoosier streams, according to
legends, were named for men who fell in them and nearly drowned.”957
***PUMPKIN CENTER, ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA***
RL Baker describes: “The name of this settlement probably celebrates the large pumpkin crops
grown here when the village was founded. According to local legend, the name is for a local farmer’s
pumpkin patch, supposedly the largest in the state. The farmer grew enormous pumpkins, too: ‘One
year he grew a pumpkin that weighed 107 pounds. I know ‘cause my uncle told me about it when I was
little. Well, anyway, this old guy was so proud of his pumpkins that one day he put this sign up that said,
‘Duncan’s Pumpkin Center of the World’. Well, folks thought this was real funny, and they started just
calling his place Pumpkin Center, and that’s what people call it to this day, and that’s all I’m saying.’”958
955

Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
956
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
957
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995
958
Ronald L Baker; From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History; Indiana
University Press; 1995

***STARLIGHT, CLARK COUNTY959, INDIANA***
CL Proctor II highlights: “We received your letter inquiring into the history of Starlight,
Indiana. Like many areas in Indiana (eg, Oldenburg, Ferdinand, etc), Starlight was sparsely populated by
German immigrants in the 19th century, and the town - like these others - grew in relation to a local
Roman Catholic parish church or monastic community. After 1855, at the behest of a visiting Jesuit
priest, the immigrants built their own parish church - St John the Baptist Parish (often called St John's
Starlight) - and began coalescing into a single community. At this point, the area was known by its
Native American name: ‘Silver Hills’. An article from the local newspaper, The Courier Journal, states
that in 1892, a new parish priest at St John's (Father Celestine Schwartz) was walking to the local general
store (Koerber's General Store) and was struck with awe at the beauty of the night sky in his new
home. He suggested the official name of ‘Starlight’, and from that point forward, ‘Silver Hills’ was no
longer used.”960
***STONY LONESOME, BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY961, INDIANA***
CL Sawin establishes: “At one time the surest way to lose your money was to travel through this
area after dark.
“A small dot on a map of Southern Indiana marks the spot where once stood Stoney Lonesome,
a village notorious in more ways than one; but a town noted primarily for the robber bands and
terrorists who infested the region at one time or another.
“The site of the town borders on the hilly, rustic area of Brown County made famous by Kin
Hubbard and his ‘Abe Martin’. Nine miles east of Nashville, the county seat, Wolf Creek cuts through
heavily wooded Shaeffer Hill, to form Stoney Lonesome Hollow. It was here that the village stood.
“A hundred years ago, this was the loneliest, dreariest spot a traveler in Brown County had to
pass through. The only good route was along the bed of the creek.
“Of the once-notorious village, only one structure stands – log cabin that gives evidence of the
early settler’s craftsmanship. Formerly, as was customary, this log cabin served as a sort of citadel for
the village. In time of trouble of attack, the settlers all gathered in the big log house.
“For several years, it served as the post office, and then it belonged to the McGarlick family.
The last of the family, Grace McGarlick, died around 1915 after she was past 90. In this log cabin during
the Civil War times, men were sworn into the Federal Army, and spent their first night in the Army
before leaving for New Albany and their regiments.
“While the McGarlicks owned it, they put guests in the upper story. There was no stairway –
guests climbed up a ladder to reach their sleeping place. Later, the hostelry business was given up, and
the top floor was used to dry foods and tobacco.
“Traveling along creek beds was the usual and easiest manner of getting a round in the early
days there. In this hollow, the forest was extremely thick with underbrush. So rough was the terrain
that when the ground was covered with the ice of winter or saturated with the rains of early spring,
passage on foot was impossible.
“The dark, dismal surroundings in this rocky hollow, shut in by the hills and mantled by the thick
forest, naturally gave the spot its appropriate name, Stoney Lonesome. It became a favorite rendezvous
for robber bands. They usually lay in wait among the underbrush for travelers. Among the common
victims were settlers on their way to buy land for cash, and the 19th century model of the traveling
959

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlight,_Indiana
Christopher Lee Proctor II, Library Associate, Charlestown Public Library, 51 Clark Road, Charlestown,
IN 47111; [email protected]; http://charlestown.boundless.ly/
961
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stony_Lonesome,_Indiana
960

salesman, called a drummer. At one time the surest way a traveler could lose his possessions was to
travel through Stoney Lonesome in the evening. As late as 1800, travelers made it a point to get
through Stoney Lonesome before sundown.
“Through the last of the 19th century and up till 1915, Stoney Lonesome had a curiosity in the
person of Tim Rattikin. A soldier in the Union Army, Rattikin had been shot through the head and lived
to tell about it. People for miles around would come to Stoney Lonesome to view this human wonder.
When anyone doubted the truth of the story, Tim would point to two scars, one on his forehead and
another at the back of his skull, and say, ‘That Confederate bullet went in there and came out here.’
“The area surrounding Stoney Lonesome was the hotbed of White Cap activities from 1880 till
1909. Borrowing an idea from English outlawry, the members dressed themselves in white paper
foolscaps with white paper masks and wore coats made of coffee sacking. To make the coats, three
holes were cut in the sack, two for the arms and one to put the head through.
“The White Caps were known to intercede mostly in moral cases when a man was giving
another man’s wife attention. If a man did not heed their warning, the White Caps usually came to his
home after he had retired, took him to a nearby tree and bound him and whipped him with switches.
“The organization was so powerful that it was useless to run for public office unless one was a
member. The secret organization kept various natives ‘morally straight’ until 1909, when Governor
Hanley stated he would not tolerate the whippings. Evidence was gathered and eight men were
brought to trial, before Judge Marshall Hacker in the Bartholomew County Court. Six were acquitted.
The remaining two were given suspended sentences. In his closing arguments for them, the lawyer,
Robert Myers, stated, ‘Your Honor, although these two innocent men have proved they were in Ohio
buying mules at the time of the White Cap whipping, they promise never to do it again.’
“This trial sounded the death knell to the White Caps.
“Today a hard-surfaced road runs right through the former settlement. Yet even with these fine
developments, the present-day traveler who passes through at night has only to pause and listen to the
owl and the whippoorwill chorus and look up at the ridges surrounding him on both sides to sense the
Stoney Lonesome of the missing traveler days.”962
**IOWA**
HB Staples portrays: “The State of Iowa is named from the river of that name, and the river from
the Ioway Indians, who after many migrations settled on its banks. In the same article in the Atlantic
Monthly to which I have already alluded, it is intimated that the name Ioway is contracted from Ah-beeoo-ba, meaning ‘sleepers’, which perhaps explains why the Sioux nearly extirpated them.”963
KB Harder remarks: “For the Iowa tribe of Siouan linguistic stock. The name is a French version
of the Dakota name for the tribe; variously given as Ayuhwa, Ouaouia, Aiouez, and Ioways, it is believed
to mean ‘the sleepy ones’. Names given by other tribes include ‘snakes’, ‘dusty heads’, ‘dusty noses’,
and ‘snow heads’. The river was named for the tribe, and the territory and state names derive from the
river.”964
HE Dilts shares: “The name Iowa is derived from the name of a group of American Indians, the
Iowas (or Ioways), who were in central Iowa at the time the country was first explored. Authors
generally agree that the name was first popularized through the book Notes on Wisconsin Territory,
962

Charles L Sawin, The Courier Journal Magazine; provided by Annette Blount, Reference Dept,
Bartholomew County Public Library, 536 5th Street, Columbus, IN 47201; [email protected];
http://www.mybcpl.org/
963
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
964
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

With a Map, written by Lt Albert M Lea and published in 1836. Lea referred to areas of the territory
explored by him as the ‘Iowa District’. The name was in common use in the area. Lea’s selection of it
for his writings likely resulted from its being the name of a river flowing through the country explored.
Subsequent changes in the political boundaries of the region created the Territory of Iowa and finally,
on December 28, 1846, the State of Iowa.”965
Johnson Brigham stresses: “There has been much speculation as to the origin and significance of
the name Iowa. Is it a tribal designation; or a place name; or a name descriptive of some characteristic
of the region? It seems fitting that space be given to a brief consideration of these inquiries.
“1. Father Andre, writing from Green Bay early in 1676, less than three years after the landing of
Marquette and Joliet on Iowa soil, alluded to a nation of neutrals between the warring Sioux and
Winnebagoes called ‘Aiaoua’. They then lived a twelve days’ journey beyond ‘the Misisipi’.
“Perrot, in 1685, refers to the upper Iowa River as ‘named for the Ayoes savages’.
“In the ‘Documents of the French Regime’ there are several spelling of the name applied to this
tribe, namely: ‘Aiouez’, ‘Ayaabois’, and ‘Yoais’.
“Fulton, in his Red Men of Iowa, is positive the name with varied spellings was very early applied
to a tribe of the Dakota race. He quotes the early French traders as spelling the name ‘Ayouos’; the
Spanish, ‘Ajoues’; the English, ‘Ioways’.
“Lewis and Clark applied to them the labored spelling, ‘Aieway’, ‘Aiauway’, ‘Aiaouez’, ‘Aiaway’,
etc.
“Shea mentioned as one of the twenty-six tribes that had lived in Wisconsin, the ‘Ainovines’, or
‘Aiodais’, which he says is ‘the old French spelling to express the sound Iowa’.
“George Rogers Clark, writing from Kaskaskia, early in 1779, mentioned the ‘Iowaas’.
“WH Hildreth traces the name to the ‘Pyhojas’, a name used by the Omahas to designate the
tribe east of the ‘Big Muddy’, the translation being ‘Gray Snow’, or ‘Drowsy one’, - the tradition being
that when the tribe migrated from Dakota, a snowstorm and sandstorm combined covered them with a
gray coating, conveying to the Omahas the impression of gray snow.
“McKenney’s History of the Indian Tribes, referring to this tribe, calls it the ‘Ioways’.
“Doctor Salter speaks of seven government treaties with these Indians, from 1815 to 1838, in all
of which they are referred to as ‘Ioways’.
“It will be seen that pioneer Iowans have ample authority for their spelling and for the
pronunciation of the name of their state.
“2. The ‘Iowa District’, the place-name given this region by Schoolcraft, was chosen, says Lieut
Albert M Lea, because of ‘the extent and beauty of the Iowa River which runs centrally through the
district, and gives character to most of it, the name of that stream being both euphonious and
appropriate’.
“Dr BF Shambaugh, of the Iowa State Historical Society, is of the opinion that as to the origin of
the name ‘very little can be said’. He finds, however, that ‘a study of the early maps of this western
country shows that for at least a century before Lieutenant Lea published his map, the river that ‘runs
centrally’ through Iowa was generally indicated by the name Ioway’.
“3. Used as ‘descriptive of some characteristic of the region’, we have two interpretations; the
one most generally accepted, because of its direct appeal to sentiment, is ‘Beautiful Land’. Doctor
Pickard, a close student of Indian history, dismisses this interpretation with the conclusion that the fact the beauty of the land, rather than the derivation of the name - suggested the appellation.
“An explanation given by Antoine Le Claire, the famous French-Indian pioneer of Davenport, is
that ‘a tribe of Indians were in search of a home or hunting - in fact, wandering; and when they reached
965

Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993

a point they admired and was all they wished - [a point near the mouth of the river which bears their
name] they said, ‘Iowa - this is the place!’
“Charles Aldrich quotes a Musquakie Indian as giving the identical words of Le Claire, and adds:
‘This evidence makes a very strong case as far as the Iowa Indians are concerned.’
“LF Andrews maintains that ‘Iowa is a corruption of the word Kiowa’, long in use by the Sacs and
Foxes, and still used by the remnants of these tribes on the reservation in Tama County, Iowa.
“It is evident from these divergent views that this must ever remain one of the open questions
confronting the student of Iowa history.”966
***ATLANTIC, CASS COUNTY967, IOWA***
Lila Hoogeveen composes: “Atlantic was founded in 1868, and the main persons involved in the
founding were Franklin F Whitney, BF Allen, and John P Cook. These men met in the mayor's office to
decide on a name for their newly established city. According to most tales, the men thought ‘Atlantic’
would be good, or ‘Pacific’ since the site was centrally located between the two great oceans. There was
no ‘Atlantic’ registered as a city name between the oceans, so they decided on that.
“Another story says the men, again meeting at the mayor's office, just tossed a coin to decide on
which name, and obviously ‘Atlantic’ won.
“Another historian claims that being founded as railroad center, the men wanted a railroad
name involved, and since there were rail lines containing both words, Atlantic (such as the Atlantic
Coastal Line), and Pacific, (such as the Union Pacific), that was where they came up with naming it either
‘Atlantic’ or ‘Pacific’.”968
***BLACK HAWK COUNTY, IOWA***
William Bright designates: “Black Hawk. A leader of the Sac or Sauk people (Algonquian), born
in 1767, who in 1832, led some of his people from Iowa into Illinois, from which they had been
previously expelled by white settlers; the resulting conflict became known as the Black Hawk War. He
died in 1838. His Sauk name was mahkate:wimesi-ke:hke:hkwa, from mahkate:wi ‘black’ plus mesike:hke:hkwa; this in turn consists of mesi ‘big’ plus ke:hke:hkwa, a species of hawk. The name Black
Hawk … may commemorate the Sauk leader or may have been named for a Santee (Siouan) leader
known as Black Hawk.”969
***BLOODY RUN, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, IOWA***
William Bright gives: “Bloody Run: The name refers to a stream where a Dakota (Siouan) family
was murdered by a white man, ‘a whisky seller and frontier ruffian’, in 1854.”970
***COMMUNIA, CLAYTON COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts expands: “Was the site of the Communia Colony, which in 1847, located about six miles
south of Elkader. This association of German immigrants was committed to the principle of living in

966

Johnson Brigham; Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens; SJ Clarke; 1918;
http://iagenweb.org/history/IHFC/IHFCIntro.htm
967
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic,_Iowa
968
Lila Hoogeveen, Curator and Vice President, Cass County Historical Museum, 412 Main St, Griswold,
IA 51535; [email protected]; http://cchmiowa.org/http/index.html.html
969
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press; 2004
970
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press; 2004

common and sharing material success and wealth. The community was disbanded when the experiment
failed, but the site is still identified on some maps.”971
***CORRECTIONVILLE, WOODBURY COUNTY972, IOWA***
Rural Woodbury County Historical Society illustrates: “The town of Correctionville was platted
September 25, 1855, by the town site company of Henn, Williams, Cook and Company. George W
Chamberlain, Hiram Nelson, Francis Chapell, Charles B Rustin, and Horace C Bacon did the survey. This
was the era of railroad expansion. Many towns were platted on the prospect that railroads would be
built throughout northwest Iowa. The Illinois Central had made a preliminary survey from Ford Dodge
to Sioux City following the correction line as near as practicable, which was in accordance with its
charter. One of the surveys went through this area, and on the strength of that survey, the town site
company platted the town.
“The name ‘Correctionville’ comes from the No 2 Correction Line established by surveyors to
correct for the curvature of the earth. The No 2 runs from below Dubuque on the Mississippi River
through Correctionville’s east and west ‘main street’ (now 5th Street) to the Missouri River in Sioux City.
There are only two correction lines in the State of Iowa. The No 1 Correction Line runs across the entire
state from the Mississippi River at Scott County westward through Harrison County to the Missouri
River.
“In 1855 the Little Sioux valley at Correctionville had an ample supply of timber. The bluffs to
the west were covered with a thick growth of oak, elm, and maple, while the land along the river had
cottonwood, box-elder, and other trees. However, in every direction from this immediate vicinity, the
valley and bluffs were treeless, only covered by a sea of prairie grass.
“The Sioux and Omaha lived and hunted in this area because of the abundance of food and
shelter. Fish were plentiful in the river and streams. Buffalo, deer, elk, wild turkeys, and lesser game
found homes on the prairies or in the wooded hills. The bluffs and woods provided shelter from the
heat of summer and storms of winter.
“The town of Correctionville grew slowly. There were a few settlers in the surrounding area,
perhaps as many as a dozen farmers in the late 1855 to early 1856. Some of these early settlers were
Erastus and Zack Allen (one of whom settled near the present home of Sandra Pick), Elias, Sarah, and
Sidney Shook who lived on the Lee/Michael Smith farm in the hills north of town, Jacob Pindell (also
spelled Pendall or Pinnell) who settled along Pierson Creek about a half mile from the mouth of the
Pierson Creek near where the Flemming sandpit is located.
“Life was hard, and three events took place in 1856-7 that discouraged friends of these settlers
from migrating here and caused some settlers to leave. First was the murder of Pindell which left many
people feeling unsafe; second, the great prairie fire in the fall of 1856, followed by a blizzard in early
winter; and third, the theft of livestock by the Sioux in the Correctionville area, followed by the massacre
of settlers around Spirit Lake and in Minnesota in March 1857.
“The murder of Jacob Pindell occurred in Union Township and involved Elias Shook. Elias Shook
had taken up two claims when he settled here and tried to hold onto both by placing himself on one and
his little son on the other. Pindell arrived in Union Township about the same time, took a liking to one
of the claims held by Shook and started to improve it, knowing that Shook had no right to hold more
than one. Matters festered for a while. One morning Erastus and Zack Allen passed Pindell’s cabin, and,
seeing no sign of activity, entered the house. They discovered Pindell lying partly out of his bunk, dead,
apparently for some hours. The Allens suspected foul play because of something Shook had let slip
971

Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
972
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correctionville,_Iowa

sometime previous, and they could think of no one else with a motive. Shook, was known as a very
tough character, and was arrested and taken to Sioux City for trial. The man who escorted Shook said
there was scarcely a spot on his face and hands that did not have a scar on it. Shook, a former miner at
Galena, was described as a large, muscular, and wiry man and had a decided stammer in his speech.
Technicalities of the law allowed Shook to go free, but no one doubted who the murderer was. … After
the trial, Shook left the area and was never heard of again. Pindell is buried in Good Hope Cemetery.
“Fire on the prairie was always a danger. The summer and fall of 1856 was very beautiful with
just enough rain to make the vegetation lush. The hot sun of the ‘dog days’ dried every blade of grass.
By late fall everything was tinder dry. At this time, some careless person, across the line in Monona
County, threw out the ash in his pipe. This smoldered along without attracting attention, until it
suddenly burst into flames. Observers at the time reported the roaring fires rushed onward almost with
the speed of lightning. A stiff breeze blew from the south, spreading it to the east and west and far
northward. In places where no streams were large enough to arrest its march, it spread a distance of
ten miles. It burned over a large section of the eastern portion of Woodbury County, lapped into Ida
County and went into areas only inhabited by Native Americans. Nothing but rain or a lack of available
fuel would stop it. The scanty crops raised here and there, which were stored in primitive barns or
stacked in the fields, fell prey to the fire. Pioneer families who had fled the fire returned to utter
devastation. Buildings, crops, household goods, fences, and anything combustible had been destroyed.
The pioneers either had to make their way back to their original homes in the east or rely on the charity
of more fortunate neighbors who lived beyond the fire line.
“A blizzard in December 1856 further reduced the small number of inhabitants. A man named
Garoutte … was caught in the storm and perished. He lived not far from the present town of
Correctionville and had gone to Sioux City for supplies with a team of horses and wagon. He made the
trip to Sioux City before the storm. Apparently fearing that he would have to remain in the city for some
time, he left for home even as the storm was blowing. He had reached a point a few miles from his
home when, it is conjectured, he found his progress with the team so slow that he abandoned the team
and started on foot. It is supposed that he was afraid of being caught out on the prairie at night. His
horses wandered off the road and were later found frozen to death. The body of Garoutte was not
discovered until the snow melted the following spring.
“The first Indian scare for Correctionville occurred in the spring of 1857, however, the fears of
western Iowans regarding the Sioux can be traced back to the 1840s. In the late 1840s and the early
1850s, settlers in northwestern Iowa moved farther west into areas unprotected by military garrisons.
Considered intruders by the Sioux, in this case the Wapekutah Sioux, the settlers were bound to face
difficulties.
“In late 1848, a band of Wapekutah, led by Sidominadoteh (‘Two Fingers’), traced stolen horses
to the cabin of Henry Lott, who was living in the confluence of the Des Moines and Boone rivers. Rather
than fight, Lott and his son Milton ran, but became separated during their flight. Milton froze to death
before Lott could find him. An angry Lott struck back at the Sioux in January 1854. Finding
Sidominadoteh and his band camped on the Des Moines River about 30 miles north of Fort Dodge, Lott
and his stepson attacked the camp, killing the chief and six of his relatives.
“Inkpadutah, the leader of an outlaw band of Sioux and also the younger brother of
Sidominadoteh, vowed to revenge. His band had raided many newly established settlements in Iowa,
South Dakota, and Minnesota. In the early fall of 1856, Inkpadutah’s band left the Fort Ridgely Agency
of the Lower Sioux and started on a journey that would end with the Spirit Lake Massacre. The band
reached the area of Smithland that winter. In the spring of 1857, they proceeded up the Little Sioux
valley, stealing horses in Kedron and Rock townships and shot a cabin door full of holes before moving
northward. On March 8, 1857, Inkpadutah and his band began attacking the scattered cabins of settlers
near Spirit Lake and Lake Okoboji. The bloodshed also spread to the nearby town of Springfield,

Minnesota. Thirty-eight settlers were slain, and four women were carried off. Inkpadutah was never
apprehended. He and his band left the State of Iowa, never to return.”973
***CYLINDER, PALO ALTO COUNTY974, IOWA***
Tillford Egland presents: “The following description of early days in Palo Alto County before the
advent of settlers, by WD Powers, was published in the Palo Alto Reporter in 1887. Mr Powers later
became one of the county’s first settlers, when he joined the West Bend Settlement in 1855.
“‘Early in the Spring of 1853, the writer of the following sketch was marching in company with
the 2nd, detachment of Company ‘E’ 6th US Infantry, taking with us Quartermaster’s stores from Ft
Dodge, to a new military post in Minnesota. We had a train of nine government wagons, with four
citizen’s teams who volunteered to accompany us. Our marching was tedious, owing to high waters,
and at that time the prairies contained numerous sloughs. We had no roads to travel on, but were
guided by a small compass. About the 26th of May, we entered the south-east part of Palo Alto County,
AD 1853, and had to halt on the banks of what is now called Bridge Creek. The waters on this creek
seemed to be about 200 yards in width. We remained here about four days. Sergeant Bryson went up
the creek for about ten miles to look for a crossing, but could not find one. There being some lone trees
up the creek, they were cut down, and enough timber was hauled from McNight’s Point to make a raft.
A few Indians joined us here, and one, Ochsee-da-was-te, volunteered to be our guide to the St Peter’s
River.
“‘The country then looked wild; and while the first flowers of spring began to appear on the
bluffs, the high water made our camp cheerless. The party consisted of thirty-four soldiers, six citizens
and five ladies, the latter were Mrs Tilman, Mrs Rogers, Mrs McCarty, Mrs Fox and Mrs ----. The Indians
remarked that these were the first white women to see the wild prairies of this region. We crossed on
the raft and swam the mules and horses over. The ladies entertained themselves by picking wild onions
on the prairie. We had a small pontoon bridge with us; a soldier swimming across the stream with the
end of a rope, and by hauling back and forth, we managed to cross the stream. About the 2nd day of
June, we came to what is now called Cylinder Creek. We had the same trouble in crossing this swollen
stream. In taking over the cylinder of the Ft Dodge government saw mill, it sunk the pontoon bridge,
and we had to leave the cylinder in the bottom of the creek for about two months – hence the name
Cylinder Creek.’”975
Tillford Egland continues: “Regarding the naming of the town of Cylinder
“The Cylinder Creek was named in 1853
“It was named by the military when they were going to Fort Ridgely from Fort Clark (Fort Dodge)
“A steam engine cylinder was a part of the government saw mill, the military were taking to
build forts
“The cylinder had to lay there till summer after the swollen stream went down
“This is recorded in one of the diaries of one of the military men who was involved
“It was not named because of a loss of a cylinder of a threshing machine
“There was no settlers in the area till 1855 and that was at West Bend
“After the railroad came through in 1878
“Since Browns had a large hay barn and house nearby
973

Rural Woodbury County Historical Society; Early History, Founding of Correctionville 1855 to 1870;
provided by Donna Chapman, Woodbury County Library, PO Box 625, Moville, IA 51039;
[email protected]; http://www.moville.lib.ia.us/
974
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder,_Iowa
975
The Soldiers Precede the Settlers; provided by Tillford Egland, Secretary/Treasurer of Cylinder
Heritage, [email protected]

“The Railroad put in a siding to help load hay
“The Railroad put in a depot in 1890
“The railroad needed a name for the stop, so they named it after the nearby creek, Cylinder”
Egland furthers: “In the year of 1853, the military outpost based at Fort Dodge Iowa was sent to
a military outpost in New Ulm, Minnesota. The reason they were sent to Minnesota was to help
suppress the Indian uprisings that were going on there, also to construct more buildings at the
Minnesota outpost. When the soldiers came into this area, they came across a creek close by. Being it
was in the spring of the year, all the snow melt had swollen all the creeks and rivers. The soldiers had to
load the government saw mill they were taking with them, for making lumber, onto a raft in order to get
across the creek. Well, the cylinder that run the saw mill, rolled off the raft, and the soldiers had to
leave it for a few months and wait for the water to go down. When the soldiers talked about where the
cylinder was lost, they just referred to the creek as ‘the cylinder creek’. And that is how the creek was
named ‘Cylinder Creek’ and has been called that ever since.
“These above notes were taken from a diary that one of the soldiers kept.
“So, when the railroad was built through this area in 1878, settlers had already started coming
into the area for homesteading. In 1885 a man built a hay barn near the railroad track in this particular
area. The railroad then built a sidetrack to the barn so they could load and haul hay to other places. In
1870 the railroad also built a depot alongside the track, and since the depot needed a name so the
railroad knew where they were talking about, they chose the name ‘Cylinder’, because of the small
creek that runs nearby.
“Cylinder, Iowa, is a small town of about 100 people for population. At the present time for
businesses, we have a grain elevator, bank, post office, RV camper sales, auto body shop, and a
restaurant.
“The town Cylinder is the only town by that name in the entire United States. So when we had
our centennial our slogan was ‘The United States runs on only one Cylinder’.”976
***DES MOINES, POLK COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts maintains: “Was named from a fort that was there in early days. The fort itself was
named for the river. The French pronounced the American Indian word for the river as if it were spelled
‘Moingona’ and also called the river Des Moins, an abbreviated version. The name later became
associated with Trappist monks, and the river erroneously came to be called la riviere des moines, or
‘the river of the monks’. The town was first platted by AD Jones and called Fort Des Moines. In 1857 it
was made the state capital and given its present name.”977
***LOST NATION, CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts renders: “There are several versions of how this town received its name. One holds that
a party of hunters saw the town from a hill, and one of them remarked that it looked like a lost nation.
Another is that a group of American Indians starved and froze to death at this place in earlier times. Still
another version is that a German named Balm was lost temporarily, when he attempted to locate
relatives in the area, or that a Mr Cook named it Lost Nation because he had difficulty locating Balm,
when he came through on a stock-buying trip. Finally, some say it was so named because of its location
in wild and inaccessible country.”978
976

Tillford Egland, Secretary/Treasurer of Cylinder Heritage, [email protected]
Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
978
Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
977

***OSKALOOSA, MAHASKA COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts sheds light on: “According to legend, when the Seminoles made war on the Creeks, a
Creek princess was among the women taken prisoner. The princess eventually became the wife of
Osceola, the Seminole war leader, and was given the name Ouscaloosa, ‘the last of the beautiful’. In
1853 the following tribute to the princess and the city appeared in the Oskaloosa Herald:
‘Oskaloosa! Oskaloosa!
What a beauteous name;
Who’d have thought a wee papoose
Ever bore the same?
Once it was an Indian baby
Then a chieftain’s mate
Now a city, next it may be
Capital of state.
Tis a name of progress fairly
And the poet’s song
Is a droll diffusion rarely
Helping it along.
Go ahead, fair Oskaloosa
Great and growing name
Who’d have ever thought a wee papoose
Ever bore the same?’
“Vogel cities several sources that consider this romantic tale as merely fanciful and suggests that
the true identity of Oskaloosa will not be known until her relationship to Osceola has been
documented.”979
***PRIMGHAR, O’BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA***
KB Harder suggests: “Formed from the initials of the names of eight men active in platting the
town:
‘Pumphrey, the treasurer, drives the first nail,
Roberts, the donor, is quick on his trail,
Inman dips slyly his first letter in,
McCormack adds M, which makes the full Prim.
Green, thinking of groceries, gives them the G,
Hayes drops them an H, without asking a fee,
Albright, the joker, with his jokes all at par,
Rerick brings up the rear and crowns all ‘Primghar’.”980
979

Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
980
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

***PROMISE CITY, WAYNE COUNTY981, IOWA***
Brenda DeVore calls attention to: “The local consensus is that the town was named by local
settlers, who felt the location held great promise to become a city. It is north of the area of the county
crossed by Mormon pioneers on their trek to Salt Lake City; for this reason there was some thought it
was named by the Mormon pioneers, but there is no evidence to support the idea.
“Several years ago, an elderly Promise City resident researched and found there is no other
town named Promise City in the United States or in the world. Since that time, our town slogan has
been Promise City – One of a Kind.”982
A newspaper clip from 1937 connotes: “The following interesting account of the reminiscences
of RB Kinser of Promise City was furnished the Iowegian by his granddaughter Marietta Kinser of 1610
South 19th street, Centerville, daughter of Earl Kinser.
“Mr and Mrs RB Kinser still reside in Promise City, of which he is mayor. The incidents in the
following were recalled on March 30, 1937, his Birthday.
“Mr Kinser has lived all during his 78 years within South Fork Township, and at the present time
holds the record of living there the greatest number of years as a citizen of anyone in the township.
“The following facts were either told to Mr Kinser by his father or have happened during his own
presence here.
“Wayne County was first joined with Appanoose and Des Moines Counties. In 1844 Wayne
combined with Appanoose and was separated from the Des Moines County, but it was not until 1851
that organization began, and it was divided into precincts later known as townships.
“The Northeast Quarter, Precinct No [Number] One, was known as South Fork precinct.
“The first known settler of Promise City arrived in 1854 and settled where the Jones garage now
stands. He was John Henanman. At this time there was no city or even a store in this locality.
“1855 brought MJ Kinser and wife, and brother, SJ Kinser. They settled one-fourth mile south in
a slab house, where they lived until fall, when their new log house was completed on the place known as
the CW Kinser farm in the east part of town.
“Another resident of this same year was John Estep and family, who settled where the present
Mrs Alexander lives.
“Population was increasing and thoughts were to forming a town. In the fall of 1856, John
Estep, John Henanman and MJ Kinser began to lay the first site of the town, which they called ‘Promise
of a City’, and could only hope that it would someday fulfill its name.
“To show the scarcity of houses, I will quote that Mrs Kinser would stand on the roof of their log
cabin and call the men to dinner while they were laying the site of the city.”983
***SERGEANT BLUFF, WOODBURY COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts details: “The station and town took its name from the high bluff nearby, which was
named to honor the memory of Sgt Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Floyd
died August 20, 1804, as the boats were passing up the Missouri River. He was buried at a point just
981

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promise_City,_Iowa
Brenda DeVore, Museum Manager, Wayne County Historical Society, Prairie Trails Museum of Wayne
County, Highway 2 East, PO Box 104, Corydon, IA, 50060; [email protected];
www.prairietrailsmuseum.org
983
And Promise City as Related by RB Kisner on His 78th Birthday; newspaper clip; 1937; provided by
Brenda DeVore, Museum Manager, Wayne County Historical Society, Prairie Trails Museum of Wayne
County, Highway 2 East, PO Box 104, Corydon, IA, 50060; [email protected];
www.prairietrailsmuseum.org
982

below today’s Sioux City, where the bluff touches the river. Lewis and Clark named the site Floyd’s
Bluff.”984
***SIOUX CENTER, SIOUX COUNTY, IOWA***
KB Harder explains: “For the tribe, sometimes known as the Dakotas. Their earliest place of
habitation was generally west of the Mississippi River, in what is now southern Minnesota and parts of
Iowa. Later the tribe drifted westward. The name comes from Ojibway nadouessioux, ‘snakes’ or
‘enemies’, a designation rival tribes applied to each other in various languages. It was transliterated
through French. [Sioux Center is] in the exact center of the county.”985
***STORM LAKE, BUENA VISTA COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts imparts: “The town was named for the lake. The lake itself was named by an old
trapper in the year 1855, according to an early account. A party of US government surveyors was
encamped on the lake shore one night, when the [old trapper] man came into their camp and asked to
remain overnight. Prior to this time, the lake had been called Boyer Lake, as it was believed to be the
source of the Boyer River. The name has been abandoned when the surveyors discovered this was
incorrect. The trapper asked a Captain Parker, who was in charge of the surveyors, the name of the
lake. He was told it had none and that naming it was a privilege reserved to old settlers, hunters, or
trappers. The trapper said he would name the lake the next day. That night a furious storm broke out,
and the tent in which he slept was blown down. The next morning he bestowed that name Storm Lake.
A second version holds that the lake was named by a group of pioneers, who in 1855 agreed that the
appearance of the lake, with its white-capped waves, was good reason to name it Storm Lake. In either
case, the tempestuous nature of the lake apparently was the inspiration for the name.”986
***WHAT CHEER, KEOKUK COUNTY987, IOWA***
CG Draegert mentions: “Washington Township was originally a part of a township established by
the County Commissioners in January of 1846, which they named Coal Township, because of the known
quantities of coal underlying a substantial part of the area. This township embraced all of the present
Washington Township and all of that part of present Warren Township lying north of North Skunk River.
In 1847 the boundaries were changed, and that part embracing Township 76 and Range 13 was
designated as Washington Township, which at that time had a population of 215 people.
“Most of the area of Washington Township is designated as farm land and was cleared and
settled by people from various countries. Many Germans settled in the rolling hills east of What Cheer,
and the northwest part of the township attracted Quakers from their main settlement at Coal Creek.
“The Village of Springfield was the earliest community to be established in the township and one
of the early communities in the county. It was located three miles south and one mile west of the
present city of What Cheer. It received its name from a perpetual stream in a field near the village, and
it was a prominent station on the stage lines running from Davenport to Omaha, and later was the route
of one of the first named highways in the State of Iowa, known as the ‘White Pole Road’, or the ‘Great
White Way’. This road, now straightened to miss Springfield, is known as Primary 92.
984

Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
985
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
986
Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Cheer,_Iowa

“Springfield was the stagecoach stop, the post office, and the medical and trading center for the
area. It also was the home of Ernest and Grant Garrett, who operated a merry-go-round at county fairs
and other events. The merry-go-round was powered with an old grey mare, and a hand organ was used
for music.
“The population of Springfield dwindled when the railroad was built south of the village, and the
community of What Cheer was established with its own post office. Many of the inhabitants moved to
Delta, What Cheer and other communities.
“The City of What Cheer perhaps was never intended to be. It was not on a stagecoach line and
originally never intended to be on a railway. It did, however, develop as a coal camp and developed into
the metropolis of the township. Thereafter most of the history of the township revolved around the City
of What Cheer.
“The first settlers of the area now comprising What Cheer came about 1847, and Peter Britton,
the English bachelor who is credited with founding the community, arrived about 1855. He platted a
small area which he named Petersburg. This area is still known as Petersburg and comprises the
subdivision of the City of What Cheer frequently referred to as ‘Old Town’.
“The coal was close to the surface, easily mineable, in abundant quantity, and attracted miners
from many areas. Many came from the coal fields of Wales and adjoining England. As the community
grew, it became a trading center and application was made for the establishment of a post office.
Petersburg was not deemed an advisable name for the community, as there already were too many
communities with an identical or similar name. The postal department requested another name, and
considerable thought was given to the choosing of a name. Many stories have been published in
magazines and given on the radio relating to the origin of peculiar names of communities. These stories
were written mostly by people who had never been in the community and used their vivid imaginations
to enter and win contests relating to communities with peculiar names.
“The term What Cheer is a Welsh or English salutation. Loosely translated as ‘Be of Good
Cheer’. It was in common use by the Welsh and English coal miners, who settled in the community, and
I first learned from an aunt, and later from others, that in the area outside of the town, with special
reference to the settlement at Coal Creek, the community was frequently referred to as ‘What Cheer
Town’.
“Major Joseph Andrews, of Welsh descent and a one time resident of Providence, Rhode Island,
immigrated to the community and became its leading politician. The term What Cheer was in common
use in Providence, and he liked the name. In part, because it was already used as a salutation by the
Welsh and English miners, Major Andrews succeeded in causing the name What Cheer to be adopted as
the name of the community. Peter Britton was much incensed with this change of name and insisted
that as founder of the community he had the right to designate the name. However, in compliance with
Chapter 146 of the Acts of the 16th General Assembly of the State of Iowa, the County Board of
Supervisors in 1879 officially, and over the objection of Peter Britton, designated that What Cheer
should be the name of both the community and of the post office.”988
***WINTERSET, MADISON COUNTY, IOWA***
HE Dilts puts into words: “The following story is recorded about the naming. In July of 1849, the
commissioners selected a site for the county seat on a farm owned by John Guiberson. The day was
cold for midsummer, when they assembled at the home of Enos Burger to agree on a name for a new
town. One of them suggested Somerset. William Combes, who had been fortifying himself against the

988

Carl G Draegert; Washington Township – What Cheer; provided by Keokuk County Historical Society,
PO Box 123, Sigourney, IA 52591-0123; http://iagenweb.org/keokuk/resources/histsociety.htm

cold with ‘sod corn juice’, exclaimed: ‘Somerset! Hell! You’d a damn sight better call it Winterset.’ His
colleagues agreed and the new county seat was named.”989
***ZERO, LUCAS COUNTY990, IOWA***
Lucas County History Book reports: “Located halfway between Melrose and Russell, Iowa is the
ghost town of Zero. Only a couple of old wooden buildings and a few foundations remain of the old
town that was platted in 1883 by the Zero Coal Company. There were 61 lots, 5 streets and 3 alleys
drawn into the town.
“Zero did have a post office operated by Aquilla Kern, and there was a general store run by
Henry Gettinger. The Zero mine was never a big mine. It never exceeded 20 railroad cars of coal a day
and finally closed in 1886 because there was too much water in the mine.
“Today Zero, Iowa, is losing its contest with time. Fred Schreck is the last person living there in
1978, and he is 78 years old. The few buildings that remain have deteriorated past the point of ugliness
and have achieved a weathered beauty of their own. The lovely countryside is closing in on the once
proud house and sagging barn, and the shingle roofs no longer hold back the rain.”991
**KANSAS**
HB Staples talks about: “The State of Kansas is named from its principal river. The latter is
named from the tribe of Indians, called the Konzas, who lived upon its shores. Mr Schoolcraft uses the
name Kasas to designate the tribe. De Soto marched southerly from the northern limit of his expedition
in search of a rich province, called Cayas. This points to the original name of the tribe, the Kaws. The
present name has therefore an Indian root varied by French orthoepy.”992
KB Harder catalogs: “From the old Siouan language, Kansa, ‘people of the south wind’.”993
www.skyways.lib.ks.us conveys: “The greater portion of the territory that now forms the State
of Kansas was formerly included in the province of Louisiana, which was acquired by the United States
from France by the treaty of Paris. A small tract in the southwest corner was acquired from Texas in
1850. The state extends from 37 degrees to 40 degrees north latitude, and from 94 degrees 40’ to 102
degrees west longitude, being 208 miles wide and 406 miles long and containing 82,080 square miles. It
derives its name from the principal tribe of Indians that inhabited the region at the time the territory
was organized in 1854, but the origin, meaning and orthography of the word ‘Kansas’ is somewhat
uncertain. One authority says the Indian word Kansa has a dual meaning – ‘wind and swift’ - and that
the word Kansas may be interpreted as meaning ‘swift wind’. FW Hodge says that the word refers to
winds, but the full definition is not known. The name of the Indian tribe has been spelled in many
different ways. La Salle referred to them as the ‘Akansea’, but later the French adopted the form
‘Cansez’. Long and Catlin spelled the word ‘Konza’; Lewis and Clark, ‘Kansus’; Lieut Pike, ‘Kans’; and
Gregg, in his Commerce of the Prairie, refers to these Indians as the ‘Kaws’, and the name is spelled in
many other ways.

989

Harold E Dilts; From Ackley to Zwingle: The Origins of Iowa Place Names; Iowa State University Press;
1993
990
http://iowa.hometownlocator.com/ia/lucas/zero.cfm
991
Zero, Iowa Weathers Away; Lucas County History Book; provided by Julie L Masters, Lucas County
Auditor, 916 Braden Ave, Chariton, IA 50049; [email protected];
http://www.iowaauditors.org/county_pages/lucas.html
992
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
993
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

“The first mention of the Kansas Indians in the white man's history was about the beginning of
the 17th century, when Juan de Oñate gave them the name of ‘Escansaques’. It will be noticed that the
second, and third syllables of this word form the name ‘Cansa’, which is one of the numerous forms later
used. George P Morehouse of Topeka, who has made a rather exhaustive study of Indian lore and
tradition, says, ‘The famous historic word ‘Cansa’ or ‘Kansa’ is neither of French or Indian origin. The
word is plain Spanish, and as such has a well-defined and expressive meaning when applied to an Indian
tribe. ‘Cansa’ or ‘Kansa’ means ‘a troublesome people, those who continually disturb or harass others’. It
comes from the Spanish verb cansar, which means ‘to molest, to stir up, to harass’, and from the
Spanish noun cansado, ‘a troublesome fellow, a disturber’.”994
www.e-referencedesk.com discusses: “The state of Kansas was named after the river. The
Kansas River was named by the French after the Kansas, Omaha, Kaw, Osage and Dakota Sioux Indian
word KaNze meaning, in the Kansas language ‘south wind’. The state name for Arkansas shares its
origins with Kansas.
“From a Sioux word meaning ‘people of the south wind’.”995
DJ McInerney shows: “With expansionist escapades underway outside America’s borders,
another divisive series of events took place in the nation’s heartland. In 1854, Congress passed the
Kansas-Nebraska Act, the brainchild of Senator Stephen Douglas. The bill broke a large territory into
two parts, Kansas and Nebraska. The hope was that the admission of these lands as states would not
upset a sectional balance. The establishment of slavery was a possibility even though both areas lay
north of the 36 degrees 30’ line; the final measure simply voided the 1820 Missouri Compromise. The
federal government would not decide the issue of slavery in these lands; instead, the act invoked
popular sovereignty and granted territorial legislatures the authority to determine the status of slavery.
Douglas anticipated vigorous settlement, which would be likely to spur a rail line to the Pacific, whose
eastern terminus could be in, say, Chicago, a pleasing prospect for the Illinois senator.
“Settlement proceeded, but not in the orderly and peaceful fashion Douglas anticipated. From
the start, both pro- and anti-slavery organizations sponsored settlers in Kansas. A series of hotly
disputed elections followed, establishing two territorial governments, one protecting slavery, the other
prohibiting it. Two sets of leaders, two sets of laws, two proposals for state constitutions: divisions ran
so deep that, by the spring of 1856, fighting erupted between the factions. The struggle came to be
called ‘Bleeding Kansas’. During one episode in May, abolitionist John Brown led a retaliatory raid
against a proslavery settlement, hacking five men to death. Brown’s ‘Pottawatomie Massacre’ inflamed
tensions even further, leading to months of guerrilla fighting that left nearly 200 dead and $2 million in
property destroyed.
“Violence made its way into the halls of Congress as well. Massachusetts Senator Charles
Sumner rose in the chamber on 20 May to denounce pro-slavery colleagues, including Senator Andrew
Butler of South Carolina. Two days later, Butler’s nephew, Representative Preston Brooks, confronted
Sumner about the insulting comments and beat the senator over the head with a cane. The severely
injured Sumner did not return to the Senate for two and a half years. Brooks was censured by the
House, resigned his seat, and returned to his South Carolina home, where supporters rewarded him
with replacement canes and re-election.
“Throughout the Kansas controversy, President Franklin Pierce and his successor, James
Buchanan, sided with the pro-slavery territorial government, but elections in Kansas in 1858 revealed
how firmly settlers rejected the slave system. Admission of the territory was delayed until 1861, after
the start of the Civil War, when Kansas finally entered the Union as a free state.

994
995

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/k/kansas.html
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/kansas.html

“Events in the territory polarized the nation. ‘Popular sovereignty’ fell into disrepute as
presidents and Southern leaders tried to extend slavery into territories despite the will of settlers. The
dispute devastated the Whig Party, already weakened by defections of anti-slavery members. The
controversy divided the Democrats as a national political force: increasingly, Northerners saw the party
as the lackey of a Southern ‘Slave Power’ that seemingly conspired to control fresh lands for the chattel
system. As a result, a new Republican Party gained strength. The party favored government promotion
of the economy. Its leaders defended ‘free labor’ by celebrating hard work, economic opportunity, and
social mobility. And they called for ‘free soil’ by prohibiting the expansion of slavery into the territories.
For the first time in American politics, a major party stood openly opposed to slavery interests.
“To Southerners, the new political developments were ominous. Republicans appeared
unconcerned about the sectional base of their support. The party’s success in the North and its
disregard of the South fed bitterness and division; the North’s social quirks only compounded its political
hostility to the South. Northerners seemed to live in a competitive, greedy, unsettled society, ripped
from its moorings by extremist reformers, left without a coherent center, and dependent on ever-great
concentrations of power to solve its problems. Radical abolitionists presumably fed Northern disorder
even further by continually carping about the awful sin of slavery, the inherent equality of blacks, and
the contemptible nature of Southerners. And the abolitionists’ violence in Kansas portended a wider
race war in the South. If Northerners feared ‘Slave Power’, Southerners dreaded ‘Black Republicanism’.
The alarm felt on both sides left little ground for compromise.”996
***BELLE SPRINGS, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
Helen Dingler expounds: “A hamlet near Turkey Creek was identified by two names, Belle
Springs and Donegal, Kansas, at 1300 Avenue and Key Road. In 1876 Edward B Winbolt was appointed
postmaster of Belle Springs. This was one of the stops on carrier James B Morris’ weekly route between
Abilene and Marion Center. By 1885 SA Romberger had the title of postmaster, but in 1890 the mail
station was closed. There were several natural springs pouring forth fresh water in the neighborhood,
and since there were no fences in the early settlement years, cattle roamed free. A bell was often tied
around the neck of one cow to make it easier to locate the herd. Legend has it that the ‘bell-cow’ came
home one evening without her bell. Farmers hunted diligently, finding the bell near one of the springs.
For nearly twenty years, this community was known as Belle Springs.”997
***BLACK JACK, DOUGLAS COUNTY, KANSAS***
Black Jack Historical Society impresses: “In the early 1850s, a group of pioneers, mostly from the
East, settled in what is now the southeast part of Douglas County, though Kansas was then still a
territory. The settlement was located on the Santa Fe wagon trail, which wagon trails, stage coaches,
and travelers used to travel from West Port west to Dodge City. This made Black Jack one of the main
stopping points for those traveling west from Kansas City across Kansas.
“The settlement was named Black Jack after the large black jack oak trees growing around there.
“In the early 1850s, the village consisted of two stores, a church, a hotel, two blacksmith shops,
a stage stand, and a log fort set up for protection from bushwhackers. There different times
bushwhackers set fire to the HN Brockway store, and each time Mrs Brockway was able to put out the
fire with water from a tub she kept ready in the store.

996

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
Helen Dingler; Towns of Dickinson County, Kansas: Past and Present; Dickinson County Historical
Society; 1999
997

“It was here that the Kansas Battle of Black Jack took place Jun 2, 1856. This was the first actual
battle in the war between pro-slavery men and free-staters. Kansas was still a territory, and these
pioneer settlers were determined it was to remain a FREE-STATE.
“Just after daybreak on that second day in June, 1856, John Brown and his men attacked H Clay
Pate and his company of pro-slavery men, who were camped at the fort of Captain’s Creek a half mile
west of the settlement of Black Jack. After fighting most of the day, both sides had several wounded
men and numerous desertions, before Pate and his company surrendered to Brown and his 15
remaining men just before nightfall.
“The skirmish has gone down in Kansas history as the opening fight between slavery and freestate men.
“The Battle of Black Jack should have ended the trouble to the free-statesmen, but the proslavery rebels were not satisfied and among their acts of courage was that of taking Jacob Cantrell
prisoner, while on his way home from camp. He was allowed to say goodbye to his wife and children,
then marched off to Bull Creek where he was shot like a dog.”998
***BLOOD CREEK, BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS***
William Bright notates: “The name is supposed to commemorate a bloody battle between the
Cheyenne and Pawnee peoples in 1849.”999
***GOOD INTENT, ATCHISON COUNTY, KANSAS***
RL Noll puts pen to paper: “Good Intent is still the name given to this prosperous Atchison
County community. When at an early date, the neighborhood showed its religious spirit and started a
Sunday school, a Miss Hattie Dorman was so impressed that she had its post office named Good Intent.
This facility was established in this growing community on November 8, 1872, and then discontinued on
May 18, 1894, when the name was changed to Goodintent, and then continued until July 31, 1900,
when it was shut down for good. Good Intent neighborhood was also known as Independence, being
located on a branch of Independence Creek, and Slattery, from the early family of Slatterys who settled
there. But the name Good Intent, short for ‘good intentions’, stuck, and the area is still known by that
today.
“Good Intent, which is located on some of the most fertile soil in the county, was settled
primarily by Irish and German Catholic farmers. In the 1870s, the Benedictines from Atchison served the
needs of these settlers by establishing it as a station on their missionary route. Finally, in 1880, the first
church was built by Father John Stader. Located in the northeast corner of section 18, township 5, range
20, it was named St Louis in honor of Bishop Louis Mary Fink of Leavenworth. An acre of land was
donated by Herman Hunky for a church cemetery, and his son was the first to be buried there. As can
be seen, churches, in addition to schools, were one of the first institutions recreated on the frontier.
Churches served not only as places of worship, but were a means of social events and gatherings.
“The same qualities of those pioneers which settled this area can be seen in their descendants
today. Their dedication to the soil and church are reflected in their prosperous, neatly kept farms that

998

Black Jack Historical Society; A Short History of the Early Town of Black Jack; provided by Brittany J
Keegan, Curator and Collections Manager, Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts
St, Lawrence, KS 66044; [email protected]; http://www.watkinsmuseum.org/
999
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press; 2004

dot the area, and the high spirited manner in which they recently celebrated the centennial of St Louis
Church, which has served them and their ancestors for one hundred years.”1000
***HAPHAZARD, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
Helen Dingler represents: “Haphazard. The dictionary definition is ‘chance, casual, random, hit
or miss’. It was the name of a ‘town’ or postal center on a Dickinson county map a hundred and ten
years ago, but is missing from the county map issued in 1885. Northwest Dickinson County was
undeveloped prairie rangeland at the time.
“The Patrick Dowling family located on claims northwest of Abilene in the early 1870s. The
family’s first home was a dugout nine miles northwest of Abilene. The older daughter, Matilda ‘Tillie’
also homesteaded eighty acres in the area, but the two sons, Bart and Edward, each purchased an
eighty. Another daughter, Sarah, too young to homestead, was an early student of Teachers Normal at
Emporia, and later taught in area schools, one of which was the Sand Springs School.
“To improve her claim, Tillie had logs and lumber hauled from a saw mill near the Smoky Hill
River. She opened a small store and called it Haphazard. Her store was patronized mostly by Texas
cowboys who were grazing their cattle for several months while waiting for rail cars to ship them to
market at Kansas City, Omaha, or Chicago.
“The Dowling family came by covered wagon from Muscatine, Iowa, to Carbondale, south of
Topeka. While the family lived there, the boys worked in the coal mines and Matilda worked in
Manhattan. Here she became acquainted with the Anderson family. Anderson was the first president
of the Kansas Agricultural College (now Kansas State University). He had a brother who was a US
Representative. Though the efforts of Congressman Anderson, Matilda Dowling was appointed
postmistress of the mail, nine miles north of Solomon and nine miles, as the crow files, northwest from
Abilene. The post office brought Tillie additional trade and income to her store.
“The store and postal station was west of present Talmage on State Highway 18 in the southeast
corner of Section 6 (Township 12-1E), Willowdale Township (northwest corner of 3000 Avenue and Barn
Road). The farm is owned and occupied by the Marvin Langdon family. Haphazard had come and gone
before the Santa Fe Railroad brought the trade center of Talmage into existence.”1001
***HIAWATHA, BROWN COUNTY, KANSAS***
KB Harder specifies: “For an Algonquin deity. Besides the mythological attributes given him by
Longfellow, he is said to have organized the Five Nations, which later became Six, of the Iroquois
Confederacy. The name means ‘river maker’.”1002
***NEUTRAL, CHEROKEE COUNTY1003, KANSAS***
Marilyn Schmitt tells: “Actually, there was a Neutral City and a Neutral in different places in
Cherokee county. Neutral City in the northeast corner of the county was the first county seat in 1867,
when the county was first organized. It didn't last long. I think the other one is the one you are
referring to. Both were named from this area being called the ‘Neutral Lands’.
1000

Rita L Noll; Early Settlements of Atchison County; Atchison County Kansas Genealogical Society;
1980; provided by Claudia Bosshammer-Bilimek, Cataloging & Kansas Room, Atchison Public Library, 401
Kansas Avenue, Atchison, KS 66002; [email protected]; atchisonlibrary.org
1001
Helen Dingler; Towns of Dickinson County, Kansas: Past and Present; Dickinson County Historical
Society; 1999
1002
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1003
http://kansas.hometownlocator.com/ks/cherokee/neutral.cfm

“Cherokee County, Kansas, was part of the ‘Cherokee Neutral Lands’ in southeast Kansas on the
Missouri border. It was first called the ‘Osage Neutral Lands’, after the Osage Indians who had been
moved out of Missouri into Kansas. This 25 mile wide strip contained 800,000 acres and was to be
neutral land between civilization on the Missouri border and the Osage Nation west of here. Neither
white man nor Indians were to occupy this stretch of land, which included present day Crawford County
adjoining Cherokee County on the north, and part of Bourbon County to the north of Crawford
County. (Cherokee County is bordered by Oklahoma on the south and Missouri on the east.) A few
years after the Civil War the land was opened up for settlement.
“When the village was first established 3 miles north of Baxter Springs on the Gulf railroad, a
post office was opened under the name of Brush Creek on 5 Apr 1871. There were about 50 families in
the vicinity. The name of the post office was changed to Neutral on 27 Jul 1883 and discontinued in
1907, and the mail went to Columbus. Today a Methodist church and a few houses are all that's left of
Neutral.”1004
***PROTECTION, COMANCHE COUNTY1005, KANSAS***
JH Herd chronicles: “I have enclosed a copy of the pages that describe the naming of Protection.
As you can see the actual naming may not have been too glamorous. I always liked the version about
the settlers seeking protection from the Indians. One version even has George Armstrong Custer and his
troops seeking protection along bluff creek. That sounds better than the protective tariff issue.”1006
Comanche County Historical Society declares: “The town originated in the summer of 1884, as
the Protection Echo related a year later: ‘The settlers in the vicinity organized a company and located
this town site in July.’ James Holland was appointed postmaster of an office established in Protection in
mid-August 1884. The newspaper account continued, ‘The first structure was erected by JR Holland,
where the post office was kept. Holland subsequently resigned in favor of EC Graves. [Built] second was
Squire’s grocery house. Third, Manning’s Hotel. Fourth, Rayl’s grocery store.’
“The Protection Town Company was formed during the fall of 1884, and after several meetings,
its charter was filed in Topeka, October 29. The company was headed by Dr MH Winn; EB Peel was the
organization’s secretary; WM Squire, the treasurer. Other members were JC Manning, JW and George
Graves, Arthur VanWey, TN Carl, WR Ross, and Charley Wilson.
“The name Protection had apparently been chosen as a name when the post office was opened,
but no written reference was made about the subject until July 22, 1885, when the Echo editor wrote
that ‘a post office was established … to which the official department gave the name ‘Protection’.’ The
remark makes it appear postal officials had selected the name, but they more likely assigned one
submitted by local petitioners.
“As to the meaning behind the unusual name, several stories have surfaced over the years. One
had it that Protection referred to the safety citizens sought at a fort during an Indian scare. The incident
did in fact occur at a fortification built into the bluffs along nearby Bluff Creek. However, it happened in
July 1885, nearly a year after the name had first been used.
“Early residents felt the town could be protected against those cattlemen who might try to drive
out farmers and nesters, one source wrote. Other reasons were based on Protection’s location. With
creeks on two sides, the site was said to be protected from prairie fires. Indians believed the Santanta
Valley, where Protection was located, provided safety against tornadoes.
1004

Marilyn Schmitt, President, Cherokee County Kansas Genealogical-Historical Society, Inc, 100 S
Tennessee, PO Box 33, Columbus, KS 66725-0033; [email protected];
http://www.ksgenweb.com/cherokee/society/cckghs.html
1005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection,_Kansas
1006
James H (Skip) Herd, Comanche County Museum, PO Box 177, Coldwater, KS 67029

“Other sources suggested the name was derived from an organization, the ‘People’s Grand
Protective Union’, that had been active in the state. The group had opposed a constitutional change
that supported prohibition in Kansas. But after the Protective Union lost its battle and the amendment
was approved in 1880, the group quickly passed out of existence. It was unlikely the Union’s name
would have been resurrected by Protection’s founders four years later, especially if an assessment made
by the Echo editor was correct. He mentioned in 1885, ‘Those who are acquainted with our young
western city are aware that one of her first principles is … to make temperance one of the corner stones
on which to build. On this question Protection is almost a unity.’
“The origin of Protection’s name is most often linked with a protective tariff, which was a much
discussed issue in the 1884 presidential campaign. Republican candidate James Blaine favored the tariff,
but he was defeated by Grover Cleveland, a Democrat who favored free trade. It is known that some of
Protection’s founders were staunch Republicans, and it is most likely the name had its origin in the tariff
issue.
“As evidence of the issue’s significance at the time, eight months after the 1884 election, the
Western Star noted: ‘The great question which is today agitating the minds of American voters is that of
the protective tariff … It is the only question on which the two great political parties of this nation are
divided.’
“HE Ross came to Protection six months after the town’s beginning and later wrote: ‘Protection
was originated by a few campers one night sitting around their campfire in 1884. Because several
names had been rejected by the administration, they took the privilege to name it ‘Protection’ in honor
of the protective tariff … Evidently those who made a mistake in the origin of the name … formed their
conclusions from conversations at a later date.’”1007
***SHADY BROOK, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
Helen Dingler displays: “Almost at the center of Union Township was Shady Brook, which came
about soon after the Rock Island Railroad was built in the mid-1880s. Within its ‘city limits’ was one
house, one grocery store, a creamery, grain elevator, a depot and a stockyard.
“The John Ollhoff family lived in the only house, and Mr Ollhoff operated the only creamery, a
market for milk with cream skimmed and churned into butter. This house was moved from the Shady
Brook location many years ago and is now the home of the Emil Backhus family. Chris Weber was a
storekeeper; also Henry Bruggen and his wife, were merchants and lived above the store. These
buildings and the depot were west of the railroad track. The depot was not a structure that conformed
to the usual railroad depot. It was approximately six feet square with a lap siding enclosure about 30
feet high, and the roof was attached to a 4 x 4 timber at each corner. Commuters could rest on top of
the 30 feet high railing while waiting for their ride. ‘SHADY BROOK’ was painted on one side of the
enclosure. The train was the means of passenger transportation, as well as freight, for families going to
Herington, Abilene, Salina, and other points.”1008
***SOLDIER, JACKSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
Wiki composes: “According to area legend, Soldier Creek (which is an outlet of the Kansas River
from which the town's name was derived) was first named in the early 1850s, when government
surveyors were moving through the territory plotting out the 39th parallel, and they found two army
1007

Comanche County Historical Society; Comanche County History: Comanche County Kansas; Taylor
Publishing Company; 1981; provided by James H (Skip) Herd, Comanche County Museum, PO Box 177,
Coldwater, KS 67029
1008
Helen Dingler; Towns of Dickinson County, Kansas: Past and Present; Dickinson County Historical
Society; 1999

soldiers camped along the local creek. This was informally named Soldier's Creek but the possessive
tense was eventually dropped in everyday conversation.
“Throughout the 1850s, settlers began colonizing the area surrounding the creek, due to its
thick woods, which provided timber for building and fuel, wild game, nuts, berries, and other native
plants for eating, and water from the creek itself.
“In circa 1858, enough settlers were communalized to found a post office, which was called
Smithland. (Aside from the fact that the office would later become the Soldier Post office, it was actually
1 mile north and ¼ mile east of the current city limits, before being moved there in late 1878) The name
was derived from the settler (Smith, of Nemaha County) who sold the land to William Cline, for the
purpose of providing the area with a post office. The post office provided weekly service to Holton and
America City. William Cline continued as the postmaster until replaced by John Buckles, his father-inlaw, in 1867. Mr Cline moved to a farm near Circleville.
“Although technically not a township at the time, Soldier's first recorded death occurred with
the passing of Mrs Tamsa M Cline in May 1857, which was followed by the first birth; that of David
Rancier in the fall of that year.
“Although Soldier Township was organized on July 4, 1872, the city was not incorporated until
September 1878. As stated two paragraphs above, Smithland post office was moved to Soldier and
renamed for the city later that year.
“Soldier was affected by the June 2008 tornado outbreak sequence: a man was found dead
outside the city on the morning of June 11, 2008, killed by a tornado estimated at ½ mile (0.8 km)
wide.”1009
***STRINGTOWN, DICKINSON COUNTY, KANSAS***
Helen Dingler expresses: “A rural road divided by a sequence of dwellings and a blacksmith shop
was identified as Stringtown in Section 30 (12-3E), Hayes Township. The nucleus of this community,
during the 1870s and 1880s, was on present Lace Road between 2600 Avenue and 2700 Avenue. It isn’t
known if there was another commercial business here or not, but the local blacksmith kept the farmers’
horses shod and his plow shears sharpened.
“The concentration of farmsteads was coined Stringtown since it was ‘strung’ along the east and
west sides of the half mile road dividing the section. An 1879 Dickinson county map lists seven partials
of land in Section 30, and each of the seven properties had living quarters. Through the years,
ownership’s and property lines have changed.”1010
***ZOOK, PAWNEE COUNTY1011, KANSAS***
Don Zook notes: “In Central Kansas, USA, is a small rural community by the name Zook in which I
was born 11-20-29. The first 23 years of my life, I lived with my farm parents and attended school
through Master of Theology. Upon marriage to Natalie and ordination, both in 1954, I served the church
(Methodist denomination) 40 years, always in Kansas and in proximity to my home town and
people. We have been retired 20 years and involved variously in volunteer projects and enjoying
traveling globally.
“Recently I received, indirectly, your e-mail message of July 8th, 2013, asking for information
about the family name and ‘dot-on-the-map’ of ZOOK.

1009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier,_Kansas
Helen Dingler; Towns of Dickinson County, Kansas: Past and Present; Dickinson County Historical
Society; 1999
1011
http://kansas.hometownlocator.com/ks/pawnee/zook.cfm
1010

“The name Zook (Zug, Zuck, Zouch, etc) in my understanding, refers distinctly to German
extraction. Often in USA it is called ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’. I fondly claim this heritage …
“In our local cemetery (Pleasant Valley Township Cemetery), there are buried four generations
of our Zook tribe. Our linage in Kansas dates from February 1886, when Great-grandfather John
Bartholomew and Catherine Salzman Zook, migrated from Flanagan, Central Illinois, to rural Pawnee
County, Kansas, accompanied by their 10 children. My Grandfather Daniel Bartholomew Zook was their
oldest child at age 20 years. Daniel's second son, Abner, was my father.
“Daniel married Mary Matilda ‘Molly’ Umberger, who coincidentally, migrated with her parents
near the same year to a nearby rural community. Reportedly, each of the 10 Zooks (7 boys and 3 girls)
acquired spouses in Pawnee County. Those filial unions proliferated into many more of the same
moniker and prompted the name Zook Community. The 33+ acre town site of Zook was determined in
1916 and named after John B Zook, the former owner of the land.
“Early in the twentieth century, there were four different church congregations organized in this
community: Brethern, Catholic, Mennonite and Methodist, all within 5 miles of the above named
cemetery. Each of these have been completely gone for nearly 50 years.
“The major industry of the area, like most of Kansas, is agriculture, with the primary commercial
transportation the Santa Fe Railroad. By the Santa Fe expansion came the nineteenth century
immigrants. Though the Santa Fe continues and agriculture is primary, the population has reduced to a
mere fraction of the former.
“In 1922 a fine big, multistory brick, building was constructed centrally to which six small one
room grade schools consolidated as Zook School. This new progressive school became the most
integrating factor in the area for 40 years.
“In 1962 however, the farms had become so large with efficient machinery, and population
shrunken and transportation easy with better roads and more cars, the school merged into the county
seat town system of Larned only 8 miles away.
“Rural farm homes and families that occupied nearly every quarter (160 acres) section (640
acres) had reduced in numbers to about 1 for every 2 sections. This radical transition took effect in less
than 50 years – mid-twentieth century.
“The school building has been completely removed, and the nearby school bus garage
redecorated to serve as the only remnant public social or meeting place of the community. There are
presently two other buildings occupied as private homes, plus a large grain storage structure and a large
farm machinery shed.
“Perhaps these few paragraphs offer you a glimpse of Zook in Kansas near the center of our
nation.
“I trust this might whet your appetite for more information or add to your volume of research. I
would be delighted to learn more of your interest. Further, please come to our land for a visit. We
welcome you to Kansas, USA!”1012
**KENTUCKY**
HB Staples records: “In respect to the name of Kentucky, there is ample room for controversy.
Allen in his History of Kentucky says it was named ‘from its principal river which is an Indian name for
‘dark and bloody ground’.’ Moulton in his History of New York says ‘Kentuckee signifies ‘river of blood’.’
In Hayward’s History of Tennessee, General Clark is the authority for the assertion that in the Indian
language, Kentuke signifies ‘River of blood’. Ramsey in his History of Tennessee alludes to the name of
Kentucky as signifying ‘the dark and bloody land’. In Johnson’s Cyclopaedia, the name is given as
signifying ‘the dark and bloody ground’. In opposition to all this it appears from Johnson’s Account of
1012

Don Zook; [email protected]

the present state of the Indian tribes of Ohio – Transactions American Antiquarian Society, vol I, page
271 – that Kentucky is a Shawanoese or Shawnoese word signifying ‘at the head of a river’, that the
Kentucky river was in former times often used by the Shawanoese in their migrations north and south,
and hence the whole country took its name. This theory of the name is quoted approvingly in Gallatin’s
Synopsis of Indian Tribes – Transactions American Antiquarian Society, vol II, Mr Higginson in his Young
Folks’ History says the name that was first applied to the river means ‘the Long River’. It lessens the
weight of the authorities first cited that some of them connect the evil signification of the word with
land, and some with water. It is also highly improbable that a name clothed with associations of terror
should be adopted as the civic designation of a people. On the whole, it may be safely asserted that the
weight of the evidence is in favor of the more peaceful origin of the name.”1013
KB Harder reveals: “From Wyandot ken-tah-teh, ‘land of tomorrow’. The name was first used
for the Virginia colony organized in 1776 and was well established by the time of statehood (1792).”1014
RM Rennick spells out: “No one really knows how Kentucky got its name or what it means. Most
assume it had an Indian origin. But one of the few things on which Kentucky’s historians, geographers,
and experts on Indian names agree is that in no known Indian tongue does it mean ‘dark and bloody
ground’.
“It is said that a young Cherokee sub-chief, after the signing of the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals in
the spring of 1775, told the representatives of Colonel Richard Henderson that the large expanse of land
between Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers they had just bought would be for them a ‘bloody ground,
dark and difficult to settle’. But the name Kentucky had been applied to this territory long before that
treaty was signed, and before that it was probably the name of the river that still bears this name.
“At least half a dozen derivations have been offered for Kentucky’s name. it could be Wyandot
for ‘land of tomorrow’ (kah/ten/tah/te), or some generalized Algonkian term for a river bottom (kinathiki), or a Shawnee word signifying the head of a river, or the Iroquoian ‘place of meadows’
(Ken/tah/keh/kow/e), or possibly a ‘place of level land’ (kenta-aki), a Shawnee word referring to the
Indian Old Fields in eastern Clark County. Some even content that Kentucky is simply a way of
pronouncing land of ‘cane and turkey’, as it was sometimes called. Then wasn’t there once a Cherokee
chief whose name sounded like ‘Caintucky’? In short, we have no idea how Kentucky got its name.”1015
www.uky.edu touches on: “Originally part of Virginia, the land that is now Kentucky was formed
into Kentucky County, Virginia in 1776. Four years later it was divided into the Fayette, Jefferson, and
Lincoln counties of Virginia. It became the fifteenth of the United States in 1792. The name Kentucky is
of Native American origin and has been attributed to several languages with several possible meanings
from ‘land of tomorrow’ to ‘cane and turkey lands’ to ‘meadow lands’. This last may come from the
Iroquois name for the Shawnee town Eskippathiki. The name Kentucky referred originally to the
Kentucky River and from that came the name of the region.”1016
***BIG BONE LICK, BOONE COUNTY1017, KENTUCKY***
Mann Butler and George Croghan clarify: “Another surveyor by the name of James Douglass,
followed Captain Bullitt during the same year, and on his way to the Falls, landed near the celebrated
collection of mammoth bones, which goes by the emphatic name of Big Bone Lick. Here Douglass
1013

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1015
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1016
http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky.html
1017
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bone,_Kentucky
1014

remained forming his tent poles of the ribs of some of the enormous animals, which formerly
frequented this remarkable spot, and on these ribs blankets were stretched for a shelter from the sun
and the rain. Many teeth were from eight to nine, and some ten, feet in length; one in particular was
fastened in a perpendicular direction in the clay and mud, with the end six feet above the surface of the
ground; an effort was made, by six men in vain, to extract it from its mortise. The lick extended to about
ten acres of land bare of timber, and of grass or herbage; much trodden, eaten and depressed below the
original surface; with here and there a nob remaining to show its former elevation. Thereby indefinitely
indication a time when this resort of numerous animals had not taken place. Through the midst of this
lick ran the creek, and on each side of which, a never-failing stream of salt water, whose fountains were
in the open field. To this lick, from all parts of the neighboring country, were converging roads, made by
the wild animals that resorted to the place for the salt, which both the earth and the water contained.
“When the McAfees visited this lick with Captain Bullitt, several Delaware Indians were present;
one of these being questioned by James McAfee, about the origin and nature of these extraordinary
bones, replied, that they were then just as they had been, when he first saw them in his childhood. Yet
this Indian appeared to be at least seventy years of age. Collections of the bones of animals, which have
ceased to tenant the earth, are now familiar not only in the United States, but in other parts of the
world; but none exceed the one in question, of the bones of the mammoth or the mastodon. About this
time Colonel John Floyd visited Kentucky, as the deputy of Francis Preston, who was surveyor of
Fincastle County in Virginia, and was one of the party conducted ‘in’ by Boone; he afterwards returned
in 1775, settled six miles from the Falls, at what was called Floyd’s station on the middle fork of
Beargrass creek; he afterwards distinguished himself in the history of the State. About this period,
possibly not till 1774, Simon Kenton, who afterwards, temporarily changed his name to Butler,
descended the Ohio to Cabin creek, a few miles above the present Maysville. Shortly afterwards,
Kenton in company with two others, reached the neighborhood of Mayslick, and for the first time, was
struck with the uncommon beauty of the country and the fertility of the soil. Here the travelers fell in
with a great buffalo trace, which, in a few hours brought them to the Lower Blue Lick. ‘The flats upon
each side of the river were crowded with immense herds of buffalo, that had come down from the
interior for the sake of the salt; and a number of elk were seen upon the bare ridges, which surrounded
the springs.’ The same profusion of game presented itself at the Upper Blue Lick. ‘Returning as quick as
possible, they built a cabin on the spot, where the town of Washington, in Mason County, now stands;
and having cleared an acre of ground in the centre of a large canebrake, they planted it with Indian
corn.’ Soon after this, Kenton and his two companions, having left one Hendricks, a fellow hunter at
their camp, for the purpose of escorting another companion on his way home, upon returning, found
the camp plundered with every mark of violence; and at a little distance in a low ravine, they observed a
thick smoke ascending, as if from a fire just beginning to burn. The party ‘believing that Hendricks had
fallen into the hands of the Indians’, who were now burning him, fled with a precipitation unworthy of
their leader’s subsequent fame; and they did not venture to return, until the evening of the next day.
The fire was still burning, though faintly, and after carefully reconnoitering the adjacent ground, they
found the skull and bones of the unfortunate friend, as far as they had been left unconsumed.
Hendricks had evidently, been burned to death by a party of Indians, and was the first, and as it is
believed the last, of such diabolical sacrifices, on the soil of Kentucky. Still, this most savage of the
Indian customs, was often fearfully, and with every aggravation of torment inflicted on prisoners at their
towns. It seems, however, during the late war of 1812, that it was greatly intermitted, if not entirely
abandoned. Such is a faint instance of some of the horrors, endured by the early hunters of Kentucky.
Peace to their ashes, and everlasting honor of their manly memory!”1018
1018

Mann Butler and George Croghan; A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; Wilcox, Dickerman
and Company; 1834

www.parks.ky.gov documents: “Big Bone Lick is a unique state park by any standard. Here the
prehistoric past is enshrined, containing the remains of some of America’s early animal inhabitants.
Once covered with swamps, the land that makes up Big Bone Lick had a combination of minerals and
water that animals found difficult to resist. For centuries great beasts of the Pleistocene era came to the
swampy land in what is now known as northern Kentucky to feed. Animals that frequented Big Bone Lick
included bison, both the ancient and modern variety, primitive horses, giant mammoths and mastodons,
the enormous stag-moose, and the ground sloth.
“Through the millenniums untold numbers of these great beasts came to Big Bone Lick.
Carnivorous animals that fed off the flesh of these herbivores in turn followed them. Early man found a
seemingly endless supply of food to hunt in and around these mineral and salt deposits. The lands at Big
Bone Lick may have seemed inviting, but it had a deadly surprise in store for those animals that
wandered onto the soft, unstable ground that made up the area. As they fed, many of the larger beasts
began to sink into what the early pioneers to Kentucky called ‘jelly ground’. The bog-like soil could not
support the weight of these enormous creatures, and they sank helplessly into the quagmire beneath
them.
“American Indians, and later the settlers from the east coast, marveled at the ‘big bones’ that
lay scattered about the lick. Word of these intriguing remains became part of Indian lore, until in 1739, a
French Canadian explorer and soldier, Charles LeMoyne, and second Baron DeLongueil, discovered the
site. In 1744 Robert Smith, an Indian trader visited the area and removed the first fossils from their
swampy bed. Kentucky explorer John Findley noted the bones at the Lick in 1752, and Robert McAfee
described Big Bone Lick in his 1773 journal.
“According to McAfee, the area of Big Bone Lick covered about ten acres, completely bare of
timber and greenery. The land containing the lick had been worn away to the depth of about three or
four feet by countless animal hooves and tongues. A creek ran through the site, fed by two streams of
salt water. McAfee and his surveying party found a great number of mammoth bones in and around the
lick. Portions of backbones lay on top of the ground. Some of these bones served as seats for some of
McAfee’s men. The long ribs served as tent poles. A tusk found protruding from a bank measured six
feet. Huge teeth, had a grinding surface of seventy-five inches. He noted that on July 5, 1773, Captain
Thomas Bullitt surveyed ‘a tract of very good land on Big Bone creek’. He met some Delaware Indians
who told him that the ‘big bones just as he saw them now, had been there ever since his remembrance,
as well as that of his oldest people’. Due to the salt found at Big Bone, pioneers constructed a crude fort
at the site to protect those who came there to collect the precious commodity.
“Big Bone Lick had a successful salt-making operation. Its proximity to the Ohio River made it
ideal for the salt trade. To make one bushel of salt took six hundred gallons of water from the salt
springs. The water would be boiled down until only the salt remained. Entrepreneurs installed large, flat
evaporating furnaces to create more salt quickly and efficiently. Nevertheless, by 1812, due to the
discovery of other salt deposits in the Ohio Valley, the salt industry of Big Bone Lick came to a close.
“The ancient bones found in Kentucky soon became the talk of the scientific world. Collectors
wanted specimens to add to their collections of curiosities. In 1803 Dr William Goforth, a Cincinnati
physician, collected and shipped five tons of bone specimens to Pittsburg around 1804, intending to
send them on to Philadelphia to be sold for use in scientific investigations.
“Goforth’s collection remained in Pittsburgh until an Irish traveler named Thomas Ashe met the
collector and offered to be his agent in selling the bones. For a percentage of the net proceeds, Ashe
would do all of the work in finding appropriate buyers. After obtaining possession of the collection, Ashe
sent it to New Orleans, where he was offered $7,000 for it. Instead he took the collection to England and
sold it there for a large sum, keeping the money for himself. The Royal College of Surgeons, Dr Blake of
Dublin, and Professor Monroe of Edinburgh obtained portions of the Goforth collection.

“In an 1807 letter to President Thomas Jefferson, Goforth gave a description of some of the
fossils in his former collection. He described the head of what he thought to be a mammoth. Some of
the teeth weighed as much as twelve pounds each. One jawbone nearly filled a flour barrel. He reported
to Jefferson that he also had some thighbones ‘of a monstrous size’.
“Impressed with the description of the finds at Big Bone Lick, Jefferson sent General William
Clark, with a party of ten men in 1807, to collect more fossils. When the bones arrived at the White
House, Jefferson and Dr Gaspar Wistar studied them and divided the shipment into three collections.
The President retained a small collection for his personal enjoyment; the American Philosophical Society
in Philadelphia received the second, and the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle of France obtained the third.
“From time to time, other collections of fossils from Big Bone appeared in various cities in
America. New York City displayed one such collection. An account written by early American scientist,
Benjamin Silliman of Yale, told of seeing twenty-two tusks and one skull that weighed in excess of five
thousand pounds. Academic interest in Big Bone continued to grow.
“During the first half of the nineteenth century, Big Bone Lick once again became the center of
activity, when the area became a health resort. The mineral laden waters that had drawn the animals to
the site now drew people who wished to ‘take the waters’ as a restorative for their health. The rambling
Clay Hotel built shortly after 1800 catered to these guests. Bathhouses lined the major creek at Big
Bone. Bathers would modestly emerge from these shelters and enter the ‘healing’ waters of the creek.
As time went on, other spas became more fashionable, and by 1847 Big Bone Lick ceased to be a health
attraction.
“The long history of Big Bone Lick took turned another chapter on August 25, 1953, when the
Big Bone Lick Association, a local historical society dedicated to promoting the site, decided to adopt
resolutions that urged the creation of a state park. The Association wanted a museum constructed to
house some of the artifacts found at the Lick. The citizens of Boone County responded generously to the
call for donations. School children raised over two thousand dollars, and by 1958, nearly six thousand
dollars had been donated to purchase land around the site. People from Boone and Kenton Counties,
the Covington-Kenton-Boone County Chamber of Commerce, and the Big Bone Lick Historical Society,
agreed to offer the land that had been acquired to the Parks Board of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
for the development of a state park. On July 2, 1960, the Parks Board accepted the land.
“Between 1960 and 1968, the state purchased additional land, bringing the total amount of
acreage to 250. The new park had a lake constructed to provide a water supply. In 1962 a systematic
professional study of the Big Bone Lick site began under the direction of Dr C Bertrand Schultz, Director
of the Museum and Regents Professor of Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Nebraska.
Several research grants funded a five-year dig during the summer months beginning in 1962.
“Big Bone Lick state Park now has 525 acres with forty acres of picnic grounds and a 62-site
campground with electricity, grills, water, rest rooms, showers, and a pool. A grocery store provides
food and necessities. There are facilities for different types of sports, and the indoor-outdoor museum
has collections of bones and a video presentation on the history of Big Bone Lick. On the grounds are
life-size replicas of mastodons and bison. Other items of interest include the Salt Festival each October,
where salt-making demonstrations are shown.”1019
***BLACK GNAT, GREEN COUNTY1020, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick observes: “The old one-room schoolhouse was being repainted, but as the first coat
of whitewash was drying, an army of black gnats arrived on the afternoon breeze. Gnats, we all know,

1019
1020

http://parks.ky.gov/parks/historicsites/big-bone-lick/history.aspx
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/ky/green/black-gnat.cfm

are those pesky little winged insects that swarm all over busy humans, interfering with everything
productive we attempt to do.
“Well, these black gnats stuck right to the fresh whitewash, so tight they couldn’t be pried loose.
The second coat was applied but another swarm landed on this too, sticking just as solidly as the first
lot. The painters finally conceded defeat when they ran out of whitewash. The building was simply
covered with black gnats. No amount of cleaning or scraping could remove them.
“The school authorities conceded defeat too, accepting the gnat imprints as an integral part of
the school’s architecture. They even renamed the school Black Gnat.
“The small community that grew up around the school, on the long ridge that forms the line
between Taylor and Green Counties, also became known as Black Gnat. So it remains.”1021
***BUGTUSSLE, MONROE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick recounts: “In southwest Monroe County, almost on the Tennessee line, there’s a
small settlement called Bugtussle. It never had a post office, or at least not by that name, so I don’t
know how old a place it is. I do recall a store there. On one visit, I was told about the old wheat
threshers who used to come through to help with the harvests.
“The farmers would provide them with pretty shabby accommodations – little more than beds
of hay in their barn lofts. I think the idea was to discourage them from staying too long, to get on with
their jobs and be gone as soon as possible.
“In this the farmers were generally successful, for the threshers would awake in the morning
rubbing the bedbugs off their skin and clothing. These bedbugs were a pernicious lot and could really do
a lot of damage if not removed quickly. They also smelled bad. Mostly, though, they were belligerent –
pugnacious would be a better way to describe them – and highly intelligent. They were also very well
organized. They had their own union long before the wheat threshers ever thought of having theirs.
They’d have taken over the town if they’d been allowed to. For some reason, their special target was
the wheat threshers.
“Then when threshing machines replaced human harvesters, the bugs had no one to tussle with,
so they left. Being a conservative bunch, the local people never replaced the name. It’s still
Bugtussle.”1022
***BURNING SPRINGS, CLAY COUNTY1023, KENTUCKY***
Beverly Craft says: “In reply to your letter of July 16, 2013, I have spoken with three elderly
people from the Burning Springs area. One, now age 86, had actually seen the well of her mother-inlaw, Neva Morgan, ‘burning big’ in the late 1940s. She said there was gas from the ground. Neva lived
about 8 ½ miles north of Manchester. Another, age 68, spoke of a store about 0.1 mile from Neva’s
house that had a creek running nearby. There was ‘fire under the water’. Evidently there was natural
gas coming up to the surface and was somehow ignited. The store, which belonged to Pop Rawlings, has
some gas lines that ran along and stood upright beside the store. They were kept burning in open
flames. She thinks that the pipes at the store served to burn off the excess gas, with the added benefit

1021

Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1022
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1023
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Springs,_Kentucky

of the light it provided. She remembers the store but believes it was already named Burning
Springs. Another agreed with these accounts.”1024
***CRUMMIES, HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick spotlights: “This hamlet, with post office and an L&N [Louisville & Nashville] railroad
station, is on US 421 and Long Branch of Crummies Creek, seven miles southeast of Harlan. It was
undoubtedly named for the stream, a tributary of Martins Fork of the Cumberland River, along which, it
is said, someone had once observed a large herd of buffalo (or deer) with crumpled horns. A cow with
crooked horns is still called a ‘crummie’ or ‘crummy’. The post office was established on August 11,
1928, with Thurman C Chappell, postmaster.”1025
***DEADMAN’S HILL AND DEADMAN’S GRAVE, LAUREL COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick underscores: “The late Laurel County historian Logan Ewell once told me about
Deadman’s Hill and Deadman’s Grave in the city of London.
“Sometime before 1900, two squirrel hunters were coming down that great hill in town, when
one stepped over a log and tripped over a body lying there, the body of a man. Though he’d been shot
twice in the chest, he looked peaceful with his coat folded over his body, as if he had merely lain down
to take a nap. In one hand he held a song book; in the other a New Testament.
“The authorities came and took the body to the courthouse. People were asked to identify it,
but no one could. It didn’t resemble any known missing person. They never learned who it was.
Though they buried it on the old Cemetery Hill in town, the grave site was unmarked and is still
unknown. Somewhere on that hill is the Deadman’s Grave, and the hill is still locally known as
Deadman’s Hill.
“Even to this day, there are people who swear they know the identity of the dead man, but
they’re not telling.”1026
***DECIDE, CLINTON COUNTY1027, KENTUCKY***
Charles Bertram comments on: “They’re mules. Eight beautiful matched, tall, sleep and bigeared sorrel mules, not so patiently awaiting breakfast in the pre-dawn, and they must decide whether
to rush Bob Sawyers and his corn bucket or run into one another in the process.
“Because they are mules, they do both, even though they live at the entrance of a community
that is forever named for its famous crossroads and eternally dubbed in homage to picking and
choosing, to the art and imperative that is to decide. As on Election Day.
“Except that here it is pronounced ‘DEE-cide’.
“For the record, no one gets to vote in Decide on Tuesday. Instead, they have to go up KY 127
for that pleasure.
“Still, it is a place where decisions are not unfamiliar territory. Only a few hundred feet up from
the glorious mules, where the paved path cleaves in two, it has always been a time for leaning left or
right, as there is no other choice.
1024

Beverly Craft, Deputy Clerk, Clay County Clerk’s Office, 102 Richmond Rd, Suite 101, Manchester,
KY 40962; [email protected]; http://www.claycounty.ky.gov/elected/county.htm
1025
Robert M Rennick; Kentucky Place Names; University Press of Kentucky; 1988; provided by Renae
Lively, Library Assistant, Harlan County Public Library, 107 N 3rd St, Harlan, KY 40831;
[email protected]; http://www.harlancountylibraries.org/
1026
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1027
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decide,_Kentucky

“Stand where the well and the holly tree are planted on Willis Creek Road in Clinton County and
know that thousands have stood here as well. Look straight ahead, see where a post office, a grocery
store and Col Crawford Holsapple’s big house, with its imposing veranda, once demanded that you lean
at the fork. Now, it is a brick home, equally insistent.
“Before the Civil War, local folks say, if you went left, you and your goods were off to Albany
Landing, where the steamboat came to do your bidding. If you went right, you and yours were headed
to Nashville via the Cumberland River.
“Bob Swayers’ family did not decide at all, turns out. In Sawyers’ basement is the very chair that
his great-great-grandmother sat in while riding in a covered wagon from Virginia. They decided to stay,
coming to own, to this day, a large portion of the land that is Decide.
“‘It wasn’t no town,’ Sawyers, 75, insisted, smiling. The post office lasted until the 1960s, but
everybody went to Willow Grove School, he said. There wasn’t much organized at this jumping-off
point, if you don’t count the occasional bookmobile visit.
“There is no vestige of a Decide city hall, because the city part is really more insult that
compliment. Which explains why there’s no fire department. And why, last winter, Sawyers knew there
was little he could do when the lightning struck his barn.
“‘I just watched it burn,’ he said.
“The mules were safe, which is what’s important in Decide, given that these mules are prizewinning types, and not just for their sorrel beauty. These are bona fide four-hitch champs, having won
the Kentucky State Fair title eight times in a row, because Sawyers had to take a year off in 2007 for
cancer treatment. His trophy case includes some awards from Indiana but none from Tennessee,
because Tennessee gives money instead, and that Tennessee Mule Championship cash has been spent.
“His plaques cover his basement walls; his trophies sit on the two refrigerators in the basement
and a separate shelf made for that purpose.
“Sawyers cannot remember a time when he, and Decide for that matter, were without mules.
They are pretty, but they can plow. They could help put up the new barn if they decided to. They don’t.
“So Sawyers goes back to work.
“Up at the fork in the road, if you turn right these days, you smell cows. Pure Holsteins, to be
exact. And you see the Young family farm up Lawson Cemetery Road where Colonel Holsapple, the
leader of the South Cumberland Battalion of the Union Army, has been resting in his grave since the
early part of the 20th century.
“Funny thing about Holsapple, Paul Young said: He was on the Union side of things, but
everyone in Decide knew that the family owned slaves. The slaves clearly provided much needed help
when things were being unloaded at either of the ends of the roads leading away from Decide, and
given that the Holsapples were bonded distributors of whiskey when it was legal, that made life in
Decide right enjoyable for most. Still, the slave and Union thing didn’t make sense, Young said.
“People talked.
“Back in those days, the river carried everything to and from this road. Barrels of whiskey used
to come in the 600-pound variety, with tobacco bales usually weighing 125 pounds or more, and
produce being heavy and unwieldy, Young said.
“His son, Steve, said the Young family story is rumored to go back to Brigham Young (who did,
indeed, come through Kentucky in 1843), ‘but we don’t guarantee it.’ They’ve tried to trace a note they
have that grants a great-great-grandmother in Cumberland County the right to wed a certain son of
Brigham Young, but nobody in Salt Lake City is very helpful in confirming anything of that nature, Steve
Young said.
“Makes no difference. Paul, 78, and Steve, 56, have a stake in these parts, Brigham or not.

“Some things do not have to be settled, one way or the other. They just are. And you can
wholeheartedly decide to live with how great they turned out right where you are.”1028
***DREAMING AND DROWNING CREEKS, MADISON COUNTY1029, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick emphasizes: “Dreaming Creek (which heads in downtown Richmond and joins Otter
Creek several miles north) was named as early as 1775 for a dream of Daniel Boone’s, many agree. But
what he dreamed about is debated.
“One account is that Boone was preparing to trap bears near the stream’s banks. Fatigue
overcame him at nightfall, so he crawled into a hollow sycamore tree and fell asleep. He dreamed that
he was captured by Indians, but on awakening, found it to be no dream at all. Four Indians were
standing over him with raised tomahawks. He persuaded them to let him finish his trap and then
ingeniously rigged it and trapped the Indians instead. So he was able to make his escape.
“Theodore Roosevelt, in his Winning of the West, reported that Boone dreamed he was being
stung by yellow jackets. The dream was so real that it lingered in his mind for years.
“According to Collins’ history, though, it was a little girl who had the dream. She dreamed that
she climbed a ladder that had been lowered from heaven. Later, she and some friends searched for
hickory nuts along the banks of this stream. There they were captured by Indians, and the little girl was
killed. Some say that she had dreamed of her own death and ascent to heaven.
“Another Daniel Boone adventure may have named Drowning Creek, which forms the MadisonEstill county line several miles east of Richmond. Boone is said to have been captured by a giant Indian
warrior. They struggled for the better part of an hour, but the Indian proved no match for Boone, who
succeeded in dragging him into the stream where he drowned.”1030
***FELICIANA, GRAVES COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick gives: “Felicia and Anna were friends until a certain man moved into their
southwest Graves County neighborhood. He seemed genuinely interested in both of them, dating first
one, then the other. He couldn’t seem to make up his mind between them. One might even think he
was leading them on, making each think she was his main woman.
“One night he was put to the test. Felicia demanded to know which of the two he was ready to
settle down with. He said he liked them both and wanted to go on seeing them as he had, spending one
night with Felicia and the next with Anna. When Felicia made it clear that he would have to choose
between them, he told her straight out that they themselves would have to make that decision for him.
“So that’s how the big Graves County fight started. It was agreed that Felicia and Anna would
have it out, and the winner would get her man and settle down with him in marital bliss. They fought
for two whole days and two whole nights by the banks of the Bayou du Chien. They fought tooth and
nail, no holds barred. People came from miles around to witness the spectacle of two mature women
fighting over a man.

1028

Charles Bertram; Left or right, but there’s no polling place in sight; Lexington Herald-Leader;
November 2, 2010; provided by Gayla Duvall, Director, Clinton County Public Library, 302 King Dr,
Albany, KY 42602; [email protected]; http://www.clintoncountypubliclibrary.org/
1029
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Kentucky
1030
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997

“It’s not known who won the fight and thus won her man. It probably doesn’t matter. The little
community that grew up on the battleground has carried to this day the name of both combatants –
Feliciana.”1031
***HELECHAWA, WOLFE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick pens: “The devil had his due in a number of Kentucky’s place names. Creeks and
roads and ridges that are treacherous to maneuver have given rise to names suggesting that Satan
himself must have had a hand in creating them and making them virtually unfit for human commerce or
occupancy. There’s Hell for Certain and Devils Fork and Devils Jump and the several places called
Helltown and Hells Half Acre. There’s Devils Elbow and a Devil’s Harbor, Devil’s Pulpit, Devil’s Three
Jumps, Hells Kitchen, Devil’s Garden, Devil’s Roost, and on and on. Most locals agree that these places
are aptly named.
“Some early travelers got lost in what’s now Wolfe County. The road they had been following
from Campton forked, and they had no idea where either road led to. They spotted a man leaning
against a fence nearby, and asked him which of these two roads would take them to the Red River.
‘Either one,’ he said. ‘One’s as good as the other. Or as bad, if you want to look at it that way. From
here to the Red River it don’t matter how you go ‘cause it’s hell each-a-way.’ Years later, when the
railroad came through these parts, a station was established at the end of one of these roads, near the
banks of the river, and they called it Helechawa.
“It’s said that truth can be stranger than fiction, and the following certainly qualifies. Even
though Wolfe County’s early roads were bad each-a-way, the Devil should not, in all fairness, be blamed
for Helechawa. Rather, the credit should be given to the imaginative president of the Ohio and
Kentucky Railroad, W Delancey Walbridge of New York, who saw fit to name that station for his mother
– Helen Chase Walbridge.”1032
***HORSE CAVE, HART COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick scribes: “Horse Cave, Hart County’s largest town, is at the eastern edge of
Kentucky’s famous cave area. In the center of town is a large cave that used to be called the Hidden
River Cave, but is now known by the name of the town.
“The story is told of a local farmer, who once acquired a string of horses, he planned to use as
beasts of burden. This displeased his neighbors, who shared the central Kentuckian’s feeling that horses
were very special animals and should only be used for riding and, more particularly, for racing. To use
them to pull loads was little short of abusive. God had intended oxen for that purpose, and all central
Kentucky farmers for years had used oxen as beasts of burden about the farm. But oxen, argued our
farmer, were stupid animals and terribly clumsy. He much preferred horses and finally convinced his
neighbors to let him experiment with their use on his farm.
“One day, one of his horses got spooked by a rattlesnake and pulled away from the team to
which he had been hitched. He [the horse] galloped off in the direction of a steep cliff and, failing to see
it in sufficient time, fell to his death some fifty feet below. His body landed in a sink that led grown into
the cave and so was hidden from view. After a long search, the man found the body of his horse lying
just within the entrance of the cave. Hence Horse Cave.

1031

Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1032
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997

“Perhaps this is true, but some say the cave was used by a band of Indians (or by some thieves)
as a shelter for their horses.”1033
***LICKSKILLET, LIVINGSTON COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick states: “The trustees of a new school district in Livingston County were searching
for a suitable site for their school. Finding a parcel of land they wished to consider further, they stopped
at the home of its owner just as his family was completing its evening meal. In answer to their knocking,
the child of the family appeared in the doorway licking the skillet in which his mother had just fixed a
batch of sorghum candy for dessert. His father, Sam Barnett, agreed to lease the property, and the
school was built and named the Barnett School. However, for many years that it provided an
elementary education for the neighborhood’s children, it was called the Lickskillet School.
“Civil War soldiers on both sides were not always adequately provisioned. We’re told that
sometimes, on a long ride or march, the men were forced to forage locally for their dinners. Chicken
stealing was not uncommon. More often, though, local farm families were approached, hat in hand, for
handouts, usually the leftovers from the family’s meal carried in a skillet.
“Several Kentucky places are said to have been named for events like this: A unit of Morgan’s
Confederate cavalry was traveling quickly to rendezvous with the rest of the troops on the Ohio River.
Needing to make time, they were traveling light, carrying only the barest essential equipment and
supplies for their mission. They had arranged to stop en route for food. Two men sent ahead to
negotiate with sympathetic farmers for some beans were already preparing them in the skillet when the
rest arrived, famished. Hurriedly, the soldiers ate their beans and licked the skillet clean, wishing they
had more. That Meade County site later became the community of Lickskillet.”1034
***LONESOME CREEK, WAYNE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick alludes: “When a section of Wayne County near the Tennessee line was being
settled, a man brought his young bride from Virginia and built her a house about a mile up a certain
creek. It was an isolated place. No other families lived anywhere around, nor was it likely there would
be neighbors for some time to come, if ever.
“The man was a logger and a solitary soul, preferring to work by himself at some distance from
his home, cutting down the huge hardwoods and carting them to Monticello, the county seat. His wife
was all alone in the house for days at a time while he worked.
“Months went by and then woman grew ever more depressed living by herself. The tasks of
maintaining their home were fairly light, for as yet there were no children, and many hours of the day
she had precious little to do, and nobody to do it with.
“One evening when the man returned home after a week’s absence, he found a note on the
kitchen table. It read: ‘I’m a-leaving this lonesome old holler and going back to Virginia.’ She had
apparently been gone for some time when the man read her note. It’s not known if he went after her,
but to this day the stream that runs by their home has been called Lonesome Creek.”1035
***MUMMIE, JACKSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY***

1033

Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1034
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1035
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997

RM Rennick communicates: “This recently discontinued post office lay where Kentucky 30
crosses Blackwater Creek, a branch of Sturgeon Creek, seven miles east-southeast of McKee. The name
is said to have been submitted to the Post Office Department by Bobby Farmer to commemorate the
discovery there by early settlers of a mummified human body. Hiram V Montgomery became the first
post master on November 8, 1915.”1036
***NO CREEK, OHIO COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick depicts: “A party of surveyors was making its way through what was to become
Ohio County. The men were following directions to a certain eight-mile branch of the Rough River.
“It had been a pretty dry season, and landmarks familiar to several of the men who had been to
this section before were not evident. If effect, they were lost.
“One night the men camped by this stream. One of them, who had been there before, thought
this might be the creek they were seeking. His companions, seeing the nearly dry creek bed, doubted it.
One said, ‘Why, that’s no creek at all.’
“When it came time to give it a name, it was thus called No Creek and was identified as such in
the county’s first recorded deed in 1798. A rural neighborhood strung out for about a mile along
Kentucky 136, which parallels the stream, has also been known as No Creek, as was the post office that
served it on two occasions, in the 1840s and the first decade of the twentieth century.”1037
***PROVERTY, MCLEAN COUNTY1038, KENTUCKY***
Jennie Seymour enumerates: “Poverty, I can tell you something about as it concerns the
community that my family grew up in. At one time it had a post office (1902-6), grocery, church
and school. The story goes that a Doctor William Short moved into ‘town’ and felt the neighbors were
snobbish, as they had formed a group and called themselves The Social Circle. He evidently didn't feel
welcomed into this group. He was in Calhoun, the county seat, a town about 3 miles east of here. The
postal inspector was there to establish a post office in this area. Meeting up with the Doctor, he asked
what he thought would be a good name for the new post office. Thinking only a moment, and
remembering the way he had been snubbed there and wanting to get even, he asked that it be named
Poverty. And so it was!
“My family has been a part of this area for well over 100 years. We still own land there and
farm it. When someone asks where we farm we say, ‘in Poverty’. Some years this is the truth. This year
being one of them. We had a 4 inch rain just after the corn was planted. We planted again, and again
heavy rain came and destroyed it. By then it was too late to replant and make a decent yield. So we
gave up on it for this year. Luckily we have other land out of the flood plain.
“My mother and her siblings attended Poverty School as students, and at least 3 of them taught
there. Another ran the store and operated the post office. Later the name was changed to Eureka. The
schools consolidated in the 1930s, and students were transported to Calhoun. The church lasted until
the 1950s. It has been torn down, and a dwelling is there now.”1039
***RABBIT HASH, BOONE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***

1036

Robert M Rennick; Kentucky Place Names; University Press of Kentucky; 1987
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
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1038
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/ky/mclean/poverty.cfm
1039
Jennie Seymour, Volunteer, McLean County Family Research Center, 640 Main St, PO Box 34,
Calhoun, KY 42327; [email protected]; http://www.mcleancountymuseum.com/
1037

RM Rennick gives an account: “Two travelers met at the Ohio River town of Rising Sun. One was
going to cross there into Kentucky and, having learned that the other had just come off the ferry, asked
about the accommodations at Meek’s Landing. ‘They’re all right,’ said the other, ‘if you like rabbit hash.
There’s plenty of that at Meek’s table.’
“The river had been at high tide for many days, and only the day before the water level had
begun to recede. Thousands of rabbits had been driven to the hillsides by high water, and Meek set his
men to hunting them down to replenish his pantry.
“As the traveler indeed discovered when he crossed the river and boarded at Meek’s tavern,
rabbit hash was the order of the day – and of the week, and the month. It was so plentiful, in fact, that
after a year, Meek’s guests were still being served healthy helpings of rabbit hash – for breakfast,
dinner, and supper. It was used for midnight snacks, as appetizers, even as feed for the livestock, and in
picnic basket for lovers.
“Rabbit hash – people got plain sick and tired of it. It seemed it just couldn’t be used up.
Travelers asked to take some with them when they continued on their trips. Many an empty stomach
was filled when ample portions of rabbit hash arrived at distant places courtesy of the generous
humanitarians at Meek’s Landing. This Boone County town on the Ohio River is still called Rabbit
Hash.”1040
***REBEL’S ROCK, HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick points out: “From just north of Harlan, travel up US 119 for about nine miles to
Laden, then turn west on that curvy, hilly road to the Pine Mountain Settlement School. About a mile or
so up that road is the Rebel’s Rock. It’s almost a hundred feet high.
“Harlan Countians still tell about the rebel soldier on furlough, trying to get to the home of some
distant relatives for a visit. He knew they lived on the other side of Pine Mountain, and he had a vague
idea that if he walked far enough, he might be able to find one of its many passes that could get him to
the other side.
“At the foot of the mountain, he had the misfortune of meeting with a patrol of Union soldiers.
Wearing his Rebel uniform, he was easily spotted. They took off after him. He took off too, running as
fast as he could till he got to the base of this rock and began to climb it, not realizing that at the top
there was a sheer drop of a hundred feet to the bottom.
“He got to the top and said, ‘Oh, my God, what will I do now?’ He couldn’t turn back for he
certainly didn’t want to be captured by the enemy, so he jumped. God was merciful that day, for he
landed in some bushes that broke his fall. The Union soldiers gave up the pursuit, thinking he had
perished in that fall. He picked himself up, little the worse for wear, and proceeded on his way to the
home of his relatives.”1041
***RED HOT, GREENUP COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick relates: “A steam-powered saw mill in the Tygarts Valley of Greenup County hired a
new fireman. His job was to make sure that enough steam was generated to operate the mill at its
fullest capacity. After his first week on the job, he was called into the superintendent’s office for an
evaluation. ‘I’m afraid you won’t do,’ he was told. ‘You’re simply not getting us enough steam, and
we’re backing up on our orders. We’re going to have to let you go.’ ‘Oh no, sir,’ said the new fireman.

1040

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1041
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997

‘You can’t do that to me. I need this job to support my family. I promise I’ll work harder. You won’t be
sorry if you let me stay on this job.’
“The superintendent was a reasonable man. He had a family too and knew what it was like to
be depended on. Perhaps he hadn’t given the new fireman much of a chance to prove himself. ‘We’ll
give you another week,’ he told the other. Again the fireman said, ‘You’ll see. I’ll be the best darned
fireman you ever had.’
“The next day, true to his word, the fireman kept piling wood on that fire like all hell was behind
him. No one in that company had ever seen a fireman work so hard. He put so many logs in that boiler
that the blamed thing blew up. The explosion was heard for miles around. Bits and pieces of the
fireman were being scraped off every surface in the Tygarts Valley for months to come. The heat of the
fire caused by the explosion was so intense, it was weeks before it could be extinguished, and the mill
rebuilt.
“To this day that area where Kentucky routes 2 and 7 meet, just north of Warnock, is called Red
1042
Hot.”
***ROGUE’S HARBOR, LOGAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick stipulates: “In the 1790s, Logan County had no law and order to speak of and thus
attracted criminals from all over the country. Here, no one from the outside would dare to come after
them, and they could carry on their felonious activities with impunity. No one felt safe to walk the
roads, day or night. In his autobiography, famed Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright recalled his
boyhood there, referring to the county as Rogue’s Harbor.
“Finally, some of the honest, decent citizens banded together to end lawlessness. Lacking any
legal authority to bring the felons to justice, they took the law into their own hands and proceeded to
clean up the county. Those outlaws who weren’t killed in a gun battle on the main street of Russellville
were later hanged. The few survivors fled. Logan Countians have lived in peace ever since but still
shudder to think their county once deserved the name Rogue’s Harbor.”1043
***SACRED WIND, LAWRENCE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick writes: “This extinct post office lay at the head of the Left Fork of Cains Creek, 17
miles west-southwest of Louisa. It was established on July 24, 1903, and, according to tradition, named
by its first postmaster, James N Sturgill, for his father, a Baptist preacher, ‘it is said not for his preaching
but for flatulence from which he suffered from time to time, and his admirable artistry in relieving
himself.’ The post office was discontinued in 1947.”1044
***SALLY’S ROCK, WARREN COUNTY1045, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick articulates: “At a point just below where the Gasper River flows into the Barren is a
huge sandstone bluff long known as Sally’s Rock. For over thirty years, Sally Beck would stand atop this
two-hundred foot bluff and call to the crews and passengers of passing Barren River steamboats.
“The daughter of the local storekeeper and postmaster, Sally had the job of delivering the
community’s outgoing mail, which she placed in a wicker basket and lowered by a system of ropes and
pulleys from the top of the bluff to the boats below. She would call to the crews by megaphone when
1042

Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1043
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1044
Robert M Rennick; Kentucky Place Names; University Press of Kentucky; 1987
1045
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,502814,n,sallys%20rock.cfm

she had mail to deliver. Even when she had none, she would stand on the bluff and wave her white
scarf in friendly greeting. All the steamboat crews and passengers alike looked forward to seeing her,
and she became a legend in her own time.
“In the late winter of 1910, the rock on which she always stood fell into the river, the victim of
years of erosion. Sally Beck simply moved to another rock nearby and continued to wave to the
steamboats. She did this till 1918 when, at the age of 48, she married a Canadian, Peter Ericson, and
moved away. She died in Florida, by then her home, in February 1957, at the age of 84. The bluff on
which she stood is still called Sally’s Rock, and that name still identifies it on published maps.”1046
***TEN SPOT, HARLAN COUNTY1047, KENTUCKY***
Evarts High School Humanities Class of 1987-8 describes: “Many of the little side hollows and
‘bottoms’ have very interesting names. Tan Trough Hallow, for example, was named for the fact that
numerous hides were tanned in huge troughs at the mouth of the hollow. Another interesting name
was Ten Spot. According to local residents, Green Middleton built ten houses to rent at that location;
thus the name. The houses were later sold by Henry Turner. According to an interview with James
Middleton, he was born in the last remaining house at Ten Spot. Even that house has now been torn
down. Still the local people refer to the location as ‘Ten Spot’.”1048
***THEALKA, JOHNSON COUNTY1049, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick establishes: “Greenville Meek of Paintsville loved his daughter Alice Jane, whom
everyone called Alka. Green, as he was called, owned and ran several local businesses around the turn
of the century, but his favorite was a fleet of Big Sandy steamboats. In 1899 he built what was to be the
last of the big side-wheelers to run on that stream. He was going to name it for Alka who, two years
before, had married John Mayo.
“Meek hired someone to paint ‘The Alka’ on the side of his boat. The painter erred, though, and
wrote the two words together as the sign read ‘Thealka’. Just imagine how Mr Meek felt when he saw
this, but he let it stand, and the boat served the Big Sandy trade for years as ‘Thealka’.
“Mayo, a coal land buyer, had acquired land on Muddy Branch of the Big Sandy in Johnson
County and organized the Muddy Branch Coal Company. The mineral rights thereon were soon leased
to the Northeast Coal Company, and a town was founded there in 1906. It was also called Thealka,
though its post office, established that year, was Muddy Branch. By 1911 the post office too became
Thealka.”1050
***THOUSANDSTICKS, LESLIE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick highlights: “Two early travelers made their way up the Kentucky River’s Middle
Fork, until they came to a branch that was so swollen from the melting snows and torrential downpours
of the past few days that no one in his right mind would ever try to cross it. ‘But we’ll have to,’ said one
to the other, ‘if we’re going to make it back to Carolina in time for spring planting.’ ‘I don’t see how,’
1046

Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1047
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Spot,_Kentucky
1048
Evarts High School Humanities Class of 1987-8; Taproots: A History of Cloverfork, Harlan County,
Kentucky; Shoestring Press; 1988; provided by Renae Lively, Library Assistant, Harlan County Public
Library, 107 N 3rd St, Harlan, KY 40831; [email protected]; http://www.harlancountylibraries.org/
1049
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thealka,_Kentucky
1050
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997

said the other. ‘Maybe we ought to wait a few days till the tide goes down.’ ‘Nah,’ said the first, ‘let’s
take a chance.’ So they did. They almost didn’t make it, but they got across. As they rested on the far
bank, the first said to the other, ‘That was a hell of a creek,’ and his companion agreed most heartily –
‘Indeed, it was hell for certain.’ To this day the creek is called Hell for Certain.
“The two men went on up the fork a bit further, till they came to another stream that seemed
every bit as rough as the first. As they began to wade across, one slipped and badly cut his shin on an
exposed rock. We now call that stream the Cutshin Branch.
“They turned west, and after a while arrived at what once had been a thick forest that had only
recently been consumed by a devastating fire. The charred remains of hundreds of trees as far as the
eye could see, stood stark and tall against the western sky, reminding the men of sticks – a thousand
sticks. So they called the area Thousandsticks. The stream that passed by it, and the nearby mountain,
and later a small village and its post office, have all been known as Thousandsticks. Moreover, Leslie
County’s weekly newspaper has been the Thousandstick News.”1051
***TYWHAPITY, HANCOCK COUNTY1052, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick portrays: “Tywhapity Bottoms is a rural neighborhood on the banks of the Blackford
Creek, where the creek forms the Hancock-Davies County line. Its curious name has long inspired
explanations ranging from the sensible to the preposterous. Some experts on Indian names were fairly
certain it had an Algonquian origin, something to do with the eastward migration of the Western
Shawnee, who determined that from this site one should not return home.
“However, local people have more plausible explanations, they feel, than some obscure Indian
phrase. Most common is the tale about early travelers approaching the rain-swollen creek. Strange
noises came from the water, sounding like ‘tywhapity, tywhapity, tywhapity,’ and frightened them since
they couldn’t figure out what made the noise. When they arrived at the banks of the stream, though,
the mystery was solved – the sound was caused by the water slapping against the branches of low-lying
trees on the banks.”1053
***WAX, GRAYSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick remarks: “This settlement and post office, now at the junction of KY 88 and 479, 12
miles southeast of Leitchfield, were originally centered on an early 19th century Catholic church on the
Nolin River, now Nolin Lake. The name Wax was not applied until the establishment of the post office
on January 15, 1891, by Charles A Pierce. According to tradition, the name was given by a postal
inspector after he observed the local storekeeper, in whose establishment the post office was to be
located, weighing beeswax. Less likely is the account of the practice of a postal carrier who announced
the delivery of cartons of chewing gum to the local store by calling out ‘one for Wax Town’. For a Wax
post office in western Iowa, this account was once given: Residents frustrated by the Post Office
Department’s rejection of a number of suggested names, finally took the advice of a postal inspector to
‘give us a name that will stick’, and submitted Wax.”1054
1051

Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1052
http://kentucky.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,2743755,n,tywhapity%20bottoms.cfm
1053
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1054
Robert M Rennick; Kentucky Place Names; University Press of Kentucky; 1988; provided by Bettie
Arndell, Grayson County Public Library, 130 E Market St, Leitchfield, KY 42754;
[email protected]; www.graysoncountylibrary.org

***WHOOPFLAREA, OWSLEY COUNTY1055, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick shares: “Larry was a moonshiner. He made his living, such as it was, by distilling a
rather potent drink and making it available to his neighbors and even to strangers who traveled to his
still from Hazard and Jackson and even farther. His still was in very wild country, over by the Cherry Tree
Knob near the Clay County line. It was pretty desolate country, but that kept the Revenue agents and
other undesirables from interfering with his activities.
“It also made it rather difficult for his customers to find him. ‘Not to worry,’ he said, ‘I’ll find
them. When they come up Buffalo Creek, they can whoop for me. I’ll hear them and guide them to my
little store.’
“So, over the years, his customers would come and ‘whoop for Larry’, and sure enough he’d
appear and take their money in exchange for his good whiskey.
“One day, though, he wasn’t at home to hear the whoops of several customers. They whooped
and they hollered but no Larry. They walked further up the creek and into a small hollow and up to the
edge of the knob itself, a-whooping as they went, until they were hopelessly lost. They never returned
to their homes. Their bodies were never found. On certain nights of the year, when the wind blows a
certain way, you can hear their spirits a-whooping still for Larry.
“Some years later, when a post office was established for this area, near where the Perry, Clay,
and Owsley county lines meet, it was called Whoopflarea.”1056
***ZACHARIAH, LEE COUNTY, KENTUCKY***
RM Rennick stresses: “We know that the Lee County post office of Zachariah was named for its
first postmaster, Zachariah Ponder. Its biblical name, though, inspired a wonderful story that county
sage Nevyle Shackelford once shared with me. ‘An old man lived near here who used to order his
whiskey by mail. On receipt of his order, it would be shipped to him by freight or express. He told me
that the first time he placed his order, he didn’t know how to spell Zachariah. It was Sunday morning,
and he was sitting on his front porch turning through his Bible trying to find the name Zachariah so he’d
know how to spell it. Along came the preacher and said, ‘It’s time to go to church.’ ‘I can’t just yet,’ he
said. ‘I’m busy.’ ‘Well,’ said the preacher, ‘I’m glad to see you’re reading your Bible, anyway.’”1057
**LOUISIANA**
HB Staples composes: “The name of Louisiana, now confined to a State of the Union, was
originally given to the entire French possessions on the west bank of the Mississippi, by La Salle, in 1682,
in honor of Louis XIV.”1058
KB Harder designates: “Named (1682) for Louis XIV (1638-1715), king of France (1643-1715), by
the French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-87), who, having explored from the Great
Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi River, claimed the great river, its tributaries, and all the lands they
drained for France. All lands east of the Mississippi were ceded to Great Britain at the close of the

1055

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopflarea,_Kentucky
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1057
Robert M Rennick; From Red Hot to Monkey’s Eyebrow: Unusual Kentucky Place Names; University
Press of Kentucky; 1997
1058
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1056

French and Indian Wars. Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana from Napoleon in 1803. This vast area,
encompassing all or part of the thirteen future states, extended as far west as Wyoming.”1059
www.statesymbolsusa.org expands: “Louisiana (La Louisianne) was named by explorer RenéRobert Cavelier in the mid-1600s to honor King Louis XIV of France. President Thomas Jefferson
purchased the Louisiana territory from Napoleon in 1803 (the original Louisiana territory is now divided
between 13 states).”1060
DJ McInerney illustrates: “Through good fortune, Jefferson benefited from the misfortunes of
another ruler. In 1803, the cash-strapped Emperor Napoleon offered the Louisiana Territory for sale, a
parcel which Spain had transferred to French control in 1800. The land stretched from the Mississippi
across to the Rockies, from the northern plains down to New Orleans. Jefferson jumped at the offer,
and for fifteen million dollars, he doubled the size of the republic, providing ‘an empire of liberty’ for all
future generations of Americans. There was one tiny problem for the strict constructionist: the
President had no Constitutional authority to make the purchase. However, by turning to a clause on
treaties, the administration made the deal legitimate. Jefferson regretted the precedent he might have
set for expanding executive authority but remained ‘confident that the good sense of our country will
correct the evil of loose construction when it shall produce ill effects’.”
DJ McInerney continues: “While extending national power, the Republicans also expanded the
size of the national domain. In 1818, General Andrew Jackson launched a military campaign in western
Florida to subdue Seminole Indians. By 1819, the United States had hammered out a Transcontinental
Treaty with Spain, through which the republic acquired all of Florida, fixed the western boundary of the
Louisiana Purchase, and gladly accepted Spain’s abandonment of its land claims to Oregon Territory.
With northwest lands above the 42nd parallel jointly occupied by the United States and Britain (under an
1818 convention), America’s territorial claims literally extended from sea to sea.”1061
**BAYOU**
WA Read renders: “The term bayou is generally applied to a sluggish stream that is smaller than
a river and larger than a coulee. Historic Bayou Teche, however, is about 175 miles long, and it widens
into a river near its junction with the Atchafalaya. Though a bayou may serve to connect one stream, or
body of water, with another, a glance at map of Louisiana will show that such a condition is far from
being invariable. Moreover, a bayou sometimes changes the direction of its current according to the
amount of rainfall in its vicinity. Standing on the bridge at Hope Villa, in Ascension Parish, one may see
Bayou Manchac flowing eastward towards the Amite River; but when the Amite is swollen by heavy
rains, the bayou sets westward towards its former source, the Mississippi. A bayou, of course, remains
stationary when it attains, as Bayou Manchac often does, the same height as that of the stream into
which it ordinarily empties.
“Bayou, in spite of the formal resemblance to French boyau, ‘bowel’, is not related to this
French word. The sole origin of bayou is unmistakably Choctaw bayuk, ‘creek’, ‘river’.”1062
**CREOLE**
James Ferguson maintains: “Yet despite the deprivation and degradation of the plantation life,
slaves showed remarkable resilience and ingenuity. Taken from a wide range of African nations and
tribes, they developed a patois, or Creole, mixing their different languages with a blend of English,
1059

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1060
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Louisiana/name_origin_LA.html
1061
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1062
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927

French or Dutch to form a synthesized language, which many whites could not understand. Religious
and cultural beliefs were preserved and often merged with the official Christianity, which was
increasingly brought to the islands by missionaries in the eighteenth century. Elements of tribal
organization survived the Middle Passage, and slaves on large plantations often held nocturnal
ceremonies, symbolic and religious, to the consternation of their masters. Revolt, as we shall see later,
took many forms, but survival was also a matter of adaptation and assimilation. The music, religion, folk
medicines, agriculture and house-building of Africa, were transplanted into the Caribbean islands and
fused with European and indigenous practices.
“From the dynamic interaction of influences emerged a new and distinctive Creole culture,
largely African in inspiration but also open to other ideas and beliefs. Some slaves even managed to
make money from the provision grounds which they tended, taking vegetables and chickens to market.
The contemporary historian, Edward Long, estimated that at least one-third of Jamaica’s currency was in
slave hands in the 1770s.”1063
**MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA, LOUISIANA**
WA Read reports: “The name Mississippi is derived from Algonquian misi, ‘great’, and sipi,
‘water’. Other translations are misleading, notably that of Du Pratz, who, using the form MeactChassipi, declares it meaning to be literally ‘vieux Pere des Rivieres’. First heard by the early French
missionaries and explorers from the lips of the Indians who lived on the upper reaches of the
Mississippi, the name came gradually to include the entire course of the river. Thus it displaced other
names, such as Rio Grande, Buade, Riviere de la Conception, and St Louis. The first European to use the
common Indian name was Penolosa, the governor of New Mexico, who in 1661 wrote it Mischipi.
Father Allouez’s spelling in 1667 was Messipi; Marquette’s in 1673, Missisipi. The modern spelling
occurs as early as 1718, but it was not adopted exclusively until the 19th century.
“The Mississippi has borne many other names. Among the Indian names of the river, one of the
most interesting is Malbanchya or Malbanchia – less accurately, in French’s translation, Malabouchia.
Compare, further, Coxe’s Malabanchia, Du Pratz’s Balbancha, and Dumont’s Barbancha. The Indian
name is obviously the Choctaw substantive Balbancha, ‘a place for foreign language’, and the verb asha,
‘be there’. It should be mentioned here that the Choctaw m is not infrequently substituted for b as in
mallei by the side of baleli, ‘to run’. The name was applied first to the lower Mississippi and then to the
city of New Orleans, the Indians looking upon the river and the city alike as places where foreign
languages were spoken. Purely of Indian origin, the name has nothing whatever to do with the French
words male bouche, with which it has been confused by some writers on the early history of Louisiana.
Balbancha or Malbancha is no more akin to male bouche than is the name of the creek Chappepeela to
French chateau, supra. Here one may be interested in learning that the imagination of the Indian shows
itself in the Choctaw term for the mockingbird – hushi balbaha, ‘a bird that speaks foreign tongues’.”1064
***ALOHA, GRANT PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read presents: “Aloha is the well-known Hawaiian word of many meanings – ‘love’, ‘good
morning’, ‘good bye’, etc. About twenty-five years ago officials of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation
Company are said to have selected the name for a village on their line, about seven miles northwest of
Colfax, in Grant parish. The population is approximately 75.”1065
***BAYOU FUNNY LOUIS, LA SALLE PARISH, LOUISIANA***
1063

James Ferguson; A Traveller’s History of The Caribbean; Interlink Books; 2008
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
1065
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
1064

WA Read sheds light on: “1816 Bayou Funne Louis; 1816 Bayou Funneleur; 1834 Bayou Funne
Louis, Bayou Fanne Louis; 1878 Bayou Funny Louis. Derived from Choctaw fani, ‘squirrel’, and lusa,
‘black’, this name signifies ‘Black Squirrel’ bayou. The translation ‘burnt squirrel’, as given by Kilpatrick
and repeated by some later writers, is wrong. Folk etymology is responsible for the two forms ending in
the French suffix –eur. Bayou Funny Louis is in La Salle parish, and flows towards the southwest into
Little River.”1066
***BERMUDA, NATCHITOCHES PARISH1067, LOUISIANA***
Clare D’Artois Leeper suggests: “Bermuda is one of the oldest settlements in Natchitoches
Parish, but the name itself is relatively new. Bermuda is about ten miles southeast of Natchitoches on
Cane River.
“When the people of Natchitoches realized that money was to be made from cotton rather than
trade and commerce, they petitioned the government for the lands along Cane River. The oldest of
these grants was made to Pierre Emanuel Prudhomme by Governor Esteban Miro in 1789. After this
grant to Prudhomme, other grants were made, and soon there were several white settlers on that
portion of the river, whose center is now called Bermuda.
“The name Bermuda was given to the place in 1877, when the first post office was established.
It seems Mr Alain Metoyer, who was to be the first postmaster, asked Mr James A Prudhomme, who
had worked with him to obtain it, by what name it should be called. As the latter was mowing Bermuda
hay at the time, he answered why not call it Bermuda, and so it was named.”1068
***CHAPPEPEELA, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read calls attention to: “1846 Chappapeela; 1853 Chappapela; 1895 Chappeau Pela River;
1925 Chappepela Creek; 1926 Chappepeela Creek. Chappepeela signifies ‘Hurricane River’, the name
being clearly descended from Choctaw hacha, or ‘river’, and apeli, ‘hurricane’. Hurricane, one should
observe, is a popular place-name in Louisiana and some other states. With the loss of the initial syllable
of the Indian from, compare the evolution of such as Chinchuba and Tchefuncta; with the word-order of
the compound, compare that of Choctaw peni luak, ‘steamboat’ – literally, peni, ‘boat’, plus luak, ‘fire’.
“Chappepeela creek joints the Tangipahoa River about two miles north of Breckwoldt, in
Tangipahoa Parish. In this parish, there used to be a village of the same name, as shown by the forms
Chapeau Pela, Chappeau Pela, and Chappeau Pela. There was likewise a Bayou Chapeaupilier, which the
Graham-Tanner map of 1834 marks as a tributary of the Tickfaw River, in the Parish of St Helena.
“Some of the later forms of Chappepeela are evidently due to confusion of the first element of
French chapeau.”1069
***CHAUTAUQUA, LINCOLN PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read connotes: “Chatauqua is a station on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, two
miles northwest of Ruston, in Lincoln Parish.
“Chautauqua is of course borrowed from the widely known name of the lake and village in the
western part of New York. The origin of the name is obscure. Cornplanter, the Seneca chief who died in
1836, derives it from Mohawk Jadaqua or Jadaqueh, the ‘place where one was lost’. A young squaw, it
1066

William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/natchitoches/bermuda.cfm
1068
Clare D’Artois Leeper; November 27, 1966; provided by Rosalind LaCour, NPL Circulation Manager,
Natchitoches Parish Library, 450 Second Street, Natchitoches, LA 71457; [email protected];
http://www1.youseemore.com/natchitoches/
1069
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
1067

seems, once dug up and ate a root that created thirst; on drinking from Chautauqua Lake, she
disappeared. Hence arose the tradition that a root grows there, which produces an easy death.
Spafford, however, thinks that the word is a corruption of early Mohawk Ots-ha-ta-ka, ‘foggy place’;
whereas Gatschet associates the word with Seneca T’ kantchata’kwan, ‘one who has taken out fish
there’, explaining his analysis by reference to the tradition that the Indians stocked Lake Erie with fish
from Lake Chautauqua.
“The Chautauqua system of education was founded at Chautauqua village, under the auspices of
Bishop Vincent of the Methodist church – the Chautauqua Assembly in 1874 and the Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle in 1878.”1070
***CHICKASAW, LA SALLE PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read details: “The meaning of this name has been lost. Perhaps Chickasaw signified
‘rebellion’, the term referring to the separation of the Chickasaws from the Creeks and the Choctaws.
The name has been given to a creek in La Salle Parish and to a station – Chickasaw Spur – on the
Missouri Pacific railway, in West Carroll parish. A street in New Orleans also bears the name.
“The important Muskhogean tribe of the Chickasaws once inhabited the northern part of
Mississippi, their villages lying in the 18th century chiefly in Pontotoc and Union Counties. Settlements of
the tribe were also established on the Mississippi river, in West Tennessee, and in Kentucky. The
present number of the Chickasaw nation in Oklahoma is 10,906.”1071
***CHIHUAHUAITA, RAPIDES PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read explains: “Chihuahuaita was the name of a station on the Woodworth and Louisiana
Central railway in Rapides Parish; but the tracks have been removed, and consequently the station no
longer exists. Mr James C Bolton, of Alexandria, Louisiana, who had kindly furnished this information, is
not aware of the reason why the name was selected. That it must at any rate have been suggested by
Chihuahua, the name of a Mexican city and state, requires no proof.
“In reply to my request for aid on the etymology of Chihuahua, Senor Luis Castillo Ledon,
director of the Museo Nacional, Mexico City, promptly wrote that the word signifies ‘place of
manufacture’; that it is composed of the Nahuatlan Chihua, ‘que equivale a hacer, y hua que significa
que tiene.’ The word ends of course in the diminutive suffix –ita, as in Spanish bonita.
“Chihuahuaita takes the chief stress on the high tense i of the syllable next to the last, and a
secondary stress on the first hua. One may acquire the pronunciation of the name by adding a stressed
–ita to the usual American pronunciation of Chihuahua.”1072
***FORT NECESSITY, FRANKLIN PARISH1073, LOUISIANA***
Dale Berry provides an article which states: “A man of many talents in his younger years, alert Eli
Moore, now 83, and a former clerk, farmer, tin-plate photographer, boatman, fisherman, to name a few,
recalled stirring times in Boeuf Prairie following the Civil War.
“‘No,’ he says, ‘there was never a Fort. In fact, my father, Jesse Moore, built the first store
called ‘Fort Necessity’, about two miles above the present site … about two hundred yards above the old
Boeuf Prairie church.’
“Mr Eli confirms that his father, a school teacher from Virginia, named his first business venture
after George Washington’s famous Fort Necessity, located in the native state.
1070

William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
1072
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
1073
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/franklin/fort-necessity.cfm
1071

“After he settled in Louisiana, he sent back to war-wrecked Virginia for Frank and Will Moore.
They later rebuilt the store at the present site of Fort Necessity, after a fire destroyed the original ‘Fort’,
giving the infant post office located in the store that name.
“‘My father taught school for a while before going into business. He almost didn’t name Fort
Necessity. On his first trip to Winnsboro after arriving in Franklin Parish, a Yankee officer smarted-off at
him.
“‘Still bitter from the war,’ Mr Eli recalls, ‘my father gave him a pistol whipping. He was thrown
in jail and threatened with the firing squad. In fact, the only thing that saved him was the general order
to withdraw federal troops from Louisiana.’
“After his release from jail, lucky Jesse Moore went to New Orleans and purchased goods for his
planned merchandise business, to be located on his farm adjoining the church grounds, purchased from
a Dr Smith.
“When the goods arrived, he ran a colorful advertisement in the Franklin Sun, which both Mr Eli
and Mr Jim King recall went something like this:
‘I’m just from the city with new she-hang,
I’ve whiskey, rum and some, little brandy.
And something to please the children, called sugar candy.
I’ve nuts, and spices from overseas,
And goodies and such designed to please…’
“From that little sales ditty, Fort Necessity got its unusual name. In 1872, the Moores and Dave
Stafford, a boatman, also established a floating store at Prairie Landing during the steamboat hey-days.
A splendid gentleman, Will Moore, kept the store and post office at Fort Necessity until his death in
recent years.”1074
***GOLD DUST, AVOYELLES PARISH1075, LOUISIANA***
CL Saucier imparts: “Gold dust was originally the name of a plantation. It is said that a Mr
Gaudin from New Orleans used to come here on hunting trips with his friends, when the Indians owned
all the country around. It is said that the name Gold Dust had its origin from a dream of Mr Gaudin’s at
the time he used to hunt here. He liked the place so well that he bought it from the Indians and settled
here, building a large home in French Colonial style, which was demolished a few years ago. However,
the cistern was still in use in 1938, but was soon to be demolished. It seemed to be the father of all
underground cisterns in Avoyelles Parish. It was fourteen feet in diameter and quite deep, with an
extension, or wall, above the ground of about fourteen feet. This plantation used to make sugar on an
extensive scale. The sugar house was torn down about forty-five years ago.
“The Gold Dust post office is about forty years old. The S&P [Shreveport & Pacific] Railroad goes
through here. Milburn was the name of a flag station here, but it no longer exists.
“There are several interesting homes in this section of the parish: the Milburn home, which was
the forerunner of the station, the Vernon place, now owned by Luther Morrison, the Kellar place, and
those of the Whites, who are living on the old Gaudin property in modern homes.

1074

Eli Moore Tells How ‘Fort’ Was Named; provided by Dale Berry, Franklin Parish Library, 705 Prairie
Street, Winnsboro, LA 71395; [email protected]; http://www.franklinparishlibrary.org/
1075
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/avoyelles/gold-dust.cfm

“The soil here is fertile, but does not overflow, a feature which is hard to find in the parish. The
main crop here is cotton, but sugar cane was at one time the money crop.”1076
***HOOKER HOLE, UNION PARISH1077, LOUISIANA***
Ashley Dison mentions: “Most who call Marion home share a common bond: just about
everyone, young or old, is familiar with Hooker Hole. Located in the rural Haile Community, on its
namesake Hooker Hole Road. Hooker Hole is a spot on the Ouachita River bank.
“Life-long Haile resident, Huey Rhodes, 70, believes Hooker Hole has been a known landmark
among the locals since the 1800s. ‘We’ve called it that as long as I’ve been alive,’ Rhodes said. Rhodes
said a two-story house and boat camp once graced the spot, in an area where fishing was a favorite
pastime.
“Union Parish history means a lot to its natives, who have been handed down stories of local
landmarks with unique names for generations, since immigrants from other states began settling in the
parish in the 1800s.
“The Haile community boasts many of these landmarks.
“Alabama Landing, Rhodes said, was once a river fjord crossed by immigrants coming from
Alabama; hence its name. In recent years, the spot has been occupied with small, private camps.
“Twin Cypress is simply a particular spot on a pipeline road where a large cypress tree rests on
either side. Not far from there, Maize Field has a story all its own. According to Rhodes, in the mid-20th
century, a large oil company owned the field and planted milo maize corn there. Despite the crop’s
failure to produce a single harvest, the field remains Maize Field to locals.
“Hog Island sounds like a home for hogs. In actuality, it once was. Rhodes said he remembers
Hog Island being a station on the river, where hogs gathered when the water was shallow.
Consequently, farmers used the areas as a ‘dipping vat’, where the animals were doctored for riddance
of fleas and ticks. Although hogs roam there no more, it remains Hog Island.
“Four-Mile Post, a five-road intersection located approximately four miles from the heart of
Haile, was once a railroad crossing, according to Rhodes.
“‘There used to be a railroad track from Monroe to Huttig [Arkansas],’ he said. ‘A lot of people
traveled through there.’
“Rhodes said on a past vacation to Oregon, he met an elderly man at a convenience store who
claimed he was born in a railroad car in a place called Haile, Louisiana, at a spot where the tracks
crossed.
“‘I was shocked,’ Rhodes said. ‘It tells you we live in a historical place. The man was born in
Haile but had lived in Oregon for most of his life. It really is a small world, and this area is more
interesting than people might think.’”1078
***HOUMA, WEST FELICIANA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read puts into words: “The word Houma is taken from the Choctaw adjective humma or
homma, ‘red’. This term may have been used with reference either to the paint that the Houma
warriers daubed on their bodies, or to the color of their moccasins and leggings. A third possibility is
that the name Houma represents an aphetic form of Choctaw Shakchi humma, ‘red crawfish’: the red
1076

Corinne L Saucier; History of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana; Pelican Publishing Company; 1942;
provided by Avoyelles Parish Library, 104 N Washington, Marksville, LA 71351;
[email protected]; http://www.avoyelles.lib.la.us/
1077
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/union/hooker-hole.cfm
1078
Ashley Dison; Uniquely Union Parish; provided by Diane Sims, Branch Manager, Union Parish Library,
202 West Jackson St, Farmerville, LA 71241; http://www1.youseemore.com/unionparish/

crawfish is known to have been the war emblem of the Houma tribe. The name is variously spelled –
‘Houma’, ‘Ouma’, ‘Homas’, ‘Omats’, ‘Oumats’, ‘Ommas’.
“The Houmas, a branch of the Muskoghean family, were living, at the close of the 17th century,
in the northern part of what is now West Feliciana Parish. At that time, they were visited by Tonti, and a
few years later, they were encountered by Iberville. In 1699 their settlement contained 140 cabins and
about 350 warriors. After a disastrous conflict with the Tunica in 1706 or 1709, the surviving Houmas
settled on Bayou St John, but moved within a few years to what is now called Ascension Parish.
D’Anville’s map of 1732 shows a settlement of ‘Petits Houmas’, several miles north of the mouth of
Bayou Lafourche, and two other villages farther south, between the present sites of Donaldsonville and
Convent. In his Journal of 1818-20, Nuttall writes of the Houmas as follows: ‘Early this morning we
passed the great plantation of General [Wade] Hampton, situated about 70 miles from New Orleans, at
Ouma point, the name of a nation or tribe of Indians now nearly extinct, and who, with the remains of
the Chetimashas, once living nearly opposite to Bayou La Fourche, are this time existing in a partly
civilized state on the Bayou Plaquemine.’
“In 1836 Gallatin found a few Houmas in the vicinity of Manchac, on the east bank of the
Mississippi.
“The Houmas, mixed with the remains of other tribes, as well as with white and ‘negro’ blood,
now occupy the coasts of Terrebonne and Lafource Parishes. In 1907 they numbered, according to
Swanton, from 876 to 890 souls. The time when they moved to their present settlements is not
definitely known.
“The name of the Indian tribe lives in that of Houma, a town which was founded by RH and
James B Grinage, and which in 1834 became the seat of justice in Terrebonne Parish. Houma is situated
on Bayou Terrebonne, just 52 miles from the Walnut Street ferry of New Orleans. The town is the
center of the sugar cane section, and it is likewise famous for its crabs, shrimp, and oysters. It forms the
terminus of a branch of the Southern Pacific railroad. The population of Houma is now ever 7,000.”1079
***MUDVILLE, GRANT PARISH1080, LOUISIANA***
JE Lemoine shows: “Mudville, Louisiana, is a very small community, located in the Northern part
of Grant Parish, Louisiana, near the village of Georgetown, Louisiana. Mudville is known in our region as
a place that is becomes instantly muddy even after a light rain. The type of soil has a greater proportion
of clay than normal. This high concentration causes the top of the ground to be slippery and also hold
moister longer than the sandy loam that is more common in this region.
“The residents that live in Mudville seem to have adjusted to the living conditions of this region
with little or no problems with the mud. Some of the same family names can be found in our ownership
records, of having lived there for over eighty years, and they are well-known and respected people in
our parish. They seem to be glad to tell you when you see them that they live in Mudville, and are eager
for you to visit them in their community.
“So Mudville, Louisiana, is an unincorporated community that has been known for over a
hundred years as Mudville, Louisiana.”1081
***OPOSSUM, EAST FELICIANA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read talks about: “Opossum creek is a tributary of the Comite River, in the Parish of East
Feliciana. The name of the creek is shown on the War Department’s map of Southern Louisiana, revised
in 1925.
1079

William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
http://louisiana.hometownlocator.com/la/grant/mudville.cfm
1081
J Elray Lemoine, Clerk of Court, Courthouse, 200 Main St, PO Box 263, Colfax, LA 71417
1080

“Opossum is adapted from the Virginia Renape apasum, ‘white’ beast, an aphetic and dialectal
form of wapasum. The Choctaw name for the opossum is similar in meaning: shukata, literally ‘white
hog’, from shukha, ‘hog’, and hata, ‘white’. The first a in shukata, as well as that in hata, has the sound
of u in hut.
“The early French explorers of Louisiana refer to the opossum as ‘rat de bois’. Thus in 1687,
Joutel gives a description of certain animals, which he compares to rats, though he does not use the
exact term ‘rat de bois’. Nevertheless he clearly has in mind the opossum. Subsequently, in 1721,
Charlevoix applies the name ‘Rat de Bois’ to an animal that can be no other than the opossum; and in
1807 Robin says: ‘Je rencontrai un opossum, que dans le pays on nomme rat de bois.’
“My colleague, Professor HA Major, whose mother tongue is French, is perfectly familiar with
the term ‘rat de bois’; but he cannot remember ever to have heard the word opossum in the French
dialects of Louisiana. Littre cites opossum and the variant ‘rat des bois’; for the latter there seems to be
no authority in Louisiana French of the present day.”1082
***OSCEOLA, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read catalogs: “The name Osceola is a war-title, derived from Creek Assi-yahola, ‘Black
Drink Singer’. The Creeks brewed a black drink from yupon leaves, and used it during their councils and
annual corn festival. Other spellings of the name were ‘Oseola’, ‘Asseloa’, and ‘Asseheholar’.
“Osceola was the noted Seminole chief, who led his people against the United States in the
Seminole war of 1835, and who, after baffling or defeating several expeditions sent against him, was
treacherously seized under a flag of truce by General Jesup. Osceola died in 1838, at the age of 34, a
prisoner in Fort Moultrie, South Carolina.
“Osceola has become a popular place name in the United States. In Louisiana the name is borne
by a hamlet in the eastern part of Tangipahoa Parish, about 14 miles southeast of Amite. Osceola seems
to be a comparatively recent settlement: it is not recorded on Hardee’s official map of 1895, but is found
on maps of somewhat later date – for example, on Cram’s map of 1907.”1083
***PINHOOK BRIDGE, TENSAS PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read conveys: “When Lafayette Parish was organized in 1823, the parish seat was
established at a place called Pin Hook, at the site of the present bridge across the Vermilion Bayou,
about two miles south of the town of Lafayette. It is over this bridge that the old Spanish trail passes.
After it had remained at Pin Hook for a short time, the seat of justice was in 1824 removed to
Vermilionville, a town which had been founded by Jean Mouten [Mouton] about the year 1821, and had
been officially named by the legislature in 1824. In 1884 the name was changed to Lafayette.
“There is a tradition that a Frenchman once got into the habit of catching his neighbors’
chickens with the aid of a grain of corn on a bent pin, which he tied to a long string and tossed out of his
window. Thus his restaurant became famous for its fried chicken, and the site gradually became known
as Pin Hook.
“In the accuracy of this tradition I have little faith. Perhaps Pin Hook comes through folk
etymology from Choctaw pinashuk, ‘linden’, ‘basswood tree’. An ancient Choctaw town called
Pinashshuk was situated near the present site of Plattsburg, Mississippi. Early references to the linden
in Louisiana are not uncommon.

1082
1083

William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927

“There is also a small farm by the name of Pin Hook, about twenty miles west of St Joseph, in
Tensas Parish. This farm is situated on a sharp bend in Choctaw Bayou, I am informed by the mayor of
St Joseph; and no doubt the form of the bend is responsible for the name of the farm.”1084
***PONCHATOULA, TANGIPAHOA PARISH, LOUISIANA***
WA Read discusses: “1808 Pontchitula; 1816 Pontchatoola; 1839 Ponchatoola River; 1846
Ponchatwola; 1853 Ponchatoloum Creek; 1814 Ponchartoula; 1871 Ponchatoula River. Ponchatoula
creek flows through the southwestern part of Tangipahoa Parish, and enters the Tickfaw several miles
southeast of Springfield, in Livingston parish.
“This is a puzzling name. After an examination of the early forms, I reached the conclusion that
Ponchatoula must signify ‘falling hair’, or ‘hanging hair’, from Choctaw pasha, ‘hair’, and itula or itola,
‘to fall’, ‘to hang’. This view was strengthened by a letter from Mr George T Goodman, of Ponchatoula,
Louisiana, who informed me that the Indians gave this fanciful name to the stream because of the
abundance of Spanish moss on the trees in its vicinity. He received this information from a ‘half-breed’,
who had been brought up among the Choctaw Indians. It should be recalled here that the early French
explorers are responsible for the name ‘Spanish moss’, which they called Barbe a l’Espagnole, the
Spanish retorting with the nickname Perruque a la Francaise.
“Other interpretations of the name are doubtless numerous. I will repeat two, which were
reported to me by Mr Goodman. The first is that an Indian girl became ill, and lost all of her hair in one
night; hence the place where the tribe had encamped was called ‘falling hair’. Another interpretation is
based on the story that Tammany, the noted Delaware chief, wandered to Louisiana and brought with
him his son Ochakwa. The latter is said to have been slain by the Indians because of his sympathy for
certain captives. When his head was hung by its hair on a tree, the Indians, thinking that the hair sang in
the wind, named the place Ponchitoawa, ‘singing hair’. Subsequently, the name is alleged to have been
corrupted by white settlers to Ponchatoula.
“Of these two stories the first may be dismissed as fiction, pure and simple; and the second is
equally incredible, having in its support not a shred of evidence, either linguistic or historical.
“The legend of ‘Singing Hair’ may be due to the translation of Ponchatalawa, the name of the
creek in the neighboring Parish of St Tammany. This creek flows almost due west, and empties into the
Tchefuncta River, northeast of Madisonville. The Ponchatalawa is recorded on Lockett’s map of 1873.
The name of the creek is usually translated ‘singing hair’, as if it had sprung from Choctaw pasha, ‘hair’,
and talowa, ‘to sing’. After the story of ‘singing Hair’ had arisen in an effort to interpret the translation
of Ponchatalawa, the same story might easily have come to be associated with Ponchatoula, the name
of the creek in the adjoining parish.
“But whether Ponchatalawa actually means ‘singing hair’, is, I think, very doubtful. It may mean
‘singing cat-tails’, or ‘singing water flags’, the first element in the name possibly being the Choctaw
pancha, ‘cat-tail’. The creek may have received this name because of the noise made by the Cane
Bayou, Chelaha, ‘noisy’, using the term with reference to the sound of the wind in the canebrakes.
Certainly, the resemblance between pancha, ‘flag’, and the first element of the proper name is so close
as to render quite dubious the translation that has hitherto prevailed.
“A town, situated three miles south of Hammond, in Tangipahoa Parish, took its name from
Ponchatoula creek. Ponchatoula is on the main line of the Illinois Central railroad, and has a population
of 1,055. It was not incorporated until February 28, 1861.”1085

1084
1085

William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927
William Alexander Read; Louisiana Place-Names of Indian Origin; Louisiana State University; 1927

***WATERPROOF, TENSAS PARISH1086, LOUISIANA***
Myles Smith expounds: “To continue with the Tensas story as compiled by Miss Rose Guice, we
delve into the early history of Waterproof:
“The name Waterproof is truly a misnomer and has been the subject of many jests in time of
overflows, because on several occasions water has reached a depth of from two to three feet over the
entire town. Abner Smalley, one of the earliest citizens of Waterproof, gave a reason for its unusual
name in one of his favorite stories. He was standing one day, high and dry, on a strip of land,
surrounded as far as the eye could see by water, while waiting for a steamboat to land for its usual
refueling of cordwood. As the boat landed, the jovial Captain, surveying the scene, called out ‘Well,
Abner, I see you are waterproof.’ Pleased with this greeting, Mr Smalley gave the name ‘Waterproof’ to
many acres of land which he had acquired.
“This, of course, was before the time of the levee system, and the spot on which Mr Smalley
stood was said to have been the highest point of land on the west side of the Mississippi between
Memphis and New Orleans.”1087
**MAINE**
HB Staples impresses: “Maine owes its name to its being supposed to be the main or chief
portion of the New England territory. The origin of the name is disclosed in an extract from the grant of
Charles I to Sir Fernando Gorges, in 1639, confirmatory of a patent given by the Plymouth Company in
1622, which grant the grandson of Gorges, through John Usher, assigned to the Massachusetts Bay
Colony ‘all the Parte, Purparte and Porcon of the Mayne Land of New England aforesaid, beginning att
the entrance of Pascatway Harbor’ (then follows the description), ‘all which said Part, Purpart or Porcon
of the Mayne Lande and all and every the premises hereinbefore named wee doe for us, our heires and
successors create and incorporate into one Province or Countie. And we doe name, ordeyne, and
appoint that the Porcon of the Mayne Lande and Premises aforesaide shall forever hereafter bee called
and named The Province or Countie of Mayne.’”1088
KB Harder notates: “For the French province of Maine, north of the Loire valley in France. The
source and reason for the name are unknown, but before 1500, French explorers were referring to the
area west of the Kennebec River as ‘Maine’ and the area to the east as ‘Acadie’. In 1622 the Council of
New England granted the ‘Province of Maine’ to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason.”1089
www.maine.gov puts pen to paper: “The name first appears in writing in 1622 as a province, in a
charter of the Council of New England granting land to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason.
The portion which came to be Capt Mason's alone in 1629, he named New Hampshire. In the same year,
a second charter labeled it Laconia. Gorges volleyed with yet another name for his territory: New
Somerset. This was strongly disliked by King Charles; he responded in a 1639 charter that it ‘shall forever
hereafter be called and named the Province or County of Mayne and not by any other name or names
whatsoever’. Despite the tone of finality, this still was not the last word: other suggestions were
Yorkshire, Lygonia and Columbus, the latter two appearing as late as 1819, when statehood was
imminent.

1086

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterproof,_Louisiana
Myles Smith; History of Waterproof; The Tensas Gazette; February 10, 1993;
http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/tensas/history/np000006.txt
1088
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1089
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1087

“It was popularly believed that the name was given in honor of the queen of Charles I, Henrietta
Maria, who purportedly was the ‘owner/landlord’ of the province of Maine in France. Discovery was
made that she had no dealings with either ‘Maine’, in the 1620s or ever ...
“Not to be ignored are a couple of interesting facts, which may have contributed to the
establishment of our name: 1) there was a small village on the coast of England once named Maine; and,
2) Sir Gorges' family came from a village which neighbored ‘Broadmayne’; at various times, it was known
as: ‘Maine’, ‘Meine’, and part of it was Parva Maen (‘Little Maine’).
“The prevailing theory has to do with a practical nautical term, ‘the main’ or ‘Main Land’,
‘Meyne’ or ‘Mainland’, which served to distinguish the bulk of the state from the numerous islands. This
is still commonly used today.
“According to GR Stewart's Names On the Land, (Houghton-Mifflin, 1958), the name was fixed in
1665, when the King's Commissioners ordered that ‘Province of Maine’ be entered from then on in
official records. Twelve years later, the Gorges patents were purchased by Massachusetts, but the name
remained intact.”1090
**MAINE’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
RA Douglas-Lithgow represents: “The aboriginal people identified with Maine consisted of the
Abnaki, or Abenaqui, a confederacy of tribes forming a sub-group of the great Algonquian Stock. The
name Abnaki was first applied to the Indians in Nova Scotia, but was afterwards used to designate all the
tribes who resided east of Massachusetts, and especially those who inhabited the western part of
Maine, and who frequently overflowed into the northern section of New Hampshire. The name comes
from Wabunaki, meaning ‘land or country of the east’, or ‘morning land’. It has been recently estimated
that they numbered about 2,500 in the year 1600. They were divided into the following principal tribes:
The Sokokis or Sochigones, settled on or about the Saco River.
The Arosaguntacooks or Arsikantegou, on or about the Androscoggin River.
The Kanibas, or Norridgewocks, on or about the Kennebec River.
The Penobscots or Pentugouet, on or about the Penobscot River.
The Pequawkets or Pegouakki, in New Hampshire.
The Amaseconti or Aumissoukanti on Farmington Falls, Sandy River.
The Wewenocks or Wawenocks, east of Sagadochoc to St George’s River.
The Rocamekos, a branch of the Pequawkets, at Fryeburg.
“The Etchemin tribe inhabited the eastern part of the state, extending from the Penobscot to
the St Croix River, and into New Brunswick as far as St Johns. Although the earlier writers refer to the
Etchemin as a family distinct from the Abnaki, modern anthropologists regard them as descendants of
the same original stock, but differing dialectically from them. They are known also as Malecites or
Maliseets, and as Passamaquoddies, as in later years, they have resided on the Passamaquoddy River.
The Malecites were termed Armouchiquois by the French.
“The following additional Abnaki tribes are sometimes referred to, but they were so small and
unimportant comparatively, as to call for no especial notice. They were the Medoctee, the Musabessik,
the Missiassik, and the Accominta.
“The various tribes of the Abnaki, while possessing many chiefs or sachems, were alike to a
supreme ruler, known as the Bashaba, up to 1615, when the last representative of this sovereign office
was killed in war. The Wewenocks are said to have been the immediate subjects of the Great Bashaba.

1090

http://www.maine.gov/msl/maine/meorigin.htm

After his death, they settled on the west side of the Sheepscot River, near the lower falls. The residence
of the Bashaba was in the vicinity of Pemaquid.”1091
***AMBEJACKMOCKAMUS FALLS, PISCATAQUIS COUNTY, MAINE***
William Bright specifies: “The Abenaki (Algonquian) name has been translated ‘a little pond
crosswise (of the usual route)’.”1092
***CANADA FALLS LAKE, SOMERSET COUNTY1093, MAINE***
KB Harder tells: “Apparently derived from Huron-Iroquoian Kanata, ‘village’ or ‘community’.
The name first appeared in 1534 in the narrative of Jacques Cartier, in reference to the Indian
community of Stadacona. It was then applied to the St Lawrence River (1638), ‘that famous river of
Canada’ on Robert Merchant’s Map of Canada, and so to the whole country. The name continued in
popular usage, although after the British conquest (1763), the official description of the colony was ‘the
province of Quebec’. The name Canada became official with the Canada Act (or Constitutional Act) of
1791, which divided the province into Lower and Upper Canada. With the passage of the British North
America Act (1867), the term was made to apply to the Dominion of Canada, a federation of Upper
Canada, Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Canada remained a British dominion until
1931, when the British Parliament passed a statute declaring that all British dominions had legal status,
and Canada became one of the voluntary partners of the British Commonwealth of Nations. [Lake] near
the Canadian border [in Maine].”1094
***CARIBOU, AROOSTOOK COUNTY1095, MAINE***
WL Bossie chronicles: “Caribou was named after the animal. Around the 1840s, the boys of the
Alexander Cochran family, considered among the first settlers, shot a caribou on the shore of the stream
where they lived. They called the stream Caribou Stream. It flows right through the resulting village,
which was named Lyndon at the beginning when it was incorporated in 1859. In the 1870s, the village's
name was changed to Caribou named for the stream named for the animal. The last caribou sighted in
this area was in 1898.”1096
***CARRYING PLACE, SOMERSET COUNTY, MAINE***
Henry Gannett declares: “Carrying Place: plantation in Somerset County, Maine, so named
because the Indians had to carry their canoes from one waterway to another en route to Canada.”1097
***DEAD MAN’S CORNER, AROOSTOOK COUNTY1098, MAINE***
1091

Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow; Native American Place Names of Rhode Island; Applewood
Books; 2001
1092
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press;
2004
1093
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Branch_Penobscot_River
1094
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1095
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribou,_Maine
1096
Wendy Lombard Bossie, Volunteer, Caribou Historical Society, 1033 Presque Isle Rd, Caribou, ME
04736; [email protected]; http://www.cariboumaine.net/
1097
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1098
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/aroostook/deadmans-corner.cfm

Diane Dubois displays: “The term ‘dead man’s corner’ is commonly used to describe a road-way
with very sharp turns where accidents frequently occur. In our community, we have a term known as
‘dead man’s gulch’, which is a portion of the road that is very steep and has been the scene of a number
of accidents.”1099
***DEADWATER, SOMERSET COUNTY1100, MAINE***
DA Spencer expresses: “Deadwater is not an unusual name for Maine. Any stretch of water that
doesn’t move much is often called ‘Dead’ in Maine. We have two Dead Rivers, a Dead Stream, Dead
Brook, Dead Lake, Deadwater Slough, Dead Cambridge River and Dead Diamond River. Dead River in
Somerset County is only ‘dead’ for part of its length, as it is a major whitewater rafting river in Maine. It
is the same river Benedict Arnold used to travel to attack Quebec back in 1775.
“The Deadwater in question is on Austin Stream and is located east of Bingham, Maine. It was
once on the railroad and had residents. Now the railroad is gone, and the only buildings left are to the
north near Moxie Pond. I actually had someone else inquire about this area last year. He was interested
in a very high trestle over Austin Stream he remembered playing on as a child. The trestle is now long
gone also. Austin Stream meanders for several miles through this flat stretch of land, before it takes a
rather dramatic turn down hill to Bingham and the Kennebec River.”1101
***KOKADJO, PISCATAQUIS COUNTY1102, MAINE***
Debbie Herman notes: “Kokadjo is actually an abbreviation for Kokadjeweemgwasebemsis! One
of the longest place names in the United States, it means ‘kettle-mountain pond’ in the Abenaki Indian
language. It was so named because of a kettle-shaped pond or lake in the area.”1103
***MOUSE ISLAND, LINCOLN COUNTY1104, MAINE***
John O’Connell records: “My understanding is that it was so named because it was in the shape
of a mouse. You could see that shape if you look at a map … and use your imagination. I can actually see
the island as I look out to the south from my house.
“To the south of Mouse Island is another island named Squirrel Island and again that is named,
they say, because of its shape.”1105
***ROBIN HOOD, SAGADAHOC COUNTY1106, MAINE***

1099

Diane Dubois, 30 High Street, Caribou, ME 04736-2796; [email protected];
http://www.cariboupubliclibrary.org/Wordpress/
1100
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/somerset/deadwater.cfm
1101
David A Spencer, Somerset County, Unorganized Territories, Coordinator, 8 County Dr, Skowhgan,
ME 04976; [email protected]; http://www.somersetcountyme.org/index.cfm?PageContent=Department.cfm&DeptID=32
1102
http://24timezones.com/mapa/usa/me_piscataquis/kokadjo.htm
1103
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1104
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/lincoln/mouse-island.cfm
1105
John O’Connell, Administrator, Lincoln County, Lincoln County Courthouse, PO Box 249, Wiscasset,
ME 04578; [email protected];
http://www.lincolncountymaine.me/pg_ctyadmin.htm
1106
http://maine.hometownlocator.com/me/sagadahoc/robinhood.cfm

RK Sewall reveals: “Mow-ho-ti-wormet, the son of deceased Mony-wormet Damarian of Sewall’s
history (the Ramegin of Drake’s), nicknamed Robinhood by the English settlers of the Sheepscot,
appears to have been well disposed to the whites.”
RK Sewall continues: “Mo-ho-tiwormet or Robinhood, the aged sachem of the lower Sheepscot
or Sagadahoc waters, was threatened with vengeance, in a message demanding redress for damages
alleged to have been done.
“This wanton disturbance of the natives of Maine excited the wildest alarm. Rumor had lent
wings to the exciting intelligence, which, in a thousand distorted forms of exaggeration, was flying
through the wilds of Maine, disturbing, exasperating, and dissipating all the elements of mutual
confidence between the red and white races. The planters and residents of the Sheepscot and
Sagadahoc became greatly disquieted.
“The great Mo-ho-tiwormet – the aboriginal lord of the soil where he dwelt, one of the most
powerful native chieftains, on whose friendship their lives and fortunes depended, had been wantonly
and unreasonably provoked. The white residents called a public meeting at the dwelling house of Capt
Patishall (Paddishall?), probably at his island-home in the lower waters of the Sagadahoc, within the
town of Phipsburg. Various plans were devised to avert the impending storm-cloud.
“The peril was common and imminent. It was finally resolved to visit and disarm the savages – a
plan, all the features of which could not have been considered, or it never would have been adopted.
“Volunteers for the delicate and dangerous service came forward, who directed their efforts
toward the natives of the Kennebec and its tributaries, proposing to make reconnaissance or fight, as
necessity and expediency might suggest. Walker, an ancient Sheepscot truck master, who, by his
probity and experience with the ‘savages’, had acquired influence over them, was successful in
persuading some of them to give up their arms and ammunition, as a guarantee of their pacific
intentions. The plan was deemed feasible and expedient, as a measure of safety to the planters. But a
‘savage’ of the Androscoggin, at an interview had with Lake, Patishall, and others, who had gone out to
execute the process of disarming the Indians, sprang on one of the party with his up-raised battle-axe,
and aimed a blow at the head of Hosea Mallet, a Frenchman. The blow was averted from its fatal
effects, but Sowen, the daring ‘savage’, was seized, bound, and immured in a cellar.
“The Sanops and aged men of the tribe deplored the aspect of affairs, declared Sowen worthy of
death, and offered to redeem his life with ‘forty beaver skins’. Some of their number were pledged as
sureties. By the dawn of the succeeding day, the wild woods of Sagadahoc rang with the shouts and
echoed with the savage notes of Mo-ho-tiwormet and his braves, who made the great dance and sang
the song of peace at the doors of the terror-stricken white man. Sowen was released. But the hostages
soon made good their escape, defying the vigilance of their keepers, and the beaver skins were never
paid.”1107
JW Hanson spells out: “Very early indeed, the whites found, and sought to hunt, and fish and
trade on the Kennebec. The land from Merry-meeting Bay down to Winslow’s Rock, in the Long Reach,
was bought by James Smith, of Ramegin, or Robinhood, May 8, 1648. He paid annually one peck of
corn, on the first day of November. But the deed gives only an Indian title. It expressly says: ‘with the
privileges [reserved to me] as hunting, fowling, fishing, and other games’. In 1649, he sold
Jeremysquam, and in 1654, Woolwich, to Edward Bateman and John Brown. In 1648 (August 8), the
land on both sides of the river, from Cushnoc (Augusta) to Wesserunsicke (Skowhegan) was sold to
William Bradford, by Monquine, Agodoademago, and Tussucke. Kennebis and Abbagadusset sold all of
the land, as head sachems of the Kennebecs, on both sides of the river, several times over; proving, if
there were no evidence besides, that they only expected buyers to occupy as tenants in common. In
1649, Kennebis sold land to Christopher Lawson at Taconnet.
1107

Rufus King Sewall; Ancient Dominions of Maine; 1859

“From the very commencement of the seventeenth century, the French had made efforts, which
were at last successful, to win over the Eastern Indians to their interest. In this they were much assisted
by the Jesuit priests, among whom stand conspicuous Biart, Quentin and Gilbert du Thet, Gabriel
Dreuillettes, Vincent and Jaques Bigot, and Sebastian Rale. These men forsook the attractions of
civilized life, and with a zeal seldom witnessed on earth, devoted themselves to what they thought the
spiritual interests of the red men of America; and filled their hearts at length with an inveterate hatred
of Englishmen, which they endeavored to wreak on every possible occasion. At the commencement of
their labors, in 1615, the Abnakis numbered about 17,000, of whom about 5,000 were Kennebecs, or
Canibas. From the Catholic chapel at Norridgewock, and from the council lodges of the different clans
on the Kennebec, where the wily priest was always seen in times of trouble, went out those influences,
which at last converted the Abnakis to Catholicism, and made them such bitter foes to the English and
all Protestants, that nearly up to the period of the Revolution, they were the most terrible enemies of all
the settlements of Maine. They were constantly excited by religious motives to miniature crusades, and
the lonely cabin of the settler was ravaged, and the awful terrors of barbaric warfare were constantly
seen. Nothing is more certain than that the efforts made by the French to conciliate the natives, efforts
which were not made until too late, by the English, caused the Indians to pursue the course, which
resulted so injuriously to the New England settlements.
“The English, at first, having fire-arms, drove the Indians away easily, and it was not until the
French furnished them, that they began to resist successfully.
“In the year 1675, Ramegin or Robinhood, was the chief of the Kennebecs, and he was firmly
allied with Tarumkin of the Anasagunticooks, and Squando of the Sokokis. Squando’s squaw was
passing along the Saco, and some rude sailors, having heard that Indian children could swim naturally,
threw her child in, and caused its death. This roused Squando, and his friend Robinhood, and they
plunged headlong into the first, or King’s Philip’s war. The Kennebecs all engaged against the English in
the six Indian wars which prevailed: 1. King Philip’s from June 24, 1675, to April 12, 1678. 2. King
William’s, from August 13, 1688, to Jan 7, 1699. 3. Queen Anne’s, from August, 1703, to July 11, 1713. 4.
Lovewell’s, from June 13, 1722, to Dec 15, 1725. 5. Spanish, from July 19, 1745, to Oct 16, 1749. 6.
French and Indian, from April, 1755, to February 22, 1760.”
JW Hanson continues: “In 1650, Thomas Webber dwelt on the upper end of Raskeagan, which
he and Parker sold to Clark and Lake, in 1658. Parker then lived on Arrowsic Island, near Squirrel Point.
In 1649, John Richards lived on Arrowsic or Arrowscag Island. He sold all of the Island except Parker’s
100 acres, in 1654. In 1658, a town was laid out on Arrowsic, in ten acre lots. A fort was erected at
Stinson’s Point, near Potter’s mills, by a man named Hammond, in 1660. Hammond also ventured to
Ticonic falls, where he had a trading house, as early as 1661. Bath was bought of Robinhood, by Robert
Gutch, Oct 27, 1661. Until this time, the settlements had steadily progressed. In 1670, there were thirty
families on Arrowsic and Parker’s Islands, and twenty families below the chops on the west side of the
river. On the breaking out of Philip’s war, the Indians destroyed or drove them all away. Gen Joseph
Sewall, to whom we are indebted for these facts, says: ‘The whole Kennebec country was deserted by
the whites, their forts, houses, and mills were burnt, their improvements destroyed, and the territory
again left free for the roam of the savage, and the occupation of his game.’ It is not known that more
than one penetrated as far north as Pittston, and established a residence there, as early as the
commencement of King Philip’s war.”1108
***ST ALBANS, SOMERSET COUNTY, MAINE***
1108

John Wesley Hanson; History of Gardiner, Pittston and West Gardiner: With a Sketch of the
Kennebec Indians, & New Plymouth Purchase, Comprising Historical Matter from 1602 to 1852; with
Genealogical Sketches of Many Families; W Palmer; 1852

KB Harder touches on: “For St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, which was named for Saint Alban,
first English martyr, beheaded by Roman soldiers at Verulam (circa 300 AD) during the persecution of
Dicletian. A small church was built on the supposed place of martyrdom and existed until King Offa of
Mercia founded a Benedictine Abbey there in 793. Formerly a Roman village, the city developed around
the abbey. In 1213 King John of England held an assembly at St Albans to redress wrongs perpetuated
by the clergy. From this meeting eventually came the Magna Carta (1217) and the future House of
Commons. In this, St Albans is looked upon also as a symbol of freedom and the rights of the common
people. All places with this name in the United States derive ultimately from the city in England.”1109
***WITCH ISLAND, LINCOLN COUNTY1110, MAINE***
Debbie Herman clarifies: “According to legend, Witch Island (also called Davis Island) was named
in the late 1800s for the woman who purchased the land as her summer home – Mrs Grace Courtland,
also known as the ‘Witch of Wall Street’. Courtland received her nickname because she had an uncanny
ability to predict how Wall Street stocks would do. Because of her magic touch with stocks, she had a
successful career giving people financial advice. The foundation of Courtland’s home still stands today.
Some say a strange glow can be seen at times, floating around the area. They say it’s Grace Courtland’s
ghost haunting the island!”1111
**MARYLAND**
HB Staples documents: “Maryland was settled under a charter granted in1632 by King Charles I
to Lord Baltimore. The State was named after Queen Henrietta Maria. In the charter, the country is
called ‘Terra Maria, Anglice, Maryland.’”1112
www.e-referencedesk.com observes: “In honor of Henrietta Maria (queen of Charles I of
England). The charter that Lord Baltimore received in 1632 from King Charles I of England specified a
name for the new colony. It was to be called Maryland to honor King Charles' wife Queen Henrietta
Maria (Queen Mary).”1113
DJ McInerney recounts: “Just to the north, the crown a ‘proprietary’ colony in 1632. King
Charles I granted a charter to the first Lord Baltimore, Sir George Calvert, whose family took personal
possession of ‘Maryland’. The colony offered a refuge for Calvert’s fellow Catholics and provided a
model of a medieval, manorial society built around large estates worked by tenant farmers. As in
Virginia, however, almost nothing worked as planned. The Protestant population soared, and Catholics
found themselves once again in the minority. And in a world of limited labor and unlimited land, a
manorial system proved hard to duplicate. Hardly the stable haven its founders intended, Maryland
became an economically and politically competitive center of settlement in the Chesapeake, drawing in
thousands of servants and, later, African slaves.”1114
***ACCIDENT, GARRETT COUNTY1115, MARYLAND***
Vanessa Stacy provides: “Following is the legend most frequently told by the local citizens:
1109

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1110
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_Island; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bristol,_Maine
1111
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1112
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1113
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/maryland.html
1114
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1115
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accident,_Maryland

“About the year 1751, a grant of land was given to Mr George Deakins by King George II of
England in payment of a debt. According to the terms, Mr Deakins was to receive 600 acres of land
anywhere in western Maryland he chose. Mr Deakins sent out two corps of engineers, each without
knowledge of the other group, to survey the best land in this section that contained 600 acres.
“After the survey, the engineers returned with their maps of the plots they had surveyed. To
their surprise, they discovered that they had surveyed a tract of land starting at the same tall oak tree
and returning to the starting point. Mr Deakins chose this plot of ground and had it patented ‘The
Accident Tract’ – hence, the name of the Town.”
Vanessa Stacy continues: “It is uncertain whether this story is legendary or factual. The Town’s
local historian, Mary Miller Strauss, has provided this account on the settlement of Accident:
“Hunters and trappers were the first white men to discover what is now the Accident Valley,
located on the plateau of the Alleghany Mountains in Maryland’s western uplands. The vale and
surrounding hills in the year 1800 were an area of gigantic growth of virgin timber. Here was a
wilderness of beautiful broad-leaved trees and hemlocks. Under the thick growth of hardwoods and
evergreens were the lush bushes of flowering rhododendrons and many species of ferns. The valley is
drained by little streams flowing from its southern part into South Bear Creek and from its northern part
into the mainstream of Bear Creek.
“The Indians hunted here, camped here, and passed through, but never chose the site to build a
village. There was one barely passable ‘road’ known as Seneca Trail, a few other Indian trails used for
foot travel and pack horses, and a small house that probably was built by the Lamars sometime before
1798.
“How did this spot get the name ‘Accident’? To this very day it remains somewhat of a mystery.
There are numerous stories advocating the name’s origin, but the following is probably the most nearly
correct story of the ‘accident’. At least it checks with the land records.
“In 1774 Lord Baltimore, Proprietor of the Maryland Colony, opened his lands ‘westward of Fort
Cumberland’ for settlement, and among the speculators who hastened to western Maryland with their
surveyors to secure choice tracts of land were Brooke Beall and William Deakins, Jr, both of Prince
George’s County. William Deakins and his brother Francis had warrants for several tracts, and on April
14, 1774, they surveyed a fine tract of 682 acres between the branches of Bear Creek, including an old
Indian camp ground on the trail to Braddock’s Road. But when the survey was completed, Brooke Beall
and his party appeared on the scene, and Beall claimed that he had selected the same tract for his
survey, calling attention to his axe marks on the trees to prove his claim. Deakins replied that it
appeared that they had selected the same land ‘by accident’. Since he and Beall were friends and land
was abundant, he proposed that Beall take over the survey already made. To this Beall agreed, although
his warrant called for 778 acres. John Hanson, Jr, Deputy County Surveyor, made out the survey to
Beall, and they named the tract ‘Accident’.
“The following August, Brooke Beall assigned his warrant and survey of Accident to William
Deakins, Jr, who secured his patent for the land from the state in 1786. Deakins sold Accident to
Captain David Lynn of Cumberland. It was later included in a resurvey called ‘Flowery Vale’, 970 acres
sold by Captain Lynn to Colonel William Lamar, who appears to have begun to clear the land prior to
1798, when he was charged with Accident, and assessed there with nineteen cattle and other property.
Colonel Lamar settled his sister, Priscilla, wife of James Drane of Prince George’s County, their family,
and slaves, in Accident about the year 1800 or soon thereafter. The Dranes were the first permanent
settlers at Accident. Their frontier home is just east of the Town limits, the oldest standing residence in
Garrett County.
“In conclusion, the present Town of Accident was named after the land grant, which lay to the
east of the Town’s site. Parts of two military lots were chosen for the site of the frontier village, perhaps

as early as the 1820s. A record of the Town’s earliest history has not been discovered as of the present
date (1985).”1116
***BALD FRIAR FERRY, CECIL COUNTY1117, MARYLAND***
George Johnston says: “Some of the army are said to have encamped near Harrisville the same
night, which seems quite probable, from the fact that Lafayette spent the night about midway between
that place and the Brick Meeting-house. The next day the army crossed the Susquehanna in scows at
Bald Friar* Ferry, and proceeded to Baltimore. The troops under General Lafayette were all from
Northern States, and though they had willingly engaged in the expedition down the bay, they became
dissatisfied when ordered to engage in a summer campaign in the South. They were poorly clad and
without shoes, and showed so much discontent that it was predicted when they left Bald Friar Ferry that
not one-half of them would reach Baltimore. But by hanging one deserter and severely reprimanding
some other delinquents, Lafayette preserved his little army intact and safely reached Baltimore, where
the wants of his army supplied.
“* This ferry is on the Susquehanna River, a short distance below Mason and Dixons line. It is
said to have been kept at one time by a bald-headed man, called Fry, at which time it was called Bald
Fry’s Ferry.”1118
Erika Quesenbery spotlights: “Bald Friar exists in name only.
“A sign placed by the Historical Society of Cecil County details the once famous ferry and ford
and a road bears its name. Other than that, there is nothing left of the historical significant site.
“The name Bald Friar came from the man who operated a ferry across the Susquehanna River,
and in Johnston’s History of Cecil County, the name is explained. ‘A bald headed man, named Frye, gave
the area a slightly abridged edition of his name.’ The ferry boat, Bald Frye’s Ferry, was adapted to Bald
Fryar’s Ferry, the area assumed the name.
“As early as 1500, the Susquehannock Indians had an encampment in the area and are said to
have used the low water in the area as a crossing spot. When the first white explorers and settlers came
to Cecil County, they followed the example of the Indians.
“A historical reference by GE Gifford compiles letters and journals of people who visited the
county. It contains a detailed letter, presumably written sometime during the 1700s, about Bald Friar,
showing it to be an area of epic importance.
“The letter describes the area as being ‘three miles below the Mason Dixon line near mountains
on the south bank called Bald Fryar’s Hills’. The original document is believed to be written by a British
spy who described the area for British forces. ‘The ford is good and quite practicable for wagons but
only in a time of low water. It is not to be feared that the enemy will use this, provided it is defended,
because there is only one road going up Bald Fryar’s Hill on the south bank, which is very high and quite
steep,’ the letter reads.

1116

Why Our Town is Called ‘Accident’; Mayor and Town Council, PO Box 190, Accident, MD 21520;
provided by Vanessa Stacy, Local History/Genealogy Assistant, The Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett
County, Oakland Library, 6 North Second St, Oakland, MD 21550; [email protected];
http://www.relib.net/
1117
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,589071,n,bald%20friar%20ferry.cfm
1118
George Johnston; History of Cecil County, Maryland, and the early settlements around the head of
Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with sketches of some of the old families of Cecil County;
Elkton; 1881; provided by Mary Ellen Raun, Reference and Information Desk, Cecil County Public Library,
301 Newark Ave, Elkton, MD 21921; [email protected]; http://www.cecil.ebranch.info/

“In 1781 General Lafayette and his troops used the ford and ferry to cross the Susquehanna
River for Yorktown. Some books indicate the destination may have been Baltimore and Annapolis,
however. Locals reported the men were in dire straits and said the troops would not make it to their
destination.
“The troops, primarily men from northern states, were angered when they learned their duty
would extend into southern states. Many of them showed their disapproval.
“To raise morale and keep the troops in line, General Lafayette decided to ‘drive some spirit into
them’. Delinquents were severely reprimanded in public and one deserter was hanged along the docks
at Bald Friar.
“Bald Friar had a chance to grow into a town in 1808. The Port Deposit Bridge Company, Inc,
planned to build a bridge at Bald Friar, following a shipping boon brought on by the new canal at Port
Deposit.
“Cecil County representatives of the company included: James Sewell, Adam Whann, Henry W
Physic, William Hollingsworth, Thomas W Veazey and Thomas Williams. Another representative was
John Stump, a Cecil Countian removed to Harford County from his Perry Point home.
“These commissioners were to raise $250,000 in shares of $50 each, to construct a bridge from
Harford County to Bald Friar. The commissioners were visionaries, but weren’t very good pitchmen, and
the effort failed. The loss of the bridge kept ‘Bald Fryar’ from growing like many of its neighboring areas
did following the construction of bridges.
“Ten years later, 1818, the first mile long bridge over the river was built. There was no need for
the ferry and ford, and it fell into disrepair. When the bridge was damaged due to cattle crossings, fires
or during floods in 1846, 1865 and 1904, old timers recalled the old ferry and a simpler time.
“The Conowingo Bridge was maintained for 11 decades until 1928, when the Conowingo Dam
was completed, carrying Route 1 through Harford and Cecil Counties. The reminder of the old bridge
was blown up, with its bulk believed to have been sucked into ‘Job’s Hole’. The completion of the dam
marked the end of Bald Friar and Old Town Conowingo, drowning both behind the new dam.”1119
***CABIN JOHN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY1120, MARYLAND***
Judith Welles underscores: “There are several stories about the origin of the name ‘Cabin John’.
According to one of them, it was named for a hermit named John who had a cabin near the present
Union Arch Bridge. Some versions say that the hermit was the husband of the ‘female stranger’ whose
tombstone is in Alexandria, Virginia. Edith M Armstrong writes in her Cabin John history: ‘Another story
makes the mysterious John a pirate who eluded his own crew and made his way up the Potomac to bury
his treasure. This interpretation was also held in good faith by the American Land Co, which put in many
deeds the intriguing provision that ‘The Party of the first part reserves the right to one-half interest in
any treasure or articles of special value which may have been hidden on said lot or parcel by John of the
Cabin.’ ‘However, in many old records, as far back as 1715, the creek is referred to as Captain John’s Run
or Branch. Thus it would seem that Cabin John is a corrupt spelling of Captain John.’
“And who was ‘Captain John’? He could well have been Captain John Smith, founder of
Jamestown and the first man to map the Potomac River near Cabin John. The following is a description
of the Cabin John area as recorded by Captain Smith in 1608: ‘The river … maketh his passage downe a
low pleasant valley overshadowed in manie places with high rocky mountain from whence distill
innumerable sweet and pleasant springs … Having gone so high as we could with the bote, we met
1119

Erika Quesenbery; Bald Friar: only the historic crossing’s name remains; Rising Sun Herald; July 26,
1995; provided by Margaret Glover, Volunteer Researcher, The Historical Society of Cecil County, 135
East Main St, Elkton, MD 21921; [email protected]; http://www.cecilhistory.org/blog
1120
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_John,_Maryland

divers savages in canowes well loaden with flesh of beares, deere, and other beasts whereof we had
part. Here we found mighty rocks growing in some places above the ground as high as the shrubby
tree.’”1121
***INDIAN BONE, DORCHESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND***
Hamill Kenny comments on: “Indian bones are said to have been found here. In the old Indian
fields near ‘Indian Bone Farm’, stands the colonial mansion, ‘Algonquin Manor’.
“‘Indian Bridge’. St Mary’s County. Forman states that Wolseley Manor, patented in 1664, lay
at the head of St Mary’s River, near the ‘Indian Bridge’.
“‘Indian Cave’. In Cross District, Howard County, Baltimore & Howard 1878 mentions Mrs MO
Davis, ‘Indian Cave’.
“‘Indian Caves’. On ‘Snow Bird Valley’ Farm, Montrose, near Reisterstown, Baltimore County. It
is told that a schoolteacher, Miss Smith, who ventured into these caves, found them thirty or forty feet
high and leading from one to another. The discovery of tomahawks, feathers, arrows, and flint stones
indicates that Indians once lived here.”1122
***MATTAWOMAN, CHARLES COUNTY1123, MARYLAND***
Hamill Kenny emphasizes: “A tributary (Mattawoman Creek) of the Potomac River, Charles
County; a village near the headwaters of that creek; an obscure stream (*Mattowamon) on the Eastern
Shore, mapped by Herrman in 1673. For 1659 and 1663, the Maryland Archives have ‘Matawomen
Creeke’. Compare Captain Smith’s *Mataughquamend of 1608.
“Ruttenber, relating Mattawoman to Matteawan (NY), accepts Gerard’s translation, ‘It
debouches into.’ Dunlap and Weslager, studying Herrman’s obscure Eastern Shore *Mattowamon,
accept an analysis based on Tooker’s translation of Mattawommax (NY).
“But it is a mistake, I think, to regard the Maryland Mattawoman as any other than Captain
Smith’s original Mataughquamend of 1608, whose ending –quamend, by folk etymology, has evidently
become the modern ending –woman. In brief, so reason dictates, it is Mattaughquamend, not
Mattawoman, that one must solve.
“In keeping with this conviction, one puts aside the opening Mat(t)a- of the Maryland form, and
seeks an Algonquian word to account for the opening Mattaughqua- of Smith’s Mataughquamend. As it
turns out, matakwi ‘delightful, pleasant’ seems to be the answer. The rest of the word would be an
impersonal form, appearing here as –mind. The consequent compound (*matakwi –mind) would mean
‘Where one goes pleasantly’.”1124
***PORT TOBACCO, CHARLES COUNTY1125, MARYLAND***
James McSherry gives: “Much was hoped from the conversion of Tayac, but, in less than a year,
he died most piously, in the practice of the religion he had so solemnly adopted. His young daughter,
1121

Judith Welles; Cabin John: Legends and Life of an Uncommon Place; Cabin John Citizens Association;
2008; http://www.cabinjohn.org/history/
1122
Hamill Kenny; The Placenames of Maryland, Their Origin and Meaning; Museum and Library of
Maryland History, Maryland Historical Society; 1984; provided by Toby Gearhart, Dorchester County
Public Library, 303 Gay St, Cambridge, MD 21613; http://www.dorchesterlibrary.org/
1123
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/md/charles/mattawoman.cfm
1124
Hamill Kenny; The Placenames of Maryland, Their Origin and Meaning; Museum and Library of
Maryland History, Maryland Historical Society; 1984; provided by Mariana Sprouse, PD Brown Memorial
Library, 50 Village St, Waldorf, MD 20602; [email protected]; http://www.ccplonline.org/
1125
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Tobacco_Village,_Maryland

now become queen of the Piscataways, was not long after baptized at St Mary’s, having already learned
the English language. The example of Tayac and his family was followed by many other natives. The
inhabitants of the town of Potopaco, now Port Tobacco, to the number of one hundred and thirty,
together with their queen, were baptized – the chiefs and principal men of Potomack town, on the
Virginia shore, and the chiefs of several neighboring villages were converted. While Anacoston, sachem
of a tribe adjoining the Piscataways, became so firmly attached to the whites that he wished to take up
his residence among them, as a citizen of the colony. The missionaries, who effected so much good,
were Father Andrew White, who has been called the apostle of Maryland, Fathers John Altham, who
died at St Mary’s, soon after the baptism of Tayac, John Brock, and Thomas Copley. Others soon
followed to extend the missions, and supply the place of those, who sunk under the exposure and
fatigue of their laborious duties.”1126
JL Barbour, Sr, pens: “Anyone visiting what remains of the town of Port Tobacco today would
find it difficult to imagine that in an earlier era, here stood a thriving and important center of commerce
and social activity. In its prime the village probably consisted of approximately 80 buildings, including a
courthouse and church standing side-by-side, handsome colonial dwellings, stores and hotels along with
other lesser buildings.
“Port Tobacco was one of Maryland’s earliest towns, established within a few years of the
settlement of the Maryland Colony in 1634. It is nestled in the heart of the Port Tobacco Valley and
overlooks the Port Tobacco River. Port Tobacco played a proud and colorful rule in early American
history. Putting the matter in proper prospective, when viewed in relation, it can be truthfully said that
Port Tobacco was part of ‘where it all began’.
“Strangely enough the town does not owe its name to the magic weed which has been an
important commodity throughout Maryland history. Rather it is derived from an Indian name variously
anglicized to ‘Pertafacco’, ‘Potopaco’, ‘Potobac’ and ‘Porttobatto’ and understood to describe the
town’s location ‘between the hills’. One of the earliest references found to this locality is contained on
the map of Captain John Smith, bearing the date 1606 and showing the Indian Village of Potopaco.
“About the year 1639, Father Andrew White converted to Christianity the Indian Queen who
ruled the Potopacos and one hundred and thirty of her subjects. Father White made the Potopaco
village his headquarters during the ensuing years. About the same time (1639), Job Chandler of London
received a grant of 6,000 acres in this locality, which included the site of the village. Chandler built a
two-room cabin which is still standing, and which forms part of the present mansion at ‘Chandler’s
Hope’. On the east bank of the Port Tobacco River, a settlement known as Chandlerstown sprang up,
which later became the village of Port Tobacco.”1127
***SCIENTISTS’ CLIFFS, CALVERT COUNTY1128, MARYLAND***
A Dream Realized: A History of the Scientists’ Cliffs Association: 1937-1987 scribes: “Back in the
early nineteen thirties, George Flippo Gravatt and his wife Annie Evelyn Rathbun Gravatt were seeking a
suitable site for the establishment of a summer colony for scientists. They wanted a place within easy
driving distance of Washington DC, and had examined a number of sites on the Potomac River and along
the Bay.
“Flippo and Annie were both forest pathologists with the Department of Agriculture. At the
time Flippo was working on the blight, which was devastating the stands of American chestnut. It was
1126

James McSherry; History of Maryland: from its first settlement in 1634, to the year 1848; 1849
James L Barbour, Sr; Port Tobacco: Charles County, Maryland Prior to 1895: A Collection of Sketches
of Early Structures and the Town Plan; 1971; provided by Mariana Sprouse, PD Brown Memorial Library,
50 Village St, Waldorf, MD 20602; [email protected]; http://www.ccplonline.org/
1128
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientists_Cliffs,_Maryland
1127

thought that there were some chestnut trees in this area, which showed a natural resistance to the
blight. This pursuit of the American chestnut is probably what led Flippo to discover our present site.
Flippo was attracted by the combination of trees, streams, ravines, cliffs and a stretch of the Bay with a
good beach.
“There was also the unusual nature of the cliffs themselves. For more than a century, the fossil
deposits in these cliffs had been a magnet for geologists and paleontologists, both professional and
amateur. Many of the cliffs in this location are about 100 feet high. Streams had cut numerous ravines
providing access to the cliff base, with its sandy beach and the waters of the bay.
“Flippo felt this was the site he and Annie had been seeking for their summer colony, and he
made his first land purchase on July 25, 1935. Additional purchases were made by Flippo, his wife
Annie, and his sister, Margaret Gravatt Miles, between 1936 and 1961. A total of approximately 752
acres was eventually included in the Gravatt-Miles property. In some areas only the beach front
property was purchased. Other purchases included whole farms and woodland on both sides of
Scientists’ Cliffs Road extending to Parkers Creek Road.
“Many of these plots are extremely irregular, and the survey boundary markers were often of a
transitory nature. For example, some markers are: ‘a stake fixed at the foot of a large chestnut tree’; ‘a
clump of locust stumps standing on a hillside’; ‘a stone fixed in the corner of a fence’; ‘a large red oak
tree’ and ‘a small pine tree’.”
A Dream Realized continues: “In the fall of 1935, a number of the Gravatt’s colleagues from the
Department of Agriculture joined them for a day of picnicking at their first purchase. There were
speeches and a dedication. The name ‘Scientists’ Cliffs’ was given to the area. Annie called it ‘Flippo’s
Folly’, and Flippo said the name stuck for quite some time.
“Development began at once. The Chestnut Cabin (older section) was begun that fall and
completed in the spring of 1936. Five smaller cabins, and later several larger ones, were built nearby.
The first year’s operations were on a day visit and rental basis. The first purchaser, Dorothy Jane
Blaisdell, bought Lot 7 in July 1936, and the colony began to grow.
“The original effort, maintained throughout the years, was to create a very ‘different’ sort of
community, one that would be as simple and inexpensive as possible, and a place where people of
comparable means and similar tastes might relax beside the Bay. The decision was for log construction.
A saw mill that produced logs was installed. The first few cabins were built of blight-killed chestnut.
Subsequent cabins were built of tulip poplar or pine logs. In the mid-fifties, log construction gave way to
wood siding. There have been a least two log cabins built in recent years. These were pre-cut logs with
insulated joints shipped in from out of state.”1129
***SHANTYTOWN, ALLEGANY COUNTY1130, MARYLAND***
Ray Leidinger states: “This is an 1887 map of the area known as ‘Shantytown’ in Cumberland.
None of the buildings shown exist today. They were wood frame/clapboard structures, which I vaguely
remember from childhood. Wineow Street, although seemingly appropriately named, was named for an
early Cumberland family. In the 1890s, street car tracks were laid on Wineow Street. Street car service
ended in the early 1930s in Cumberland.
“The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is on the right side of this map. This was a huge employer in the
city, with railroad traffic always heavy.
1129

A Dream Realized: A History of the Scientists’ Cliffs Association: 1937-1987; 1987; provided by Lisa M
Viverette, Executive Administrative Assistant to the County Administrator, Calvert County Government,
175 Main Street, Courthouse, Prince Frederick, MD 20678; [email protected];
http://www.co.cal.md.us/
1130
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1713457,n,shanty%20town.cfm

“The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is on the left side on this map. Cumberland was the western
terminus of the canal – the eastern terminus was Washington, DC. This area was the canal basin, with
many witnesses where coal, brought from the mountain mines by railroad, was transferred to canal boat
for transport east. The canal ceased operation about 1930.
“The basin area was filled in, and work began on a four lane highway through this area in the
late 1950s. All of the area marked on this map as Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is now a highway.
“The buildings between the canal and Wineow Street (85) are long gone. No buildings are there
today.
“There are some businesses in the 84 section, but these are ‘newer’ buildings. None of the
buildings pictured here exist today.
“Although this map identifies some of the buildings as dwellings, it could have hardly been
considered a residential neighborhood. There were saloons and flop houses, serving workers from the
canal and the railroad. It was not a neighborhood of high tea or upper class society.
“I doubt that many under the age of 40 would be able to point out where Shantytown was.
“As to the origin of the name ‘Shantytown’, I’ve never seen a map identifying this area as
‘Shantytown’. Other areas of Cumberland, ‘Dumb Hundred’; ‘Chapel Hill’; ‘Vinegar Hill’; ‘Egypt’, etc; are
not remembered by many. They were nicknames for neighborhoods, never officially designated by
those names. ‘Shantytown’ was ‘Shantytown’ because the buildings there were shanties, and the
people who lived there were the bottom run of the social ladder, who served transients.
“The main claim to fame for Shantytown was that the only Cumberland police officer killed in
the line of duty was killed in an incident that occurred in Shantytown.”1131
***SPOOK HILL, BALTIMORE COUNTY1132, MARYLAND***
Frank Henry alludes: “Spook Hill, on the northeastern shore of Prettyboy Reservoir, is a quiet
echo of its olden days, when it was a busy place and got its name from weird tree-groves and the loud
croaking in Frog Hollow.
“They were the days long before 1933, when the dammed-up Gunpowder Falls formed the
reservoir and flooded out the mills and homes on its banks.
“Today Spook Hill is a secluded, wooded little name-place of six houses occupied by members of
the Matthews family, who have lived here for more than three generations.
“Allen W Matthews, 53 years old, who was born in the old farmhouse still occupied by his
widowed mother Elizabeth, says he doesn’t know who first called the neighborhood Spook Hill. ‘But,’ he
says, ‘it is easy to tell why they called it that. These woods were dark and spooky, especially at night,
and when the frogs were croaking, it seemed even spookier.’
“The 45-acre Matthews farm is still being cultivated. On the edge of it, Mr Matthews has built
himself a small house, leaving the old homestead on his mother. And he has given each of his grown
children land for the houses they have built – Carl, Allen W, Jr, and Margaret, now Mrs Norman Siffler.
He also gave land to his son Edgar, who has since moved away.
“‘This must have been a pretty weird place in the old days to get such a name,’ says Mrs Allen
Matthews, Jr. ‘But you can see that now all is bright and cheerful on the Hill. And we live quietly. The
men folks are out early to their jobs at the contracting firm down near Towson.
“‘Sometimes strangers look a little startled when you tell them that you live on Spook Hill and
that the only way to get here is by the Spook Hill road. But the only excitement we have had lately was
a woods fire down the road. It happened on Easter Sunday, of all times. Somebody called the Hereford
fire company, and they had the fire out in no time.’
1131
1132

Ray Leidinger, Jr, 817 Memorial Ave, Cumberland, MD 21502
http://maryland.hometownlocator.com/md/baltimore/spook-hill.cfm

“One of the old-timers of Spook Hill and Frog Hollow is Bayard Hoshall, 79 years old, who now
lives on 63 acres at Rayville, another place-name with one general store, a mile and a quarter back from
Spook Hill. Rugged-mannered and sharp-minded, Mr Hoshall slipped his spectacles up on his forehead,
sat down at the dining-room take and asked:
“‘What would you like to know about Spook Hill?’
“‘Yes, I was born there near the Gunpowder and was raised there. We figure we had about 400
acres of good farmland, but when Baltimore city bought it for the reservoir, they surveyed our land and
said we only had 319 acres and paid us for that much. I still think we had 400 acres – or something like
that.
“‘How did Spook Hill get its name? I don’t rightly know who named it that, but I can tell you
how it got its name. When I was a boy, I had a cousin named Arch Hoshall. I guess he might have been
a forty-second cousin – there were quite a few Hoshalls around in those days. Well, Arch used to tell us
some of the things that went on in the woods at night, especially the noises he heard.
“‘Arch said he could hear something in the woods running with heavy chains. He could hear
them rattling. And sometimes he could hear something hollering and screaming. Spook Hill had its
name before that, but I guess yarns like that gave it its name.
“‘In the same neighborhood there were two mills on the Gunpowder in the old days. There was
Shamberger’s grist mill and Mitchell’s paper mill. Farmers used to bring their grain from all around to
the grist mill. You wouldn’t know that place now – all under water. But you know all our land is not
underwater. I guess only about 50 acres of it is. The rest of it they have got planted in those trees that
protect the land. It is a mighty changed place, I tell you.’
“In the 1860s, this neighborhood was a busy one. There was an old stone tavern – ‘as good a
place as any to spend the night’. Even before that time there was industry, as was shown by the ruins of
an old paper mill.
“The neighborhood, too, was the home of the famous old Shamberger family, who migrated
here in about 1790 from Pennsylvania. They had a 400-acre farm and a sprawling sixteen-room stone
house. The family promoted the ill-fated Hampstead Railroad, which was connected with the Northern
Central at Parkton. They started to build it toward Western Maryland, but it went bankrupt.”1133
Craig Shipp communicates: “Ghost Hill is also known as Spook Hill: The Gapland Road outside of
the historic district of Burkittsville, Maryland, winds over the hills and through the valleys to the state
park dedicated to Civil War correspondents. The area was the scene of vicious battles during the Civil
War, and one in particular is worth noting.
“For days Union and Confederate forces marched toward Burkittsville in anticipation of a battle
that would determine strategic control of a large area. At dusk the day before the expected encounter,
only a large hill separated the two armies. Scouts from both sides saw the fires in the opposing camps,
and the night before what would assuredly be a deciding battle, there seemed to be a charged
atmosphere of anticipation and restlessness.
“The commanders of the Confederate forces had no intention of spending a tranquil night
before battle. Troops were quietly mobilized to draw the cannons and ammunition to the top of the
separating hill, in order that Rebel forces could gain a strategic advantage during the night by being able
to fire down on Union soldiers, rather than scrambling for control of the hill when morning came. The
horses were quieted, and the men stealthily began pulling the implements of war toward the ridge.
Hopefully they could gain the position before the Union soldiers awakened. Alert Union scouts noted
the unusual activity during the night, however, and immediately reported the Confederate mobilization
to their commanders.

1133

Frank Henry; Spook Hill in Maryland; The Sun (1837-1987); May 14, 1961

“No reveille sounded, and no bugle called. But the Union soldiers were awakened, quickly
assembled, and armed. Torchless, the Union army ascended the hill and silently took positions. Heavy
artillery was left behind. Below, Confederate troops were struggling with the heavy cannons, 'pushing
and pulling them up the face of the hill.
“Without warning the Union troops charged, firing into the surprised and unprepared Rebel
soldiers. Cannons were abandoned and rolled down the hill, as soldiers scrambled for cover and
ammunition. Relentless Union soldiers pursued, slaughtering thousands. Remaining Confederate troops
regrouped and hastily retreated, as the sun rose on the day the battle was supposed to have taken
place.
“For more than a century residents of the area have seen campfires materialize on open fields
and in wooded areas both adjacent to this battlefield and at various locations on South Mountain.
Occasionally several phantom-like soldiers are seen stirring fires, but upon closer examination both fire
and figures vanish. There is an eerie, intangible quality to the area on certain nights, but that hill - as
well as Cherry Lane near Braddock Heights - is not wholly devoid of more tangible evidence.
“Many people have taken their automobiles to the location outside of Burkittsville, where the
road ascends the hill described. Turning off the ignition and putting the gear shift in neutral, one can sit
at the base of the hill ... then silently begin rolling up the hill, powered by unknown means.
“It is told phantoms of the Confederate army continue to haunt the area, pushing vehicles up
the hill as though they were cannon. No scientific explanation has been offered that satisfies those who
know of the haunted hill ... and the curious phenomena continues to this day.”1134
**MASSACHUSETTS**
HB Staples depicts: “The life of Massachusetts, as an automatic State, begins with the charter of
1691, which merged into one province the Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay jurisdictions and also
the Province of Maine. The present name of the State is derived from the Bay of that name. In fact, the
word ‘Bay’ was a part of the name of the younger colony, which alone had received a charter from the
Crown, and was retained in the name of the new province, and afterwards in the name of the State, till
the Constitution of 1780 went into operation. The Massachusetts Bay received its name from the
Massachusetts Indians who peopled its shores at the time of John Smith’s visit in 1614. The word
Massachusetts is an Anglicized plural of Massachusett, meaning ‘at or near the great hills,’ ‘at or near
the great hill country’, from massa ‘great’, wadchu (in composition adchu – plural wadchuash
‘mountains’ or ‘hills’, and the suffix et ‘at or near’. This analysis of the name is that given by Dr Trumbull
in his learned treatise on Indian names.”1135
KB Harder enumerates: “From the Indian name for a group of hills (the present Blue Hills) near
what is now Massachusetts Bay. The name massa, ‘great’, and chuset or wachusett, ‘hill’, in
combination means ‘great hill’ or ‘great mountain place’. The bay was named by the Pilgrims, and later
the colony became known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony.”1136
www.e-referencedesk.com gives an account: “Massachusetts takes its name from the
Massachusetts tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the Great Blue Hill region, south of Boston. The
Indian term supposedly means ‘at or about the Great Hill’, an apparent reference to the tallest of the
Blue Hills, a recreation area south of the town of Milton.

1134

Craig Shipp; Spook Hill Burkittsville, Maryland;
http://www.annearundelcounty.com/Spook_Hill_Burkittsville_Maryland-a-381.html
1135
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1136
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

“There are, however, a number of interpretations of the exact meaning of the word. The Jesuit
missionary Father Rasles thought that it came from the word Messatossec, ‘Great-Hills-Mouth’: mess
(mass) meaning ‘great’; atsco (as chu or wad chu) meaning ‘hill’; and sec (sac or saco) meaning ‘mouth’.
The Reverend John Cotton used another variation: mos and wetuset, meaning ‘Indian arrowhead’,
descriptive of the Native Americans hill home. Another explanation is that the word comes from massa
meaning ‘great’ and wachusett, ‘mountain-place’.”1137
DJ McInerney points out: “Another group of religious outsiders from England landed in America
in 1620. This time, the settlers were not Catholics but Protestants, a group of ‘Pilgrim’ dissenters who
chose to separate from the Church of England, rather than stay within a faith whose doctrines, rituals,
and hierarchy smacked too much of that of Rome. Although intending ‘to plant the first colony in the
northern Parts of Virginia’, their ship, the Mayflower, took them 200 miles off course, landing in
Massachusetts Bay in a place named Plymouth. Because they were outside the area controlled by the
Virginia Company, the settlers created their own rules for life in English America. In the ‘Mayflower
Compact’, the adult males in the community agreed to ‘covenant and combine ourselves together into a
civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Protection’, promising ‘all due Submission and
Obedience’. Good order was all the more important because, as their political leader William Bradford
explained, the Pilgrims lived in ‘a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men’.
Besides, the settlers saw themselves as part of a divine project to purify religion; nothing less than
perfection would do.
“The Pilgrims were soon joined in Massachusetts by another, more ambitious group of church
reformers who came up with their own design for living. These ‘Puritans’ were mainly
Congregationalists, who had not yet given up on the Church of England and planned to cleanse it from
within – though at a distance of 3,000 miles. More worldly-wise than the Pilgrims, the new arrivals
organized themselves into the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629 and began arriving in America the
following year. Their corporate charter gradually evolved into their structure of government, suggesting
the importance of economic calculation even in spiritual ventures. The Puritans were not averse to
success; after all, whether one was a farmer or a financier, it was important for individuals to pursue the
‘calling’ into which God had placed them. Besides, the settlers in Massachusetts Bay not only had a
calling; they also saw themselves as ‘covenanted’, on special terms with a God, who wanted them to
change the course of earthly and redemptive history. They were to establish a harmonious, Christian
community for themselves, resist Satan’s wiles, and restore the church to its original state of ‘primitive’
purity. Theirs was no ordinary colony but a ‘holy commonwealth’. While recognizing individual
differences, social ranks, private property, and local autonomy, leaders urged settlers to remember their
communal existence, their common commitments, and their collective interests. Nothing pleased their
God more than unity. He wanted his covenantees to avoid contention, resist division, and live as one.
Governor John Winthrop declared that they stood ‘as a Citty upon a Hill’, convinced that ‘the eyes of all
people are uppon us’. Massachusetts Bay’s colonists thus became the first Americans to proclaim their
special sense of mission and to identify themselves as part of a redeemer nation that would serve as a
model for the whole world.
“That meant the ‘contrary-minded’ need not apply. Puritans wanted religious freedom for
themselves to do as their God presumably saw fit – but not religious freedom for everyone. The world
was filled with all kinds of cock-eyed doctrines. If false prophets gained a foothold in Massachusetts
Bay, the most important spiritual cause since the Reformation would go down to defeat. In 1635,
officials banished Roger Williams, who dissented from the dissenters by insisting on a complete
separation of church and state (in order to protect pure congregations from the impurities of politics).
In 1637, Anne Hutchinson went on trial, technically for claiming that she was in personal union with the
1137

http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/massachusetts.html

Holy Spirit, practically for claiming that a woman could defy male religious authorities. And in the 1680s
and early 1690s, hysteria over witchcraft spread in Puritan communities, reaching a peak in Salem,
Massachusetts, where tribunals accused over 100 people (mostly older woman) and executed 20.
“Puritans fanned out from Massachusetts Bay to other areas of the region called ‘New England’.
Some traveled to Connecticut, others to New Hampshire and Maine. Williams helped create Rhode
Island which, for a time, was the only colony that granted religious toleration of all faiths.”
DJ McInerney relates: “Tensions escalated again the next year with a new ministry and a new
colonial program. Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, assumed that if colonists conceded
Parliament’s right to regulate commerce and impose trade levies, then duties could provide a legitimate
source of money for the Empire. The Revenue Act of 1767 slapped duties on paper, glass, paint, lead,
and tea imported from Britain. The money raised would pay the salaries of royal officials in America. To
keep the system running smoothly, Townshend secured legislation to enforce commercial laws more
strictly. And to keep the colonies in line, he urged Parliament to suspend New York’s assembly, after the
colony failed to provide funds for quartering British troops.
“Colonists now had even more reason to complain. Hated taxes reappeared in a new guise;
royal officers won financial independence from colonial legislatures; officials could try violators of
commercial laws in vice-admiralty courts; and the British could dissolve American assemblies at will. In
response, another round of protests, petitions, boycotts, and civil disorder flared up in the colonies.
Trade declined and tensions mounted for nearly two years. Then, on 5 March 1770, the conflict moved
to another level, when a Boston crowd taunted soldiers stationed in their city. British troops opened
fire, killing five and wounding six. News of the ‘Boston Massacre’ spread quickly and aroused even
greater hostility to imperial policy.
“Earlier that very day, 3,000 miles away, Parliament had already acted to contain the colonial
costs. Concerned by a 40 percent decline in exports to America and alarmed by escalating protests, the
new Prime Minister, Lord North, urged repeal of the Townshend duties. Parliament complied but
retained the duty on tea as a sign of its rightful authority over the colonists. The British once again
believed they had held their ground; Americans once again believed their opponent had retreated.
However skewed their readings of events, the continued misunderstanding at least helped to restore
calm (and healthy commerce) for another two years.”
DJ McInerney stipulates: “In order to save the faltering East India Company, Parliament passed
the Tea Act of 1773. The firm received a virtual monopoly over the tea trade to America and, through
customs waivers, managed to undersell the popular but illegally smuggled Dutch tea favored by most
colonists. While the beverage’s price was low, Townshend’s duty on tea remained in place. The Tea
Act’s economic favoritism and constitutional challenge were too much for patriots, who condemned the
measure and blocked crews from unloading the cargo. On 16 December 1773, Bostonians took matters
further by dumping the city’s 10,000 pounds consignment into the harbor. Britain responded by closing
Boston harbor, reorganizing Massachusetts government, naming a military governor, moving trials of
royal offenders to England, and quartering troops in private homes. Britain intended the ‘Intolerable
Acts’ of 1774 to strike fear in the hearts of Americans. Instead, the laws united patriots as never before
and intensified challenges to British authority.”
DJ McInerney writes: “The first encounter between patriot militias and British forces came on 19
April 1775. Redcoats in Boston received orders to seize patriot arms and supplies stockpiled in Concord,
some 20 miles away. Before reaching their destination, British troops exchanged fire with American
‘minutemen’ on the Lexington village green. Soldiers proceeded to Concord, fought again with patriot
forces, and then withdraw back to Boston, facing militia attacks along the way. In the end, the British
suffered 273 casualties, the Americans 95. Two months later, a second and bloodier clash occurred at
Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill near Boston, claiming over 1,000 British casualties and some 400 American

dead and wounded. On that single June day, the Empire endured the worst losses it would face in the
struggle with colonists.”
DJ McInerney articulates: “There was good reason to pursue such a policy because, while most
colonists were still neutral in the controversy, the most belligerent were centered in Boston. Still, signs
pointed in a more ominous direction. British forces in Boston suffered heavy losses in their ‘limited’
police action. The Congress that honored monarchic sovereignty had also formed a Continental Army in
June 1775. From 1775 to 1776, Continental forces made an ambitious (though futile) attempt to invade
Canada. Colonial opinion could easily tilt to the patriot cause, when Americans were forced by
circumstance to choose sides. The operation of government in one colony after another passed from
British to patriot control. All told, the situation was far more volatile than imperial officials first thought.
When rebels around Boston secured artillery from Fort Ticonderoga and aimed their cannons down on
British troops, the Empire’s commanders realized a reassessment was in order. Sir William Howe, the
new head of British forces, excavated troops from Boston in March 1776 and repositioned them in
Halifax. The second phase of the struggle was about to begin.”
DJ McInerney describes: “Religious groups inspired many communities. The most enduring
experiments were created by the Shakers, a society of devout and enthusiastic Quakers, who went to
America in 1774, guided by a revelation given to their founder, ‘Mother’ Ann Lee. The Shakers built
some 20 settlements across the Northeast and Old Northwest, with as many as 6,000 members. Their
carefully structured lives embodied the tenets of their faith. Worshipping a God, who contained both
male and female qualities, the Shakers overcame many gender distinctions and gave women
considerably authority over the community. Devoted to a life that was spiritually rich and materially
sparse, they cherished an ethic of simplicity, a plain style still evident today in restored settlements such
as Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, with its austere, clean, and balanced architectural forms. Dedicated to
principles of love and brotherhood, the settlements advocated pacifism and embraced a notion of family
that extended over the entire community. Honoring their Creator through labor, members took
tremendous care with the products they grew and the goods they crafted. And committing themselves
to a deeply religious existence, they practiced celibacy, avoiding sexual activity as a way to refine the
soul and intensify their engagement with the divine.”
DJ McInerney establishes: “Other communitarians blended spiritual and secular principles.
Transcendental speculation merged with physical labor near Boston in the ‘Brook Farm’ community,
founded in 1841 by Unitarian Minister George Ripley. Hoping to develop the full range of human
capacities, Ripley tried to place diverse people in a cooperative setting that required the exercise of
head, heart, and hand. Unfortunately, strong communal bonds never developed among individual
members. The experiment lured few workers, farmers, or artisans, but it attracted literary notables
such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, and Nathanial Hawthorne. Emerson,
however, feared that by joining he would simply ‘remove from my present prison to a prison a little
larger’. Hawthorne became disillusioned and satirized the whole experiment in The Blithedale
Romance. By 1846, even after trying Fourierism, the experiment failed.”1138
**MASSACHUSETTS’ NATIVE AMERICANS**
RA Douglas-Lithgow highlights: “Of the Massachusetts tribes that bearing the name of this State
had dominion, for the most part, over the eastern territory adjacent to Massachusetts Bay: there is,
however, little positive evidence forthcoming as to either the limitations of their territory or their
power, as some time about 1617, the tribe was decimated by a pestilence and thoroughly disorganized
by warfare. Soon after this period, their territory seems to have been divided amongst the Nipmucks,
Narragansets and other tribes. That they formerly sustained a position of importance in the state is
1138

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

evidenced by Gookin, who says that their chief sachem held dominion over many petty governors, as,
for example, those of Weymouth, Neponsit and Punkapoag, and that his suzerainty extended to Newton
Nashaway, etc, and as far as Deerfield, into the heart of the Nipmuck country. Moreover, Johnson
seems to have regarded them more as a confederacy than as a tribe, and described the group as
formerly having ‘three kingdoms or sagamoreships, having under them seven dukedoms or petty
sagamores.’ It also appears that they were either tributary to, or in alliance with, the Narragansets.
“According to Hubbard, the mouth of the Charles River was a rendezvous of all the Indians north
or south, and Hutchinson says that the ‘circle which now makes the harbors of Boston and Charlestown,
round by Malden, Chelsea, Nantasket, Hingham, Braintree, Weymouth, and Dorchester, was the Capital
of a great sachem’ and the tradition is that he had his principal seat on a hill (Messatsoosec Hill) near
Dorchester, in the neighborhood of Squantum. Whether this was the great sachemdom of the
Massachusetts Indians or not cannot now be absolutely stated, but it may be inferred as very probable.
Chickataubit and Wampatuck, his son, were sachems of this tribe, and the names of at least eight other
sachems are known. The sachemdom of Chickataubit was at Weymouth. He was probably subject to
the Wampanoags, and his principal residence was at Tehticut, near Namasket, now Middleborough.
“This tribe, it is stated, at one time aggregated 3,000 warriors, but it is more likely that this
number was in excess of all the members of the tribe. Chickataubit died of small-pox about 1633.
“Massachusetts had dominion, for the most part, over the eastern territory adjacent to
Massachusetts Bay. The limitations of their territory, which was probably much more extensive, have
not been accurately defined. About 1617 this tribe was decimated by pestilence, and their territory
seems to have been divided amongst the Nipmucks, Narragansetts and other tribes.”1139
***CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAGOGGCHAUBUNAGUNGAMAUG LAKE, WORCESTER COUNTY,
MASSACHUSETTS***
William Bright portrays: “This name is displayed locally as the name of a lake, otherwise known
as Lake Webster, near the town of Webster, Mass, but the long name is not recognized as official by the
US government mapmakers. It is said to be Nipmuck (Algonquian), meaning ‘the fishing place at the
boundaries and neutral meeting grounds’. There is evidence, however, that the name as given here was
invented in the 1920s by a local newspaper report, who claimed that the name came from
Chargoggagogg ‘you fish on your side’, Manchauggagogg ‘I fish on my side’, Chaubunagungamaugg
‘nobody fish in the middle’. The official name of the lake is Chaubunagungamaug Lake.”1140
***SALEM, ESSEX COUNTY1141, MASSACHUSETTS***
Issac Taylor remarks: “Salem was intended to be the earthly realization of the New Jerusalem,
where a ‘New Reformation’, of the sternest Calvinistic type, was to inaugurate a fresh area in the history
of the world, and a strict discipline was to eradicate every frailty of our human nature from this City of
the Saints. If the ‘Blue Laws’ of the neighboring town of Newhaven, given by Hutchinson, are authentic,
they afford a curious picture of like in this Puritan Utopia. They enact, under severe penalties: - ‘That no
one shall be a freeman unless he be converted. That no one shall run on the Sabbath, or walk in his
garden. That no one shall make beds, cut hair, or shave, and no woman shall kiss her children on the
Sabbath. That no one shall make mince-pies, or play any instrument, except the trumpet, drum, and
Jews’-harp. That no food or lodging shall be given to any Quaker or other heretic.’ The laws of
1139

Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow; Native American Place Names of Rhode Island; Applewood
Books; 2001
1140
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press;
Norman, OK, 2004
1141
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem,_Massachusetts

Massachusetts assigned the penalty of death to all Quakers, as well as to ‘stubborn and rebellious sons’,
and to all ‘children, above sixteen, who curse or smite their natural father or mother’, and to persons
guilty of idolatry, witchcraft, and blasphemy. These laws, breathing the spirit of Christianity as
understood by the Puritan exiles for conscience’ sake, quickly bore their fruit. Roger Williams, a noblehearted man, who, strange to say, had been chosen to be minister at Salem, dared to affirm the heresy
that ‘the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience is most evidently and lamentably contrary to
the doctrine of Christ Jesus’, and that ‘no man should be bound to worship against his own consent’.
For maintaining these heterodox opinions, which struck at the root of the New England system of polity,
Williams had sentence of exile pronounced against him. He wandered forth into the snows of a New
England winter.”1142
DJ McInerney shares: “Northeast of Boston, Salem was founded in 1626. It made its otherworldly mark with the witch craze of 1692-3, and its commercial mark with the maritime trade. A
number of museums display materials related to the witch frenzy. Other sites include: The Custom
House (1819): where Nathaniel Hawthorne worked; described in the opening of The Scarlet Letter; The
House of the Seven Gables (1668): inspiration for Hawthorne’s romance of the same name; Salem
Maritime National Historic Site: features waterfront historical structures that recall the city’s maritime
trade.”1143
***SATAN’S KINGDOM, FRANKLIN COUNTY1144, MASSACHUSETTS***
Edwin Finch stresses: “The location of this so called name is on the west side of the Connecticut
River, particularly on the Old Vernon Road off of Rte 142 in West Northfield.
“This is the story of its existence and how it came by the name:
“For years past, the over-river section of the town had been known as ‘Satan's Kingdom’, in
common speech considerately shortened to ‘The Kingdom’. The tradition was that some wag coming
out of church, after hearing a sermon in which fires of hell were depicted, and seeing a forest fire across
the Connecticut River, observed that Satan's Kingdom was burning. (Taken from A Puritan Outpost page
257.)
“Because of the fire in this area, it was thought that instead of calling what is now West
Northfield, it should be named Kingdom, a shortened version of Satan's Kingdom. The legislative body
of the State of Massachusetts refused the petition, thus the town was saved from what could have been
a name greatly questioned.
“I have asked persons living in that area how it came by that name, and all gave the same story
as was written in A Puritan Outpost. So the legend continues to this day.”1145
www.iamahoneybee.com composes: “There is a small group of people who know me personally
enough to know that when they come across random, bizarre articles, link, or places that I am a good
person to share them with. So, the fact that I received an email from my friend Emily with no text and
just the wiki link to Satan’s Kingdom, MA, is not that out of the ordinary. I could not believe that a place
actually existed called Satan’s Kingdom, let alone driving distance from Boston. After the busy holidays,
we found that we would be able to go last Sunday (1/30). Plus, we felt it would be best to go as a way to
celebrate my birthday. Ha.
“The idea of driving 2+ hours one day to get to Satan’s Kingdom, ‘an unincorporated community
in the town of Northfield, Massachusetts’ (wiki), would be a ridiculous idea for some people, but this is
just the kind of thing the Emily and I enjoy. We have driven to Maine for lobsters since its much more
1142

Issac Taylor; Works and Places; JM Dent; 1911
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1144
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satans_Kingdom,_Massachusetts
1145
Edwin Finch; [email protected]; [email protected]
1143

fun to get them right off the docks, and to the Cape for no real reason at all aside from a trip just to end
with boxed wine.
“So we set out early to drive to Satan’s Kingdom. The ultimate goal was to get to the Satan’s
Kingdom Wildlife Management Area, where there had to be a sign that we could take a photo with.
Without real directions to there, we drove around the town trying to reach the Wildlife Management
Area, mind you this is the middle of no-where, so there is no consistent 3G reception telling us where to
go. First we overshot it and ended up in Vermont. Then we circled back and stumbled upon W Rd, which
according to google maps on the iPhone is ‘closed winters’. I thought that this would not be true … hello,
we are not in the Rocky’s here! I was wrong. Finally, we then found Veron Rd, which brought us there,
which also was closed further down.
“I have no idea how my car made it on the hills. The two just kept cracking up in the car as my
car made angry noises, as it slowly made it up these little snow covered hills. But we made it through,
even making it over the tiny causeway at Sawyer Ponds.
“Once we made it there, we took foolish photos with the sign. How can you miss the
opportunity to make devil horns in front of that sign?!? And briefly wandered around Satan’s Kingdom,
which was not spewing hot fire but was covered with a nice coating of snow. There were even older
snowshoer’s who were also there, that I suspect not as (childishly) amused by the sign as we were.
“After the visit to the Satan’s Kingdom, we headed north to Brattleboro, Vermont. We enjoyed
an amazing brunch and checked out at local yarn store before heading back to Boston. In all it was a long
day of driving but it was totally worth it. I can’t even wait to scrapbook these pictures!”1146
***THE X, HAMPDEN COUNTY1147, MASSACHUSETTS***
Linda Krawiec designates: “I have known the ‘X’ all my life – it is in Springfield, MA. Sumner Ave,
Belmont Ave, Dickinson St: all cross the X and continue on both ways. It is a big intersection with the
red – green and yellow traffic lights. Lots of stores – and houses in this area. Maybe – roads laid out by
city in early 1920s?”1148
***TREE OF KNOWLEDGE CORNER, PLYMOUTH COUNTY1149, MASSACHUSETTS***
Reuben Peterson expands: “In the early Colonial days, how far back is not known with any
accuracy, it was customary to leave messages or letters at an oak tree standing at the junction of the
Massachusetts Bay Path (now Route 3) and the road running through Tinkertown. This Massachusetts
Bay Path was the westerly one of the two Kings Highways laid out in 1685 soon after Plymouth and the
Massachusetts colonies were united, with the other Kings Highway leading to Scituate and the other
shore towns.
“The Duxbury road or the one through Tinkertown was not laid out till 1763, so while a few
letters or parcels might have been left at this tree at the junction before this time, to be picked up by
the ‘Runner’ between Plymouth and Boston, it could at best have been only haphazard and desultory.
“In 1775 the first Post Office was established at Plymouth by the Provincial Congress, and
mounted mail carriers made regular trips between Plymouth and Boston, and as the Tinkertown route
was laid out by this time, it is safe to assume that a mail box was nailed on this tree for the convenience
of to and from Boston mail and the connecting mail from Duxbury.

1146

http://iamahoneybee.com/2011/02/07/satans-kingdom/
http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/hampden/the-x.cfm
1148
Linda Krawiec, President, The Historical Society of the Town of Hampden, Inc, 616 Main St, PO Box
363, Hampden, MA 01036
1149
http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/plymouth/tree-of-knowledge-corner.cfm
1147

“From this time, 1775, the tree became known as the ‘Tree of Knowledge’ and its fame spread
throughout Duxbury and the surrounding neighborhood.
“As in the earlier Colonial days when the settlers were from necessity deserting Plymouth and
spreading out toward Duxbury and Green Harbor, afterwards Marshfield, to find pasturage for their
rapidly increasing cattle, much of the mail until the Revolution and the establishment of a post office
was carried to Boston from Plymouth by packets. We run across references to mail thus carried in old
letters and diaries. Paper was scarce and expensive and of a coarse variety. Envelopes were almost
unknown. The paper was folded to form an envelope. It was expensive to send letters any appreciable
distance, and altogether correspondence, without the aid of modern methods, was a considerable task.
“From the time of the establishment of the first Post Office in Plymouth, May 12, 1775, and the
starting of the first mail route from Cambridge to Plymouth in June of the same year, the ear of modern
mail facilities may be said to have fairly begun. At this time the Provincial Congress appointed William
Watson, Postmaster, and Timothy Goodwin and Joseph Howland, joint post riders.
“In 1796 post riders were abandoned, and stages were used for tri-weekly trips between
Plymouth and Boston. The return trip was begun at two PM, the stages carrying two pouches, one for
through and the other for local mail.
“The writer has talked with an octogenarian whose father as a boy carried the mail on
horseback from Duxbury over Tinkertown road to the Tree of Knowledge. This was in the early eighteen
hundreds, twenty-five years after the inauguration of post offices and a mail route. It may not be
historically correct to label this the first Rural Delivery in America, since the first mounted post was
established in 1673, running from New York to Boston. But this was a private and not a government
project, and even if the one hundred years elapsing between this and the establishment of the Post
Office Department, there were connecting routes for delivering and collecting mail, they could not be
considered Rural Delivery as understood today. At least it may be safely affirmed that it was one of the
first Rural Deliveries after the Post Office Department was established, although probably it was not free
for the riders from Duxbury that had to be paid by those most interested.
“The stage coaches ran for fifty years, from 1796 to 1845, when the railroad was built from
Boston to Plymouth. It is not definitely known when the oak tree perished, although tradition has it that
it was struck by lightning. But perish it did, for there exists no sign of it at the present day. To be sure,
the site is marked, but the wooden tablet erected by the Duxbury Rural Society some years ago does not
mark the site of the old oak tree, which was west of the road. Still it makes little difference, for time has
changed completely the old surroundings. There exists no vestige of the old sandy road over which the
coach, drawn by four horses, was brought up alongside the Tree, and to make matters worse, recently
the State road (Route 3) has been straightened and passes to the west of the site of the old Tree on the
way to Kingston.
“However, the approximate site has been marked for many years and, at least five markers
painted by local artists have been erected. Two painted by Mrs Frederick N Knapp of Plymouth and Miss
Grace Waterman of Duxbury depicted the mounted carrier delivering the mail from Duxbury, while the
present one by the late Mrs Fanny B Clark of South Duxbury represents the mail coach and four spirited
horses starting from the Tree.
“Mr Wendell Phillips, a descendant of the famous orator, and for two decades one of Duxbury’s
selectmen, may be said to be the patron saint of the Tree of Knowledge. He has been a lifelong resident
in the neighborhood and is well versed in the history of the Tree and has even written a poem about it,
which has been privately printed for distribution to his friends. Beginning with the fifth stanza the oak
speaks:
‘I was a sturdy oak,
O’er me the whirlwinds broke.

I felt the tempest’s stroke,
The thunder pealing.’
“And so on, the oak still speaking:
‘A box they nailed on me,
Here was the ‘Knowledge Tree’,
Here, the first RFD [Rural Free Delivery]
This country using.
Fainter his arms he threw,
Weaker his spirit grew,
The theme could not pursue,
The voice grew jaded.
‘See that thou marks’t the spot,
See that I’m not forgot,
Else cursed shall be thy lot.’
The form then faded.
And while the sign stands there,
Bearing the legend fair,
Tended with loving care,
No curse we’re dreading.’
“Thus the legend about ‘all will be well’ as long as the site of the Tree of Knowledge is marked.
“While the members of the Tercentenary Committee cannot be said to be superstitious, it is just
as well to be on the safe side. Thus the site of the Tree of Knowledge will be marked in granite, with a
suitable inscription on both sides, so that those coming from the southwest and north may read. And it
is hoped that the curse will be averted for the next 300 years.”1150
***ZYLONITE, BERKSHIRE COUNTY1151, MASSACHUSETTS***
Rosemary Jette illustrates: “Turn on the TV, it’s used. Slide into a new car or pick up the
telephone and its there again. What it is, is plastic, and the history of the substance has its roots here in
the Mother Town.
“The story of how the now-worldwide product came to have a stronghold here in the Berkshires
has been developed by the Berkshire County Historical Society and the Arrowhead curator Barbara
Allen, where an exhibition on the topic will be on view until Oct 31, changing venues to the Western
Gateway Heritage State Park in North Adams, Nov 4 through Jan 15, 1994.
“At the request of Allen Paul Marino, well-known local historian, whose award-winning
television show ‘HistoryWorks’, appears twice a month on Adelphia Cable channel 15, co-produced a
half-hour video ‘Plastics in the Berkshires’. The video, which will premiere Tuesday at 8 pm on channel
15, expands upon the details of the exhibition.
“The video was almost narrated by velvet-voiced TV broadcaster Hugh Downs, who lives in the
Berkshires.

1150

Reuben Peterson, MD (Chairman, Sub-Committee on Markers, Duxbury Tercentenary Committee);
The Tree of Knowledge, Tarkiln, Duxbury, Massachusetts; 1937; provided by Norma Silva, 170-B High St,
Carver, MA 02330; [email protected]
1151
http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/berkshire/zylonite.cfm

“‘I sent him a letter and I was shocked when he called me on the phone to say he supported the
idea, but that he couldn’t do it because he was going to be out of the country at the time we were
planning on shooting it,’ a pleased Marino reported.
“The video, narrated by Berkshire Community College student Brian Beck, will be an important
permanent historical record of the plastics’ exhibit, he said. A second airing of the video is planned for
some time in November.
“A preview of the video at The Transcript revealed an interesting tale of a thriving new industry
that started with a search for a cheaper billiard ball and led for a time, to a thriving industrial section of
Adams that even assumed the name of the early plastic – Zylonite.
“The video opens with a clip from the 1967 film classic ‘The Graduate’, when anxious young
Dustin Hoffman is taken aside by the husband of the woman he’s been seduced by and unexpectedly
told, ‘Just remember one word: Plastics.’ From there, the viewer learns the word plastic is actually
derived from the Greek word, plastikos, meaning pliable and in a figurative sense means any substance
that can be easily shaped or molded. In historical terms then, the earliest plastics were made of natural
substances like horn that was translucent enough to be used in place of glass, to tortoiseshell and ivory.
“Shellac was even an early plastic in the 1850s, when it was mixed with flour and sawdust,
formed into a dough and turned into the first phonograph records.
“However, it was the promise of a $10,000 reward for a substance to replace the expensive and
hard-to-get ivory billiard balls in the 1869 that resulted in what we today recognize as plastic – a
substance now used for everything from brushes and combs, the earliest use, to car parts and high-tech
computers and everyday appliances. This early challenge produced a substance called celluloid that was
developed by brothers Isaiah and John Wesley Hyatt of Albany, NY. Unfortunately, the product made
from a nitrate and cellulose fiber (wood pulp) was flammable and explosive. The original idea of
celluloid underwent several evolutions at that time to the first semi-synthetic material ‘Parkesine’
introduced in 1862 at the Great Exhibition in London, as the ‘Material of the Future’. Its developer,
Alexander Parker, wasn’t much of a manufacturer, though, and he went out of business. His partner,
Daniel Spill, was issued a patent for zylonite in 1867.
“What is most interesting to local residents, however, is the fact that the American Zylonite
Company was one of the first important attempts to mass-produce celluloid, and it was located in
Adams. Financed in 1881 by local paper manufacturer Levi L Brown, Brown and his son-in-law, Emil
Kipper, purchased the American rights to the Spill patents and changed the name to Zylonite. Brown
also arranged to supply the cotton fibers, which replaced the less-stable wood fibers, himself. For 10
years, the company was such a success in Adams, a separate village sprang up with its own church,
school, store, post office and railroad depot.
“Unfortunately, the loss of a patent dispute forced Brown to pay exorbitant damages to the
Hyatts, and to save his other investments, he sold his stock in American Zylonite. The company was
quickly raided by its chief competitor, Celluloid Manufacturing Company in New Jersey, which gutted
the plant of equipment then closed it in 1891. The effect was devastating to Adams, which took 11
years to recover.
“The modern tale of plastics picks up with the end of World War II and its vast stockpiles of the
raw material and little peacetime application. Soon existing machinery was retooled and new lines of
synthetic products started to fill households. Chief among these, then and now, is GE Plastics in
Pittsfield, which patented the first plastic-coated photoflash in 1930 and is now known worldwide for its
extra-strong, heat-resistant poly-carbonate Lexan, invested in 1953.
“There are now over 50 plastics-related companies in the region – many spun off from
associations with GE – applying over 1,200 Berkshire County jobs and pumping $50 million into the local
economy. Chief among these are Modern Mold and Tool Company, Mangus Mold, Marland Mold and

Tool Company, Sheffield Plastics, Inc, Greylock Plastics, Custom Extrusion, Inc, and Graphic Impact
signs.”1152
**MICHIGAN**
HB Staples maintains: “Lanman, in his Red Book of Michigan, derives the name of that State
from the Indian word Michsaugyegen, signifying ‘Lake Country’. Johnson’s Cyclopaedia derives the
name from the Indian words Mitchi Saugyegan, meaning ‘Lake Country’. I regard this as a questionable
derivation. There are good reasons for supposing that the State derived its name from Lake Michigan,
and not from its being nearly enclosed by lakes. If the word Michigan signifies ‘Lake Country’, why
should it have been applied to the Lake at all? In support of the theory that the name Michigan was
descriptive, signifying ‘great lake’, and was first given to the lake, I call attention to the fact that on the
earliest maps, the lake bears the name, while the peninsula, both upper and lower, has no name
whatever. Besides, the name as applied to the lake, has a simple Indian derivation. The Algonquin
races, at the head of which was the Chippewa tribe, dwelt on the northwestern shores of the lake. In
the old Algonquin language the syllable gan meant ‘great’. In this connection, let me quote a passage
from an article in the North American Review, vol XXII, on Indian language. ‘This word Meesee or
Meechee (which has been before explained to mean ‘great’), for it is differently pronounced in different
places, is found in Michigan, Missouri, and in many other names.’”1153
KB Harder presents: “From the Indian word of uncertain origin. One theory claims derivation
from mitchisawgyegan, a combination of Indian words meaning ‘great lake’ (presumably Lake
Michigan). Another suggests mishi-maikin-nac, ‘swimming turtle’, an Indian term used to describe the
profile of the northern tip of the southern peninsula of Michigan and a nearby island (Mackinac). Thus,
it is unclear which was named first, the lake or the land area.”1154
www.e-referencedesk.com renders: “Derived from the Indian words Michi-gama, meaning
‘large lake’.
“The word ‘Michigan’ originally referred to a clearing on the Lower Peninsula and was derived
from the Chippewa Indian word majigan, which means ‘clearing’. Lake Michigan was named after this
clearing by European explorers in the area in the 1670s. The state later took the name of the clearing as
well.
“The French first used the word for the Great Lake that Native Americans called the ‘Lake of the
Illinois’ - now Lake Michigan. It was first used officially to refer to this land area, when Congress created
the Territory of Michigan in 1805.”1155
www.statesymbolsusa.org sheds light on: “What does Michigan mean? The name Michigan is
based on the Chippewa Indian word meicigama, meaning ‘great water’, and refers to the Great Lake.
Thirty-two counties in Michigan also have names drawn from Native American languages.”1156
DJ McInerney suggests: “At the center of the economy stood the product that literally and
figuratively drove the nation; the automobile. With greater efficiencies in production, cars became
more affordable. At a time when the average industrial worker earned $1,300 a year, Ford’s basic
automobile cost less than $300. A toy of the rich became a possession of the many. In the 1920s, the
1152

Rosemary Jette; History of plastic has roots in Adams; The Transcript; October 6, 1993; provided by
Berkshire Historical Society at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, 780 Holmes Rd, Pittsfield, MA 01201;
[email protected]; http://www.mobydick.org/
1153
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1154
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1155
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/michigan.html
1156
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Michigan/MichiganNameOrigin.html

number of cars in the United States increased by 250 percent, and by 1929, there were 26 million
automobiles for 120 million people.
“The car was the icon of the market and the culture; no consumer item had greater importance.
One in 12 workers held jobs tied to the automobile industry. Car sales boosted production in steel,
petroleum, chemicals, glass, and rubber. Higher car registrations also spurred highway construction.
With legislation in 1916, 1921, and 1925, national and state governments created a network of linked,
numbered roads identified by familiar black and white shields. One of the most famous, Route 66, ran
in the words of a popular song, ‘from Chicago to LA / over two thousand miles all the way’. By 1929, the
government had built over 250,000 miles of modern highways, one and a half times more roadway than
existed 20 years earlier.
“Easy, rapid movement along new roads only added to the mystique of the car. In a society
without a frontier, the open road offered an escape from other people and growing cities. In a culture
increasingly standardized, homogenized, and predictable, the car gave new meaning to personal
freedom and mobility. In a flamboyant era testing out the limits of permissible behavior, the privacy
and intimacy of a car’s interior rewrote the book on courtship.
“Car sales also changed the rules of marketing. While Henry Ford cranked out lots of plain, black
boxes on wheels at a low cost, his competitors at General Motors (GM) came up with a more colorful
array of automotive products sold in a wholly new way. GM developed a diverse lines of cars in
different price ranges and introduced yearly model changes to keep enticing customers back into the
showroom. GM not only manufactured cars; it manufactured the allure to keep individuals buying cars.
Beyond satisfying needs, automobile companies and other industries, in the 1920s, shaped wants – or
more precisely, the need to want. Big business created both consumer goods and a consumer culture;
they surrounded Americans with appeals to buy, to buy more, and to keep buying. It became the
paramount duty of citizens to consume the goods that the nation’s economic machine produced; their
purchases kept the new economy humming.
“Of course, individuals might resist such messages and succumb to a bunch of tired old
platitudes about frugality and simplicity. They might actually save their hard-earned money rather than
part with it on a regular basis. Modern advertising could help break them of their backward habits.
Advertising expenditures doubled during the 1920s, with campaigns that urged the public to submit to
(rather than defer) personal gratification. And for those who whined that they did not have the cash to
buy consumer goodies, installment purchase plans took away their last remaining flimsy excuse. Once
used for extraordinary purchases, consumer credit became the popular way to buy popular items. Most
cars, refrigerators, and even radios sold in the United States, in the late 1920s, were bought on
installment plans. Consumer debt more than tripled in the decade, and the consumer credit industry
became one of America’s largest businesses.
“Purchases were made painless, systematic, and predictable. Consuming became a habit: the
more people fed it, the larger the economy grew. Some believed the United States had finally found its
way out of catastrophic market swings. The dream of permanent growth seemed within reach.”1157
***BATTLE RUN, ST CLAIR COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Larry Wakefield calls attention to: “Battle Run, a hamlet in St Clair County, was first settled
around 1860 by James D Frink. He became its first postmaster in 1876, and the office was finally closed
in December of 1907. It was named after a meandering creek just to the east – on quiet nights the
water running over its pebbly bottom makes a rattling kind of sound.

1157

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

“Battle Run never rose much above a hamlet – just an aimless small collection of small wooden
houses and a white church. It was so small that travelers on old US 25 between Detroit and Port Huron
may not even have noticed it.
“Yet it has one claim to distinction. It was the scene of one of Michigan’s most bizarre and
mysterious murder cases.
“One wintry morning – Tuesday, January 5, 1909 – two men made their way separately through
the snow to the little Methodist church at the crossroads. They were Rev John Haviland Carmichael, the
church’s pastor, and Gideon Browning, a local handyman. Next morning two men who lived across the
street noticed the church’s door swinging open. They crossed over to investigate and discovered a
scene of horror.
“It was evident at a glance that a terrible struggle had taken place here. Pews were overturned
and broken. The organ was hacked and splintered by sharp, heavy blows. Blood was everywhere –
pools of it on the floor, splashes on the walls. Crying murder, the two men went running to telephone
the sheriff.
“In his preliminary investigation, the sheriff found the following objects: a bloody knife and
hatchet on the floor, a pair of blood-spattered men’s trousers and underpants, and an eyeglass case
bearing the inscription, ‘JH Carmichael, Adair, Mich’. Sifting through the still warm ashes in the stove, he
also found a pile of smoldering bones. A large piece of skull made it evident that these were human
bones. The contents of the stove were sent to Port Huron for professional examination.
“Questioned at their home in Adair, Carmichael’s wife said her husband had left the house early
Tuesday morning for Battle Run. His failure to return home that night hasn’t alarmed her – he often
stayed overnight with friends there. About this same time, it was learned that Gideon Browning, also of
Adair, had likewise gone to Battle Run Tuesday evening. He took the train and walked two and a half
miles from the railroad station at Hickey. Earlier he had told his sister and her husband, with whom he
boarded, that he had an appointment to meet Reverend Carmichael there.
“Carmichael was a big, powerful man of 55, with craggy features and a large brown beard. He
had the evangelical fervor of an Old Testament prophet, and a booming voice to match. Browning, 51,
was a smaller man, but strong and wiry, with a thick walrus mustache. There was a strange relationship
between the two men: people wondered what they could possibly have in common.
“At first the weight of suspicion fell upon Browning. But then, on January 8, the remains of the
body were positively identified as those of Browning himself.
“The first clue came from a baggage master at the Adair railroad station, who said that a big
man had accosted him early Wednesday morning and checked his suitcase for Chicago. Two Detroit
detectives were hired to get on Carmichael’s trail and stay there until they found him. The hunt for the
preacher was now in full cry.
“It came to an end on Monday. The sheriff received word from Carthage, Illinois, that the Rev
John Haviland Carmichael had committed suicide there early that morning. In the little backwater town
where Mormon prophet Joseph Smith had met his end at the hands of a lynch mob, the preacher had
opened a vein in his throat with a penknife and bled to death.
“Two letters were found in his overcoat pocket. One was addressed to his wife, begging her
forgiveness. ‘I have always been a coward,’ he wrote. ‘It robbed me of my judgment, and I ran.’
“The other letter was an eight-page confession addressed to the sheriff. ‘Browning always had a
strange, hypnotic power over me,’ he wrote. He said that Browning had attacked him with a hatchet
and knife, and in self-defense, he had grabbed the hatchet and killed Browning after a terrible struggle,
which he described in detail.
“The sheriff didn’t bother to conceal his scorn. ‘The confession is nothing but a pack of lies,’ he
said. ‘Far from confessing the truth, Carmichael has chosen to carry his awful secret to the grave.’

“The Port Huron Daily Times, in a story on Tuesday, January 12, agreed with the sheriff. ‘This is
a crime of demon-like passion,’ it said.
“Carmichael’s body was returned to Michigan by railroad. His funeral was held at Romulus,
where Carmichael’s daughter had been buried five years earlier. At the open casket, Carmichael’s
brother, a mail carrier in another little town in southern Michigan, pointed out several small scars on his
brother’s face. They were caused, he said, by a sledding accident near their home in West Virginia when
he and Carmichael were small boys.
“He gazed sadly down at his brother and murmured, ‘Poor boy. Poor boy.’
“It was a fitting epitaph.”1158
***CALVIN CENTER, CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Larry Wakefield connotes: “Not all the runaway slaves who came to Michigan on the
Underground Railroad passed on to safety and freedom in Canada. A few of them chose to settle in
Michigan, at risk of being tracked down by slave hunters, whose mission was to capture and return them
to their so-called owners. One such group made their home at a place called Calvin Center in Calvin
Township in southeastern Cass County. Here in 1837, they built the first black church in Michigan, Chain
Lakes First Baptist.
“And here they lived in peace and quiet despite the infamous Fugitive Slave Act – until 1847.
That was the year of the notorious ‘Kentucky Raid’. Having heard that runaway slaves were settling in
this area, thirteen Kentucky farmers crossed Indiana and invaded Michigan in covered wagons,
pretending to be salesmen for a new washing machine company. The number of men and the
peculiarity of their behavior aroused the suspicion of local agents for the Underground Railroad, who
accused them of being slave hunters and warned them to get out of Michigan.
“The strangers docilely crossed the Indiana line as if on their way back to Kentucky, but at
Bristol, Indiana, they turned back, re-entered Cass County, and began rounding up slaves. The outcries
attracted a crowd of three hundred Quakers, who surrounded the raiders and ordered them to release
their captives. The Kentuckians refused and drew their guns. The Quakers were also armed, but
bloodshed was finally averted, when their leaders persuaded the slave hunters to release the blacks and
retire.
“Later the Kentuckians sought restitution, and damage suits were filed in the Federal District
Court in Detroit. The case dragged on until 1850, when a decision was rendered against the
Kentuckians. This, however, did not prevent Congress from passing the second Fugitive Slave Act that
same year.
“The hamlet of Calvin Center lies about three and a half miles south of Cassopolis and three
miles east of the county road. Most of its few remaining residents are descendants of former slaves,
and the township is still 75 percent black. The town was given a post office named Day on March 29,
1875, with William Lawson as its first postmaster, but it closed in 1895, and the name Calvin Center has
prevailed.”1159
***COLON, ST JOSEPH COUNTY1160, MICHIGAN***
www.colonmichigan.org details: “At the end of the Revolutionary War, Michigan became a
possession of the United States, yielded by the English. It appears the earliest known date of this
territory was 1721, when the Potawatomi Indians moved into southern Michigan from Wisconsin, the
Ottawa and the Miami Indians were also here, and there is evidence of Mound Builders in this area.
1158

Larry Wakefield; Ghost Towns of Michigan, Vol 3; Thunder Bay Press; 1998
Larry Wakefield; Ghost Towns of Michigan, Vol 3; Thunder Bay Press; 1998
1160
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon,_Michigan
1159

“On July 13, 1787, there was an ordinance adopted controlling the Northwestern Territory. This
included a no slavery act, it also allowed one thirty-sixth of the land for schools. On October 5th, Major
General Arthur St Clair became governor of this territory, including what is now Ohio, Michigan, Illinois
and Wisconsin. By 1793, there was thought to be a white population of 7,800 and at least 65,000
Indians. Michigan became a territory in 1805. General William Hull was governor and the center of the
government was in Detroit.
“In 1821, Chief Topipahee of the Potawatomi Tribe sold the white people a great area of land of
which St Joseph County was a part. The terms of sale were $5,000 each for twenty years and $1,000 a
year to pay for a blacksmith and a teacher. The Ottawa Indians, who were friends and allies of the
Potawatomi, were to receive $1,000 a year forever and $1,500 a year to pay a blacksmith, teacher and a
farmer.
“Originally, Colon Township covered an area of 21,467 acres of land and 1,575 acres of water
surface. Roswell Schellhous came from Ohio in 1829 to the Colon area. He built a two room log house in
the northwest section of the township. By 1830, three brothers of Roswell had moved to Colon, all
settled near the same area. In 1830, Lorausi Schellhous, his brother George and a friend named Hatch,
took it upon themselves to lay out a city plot on the land owned by Lorausi Schellhous. Arrangements
were made, and a surveyor laid the lots. A dictionary was used to name the city plot; the first word they
put their eyes on was the word ‘colon’. The definition for colon: - a mark of punctuation indicating a
pause almost as long as that of a period. So they called it Colon.”1161
Lorancie Schellhous explains: “Now perhaps you would like to know how this town came by the
name of Colon. Well I will try to tell; in the first settlement of the county, there was a great stir about
building cities on paper. George and Hatch took into their heads to lay out a city plot on the land that I
then owned; finally arrangements were made, got a surveyor, laid it out, into lots; when completed, we
wished to give a name; could not find one to suit. Finally I happened to take up an old dictionary; the
first word I put my eyes on was Colon. Looking to see the definition, we will call the name of it Colon;
looked up there, see the lake and riving coming along, that is exactly the definition. Agreed says they,
that is the way the name of Colon came. When the township was organized, the name was established
by the legislature. That was the end of our city. About this time I had left Colon, went to work building
a house myself. I built quite a good house for the times. Had a little blacksmith shop; no blacksmith
short of White Pigeon. The neighbors wanted some little job done, which I could not refuse, so I
tinkered on. Started a turning lathe, began to make chairs to supply the inhabitants. After which there
were wheels wanted, so I made wooden wheels, as they were called, and reels; then the little Flax
wheel, which kept me busy for a long time. After a while I was appointed Postmaster. Had to get the
mail from Kent and Adams on the Chicago road, had to get it once a week, had the proceeds of the post
office. Letters were then 25 cents each, which was rather small business for me, but I kept on for the
benefit for the settlers. The first town meeting was held at my house. After the officers were elected,
we unanimously agreed to serve the town without charge this; continued two or three years, until we
were set off as a township by itself from Leonidas. Now I shall go back a ways and tell about roads. We
were rather shut off an account of getting out east, George and myself started to try to find a road to
the county of Branch County seat. We went east to the foot of Matteson Lake now called, then east as
near as we could, to his place Findley; found the place; the people there had commenced some public
buildings. They seemed pleased with the idea, concluded to help survey the road, got a survey on our
own expense, surveyed the road to our place; then some of the inhabitants turned out and cut part of
the road through the timber lands of Branch; cut it the other, which answered several years. A few
years after, Amos Matteson came to that town; the town was named by him, called after his name. A
Culver and M Corsen all had settled on a section line, examined the line for the purpose of getting a
1161

http://www.colonmichigan.org/In_the_Beginning.html

road to Coldwater. Found it to be suitable to build a road. Then petitioned the legislature for state road
from Coldwater to Centreville, St Joseph County. I was the one to carry the chain. Cut and stuck and
marked every mile from Matteson to Centreville, then I went on the line to Centreville, got up a
subscription of nearly two dollars; then got what help we could, went to work, cut the road, bridged the
streams, made cross-way the town of Matteson, Culver. Matteson and Corsen did their share. It was a
hard road at first, but it was tolerable good.”1162
***DOLLAR SETTLEMENT, CHIPPEWA COUNTY1163, MICHIGAN***
Malcolm McIver imparts: “Joe Dollar is credited with being the first settler in the Dollar
Settlement area, when in approximately 1870, he homesteaded 160 acres, approximately one mile
south of the beach on the east side of the present Ranger Road. Selling fuel wood to lake steam boats
provided income as well as clearing his farm.
“VanLuvens had a store and gas station on the corner of the Ranger Road and VanLuven Road
for many years. The Ranger Road from M-28 to VanLuven corner was built in 1926-7.
“About the turn of the century, Fred Evans had a veneer mill, where he turned logs to produce
veneer for the production of berry crates. Annual production varied with the blueberry crop, but in an
ordinary year, he would produce upwards of 30,000 cases that held 16 individual boxed quart
containers. Crates normally sold for twenty cents per crate, but climbed to thirty in the 1930s.
“Simon Johnson had large scale fishing operations at the Settlement, from the late 1880s to
about 1920, and employed a sizable number of men in the area. He kept a store in the vicinity of the
Ranger Road and Lake Shore Road for a number of years. Brown Fisheries used the facility in the late
20s and 30s.
“While Iroquois Island has for many years been a favorite mooring area for commercial
fishermen, it wasn’t until 1936-7 that a road was constructed by WPA [Works Progress Administration]
workers, making the area accessible to automobiles. Vic and Ina Weston were one of the first to make
permanent residence there, and were soon followed by others. One of the first well known attractions
to the area were fish dinners served by Ina Weston, a tradition that has continued in recent years, with
the opening of Tinker Restaurant in 1961, purchased by Mr and Mrs Peter Drake in 1975. The Nodoway
Point Restaurant started in July 1974.
“The first store at the village was owned by the Jay Johnson’s, followed by Clark’s, Clingaman,
and presently by Nancy and Pat Hascall.
“The first tavern was owned by Lazy Bob, followed by McIsaac, Brosman, Jones, Ben Carrick, and
at the present time, Big Abe LeBlanc.
“Although it is probable that Indians occupied the area for many years previously, it was in 1836
that the Bay Mills Reservation was officially established. Several boundary adjustments have been made
during the years, since the last physical boundary change being made after a land purchase in 1937.
Hinsdale’s Atlas, a publication showing locations of early Indian villages and encampments, shows a
village at the southeast end of Monocle Lake.
“The first store on the reservation was Mose Sugar, followed by Leo LeBlanc, McInes, Joseph,
Mitchell, and Dillon.
“A well-known figure in early Brimley was Doctor RE Stocker, who came to the Brimley area in
1909, replacing Dr Gordan. Two years later, he married Jennie Wight, from Detroit, who joined him in
Brimley. In addition to carrying on his physician duties, he was instrumental in 1913 of securing a
franchise for organization of the Brimley Telephone Company. He did most of the line construction and
1162

Lorancie Schellhous; written March 1873; provided by Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce, 200 West
Main St, PO Box 189, Sturgis, MI 49091; [email protected]; http://www.sturgischamber.com/
1163
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/chippewa/dollar-settlement.cfm

maintenance personally, and during the influenza epidemic of 1917, the demands on his time were
especially great. When phones were first installed. a neighbor heard a French speaking friend talking
French over the telephone and was amazed that ‘you could talk French over one of them things’. Doctor
Stocker died in 1922. Mrs Stocker continued the company and married Willis Graham in 1935. The
company was sold to Juanita and Junior Wilson in 1955, and they are the present owners. Mrs Graham
was the first woman to hold public office in Superior Township.”1164
***DRY PRAIRIE, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Larry Wakefield mentions: “One of the tall tales to come out of Dry Prairie in Kalamazoo County
was about wolves. Wolves were still numerous in southern Michigan, when the first settlers arrived in
the late 1820s and early 1830s, and most counties soon put a bounty on them. Their depredations on
such livestock as pigs and sheep were high on the list of hardships that early Michigan farmers had to
endure.
“Little is known about the man who figures in the story, except that his name was Thomas
Cooley, that he came from New England in 1831, and that he was one of the first settlers on Dry Prairie.
“Being of a gregarious nature, or maybe just lonely, Cooley set out one afternoon to visit a
neighboring family, who lived about three miles away. He arrived to find his neighbor dressing out a
deer that he had shot. Cooley helped with the work, and the man gave him a quarter of the meat. After
a pleasant visit including supper with the family, he set out across the prairie with the haunch of fresh
venison over his shoulder. There was a full moon, and it wasn’t long before he became aware that a
pack of wolves was following his trail.
“The wolves made Cooley very nervous. There has never been an authenticated case of North
American grey wolves attacking a human, but Cooley probably didn’t know that. In any case, he must
have realized that the wolves were after the fresh meat, not him, but that he might get roughed up
pretty badly if he didn’t surrender it. His only weapon was a knife.
“Cooley decided to compromise. As the wolves drew closer and more menacing, he took out his
knife, cut off a slice of meat, and threw it to the pack. Then, while the wolves fought over it, he rushed
forward as fast as he could go. This procedure was repeated many times until the haunch was stripped
almost to the bare bones. Even these he left to the wolves, while he finally gained shelter.
“Perhaps the most interesting man associated with Dry Prairie and the village of Portage was
John Howard. He is said to have been a witness when Lord Cornwallis surrendered, with more than
seven thousand men, to George Washington at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Fifty-one years later,
Howard joined the two companies of prairie men mustered at Schoolcraft to meet the threat of Chief
Black Hawk. He accompanied the militia as a wagon drover to Niles, where they learned that Black
Hawk had been captured.
“Dry Prairie, one of the smaller ones in Kalamazoo County, was about three hundred acres in
size. It lay directly south of Kalamazoo on the route to Prairie Ronde. Its first settler was a man named
Herring, who built a log cabin there in 1830. The village of Portage lies on the southern outskirts of
Kalamazoo, at the junction of Portage and Westnedge roads. It was named after nearby Portage Creek.
John Howard was its first postmaster, when the office opened on May 28, 1836. Later it became a stop
on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad.”1165

1164

Malcolm McIver; A Brief History of the Bay Mills – Brimley Area: Chippewa County; Bay Mills-Brimley
Historical Society; 1982; provided by Susan James, Assistant Director, Bayliss Public Library, 541 Library
Dr, Sault Ste Marie, MI 49783; [email protected]
1165
Larry Wakefield; Ghost Towns of Michigan, Vol 3; Thunder Bay Press; 1998

***FINGERBOARD CORNER, CHEBOYGAN COUNTY1166, MICHIGAN***
Lewis Crusoe puts into words: “I just spoke with someone who lived in Afton, Michigan, where
Fingerboard Corner is located. She told me that on the southwest corner of Highway M-68 and Walker
Road, there was a stone house and gas station. Also on that corner were signs that pointed the direction
and mileage to Cheboygan, Indian River, and Onaway. The signs were in the form of a hands pointing
with the name and mileage written on the pointing index fingers. By the early 1950s, the sign had long
since been removed.”1167
Marie Gouine reports: “I go through that area very often, and I had never thought about the
name. I just visited with a friend who lives within a mile of the corner, and she was able to give me the
answer. So ... here goes: two highways come together; at that spot M-33 joins M-68, then follows M-68
east for a few miles. At one time, there was a gas station where the two roads join. Not much left now
except sad old buildings. When the business was running, the owner had put up a big board sign made
to look like a finger pointing at the gas station. Such a simple answer, but I'm sure it's the correct
answer.”1168
***FREE SOIL, MASON COUNTY1169, MICHIGAN***
Mrs EM Stephens shows: “Freesoil Township is unique in its history, with the distinction of
having within its original borders the first settlement in Mason County, and it is unique in name. There
is probably no other township, or village, bearing the name Freesoil.
“Freesoil Township has a history of development, which is also as interesting as the
development of any region – from the primitive forest to the cultivated field, the fine home and modern
conveniences.
“A death occurred in Freesoil Township, before there was a settlement in the area, and 15 years
before the township, one of the first three townships in Mason County was organized or was given a
name.
“The whole area, which was later included in Freesoil Township, was one vast forest of virgin
pine and hardwood timber, some of the most magnificent that ever grew in the state.
“The nearest settlement was many miles distant. A party of men were running lines in this area
when one, Allen by name, sickened and died. No one knows whether death was due to accident or from
natural causes. There is no one to say whether he died of malaria, or pneumonia, or whether it was
rattle snake bite, or death from a pack of wolves. The distance was too great to carry a body to a
settlement, so the man was given a very primitive burial in a primitive forest, which extended for many
miles in every direction, and a beech tree, at the head of his grave, bore his epitaph for many years.
“Freesoil history began with Allen’s death in September 1842.
“The beginning of the first settlement in the original Freesoil Township began, when 40 acres of
land was claimed in sections 6, 20, and 17, by John H Harris in 1844. From that small beginning, a
community, which became known as Freesoil Mills, which sometimes held only two persons, sprang up
on the shore of Lake Michigan. Since the Freesoil political party was organized in 1848, the little
community no doubt derived its name from that source. Mason County was organized in 1855 with
three townships, one of which was named Freesoil after the first settlement. Freesoil Mills was the first
community in Mason County and the first in what became Freesoil Township. The second community in
1166

http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/cheboygan/fingerboard-corner.cfm
Lewis Crusoe, Executive Director, The History Center of Cheboygan County, PO Box 5005,
Cheboygan, MI 49721-5005; [email protected]; http://www.cheboyganhistory.org/
1168
Marie Gouine, Cheboygan County Genealogical Society, PO Box 51, Cheboygan, MI 49721-0051;
[email protected]; http://www.migenweb.org/cheboygan/
1169
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Soil,_Michigan
1167

the township, which bordered the Sauble River, was known as Sauble settlement. While the first
community was interested almost entirely in timber harvest, the second had for its goal the clearing of
land and the building of homes and community life.
“The first settlers were transient largely. The second were building for permanency.
“A religious organization, schools, and a community spirit soon resulted from the settlement of
the Sauble river community. Lumbering was carried on to considerable extent, too, but the Sauble River
setters were largely agriculturists. The soil was good, and they saw the possibilities ahead for
themselves and their families.”1170
***HELL, LIVINGSTON COUNTY1171, MICHIGAN***
www.gotohellmi.com talks about: “The Short History of Hell, MI: Hell was first settled in 1838 by
George Reeves and his family. George had a wife and 7 daughters – no reason to call it Hell yet … George
built a mill and a general store on the banks of a river that is now known as Hell Creek …
“The mill would grind the local farmers’ grain into flour; George also ran a whiskey still, so a lot
of times, the first 7-10 bushels of grain became moonshine.
“In turn, horses would come home without riders, wagons without drivers … someone would
say to the wife, where is your husband?
“She’d shrug her shoulders, throw up her arms and exclaim, ‘Ahh, he’s gone to Hell!’
“In 1841 when the State of Michigan came by and asked George what he wanted to name his
town, he replied, “Call it Hell for all I care, everyone else does.” So the official date of becoming Hell was
October 13, 1841 …
“Interested in the ‘long’ history of Hell, Michigan? The Long History of Hell, MI: He probably
wasn’t a whole lot bigger than most men of his time and place, in height or in girth, rolling into the third
decade of the nineteenth century in Sullivan County New York. George Reeves, if not imposing, was
certainly a man who required a bit more elbow room than most. Maybe his expectations from life, and
from himself, were just a little larger than those of the folks who surrounded him. For even then, in the
mid-1830s, he found the insistent swell of population to be an infringement of what he felt to be his
sanctuary from civilization, there in the Catskill Mountains. So, after convincing his brothers James and
John that the territory of Michigan might offer them some adventure and an opportunity to stake a
claim in a land that had just been newly wrestled from the control of the Potawatomi, they gathered a
few belongings and were swept into the tide of migration that followed the Erie Canal west in 1837.
“At that time, Professor William Kirkland, formerly of Utica, New York, had just completed the
platting of the Village of Pinckney, near the chain of lakes formed by the Huron River. Glaciers had sliced
through this places eons ago, digging valleys and bunching up hills, giving the country a quirky and
eccentric shape. Crisp rivers flowed through the low places, and the tops of the hills were lush in pine,
oak, maple, poplar, and sassafras. Finding the area to his liking, George Reeves partnered with a man
named Minot, and opened a store in one of the buildings owned by Kirkland. There he stayed for the
next four years.
“In 1841, opportunity knocked on the Reeves door as he bought the interest of two men,
Solomon and Bignall, in the large saw mill they operated a few miles to the west of Pinckney, at what is
now Hell Creek. Adding to the value of the small empire was the acquisition of one thousand acres of
adjacent land, on which he built a flour mill to grind the wheat from his farm and from the other farmers
of the county. The mill was powered by a dam, which Reeves had erected on the creek. An early
1170

Mrs EM Stephens; Original Freesoil Township Has Mason County’s First Settlement; Ludington Daily
News; August 30, 1939; provided by Macon County Historical Society, 1687 S Lakeshore Dr, Ludington,
MI 49431
1171
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan

entrepreneur, he also opened a general store to serve the growing community. Near the store were
seven homes, occupied by folks who were in the employ of Reeves, and a district school that had a
capacity of seventy students.
“The yield from this rich river-fed soil was high, and the Reeves’ mill was soon producing over
one hundred barrels of flour a day … more than enough to create increasing prosperity for the local
residents. Reeves, who had had a small whiskey still hidden on his property, decided to build a distillery
next to the mill, thereby solving the problem of surplus wheat, and also slaking the thirsts of the local
farmers, who bought Reeves’ whiskey in abundance. The life of a pioneer was not an easy one, and the
whiskey was a welcome addition at barn raisings, harvests, and other social gatherings.
“It became a tradition to bring the first bushel of wheat threshed in any given year to the
distillery to be converted into whiskey. And convert Reeves did. By this time Reeves had built a tavern in
the town, and so had a convenient outlet for his liquor. He employed two teams of sales and delivery
men, who traveled extensively in the early 1860s, selling and delivering whiskey in barrel lots to
roadhouses, stores, and anyone else who had acquired a taste for the local product.
“After the Civil War, the government raised the tax on whiskey … raised it so high that Reeves
could no longer distill and sell it at a profit. But he was never one to stand on formalities, nor was he to
deny the public what he must have felt their inalienable right to imbibe their drink of choice. The
distillery continued to turn out the amber liquid, and sold it locally for as little as ten cents a gallon.
Reeves expanded his role as a mover and shaker in the community, building a ballroom above the tavern
and a sulky racetrack around the millpond. Things must have been festive, to say the least, when the
whiskey flowed, the horses ran, the people danced, and the lush green trees of southern Livingston
County swayed in the warm summer breezes.
“The federal government increased its reach in the post-war years, extending even to out-ofthe-way locales such as this. Tax collectors traveled throughout the new state, and when local folks
learned that collectors were heading toward Hell, messengers were dispatched immediately to warn of
their approach. The townspeople of Hell knew what to do: the whiskey was poured into sixty-three
gallon hogshead barrels, hauled to the pond, and sunk to the bottom, with long ropes attached. The
ends of the ropes were left on the bottom of the pond, hidden several feet deep, where the feds were
sure not to snoop.
“You can picture George Reeves, arms folded across his chest, as he received the revenuers,
perhaps explaining that yes, he had once produced whiskey in the distillery, but no, he didn’t any longer,
due to the new taxes, which were squeezing the lifeblood out of the American citizen. Local folks
probably shared an exasperating silence with the feds, when asked about whiskey production. Finally,
the agents would realize that they weren’t about to collect any funds from this little burg, and would
make their departure, stealthily tracked by silent citizens, until the agents were far enough away that
Reeves and the townsfolk were convinced they were again in the clear. Swimmers would then retrieve
the ropes, everyone would grab a bit of line and pull like, well, like hell, and once again the little town
would be at peace.
“But even a scene as idyllic as this must eventually come to an end. Perhaps the local taste for
whiskey ran out as the years went by; perhaps temperance found its way into the community; perhaps
the exertion of pulling two-hundred-pound barrels of whiskey from the bottom of the lake ceased to be
offset by the pleasure of their contents’ consumption. Whatever the reason, the Reeves distillery closed
its doors, and shortly thereafter the flour mill burned down. Somehow, the twinkle-in-the-eye spirit of
this little town grew a little fogged. Likely it was partly due to the advancing age of the town’s most
industrious citizen, who succumbed to the wear and tear of the nineteenth-century life in 1877 and
passed on to whatever spirit world was ready to receive him.
“Reeves’ wife and seven daughters lived there for many years after his death, and the town
remained a small but viable community of farmers and tradespeople. It wasn’t until 1924 that the

descendants of George Reeves sold the thousand-acre farm to a group of investors from Detroit. The
big-city folk raised the level of the dam to form a lake where the millpond had been, and named it HiLand Lake. The area slowly became a summer resort destination, with soft shady beaches around the
lake and plentiful bluegill in the water.
“In the decades that followed, not much changed in the town of Hell. The stock market crashed,
and Hell survived. Henry Ford scouted the location as one that would serve in his plan for a number of
water-driven small manufacturing plants, but the plan collapsed under administrative weight before it
could come to fruition. The Second World War was fought and won, paid with the lives and valor of
many young men from Livingston County. Hell remained essentially unscathed by time. The Korean
conflict began and ended, and the war in Viet Nam took its toll on the community, as it had on every
community in the nation. Hell survived. The turmoil of the ’70s, the selfish me-decade of the ’80s, the
technology-rich ’90s … all have flowed through Hell Creek and have left little trace of their passing.
“Tucked away as it is amidst the hills, creeks, and rivers, Hell maintains a strange combination of
notoriety and attraction. People come to visit, to see Hell, to say ‘they’ve been to Hell and back’, and to
laugh as the irony of the phrase rings into the air. People from everywhere, all manner of people, travel
the scenic roads into Hell, to marvel at the beauty of the land, to hike the trails, to swim and fish the
waters, to open up the throttle just a little on the curves and to smile. It’s the kind of smile George
Reeves might have smiled, standing on the porch of the tavern, arms folded across his chest, as the
horses tore around the pond, the people danced and laughed, his daughters grew beautiful, and the
righteous homemade whiskey flowed, bringing a blush to the cheeks and a feeling that here, in Hell, life
was just about as good as a man could expect life to be.
“There are a couple of different theories about how this little place came to own such a
notorious name. The truth is, there was probably no one standing around taking notes during the early
part of the 1830s; they were more likely busy getting the crops out of the fields, the animals out of the
garden, and the dinner on the table. So you’re invited to read both theories and choose one that suits
you best.
“Anyway, Theory One goes like this: A pair of German travelers slid out of a curtained
stagecoach one sunny summer afternoon, and one said to the other, ‘So schoene hell.’ Hell, in the
German language, means ‘bright and beautiful’. Those who overheard the visitors’ comments had a bit
of a laugh and shared the story with the other locals.
“Sometime later, George Reeves, who, more than anyone else, was responsible for the origin of
Hell, was asked just what he thought the town should be named. George reportedly replied, ‘I don’t
care, you can name it Hell if you want to.’ As the story goes, the name stuck and stuck fast. After some
attempts to soften the effect of the name by suggesting they change it to Reevesville or Reeve’s Mills,
he gave up on the whole thing and simply lived with it.
“Theory Two. The area in which Hell exists is pretty low and swampy. And because it was a part
of the Dexter Trail, which traced along the higher ground between Lansing and Dexter, Michigan, a
formerly busy farm market and early railhead, traveling through the Hell area would have been wetter,
darker, more convoluted, and certainly denser with mosquitoes, than other legs of the journey. Further,
river traders of old would have had to portage between the Huron and the Grand River systems,
somewhere around the present location of Hell. You can picture them pulling their canoes, heavy with
provisions and beaver pelts, through the underbrush, muttering and swatting bugs, as they fought to get
to the banks of the next river.
“Maybe we’re lucky it’s called Hell and not something worse; the river traders likely had more
colorful words to say about that part of their trip. Feel free to select whichever theory brings you
comfort or intellectual satisfaction. And if the impulse strikes, you’re entirely welcome to make up a
better explanation and send it to us. History is rewritten every day, and there’s no reason we should
leave that sort of thing to the academics, politicians, and media mucketymucks.

“Now aren’t you glad you asked?”1172
***KALAMAZOO, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Henry Gannett catalogs: “Kalamazoo: county, city in same county, and river in Michigan.
According to one authority, the name is derived from the Indian word, negikanamazo, meaning ‘otter
tail’. ‘Beautiful water’, ‘boiling water’, and ‘stones like otters’ are other translations.”1173
***NIRVANA, LAKE COUNTY1174, MICHIGAN***
Walter Romig conveys: “Nirvana, Lake County: Darwin Knight registered the plat of the village in
1874 and became its first postmaster on March 4, 1874; it lay in Yates Township, just south of the Flint &
Pere Marquette (now Chesapeake & Ohio) Railroad, and in an area of a fine stand of white pine; there
were eleven saw mills near the town, and when the pine slaughter was done, so was the town, and it is
now a hamlet; Nirvana is Buddhist for ‘highest heaven’, and the town’s best hotel was named the Indra
House, after Indra, the principal god of the Ayran-Vedic religion, so Mr Knight was evidently an admirer
of Oriental religions.”1175
***PAYMENT, CHIPPEWA COUNTY1176, MICHIGAN***
Gene Scott discusses: “A remote fishing village 12 miles northeast of Saulte Ste Marie, Payment
is on Sugar Island, barely a hundred yards from Canada and a short ferry boat ride across the St Mary’s
River. Although some have thought otherwise, Payment is not named after the price early settlers had
to pay for it. A British and American dispute over its ownership lasted sixty years until 1840, when a
treaty placed Sugar Island in American hands. It had been called St George’s Island by the British and
Sisibatakwatominiss (‘Sugar Maple Island’) by the Chippewas for its abundant maple trees. The year of
the treaty brought the first settlers, when Roger Payment and his family came across the east channel of
the river from Canada, built the first log house and started a trading post. Later, the Payments were
followed by the Brassar, Church, Corbiere, Mastaw, McFarland, McKerchie, McCoy and LeCoy, Menard,
Myott, Sayer, and Sebastian families. A fishing village developed along the east channel of the river,
across from Canada.
“The village then was called Sugar Island, with a post office opened in 1857, and Payment’s son
Robert as first postmaster. That year, the village’s Holy Angels Church was built, and just down the road,
the first little log schoolhouse. Bishop Baraga is said to have performed several baptisms in the church
in 1862. Philetus Church built a saw mill, store, and a dock called Church’s Landing from where his
maple syrup and raspberry jam was shipped. These were among the island’s businesses before 1900.
“Payment never prospered as a lumber town in its early days. The entire 21 mile-long island had
barely more than 200 residents before 1870. Canoe and horseback were the only means of transport.
The island never had a railroad, and there was no ferry service of any kind from the mainland for the
first forty years. The first crude rafts to get people and supplies across the river came with the
missionaries in the 1880s, and this led to Payment’s brief period of progress. By 1890, the population
1172

http://www.gotohellmi.com/history-of-hell
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1174
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/lake/nirvana.cfm
1175
Walter Romig; Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than
Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities; Wayne State University Press; 1973; provided
by Bonnie Povilaitis, Director, Pathfinder Community Library, 812 Michigan Ave, PO Box 880, Baldwin,
MI 49304; [email protected]; http://pathfinderlibrary.org/
1176
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/chippewa/payment.cfm
1173

had tripled, and the village had several stores, a larger schoolhouse, and several commercial fishing
operations. After 1915 Payment, a long, rough ride on a rutted dirt road from the dock across from
Saulte Ste Marie, began to decline. The few cars that got across the river were often soon stuck on the
island in the mud. Little by little, other sections of the island were developed, especially after 1925,
when regular Sugar Island Ferry service began.
“The island and the village began to enjoy better days again after World War II, when the first
real roads were built and eventually (by 1965) paved. Payment then had nearly 250 people, including
many descendants of the early families who had returned. Today, only half of that number remain, and
many of Payment’s 75 homes are summer-only residences. Fishing, mostly for fun and sport, is still the
main activity. Travis Palotka is the grandson of the McCoys. He happened to be on his way via the ferry
for a wedding at the church. He said that more than half of the island and the town’s permanent
residents are retirees, but the school bus still takes about 35 children by ferry to Sault Ste Marie, the last
school in Payment having closed in the 1930s.”1177
***SHAVEHEAD, CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Larry Wakefield expounds: “The village of Shavehead in southeastern Cass County was named
after Potawatomi Indian Chief Shave Head. So also were Shavehead Lake, Shavehead Prairie, and
Shavehead School. He was called Shave Head because his head was shaven clean except for a scalp lock
above his otherwise bald crown. He usually wore a feather or two in it, after the old-time fashion of
Indian warriors.
“In his younger days, Shave Head was famous for his prowess as a hunter and warrior. It was
said that he had taken scalps at the Battle of Frenchtown on the River Raisin and at the brutal massacre
of prisoners at Fort Dearborn (Chicago). He and his men had also fought under Black Hawk, great chief
of the Sauks and Foxes, against the Americans in the War of 1812. Shave Head and Black Hawk were
friends.
“He was a tall, thin, powerful man of great dignity and austerity. Like Oglala Chief Crazy Horse
after him, he often seemed aloof and detached, with a faraway look in his eyes, as if dreaming of the
good old days before the white settlers arrived. Older than other Potawatomi chiefs in the area – White
Pigeon, Pokagon, and Weesaw – and only a shadow of his former self, he was nevertheless still feared
by whites and Indians alike.
“Most Potawatomies were friendly with the early white settlers (and thus the more easily taken
advantage of). Indeed, Chief White Pigeon gave his life in about 1830 to save the settlement that was
later named after him: he died of exhaustion after running many miles nonstop to alert the settlers of an
imminent attack by Black Hawk and Shave Head. The attack never came, but that takes nothing away
from White Pigeon’s heroic deed.
“Shave Head was different. He hated the whites. He believed, as did Crazy Horse, that the
whites were determined not only to take the Indians’ land, but also to destroy their way of life. He
hoped that one day all the tribes would join forces and go on the warpath to drive the intruders from
Indian Territory.
“The Potawatomies had been living in southern Michigan since about 1775. Chief Shave Head
considered that his band, composed of around 30 individuals, owned at least all of the southern part of
Cass County. His headquarters were on Shavehead Prairie near Shavehead Lake, but the band also had
gardens at Young’s Prairie, Baldwin Prairie, the St Joseph River, and elsewhere.

1177

Gene Scott; Michigan Shadow Towns: A Study of Vanishing and Vibrant Villages; Michigan
Humanities Council; 2005; provided by Susan James, Assistant Director, Bayliss Public Library, 541
Library Dr, Sault Ste Marie, MI 49783; [email protected]

“In the late 1820s, when the first whites began to appear in numbers on the Chicago Road that
followed the great Sauk trail from Detroit to Chicago, Chief Shave Head exacted a toll from all travelers
crossing his territory. His toll stop was at the St Joseph River east of his Baldwin Prairie village near
present-day Mottville. This went on for several years until Asahel Savery, a tavern keeper at White
Pigeon, put a stop to it. Local tradition has it that Savery, on his way to a grist mill at Pokagon, crossed
the river free of charge in Shave Head’s absence. On the way back, though, the chief confronted him,
and Savery brought his ox team to a halt. When the Chief came up and was looking into the wagon,
Savery caught him by the top-knot and, drawing him close, gave him a thrashing with his whip. Then he
seized the old chief’s gun, discharged it, and drove on.
“Shave Head’s later days were sad and ignominious. The old chief, enfeebled by age, toil, and
poverty, was reduced to begging for food and shooting pennies from a cleft stick with bow and arrow –
if he hit them, the pennies were his.
“Finally, so the story goes, he was taken sick on the old Pe Peeaw farm near what is now Paw
Paw and was cared for by the Indians and treated professionally by a Dr Andrews of that city – but to no
avail. It is said that he died there and was buried secretly at night in a hollow log – no one knows where.
“The village of Shavehead was first settled by unidentified squatters in the late 1820s. It lay on
Shavehead Lake in Section 19 of Porter Township, Cass County. William W Rice became its first
postmaster on July 13, 1858, and the office was closed and opened periodically until final closure on
February 5, 1888. The village also had a large school, presumably for both whites and Indians.”1178
***SLAPNECK, ALGER COUNTY1179, MICHIGAN***
Elmer Wanska impresses: “The uncommon name of Slapneck belonged to a land looker or
surveyor from Pennsylvania, John Slapneck, who either on his own or by the influence of his
acquaintances, would give the location its name, as well as to the creek that meanders through the
valley. The name was to become so attractive that it found its way to be mentioned in newspaper
articles, not only locally, but also in the Detroit Free Press. Although the creek and location lost the
name temporarily, to be called, of all things, Calciferous, at the request of the first superintendent of the
State Farm in Chatham, Leo Geismar; the new name was not to stay long, when it was again Slapneck. A
county map of 1900-10 shows the calciferous name, making that a collector’s item. It’s doubtful if the
immigrants who were Finnish, Swedish and French would have bothered with pronouncing Calciferous,
but would have found another name to their liking if they could not keep the original one. Among the
contents of this article are newspaper clippings of the origin of the name and of the man responsible for
it. From the clipping it can be determined approximately when Mr Slapneck was here.
“Some of us living at this time can still remember the building on the shore of the Slapneck
Creek, about a mile south of Dixon that Mr Slapneck had a part in as a member of the AuTrain Rod and
Gun Club, and was used by the group on their fishing trips. Even now, when we talk of the area of the
fishing camp, it’s the Clubhouse, and has a state camping ground on the site. The Clubhouse was
destroyed by fire in 1926.”1180
Dan Johnson provides: “Newspaper clipping #1: Slapneck Didn’t Get Its Name From Mosquitoes
“Even around Alger County, people wonder how, and why, Slapneck, in Rock River Township,
got its name. The answer comes in the ‘Sunny Side’ column written by James S Pooler in the Detroit
Free Press:

1178

Larry Wakefield; Ghost Towns of Michigan, Vol 3; Thunder Bay Press; 1998
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/alger/slapneck.cfm
1180
Elmer Wanska; 1995; provided by Dan Johnson, N5257 Rock River St, PO Box 194, Chatham, MI
49816; [email protected]
1179

“Investigating this business – strange place names in Michigan – such as ‘Was Slapneck in a
mosquito swamp?’ – We get the most surprising and charming answers.
“A little girl of long ago – Mrs Marie Falor of Lakeville – writes out of fond memories of Slapneck,
where her big sister taught school years ago.
“It was named Slapneck for a man named John Slapneck, a land looker for a logging outfit. She
remembers him as a black-bearded character … those characters we see in Western TV dramas.
“Slapneck was a whistle stop 2 miles east of Chatham in Alger County, on the Munising,
Marquette & Southeastern Railroad.
“She used to visit her older sister, teaching school beside beautiful Slapneck Creek that gurgled
between beds of wild violets in the spring. Teacher and pupils took lunch baskets in the fall to wade,
gather crabs and fish for book trout. They usually were loath to go back to school.”1181
Dan Johnson also included: “Newspaper clipping #2: Editor’s Mail, May 7, 1968
“The search for the source of the name Slapneck has become something more than of casual
interest.
“Shortly after the letter was published, we received a phone call from an interested lady who
had lived there in her younger days, and then a letter came from another lady who writes, in part:
“‘As a small child, I lived at AuTrain, and I do remember the Slapneck location. Mr Slapneck had
a cottage on the little river on his property, and I remember him as the man from Pennsylvania, and I
think he was a steel manufacturing man … He did not live there year around as I remember.’
“We are also indebted to Father Emil Byer of Munising, who is the president of the Alger County
Historical Society, for the following paragraph from the Munising News of June 29, 1906:
“‘JF Slapneck of Alleghany, Penn, passed through on his way to the AuTrain Rod and Gun Club,
south of Dixon. Mr Slapneck has been coming up into this part of the country 25 years next August. In
celebration of the 25th anniversary, he proposes to arrange for an informal meeting. If practicable,
exercises may be held at the new Slapneck School, and he will present them with a handsome American
flag.’
“This confirms the fact that his residence was in Pennsylvania, as the lady stated in her letter.
However, Alleghany was also the home town of George Shiras III. He was born there Jan 1, 1859, and
assuming that Mr Slapneck might have been born there about the same time, it is very possible that
these two gentlemen were not strangers to each other. They both had their ‘summer roots’ in the Alger
County area for many years and could have been well-acquainted with each other. Because of this
possible association and the part which the Shiras family has played in the cultural development of
Marquette, Mr Slapneck becomes something more than a passing incident and the source of a placename. The Marquette County Historical Society would like to hear from others who have information
on this subject.
“Although the location, Slapneck, does not appear on most maps, such a community with some
very nice homes, does exist on a paved road a few miles east of Chatham.
“Ernest H Rankin, Executive Secretary, Marquette County Historical Society, Marquette”1182
***SOUTH ASSYRIA, BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Larry Wakefield notates: “When Joseph S Blaisdell and his family moved from Vermont to
southeastern Barry County in 1834, their nearest neighbors were a band of Potawatomi Indians in a
village of some twenty lodges about a mile away. The Indian settlement was no temporary
encampment – their cornfields were enclosed by rude fences, and the large number of graves in their
burial ground was ample evidence that they’d been there a long time.
1181
1182

Dan Johnson, N5257 Rock River St, PO Box 194, Chatham, MI 49816; [email protected]
Dan Johnson, N5257 Rock River St, PO Box 194, Chatham, MI 49816; [email protected]

“The Indians were friendly, and the Blaisdells got along with them just fine – bartering flour,
sugar and pork (which the Indians loved) for fresh fish and game. But one night, so the story goes, eight
Indians ‘under the influence’, entered the cabin and chased Blaisdell around it, brandishing knives and
whooping it up with blood-curling war cries. It turned out, though, that the Indians were not on the
warpath, but just having a bit of fun scaring the bejesus out of Mr Blaisdell.
“The Blaisdells – Joseph 39; his wife Ann, 37; and daughter Betsy, 10 – were among the earliest
settlers of Barry County. They brought with them a Baptist minister, who agreed to hold regular services
in return for 80 acres offered him by Joseph Blaisdell. The pastor served for twelve months, but then
announced that he had had enough of wilderness life and went back east after selling the 80 acres back
to Blaisdell.
“By that time, other pioneer settlers, attracted by the lovely country with its giant hardwood
forests, large open swales of prairie grass, and lakes and streams teeming with fish, had followed the
Blaisdells to southeastern Barry Country. The first school was built on land donated by Blaisdell, and the
first town meeting was held in the home of Cleveland Ellis that same year.
“The first mails were delivered on horseback by Calvin Slater, but it wasn’t until 1850 that a post
office named South Assyria was established in the home of Cleveland Ellis. The tiny village lay in Section
26 astride the Bellevue-Hastings Highway, on which a stage line with four-horse coaches ran daily
service between the two points. South Assyria had a blacksmith shop, a shoe shop, the school, and
several houses.
“Nothing is left of it today except the crossroads, open fields, and a small cemetery in a grove of
pines nearby. The cemetery’s land was donated by Joseph Blaisdell, and it has a story to tell.
“Its first occupant was Joseph Blaisdell himself, who died on March 12, 1848. A few days after
his interment, somebody noticed that the grave had been opened and the body removed. This caused
an outrage among the people of Barry and the surrounding counties. Body snatchers were at work.
They must be swiftly apprehended and brought to justice! An investigation pointed the finger at certain
medical men at Battle Creek. They were arrested and charged with the theft and desecration of a grave.
“A preliminary hearing was held before George Knapp, justice of the peace in South Assyria, but
so many people turned out that it had to be adjourned and moved to the schoolhouse. It, too, proved
too small to accommodate the crowds of people who assembled there, most of whom had to wait
outside. Judge Abner Pratt of Marshall appeared for the prosecution; John Van Arman for the defense.
After a two-day session with many witnesses, the prosecution failed to make a case, and the prisoners
were set free. The case of the missing body was never solved.
“South Assyria never really amounted to much – it outlasted Joseph Blaisdell by just a few years.
It lost the post office in 1860, and its few remaining shops closed down soon after. With the much
larger town of Assyria (still on the maps) at Assyria Township’s geographical center less than three miles
away, South Assyria became dispensable.
“(South Assyria was situated at the crossroads of present-day Wing Road and Jones Road, which
originally was part of the old Bellevue-Hastings Highway in Section 26.)”1183
***TEAPOT DOME, VAN BUREN COUNTY1184, MICHIGAN***
JL Thornell puts pen to paper: “Historically, the name Teapot Dome conjures up images of an oil
scandal that occurred in Wyoming during the administration of Warren Harding. Around here, Teapot
Dome is known as a breakfast and lunch restaurant that conjures up images of non-stop conversation
about local business, government, history and community happenings.

1183
1184

Larry Wakefield; Ghost Towns of Michigan, Vol 3; Thunder Bay Press; 1998
http://michigan.hometownlocator.com/mi/van-buren/teapot-dome.cfm

“Besides their names, the connection between the scandal and the restaurant is what surfaced
in 1924.
“According to Mary Henderson Burger; the granddaughter of the man who built the restaurant
four miles west of town on Red Arrow Highway, the Teapot Dome name was probably selected because
‘grandfather liked the sound of it’.
“In its 75th year, the Teapot Dome restaurant has become a center for local commerce,
agriculture and social life. Each day, regular patrons, many of whom link their personal histories with
that of the restaurant, stop in to eat, meet, do business, swap stories and make plans to get together.
“According to former Paw Paw Township Supervisor Jerilee Gregory, ‘Teapot Dome is one of
those traditional American fixtures that looks like it’s straight out of Steinbeck or Hemingway.’
“Burger narrates the story of how her grandparents, Chris and Florence Henderson, came to the
area in 1922 from Chicago. After two many hours working as an accountant, Chris Henderson was told
that he needed some fresh air, so the Hendersons got into the car and started driving. They stopped
just west of Paw Paw, settled at Lake Cora and built Teapot Dome on a dirt road at the intersection of
M-17 and US 12.
“According to Burger, it opened as a Texaco gas station and general store, but it had a barbecue
pit and served food from the very beginning.
“Florence Henderson was known for her angel food cake. In the days that preceded I-94, US 12
was a main east-west thoroughfare, so Teapot Dome thrived.
“The Hendersons remained at Teapot Dome until 1930, when they sold it and returned to
Chicago, because Chris Henderson’s father had had a heart attack and needed his son to come home
and run the coal business.
“Today Dave and Jenia Kennedy are in their third year managing Teapot Dome. Like the original
owners, this is their first venture in restaurant management, although Dave Kennedy, a Detroit native,
worked as a cook for the prior owners. To keep the doors open seven days a week, they employ grill
cook Treva Stull and three waitresses – Lisa Regner, Kelly Nagel and Tammy Pompy.
“Very early every morning, two waitresses move non-stop to meet the demands of customers,
who often fill 10 tables and booths and eight stools at the counter.
“Many play musical chairs, eating at one table and then moving about, coffee cup in hand, to
visit friends and business associates at several other tables.
“Local farmer Fred Pugsley, a second-generation customer, who was born a year after Teapot
Dome, typifies many Teapot customers, as he enjoys his favorite breakfast at a table with five others.
When he finishes his doughnut, he carries his coffee cup to the counter, where he discusses the cherry
harvest with his son, Will Pugsley, a third-generation customer who manages the family farm.
“Fred Pugsley, who visits Teapot two to three times a day, ‘I come in for breakfast, lunch and the
3 o’clock think, tank when we hold a seminar to handle all the world’s problems. They close right after
we leave at 3:30.’
“The Pugsley tradition at Teapot Dome began with Fred’s father, Cliff, and now spans four
generations, but that’s not uncommon. Five generations of farmer Bill Woodman’s family have been
patrons of Teapot Dome.
“‘This place was built when I was 1-year-old,’ he said. ‘I come here all the time because I like the
people and I like the place.’
“Regular patron Susan Erion, a local historian who remembers the early evergreen tree plantings
and the cottages located behind the restaurant, which provide an early version of motel service, said her
father, Clem Burger, was a Teapot customer when it first opened.
“She calls Teapot ‘the local board of trade’, as she asks several farmers about the availability of
translucent apples so that she can make applesauce.

“Fruit farmer Al Mandigo calls himself ‘a charter member of Teapot Dome’. ‘My friends say that
Teapot Dome is my main office,’ he said.
“For the last 12 years, Dale Whittington, who works in procurement at Knouse Foods, has driven
from the east side of Paw Paw for his morning chat with the fruit farmers.
“‘I like the food and the people,’ he said. ‘I guess I just like being here.’
“A year ago, a second Teapot restaurant, opened east of Paw Paw on Red Arrow Highway.
Operated by Dave Kennedy’s brother and sister-in-law, Pat and Michelle Kennedy, it’s called Teapot
East, perhaps to link it to its successful namesake.”1185
***WHISKEY CREEK, OCEANA COUNTY, MICHIGAN***
Larry Wakefield represents: “Ten thousand years ago, the North American glacier, in one of its
final spasms, dumped huge banks of clay along the shores of Lake Michigan in southwestern Oceana
County. They tower 360 feet above lake level. So, when it came time to name the township, it was no
surprise that the supervisors chose Claybanks, after the most prominent geological feature in the area.
“The first settlers of the township were CB Clements, Asa Haggerty, and Alex Pelett. In 1849
they chose a site near Lake Michigan on a nameless little creek that empties into the lake. Another early
settler was a Scot named George Stewart. He built a tavern in a small gully over the creek. In the
autumn he laid in a wet stock that included one barrel of whiskey.
“The story goes that he sold five barrels of whiskey that winter, and next spring he still had two
barrels left. His customers couldn’t understand that kind of arithmetic, and they couldn’t help but
suspect that the creek must have had something to do with it. So they named the village Whiskey
Creek.
“The village grew rapidly. It became the county seat when Oceana County was organized in
1855. It had a courthouse, a post office, a jail, and some three hundred inhabitants. The jail’s first
occupant was a respectable lumberman named Andrew Rector. He and a partner, Edwin Cobb, built the
first saw mill in Pentwater Township.
“Justice Jimmy Dexter, whom some people said had a grudge against Rector, sentenced him to
ninety-nine years in the county jail for shooting his neighbor’s hog. Rector pleaded not guilty because
he had a right to protect his property: the hog was plundering his garden. Rector was released after a
few days but had to pay for the hog.
“The county jail in Whiskey Creek was in a barn belonging to John Barr. Another prisoner,
sentenced to jail for being drunk and disorderly, escaped when sober by knocking out the boards from
one side of his cell.
“Whiskey Creek went into a steep decline after losing the county seat to Pentwater in 1865. By
the turn of the century, it had become a ghost town.”1186
**MINNESOTA**
HB Staples specifies: “Minnesota is named from the Minnesota or St Peter’s River, the principal
tributary to the Mississippi within its limits. The Indian word is Mini-sotah, signifying ‘slightly turbid
water,’ or as the Minnesota historian more fancifully puts it, ‘sky-tinted water’.”1187
KB Harder tells: “From a Dakota Indian term first applied to the river. While scholars agree that
mine means ‘water’, there is a difference of opinion concerning sota. Most agree that sota refers to the
1185

JL Thornell; Paw Paw’s Teapot Dome marks 75 years of eating and meeting; Hometown Gazette;
August 2, 1999; provided by Diane Ross, Local History Department, Paw Paw District Library, 609 W
Michigan Ave, Paw Paw, MI 49079; [email protected]; http://www.pawpaw.lib.mi.us/
1186
Larry Wakefield; Ghost Towns of Michigan, Vol 3; Thunder Bay Press; 1998
1187
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882

reflection of the sky upon the water but disagree as to whether Minnesota means ‘water reflecting
cloudy skies’. By tradition Minnesotans have looked on the bright sound and referred to their state as
‘the land of the sky-blue water’, and since Minnesota is so dotted with lakes it might be best defined as
‘the waters reflect the weather’.”1188
www.e-referencedesk.com chronicles: “The name of this state came from the Minnesota River,
so named by the Dakota Sioux for the river's ‘cloudy’ or ‘milky water’. The Dakota word mnishota means
‘cloudy’ or ‘milky water’.
“From a Dakota Indian word meaning ‘sky-tinted water’.”1189
www.statesymbolsusa.org declares: “What does Minnesota mean? The name Minnesota is
based on the Dakota Sioux Indian word for ‘sky-tinted water’, which refers to the Minnesota River and
the state's many lakes.”1190
***AH-GWAH-CHING, CASS COUNTY1191, MINNESOTA***
Warren Upham displays: “A village in Shingobee Township, sections 34 and 35; formerly named
State Sanatorium with a post office of that name, 1908-22, at which time it changed to the present
name, which means ‘outside’ in Ojibwe, representing a treatment for the tuberculosis sanatorium here
opened in 1907. The village had a station of the Northern Pacific Railroad.”1192
Karen Keener expresses: “On March 21, 1922, the United States Government legally changed
the name of the post office to Ah-gwah-ching. It was felt that State Sanatorium was neither a pretty nor
a particularly descriptive name. In fact, it might have been in some ways considered an unpleasant
name, since it denoted a place where tuberculosis patients were treated. Apparently both employees
and patients decided to create a new name. Among the names to be voted upon were Shingobee and
Ah-gwah-ching. The word, Shingobee is Native American and refers to ‘pine and balsam forests’. The
word Ah-gwah-ching is a Chippewa expression relating to ‘outdoors’ or ‘outside’.”1193
***BATTLE LAKE, OTTER TAIL COUNTY1194, MINNESOTA
Warren Upham notes: “A city located in Everts and Clitherall Townships, platted October 31,
1881, and incorporated as a village on May 2, 1891, adjoins the western end of the large West Battle
Lake, which lies mainly in Everts and Girard Townships. Near this lake and the East Battle Lake, in the
southeast part of Girard, a desperate battle was fought, about the year 1795, by a war party of 50
Ojibwe, coming from Leech Lake, against a much greater number of Dakota. A graphic narration of the
battle, in which more than 30 of the Ojibwe were killed, is given in William W Warren’s History of the

1188

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1189
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/minnesota.html
1190
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Minnesota/MinnesotaNameOrigin.html
1191
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ah-gwah-ching,_Minnesota
1192
Warren Upham; Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia; 3rd Ed; Minnesota Historical
Society Press; 2001; provided by Linda McIntosh, Brainerd Public Library, 416 S 5th St, Brainerd, MN
56401; [email protected]; http://www.krls.org/branches/branch_br.html
1193
Karen Keener; 100 Years of Caring: Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives (1907-1961), Ahgwah-ching Nursing Home (1962-1990), and Ah-gwah-ching Center (1991-2007); 2007; provided by
Linda Husby, Cass County Administrator's Office, PO Box 3000, 303 MN Avenue West, Walker, MN
56484-3000; [email protected]; www.co.cass.mn.us
1194
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Lake,_Minnesota

Ojibway People. The post office operated 1871-4 and since 1881; a station of the Northern Pacific
Railroad was in section 4 of Clitherall Township.”1195
***BLUE EARTH CITY, FARIBAULT COUNTY, MINNESOTA***
Henry Gannett records: “Blue Earth City: township and city in Faribault County, Minnesota, so
named because of the bluish hue of the earth, due to the presence of copper.”1196
Lorraine Hassing reveals: “Blue Earth derives its name from the river, Blue Earth. The Indians
called it Ma-Ko-Tah, which means ‘Blue Earth’. It is located on a circular prairie about 1 mile in diameter
surrounded almost entirely by streams of water and timber. It is the location of the county seat. The
blue clay of the river truly makes ‘the earth so rich that city grows’. It is a high rolling prairie, dotted
over with small groves of oak, poplar, cottonwood and other trees.
“It was platted in July 1856 and consisted of 320 acres. The first settlers were James B
Wakefield, of which the Historical Society is located in his home, Henry B Constans, Samuel V Hibler and
Spier Spencer. Mr Wakefield was here from the founding of the village to the close of his life, except for
a few short periods when absent on official duty.
“Our population is approximately 3,500 people. It has dropped in numbers from earlier days,
because the younger generation has gone on to larger cities to find jobs. It is the birthplace of the ice
cream sandwich, which is no longer here. We are at the center of the longest interstate highway in the
United States, which is Interstate 90. It begins in Boston, MA, and ends at Seattle, WA. It was opened in
September of 1978. Originally, there was a gold marker in the pavement of the highway, but the marker
has been moved to the outer edge of the highway itself.
“There is an historic marker located at the rest area just west of the city, showing where the
highway met. In 1979, the Jolly Green Giant made its’ way in pieces on a truck bed. It is 47.5 feet tall,
standing atop an 8 foot base. The giant looks out over some of the richest farmland in the world. His
‘Ho, Ho, Ho’ has boomed over the rolling farmlands of the Blue Earth area since July 6, 1979. Back in
1926, the Blue Earth Canning Company harvested its first pack of cream style corn. In 1929, the Cannery
became a subsidiary of Minnesota Valley Canning of LeSueur. In 1950, the corporation adopted a new
name, Green Giant. Green Giant was then harvested by Pillsbury, then by Grand Met, and most recently
General Mills and now is called Seneca. We continue to process canned peas and corn each summer.
“Over the Christmas season, he [the Jolly Green Giant] wears a red scarf, and he was attired in a
t-shirt this summer as the Sturgis SD motorcycle rally was held in August.
“The Episcopal Church has Minnesota’s first stained glass window. The first services were held
on Easter Sunday March 21, 1872. Now it is in the ownership of the FCHS [Fairbault County Historical
Society] and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Blue Earth holds the Fairibault County Fair in July, and this year was the 153rd annual fair.”1197
***CASTLE DANGER, LAKE COUNTY1198, MINNESOTA***
John Fritzen spells out: “There is no satisfactory explanation for the name Castle Danger. Some
people claim that a boat by the name of Castle was wrecked there. Unfortunately, there is no evidence
1195

Warren Upham; Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia; 3rd Ed; Minnesota Historical
Society Press; 2001; provided by Emily Millard, Fergus Falls Public Library, 205 E Hampden Ave, Fergus
Falls, MN 56537; [email protected]; http://www.ffpubliclibrary.org/
1196
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
Washington, DC; 1905
1197
Lorraine Hassing, Fairbault County Historical Society, 405 East Sixth St, Blue Earth, MN 56013;
[email protected]; www.fchistorical.org
1198
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Danger,_Minnesota

that a boat by that name ever existed. Others claim that the name applied to a dangerous reef nearby.
Many years ago, the writer was shown a very old mariner map on which the name was given to the big
bluffs a mile or so east of the Split Rock River. On Page 216 of the Geological & Natural History Survey of
Minnesota, Volume 4, there is a map of Lake Superior’s North Shore. On it these bluffs are listed as
‘Split Rock Point, Castle Danger’. The publication is dated 1896-8. It is possible that a long stretch of the
North Shore from Split Rock Point to Crow Creek was at one time known as Castle Danger. In the early
days, it was a commercial fishing settlement. In the 1890s, large scale logging took place. The big
operator was Mitchell & McClure Company.”1199
***COFFEEPOT LANDING, CLEARWATER COUNTY1200, MINNESOTA***
JA Weeks III touches on: “There are several stories on how this location came to be known as
Coffee Pot Landing. One story is that there was a lumber camp nearby, and the camp cooks set up the
coffee pots in this location, while the virgin timber was being harvested. Another story is that a local
elderly couple kept a warm pot of coffee going all the time for those camping overnight or just passing
by in canoes.”1201
***GOOD THUNDER, BLUE EARTH COUNTY1202, MINNESOTA***
Warren Upham clarifies: “The railway village of Lyra Township, platted in April 1871, and
incorporated March 2, 1893, was named for a chief of the Winnebago, whose village was close east of
this site. The ford of the Maple River here had been previously called Good Thunder’s ford. He was a
friend of the white people, and in 1862 refused the overtures of the Dakota for the Winnebago to join in
their war against the white settlers. He died several years later on the Missouri River, after the removal
of his tribe to Dakota.
“This was also the name of a Dakota, Wa-kin-yan-was-te, in translation ‘Good Thunder’, who
likewise was friendly to the whites, becoming Gen Henry H Sibley’s chief of scouts during his expeditions
against the Dakota. He was converted to be a Christian in 1861 and was the first Dakota baptized by
Bishop Henry B Whipple, receiving then the name Andrew. He lived as a farmer at the mission of Birch
Cooley, and during many years was the warden of its Dakota church. In 1889 he was a guest of the
village of Good Thunder at its celebration of the Fourth of July, when he and many of its people thought
the name of the village to have been given in his honor. To make it surer, by the speeches of that day, it
was so rechristened (Good Thunder Herald, Feb 21, 1901). He died at the Lower Agency near Redwood
Falls, February 15, 1901. Portraits of this Good Thunder and his wife are given in The Aborigines of
Minnesota, but he is there erroneously called a Winnebago, and another portrait of him is in Whipple’s
Lights and Shadows of a Long Episcopate.
“It seems most probable that when this name was first chosen for the village, although the
greater number of those naming it had in mind the Winnebago chief, others of them and many in the
county supposed it to be for the Dakota scout, the exemplary Christian convert. Both these Indians
certainly were very well known by the people of this township and county.

1199

John Fritzen; Historical Sites and Place Names of Minnesota’s North Shore; St Louis County Historical
Society; 1974; provided by Becky Norlien, Two Harbors Public Library, 320 Waterfront Dr, Two Harbors,
MN 55616; [email protected]; http://www.twoharborspubliclibrary.com/
1200
http://minnesota.hometownlocator.com/mn/clearwater/coffee-pot-landing.cfm
1201
John A Weeks III; http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pages01/coffeepot.html; provided
by Tamara Edevold, Clearwater County Historical Society, 264 1st St W, Shevlin, MN 56676;
[email protected]; http://www.mnhistoricnw.org/
1202
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Thunder,_Minnesota

“In 1987 the Good Thunder Development Corporation began the Good Thunder Elevator Mural
project. A St Paul muralist, Ta-Coumba Aiken, was commissioned to paint the 72-foot-high elevator and
four surrounding 60-foot storage bins, depicting the town’s past. The face of Good Thunder, the Dakota
scout, is visible from nearly two miles away.”1203
***HAPPY WANDERER, LAKE COUNTY1204, MINNESOTA***
Becky Norlien documents: “It turns out that Happy Wanderer was the name of a bar that is in
the area of Isabella (another unincorporated community). I was not familiar with this spot but did some
calling around and spoke to Mary Lou Foster, the widow of the long-time owner of the Happy Wanderer.
It was named by George Schold, first owner, in the early 1950s. He has died and she did not know why
he picked the name. It is a very remote area with scattered residents and some people who come for
fishing; the bar became a central gathering point, and so the whole area around it was referred to as
‘Happy Wanderer Area’. The bar closed several years ago, but the name for the area persists, and there
is now a road named ‘Wanderer Road’. Mary Lou said one interesting thing about the area is that she
remembers when there was logging in the area, and the logs shooting down the Stony River would come
right by the Happy Wanderer. That would have been quite a few years ago. There is still some
harvesting of logs from the forest, by they are now taken out by truck. She also said the bar was built by
George Pickard, made of large logs.”1205
***KNIFE RIVER, LAKE COUNTY1206, MINNESOTA***
John Fritzen observes: “‘Knife River’ is a translation of the Indian name Makomani-zibi, termed
this by reason of sharp rocks in the stream bed. The eastern edge of Buchanan overlapped the western
part of the Village of Knife River, and this included the land office site and the early settlement. The
finding of veins of copper in the river bed resulted in much exploring. As early as 1854, prospectors
were digging test pits and searching for the big copper vein of which there had been rumors. In the fall
of 1854, John Parry, an experienced miner, selected the Knife River as the site of his operations, which
lasted until 1856. Others followed, but it was not until 1864 that large scale mining began. The North
Shore Mining Company then started a systematic exploration. A shaft was sunk in the southeast ¼
Section 25 – Tsp 52 – R 12, a mile or so west of Knife River. Additional test pits were dug in the locality,
but the results were disappointing. After several years of failures, no doubt the stockholders became
tired of the project, and operations were discontinued. From time to time others tried it, and there are
records of small scale explorations in the 1870s and the late 1880s. In 1910 a well digger in the Knife
River Village encountered a vein of copper. Local residents ganged together and deepened the well with
the hope of finding something worthwhile. The find did not result in anything of value. In 1929 a
Canadian mining company acquired mineral rights to a large tract of land back of Knife River and carried
on extensive operations. A deep shaft was sunk in the southwest ¼-southeast ¼ Section 26 – Tsp 52 – R
12, on the east bank of the Little Knife River, and diamond drilling took place in twenty locations in
Sections 26, 34 and 35. A five-foot strata of 14% copper was found at 70 feet and a four-foot layer of

1203

Warren Upham; Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia; 3rd Ed; Minnesota Historical
Society Press; 2001; provided by Kathy Leggett, Library Specialist, Blue Earth County Library System, 100
E Main St, Mankato, MN 56001; [email protected]; http://beclibrary.org/
1204
http://minnesota.hometownlocator.com/mn/lake/happy-wanderer.cfm
1205
Becky Norlien, Two Harbors Public Library, 320 Waterfront Dr, Two Harbors, MN 55616;
[email protected]; http://www.twoharborspubliclibrary.com/
1206
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_River,_Minnesota

12% copper at 100 feet. The results were not encouraging, and after a year the work was
discontinued.”1207
***QUAMBA, KANABEC COUNTY1208, MINNESOTA***
SL Vogt recounts: “There is some dispute as to the meaning or origin of the name Quamba. A
side track for the rail road was built on the location of Quamba in 1882, but no buildings were built for
many years. The water tower for the railroad was the only structure. It was known as Mud Creek after
the creek, which the railroad crossed there. Later when a depot was built, the railroad renamed the
location Quamba. A post office opened there in 1901. While Quamba did grow and businesses were
established there, it was not incorporated as a village until 1952. Oric Whited had platted the town in
1901. Today Quamba has lost the majority of its businesses. Quamba was said to be the Native
American name for ‘Mudhole’, but that has been disputed by authorities on the Chippewa vocabulary,
they claim that no such word exists. We only know for sure that it was the railroad that originally used
the name Quamba. Locally it has been accepted that it refers to ‘Mud Creek’ or ‘Mud Lake’.”1209
Ken-A-Big: The Story of Kanabec County says: “A sidetrack was built here in 1882, when the
railroad came through, but no buildings were built for many years. The only structure was a water
tower for the railroad’s steam locomotives. It was known as Mud Creek after the creek the tracks cross
here.
“Quamba is an Indian name for ‘Mudhole’. A disputed statement, authorities claim no such
word as Quamba existed in the Chippewa vocabulary.”1210
***SLEEPY EYE, BROWN COUNTY1211, MINNESOTA***
Debbie Herman spotlights: “No reason to lose sleep over how this city got its name! Sleepy Eye
was named in honor of Chief Sleepy Eye, or Ish-Tak-Ha-Ba, a Dakota chief, who received his name
because of his droopy eyelids. Chief Sleepy Eye was a very peaceful man and a good friend to the white
settlers. A local lake was also named for him. Others say the lake was named for Chief Sleepy Eye, and
the town was named after the lake. Apparently, not everyone sees eye to eye!”1212
***TENSTRIKE, BELTRAMI COUNTY1213, MINNESOTA***
Warren Upham underscores: “A city on the border of Port Hope and Taylor Townships, was
incorporated as a village on March 11, 1901; the original site, located one mile west of the present site,
was platted and may have been named in 1899 as Tenstrike Center by Almon A White of St Paul,
alluding to the completely successful bowling that with the first ball knocks down all the ten pins. Other
stories about the origin of the name exist, one centering on a remark by MR Brown, owner of a
1207

John Fritzen; Historical Sites and Place Names of Minnesota’s North Shore; St Louis County Historical
Society; 1974; provided by Becky Norlien, Two Harbors Public Library, 320 Waterfront Dr, Two Harbors,
MN 55616; [email protected]; http://www.twoharborspubliclibrary.com/
1208
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quamba,_Minnesota
1209
Sharon L Vogt, Co-Director, Kanabec History Center, PO Box 113, 805 W Forest Ave, Mora, MN
55051; [email protected]; http://www.kanabechistory.org/index.html
1210
Ken-A-Big: The Story of Kanabec County; 1977; provided by Sharon L Vogt, Co-director, Kanabec
County Historical Society, PO Box 113, 805 W Forest Ave, Mora, MN 55051; [email protected];
http://www.kanabechistory.org/index.html
1211
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Eye,_Minnesota
1212
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1213
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenstrike,_Minnesota

prospering trading post on the town site, who exclaimed, ‘I sure made a tenstrike here.’ The post office
began in 1899, and it had a station of the Minnesota and International Railway.”1214
HR Rachuy comments: “Notes On Early Tenstrike by PF (Spike) Maule: My parents, Mr and Mrs
Sidney Maule, came here from Michigan as newlyweds in 1897 with other pioneers, including his
brothers Peter, Alex and George, their nephew Walter Borden, and Malon Avery, whose wife was a
daughter of Geroge Maule. All settled on homesteads in virgin forest, alive with wild game and other
animals. They came by train to Deer River, where on the railway, following streams and lakes including
Big Winnibigoshish, they battled through a storm, barely escaping being swamped and drowned,
reaching shore with clothing and everything in the boat drenched.
“When they finally landed here at Gull Lake, which Indians then called Medicine Lake, one of my
uncles, Peter Maule said: ‘Well, I hope we have made our port.’ Coming from Lake Michigan towns,
they often used expressions of lake captains and crew. Another man in the group, which may have been
AA White, noting the beautiful lake, good soil and virgin forest, commented: ‘I think we've made a
tenstrike.’ Later, when the village was organized, those remarks were recalled, and ‘Tenstrike’ was
chosen as the name of the town, and ‘Port Hope’ was given to the neighboring township.”1215
***THIEF RIVER FALLS, PENNINGTON COUNTY1216, MINNESOTA***
Gretchen Beito emphasizes: “The first settlers in Thief River Falls were the Indians: the land of
the Nadowa, or Dakota Sioux, from the 1660s to the 1730s. The Chippewa began to move in from the
east during the mid-1700s. They adopted more of the white man’s ways, using guns, tools, utensils, and
customs that fit their lifestyle. The Dakota were more primitive and warlike. They often raided the
French fur trappers and Chippewa. Eventually the Chippewa drove out the Sioux, and by the 1770s, the
Chippewa were well established in northern Minnesota, including a large settlement in the Red Lake
area.
“The area where the Red Lake and Thief Rivers meet became a very important fishing and
hunting village of Chippewa. Legend states that Thief River received its name from the Sioux. They
called it Wamans Watpa. The first indication of this name is found in the journals of Major SH Long, of
the US Army. In 1823 Major Long headed an expedition, which explored the Red River as far as
Winnipeg. On the map accompanying his report of this journey he notes:
“‘Thief R’, probably the first time the name was set down in the English language.
“Mr Long did not see the river but an adventurous young man named Beltrami, Italian by birth,
deserted Long’s expedition in 1828, at the present town of Hallock, and struck across country along to
the Thief River, and down to the present location of Thief River Falls. He wanted to scout the ‘Robber
River’ as the Indians called it.
“As early as 1800, Alexander Henry, a fur trader for the Hudson Bay Company writes of the ‘Lac
aux Voleurs’ and ‘River aux Voleurs’, which in French translates the ‘Lake and River of Thieves’.
“History states that often during the years when the Sioux and Chippewa fought over control of
the land along the rivers in northern Minnesota, the Sioux would have to live concealed in
embankments along these rivers, hiding from the Chippewa. Eventually even these Sioux were either

1214

Warren Upham; Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia; 3rd Ed; Minnesota Historical
Society Press; 2001; provided by Deb Ostman, Bemidji Public Library, 509 America Ave NW, Bemidji, MN
56601; [email protected]; http://www.krls.org/index.html
1215
Hilda R Rachuy; North Country Vol 1 No 2 Beltrami County Historical Society (North Country, Volume
One); 1973; provided by Deb Ostman, Bemidji Public Library, 509 America Ave NW, Bemidji, MN 56601;
[email protected]; http://www.krls.org/index.html
1216
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_River_Falls,_Minnesota

driven out or killed by the Chippewa. The name ‘Robber River’ remained, and subsequent settlers in the
area changed the name to Thief River.
“Another legend tells of a Sioux Indian, probably in the late 1700s, needing to hide out along the
river for fear of being caught by the Chippewa. He was to have spent years stealing from Indians and
possibly early fur traders to stay alive.
“There is yet another story of How Thief River Got Its Name. In the book entitled, Women of
Thief River Falls at the Turn of the Century, by Gretchen Beito, a few paragraphs included here tell of
possibly the real story about the name Thief River.
“‘It is not easy to sort fact from fiction in the large number of stories that attempt to explain just
how the town was named. Two facts are indisputable. One is that back in 1896, city voters, selected
Thief River Falls as their new town’s name, over the other suggested names of Twin Falls and Beau Falls.
The other is that the name was derived from the Thief River, which empties its waters into the Red Lake
River at the city site. Just as they had christened other northern Minnesota lakes and rivers, the Indians
had earlier designated the name of this river, but why? Researching this has unearthed a good deal of
colorful local pre-history.
“‘In 1858, the Indian historian William Warren interviewed Wa-won-je-quon, a Chief at Red
Lake, who told of a camp of ten Dakota lodges at the headwaters of the Thief River, who succeeded in
escaping notice of the Ojibway for a number of years. About 1750, the Ojibway, having been driven out
of their ancestral home by the Iroquois, had successfully fought the Dakota and drove them out of the
northern half of Minnesota. This was possible because the Dakota were still using bow and arrows,
while the Ojibway had guns supplied by the white men.
“‘But because the Thief River area was their ancient home and was a very rich hunting ground,
for more than seventy years, some Dakota bands stayed in the area to the west of the Ojibwaycontrolled Red Lake. A hundred years ago, William Warren wrote, ‘They lived from year to year in
continual dread of an attack from their conquering foes. They built a high embankment of earth, for
defense, around their lodges and took every means in their power to escape the notice of Ojibway –
even discarding the use of the gun on account of its loud report, and using bows and arrows, in killing
such game as they needed. They were, however, at last discovered by their enemies. The Cree and
Assiniboine, during a short peace, which they had made with the Dakota, learned of the existence and
locality, and informing the Ojibway, a war party was raised. They were discovered encamped within
their earthen enclosure; and after a brave but unavailing defense with their bows and arrows, the ten
lodges with their inmates were entirely destroyed. The embankment of earth is said, by Wa-won-jequon (in 1858), to be still plainly visible. From this circumstance, the Ojibway named the stream Ke-mojake-se-be, literally meaning, ‘Secret Earth River’, which the French pronounce Ke-mod-ske, meaning
‘Stealing Earth’, has been interpreted into Thief River, by which name is laid down on Nicollet’s map.’
“‘Was there an error in translations, then, from the Ojibway language by the French or English
fur traders? In the Dictionary of the Otchipwe by Bishop Baraga, 1878, Ojibway words for ‘secret’ and
‘stealing’ are identical, except that ‘secret’ has one more syllable, which might not have been heard by a
translator: ‘secret’ is gimodisiwin, ‘stealing’ is gimodiwin. A compelling reason for the credibility of
secret being the original name, is the presence of ake, or ‘earth’, in the river’s name in early writing. Kemoj-ake-se-be – ‘secret earth river’, is based on historical fact. ‘Stealing Earth River’ does not really
make any sense.
“‘… In a 1977 interview, Dan Needham, Ojibway pipestone carver, remembered his ‘old aunt’
telling of how his grandfather, who was born in 1820, would lead war parties of a dozen or so braves
from Red Lake to the Thief River area: he sometimes came back wounded. When queried as to how the
‘secret earth villagers could live so long without being detected by their enemy,’ Dan says, ‘The Indians
didn’t travel so far out this way at that time. The only time they came out here was when they went on
a war party looking for the Dakota.’ Eighty-one year old Dan added an interesting contemporary note:

Ojibway of today do not use the name of Thief River Falls, but prefer to say that they are ‘going to where
the two rivers meet’. (Ne-gid-dah-mi-ti-gway-young)
“‘How did Thief River Falls really get its name? Ask a Thief River Falls resident, and he may tell
you the romantic tale of the Indian maiden, who leaped into the river to her death after her lover was
killed. Another may tell you about the grim Dakota murderer, who concealed himself at the river’s edge
to pillage and rob unsuspecting wayfarers. This story was printed in 1908, and is discredited today,
because it does not fit Indian tradition: neither Sioux nor Chippewa ever were alone – they were always
in a group. The flamboyant Giacamo Beltrami, the self-styled explorer, wrote essentially the same story
in 1824, and called it the ‘Robber River’. An early newspaper relates, ‘Thief River derived its name from
the circumstances that many years ago the Hudson Fur Company had a trading post near its mouth run
by George McKinstry, which was plundered during his absence.’”1217
Howard Person gives: “There are a few versions of how Thief River Falls got its name, but I'll
stick to the main stories as they are the most probable. About 1750, the Chippewa Indians (referred to
today as Ojibwas) drove the Sioux (Dakotas) out of Northern Minnesota, although for years thereafter,
bands of Sioux warriors continued to roam this area as far east as Red Lake and to give battle to their
hereditary enemies. The Ojibwa named the area Gimood-akiwi ziibi translated to English, this means
‘stolen land river’ or ‘Thieving Land River’.
“This translation is said to have come from a hidden, or sometimes referred to as a secret,
encampment of Sioux Indians located at Squaw Point, which is in Thief River Falls, where the Thief and
Red Lake rivers meet. The story goes that the Sioux Indians were stealing the land on Ojibwa controlled
area. The encampment was eventually found by the Ojibwa, and they were driven west and out of the
area permanently. There is also some speculation that the area was called ‘secret earth river’ as well,
since the translation in Ojibwa between secret and thief are very similar and could easily have been
confused.
“The second story on the name is close to the first in that it's said a single Sioux warrior lived in
the area and would rob and kill in close by Ojibwa villages, until he was eventually caught and killed by
the Ojibwa. These two stories or some combination of the two seem to be the most practical
explanation, as the area is referred to by these names several times by early explorers of the area.
Around this same time period, agents of the Hudson Bay Company penetrated into this area, and in
1800, Alexander Henry, a fur trader, writes of Lac aux Voleurs and River aux Voleurs that is in French
‘Lake and River of Thieves’.
“Major SH Long of the United States Army, in 1823, headed an expedition, which explored the
Red River as far north as Winnipeg. On the map accompanying his report of this journey he notes: ‘Thief
R’ probably the first time the name was set down in the English language. He did not see the river but
rather this was left for an adventurous young man named Beltrami, Italian by birth, French by adoption
and wanderer by choice.
“The third story is a bit more of a tear jerker you might say. I'll quote the story from a
description by William A Percy, whom I believe was once a mayor of Thief River Falls. ‘Legend of the
Indian Maid and the Thief River:
“‘Hush, little one, cooed the Indian maiden to her babe as they huddled in the brush near the
river. The river lapped at the weeds about their feet as they crouched out of the view of the trappers.
‘They were right here,’ shouted one trapper. ‘Keep looking til you find them,’ roared another. What was
the maiden to do? Her mind raced. They would not stop until they found her. The baby was of no
consequence to them. She was. Tenderly she gazed upon her first-born, a son, a future chief. She
1217

Gretchen Beito; Chapter Two: Where Two Rivers Meet: Indian and White Settlement: Fact or Fiction:
How Thief River Got Its Name; provided by Diane, Thief River Falls Public Library, PO Box 674, 102 First
St E, Thief River Falls, MN 56701; [email protected]; http://nwrlib.org/thief-river-falls/

stroked his cheek, then laid him beside the water. ‘Hush,’ she whispered. ‘Let the river tend you. I will
come back for you. Do not worry.’ Then she bolted out of the brush into plain view of the trappers.
‘There she is, boys,’ bellowed one from atop the ridge. The maiden leaped away with the trappers close
behind. Still lay the babe, listening to the water lap against him gently, softly, tenderly as if to caress
him. Night fell and so came on the sounds of the night; the choir of frogs croaking and crickets chirping
and always, always the gentle rhythm of the waves against him ... the waves loving him. His eyes grew
weary and he leaned to nuzzle the one who left him for comfort, for love ... and fell into the arms of the
waiting river. Swiftly the current carried him on and on down the river and over the falls to the rocks
below. There the Indian maiden found the lifeless body. She clutched her son close to her bosom. She
wept for her tribe's future chief and in a cry of anguish, she branded the river a thief. The blood of her
son was upon the river and so also, the blood of her tribe. She vowed that someday her tribe would rid
themselves of this river and the land about it. Then only would her tears cease. Yet even today on still
nights, when the waves of the river make gentle rhythmic music in the night, you can hear the Indian
maiden ... weeping.’
“The name Thief River Falls was officially adopted after a two-year battle, initiated by village
attorney Ira Richardson's petition in 1894 to incorporate. On June 8, 1896, Lars Backe and CJ Knox
presented affidavits to Polk County board of commissioners to incorporate under the name Twin Falls.
Another petition urged that the name stay Thief River Falls, which settlers on the west side of the two
rivers had named their village in 1890. In 1889, settlers on the southeast side of the river had named
their village Red Lake Rapids (for the series of three rapids that were converted into a waterfall by the
construction of a dam in the 1890s). Besides Twin Falls, another contender for the name of the merged
village was Beau Falls. The name of the Ojibwa village at Squaw Point - Negiddahmitigwayyung, ‘Where
the Two Rivers Meet’, was not a contender. The name chosen in an election on September 1, 1896, was
Thief River Falls. It was important to town boosters to have ‘Falls’ in the name because Falls would tell
prospective settlers that the location had water power available to develop industry and electricity.
“So it appears that the name Thief River Falls is a pastiche of a Dakota Sioux term
(Wamans Watpa – ‘Robber River’), a mistranslation of an Ojibwa term (Giimoodaki - Ziibi which is
‘Secret Earth River’, mistranslated to ‘Thief River’) and boosterish (the addition of ‘Falls’ to better sell
the site to perspective settlers).”1218
***WABASHA, WABASHA COUNTY, MINNESOTA***
KB Harder pens: “From the name of hereditary Sioux chiefs, whose bands inhabited the area.
Although said to have derived from Wabash, there are linguistic changes that mitigate against that
origin. Obviously, the present name was influenced by the pronunciation and spelling of Wabash. The
name of the chiefs has been transliterated as Wapashaw, and is said to mean ‘red leaf’, ‘red hat’, or ‘red
battle-standard’. The origin of the last, seemingly fanciful etymology, probably is decoration and red
uniform given by the British to one of the chiefs.”1219
**MISSISSIPPI**
HB Staples scribes: “The State of Mississippi is named after the great river. Mr Atwater, a
member of this Society, gives the Indian name of the river Meesyseepee, ‘the great water’. That the
Indian word signifies the ‘father of waters’ is clearly erroneous. According to Mr Gallatin’s synopsis of
1218

Howard Person, Pennington/Marshall Extension Educator, Production Agriculture and Environment,
University of Minnesota Extension, Office of the Dean, 240 Coffey Hall, 1420 Eckles Ave, St Paul, MN
55108-6068; [email protected]; http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/local/
1219
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

Indian tribes, Missi never means ‘father’, but ‘all’ – ‘whole’. The word sipi means in the Chippewa,
‘river’. Thus the words united mean ‘the whole river’, because many streams unite to form it.”1220
KB Harder states: “The word mississippi, ‘great water’, common to several Indian languages. It is
derived from meeche or mescha, ‘great’ and cebe, ‘river’ or ‘water’. The territory and state were named
for the river.”1221
MH Wright alludes: “While it is generally accepted that Mississippi is an Indian word meaning
‘the Father of Waters’, yet one seldom hears a discussion with reference to its real meaning nor to
which Indian language it belongs, there being more than two hundred and fifty tribes or bands of
Indians living in the United States, each having its own language or dialect.
“There is a story among the Choctaws, who lived in the Lower Mississippi country before the
tribe came to Oklahoma that they and their kinsmen, the Chickasaws, migrated from a far western
country long, long ago. When their leaders, the wise prophets of the two tribes, reached the great river,
in the van of the people, they contemplated its broad waters and exclaimed, ‘Misha sipokni!’ Misha in
Choctaw means ‘beyond’, with the idea of far beyond; and sipokni means ‘age’, conveying the idea of
something ancient. Therefore the words of the Choctaw and the Chickasaw prophets meant in
substance, ‘Here is a river that is beyond all age’, or ‘We have come to the most ancient of rivers’.
“In the earliest French records, the name was written Malabouchi, as given by the Gulf Coast
Indians. Du Pratz, one of the early French writers in this country, attempted to explain the Indian name,
Mechasipi, as a contraction of the words, Meact Chassipi, meaning ‘the ancient father of waters’.
“The great river was called Mississippi, by the Indians of the Northwest, when that region was
first visited by La Salle and Marquette in the seventeenth century, the source of the river being found in
the country of the Algonquian stock, of which the Chippewa is the most important tribe. Mississippi, in
the language of the Chippewa, is derived from the two words missi meaning ‘large’, and sippi meaning
‘flowing water’, which taken together literally mean ‘large river’.
“It is interesting to note that missi is the same as micco of the Creeks, meaning ‘great’ as an
adjective and ‘chief’ as a noun. Michi of Michigan is the same word, and, also, the massa of
Massachusetts is of like derivation.
“The name would be more accurately spelled Missisippi in French, or Misisipi in Spanish, both
being pronounced ‘Meeseeseepee’, which is near the sound of the Indian words. The Spaniards of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries knew of the river as the Rio del Espiritu Santo, or ‘the River of the
Holy Ghost’. They also called it the Rio Grande del Florida, or more simply the Rio Grande.
“By the early French, it was given the name of La Palisade, on account of the large cottonwood
trees that grew in abundance on the lower passes of the river. These trees were used by both the
Indians and the French trappers for pirogues or dug-out canoes in this region, since the Lower
Mississippi and its branches were dangerous for lighter craft, on account of huge logs and snags that
were washed down-stream during high water and lodged in the channels of the rivers. Then, too, birch
trees did not grow in southern latitudes, so that birch bark canoes were left for use in the lakes and clear
waters of the country in the North.
“After the exploring expedition of La Salle, down the Mississippi, the French sometimes called
the river, ‘the Colbert’, in honor of the minister and the favorite of Louis XIV. Jean Baptiste Colbert’s
name was uppermost in the minds of the French people, for it was his genius that organized the
finances of their country at that time, though his most lasting achievement was the establishment of the
French marine. In connection with this latter work, James Thomson Shotwell, Professor of History in
Columbia University, New York City, said in a biographical sketch of Colbert:
1220

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1221

“‘Letters exist written by Colbert to the judges requiring them to sentence to the oar as many
criminals as possible, including all those who had been condemned to death; and the convict once
chained to the bench, the expiration of his sentence was seldom allowed to bring him release.
Mendicants also, against whom no crime had been proved, contraband dealers, those who had been
engaged in insurrections, and others immeasurably superior to the criminal class, nay innocent men Turkish, Russian and negro slaves, and poor Iroquois Indians, whom the Canadians were ordered to
entrap - were pressed into that terrible service. By these means the benches of the galleys were filled,
and Colbert took no thought of the long unrelieved agony borne by those who filled them.’
“After 1699, when D’Iberville was locating the first French colonies in the Lower Mississippi
region, the river was called ‘Saint Louis’, in honor of the French King. Nevertheless, all its European
names were forgotten at last, and the Indian name, Mississippi, given the great river in the dim ages of
the past, remained for us today.”1222
***ALLIGATOR, BOLIVAR COUNTY1223, MISSISSIPPI***
JF Brieger communicates: “Located three miles north of Duncan, the town was a small
settlement when the railroad came through in 1883. A Dr Dunn and his family were the first settlers,
with the Lombard, Ledbetter, and Jenkins families coming soon after. The town acquired its name from
Alligator Lake, which was so-called because of the large number of alligators found in its waters. In 1884,
the first store was built, being operated by Mr Ledbetter and Dr Dunn. Alligator was incorporated in
1890 with RA Butler serving as its first mayor.”1224
***COTTON GIN PORT, MONROE COUNTY1225, MISSISSIPPI***
A History of Monroe County Mississippi depicts: “The Chickasaw Indians and their territory came
increasingly under the influence of the new American Nation, The United States. In 1801, Samuel
Mitchell, the Chickasaw Agent, became the first agent of the United States to reside among the
Indians. He erected the first Chickasaw agency buildings about nine miles south of Tokshish on the
Natchez Trace. It was about this time that the US Government constructed a cotton gin for the use of
the Indians on the west side of the Tombigbee River at Cotton Gin Port. The stated policy of the
government was to ‘pacify’ the Indians, and ‘induce them to engage in agriculture’, so that they would
not ‘need their extensive hunting lands, and would more readily give them up’. In 1807-8, an Indian trail
on the east side of the Tombigbee River, called by the Indians, Ridge Road, was surveyed and enlarged
by a party of the United States Troops led by Edmund Pendleton Gaines (1777-1849), under orders of
the War Department. The Indian Trail ran from the Tennessee River to Cotton Gin Port. The trail was
later called Gaines Trace and served as the Indian Treaty Boundary in 1816. And thus begun the long
process whereby the Chickasaw were pressured into signing treaty after treaty, gradually giving up their
land to the encroaching settler, and finally being transported as a nation to the west in the long ‘Trail of
Tears’.
“The Treaty signed September 20, 1816, ceded all land east of the Tombigbee River below a
certain trail called by the Indians, the Ridge Path, also known as Gaines Trace. This trail crossed the
1222

Muriel H Wright; The Naming of the Mississippi River; Chronicles of Oklahoma; Vol 6; No 4; 1928;
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v006/v006p529.html
1223
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator,_Mississippi
1224
James F Brieger; Hometown Mississippi; Historical & Genealogical Association of Mississippi; 1980;
provided by Elisabeth Scott, Reference Librarian, Reference Department, Mississippi Library
Commission, 3881 Eastwood Drive, Jackson, MS 39211; [email protected];
http://www.mlc.lib.ms.us/AboutMLC.html
1225
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Gin_Port,_Mississippi

Tombigbee at Cotton Gin Port. Settlers began entering the region almost before the treaty was
signed. Some of the early settlers supposedly had passed through the area that would become Monroe
County, when they went with Jackson to fight at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.”1226
JF Brieger enumerates: “The extinct town of Cotton Gin Port was located about two and onehalf miles south of the present town of Amory and is said to have been the oldest town in Northeast
Mississippi. It was here that Bienville established a fort in 1736, near several Chickasaw towns, to make
war on the Indians. The famous battle of Achia was fought with the Chickasaws near here, but the
Indians were not subdued. Bienville’s fort was erected on the site of Cotton Gin Port, the Indians calling
the town Tollamatoxa, meaning ‘Where He First Strung the Bow’, referring to Bienville’s disastrous
expedition. In 1752 Vaudreuil, the second Governor of the French Colony, made another attempt to
conquer the Indians and used the fort as his base of supplies, but this attempt was also unsuccessful.
When he returned from his battle at the Chickasaw’s Old Fields near Tupelo, the Tombigbee had fallen
to such an extent that he was forced to throw his cannon overboard, in order to lighten his cargo, and
this spot has since been known as Cannon Hole. On advice from George Washington in 1800, a cotton
gin was built near the old fort, to encourage the growing of cotton by the Indians. The port then became
known as Cotton gin Port, with boats landing here and much trading and shipping being carried on. In
1816 the treaty with the Chickasaw Nation was made, and the Tombigbee River became its eastern
boundary, accounting for the importance of Cotton Gin Port as a frontier outpost. In 1820 the Reverend
Robert Beel was sent here by the Presbyterian Assembly, to organize the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church as an Indian Mission. Cotton Gin Port competed to obtain the county seat when Lowndes County
was formed in 1830, and made it necessary for Monroe County to have a seat of justice, but it was
unsuccessful. This was a flourishing town, complete with post office and stores, until the beginning of
the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad in 1887, and the founding of Amory less than two
miles northeast. River traffic fast gave way to rail transportation, and Cotton Gin Port began to decline,
soon passing into history.”1227
***DRAGON, FORREST COUNTY1228, MISSISSIPPI***
JF Brieger gives an account: “Dragon was established as a railroad flag stop three
miles northeast of Hattiesburg, MS, in 1893. No one seems to know why the settlement started or the
reason for its name. GD Wilson was a pioneer settler, and there was once a school here named
Addison.”1229
Laurie Crowson points out: “A supervisor at Enterprise Products told me that the name Dragon
may have come from the numerous eternal flames burning over the oil storage facilities. Even today
they make one think of a dragon's breath. Several gas and oil storage facilities are located in the area

1226

A History of Monroe County Mississippi; Monroe County Book Committee; 1988; provided by Mike
King, Monroe County Administrator, PO Box 578, Aberdeen, MS 39730; [email protected];
http://monroecountyms.org/administrator.htm
1227
James F Brieger; Hometown Mississippi; Historical & Genealogical Association of Mississippi; 1980;
provided by Elisabeth Scott, Reference Librarian, Reference Department, Mississippi Library
Commission, 3881 Eastwood Drive, Jackson, MS 39211; [email protected];
http://www.mlc.lib.ms.us/AboutMLC.html
1228
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/forrest/dragon.cfm
1229
James F Brieger; Hometown Mississippi; Historical & Genealogical Association of Mississippi; 1980;
provided by Laurie Crowson, Secretary, HAHS Museum, PO Box 1573, Hattiesburg, MS 39403-1573;
[email protected]; http://www.hahsmuseum.org/

along this stretch of Highway 11 East. In the 1970s, Enterprise gas storage facility blew up, damaging
many homes for miles around. The area is still known as Dragon on the railroad information.”1230
***FREE RUN, YAZOO COUNTY1231, MISSISSIPPI***
KK Hill relates: “Prior to 1840, land that was not a part of a plantation, a place, or a farm, usually
found itself becoming an unincorporated community. Many of these still exist to this day, while others
are but a memory or a crossing of two roads.
“Free Run traditionally was named for a barrel of whiskey that was allowed to ‘run free’ for all
present. Generally, the communities were named after the nearest land owner and contained a store, a
cotton gin, and a church.”1232
***FREE TRADE, LEAKE COUNTY1233, MISSISSIPPI***
BJ Wright stipulates: “Back in the early 1800s, one of the Pioneer Families of this county (Leake),
settled in this community.
“Mr John Beckham Stribling and his wife, Mrs Mary Verner Stribling. Mr John served in the Civil
War and died on his way home, in Canton, MS, with the flu in 1863.
“A few years later, two of his sons, John and Sidney Stribling, were very active, along with the
help of a few other men in the community, in erecting a building that was called the ‘Free Alliance
Building’.
“This was a place where the people in this community would bring things they wanted to give to
the needy and less fortunate. Just anything people could use. These goods were stored here in this
building, and when any needy person or family in the community needed help, they came to the ‘Free
Alliance’, and Mr Sidney Stribling would give them some of the goods stored here, ‘Free’.
“In the mid-1880s, Mr Sidney put in a little stock of goods and started the first store in this
community. The name ‘Free Alliance’ was changed to ‘Free Trade’, Mississippi.
“In the back corner of Mr Sidney’s Store, there was the ‘Free Trade Post Office’ and Mr Sidney
was the first postmaster of Free Trade. I have some old letters that were postmarked at ‘Free Trade,
Mississippi’.
“Mr Sidney rode an oxen and delivered mail to several families in this community. The first rural
mail delivery in this part of the county. A few years later his brother, Mr John, put in another store.
Down through the years, Free Trade has been blessed with two stores almost all the time, until the last
few years. Most of the old timers have passed on and today, Free Trade doesn’t have a store. But Free
Trade still has two very active churches, ‘Free Trade Church of God’ and ‘New Bethel Primitive Baptist
Church’ and some of the best God loving and God fearing people you will ever meet.
“This little community has produced some of the most successful businessmen, doctors,
lawyers, preachers and just plain down to earth people you will find anywhere. One of the garden spots
of this earth.”1234
***HOT COFFEE, COVINGTON COUNTY1235, MISSISSIPPI***
1230

Laurie Crowson, Secretary, HAHS Museum, PO Box 1573, Hattiesburg, MS 39403-1573;
[email protected]; http://www.hahsmuseum.org/
1231
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/yazoo/free-run.cfm
1232
KK Hill, Triangle Cultural Center, 332 North Main Street, Yazoo City, MS 39194; [email protected]
1233
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/leake/free-trade.cfm
1234
By Bobby Joe Wright; provided by Theresa Pigg, Carthage-Leake County Library, 114 E Franklin St,
Carthage, MS 39051-3716
1235
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffee,_Mississippi

JF Brieger writes: “Located nine miles northeast of Collins, Hot Coffee was supposedly formed in
1870, when EL Craft built a lunch counter to serve people who traveled the road to market. The people
did their marketing either in Mobile or Ellisville, so Craft built his lunch counter on the road which
served both places.
“The Craft Lunch Counter specialized in the making of good coffee and became famous for miles
around: the place to get real good hot coffee. The settlement finally took the name Hot Coffee, and a
big coffee pot was erected as a sign to let travelers know they had reached the place.”1236
***IMPROVE, MARION COUNTY1237, MISSISSIPPI***
Chris Watts articulates: “In the case of Improve, the community began during the antebellum
period and was heavily settled by the Morris family. Subsequently, the community was known as
‘Morris’ for at one half of a century, and the name was attached to the local school and the voting
precinct.
“Perhaps the leading citizen of the community during his adulthood was John Lott Watts [who
had incidentally married a Morris girl]. He apparently filed for the establishment of a post office, which
was in time operating out of his house. On the paperwork, which I presume Mr Watts filled out himself,
in the blank for the name of the post office, the word ‘Watts’ was written, and then it was scratched
through, and the name ‘Improve’ was written in. This is the earliest reference I have ever seen to the
name. The post office became the Improve Post Office and operated for several years. The name took
hold, and that has been the name of the community since. To this day, to the curiosity of some, the
voting precinct for Improve has retained the Morris name, but it is because it predates the Improve
name.
“Why Improve? I have long pondered that question. It is the opinion of one local historian that
the postal service didn’t always allow local communities to choose the names of their post offices,
perhaps because the name may already be in use in the region, or perhaps it sounded too much like
another nearby post office. An example is the name ‘Bismarck’, a now defunct community in Marion
County. The folks that settled that area would have no reason whatsoever to adopt that name … it was
probably chosen by the postal service.
“I am a 7th generation resident of Improve and have called it home my entire life. I have
pondered the question why John Lott Watts [my g-g-grandfather, btw] would have chosen the name of
Improve [assuming it was not chosen by the postal service]? My opinion and it is just that, is that for the
poor farmers trying to survive the languid years of reconstruction, the advent of a local post office
would have been a marvel. It would have shown that the community was becoming a progressive place,
and the very name reflects progress. So ‘Improve’ would fit that mold just as I feel is the case with
another nearby community, ‘Advance’. Progressive sounding names seem to have been the vogue for
that era.”1238
***MERRY HELL, SIMPSON COUNTY1239, MISSISSIPPI***
Chester Sullivan describes: “Merry Hell is an area about five miles square, which lies in the
southwestern part of Sullivan's Hollow - not the old Hollow, but what the Hollow had grown to
encompass by the 1860s. Merry Hell is drained by McLaurin Mill Creek, named after an early settler,
1236

James F Brieger; Hometown Mississippi; Historical & Genealogical Association of Mississippi; 1980;
provided by Kay Allen, 44 John Allen LN, Silver Creek, MS 39663
1237
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/marion/improve.cfm
1238
Chris Watts, Curator, Marion County Museum & Archives, 200 Second Street, Columbia, MS 39429;
[email protected]; http://marioncountyhistoricalsociety.com/
1239
http://mississippi.hometownlocator.com/ms/simpson/merry-hell.cfm

who was one of the first to own Negro slaves. The creek was so heavily timbered that it was dangerous
for anyone to go there, even during the daytime, but once two men decided to go fishing there. Late in
the day they started home, but hadn't walked through the thick woods long before they realized that
they were back where they'd been. By that time it was getting dark, so they had to stay where they were
and wait until morning.
“There was a brand of whiskey named Merry Hell, which was popular with the people of the
Hollow, and it was known to have an ‘awful fine kick to it’. While the men sat there in the dark with no
fire and no food and not even a gun, just their rolled-up fishing lines, they were quite uncomfortable.
They talked and wished for a bottle of Merry Hell to help them make the night. One of them said that he
wished McLaurin Mill Creek was running with Merry Hell. After they made their way out of the woods
the following day, they told about being lost and about how they'd wanted some Merry Hell. That
started the people calling the creek Merry Hell Creek and that part of the Hollow Merry Hell.”1240
***MIDNIGHT, HUMPHREYS COUNTY1241, MISSISSIPPI***
Timaka James-Jones establishes: “Midnight, MS, is located six miles southwest of Silver City.
The name Midnight was born from a poker game, which was played beside a campfire in a dismal
swamp near the site in the 1880s. The game was played by a party of hunters, and one of the men,
laying claim to the land on which they had stopped, placed a bet and lost. The winner, looking at his
watch said, ‘Well, boys, it’s midnight and that’s what I’m going to call my land.’ He settled there and
built the first house on the exact spot where they had completed the poker game, and the town of
Midnight began.”1242
***PANTHER BURN, SHARKEY COUNTY1243, MISSISSIPPI***
Tara Jennings highlights: “Colorful names are plentiful in the Mississippi Delta, and the number
of stories about this north Sharkey County town are as numerous as the panthers that once roamed
here.
“According to a town history written by a high school senior in the 1950s, one story is the most
outstanding.
“The flat farmland that surrounds the small unincorporated community was once wooded. The
forest was cleared for fields, and now the woods only fringe the horizon.
“The story, according to history, is that workmen burning the forest saw panthers running to
safer ground, while others perished in the flames. Some say panthers could be heard screaming.
“But, said Postmaster Ann Vandevender, there are other speculations on the origin. One is that
the huge piles of timber cleared and set aflame were called burns; another is that burn is a Scottish term
for ‘swampland’.
“But all stories agree that the ‘panther’ comes from the population of wild cats that once lived
in the woods. Vandevender recalls one panther sighting in the town where she has lived since 1959.
“Farming is the main business in Panther Burn, the largest firm being the company that bears
the same name. There are three other farms as well, one owned the cotton cultivation and ginning
seasons, she said.
1240

Chester Sullivan; Sullivan’s Hollow; University Press of Mississippi; 1979; provided by Elisabeth Scott,
Reference Librarian, Reference Department, Mississippi Library Commission, 3881 Eastwood Drive,
Jackson, MS 39211; [email protected]; http://www.mlc.lib.ms.us/AboutMLC.html
1241
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight,_Mississippi
1242
Timaka James-Jones, Humphreys County Circuit Clerk and Registrar, 102 Castleman St, PO Box 696,
Belzoni, MS 39038
1243
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panther_Burn,_Mississippi

“About 100 families live in the community, and most of them are connected to one of the four
farming companies.
“‘Its country,’ Vandevender described life in Panther Burn. ‘You’ve got to go at least eight miles
to get any milk.’
“‘Town,’ she said, is considered Hollandale or Greenville.
“‘It’s quite neighborly down here,’ she said.
“Modest homes lie around the center of Panther Burn, and just south of the Post Office are two
streets of deteriorating federally subsidized homes. Somehow, the few wooden homes that are equally
deteriorating seem cozier.
“The town is clustered around farm shops, surrounded by shiny green John Deere tractors. A
cotton gin and grain elevator there are used only by Panther Burn.
“Tuesday, the tractors sat idle through the wet blustery day. The wind blew so hard that
whitecaps formed in puddles dotting the freshly turned rows.
“Paul Rucker, 24, has run the only store in Panther Burn for about three years. William’s
Grocery sits just off US 61. Aside from the grocery business, there are two pools tables in a side room.
Business comes from locals and people passing through on the highway.
“Rucker describes the store as ‘just simple’.
“‘You can’t complain being the only store in town,’ he said.
“Rucker agreed that most people in town work for Panther Burn Co.
“According to town history, the United States obtained the land in 1750 from an Indian treaty.
Farmers began to purchase small sections of the land from the government, and in 1832, Capt John
Willis began combining the small farms into a large plantation and obtaining land still owned by the
government.
“Capt Willis’ daughter, Fanny, inherited the estate upon the death of her parents. She married a
Mr Johnson, who was given management powers and, according to the history, ‘proved worthy of her
faith and many improvements were made during his control’.
“The railroad came, and the town store moved to land next to the tracks and served as post
office, market and business center, until it burned Jan 13, 1956, a Friday.
“In early 1919, Johnson was killed in a storm that demolished his home, and his wife was unable
to manage the plantation. The farm was bought by the McGee Dean Co, and over time became known
as Panther Burn.
“The plantation was divided between the McGee and Dean families in 1952, with the McGees
obtaining one-quarter known as Little Panther. It has since changed hands.
“‘There are now four farms at Panther Burn with Panther Burn Co being the largest,’
Vandevender said.
“Panther Burn Co now manages about 8,500 acres of the fertile Delta soil and timberland.
“The new store that replaced the one burned in 1956, itself burned in 1973. The Post Office is
now in what was a vacant home remodeled in the early 1980s.
“A large plantation bell from the old Panther Burn farm is displayed outside the Post Office.
When Vandevender was growing up, she said, it was rung in the morning and at the beginning and end
of the lunch hour.
“‘It was ingrained in our minds that if you heard the bell at any other time it meant fire or any
other emergency,’ she said.

“So strong was the reaction, she said, that the first time children rang the displayed bell she was
startled.”1244
***SHAKE RAG, TUPELO, LEE COUNTY1245, MISSISSIPPI***
www.msbluestrail.org portrays: “Shake Rag, located east of the old M&O [Mobile & Ohio] (later
GM&O [Gulf, Mobile & Ohio]) railway tracks and extending northward from Main Street, was one of
several historic African-American communities in Tupelo. By the 1920s, blues and jazz flowed freely
from performers at Shake Rag restaurants, cafes, and house parties, and later from jukeboxes, while the
sounds of gospel music filled the churches. The neighborhood was leveled, and its residents relocated
during an urban renewal project, initiated in the late 1960s.
“Tupelo’s blues legacy is perhaps most widely known for its influence on a young Elvis Presley,
who lived adjacent to the African-American neighborhoods of ‘Shake Rag’ and ‘On the Hill’. A local
explanation for the origin of Shake Rag’s name refers to people ‘shakin’ their rags’ while fleeing a fight.
The term was also used to describe African-American musical gatherings in the 1800s and early 1900s,
and may be related to Shake Rag’s location next to the railway tracks; prior to regular timetables,
passengers would signal for the engineer to stop a train by shaking a rag. Gambling and bootlegging
were commonplace in Shake Rag, and although outsiders often regarded the area as dangerous, former
residents proudly recalled its churches, prosperous businesses, and strong sense of community, a quality
highlighted in Charles ‘Wsir’ Johnson’s 2004 documentary about Shake Rag, Blue Suede Shoes in the
Hood. Blues guitarists such as Willie C Jones, Charlie Reese, ‘Tee-Toc’, and Lonnie Williams played at
Shake Rag house parties, on street corners, on a stage near the fairgrounds, and at the Robins Farm
south of downtown, according to musicians, who have stated that Elvis may have been especially
swayed by the music of ‘Tee-Toc’ or Williams.”1246
**MISSOURI**
HB Staples remarks: “The State of Missouri was named after the river of that name, and the
river itself from the Missouris, a tribe once living near its mouth, and afterwards driven into the interior.
There is another theory in respect to the name of the river that is descriptive. Col Higginson in his Young
Folks’ History, says, Missouri means ‘muddy water’. The Dacotahs called the Missouri, Minneshoshay,
‘muddy water’, a word which might easily become Missouri. In article on Indian Migrations, by Lewis H
Morgan, in the North American Review, vol CX, it is stated as a matter of tradition that the Kansas
Indians were formerly established on the banks of the Mississippi, above the Missouri, and that they
called the Missouri, Ne-sho-ja ‘the muddy river’, a name in which the present name can be traced.”1247
KB Harder shares: “For an Indian tribe who inhabited an area near the mouth of the river. The
original name for the river was Pekitanoul or Pokitanou, ‘muddy water’. How the name Missouri came
to be used in connection with it is unknown. The territory and state were named for the river.”1248

1244

Tara Jennings; There’s Disagreement Over ‘Burn’, but the ‘Panther’ Part is Accurate; Vicksburg
Sunday Post; March 15, 1992; provided by Tonja Watson, Clerk, Sharkey-Issaquena County Library, 116 E
China St, Rolling Fork, MS 39159
1245
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupelo,_Mississippi
1246
http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/shake-rag; provided by Elisabeth Scott, Reference
Librarian, Reference Department, Mississippi Library Commission, 3881 Eastwood Drive, Jackson,
MS 39211; [email protected]; http://www.mlc.lib.ms.us/AboutMLC.html
1247
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1248
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

www.sos.mo.gov stresses: “Missouri gets its name from a tribe of Sioux Indians of the state
called the Missouris. The word Missouri often has been construed to mean ‘muddy water’, but the
Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology has stated it means ‘town of the large canoes’,
and authorities have said the Indian syllables from which the word comes mean ‘wooden canoe people’
or ‘he of the big canoe’.”1249
www.members.socket.net composes: “Where Did the Name of the State Come From? It is
difficult to get two Missourians to agree on anything. Add three centuries, three (or four) language
changes, the lack of native speakers of the Missouri Indian language, when researchers began looking
into the matter, and agreement on the origin of the word Missouri is impossible.
“According to Virgil Vogel, in a 1960 Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, Missouri was the
name the Illinois Indians used for the native people who lived on the Pekitanoui River (a term also of the
Illinois language). In its French version, Missouri was recorded by Pere Marquette and other early
explores who wrote of the town of the ouemessourit - referring to the people. The root of this word
messourit has been traced to several early sources as meaning ‘canoe’ in Illini Algonkian - various
modifiers of big, wooden or dugout canoes have less evidence, although it does seem logical that canoes
of lesser material wouldn't easily withstand the snags and surges of the wild Missouri.
“What the natives actually called themselves, (and the river) is less sure. By the mid-1800s,
nearly all ouemessourit natives had either been exterminated, killed by disease, or left to live with
distant Oto relatives in southeast Nebraska. Oto and Missouri languages were related in much the same
way as high and low German - very different dialects, but with enough common elements that when
they merged due to the few speakers of either, it became impossible to say exactly which language
element belonged originally to which. According to Edwin James (1823) reported by Vogel, the
Missouri's name for themselves was Niutachi or Ne-o-ta-cha, a place name which survives as Neodesha.
Kansas and Oto speakers referred to the river as ne-sho-ja and ne-su-ja, both of which implied ‘thick,
muddy, smoky or turbid water’. One modern Osage speaker clarified that the related term ni-o-sho
(think place name Neosho) actually meant ‘smoky in the sense of foggy’; that adjective could also be
easily applied to the river, whose fog persists even today.
“People interested in pursuing this further are referred to the article: The Origin and Meaning of
Missouri, Virgil J Vogel. Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, (St Louis), vol 16, no 3 (April 1960): pp
213-22.
“How Is ‘Missouri’ Pronounced? Having disturbed the angels with the debate on the origin of
the word Missouri, let's continue. How ‘Missouri’ is correctly pronounced?
“Well, there are six basic options: ‘Mizzoori’, ‘Miss-oori’, ‘Mizzoorah’, ‘Miss-oorah’, ‘Mizzour-eh’
and ‘Miss-ooreh’. Webster's New Twentieth Century Unabridged Dictionary skirts the issue entirely.
Geographical names are not given, and the entry for Missourian – ‘mizzour'i an’ - is followed directly by
one for ‘misspeak’, which may not be entirely coincidental! In reality, only first three pronunciations are
encountered with any frequency. ‘Miss-oorah’ is just plain hard to say; ‘Mizzour-eh’ and ‘Miss-ooreh’
sound entirely like a person hedging their bets so as not to offend.
“With no authentic guidance (see origin of Missouri above), a case can be made for any of the
three pronunciations. Statistical studies have determined that more Missourians actually say ‘Mizzoori’
than the other two variants. ‘Mizzoorah’ is more common in rural central and northwestern Missouri
(excluding Kansas City). Both city dwellers and Ozarkers seem to prefer the ‘i’ ending, for differing
reasons. ‘Miss-oori’ seems to be an affectation of non-natives, TV and radio announcers, and teachers of
elocution, whose concept of the word comes from the written page and the rules of Standard English,
not an ear tuned in the cradle.

1249

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/history.asp

“To make matters worse, the flagship state university (with a majority of students from the large
cities, but located bang smack in Mizzoorah territory) avoids the issue entirely, proclaiming itself to be
MU or ‘Mizzou’. It has been my experience that the only time the state drowns in a virtual sea of
‘Mizzoorah’ is at state-wide election time: both big-city politicians hoping to woo the outstate vote, and
small-town politicians wishing to reflect their rural roots embrace the ‘–rah’ ending, hoping, like the
Mizzou Tigers, to turn their state's ending into a cheer for victory.
“So, of the first three, there is no real ‘right or wrong’ pronunciation for the name of Missouri just have it your way, and say it with a smile!”1250
***ARROW ROCK, SALINE COUNTY, MISSOURI***
MF McMillen designates: “Arrow rock, founded as a trading post in 1808, was the site of an old
Native American river crossing and meeting place. According to one story, it was named when a group
of young men competed to win the chief’s daughter. In their contest, they shot arrows into the river to
see who could shoot the farthest. The winner shot his arrow all the way across the river into a rock on
the other side.
“The French, hearing this legend, called the place Pierre a Fleche, which is French for ‘Arrow
Rock’. But in 1829, when settlers decided to build a town there, they chose the name ‘New
Philadelphia’ in honor of the birthplace to our nation. This name never caught on, and Arrow Rock got
its old name back in 1833.”1251
***CHAIN OF ROCKS, LINCOLN COUNTY1252, MISSOURI***
EJ Ellis expands: “Chain of Rocks is situated on the north side of the Cuivre River, about 4 miles
above Monroe. It was laid out on a Spanish Grant about the year 1835. The name was given it by Gen
Amos Burdyne, on account of a section of Archimedes limestone exposed in the bank of the Cuivre River
in front of the town.”1253
Dorothy McPheeters and Audie Kelly illustrate: “Chain of Rocks is located on the north side of
the Cuivre River about four miles above Old Monroe. In 1885 the Free Press published the following
sketch of the village: ‘It is one of the places that might have been, for two railroad surveys were run
through the place – one for the long and one for the Shoreline. When these surveys were made, much
business was transacted at Chain of Rocks. During most of the year, a line of steamboats made regular
trips and bore away the produce, and when boating was impracticable, the produce was hauled to St
Louis direct, or to O’Fallon, on the North Missouri (now the Wabash). After the completion of the two
railroads, the business of the town gradually decreased down to one store, a blacksmith shop and one
physician. It afterward revived, and now (1885) there are three general stores, a blacksmith shop and
wagon shop, a shoe shop, two doctors, and a telegraph line to Old Monroe. Reller & Pollard conducted
the largest business in the town, consisting of dry goods, groceries, clothing and tin ware. JF Schacher,
general merchandise; JT Haislip, groceries; Conrad F Schacher blacksmith; George J Pohlmeyer, wagonmaker; George Schacher, boot and shoe maker; JJ & LC McElwee (father and son); physicians; Stephen
Reller, postmaster. The telegraph line to Old Monroe was completed in March of 1885, the money
being raised by subscription from the business men of the Chain and Monroe, and the farmers of the
Chain vicinage. It was erected by CK Sitton and Dr LC McElwee. A handsome wagon bridge across
1250

http://members.socket.net/~joschaper/moname.htm
Margot Ford McMillen; Paris, Tightwad, and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names; University of Missouri;
1994
1252
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_of_Rocks,_Missouri
1253
Edmund J Ellis; Lincoln County Missouri, 1860; provided by Betty Eppard, President, Lincoln County
Genealogical Society, 1023 Ridge Rd, Troy, MO 63379-5654
1251

Cuivre to St Charles County, with a tested capacity of three threshing engines, was erected by the two
counties, and by subscription of the residents. The bridge, partly iron and partly wood, cost over
$6,000.00
“The town was laid out on a Spanish Grant about the year 1835. The name was given it by Gen
Amos Burdyne, on account of Archimedes limestone exposed in the bank of the Cuivre in front of the
town.”1254
***CHERRY BOX, SHELBY COUNTY1255, MISSOURI***
History of Shelby County Missouri maintains: “The village of Cherry Box, in the northwest part of
Shelby County and the only post office by that name in the US, was so named when application for a
post office was sent in by Dr Luther Turner, in whose home the office was to be placed. The first name
he sent in, ‘Cherry Del’ was registered – there was another post office by that name. Through the years,
a ‘star route’ had brought mail several times a week from the eastern part of the county, leaving it in a
wooden box nailed to a cherry tree growing in the yard of John G Detwiler, for people living in the
community. Those going for their mail often spoke jokingly that they were going to ‘cherry box’, so the
name originated and was accepted as the village name by the Post Office Department. Detwiler lived on
the southeast corner of the crossroads in the village, where Joe Yoder now lives, so ‘Cherry Box’ sprang
to life around 1880.”1256
***DEFIANCE, SAINT CHARLES COUNTY1257, MISSOURI***
www.defiancemo.org presents: “A history of defiance: the little town that was determined to
be! Defiance, Missouri, was officially recognized as a town in 1891. However, its earliest settlers came
from Virginia in 1798, when Revolutionary veteran David Darst Sr and his wife Rosetta received a
Spanish land grant adjacent to the land granted to Daniel Morgan Boone two years earlier. Today Darst
Bottom Road runs through the Missouri bottom land which David Darst farmed.
“The 1840s saw an influx of settlers. One of the more prominent families was Thomas Parsons
and his wife Phoebe (Ward) Parsons, who arrived from Virginia. In 1842 they built a beautiful two story
Federal-style brick home at 211 Lee Street. In 1868 their son William Ward and his wife Mayme built a
similar home at 15 Walnut Springs.
“The community entered the 1880s with a blacksmith shop, trading post and general store, but
no name. In 1892, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad extended tracks past the village and beyond
to Matson, where a depot was to be built. Local resident James Craig argued for a station in the
community, defying the town of Matson. He rallied a group of volunteers to construct the required farm
to market road to the tracks. He got the station! In 1893, William Lee Parsons platted the town parallel
to the railroad with Missouri Street (today Hwy 94) down the center. The town could not be named
Parsons, because that name had already been used by a Kansas town on the MKT [Missouri-KansasTexas] rail line. That's when James Craig proposed the name Defiance, because of the people's
persistence in acquiring a rail station. Thus the town's unusual name.
“Now a quaint little village dotted with charming shops, Defiance is the gateway to the Missouri
Wine Country. The railroad track is now the Katy Trail State Park, enjoyed year round for its biking and
1254

Dorothy McPheeters and Audie Kelly; People and Places of Southeast Lincoln County; provided by
Betty Eppard, President, Lincoln County Genealogical Society, 1023 Ridge Rd, Troy, MO 63379-5654
1255
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/shelby/cherry-box.cfm
1256
History of Shelby County Missouri; Shelby County Historical Society; 1972; provided by Carnegie
Public Library, 102 N Center, Shelbina, MO 63468; [email protected];
http://shelbinacarnegie.lib.mo.us/
1257
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance,_Missouri

hiking. Close by is the home of Daniel Boone, whose pioneer steps the settlers followed in their trek
west.”1258
MF McMillen renders: “[Theory 1:] When Harve Matson started promoting his nearby town of
Matson to the detriment of this settlement, people here became angry. One of the citizens named this
town as a comment on the mood. [Theory 2:] Early settlers in the Defiance area were of English
extraction, from either Virginia or Kentucky. James Craig, aware of the significance on the railroad to
small towns, led a crusade of volunteers to build a depot and a farm-to-market road (now Defiance
Road). The town was then named Defiance because it had lured the railroad away from Matson in 1893.
The Schiermeier store here sports two opposite-facing fronts. One front faces the railroad, while the
other front faces the farmers and local agriculture.”1259
***DEVIL’S ELBOW, PULASKI COUNTY1260, MISSOURI***
www.theroadwanderer.net sheds light on: “Devil's Elbow, Missouri, is one of the prettiest
places on Route 66 in my opinion. There's a lot of history in this area of Route 66 in the Ozarks. The
community got its start back in 1870 and was named for a particularly bad bend in the Big Piney River.
Lumberjacks would float logs down the river, and they would seem to always jam at this place. There
was a large boulder in the river at this point that some lumberjacks swore was put there by the devil
himself just to cause them grief. The community of Devil's Elbow is a like a page out of history. Here the
decades slip away to another, simpler time, far from the noise and bustle of the Interstate. During the
1930s and 1940s, Devil's Elbow was a resort community with cabins, canoes, and the famous Munger
Moss Sandwich Shop, of course.
“The historic Elbow Inn dates back to the 1930s, when it was the Munger Moss Sandwich Shop.
Built by Nelle & Emmett Moss, the business was moved to Lebanon in 1946, when old Route 66 was
realigned through Hooker Cut. This was once the deepest rock cut in America. When Route 66 was
realigned in the 1940s through here, it bypassed Devil's Elbow.
“Ramona Lehman, present owner of the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Missouri, adds more
to the history of this fascinating area, ‘The Munger Moss originally was a barbecue place located on the
Big Piney River at Devil's Elbow, just east of Ft Leonardwood, MO. It was started in the late 30s or early
40s. A couple by the name of Munger ran it; Mr Munger passed away, and Mrs Munger remarried a
gentleman by the name of Emmett Moss. Hence Munger Moss Sandwich shop came to life.
“‘It became very famous for its' barbecue recipe, and was known up and down Highway 66 as
such. Don't know for sure when the Hudson's took over the barbecue place, but do know it was war
years. The tale is that it took all day for a truck loaded with an airplane to go from the bottom of the hill
to the top out of Devil's Elbow. That was when they started cutting down the big hill that you see in the
postcards known as the Hooker Cut.
“‘When that 4-lane road opened up, the business at the Munger Moss Barbecue died. The
Hudson's wasted no time. They started looking for a suitable place to relocate too. Highway 66 was
booming, what with the war and travelers. Just east of Lebanon was a 4-acre parcel of land with a
restaurant and filling station. The restaurant was known as Chicken Shanty. Across the road was Green
Gables (four cabins) and next door was the Rock Court. The Hudson's were able to purchase this land
late summer of 1945. They brought the barbecue recipe with them - so a new Munger Moss Barbecue
came to Lebanon.’
1258

http://www.defiancemo.org/History.html
Margot Ford McMillen; A to Z Missouri: The Dictionary of Missouri Place Names; Pebble Publishing;
1996; provided by Judy Brown, Kathryn Linnemann Library, 2323 Elm St, St Charles, MO 63301;
[email protected]; http://www.youranswerplace.org/kathryn-linnemann-branch
1260
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Elbow,_Missouri
1259

“If you are going west on Route 66 towards Lebanon, the Mother Road winds through the
beautiful Ozark Mountains, through the small communities that add so much color to an already colorful
place. The communities of St Robert, Waynesville, Buckhorn, Laquey and Hazelgreen all have wonderful
examples of Route 66. Most of these communities depended on the tourist trade. Numerous cabins and
resorts dot the area.”1261
***FORT HANNAH, COOPER COUNTY1262, MISSOURI***
MF McMillen suggests: “One Missouri fort was named for a woman, Hannah Cole. It was called
Fort Hannah or Fort Cole. In 1807, the Cole family was traveling to Boone’s Lick from Kentucky. They
were attacked by members of the Sauk tribe, who stole their horses and killed Hannah’s husband. She
went on with her nine children and one cow and finally arrived near present-day Boonville. She built her
cabin and planted corn, but for the first year, the family diet was mostly wild game, acorns, and slippery
elm bark. They made their clothing from animal skins.
“More families came to the settlement, but the Native Americans kept attacking the settlers.
The War of 1812 was raging in the east, and the American government could not send soldiers to
protect the settlers in the west. Many tribes saw the War of 1812 as a chance to stop the growth of the
United States toward the west.
“Finally, in 1814, the settlers in Hannah Cole’s neighborhood built a strong fence of logs like
those used in forts. The fence, or stockade, had openings so the settlers could shoot at their attackers.
They built Fort Hannah in only a week, but it was strong enough to keep them safe.
“The fort was still used after peace came. It served as a community center, courthouse, voting
place, schoolhouse, church, post office, and hospital.”1263
***FRANKENSTEIN, OSAGE COUNTY1264, MISSOURI***
www.neatocoolville.blogspot.com calls attention to: “I visited the small town of Frankenstein,
Missouri, yesterday, the only town in America named Frankenstein. It is located in Osage County just
outside of Jefferson City.
“No, Dr Frankenstein didn’t settle here to get away from the bad press over in the old country.
The town was founded by Gottfried Franken, who in 1890 donated land for a church to be built.
“I was hoping to find a Frankenstein Motel or a Frankenstein Diner, but the town is way too
small for those types of establishments. There’s not even a gas station, and the only thing there is the
old church and a baseball field.
“In 1999 the town was invaded by 25 skydiving-Peter-Boyle-style-Frankenstein-monsters in
honor of the 25th anniversary of Mel Brooks’ funny movie, Young Frankenstein. As they jumped from
the plane, they yelled ‘Putting on the Ritz’ and landed in the Frankenstein Community Ball Field. The
monsters handed out Young Frankenstein DVD’s, and the Mayor even renamed the town Young
Frankenstein.”1265
***HERCULANEUM, JEFFERSON COUNTY1266, MISSOURI***

1261

http://www.theroadwanderer.net/66Missouri/elbow.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boonville,_Missouri
1263
Margot Ford McMillen; Paris, Tightwad, and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names; University of Missouri;
1994
1264
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein,_Missouri
1265
http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com/2006/08/frankenstein-missouri-i-visited-small.html
1266
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum,_Missouri
1262

www.cityofherculaneum.org connotes: “In 1798, Moses Austin, a settler from Connecticut,
obtained a Spanish land grant of one square league (approximately 3 square miles) of land, after
learning of the richness of the area’s rich mineral deposits. After bringing in equipment and workmen
from Virginia, Austin began mining and smelting lead, despite frequent problems with the neighboring
Osage tribe.
“In 1808 Moses Austin and Samuel Hammond laid out a town at the mouth of Joachim Creek.
The purpose of the new town was to serve as a shipping point for the lead smelted at mines in Jefferson
and Washington Counties. It is believed the town was named by Moses Austin, who called it
Herculaneum, because the limestone strata was so eroded that they resembled seats in the
amphitheater of the ancient Roman city buried by Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD.
“The first post office in Jefferson County was at Herculaneum, established soon after the town
was laid out, and it remained the only post office in the county for nearly thirty years.
“By 1813 three shot towers had been constructed on the bluffs. A shot tower is designed for the
production of shot balls, by dropping molten lead through copper sieves. The balls were then caught in a
water basin and taken to an adjoining building, to be turned through cylinders to round and smooth the
pellets, for use as projectiles in firearms. On December 8, 1818, Jefferson County, along with seven
other counties, was formed from parts of Saint Louis and Ste Genevieve Counties by an Act of the
Territory by the Missouri State Legislature, and in 1819 Herculaneum was named as county seat.
“At this time Herculaneum was described as a town having between thirty and forty homes,
three stores, a post office, a jail, a court building, and a school. Herculaneum's fortunes declined when
the county seat was relocated to Hillsboro in 1839, and when the St Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern
Railway bypassed Herculaneum in the early 1850s. The community experienced a revival starting in
1887, when the St Joseph Lead Company chose Herculaneum as a lead smelting site and the Mississippi
River & Bonne Terre Railroad ran track into town.
“In 1892 the first operation of the smelter begins with the operation of calcite furnaces, two
blast furnaces, a refinery, and a powerhouse for the generation of steam and electricity. The smelting
operations are the largest in the United States, producing approximately 225,000 tons of refined lead
annually, and are operated by the Doe Run Company, which bought the operations in 1981.
“Herculaneum is located on the bluffs of the west bank of the Mississippi River about 25 miles
south of St Louis. The terrain is full of hills and valleys, and the community has very little flat land. Views
from these bluffs overlook the American Bottom, a wonderfully fertile flood plain that extends for as
many as four or five miles, before bumping into small bluffs, on the Illinois side. Two nice places to catch
these views are from the Dunklin-Fletcher Memorial Park on Main Street near the downtown area and
the Governor Daniel Dunklin’s Grave State Historic Site.
“Herculaneum is also the birth place of Missouri's first native-born Governor, Thomas C
Fletcher.”1267
***LITHIUM, PERRY COUNTY1268, MISSOURI***
Riverside Regional Library provides: “Charles F Lawrence, who owned the land in the area, was
instrumental in establishing the village of Lithium in 1882. It was incorporated the following year. The
first house was erected in the spring of 1883. It is still standing and is the residence of Mrs Ed
Thompson. … Early settlers believed the mineral water remarkable for the cure of rheumatism, chronic
sore eyes, nervous complaints, and other illnesses. The doctors didn’t expect a Hugh Anderson of Illinois
to live through the winter of 1885, but he heard of the Lithium water and moved there with his family.
By using the spring water, he not only lived through 1885, but enjoyed another 30 years, passing away in
1267
1268

http://www.cityofherculaneum.org/History.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium,_Missouri

1915. … The population was 57 in May of 1916, when it was hard hit by a tornado. No one was killed,
but many of the buildings were demolished or damaged. … An incident which occurred in Lithium at the
time the Indians still lived there was told by the late Joab (Joe) Burgee. As a lad, he relates, he heard the
late John Hogard tell of how the Indians blindfolded a Si Penion at the springs, placed him on a horse
and took him a mile or so to a sinkhole and let him down into it. When the blindfold was removed, he
saw numerous wooden boxes filled with pure gold. He was again blindfolded and taken back to the
springs and released. Needless to say, Mr Penion is said to have looked for the cave and the gold for the
rest of his life without ever finding either.”1269
***MEXICO, AUDRAIN COUNTY, MISSOURI***
KB Harder details: “From Aztec, ‘place of the war god’. Mexitel, also known as Huitzilopochti,
was war god of the Aztecs. The suffix –co refers to a place, in this case the temple of Mexitl from which
the surrounding city of Mexico takes its name. Mexico became the capital of New Spain (Nueva
Espana), and gradually the name of the capital was used to designate this are of Spanish America.
Although Texas achieved independence from Mexico in 1836, it was not until the end of the Mexican
War (1846-8) that the United States annexed the vast tract of Mexican territory that was to become
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and portions of Colorado.”1270
***NOGO, GREENE COUNTY1271, MISSOURI***
Mike O’Brien explains: “‘And did you ever hear of Nogo?’ he [Arthur Paul Moser] asks. ‘It was
halfway between Springfield and Strafford along the rail line. They had two stores, a blacksmith shop
and a post office.
“‘It got its name from a town meeting where everybody gathered together to decide what they
ought to call the place. They ran through several suggestions, but for some reason each was rejected.
As they turned down yet another, one old fellow said, ‘Well, boys, I guess that’s a no-go, too.’
Somebody else piped up: ‘That’s it! We’ll call it Nogo.’ And they did.’”1272
***NOVELTY, KNOX COUNTY1273, MISSOURI***
History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, Missouri imparts: “The founder of the
village of Novelty was Nars W Hunter, who, in June 1857, laid out the little town on Section 11,
Township 60, Range 12. The land was entered by Cleng Pierson, in October 1838. In April 1860, he
made an addition on Sections 11 and 14. Mrs Mary Hunter’s addition was made in June 1877. The place
was long a well-known trading post, and during the war was raided as described elsewhere. At present
it is a considerable village, with a good trade, an enterprising and intelligent class of citizens, an
excellent school, churches, lodges, etc.”1274

1269

Riverside Regional Library, Perry Park Center, 800 City Park Dr, Ste A, Perryville, MO 63775;
http://www.riversideregionallibrary.org/2012-09-25-21-59-41/2012-09-25-21-48-15/perryville-branch
1270
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1271
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nogo,_Missouri
1272
Mike O’Brien; Springfieldian plays own fascinating version of name game; provided by Patti Hobbs,
Local History & Genealogy, Springfield-Greene County Library, 4653 S Campbell Ave, Springfield, MO
65810; [email protected]; http://thelibrary.org/
1273
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty,_Missouri
1274
History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, Missouri. From the Earliest Time to the Present;
Together with Sundry Personal, Business and Professional Sketches and Numerous Family Records;

Katherine Elliott mentions: “A post office from 1860; to the northeast in Salt River Township, 12
miles south of Edina. It was laid out in 1857. Long a well-known trading point. So named by the owner
of the first store, a Dr Pendry, a very eccentric man, who as a whim named the place for the assortment
of merchandise with which his store was stocked. The place is on a hill, and the first store had a flag
pole on it to serve as a guide to the store.”1275
***PECULIAR, CASS COUNTY1276, MISSOURI***
MF McMillen puts into words: “In place-name stories, time sometimes rewrites history. There
are two stories about the name of one of our most peculiar town names – Peculiar, in Cass County. The
earlier story, recorded in 1929, says that some settlers were looking for a farm. Coming over a hill, their
leader exclaimed, ‘That’s peculiar! It is the very place I saw in a vision in Connecticut.’ They bought the
farm and built a town, naming it, of course, ‘Peculiar’.
“Another story says that the town was named by a tired postmaster, who sent many
applications to Washington. One by one, the names were rejected. Finally, he asked the Post Office
Department for help and was told to try something new or ‘peculiar’. No matter which story you
believe, you can pass through Peculiar, Missouri, when you travel in the western part of the state.”1277
GE Taylor reports: “An exit off US Route 71, about 30 miles south of Kansas City: Yes, there is a
place called Peculiar. I’ve been there. There’s nothing peculiar about it, that I could tell. I ate lunch at
Dianne’s, whose parking lots fills with farmers’ pickup trucks every weekday noon, and where you can
smoke at any table in the restaurant. Dianne smokes. The hamburger I ordered was just what you’d
expect in a small town eatery; the fries were above average.
“After lunch I walked across the street to the post office to buy an envelope stamped with the
‘Peculiar, Missouri’ postmark. On the way out of town, I noted all the Peculiar businesses: Peculiar
Hardware and Lumber, Peculiar Pizza and Subs, Peculiar Drive-In (a convenience store with gas pumps),
Peculiar Farm Supply. Passing the West Peculiar Fire Protection District station on my left, I got back out
on the divided highway and drove to Harrisonville, the Cass County seat.
“According to the Cass County Historical Society, Peculiar was named in the spring of 1868,
when the pioneers scattered along the east branch of the Grand River applied for a post office. Their
application, which was filled out by first postmaster Edgar Thomson, says there were 51 families living
within a two mile radius of the post office, which would be housed in Thomson’s store.
“Thomson proposed the name Excelsior, but a letter arrived from Washington, DC, a few weeks
later, saying that name had already been taken in Missouri. He sent in another name and another, and
each time got the same reply. Finally, Thomson sent a letter to the postmaster general himself with his
final proposal. ‘If that won’t do, please assign a name to our post office,’ he wrote. ‘We don’t care what
name you give us so long as it is sort of peculiar.’ He put quotation marks around the word peculiar.
“In early June of that year, Thomson heard back from Washington. He had been commissioned
postmaster of the Peculiar Post Office.”1278

Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, etc, etc; Walsworth Publishing Company; 1887;
provided by B Karhoff, Knox County Historical Society, PO Box 75, Edina, MO 63537
1275
Katherine Elliott; Place-names of Six Northeast Counties of Missouri; University of Missouri; 1938;
provided by B Karhoff, Knox County Historical Society, PO Box 75, Edina, MO 63537
1276
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peculiar,_Missouri
1277
Margot Ford McMillen; Paris, Tightwad, and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names; University of Missouri;
1994
1278
Grace Elizabeth Taylor; A Peculiar Heritage of a Century of Persons, Places and Events in the Life of
Peculiar, Missouri 1868-1968; Lions Club; 1968; provided by Donna G, Staff Researcher, Cass County

***PROHIBITION CITY, WORTH COUNTY1279, MISSOURI***
Roberta Owens shows: “Originally there was a town named Smithton at the same location as
Prohibition City. It was the county seat at the time. But people petitioned the court to move the county
seat to Grant City, a more central location.
“After the county seat was located at Grant City, many of the buildings of Smithton were taken
down and rebuilt at Grant City. The inhabitants continued to desert the old town, until, in 1875, there
was scarcely a vestige of it remaining. The post office, which had for several years been discontinued,
was reestablished about the year 1875, as Prohibition Post office, called so because of the fact that the
original owner of the town site was as strong, uncompromising temperance man. There is nothing left
of Prohibition City but the name.
“I found on the www.geneologytrails.com website that the post office ran from 1877-81.”1280
***SEVENTY-SIX, PERRY COUNTY1281, MISSOURI***
Riverside Regional Library provides: “The Wilkinson Era 1837-77: Sometime between 1871 and
1875, this second landing owned by the Wilkinsons was given a different name. It could have been a
new landing just a half mile apart from Farrar’s old landing. Newspaper articles in 1875 use both names
for the area: Landing Seventy-six and Farrar’s Landing. All we know is that Riverboat traffic was at its
peak at this time; landings were everywhere along the River. John Wilkinson is given credit of naming
Seventy-six, but the question remains, ‘Why named Seventy-six?’ ‘The owner decided to give it a name
that would stick and that would not likely be duplicated at any other Landing. So he arbitrarily selected
its present name, had it painted in figures and letters (76 L’D’G) on a board and nailed upon the front of
the warehouse. That’s all there is to it – nothing historical.’ [Source: advertisement circa 1930].
According to the advertisement, the answer is a unique name given arbitrarily. It specifically discounts
any reference to the year of America’s Independence from Great Britain. This is highly suspect since the
name was chosen only a year to a few years before the nation’s Centennial celebration. The time is
suspicious. However, only John Wilkinson knew for certain why that name was chosen. Others have
proposed several guesses in print in the last 100 years. Many have written that Seventy-six was 76 miles
from somewhere, 76 landings from New Orleans, Wilkinson was 76 years old when he came here, or
Wilkinson made 75 landings before his boat sank. Some are written to be funny: 76 hills to a mile, 76
democrats in the town, etc. I was intrigued that the original purchase in Perry County of John Wilkinson
was 76 acres of land, so of course that number might be important to him. However, the first time that
the region made the newspaper in Perry County, it was called ‘Landing No 76’. The best guess so far had
come from my friends at the Perry County Historical Society well before any of this information was
found. They already had in their possession a Riverboat schedule from 1904, which showed that
Seventy-six was the 75th landing from St Louis, Missouri and the 76th from Alton, Illinois. Given the ties
that the Wilkinson family had to Alton, Illinois, it is possible that this solves the mystery of the naming of
Seventy-six.”1282

Historical Society, 400 East Mechanic St, Ste 203, Harrisonville, Missouri 64701; [email protected];
http://casscountyhistoricalsociety.com/
1279
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/worth/prohibition-city.cfm
1280
Roberta Owens, Worth County Clerk, PO Box 350, Grant City, MO 64456; [email protected];
http://www.worthcounty.us/offices.html
1281
http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/perry/seventysix.cfm
1282
Riverside Regional Library, Perry Park Center, 800 City Park Dr, Ste A, Perryville, MO 63775;
http://www.riversideregionallibrary.org/2012-09-25-21-59-41/2012-09-25-21-48-15/perryville-branch

***STE GENEVIEVE, STE GENEVIEVE COUNTY1283, MISSOURI***
MF McMillen talks about: “When the French settled west of the Mississippi, they named their
villages in traditional French ways. Some were named after Catholic saints. Missouri’s first permanent
settlement was Ste Genevieve. The first homes in the settlement might have been built as early as
1735. Why was ‘Ste Genevieve’ chosen as a name? We are not certain, but we know that it is the name
of a Catholic saint, who started life as a shepherd girl in the 5th century. Sainte Genevieve is the patron,
or special, saint of Paris, France.
“Perhaps the settlers arrived at their new home on January 3, the day chosen by Catholics to
honor Sainte Genevieve. Or the name may honor an early woman settler named Genevieve. The
French often named places for a person’s patron saint rather than with the person’s own name. Or
maybe the settlers wanted to honor the city of Paris.
“The town’s first homes were washed away by the Mississippi River in 1785, the year of a great
flood, so Ste Genevieve was moved to a different location. Still, some of the oldest houses in Missouri
are in Ste Genevieve. The way the French built log cabins was with logs placed like posts in the ground
rather than laid one on top of another to make walls. During the flood of 1993, the Mississippi
threatened Ste Genevieve again. Volunteers had to build levees with sandbags to protect the historic
houses.
“Ste Genevieve also had a French nickname, Misere. It means ‘misery’. This nickname tells us
something about life in early times. The settlers lived in small cabins with little protection from the
weather. In winter, the only heat came from a fireplace. They had to make, find, or grow everything
they needed. To visit other places, the settlers walked or traveled by canoe or horse.”1284
***TIGHTWAD, HENRY COUNTY1285, MISSOURI***
MF McMillen catalog: “Some of the place names are odd. Tightwad is the name of a town in
Henry County. A tightwad is a miser, a person who rolls his paper money in a tight wad, so that he can
put it in his fist and hold onto it. According to the legend, the name comes from the first store owner in
the area, back when the town was called Edgewood.
“They say that the store owner sold a beautiful sixty-pound watermelon to a mailman for $1.50.
This was back when mailmen still took the mail around in buggies or horse-drawn wagons. The store
owner was happy with the price and agreed to keep the melon until the mailman passed by again on his
way home.
“Pretty soon, however, a city fellow in a car came by. He offered the storekeeper $2.00 for the
melon. The storekeeper had no trouble making up his mind. He sold the melon and got another one
from his garden for the mailman.
“When the mailman came back and saw the new melon, he knew it was not the one he had paid
for. He was angry. He took the smaller melon, but as he drove away he shouted as loudly as he could,
‘Tightwad! Tightwad!’ People say this is how the town got its name.
“A place name has important meaning. When you hear the name, you see the place in your
mind. For places that you don’t know, a name may remind you of stories about it. So, if you want
people to think you are careful with your money, you may want to open an account at the Tightwad
Bank. Many people have done that, just to have the name ‘Tightwad’ printed on their checks.”1286
1283

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ste._Genevieve,_Missouri
Margot Ford McMillen; Paris, Tightwad, and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names; University of Missouri;
1994
1285
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tightwad,_Missouri
1286
Margot Ford McMillen; Paris, Tightwad, and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names; University of Missouri;
1994
1284

***ZODIAC, VERNON COUNTY1287, MISSOURI***
Allene Reynolds conveys: “‘This is Third Street.’ Our guide, Raymond Scholes of Jerico Springs,
spoke as we walked through the bushy timberland. There was nothing even reminiscent of a street
showing through the heavy grass. ‘And over there is First Street. Main Street runs along toward the old
Mill.’
“It took some imagination to visualize the once busy thoroughfares that traversed this quaint,
turn-of-the-century health resort. Twelve magical springs, giving it the name Zodiac Springs to match
the twelve astrological signs of the zodiac wheel, still seep from the jutted sandstone cliffs that overlook
a rambling Horse Creek.
“Moses Isenhower, the developer of Zodiac Springs, must have envisioned the hundreds of
people that would soon travel thousands of miles to discover the curative powers of the cold, clear
springs. He began the town around 1860, and it wasn’t long before people were coming from as far
away as New York State, taking a train to Sheldon and then hiring a rig (horse and buggy) from the livery
there to drive through the wooded, picturesque Ozark country to come and take the waters. Bathing in
the spring water cured outward ills like arthritis and boils, drinking the water was reported to cure liver
and stomach ailments.
“Most of the buildings in Zodiac Springs were formed from native stone. A number of the
foundations are still standing, their crumbling rock a poignant reminder of its former glory.
“‘My grandmother used to work in the hotel,’ Raymond continued. ‘Rich people could stay
there for .25 cents a night, and then they would walk to the bathhouse,’ he indicated a length of
remaining rock foundation that determinedly clung to the steep side of the hill, ‘and the proprietor of
the bathhouse would draw the spring water up the hill so they could bath.’
“For those that couldn’t afford such luxury, a natural bathtub of a large hollowed rock that sat
just below one of the springs was their salvation.
“‘This was all a park,’ Raymond spoke as we looked off the cliff toward the valley where Horse
Creek flowed. ‘There was once stone steps that lead to the bottom.’ The steps were still there, and
with some effort we cleaned away the dirt and walked down to a shallow cave, where one of the springs
still flowed from the natural rock ledge. Raymond dug out the debris and produced a tin cup of cold
clear water. ‘Over there,’ he indicated a spring to his left, ‘is Dog Spring. They said if you brought your
dog to the park, he would only drink from that one spring.’
“Back on top of the cliff, we walked down Main Street to where the old mill foundation still
stood, then on to view the decaying stone arch built under the old roadway that ran from Sheldon by
way of Wise. We rested a moment on the wide flat stone that was the traditional meeting place for the
Easter picnic.
“Zodiac Springs has come full cycle. There is no road leading to it anymore, and it is privately
owned by heirs of the Scholes family. In a few years, there won’t even be the foundations to remind
visitors that once this was a viable, thriving, much sought after resort spot. That it was a community
peopled by neighbors, relatives and friends in a gentler, less material world. Nothing brought that more
sharply to mind than looking out again over the valley and seeing the glitter from the tin roofs of the
newly constructed commercial hog houses. Is there no one left with the visionary powers of Moses
Isenhower? Is there no one who cares enough about other people to carve a town from native stone to

1287

http://missouri.hometownlocator.com/mo/vernon/zodiac.cfm

bring the sick and lame to curative waters? Perhaps someday, but until then we can only visit the
magical, historical Zodiac Springs in our memories and our imagination.”1288
**MONTANA**
KB Harder discusses: “From Latin montana, ‘mountainous regions’. When the Montana
Territory was organized in 1864 from a portion of the old Nebraska Territory, the name was suggested
by Representative James M Ashley of Ohio, chairman of the Congressional Committee on
Territories.”1289
www.alphadictionary.com expounds: “The name of this Northwestern state is a variation of the
Spanish word montaña ‘mountain’. No one knows who first applied it or under what circumstances.
Subsequent to the Lewis and Clark expedition, Montana became a United States territory (Montana
Territory) on May 26, 1864 and the 41st state on November 8, 1889.”1290
www.statesymbolsusa.org impresses: “What does Montana mean? The name Montana is based
on the Latin or Spanish word for ‘mountainous’. Western Montana is forested and mountainous, the
eastern section is a high barren plain.”1291
www.e-referencedesk.com notates: “Chosen from Latin dictionary by JM Ashley. It is a Latinized
Spanish word meaning ‘mountainous’.
“Created out of the Idaho Territory in 1864, the name Montana is a derivation of the Latin word
montaanus which means ‘mountainous’.”1292
***BAD ROCK CANYON, FLATHEAD COUNTY1293, MONTANA***
RC Cheney puts pen to paper: “In his memoirs, Daniel Mumbrue (1867-1947) describes a
treacherous ‘bad rock’ in a channel at the junction of two great branches of the Flathead River; any boat
floating with the current from either channel is naturally swept against this sharp, knife-like rock. And
for anyone unfamiliar with the river, the rock cannot be seen in time to avoid it. The Sheldon expedition
of 1885 was wrecked on this rock, as was another expedition that same year. The canyon is named for
the rock. The Montana Historical Marker at Bad Rock Canyon on US Highway 2, two miles east of
Columbia Falls, relates the story of an Indian attack, no date given, and suggests it was from this
skirmish that the canyon was named.”1294
***BANNACK, BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney represents: “Near Dillon, is a mining ghost town rich in history. The town was named
for the Bannack Indians, who occupied this area before the white men came. A post office was
established in 1863, but the name on the post records were spelled Bannock until officially changed in
1898. The post office was discontinued in 1938.
1288

Allene Reynolds; Zodiac Springs Revisited; El Dorado Springs Sun; March 21, 1996; provided by Will
Tollerton, Museum Coordinator, 212 West Walnut, Nevada, MO 64772; [email protected];
http://www.ozarkscivilwar.org/about/the-bushwhacker-museum-and-jail
1289
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1290
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/state_name_origin.html
1291
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Montana/MontanaNameOrigin.html
1292
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/montana.html
1293
http://montana.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,779250,n,badrock%20canyon.cfm
1294
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984

“While the Gold Creek diggings were being activated, large parties of Colorado prospectors
bound for Idaho, turned toward the Deer Lodge Valley, when they learned that Idaho gold camps were
being overrun by Californians; some went on the Beaverhead River. On Willard’s Creek (also called
Grasshopper Creek), a tributary of the Beaverhead, William Eads made the first really big Montana strike
on July 28, 1862, and Bannack sprang up overnight. Many of the gold-seekers were men who had left
the east to escape the raging Civil War, but it echoes followed them: Confederate sympathizers named
one gulch Jeff Davis Gulch, and Bannack’s residential district became Yankee Flats.
“Henry Plummer was appointed sheriff of Bannack. He and his gang of highwaymen began their
infamous operations in 1863, along the 90 stretch of wagon trail between Adler Gulch and Bannack.
They robbed stagecoaches of gold and killed more than a hundred men during their reign of terror.
Bannack was the first capital of the Territory of Montana, and the largest city (population 8,000) in the
new territory, when it was separated from Idaho Territory in 1864.
“In 1953 much of the Bannack town site was bought at auction by CW Stallings, who donated it
to the state. On August 15, 1954, Bannack was dedicated as a state park.”1295
***CHARLO, LAKE COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney specifies: “Was originally a trail crossing for freighters hauling grain and other goods
from the rich Ronan Valley to the railroad at Dixon. The place was first called Big Flat, then Charlotte,
and later Charlo. In honor of Chief Charlo of the Flatheads, one of the few chiefs who refused to sign
Special Commissioner James A Garfield’s order (August 27, 1872), removing all Indians of the region to
the Jocko reservation. Joseph Dixon, a governor and US Senator, was instrumental in establishing the
name Charlo.
“Johnny Chilcott of Stevensville High School sent this quote from his grandfather’s diary: ‘The
Indians all left this morning, poor souls, it was said to see them. They took their horses, packed some
wagons, and took their cattle and all their belongings.’ Chief Charlo left his war blanket to Johnny’s
grandfather, Lee Bass, who had described Charlo as a good-sized Indian, a man of few words and a
strong arm. ‘He was looked up to by the other chiefs of the Flathead Nation. He knew the value of
peace and tried to live as peaceful a life as he could. He was a man of strong will and wise thoughts. He
refused for many years to leave his beloved valley of the Bitterroot and pleaded with the government
agencies to let them stay. Finally he had to go; his people were sick, weak and hungry. Charlo was
defeated in peace as Chief Joseph had been defeated in war.’
“The Charlo post office was opened in 1918, with Pontus Haegg as postmaster.”1296
***DEADMAN’S BASIN, WHEATLAND COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney tells: “Is a government reservoir near Shawmut. There is also a Deadman’s Basin in
Madison County, among others. Several creeks also have this name – a reminder of the hardships and
tragedies of exploration in pioneer days when men went out alone in better winter weather over
unmarked trails and all too often never returned.”1297
***DIVIDE, SILVER BOW COUNTY, MONTANA***

1295

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1296
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1297
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984

RC Cheney chronicles: “Get its name because it is near the Continental Divide, where waters on
the west side end up in the Pacific and streams from the east slope wind toward the Gulf. This station
on the Union Pacific served as a distribution and stock shipping point for the Big Hole Valley. The post
office opened in 1873, with Charles Wunderlich as postmaster.”1298
***EDWARDS, GARFIELD COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney declares: “Was near Gumbo Flat and Sand Springs. It was named for John E Edwards,
resident and former cowboy with the old 79 outfit. Later he served as state senator from Rosebud
County. The story of Edwards starts as far back as 1897, when Mr Sanford and Glen Webster moved
into the Big Dry country and settled at the head of Sand Creek. They brought in sheep from Mereno and
the Upper Musselshell and raised them here. When the homesteaders came, a post office was
established in 1913, with Joseph Scott as postmaster. A store and schoolhouse were built near the
headquarters of the old 79 outfit. There was also a newspaper, the Edwards Times. The town was once
a contender for the county seat.
“Maj John F Edwards settled in Forsyth in 1902, with the honorary title given to all Indian
agents. Edwards was a cowboy with the North Bar outfit, owned by the Newman Brothers.
“Carroll Graham, later a state senator, recalls the dugouts that some homesteaders lived in,
when wood was not available for building: The ‘house is right over there where the blanket is hanging
up on that bank … the cave house had no support, it was dug in very hard material and had 3 small
rooms that were arched into a clay bank … the lady was extremely friendly … and I learned afterward
that she was a mail order bride … later she became very lonely and unhappy, so her husband took her
only pair of shoes with him when he went to get the mail and groceries so she couldn’t run away … one
day in the spring he came home to find her gone … the weather was warm enough for her to go
barefoot.’ The post office closed in 1945.”1299
***FORT CUSTER, BIG HORN COUNTY1300, MONTANA***
RC Cheney displays: “Was a cavalry post built at the junction of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn
Rivers in 1877. Lt Col George Buell had chosen the spot, and General Sherman agreed it was a good
location ‘in the very heart of Sioux country’. The site of the post was well chosen, but it came too late.
It was only twelve miles from the scene of Custer’s disaster. The fort sat on high bluffs, commanding a
fine view of the Valley of the Little Big Horn. It was a large and impressive fort, well-constructed and
attracted. Originally called the Big Horn Post, the name was changed to Fort Custer in November 1877.
Except for the Crow Rebellion of 1887, the troops had little to do except patrol duty. Some turned to
amateur theatricals for amusement, and on one occasion, when a traveling impresario visited the fort,
the company, with his help, presented the story of Capt John Smith, using Crow Indians in the cast. At
the point where Pocahontas was pleading for the life of Smith, a Crow Indian burst into the theater,
saying that a band of Sioux had stolen all the horses that had been hitched to the rack outside. The
bugler blew ‘Boots and Saddles’, Plenty Coups called a hurried war council, and the Indians joined the
cavalry in pursuit of the thieves. The fort was officially abandoned April 17, 1898. A post office

1298

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1299
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1300
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Custer_(Montana)

operated 1878-97 and 1900-1: Theodor Borup was the first postmaster. Nothing is left at the site now,
except one monument with a few pertinent facts.”1301
***GARRYOWEN, BIG HORN COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney expresses: “Is on the Little Big Horn River a few miles south of the Custer Battlefield
and a part of the area involved in that famous confrontation. It was a station on the Chicago Burlington
and Quincy Railroad; now even the new highway has passed it by. Garryowen is within the boundaries
of the Crow Nation Reservation. A post office was established in 1931, with Grace Eggart as postmaster.
“Garryowen was named for the marching song of the old Seventh Cavalry. Myles Keogh, one of
Custer’s officers, brought the tune and the words from Ireland. It had been the marching song for the
Royal Lancers, a famous British unit, of which Keogh’s father was an officer (Fifth Royal Lancers), at
Garryowen, Ireland. In 1876 the stirring notes of the same song echoed down the Little Bighorn River
Valley and are now commemorated in the name of this town.
‘We are the pride of the army,
And a regiment of great renown,
From Sixty-Six on down.
If you think we stop or falter
While into the fray we’re goin’
Just watch the step with our heads erect,
When the band plays, ‘Gary Owen’’
“Many years later, and halfway around the word, the ‘Garryowen’ marching song made history
once again. On the eve of World War II, a regiment of Scottish and English soldiers, who called
themselves the ‘Garryoweners’, was stationed in Japan. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the
Japanese told this contingent that they were to be shot at sunrise and to prepare themselves to die the
next morning. At daybreak the command was given to muster and march out to the parade grounds.
The British soldiers, attired in ceremonial kilts, marching in formation, and playing their famous song
loudly on their bagpipes, swung along proudly. The skirl of the pipes so terrified the Japanese that the
British won the day as the enemy fled for cover.”1302
***GRASSHOPPER CREEK, BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney notes: “Was near Bannack. On July 28, 1862, John White and other prospectors from
Colorado discovered a bonanza of placer gold along this creek. News spread and within a month a
thousand people had arrived. In 1862, at the confluence of the Beaverhead River and Rattlesnake
Creek, stood the only sign post in the vast wilderness of Montana Territory. On one side of a roughhewn board this message was daubed in axle grease:
‘Tu grass Hop Per digins
30 myle
Kepe the trale nex the bluffe.’
“On the other side was written:
1301

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1302
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984

‘To Jonni Grants
one Hundred & twenty myle.’
“The ‘grass Hop per digins’ were near Bannack. ‘Jonni’ Grant was a rancher in the Deer Lodge
Valley, who got his start by trading for worn-out cattle along the Emigrant Trail in Utah in 1850. He
would drive the cattle to Montana, fatten them up, and take them back to the trail for resale at a profit.
By 1858 the Grants – Capt Richard Grant, a former employee of the Hudson’s Bay Co, and his two sons
John and James, had several hundred head of cattle and horses. Conrad Kohrs bought the Johnny Grant
ranch in 1868.”1303
***HAPPYS INN, LINCOLN COUNTY1304, MONTANA***
Laurie of Heritage Museum of Libby: “Happy’s Inn is named after the owner, FJ ‘Happy’
Townsend (Fred).
“It opened in 1922 as a tourist spot. It was a place to buy gas and groceries, rent boats, and/or
rent a tent (cabin?) for the night.
“The kitchen on south end of the building was added later.
“Note: I'm not sure if the original building is still standing with additions. We have a photo that
shows the original store/office in its early years. It doesn't look to me like the building in use today. The
photo shows a family resting on the porch. They were on their way from Libby to Bigfork, which was
about a 14 hour trip in those days!”1305
***HELLGATE, MISSOULA COUNTY1306, MONTANA***
RC Cheney records: “Hellgate was once a thriving post near the present city of Missoula. The
post office was established November 25, 1862 (Washington Territory), with Frank Worden as
postmaster, and was moved to Missoula Mills in 1866. Long before the white man came, this area was
familiar to both the Flathead and Blackfeet Indians. The Flathead had to pass through the canyon east
of the Missoula Valley to reach the plains for the periodic buffalo hunts, and they were often attacked
by Blackfeet near the entrance to the canyon. ‘The reputation of the place caused French-Canadian
trappers to call it Porte de l’Enger or, the Gates of Hell’. Dimsdale, in his famous history, The Vigilantes
of Montana (1866), says the vigilantes ‘knew that the robbers were to be found at Hell Gate, which was
so named because it was the road which the Indians took when on the war path, and intent on scalping
and other pleasant little amusements, in the line of ravishing, plundering, fire raising, etc, for the
exhibition of which genteel proclivities the Eastern folks recommend a national donation of blankets and
supplies to keep the things up. … If the Indians were left to the Vigilantes of Montana, they would
contract to change their habits at small cost.’ Christopher P Higgins, a member of the July 1855 treatymaking party, took a special interest in the Hell Gate region; he saw it as an ideal place for a trading
center, because of the meeting of trails there and the friendliness of the Flatheads. In 1860 Higgins
returned to Hell Gate with his partner, Frank L Worden, to found a trading center; they located the new
store on the Mullan Road, which was then under construction. East-west travel stopped at the HigginsWorden store for supplies. And the store attracted other enterprises: a blacksmith shop, a livery stable,
1303

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1304
http://montana.hometownlocator.com/mt/lincoln/happys-inn.cfm
1305
Laurie, Heritage Museum, 34067 US Hwy 2, PO Box 628, Libby, MT 59923;
[email protected]; http://www.libbyheritagemuseum.org/contactus.htm
1306
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Gate,_Montana

a ‘refreshment center’, and a traveler’s hotel. The store prospered, but by 1866, the rush was over and
people were moving to Missoula Mills five or six miles to the east.”1307
***IRON ROD, MADISON COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney reveals: “‘Strung along both sides of the river’ and connected by a swinging
footbridge, was first known as Upper Silver Star and then as Ragtown. There were a number of cabins
and larger houses, a long, dirt-roofed barn used as a relay station for stage horses, sleeping
accommodations for travelers and a saloon. Freight rates from Corrine, Utah (the end of the railroad),
to Iron Rod were $3.75 per hundred pounds. According to George Carkeek, a pioneer rancher of
Madison County, the town took its new name when a big bridge was built across the Jefferson River and
its iron rods were painted red. Carkeek used to ride horseback out from Butte to go fishing here. There
was a post office 1869-72 and 1876-82.
“On May 14, 1873, the Philadelphia Ledger carried the following article concerning postal
facilities in Montana Territory: ‘An agent … officially visiting various offices in Montana Territory for the
purposes of correcting any irregularities of postmaster, stopped at Iron Rod. Going into the post office,
he found the room divided into three sections; first a saloon, next the post office, and last a faro bank.
The mail bag was brought in, and a rough looking customer opened it up and emptied the contents on
the floor. The entire crowd at once got down on their hands and knees and commenced overhauling
letters … and selected such as they wanted. After they were through, the remaining letters were
shoveled into a candle box and placed on the bar. The special agent, thinking the office needed
regulating, asked the bartender if he were the postmaster. … He answered, ‘No, he’s gone to Hell’s
Canyon, and by thunder, Bill Jones has got to run this office next week. It’s his turn.’ The government
official … demanded the keys to the ‘office’. The bartender … placed the candle box on the floor, gave it
a kick sending it out the door, saying, ‘There’s your post office and now get.’ The agent says ‘Knowing
the customs of the country, I lost no time following this advice and got.’ The office was discontinued.’
(Montana Magazine of History, January 1953.)”1308
***LAME DEER, ROSEBUD COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney spells out: “Is between Broadus and Hardin on Deer Creek and the Cheyenne Indian
Reservation. It was named for Lame Deer, an Indian chief. It was to this village that Dull Knife (also
known as Morning Star) returned with his few straggling followers, from their long match home after
being held in Oklahoma. The story is told in Mari Sandoz’s book, Cheyenne Autumn.
“An Indian historian gives the following account of a much earlier event and the story of Chief
Lame Deer: ‘Lame Deer’s camp of 51 lodges of Minneconjou Sioux refused to come in (as per
government order) and moved over to the Rosebud to hunt buffalo. On May 7, 1877, General Miles
attacked Lame Deer’s camp on the Lame Deer Creek tributary to the Rosebud. Lame Deer and Iron Star
were separated from the band, and General Miles rode up to shake Lame Deer’s hand. Just when it
looked like all might be settled peacefully, a soldier rode up with a rifle drawn. Lame Deer, suspicious,
dropped back and fired at General Miles, but missed and killed another soldier. A hot fight ensued in
which both Lame Deer and Iron Star and many others were killed. The soldiers then looted and burned
the Indian camp.’
“The sheer cliff 22 miles southeast of Lame Deer is one of the most classic of buffalo jumps.
Fragments of buffalo bones can still be found at the base. Lame Deer today is a reservation town,
1307

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1308
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984

serving as a meeting place and headquarters for the Indians who live in this area. The post office was
established in 1887.”1309
***LANDUSKY, PHILLIPS COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney touches on: “Has a quiet present but a roaring past. Near the Lewis and Clark
National Forest, where it clings precariously to the side of the Little Rocky Mountains, it was born ‘aboomin’ in the early 1890s. Powell, better known as ‘Pike’ Landusky, and Bob Orman discovered gold
deposits here in August 1893 and named their mine after the month. At first they took their ore out by
night, because they thought the claim was on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and feared
government interference; however, the mine proved to be a few miles south of the reservation line.
News of it leaked out; prospectors poured in, and a settlement was established in 1894. Pike, for whom
the town was named (presumably no one cared to argue with him about his name), was a raw kid at
Adler Gulch in the late sixties, when Virginia City and Adler Gulch were roaring mining camps. Pike got
his nickname because he boasted that he came from ‘Pike County, Missouri, by God’ – quickly won a
reputation as one of the toughest fighters in the west. In 1868 he went to the mouth of the Musselshell
River to trap and trade with the Indians, but was captured by a war party of Brules. Landusky angrily
beat one of the braves with a frying pan, then ripped off the warrior’s breechcloth to continue the
lashing. The awed Indians withdrew, and left two ponies to placate the wild captive. Later he set up a
trading post on Flatwillow Creek and called it Lucky Fort; it was located in what is now Petroleum
County. There Landusky was shot by a Piegan brave. His jaw was shattered; he tore out the loose
fragments of four teeth and threw them away.
“Five miles south of Landusky lived the Curry brothers. ‘Kid’ Curry and his brothers used
Landusky as a trading center. The following story about the confrontation between Pike and the Currys
comes from ‘Kid Amby’ Cheney, a cowboy working for the Bear Paw Pool, who also made Landusky a
stopping off place for supplies both wet and dry: ‘Pike was known as a mean devil. He always carried a
gold headed, weighted cane, and he used it often, sometimes hitting a bystander at the bar whether he
was making trouble or not. Pike owned the Landusky Saloon, and he had a business rival just across the
street named ‘Jew Jake’, a one-legged guy, who had lost the other one in a shooting scrape in Great
Falls. ‘Jew Jake’ used his rifle as a crutch when he walked and kept it slung around his neck when he sat
down. He used to sit out on the porch of his saloon, waiting for some trouble with Pike. One day Kid
Curry and Pike got into an argument; some say it was over a woman, others that it was over a plow that
the Currys had borrowed from Pike and returned badly broken. The Kid was standing at the bar in Pike’s
saloon when the argument began. Pike reached for his gun, but Curry escaped, and by the time the
sheriff had come from Fort Benton (200 miles away), the smoke had cleared away, and the officer told
the boys in Landusky that if they ever happened to see the Kid, to tell him to come on in and give
himself up. They wouldn’t go much to him because of Pike’s quarrelsome reputation. After Landusky’s
death, Johnny Curry, one of the Kid’s brothers, sort of threw-in with Mrs Landusky.’
“Landusky’s post office, which opened in 1894, with John Hiroop as postmaster, is still
operating, but the rest of the action has pretty well died down. The post office now is the information
center for announcements.”1310
***LAZY DAY COURT, FLATHEAD COUNTY1311, MONTANA***
1309

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1310
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1311
http://montana.hometownlocator.com/mt/flathead/lazy-day-court.cfm

Tony Edmundson clarifies: “According to our Columbia Falls Library Manager, the Lazy Day Court
is a trailer court on the west side of the town of Columbia Falls, Montana. While it has been in existence
for quite some time, it does not have any particular historical significance.
“There is no record of it that I can find in any of our local history books, files and indexes. It is
not listed in any local phone book or directory. Nor is it listed in any of our ‘place name’ books.
“It just seems to be a little place where people live.”1312
***LOESCH, POWDER RIVER COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney documents: “Near Stacey, was named for first postmaster, Marion Loesch; the office
was active 1916-50.
“‘This was cattle country, in the days when herds were trailed in from Texas. The ranchers lived
along Pumpkin Creek, built a sod shanty or a log house; they were pretty much of one breed; weatherbeaten, hard-working, sometimes hard-living cattlemen. Women were scarce (Theodore Roosevelt said
‘The frontier is hard on women and horses.’), and the wives of these settlers ran the gamut; some were
retired prostitutes, some were Indian, some came from the states as ‘mail order brides’; some came
with their husbands from the east, all were ladies who had to adapt to the rigors of blizzards, drought,
and Indian attacks.’ The Loesch post office was first located on Valentine Loesch’s ranch and moved in
1919 to the Edwin Lockwood ranch. ‘Jew Hall’ was on a hillside overlooking Pumpkin Creek; it was a
frame structure originally intended as a store. Later the storekeeper and owner left and gave the
building to the community for a recreation center. It needed no remodeling; the large front windows let
in plenty of light, and the shelves served as children’s’ beds while their parents danced in the hall.
Dances and socials of all kinds were held in ‘Jew Hall’, and the ranchers remained deeply appreciative of
this gift from their Jewish friends. Later the building burned.”1313
***PRICKLY PEAR, JEFFERSON COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney observes: “Was a post office 1866-72, after that the area was served by the Clancy
office. Abraham Ackerman was the first postmaster. The prickly pear is a common Montana plant: ‘The
prickly pear is now in full blume,’ and Meriwether Lewis, ‘And forms one of the beauties as well as the
greatest pests of the plains.’ Lewis and Clark found it particularly troublesome after their leather shoes
wore out, and they had to resort to moccasins. There are Prickly Pear Flats near Big Sandy.”1314
***RATTLESNAKE, BLAINE COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney recounts: “Was a post office 1917-32. Minnie Cureth was the first postmaster and
the office, near Cleveland, was first called Cureth. It didn’t amount to much, but the reptile for which it
was named certainly did. Poisonous rattlesnakes plagued Lewis and Clark not only in this part of the
state but also in Beaverhead County, where great dens of rattlers still exist. In the Big Dry country of old
Dawson County, a cowboy was found dead in his bed with the snake still with him. According to
Highland, ‘One of the biggest rattlesnake dens found … was near a schoolhouse on Little Breed Creek. In
1929-30 there were nine children attending this school. … The snakes were in a ‘dog town’ right at the
schoolhouse, and the children hunted snakes from the first day of school … until cold weather drove the
snakes down the prairie dog holes. No estimate is available of the number killed, but the record for one
1312

Tony Edmundson, Information Department, Flathead County Library, 247 1st Ave East, Kalispell, MT
59901; [email protected]; http://flathead.mt.gov/library/
1313
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1314
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984

noon hour was 116 good rattles. Rules set up by the youthful snake hunters did not permit counting
‘buttons’ or broken rattles.’”1315
***ROBBERS ROOST, MADISON COUNTY, MONTANA***
RC Cheney says: “Began as a stage station about 1864 and was first known as Pete Daly’s Place.
Mrs Daly was a hospitable and charitable host, who often accepted payment from her lodgers in the
form of gold dust. Legend has it that Robbers Roost was the hangout for Sheriff Henry Plummer and his
cutthroats, and that it was here they planned many of their holdups – hence the name. But old-timers
say that even though the outlaws probably came here from time to time for drinks and recreation, there
is no supportable evidence that it was their headquarters. Now the rambling, two-story log building,
which still stands (as does the old log hitching rail where desperadoes and travelers tied their horses), is
in a fenced grove next to a farmhouse. The ground-level porch, supported by logs, extends the length of
the house and a similar veranda is accessible from the second story. In a large room on the first floor is
the bar at which many a dusty traveler of the 1860s quenched his thirst. The Robbers Roost School
operated 1892-1944.”1316
***WEEPING CHILD, RAVALLI COUNTY, MONTANA***
Henry Gannett spotlights: “Weeping Child: stream in Ravalli County, Montana, so named,
according to tradition, from the circumstance of an Indian child being carried off by a mountain lion,
causing insanity in the mother.”1317
***WHOOP-UP TRAIL, PONDERA COUNTY1318, MONTANA***
RC Cheney underscores: “In 1870 the US Government outlawed selling whiskey to the Indians.
The marshals and their deputies set out to see that the law was respected. Fur traders regarded
whiskey as the first requisite of their business. Where whiskey was, there the trade was, so they built
posts in less restricted territory across the Canadian border.
“One of the first of these trading posts was built by Captain John Healy and AB Hamilton, at the
confluence of the St Mary and Belly Rivers, eight miles from where Lethbridge now stands. It was
named Fort Hamilton, but flourishing business soon led to its rechristening at Fort Whoop-up. So the
north country came to be known as Whoop-up country, and the 230 mile trail that led from there to
Fort Benton was called the Whoop-up Trail. Freight trains pulled by oxen or mules with crews of bull
whackers, and mule skinners took the furs and whiskey to the trading posts in Canada.
“The trade continued to ‘whoop it up’ until 1874. Then Fort MacLeod was built by the Royal
Mounted Police on Oldman’s River, 28 miles from Fort Whoop-up. The Mounties put an end to the
traffic. Today, only those who know where to look can trace its route in faint, broken scars on stretches
of virgin prairie, between Fort Benton and MacLeod, Alberta (Harry Stanford, Great Falls Tribune, May 1,
1932). For a few years after the whiskey traffic was stopped, the trail continued to be used as a supply
route between Fort Benton and Canada.
“Whoop-up Country, a book written by Paul F Sharp, was first published in 1955 and has gone
into two more editions. ‘The trail provides Sharp the vehicle by which he explores and explains the
1315

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1316
Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1317
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1318
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad,_Montana

varied economic, cultural and political manifestations of this buffalo region. Fur men, whiskey traders,
bullwhackers, buffalo robe and wolf hunters, cattlemen, cavalrymen and red-coated Canadian Mounties
people the saga, as do the Blackfeet, Assiniboine and Gros Ventre.’ (Review by ID Hampton.) Locale for
Danger Trail, a recent book of fiction by Robert McCaig, is the Whoop-Up Trail of 100 years ago, as the
Circle C wagons got their freight through, despite a desperate battled with hired guns. History and
fiction keep alive the story of the Whoop-up Trail.”1319
**NEBRASKA**
HB Staples comments on: “Nebraska is name from the Nebraska River. A writer in the North
American Review, vol LXXXVII, on this Missouri Valley says the word is Indian and is compounded of nee,
‘river’, and braska, ‘shallow’. Morgan in his article on Indian Migrations, North American Review, vol
CIX, says ‘the name of the Platte River in the Kaw dialect is Ne-blas-ka, signifying ‘over-spreading flats
with shallow water’.’ Dr. Hale says the name undoubtedly refers to the flatness of the country.”1320
KB Harder emphasizing: “From an Indian word, ‘flat or spreading water’, applied to both the
Platte and Nebraska rivers. The Omaha Indian name is Niubthatka; the Oto is Nebrathka. The territory
was named for the river.”1321
Elton Perkey gives: “On May 30, 1854, President Franklin Pierce signed a bill passed by the
Congress of the United States, which created the Territory of Nebraska. Nebraska became the thirtyseventh state of the Union, by proclamation of President Andrew Johnson on March 1, 1867.
“The word Nebraska is derived from the Oto Indian name of the Platte River: Ni btha cka ke.
One sometimes hears that the source of the word is Omaha Indian: Ne’brath ke or Ne’prath ke.”1322
www.e-referencedesk.com pens: “The state of Nebraska is actually named after the Platte River
from the French meaning ‘broad river’. The Omaha Indians called the river ibôápka also meaning ‘broad
river’.
“In 1842, John Charles Fremont used the word Nebraska in referencing the Platte River, and this
was the name that was given to the territory when it was created in 1854.
“From an Oto Indian word meaning ‘flat water’.”1323
***AUDACIOUS, CHERRY COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
Elton Perkey scribes: “Post office named changed from Dewitty, April 15, 1916; discontinued
April 18, 1918. A postmaster in this African-American settlement told the people they were audacious
for having settled there.”1324
***DEVILS GAP, GOSPER COUNTY1325, NEBRASKA***
PC Sophomore states: “Devil’s Gap Cave: A Thieves Hideout
“Devils Gap, a canyon that is southeast of Callaway in the hills, is a place that attracts tourists
and was a popular picnic area for local families. Within the walls of Devils Gap is a cave that the cattle
thieves made to hide in from sheriffs and local ranchers.
1319

Roberta Carkeek Cheney; Names on the Face of Montana: The Story of Montana’s Place Names;
Mountain Press Publishing; 1984
1320
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1321
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1322
Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995
1323
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/nebraska.html
1324
Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995
1325
http://nebraska.hometownlocator.com/ne/gosper/devils-gap.cfm

“Devils Gap has an interesting name, but few people understand the real history behind this
historical landmark. The first mystery was whether Devils Gap was man made or a natural formation.
The canyon was made during the Ice Age, when the United States was underwater and the glaciers
carved out the canyons and hills that stand today. As a result of the water, there are small, white, snaillike shells in the walls of the canyon. Also found in the walls of the canyon is a cave that was used by
cattle rustlers in the 1860s, during the height of the cattle rustling days.
“An old cave is carved into the side of a canyon wall. People believe that cattle thieves made the
cave by using sticks and other objects to carve out the canyon wall. The caves original uses were as a
hideout, a place of safety - which provided protection not only from the elements but also from the law,
served as the rustlers’ headquarters from which they planned their rustlings. The cave was big enough
to hide two people plus equipment, and an obscure wagon axle marked their entrance. The most
famous cattle thieves were Mitchell and Ketchum, who stole the majority of their cattle from the Print
Olive Ranch.
“So now you know some facts about Devils Gap Canyon and the cave that lies somewhere within
the walls. Come visit and see the small, white, snail-like shells in the walls of the canyon; it’s a unique
and bewildering experience, one you won’t forget. People will stop and wonder about the history and
the mystery surrounding Devils Gap Canyon and the cave for centuries to come.”1326
***GUIDE ROCK, WEBSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
Elton Perkey alludes: “Post office established February 3, 1871. Named for a high rocky bluff
about two and one-half miles southeast and across the Republican River from the town site. The rock
served as a landmark to early western travelers.”1327
***MAGNET, CEDAR COUNTY1328, NEBRASKA***
Shirley Dawson communicates: “The settlers who came to northeast Nebraska spread out,
building homes and farming the land. In the early 1880s, the big ‘Butterfield Ranch’ was located in the
Elkhorn River Valley about two miles to the west. After many smaller homesteads were staked, there
was a need for a school. It was built half a mile from what was to become our town of Magnet.
“In 1893, when track was being laid for the Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad, BE
Smith platted a town. He named it Magnet, hoping that the name would ‘attract people to the town’,
which it surely did! In addition to the depot and stockyards, Adkins built a hotel, and the Blinkiron
brothers started a lumber yard. Soon there were many stores, a couple of doctors, ‘shovel houses’
where grain was shoveled out of wagons and later into box cars, a printing office called ‘The Magnet
Mail’, and of course, a post office. As the town grew, many more businesses were added, and wooden
buildings were replaced with brick ones.
“In 1902 the telephone company came to town, and several new buildings were added. There
was an opera house, bank, cafe, barber shop, pool hall, the light plant, and a creamery.
“The schoolhouse had been moved into town, and by 1903, a larger one was needed. A twostory building was constructed, and the old building was purchased by the Christian Church. A Methodist
Church was also built at that time.
“The very first truck in town was a wood-wheeled Maxwell, used to haul freight from the depot.
A gas station was started in 1929. Later a ‘really big truck’ was purchased, with an eight-foot box.
1326

Philip C Sophomore, Class of 2007, Arnold Public Schools, PO Box 399, 405 North Haskell, Arnold, NE
69120; http://blog.arnold.k12.ne.us/gps/global-positioning-of-history/geographical-features/devils-denindex/devils-gap/
1327
Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995
1328
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet,_Nebraska

“Magnet has had its share of disasters. In February 1925, a fire took an entire block of Main
Street. The bank closed during the Depression. More buildings were lost to fire in 1930 and 1931, and
the elevator burned in 1967. A tornado in 1937 and an even bigger one on May 6, 1975, struck our
town. Many homes and several businesses were destroyed each time, but fortunately no lives were lost.
“We also have our leaders. Floyd Dawson, a baseball player himself, coached ball for many years
and helped other youngsters by organizing a kids' baseball league. Lois Bloomquist and Doris Greeno
started 4-H for girls, and Dawson, Floyd Puntney, and Ellis Tilton organized a saddle club. The kids
learned to take care of their horses, went on trail rides, and showed their horses at fairs and at Magnet's
‘Play Day’ once a year.
“In 1976, the year of the Bicentennial, we celebrate our country's birthday in a big way. As a
‘Bicentennial City’, we had an old-fashioned box-social, homemade ice cream and cake, a parade
complete with kings and queens, plus a religious heritage day.
“On May 8, 1976, Magnet residents also expressed their gratitude to all the people who helped
clean up following the tornado the previous year, by inviting all who had helped in any way to a pork
barbecue.
“There have been many changes in our little town. Some businesses have been handed down
from father to son, or changed hands, bringing new people to town. Several buildings, no longer
financially feasible as businesses, were turned into comfortable homes.
“Magnet has experienced an out-migration of people, as have many small towns. With a drop of
enrollment, the high school closed in 1956, with students going to Wausa or Randolph. The old
buildings, after extensive remodeling, in which the top floor was removed and new restrooms were
installed, continued as a K-8. In 1974, however, people voted to send grades seven and eight to Wausa
and two years later, decided to close the school permanently. At this time, 16 children ride the bus to
Wausa.
“Magnet, with a population of 78, has the support and encouragement of a large rural area. The
senior citizens enjoy dinner and card playing. There is an active Woman's Society, and volunteer fire
department. They head up the big barbecue and tractor pull the first part of June, as well as other
promotional activities. Magnet marked its 95th birthday in 1988, and we hope to live up to our motto ...
‘a town too tough to die’.”1329
***MOOMAW CORNER, MORRILL COUNTY1330, NEBRASKA***
Hugh Houchin depicts: “Moomaw's Corner, a Relic of Western Nebraska's Homesteaders
“Whether it’s the Oregon or Mormon Trail, Chimney Rock, Fort Robinson or the Scottsbluff
National Monument, the vast prairie lands of western Nebraska abound with pioneer history.
“Although, the story of Moomaw’s Corner, on US Highway 26, three miles north of Bayard, is not
of national significance, the story behind it depicts the rugged spirit of the pioneers who settled this
area.
“To a passerby, Moomaw’s Corner consists of a rundown building, with ‘Tony’s’ painted on it in
big, black, gaudy letters, a dilapidated stucco house with a broken fountain fronting it, and a forsaken
beanery. All of this on property inundated with weeds, from tall to taller, to tallest. As it sits, Moomaw’s
Corner is an eyesore, and in the near future, plans are to burn the buildings and the weeds to the
ground.

1329

Shirley Dawson, Box 67, Magnet, NE 68749;
http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/cedar/magnet/
1330
http://nebraska.hometownlocator.com/ne/morrill/moomaw-corner.cfm

“However, to those in the know, the story behind Moomaw’s Corner is integral to western
Nebraska’s culture and history. To anyone who treasures this culture and looks past the weedy rubble of
Moomaws, they gaze upon, feel and absorb the history of those who homesteaded this area.
“In 1862, to facilitate the settling of the western half of the United States, the Federal
Government passed the Homestead Act. This act allowed brave and stalwart entrepreneurs the
opportunity to own 160 acres of government land, simply by paying a filing fee of five to ten dollars,
building a dwelling place on the land, and living there for five years. After meeting those prerequisites,
the government gave the homesteader full title to the land.
“Unfortunately, though, the Homestead Act did not take into account that the vast and flat
prairie land of western Nebraska was cattle country, and homesteaders needed more than 160 acres to
make a living. As a result, an amendment, the Kinkaid Act of 1904, became part of the original
Homestead Act. This amendment, allowed a homesteader, in any of 37 counties in western Nebraska, to
claim one section of a township of undeveloped land.
“Before Leon Moomaw and Minnie Young married, they lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. While there,
they filed for land under the Kinkaid Act. Minnie filed in 1913 and her homestead was in the Wildcat
Hills, south of Bayard, while Leon, who filed in 1912, received land north of Bayard. The remnants of
Moomaw’s corner are part of Leon’s original homestead.
“In 1913, accompanied by either Minnie’s mother or her sister, Leon and Minnie traveled across
Nebraska to their homesteads. When they first viewed them, perhaps hand in hand, their greeting was
prairie grass and unfulfilled plans. More than likely, the ever-present-western-Nebraska wind billowed
through their acres of hopes as they stood there.
“Nevertheless, despite the hardships they would face, they had that intangible, which was, and
is still a part of western-Nebraska culture. There are words to describe it: determination, grit, wills,
resoluteness or stubbornness, but whatever it’s called, it’s an essence that permeates this area.
“Minnie’s diary contained many experiences of their new life on the prairie. Among the entries
of her initial exposure to homestead life, included washing clothes in canyon springs, and carrying water
in cream cans to their cabin. She mentions a milk cow, Beauty, who gave them three gallons of milk each
day, and killing five rattlesnakes during their first summer as homesteaders. Minnie writes about making
jelly, baking bread, sewing, upgrading their cabin, and going to nearby McGrew to buy groceries or pick
up their mail.”1331
***RAIN, HAYES COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
Elton Perkey enumerates: “Post office established December 18, 1894; discontinued December
31, 1919. Named during dry season, when religious and other organizations held meetings to pray for
rain. CB French, minister of the Church of Christ and the first postmaster, suggested Rain to remind
patrons of the devastating drought.”1332
***WAHOO, SAUNDERS COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
Elton Perkey gives an account: “Post office established July 15, 1869. There is some dispute over
the origin of the name Wahoo. One explanation is that it is derived from the euonymus or wahoo shrub,
commonly known as the ‘burning bush’, which grows on the banks of Wahoo Creek. The plant was used
medicinally by the Indians, according to tradition. Another theory is that Wahoo stems from pahoo (‘not
very bluff like’). This is not probable considering the rugged appearance of the country. Henry

1331

Hugh Houchin; http://spiritualwatercooler.blogspot.com/2011/11/moomaws-corner-relic-ofwestern.html
1332
Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995

Gannett’s work on place names states that Wahoo is an Indian word meaning a species of elm. Wahoo
was made county seat in election with Ashland, October 14, 1873.”1333
***WEEPING WATER, CASS COUNTY1334, NEBRASKA***
The Omaha World-Herald points out: “In June 1729, Pierre and Paul Mallet reached the mouth
of a wide and shallow river which they named the Platte, an Indian word meaning ‘flat’. Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark reached the Platte on July 21, 1804, having sighted the mouth of Weeping
Water Creek just one day earlier: ‘We passed, at about three miles distance, a small willow Island to the
north of a creek on the south, about twenty-five yards wide, by the French called L’eau qui pleure, or
‘the Weeping Water’.”1335
Jean and Edith Matteson relate: “An Indian legend tells of a battle, which began when one tribe
stole the daughter of another tribe’s chief, and ended three days later when all the braves lay dead. The
tears cried by the families of the fallen warriors were said to have formed the ‘Weeping waters’.
“The first white settlers arrived in March 1856. Elam Flower and Darrell Reed built a log house,
which was used at various times as a church, a school, and a stable. In 1857 a post office named
Weeping Water was established. It was 10 years before a village was platted and a store opened. The
town incorporated in 1870. The railroad, which arrived in 1883, ensured its continued existence, and by
1888, Weeping Water achieved the status of a second-class city.
“Many things have changed. The steam whistle of an approaching passenger train no longer
echoes across the valley, and the livery stable has been replaced by Keckler’s filling station and
Mogensen’s garage. However, Michelsen’s variety store, a grocery and hardware, and a bank still stand
on Main Street. Rail cars still load grain from the elevator, and limestone from three quarries is still
transported all around the globe.
“Gone, with the fire and forge of the blacksmiths, are the opera house and movie theatre, but
baseball games still bring out a crowd, and the whole town shuts down when the basketball team makes
the state finals. Local residents work hard to put on annual events — ‘Limestone Days’ and the Cass
County Fair. In 1967 the community celebrated its first century of progress.”1336
***WINTER QUARTERS, DOUGLAS COUNTY, NEBRASKA***
Elton Perkey stipulates: “Post office established March 24, 1854; changed to Florence, March 14,
1855. From 1846 to 1858, Winter Quarters, established by Brigham Young, served as a stopover for the
Mormons en route to the Salt Lake Basin in Utah. Inadequately prepared for the harsh winter, many
immigrants lost their lives. A cemetery and monument now mark the place.”1337
***WYNOT, CEDAR COUNTY1338, NEBRASKA***
Elton Perkey writes: “Post office established December 16, 1907. Wynot, a shortened version of
‘why not’, was suggested by a citizen, who knew an elderly German settler whose answer to all
questions was ‘Why not?’ The boys and girls imitated him, and later the older citizens caught their

1333

Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_Water,_Nebraska
1335
Advertising supplement to the Omaha World-Herald; September 29, 1993;
http://www.weepingwaternebraska.com/history.htm
1336
Jean and Edith Matteson; http://www.weepingwaternebraska.com/history.htm
1337
Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995
1338
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynot,_Nebraska
1334

habit. The town was once the terminus of a now inactive Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha
Railroad line.”1339
Gus Heimes articulates: “Our town came into being as a direct result of railroad expansion
across Cedar County. People from St James were unable to persuade the officials of the Chicago, St Paul,
Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad Company to build its line to their town, because it would have required
them to cross Bow Creek twice. The company chose instead to establish a new town.
“TN Jones and JS Emerson formed the St Paul Townsite Company and purchased some land from
a German settler across the creek and one mile west. Many businesses rushed to get in on the ground
floor by working out of St James, until the rails were in place. The early banks, for instance, established
themselves there, until they could move into their new quarters across the creek. Alex Schulte's drug
store, one of the first to open, was in a building he moved from St Helena. Others moved buildings or
put up something new.
“Starting a town from scratch took ingenuity. JJ Cable traded a team of big horses to the Sweet
Lumber Company for the material to build a hotel. Until it was completed, the people in St James
opened their homes to the railroad men and laborers. Even after the hotel opened, and the
headquarters were established at the new location, lodging was still short, with every bed filled, and
people sleeping on cots or blankets on the floor.
“In selecting a name, it is said that when one struck the fancy of the elderly gentleman from
whom the land was purchased, he responded ‘Ja, vy not? Wahrumnicht?’ The brogue sounded strange
to one of the listeners, who laughingly remarked, ‘... why not, Wynot?’ And so that name was chosen.
“The incorporation of Wynot was ordered on May 4, 1907. The first train arrived in October of
that year. Wynot was, by then, a substantial community, with businesses and shops teeming with trade,
and a number of commodious homes. That fall the first child born in Wynot was given a lot by the town
site company.
“The post office, with Emerson as postmaster, was established in January 1908. By spring, the
Methodist and Presbyterian churches had moved from St James. The Wynot Commercial Club was
organized, and the first Fourth of July celebration was held in the grove just east of town. The annual
‘Old Settlers Association of Cedar County’ held its picnic there in September.
“School was held in the small schoolhouse and rooms secured in Dr Jones' building (the
Woodman Hall, which had been moved over from St James). Soon agitation for a new school was
started, but since St James was in the same district, residents there opposed it. The district divided in
1909, and Wynot promptly built a new school. With an addition in 1924, it still serves the K-12
accredited school and a veterans' farm training program.
“It was said that Wynot was the youngest town in the state to have electric lights. Power was
first furnished by Bow Valley Mills. In 1913 a bond election was passed 49-2 to erect a municipal light
and power plant. It was sold to the Interstate Power Company in 1930, with the change-over made in
1932.
“Two trains a day served Wynot for 26 years. Then, with the Depression and several years of
drought, the line was abandoned. The last train left Wynot on April 19, 1933. However, with a wellestablished community, business went on as usual. Mail was delivered from Sioux City, Yankton, and
Hartington, so residents were able to read their morning newspaper, almost as soon as the city folks.
“Located in the midst of a fertile farming community on Highway 12, Wynot's peak population
of 416 was recorded in 1940. A beautiful drive through the woods leads to the historic site that marks
the site of the Wiseman massacre. The gray marble monument in the center of a small park was
dedicated in 1926. The story of the torture and murder of the four Wiseman children in 1863 graphically
illustrates the reasons for fear and acts of revenge toward Indians for many years.
1339

Elton Perkey; Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names; Nebraska State Historical Society; 1995

“The 1980 population of Wynot was 222. Industry includes a farm product plant and a ready-mix
cement plant. Wynot has a legion post, a good volunteer fire department, and a church. Recently the
baseball lights were replaced, and two tennis courts were added. On Memorial Day 1989, an Avenue of
Flags was dedicated, honoring Wynot's war dead.”1340
**NEVADA**
HB Staples describes: “The State of Nevada takes its name from the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
which line its western frontier, the mountains in their turn being named from the Sierra Nevadas of
Granada, which they are said to resemble in the serrated line of their summits.”1341
KB Harder establishes: “A shortened form of Sierra Nevada, a mountain range in western
Nevada along the California border, named for the range in southern Spain; from Spanish sierra,
‘mountain range’, and nevada, ‘snow-covered’.”1342
HS Carlson highlights: “On August 8, 1857, James M Crane was selected to represent the people
of the proposed new territory at the Federal capital. The bill for the organization of Sierra Nevada
Territory was presented to the Committee on Territories early in 1858 by Delegate Crane, but the
committee shortened the name to Nevada, a Spanish word meaning ‘snow-covered’. The region had
been known generally as the Eastern Slope, or Washoe. California newspapers referred to the new
government as Carson Territory, or the Territory of Sierra. The Enabling Act of March 21, 1864, began
‘To enable the People of Nevada …’ During the Constitutional Convention, which started on July 4, 1864,
and lasted until midnight on July 27, delegates suggested a number of names for the state: Humboldt,
Washoe, Esmeralda, Sierra Plata, Oro Plata, and Bullion. When a decision was reached, however, the
Preamble began, ‘We, the people of the State of Nevada …’”1343
www.e-referencedesk.com portrays: “Spanish: ‘snowcapped’
“This state was named after the mountain range in the west.
“As far back as 1857, many names were used to refer to the area that became Nevada, ie, Sierra
Nevada Territory; Washoe Territory; Carson Territory; Eastern Slope; Humboldt; Esmeralda; Sierra Plata;
Oro Plata and Bullion. But in 1864, the land emerged as Nevada, a Spanish word meaning ‘snowcovered’.
“From out at sea, Spanish sailors gazed upon the beautiful mountain ranges of California. They
called these mountains Sierra Nevada (‘snowy range’). Sierra Nevada seemed an apt name for the new
territory that was being carved out of Utah, but when the deed was done in 1859, the name of this new
territory had been shortened to Nevada.”1344
***AWAKENING, HUMBOLDT COUNTY1345, NEVADA***
Humboldt County Place Names remarks: “Awakening is located 30 miles northwest of
Winnemucca and 13 miles from Amos. The name Awakening was chosen because this mining camp was
located in the Slumbering Hills, and the founders were hoping to awake the hills and get their fortune.

1340

Gus Heimes, Board Chairman, Box 221, Wynot, NE 68792; sourcing 1) Irene Lenzen; A History of
Wynot; 2) Addison E Sheldon; Early History of Cedar County and the Northwest; as told at the Henson
Wiseman Memorial unveiling; http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/cedar/wynot/
1341
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1342
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1343
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1344
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/nevada.html
1345
http://nevada.hometownlocator.com/nv/humboldt/awakening.cfm

This camp contained stores, saloons and houses. There was no post office here but the area was served
from the one at Amos/Cane Springs.”1346
***BATTLE MOUNTAIN, LANDER COUNTY1347, NEVADA***
www.battlemountaintourism.com shares: “Battle Mountain is located in northern Nevada,
midway between Winnemucca and Elko. Battle Mountain is the Lander County seat and home to about
three-thousand residents. We're a small community with a rich history, and the Battle Mountain
economy depends on mining and ranching. For recreation there's year-round access to vast public lands
where you can hike, mountain bike, camp, explore, hunt and fish without ever seeing another soul. But
don't worry, this web site has maps and photography of the area surrounding Battle Mountain to help
you find your way around. Battle Mountain also has many events scheduled throughout the year, so
check our calendar often – there's always something going on.
“One of the questions we hear the most from visitors is ‘Where did the name ‘Battle Mountain’
come from?’ The story goes like this: In April of 1866, a prospector by the name of George Tannihill
discovered rich copper ore and formed a new mining district named the Battle Mountain Mining District.
In 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad, the western half of the first transcontinental railroad, built a siding
to offload supplies for the mines of the Battle Mountain Mining District. The siding was called the Battle
Mountain Switch or Siding. In 1870, the railroad decided to move their station from Argenta to this new
area, and a town was surveyed out. The Town of Battle Mountain was born.
“Mr Tannihill told a newspaper that he chose the name Battle Mountain because he, Captain
Pierson and twenty-three emigrants, fought the Indians here in 1857. We do know that there were
three attacks in the summer of ’57 near Battle Mountain: one on a single wagon occupied by a man
named Wood, the second on a wagon occupied by the Halloway family, and finally an attack on eight
men, who were part of a government survey crew. The events that occurred in 1857 near Battle
Mountain were well documented in diaries, California newspapers, and the daily records and journals of
the government survey crew that spent the summer near Battle Mountain. Interestingly however,
nowhere in all the records is there any mention of George Tannihill, Captain Pierson or twenty-three
emigrants, fighting the Indians at Battle Mountain.
“So we're left with three possibilities. The first is that it happened near Battle Mountain but
somehow never got written down. This is unlikely in light of all the very minor details that did get
reported, and why would they overlook a full-scale war at Battle Mountain? The second possibility is
that it did occur near Battle Mountain, but they got the year wrong, so we've not found it yet in the
Battle Mountain records. Possible, but there was only a nine-year period between the supposed event
and the use of the name Battle Mountain, not long enough it would seem for memories to go bad. The
third possibility is that Mr Tannihill was lying. He knew something happened here in 1857 and just tried
to make himself sound important. This one seems the mostly likely of the three possibilities.”1348
***BEOWAWE, EUREKA COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson stresses: “Most accounts credit the Paiute Indians with having named Beowawe,
because of a conformation of hills, which causes the station to appear to be standing in an open
gateway, the term itself said to mean ‘gate’ in Northern Paiute. An early guide book describes the first
station west of Cluro: ‘At this point, nature has so fortified the entrance of the valley, that a handful of
1346

Humboldt County Place Names; Marden Historical Research; 1993; provided by Gillian M Napier,
Library Specialist, Nevada Room, Humboldt County Library, 85 E 5th St, Winnemucca, NV 89445;
[email protected]; http://www.clan.lib.nv.us/polpac/library/clan/HCL/humtest.htm
1347
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Mountain,_Nevada
1348
http://www.battlemountaintourism.com/about.html

determined rangers could hold the entrance against any force the ‘savages’ could bring against them.’ A
later writer on the railroads was unconvinced by this interpretation. In Main Line (1948), Ernest La Marr
King related a legend concerning the naming and involving JA Fillmore, one of the early managers of the
Central Pacific Railroad. ‘Fillmore … was a huge man weighing some 300 pounds, with a body width,
which was amazing. One of Fillmore’s first chores was examination of a region with an eye to
determining where town sites should be established. Locations had to be designated and names
provided for the proposed new towns. Fillmore and his party were on a rear work train and stopped in
an area with only sagebrush. Fillmore, wandering about, came upon some members of the Paiute tribe.
They appeared to be frightened because of his size and ran away shouting “Beo-wa-we! Beo-wa-we!”
The name was adopted and only later was it discovered that in Paiute Beo-wa-we means ‘great
posterior’.’ Students of Nevada railroad lore substantially support the legend repeated by Mr King,
insofar as it relates to the derriere; however, their translation of Beowawe as ‘big-ass Indian woman’
rules out Mr Fillmore, the progenitor of the tale. Beowawe is also said to be a Shoshone word, meaning
‘big wagon’. According to Frederick W Hodge, Beowawa seems to be the name of a man. Lack of
conclusive evidence precludes a positive statement of the origin and meaning of this Nevada place
name.
“The settlement six miles off Interstate 80 on State Route 21 at the Humboldt River, was for a
long time a Northern Paiute campsite, as was the active geyser area, seven miles south of Beowawe. An
emigrant campsite to the east, known as Gravelly Ford, was described in an early guide book. ‘The river
here spreads over a wide, gravelly bed, and is always shallow so that it is easily crossed.’ After 1868 and
the establishment of the railway station, Beowawe became a supply point for mining districts in the
Cortez Range. Beowawe post office was established on April 15, 1870.”1349
***BURNING MOSCOW, STOREY COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson composes: “Since this company located on ground first claimed by the Ophir on the
Comstock, several litigations contesting title followed. It was purchased by the Ophir in 1865.
According to Davis, when the miners came in the spring of 1859, Henry Comstock was ‘on deck’ deeding
ground, and he sold the Burning Moscow, ‘which seems to have been the second location on the
Comstock, the Ophir being the first.’ However, a location notice for the Burning Mosca Ledge Lucky Co
was dated April 19, 1860, at Virginia City, Utah Territory, and signed by William Bickerstaff and eleven
others. Mosca, Spanish ‘fly’, seems to be of Mexican mining tradition, thus Burning Mosca a distorted
version of ‘firefly’. Folk etymology would account for the change from Mosca to Moscow.”1350
***COURT OF ANTIQUITY, WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson designates: “A flat-topped prominence between Interstate 80 and the Truckee River,
immediately east of the west foot of the Virginia Range, is a state recreational area. The name is based
on a legend that aborigines once met here in council. Petroglyphs are distinguishable on the stone floor
and walls.”1351
***CRICKET CREEK, ELKO COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson expands: “A stream, south of Melandco, tributary of Bishops Creek, west of Bishop
Creek Reservoir. Emigrants coming in from Fort Hall, Idaho, and following Bishop Creek, may have
named the tributary upon encountering the ‘Mormon cricket’ there. This huge crawling (rather than
flying) insect lays its eggs in the ground in late summer, and by early spring they begin to hatch. ‘By mid1349

Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1351
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1350

summer, the insects are moving in close formation over hill, valley, and whatever is in the way. The
column rarely swerves; if a stream blocks the line of march, the crickets go as far out as possible on
rocks and over-hanging grasses and will branches, then drop into the water and swim.’ The naming
process is best explained in the Journal of James H Martineau, historian of a party of Mormons called
‘Southern Exploring Company’. Under date of May 23, 1858, the account reads ‘found a good spring …
which we named Cricket Spring, from the great number of those insects about.’ This spring name
apparently has vanished from Nevada nomenclature.”1352
***DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson illustrates: “Death Valley, in Nevada, consists of an area of approximately 200 square
miles in western Nye County and the southern tip of Esmeralda County, and includes the north end of
the Amargosa Desert and almost all of the east slope of the Grapevine Mountains. The name was given
by some members of the Jefferson Hunt party that started southwest over the Mormon Trail in 1849,
but broke away from the experienced leader in southwestern Utah, and formed the Manly-Bennett
party. Of the 100 wagons that cut west from Mountain Meadows, all returned to the guidance of Hunt,
except two families with children and a group of young men called the Jayhawkers. Before reaching
Death Valley, they followed the approximate route of US 93 through Delamar Valley. Most of the party
reached the coast, though all had despaired before finding a pass in the Panamint Mountains. William
Lewis Manly, one of the survivors, is quoted in Roberts’ History of the Mormon Church as follows: ‘Just
as we were ready to leave and return to camp (after having climbed a ridge near their camp where they
overlooked the Mohave Desert), we took off our hats, and then overlooking the scene of so much trail,
suffering, and death, spoke the thought uppermost, saying: ‘Goodbye, Death Valley!’ Then faced away
and made our steps toward camp. Ever after this, in speaking of this long, narrow valley over which we
had crossed into its nearly central part, and on the edge of which the lone camp was made for so many
days, it was called Death Valley. Many accounts have been given to the world as to the origin of the
name, and by whom it was thus designated, but ours were the first visible footsteps; and we the party
which named it, the saddest and most dreadful name that came to us first from its memories.’ The first
official mention of the name was on Minard H Farley’s map of 1861.”1353
***RAGTOWN, CHURCHILL COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson maintains: “Ragtown Station, about twelve miles northwest of present-day Fallon,
was on a farm owned by Asa L Kenyon in 1854. Exhausted and thirsty emigrants recuperated here at the
Carson River, after their trip across the Forty Mile Desert. The station was so named because of the
many rags cast off by the travelers at this point, for the tattered garments of the emigrants which, after
being washed in the Carson River, were hung in the bushes or dry, or for the structure that served as a
station. In 1855, Jules Remey and Julius Brenchly stated that it consisted of ‘three huts, formed of poles
covered with rotten canvas full of holes.’ The station name appears on an 1855 map by Lt Col EJ
Steptoe, showing overland routes from Salt Lake City to San Francisco Bay. During his Rambles in 1861,
Dan De Quille visited Ragtown. ‘We were now heading for the ancient and well-known city of Ragtown,
situated on the north bank of the Carson, some sixteen miles above Redmen’s. … It was long after dark
when we passed through Ragtown, and we could not exactly make out the ‘lay of the land’, but did not
succeed in counting the buildings. We found two to be the correct number, one of which appeared to
be a stable. The whole town is owned by Mr Asa Kenyon – including ‘dips, spurs and angles’.’ Ragtown
post office was active from May 14, 1864, to May 29, 1867, and from May 5, 1884, to April 19, 1887,

1352
1353

Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974

when Saint Clair became the mail address for its patrons. Ragtown Monument now marks the site of
the old station, and Ragtown Pass is on US Alternate 95 west of Hazen.”1354
***SQUAW VALLEY, WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson presents: “The Anglicized spelling of the Indian word meaning ‘woman’, found in
Algonquian dialects in the east: Narraganset, eskwaw; Delaware, ochqueu; Cree, iskwew. Squaw Valley:
a mountain valley west of the Granite Range and opening into the Smoke Creek Desert. Squaw Creek
(Mineral County): a creek rising southwest of Hawthorne in the Wassuk Range. Squaw Lake (Nye
County): a lake on the east slope of the Monitor Range, northeast of Eagle Peak. Squaw Valley (Elko
County): a valley and a ranch southeast of Midas; ‘so named because Indian women used to gather
seeds and bulbs in the area’.”1355
***STRAWBERRY VALLEY, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson renders: “Strawberry Valley is a small valley, traversed by US 95 for about two miles,
which opens into the Amargosa Desert at Point of Rocks at the southeast end of the Specter Range. A
name legend relates that a prospector’s mule, loaded with jars of strawberry jam (a gift from the
prospector’s parents), bucked off his pack. Broken jars and jam spread at random gave the small valley
its name.”1356
***TREATY HILL, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson sheds light on: “A hill north of Valmy between US 40 and the tracks of the Western
Pacific Railroad; so named because Indians are believed to have settled territorial disputes there. ‘For
generations hard battles were fought between the different Indian tribes over the springs and hunting
grounds of the Battle Mountains and the Humboldt Valley. The legend is that after one battle centuries
ago, the chiefs decided to settle their problems by compromise. A stone wall was built on the brow of
the hill, and in the peace treaty, it was agreed that all land on ‘the side of the rising sun’ belonged to one
group and all on ‘the side of the setting sun’ to the other.’”1357
***VALLEY OF FIRE, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson suggests: “The Valley of Fire State Park, northeast of Las Vegas and west of the
Overton Arm of Lake Mead, is a basin about six miles long and three miles wide, with rough floor and
jagged walls. Rocks of grotesque shape are covered with well-preserved petroglyphs. The valley was
named for its blood-red Jurassic sandstone. Valley of Fire Wash runs through the valley for which it is
named and enters Lake Mead about five miles below Overton Beach.”1358
***WHIRLWIND VALLEY, LAUDER COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson calls attention to: “A valley extending westward from Beowawe in Lauder County
into Eureka County, north of the malpais; named for whirlwinds. The desert dust devils were well
described by Dan De Quille, who viewed them in the western portion of Nevada. ‘In the morning and
during the forenoon, there is no dust seen to rise on this desert, all is clear and bright as far as the eye
1354

Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1356
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974;
provided by Leslie Childers, Museum Curator, Lincoln County Historical Museum; 69 Main St, Pioche, NV
89043
1357
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1358
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1355

can see; but about one o’clock begins to be seen tall slender columns of dust, rising often
perpendicularly to the height of a 1,000 feet, till reaching a current in the upper air, when the top of the
column is bent over or flattened and streams away to the eastward. In the commencement, there is
often but a single pillar, but soon another and another arises, and likely stately giants, they chase each
other across the plain, till soon all mingle into one confused, flying mass, and so continues till sundown
or after.’”1359
***WILLIAMS STATION, LYON COUNTY, NEVADA***
HS Carlson connotes: “The station of the Emigrant Trail, nine miles up the river from Eight-Mile
Station and about ten miles northeast of where old Fort Churchill later was constructed, was named for
three brothers, James O, Oscar, and David Williams. An Indian massacre here in May 1860, led to the
Pyramid Lake Indian War, provoked by the Bannocks, according to Dan De Quille, but probably
nonetheless imminent. ‘In the absence of Williams, proprietor of the station where the massacre, as it
was called, occurred, two or three men left in charge had seized upon two young Piute women and had
treated them in the most outrageous manner, keeping them shut up in an outside cellar or cave for a
day or two. … It so happened that the women who had been outraged were of the branch of the Piute
tribe living at Walker Lake, who had married men of the Bannock tribe. … When the chief of the
Bannocks had heard the man’s [Bannock husband’s] story, he at once gave him thirty of his best men,
and told him to go and avenge the wrong that had been done him. He went and the result is known.’
Dan De Quille camped at the site, later named Honey Lake Smiths, during his prospecting trip of
1861.”1360
**NEW HAMPSHIRE**
HB Staples details “The original territory conveyed by patent of the Plymouth Company to John
Mason in 1629, was named by him after Hampshire County in England.”1361
KB Harder explains: “For the county of Hampshire, England; named by Captain John Mason
(1586-1635), who received a grant to a portion of the territory later occupied by the colony and state of
New Hampshire. He had been governor of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England.”1362
www.statesymbolsusa.org imparts: “What does New Hampshire mean? New Hampshire was
named by Captain John Mason after Hampshire, England. One of the original 13 colonies, New
Hampshire became the 9th state on June 21, 1788.”1363
www.e-referencedesk.com mentions: “From the English county of Hampshire.
“Captain John Mason received a grant for land in 1629. He named this land New Hampshire
after the English county of Hampshire, where he had enjoyed a number of years as a child.”1364
**NEW HAMPSHIRE’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
RA Douglas-Lithgow puts into words: “In New Hampshire there were five principal tribes, - Those
on the Piscataqua and its branches, to which the name Newichawannocks belonged, although their main
reference was on the Cocheco River, near Dover; - the Pequakets, on Saco River; - the Ossipees, on Lake
Ossipee, the Coos Indians, the tribes of the Connecticut River, and the various tribes of the Merrimack,
1359

Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
Helen S Carlson; Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary; University of Nevada Press; 1974
1361
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1362
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1363
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/New_Hampshire/NHampshireName.html
1364
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/new-hampshire.html
1360

and its tributary streams. Of these the Newichawannocks, the Ossipees, the Pequawkets, and the Coos
tribes belonged to the Abnaki nation, and the Pequawkets were the most numerous about the time of
the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620. Little is definitely known of the tribes inhabiting the New Hampshire
side of the Connecticut River, but they were probably of a mixed character. The Coos Indians, who
resided in Grafton and Coos Counties, are more or less involved in obscurity, but it is surmised that they
constituted a comparatively small tribe, and lived for the most part about the junction of the Upper and
Lower Ammonoosuc with the Connecticut River, their main dwelling place being situated at the village
of Coos or Coosuc, near the mouth of the Lower Ammonoosuc. They were eventually driven off by the
English in 1704, when they joined the St Francis Indians.
“The Nipmuck tribes of New Hampshire, occupying principally the southern section of the state,
constituted, with the addition of some of the Massachusetts tribes, what is known as the Pennacook
confederacy, of which the illustrious Passaconaway was the Bashaba, or ruling chief. The most powerful
of all these tribes lived amid the intervals of Pennacook, where the towns of Bow, Concord, and
Boscawen are now situated, in Merrimack County. Of the other consolidated tribes, the Nashuas
occupied the land on the Nashua River and the intervals upon the Merrimack. The Souhegans lived
upon the Souhegan River and both banks of the Merrimack above and below the mouth of the
Souhegan, the Namaoskeags at the Amoskeag Falls, on the Merrimack, in the vicinity of Manchester,
and the Winnepesaukees resided in the neighborhood of the lake of that name. The Massachusetts
tribes confederated with these consisted mainly of Agawams (Ipswich), the Wamesits or Pawtuckets,
(about Lowell), and the Pentuckets (Havervill). Passaconaway died in 1660.
“In 1850 it was stated that ‘scarcely an Indian remains in the State’.”1365
***ASQUAMCHUMAUKE RIDGE, GRAFTON COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
William Bright reports: “Perhaps from Abenaki (Algonquian) skameskwamdakw, ‘which names
the sticks which the female beaver has gnawed for the bark in the house and let float to the top’.”1366
***BREAKFAST HILL, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY1367, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
JM Whiton shows: “Little mischief was done by the ‘savages’ in 1695. In the summer of the next
year, a considerable party of them who came from the eastward in canoes, made a morning attack at
Portsmouth plain, two miles from the town. They had been lurking in the woods some while, and
suspicious, had been excited the preceding day by the cattle running out of the bushes, affrighted: but
the circumstance was not sufficiently regarded. Nineteen persons were killed or made prisoners, and
several buildings burned. A company of militia under Capt Shackford pursued the marauders, and came
up with them, as they were busy in cooking their breakfast, at a place since called Breakfast Hill,
between Greenland and Rye. – Rushing upon them suddenly, they recovered the captives and the
plunder; but the Indians fled to their canoes and effected their escape, eluding several armed boats,
which had been stationed to intercept their retreat. A few weeks afterwards, some people of Dover,
returning home from public worship, fell into an ambush, and had nine of their number killed, wounded,
or captivated.”1368
1365

Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow; Native American Place Names of Rhode Island; Applewood
Books; 2001
1366
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press;
2004
1367
http://newhampshire.hometownlocator.com/nh/rockingham/breakfast-hill.cfm
1368
John Milton Whiton; Sketches of the History of New-Hampshire, from Its Settlement in 1623, to
1833: Comprising Notices of the Memorable Events and Interesting Incidents of a Period of Two
Hundred and Ten Years; Marsh, Capen and Lyon; 1834

***HART’S LOCATION, CARROLL COUNTY1369, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
EM Hunt talks about: “Hart’s Location encompasses the dramatic grandeur of Crawford’s Notch
and the valley to the south, surrounded by sheer rock walls nearly a thousand feet high. The town was
originally one of several plots of undivided land remaining for disposal by the proprietors at the time
Governor John Wentworth took office in 1766. It was given the name of Colonel John Hart of
Portsmouth but has never been officially incorporated.
“Colonel Hart’s people had owned Portsmouth land as early as 1702, and were related to the
Stoodley, Cutts, Willey and other prominent families. His son, Captain Samuel Hart, held an important
position as manager of Colonel Joseph Whipple’s estates at Jackson and Conway. Colonel Hart fought in
the French War and the Louisbourg Expedition, and appears to have received what is now called Hart’s
Location as a reward for his services.
“In 1772 a re-grant of this land was made to Thomas Chadbourne of Portsmouth, a descendant
of Humphrey and William Chadbourne, who arrived from England in 1632, and are said to have built the
famous ‘Great House’ or Manor in the Strawberry Banke colony. Thomas Chadbourne appears to have
been associated with Captain Hart in another grant as Conway.
“Hart’s Location was the scene, in 1826, of the famous ‘Willey’s Slide’, a White Mountain
avalanche, which swept to their death Samuel Willey and his entire family. Mount Willey is named in
their memory. Hart’s Location has a village named Avalanche, as well as one called Bemis. The latter
commemorates an early settler known as ‘The Lord of the Valley’, Dr Samuel Bemis, who named many
of the mountains nearby. Here also is the site of the grave of Abel Crawford, the famous pioneer.”1370
***HELL HOLLOW, SULLIVAN COUNTY1371, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
Philip Zea and Nancy Norwalk catalog: “The origins of Hell Hollow Road are uncertain. However,
Hood reports that his mother obtained an explanation from Elizabeth Kenyon (1839-1920), who said the
name stemmed from individuals ‘who resided thereabout in the early 1800s ‘raising hell in general’ in
their time, including persons she knew when she was young’.”1372
***SANDWICH, CARROLL COUNTY1373, NEW HAMPSHIRE***
Debbie Herman conveys: “The story behind Sandwich is not too hard to swallow! In 1763,
Benning Wentworth, the colonial governor of New Hampshire, granted permission for a town to be built
on a plot of land in eastern New Hampshire. It was named Sandwich in honor of John Montagu, the
Fourth Earl of Sandwich, an Englishman who helped command the British Royal Navy. When the land
was surveyed, it was found to be full of mountains and rocks, which would make it difficult to settle. So

1369

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart's_Location,_New_Hampshire
Elmer Munson Hunt; New Hampshire Town Names And Whence They Came; Noone House; 1970;
provided by Donna Gilbreth, Reference and Information Services Supervisor, New Hampshire State
Library, 20 Park St, Concord, NH 03301; [email protected]; http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/
1371
http://newhampshire.hometownlocator.com/nh/sullivan/hell-hollow.cfm
1372
Philip Zea and Nancy Norwalk (editors); Choice White Pines and Good Land: A History of Plainfield
and Meriden, New Hampshire: Written by the Townspeople; Peter E Randall; 1991; provided by Charles
Shipman, Reference Dept, New Hampshire State Library, 20 Park Street, Concord, NH 03301;
[email protected]; http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/
1373
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich,_New_Hampshire
1370

in 1764, additional land was granted, making Sandwich one of the largest towns in New Hampshire. The
first settlers arrived in 1767, and by 1830, it was a thriving community.”1374
**NEW JERSEY**
HB Staples discusses: “The State of New Jersey, granted by the Duke of York to Sir George
Carteret and Lord Berkeley in 1664, received its name in the grant in commemoration of the brave
defense of the Isle of Jersey by Carteret, its Governor, against the Parliamentary forces in the great Civil
War.”1375
KB Harder expounds: “For the island of Jersey, a British possession in the English Channel. When
the British acquired the Dutch territories that later comprised the colonies of New York and New Jersey,
they were granted by Charles II of England to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany. The territory
west of the Hudson River was briefly called ‘Albania’ after the second of James’ titles. James, however,
granted the territory to Lord Berkeley (?-1678) and Sir George Carteret (1609-80), the latter a native of
the Isle of Jersey and its principal royal defender during the Commonwealth.”1376
www.e-referencedesk.com impresses: “From the Channel Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.
“Sir John Berkley and Sir George Carteret received a royal charter for a colony in the new land
and named this colony for the Island of Jersey in the English Channel. Carteret had been born on Jersey
and had spent several years as Lieutenant Governor of the island.”1377
***BARGAINTOWN, ATLANTIC COUNTY1378, NEW JERSEY***
Atlantic County Library System notates: “There are several stories as to how it got that name.
“1. A man named Mark Lake, a blacksmith, claimed to trade with the Native Americans in the
area. He also used to tell the story of another blacksmith, who boasted that he got the best of a Native
American in a horse swap. The blacksmith was nicknamed ‘Bargain Jim’, and the area around his smithy
became known as Bargaintown instead of Cedar Bridge.
“2. A man named James Somers made a bargain with his female slaves to build a road thru the
swamp. They built the road, they would get their freedom. The area the road went thru became known
as Bargaintown.
“3. A man named James Somers made a bargain with his slaves to build a road thru the swamp
on their free time. When the road was completed, Mr Somers gave them their freedom and some land
to farm. The village they created became known as Bargaintown.
“4. ‘There was every indication of a growing town, to attract speculators who bought and laid
out town lots. These hopes not materializing, the lots were sacrificed and were bought a bargain by John
Ireland, hence the name Bargaintown.’ Early History of Atlantic County, New Jersey reprint edition,
Atlantic County Historical Society. 1988”1379
***BLUE ANCHOR, CAMDEN COUNTY1380, NEW JERSEY***
1374

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1375
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1376
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1377
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/new-jersey.html
1378
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/atlantic/bargaintown.cfm
1379
Atlantic County Library System, Reference Center, 40 Farragut Ave, Mays Landing, NJ 08330;
[email protected]; http://atlanticlibrary.org/
1380
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Anchor,_New_Jersey

GR Prowell puts pen to paper: “Blue Anchor, the station beyond Braddock, takes its name from
the old Blue Anchor tavern, half a mile from the railroad. The land upon which this old landmark stands
was located in 1737 by Abraham Bickley, a distiller of Philadelphia. The old house stood upon the Indian
trail, leading from the sea coast to the Delaware, which was much traveled a hundred years ago, after
the old trail farther south was abandoned. As early as 1740, John Hider was the landlord, dispensing
good cheer in a cabin built of cedar logs. Eight year later, John Briant occupied the house. In 1762
Robert Mattox became the owner of this property and a large tract of land adjoining, living here many
years. His daughter Elizabeth married Josiah Albertson, who took possession about 1812, and built the
present house, which was kept by him until after the railroad was finished, when travel was diverted,
and the place lost its importance. He also built a store-house, where his son-in-law, John C Shreve,
engaged in merchandizing and made their improvements, which caused this to become a central point.
Here people from every part of the county could be seen, almost any day, intent either upon hunting or
on business connected with the immense lumber regions of that section. ‘It was a celebrated resort for
travelers, who delighted to stop at this old hostelry, where bountiful meals and clean beds were
afforded, and where a quiet night be spent without fear of the clamor arising from much drinking.’ It
was also a central point for stages running between Philadelphia and Atlantic County. After Albertson’s
retirement, Uziel Bareford was the landlord, and was followed by John R Duble. Since 1878 John
Inskeep Brick has carried on the interests at this place, having both the store and the tavern. Being
centrally located, the town-meetings, and elections of Winslow Township are here held.
“Blue Anchor was selected a number of years ago by Dr John Haskell and others as the seat of a
Spiritualistic community, and with the purpose of building up a village after the pattern of Vineland.
About twenty-five families’ located lands, in small tracts, upon which a number of houses were built, but
the death of Dr John Haskell and the disagreement among the members as to the true policy of the
community, had a depressing effect upon its prospects. Many removed, and those remaining failed to
carry out the original purpose. Lately a number of improvements have been made, and, as the land is
rich and favorably located, a thriving settlement may soon be established.
“Winslow Junction and Rosedale are on the same line of railway, southeast from Blue Anchor,
but have no interests of importance. A few miles from the former place, on the Camden and Atlantic
Railroad, is the station of.”1381
***CHEESEQUAKE, MIDDLESEX COUNTY1382, NEW JERSEY***
Anna M Aschkenes represents: “The indigenous people or First Nation people in New Jersey are
the Lenape, who were represented by families or bands of the Navesinks, Assanpinks, Matas
Shackamazous, Chichequaas (Cheesequakes), Raritans (Raritons) , Nanticokes and Nariticongs, and they
mostly lived along the rivers and bays of this area (for food and transportation).
“Evidence of Indian habitats in Middlesex County, New Jersey, can be seen in the names given to
various towns and bodies of water found here. For instance, the Navesink and Raritan Rivers both bear
the names of local Indian families; the section of Old Bridge Township called Matawan was named after
the Matovancons, another First Nation band. The area about Lawrence Harbor was called Arewence,
from the neck of land northwest of Keyport.
“The village of Cheesequake was first inhabited by an Indian group known as the Chicequaas or
Cheesequakes. The minutes of the Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey meeting

1381

George R Prowell; The History of Camden County, New Jersey; LJ Richards and Co; 1886; provided by
Mindy, Camden County Library, Adult Services Dept, 203 Laurel Rd, Voorhees, NJ 08043;
[email protected]; www.camdencountylibrary.org
1382
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/middlesex/cheesequake.cfm

at Elizabeth on June 11, 1685, refer to Cheesequake as Chesquaacks. However, there is a reference to
the present day spelling of Cheesequake as early as January 13, 1686.
“At the mouth of Cheesequake Creek stood an Indian village variously known as Wromasang,
Weomasing or Ramesing. The old Indian territory of Matchaponix, which includes the land crossed by
Texas Road (that goes from Jamesburg in Middlesex to Monmouth County), is made up of Machtando
(‘devil’) and Ach-poan (‘bread or poisonous root’). Thus Matchaponix is an important descriptive name
to the Indians, as it signified poor land, which did not produce anything of substance; nothing that grew
there could be used by the Indians to make good bread. The Matchaponix is a mill stream, branch of the
South River, and on an 1850 map, is designated as the boundary between South Amboy and Monroe
Township. Early industries of the area would use this stream to great advantage. When early settlers
reached the area about Spotswood (on a 1682 map of East Jersey, it was called Spotteswoode), they
found a crude saw mill powered by water of the South River ... and ... operated by an Indian person.
“Another Indian name given to a brook is Irusecous Brook, now on maps as Iresick Brook
(another branch off the South River).
“Physical evidence of Indian occupation has been found locally. A striking collection of
arrowheads was discovered on the former Arrowsmith Farm, now Cheesequake Village, which adjoins
Cheesequake State Park. Shell heaps found in Sayreville indicate that a large group of Indians resided
there during ancient times. More Indian stone implements (arrowheads, axes, hammers and hatchets)
were unearthed in the area that is now Old Bridge Township.
“Oral history tells us that the Lenape had a signaling post atop a hill that is on the south side of
the current Route 516, near Higgins Road. During the Revolutionary War, the Middlesex County Militia
similarly used the hill for passing along their signal messages, or so it is told.
“The Raritan (Rariton) Bay area had no more than several hundred Native people when, in the
1650s, European settlers began to make permanent homes here. Eventually, most of the Indian
population moved westward into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, where descendants live to this day.
“The Lenape were the first naturalists in Middlesex County area. They believed in ‘take only
what you need and leave the rest for mother earth’. They were true ecologists and recyclers, making use
of everything in the natural environment.
“The Lenape diet included small game plus elk and bear meat. They ate beans, corn, squash,
melons, nuts, wild grapes, persimmons, cranberries, wild turkey, foul, deer, fish, crabs and oysters.
Much of their migration was to follow the natural grazing patterns of wildlife and the natural seasonal
abundance of food sources. During the summer months, Lenape elders led their tribal groups to the
Raritan Bay area for the Chingarora oyster, a delicacy enjoyed by the Lenape and white settlers alike,
until well into the 19th century, when over fishing of the oyster and abuse of the Raritan River led to
their decline.
“Shellfish could be dried or smoked and kept for the winter months, or cooked and eaten when
caught. The shells were used for tempering pottery and for making ornaments. If one walks along the
banks of the Raritan or along Raritan Bay even today, you can see the remnants of ancient harvesting of
oysters in the numerous shell deposits.
“The Indians were reported to have a pottery in the Morgan section of South Amboy or at least
having used the clays from the clay banks that would later become known as some of the finest clay pits
in the world. The Europeans were quick to copy the Lenape and make small fortunes on the clay
deposits and pottery/terra cotta industry.
“The Lenape (which means ‘Ordinary People’) relied on ‘foot power’ to get from one destination
to another, as they did not have beasts of burden. However, they established well-planned trails in
Middlesex County. European settlers and traders adopted the trails for their own. River Road in
Piscataway is a good example. It was once called the ‘Great Road’ by the Lenape and is still a ‘great’
means of local transportation. A deeply worn network of ancient trails existed between interior points

of Middlesex County and the Jersey shore. One of the best known was Minisink, the New Jersey end of
which began at the Minisink Crossing on the Delaware River near Minisink Island, four miles south of
Milford, Pennsylvania. This then crossed the state in a southeasterly direction, passing west of Newark
and across the Rahway River. It reached the Raritan River, about three miles above the mouth of the
river on the north side, then known as Kent’s Neck, near Crab Island, where the Indians had a fording
place. A village was located near there, and because it was one of the most frequently mentioned, it is
supposed to have been one of the larger and important Indian villages in our area.
“When the first party of Englishmen came to purchase land from the Indians, the Navesinks and
Raritans would meet at this Indian village to bargain for the sale of the land. The Minisink Trail joined
with the second most important trail, the Allamatunk, near what is now Sayreville.
“Lastly, the Lenape pathway that leads into the community we call Morgan (Indians called
Warmesing) is known to have been the location of a great council fire of the many families that made up
the Lenape tribal groups.”1383
***DOUBLE TROUBLE, OCEAN COUNTY1384, NEW JERSEY***
Vivian Zinkin specifies: “Village; 1839: The stories told in explanation of this name all have to do
with a mill dam which, either because of faulty engineering or because large numbers of hungry rats
persisted in making a meal of it, was washed away twice within a single week. The first time it
happened, the mill owner or old preacher who lived there – according to the story teller – cried, ‘Here’s
trouble!’ and rebuilt the dam. When he saw the barrier destroyed a second time within a week, he cried
out, ‘Here’s double trouble!’ Whether or not he rebuilt the dam after the second catastrophe, the story
tellers do not say. The village is located in Berkeley Township, on Cedar Creek, about 4 miles, southwest
of Toms River and is today devoted to the raising of cranberries.”1385
Brian McNaughton tells: “The state is planning to develop a park on Cedar Creek that could win
high honors in the department of old names – Double Trouble.
“Exactly how the tract came by the name is uncertain, but there are a number of yarns to
explain it.
“According to information researched by Miss Miriam Evans, director of the Ocean County
Library, the name was given to the area by an old preacher and his wife.
“They had dammed up the Cedar Creek to flood some cranberry bogs, but were plagued by
muskrats, which kept knocking down the dam.
“Whenever the varmints gnawed through the dam, the preacher would say, ‘Here’s trouble.’ On
one occasion, when they tore it down twice in rapid succession, he exclaimed, ‘Here’s double trouble.’
“Another source also traces the name back to cranberry growers, who have been harvesting
their crops at Double Trouble for at least 100 years.
“According to that story, a group of workmen had felled some trees in order to lay out a
cranberry bog. Getting rid of the trees was trouble enough, but when a sudden frost caused the stumps
to float to the surface of the bog, a farmer said it was ‘double trouble’.

1383

Anna M Aschkenes, Executive Director, Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, 703
Jersey Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-3605; [email protected];
http://co.middlesex.nj.us/culturalheritage
1384
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/ocean/double-trouble.cfm
1385
Vivian Zinkin; Place Names of Ocean County, New Jersey: 1609-1849; Ocean County Historical
Society; 1976; provided by Information Services Department, Ocean County Library, 101 Washington St,
Toms River, NJ 08753-7625; http://theoceancountylibrary.org/

“Miss Evans noted that Cedar Creek, which has its sources near Mount Misery, isn’t entirely
surrounded by unhappy-sounding names. After going through Double Trouble, it finally wends its way
out to Barnegat Bay at Good Luck Point.
“The state as yet has no firm plans for the 1,611-acre site, which was purchased with Green
Acres funds for $343,000.
“The state bought it from the Double Trouble Co, a cranberry-growing firm, which has since
been leasing the site for crops on a yearly basis.
“According to Joseph J Truncer, director of the State Division of Parks, Forestry and Recreation,
it may be five years before the state takes over and begins developing the site.
“‘The owner has promised to leave some old cranberry equipment of historic interest when he
vacates the site,’ Truncer said, ‘and we’ll probably continue to keep one bog in operation even after the
park is opened.
“‘We won’t be engaged in the competitive production of cranberries,’ he noted, ‘but we’ll try to
keep the production going on a small scale in the old-fashioned manner, as a tourist attraction.’
“Truncer said one bog would also remain flooded as an artificial lake. The state plans to hire a
private consulting firm to look more thoroughly into the prospects for development.
“The site has additional value as a watershed, which would be protected as it is developed for
recreation. The water from Cedar Creek finds its way through the sandy soil to wells far removed from
the site itself, Truncer said.”1386
***LUST FOR RUST, HIGHLANDS, MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY***
JP King chronicles: “Every novel James Fennimore Cooper brought out was avidly devoured by
adventure-hungry readers, who could not get enough of his stories. Cooper’s The Water Witch, the
Skimmer of the Seas not only thrilled his readers, but brought them right into the Highlands, its waters,
coves, and hills. No publicist could have done better for the Highlands than Cooper.
“His fame as a writer rests today with his highly acclaimed and widely read Leatherstocking
Tales, such as The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer. Formerly his sea tales enjoyed equal appeal
with readers and critics alike. Novelists Herman Melville (Moby Dick) and Joseph Conrad (Before the
Mast) admired and emulated Cooper’s The Red Rover and The Sea Lions, where he crafted the sea not
simply as the setting, but as a principal character in a moral drama.
“Cooper wrote The Water Witch in 1830 living with his family in Sorrento, Italy, in a villa
overlooking the bay and sea, much like the villa in The Water Witch overlooking the bay, the Hook, and
the ocean. He worked from notes, sketches, memories from his time at sea, and in his experiences of
patrol work in the New York City local waters in 1805 to 1811. He had memorized the scenery and
geography of the area, the New York Harbor, Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays, the Shrewsbury River and
inlet from the sea, and the hills and bluffs of the Highlands.
“The principal events in the tale are dominated by the Skimmer of the Seas, a figure inspired by
the legends of Robert William Kidd, or Captain Kidd the Pirate, the infamous privateer turned pirate and
scourge of British shipping. The time is 1720, some 20 years after Kidd’s death, and the Skimmer deals
in illicit trade, in untaxed and stolen goods. This brings him to do business with the supposedly
respectable Jersey gentlemen named Alderman Van Beverout, whose summer villa called Lust in Rust
hangs on the west bank of the Shrewsbury River in the Highlands. This residence is none other than the
old Nimrod Woodward hotel of Revolutionary times. Here he becomes taken by the gentleman’s niece,

1386

Brian McNaughton; Double Trouble Park is Planned in Ocean County; Newark Evening News;
October 13, 1966; provided by Information Services Department, Ocean County Library, 101 Washington
St, Toms River, NJ 08753-7625; http://theoceancountylibrary.org/

the lovely Alida, the lady La Barberie. But there is a rival, Captain Cornelius Van Cuyler Ludlow of Her
Majesty’s cruiser Coquette, in pursuit of the Skimmer.
“However the inspiration for the residence Lust for Rust has a very interesting local legend
attached to it. While Cooper was composing his novel in 1830, the place was bought by a Mrs Stewart
of New York City; she set up her son, a physician, in the house, perhaps a gift for his soon-to-be
marriage.
“After Dr Stewart left college, he fell in love with a beautiful young lady and became engaged to
marry her. Unfortunately, she was stricken down with some disease and died. This so overwhelmed his
nature that the world and society had no further charm for him. He hid himself in this lonely retreat and
brooded over his irreparable loss. Living totally alone, he wandered and was frequently seen carrying an
anatomical skeleton, which he seemed to believe was the image of his lost love. Death came soon,
leaving only a surviving brother and sister by who his effects were sold. A local physician bought the
skeleton he had so long cherished, and upon examining the bones, there was found stuffed into the eye
sockets and interstices of the skull a large amount in bank notes, which he returned to the family.”1387
***ONG’S HAT, BURLINGTON COUNTY1388, NEW JERSEY***
HH Bisbee declares: “A former hamlet one and one-half miles northwest of Four Mile Circle on
road to Buddtown on northeastern border of Southampton. Gordon lists as follows: ‘Hamlet of
Northampton township, Burlington County, 10 miles southeast of Mt Holly.’ Rodgers map of 1839 calls
this place by its present name but earlier maps refer to it simply as ‘Ongs’. It has been implied that the
place was named for Jacob Ong, who lived in early 18th century. A tavern and several dwellings were
formerly located in what is now a vacant clearing. Attempts to explain reason for name are apparently
fictitious.”1389
HH Bisbee displays: “Southampton Township. Site of a hamlet where a number of modern
homes have recently been built. The place is located one and a half miles northwest of Four Mile Circle
on the Buddtown Road and on the northern boundary of township.
“Jacob Ong, a prominent Quaker, resided in Mansfield Township in 1699. In 1700 he purchased
one hundred acres of cedar swamp in Northampton Township, which probably covered the site of
present Ong’s Hat. Ong may have built some sort of shelter at this place, but whether this was his
residence is unknown. Sometime later, Ong moved to Little Egg Harbour, and around 1730, he moved
to Pennsylvania, and his name disappears from the records.
“Who put the ‘hat’ on Ong is a question that has been asked for years. There is ample proof
that the full name was never used in Jacob Ong’s lifetime, for the Faden map of 1777 simply notes the
place as Ong’s. The tale of the man tossing his hat into a tree after a dance is pure ‘folklore’.
“A tavern, operated by Isaac Haines, is known to have been built here prior to 1800, followed by
other tavern keepers, the last being John Mingin. Most taverns displayed a sign, and it may be that one
of the innkeepers fashioned a sign with a hat and called his establishment, Ong’s Hat. This seems to be
the logical explanation for such an amusing name.

1387

John P King; Highlands New Jersey: The Making of America Series; provided by Library and Archives,
Monmouth County Historical Association, 70 Court St, Freehold, NJ 07728;
http://www.monmouthhistory.org/
1388
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ong's_Hat,_New_Jersey
1389
Henry H Bisbee; Place Names in Burlington County, New Jersey; Burlington County Publishing; 1955;
provided by Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy, Burlington County Library System, 5
Pioneer Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060; http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us

“The first mention that has been found of the complete name, Ong’s Hat, may be found in a
county newspaper dated 1818. It is listed in the 1822 road returns and is found first on the 1828
map.”1390
HC Beck expresses: “He said his name was Eli Freed and that he wanted to borrow money
somewhere to buy a horse.
“Eli was the last resident of Ong’s Hat, the forgotten town that began all these adventures. For
years Ong’s Hat had been on the map in Burlington County, but no one had done anything except make
fun of it.
“Although these explorations into the hinterland of Southern New Jersey took us to many
strange places, Mount Misery, Woodmansie, Double Trouble and Chicken Bone, no other vanished
village quite attained to the individuality of Ong’s Hat in name.
“Today it remains upon the map even though there is no village. There is a clearing; there used
to be a dilapidated shed, once part of the last house. But only bits of broken brick, pieces of roofing,
cast-off shoes and the long, straggly Indian grass remain to convince you now that once, long ago, there
was really a town.
“The way to Ong’s Hat winds from the Pemberton road, back across a carpet of fallen leaves,
through patches of white sand and down through deep, inky ruts.
“Ong’s Hat, according to the lingering natives in the pine barrens, took its name from a young
flame named Ong. Once we thought it unlikely that anyone with such a name actually existed, but some
months ago we found a whole family of Ongs, down in the neighborhood of Tuckerton.
“Concerning Ong, there have been two different versions of the legend. One is that he was a
dancer who captivated the admiration of the girls at Saturday night dances. At that time the village,
apparently still unnamed and with no distinction at all, was a huddle of houses, a dance hall and a
roadside clearing where, in the Gay Nineties, grueling semi-pro prize fights were held.
“Ong, it seems, came to the dances with great regularity. He was the chief figure inasmuch as
he owned a shiny high silk hat, worn with a rakish air that placed him, for the evening at least, among
the clouds. There came a night when Mr Ong failed to give one of his partners the attention she
required. The young woman took the hat from Ong’s head and deliberately stamped upon it in the
middle of the dance floor. There that story ends.
“The second accounts seems to go on from just this point. Mr Ong, while considerably in liquor,
is said to have tossed his distinguished topper high in a tree at the center of the village. There, battered
and irretrievable, it hung through the wind and rain of many months. Whichever incident is based on
fact, the town from then on claimed the name: Ong’s Hat.
“A hundred or so years ago we were told, the place was a center of life among the pineys. There
were frequent dances, and couples came for miles in buggies, carryalls and on foot, to step to the music
of country fiddlers. There was no Prohibition, and it was more than soda pop that enlivened the crowd.
There were brawls and fisticuffs, some of them bloody enough.
“One of the first bootleggers, known to compel the services of law and order in Local Option
days, was arrested at Ong’s Hat. The arrest was not for possession and sale, of course, but for selling
liquor without a license. Samuel Haines was the culprit, and he was taken in charge in the midst of gay
festivities, one night by two burly constables.
“Prize fights were the main attraction. Battlers, attracted by promises of fat purses, corn liquor
and pretty, dull-eyed damsels, tackled each other for a decision, which was often fought over in turn by
the crowd, out there in the middle of nowhere. Older natives recall one particular fight in which a negro
1390

Henry H Bisbee; Sign Posts: Place Names in History of Burlington County, New Jersey; Alexia Press;
1971; provided by Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy, Burlington County Library
System, 5 Pioneer Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060; http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us

whipped a white man, stirring up a riot that had to burn itself out. There were no telephones, no State
troopers, no snooping Dry Squads in those days.
“There came a later lull in which Ong’s Hat was all but forgotten. Then as has been the case
with many of the lost towns of the barrens, murder suddenly carried its name to the front pages of
newspapers. That happened after a Polish wanderer and his wife moved into the clearing. Mr and Mrs
John Chininiski found the place mostly deserted even then, except by seven residents who hung on,
among the memories of better days. And not long after the Chininiskis arrived, they disappeared.
“The woman vanished first, without trace or rumor. Chininiski, who at first didn’t seem to worry
much, dropped out of sight when people began to talk. The house in which the couple had established a
home stood idle for a while, partly furnished. Then it fell apart, piece by piece. The Chininiskis never
came back.
“Many years ago a party of hunters, walking through the woods near Ong’s Hat in deer season,
came suddenly upon a human skull and skeleton. These were thought, upon police examination, to be
the remains of poor Mrs Chininiski, who they theorized had been cruelly murdered by her husband. A
bundle of moldy clothing, nailed in a box, was found near the bones.
“Ellis Parker, renowned Burlington County detective celebrated in countless murder cases, took
the matter in charge. Despite the years which had passed, he trailed Chininiski to New York, but there
lost the scent. To this day Chief Parker, in his stuffy office in the Mt Holly courthouse, has the woman’s
skull to remind him that the mystery of Ong’s Hat was not solved.
“Burlington County has distorted the story now. Some people will tell you that at Ong’s Hat a
man and woman were murdered in cold blood by scoundrels in search of money.
“Discovery of that weather-bleached skeleton seems to have frightened everybody out of town
– all but Eli Freed. Eli says he moved in just as all the excitement was dying down. He was seventy-nine
when we were there, a soft-spoken, wrinkled old man, amazed that anybody should take the trouble to
visit him. He had cleared a twenty-acre tract with his own hands, making his home in a rough-board
dwelling he and his partner, a man he called Amer, built together. Freed explained that he came to
Ong’s Hat from Chicago, where he took a sick man from the Isle of Pines.
“‘This part of the country is different from Chicago,’ the old man said seriously, when he sat
down in the front room of his swept-and-garnished house. ‘It’s different from Cuba, too. I liked Cuba,
but there were too many storms for me. I still own property down there – and I used to be a school
teacher out in the west, up in Oregon and Washington mostly. Been a widower – let’s see now, fortytwo years.’
“‘You like it here?’ we asked him.
“‘Yes, I like it’ he said. ‘But I have a terrible time with the deer and rabbits, especially the
rabbits. That’s why I’ve got that high fence all around the place. The deer jump right over it sometimes.
But I keep two cats to chase the rabbits. I’m lucky to be able to grow my turnips, potatoes and corn the
way I do. I wouldn’t dare try beans: the rabbits like them too much.’
“We mentioned watermelons, for some crazy reason.
“‘Watermelons?’ Eli repeated, as if he were a Californian, ‘why, this summer we had one that
was three feet long and a foot thick. Weighed fifty pounds. It lasted me and my partner two whole
months!’’
“Then Eli Freed disclosed that he wanted a horse.
“‘I need one bad,’ he declared. ‘But I haven’t got the money. Do you know any good place
where I could borrow the money to buy a good cart-house?’

“We have wondered, sometimes, whether Eli ever got his horse. And we always laugh in
remembering that prize watermelon story. Just the same they are details of the stories that identify
Ong’s Hat, the vanished town of murder, of prize fights and of isolated country dances.”1391
Freddie Boyle notes: “Darkness is supposed to be the best time to do research on ghosts, so it
was with some misgiving that this reporter set out in search of one on a bright, sunny afternoon.
“In fact it was with considerable misgiving that I set out at all, for I was looking for a village that
historians said no longer exists.
“‘But what about it remains?’ asked our hard-to-convince editor.
“‘And if they don’t exist either?’
“‘Then find its spirit,’ came the quick reply.
“And that I did – but not in the way you’d expect.
“There were no ghosts floating around the tree tops at Ongs Hat, on Four Mile Circle road about
two miles from its intersection with Rt 70, in Burlington County.
“But a current resident of the area, entering into the spirit of my eerie errand, dug a small piece
of rusted horseshoe and a long rusty spike out of the soft, white sand.
“‘Maybe the shoe was worn by a horse that pulled the old stagecoach. It used to stop at the old
tavern here on its way from Philadelphia to the shore,’ said Charlie Smith as he displayed the ‘remains’
in his wide, sun-browned hand.
“‘My grandfather used to tell me about the hotel (called a tavern in colonial days) that stood in
this clearing,’ said ‘Smitty’, waving a long, slim arm in the direction of a clearing in the woods. ‘Part of
the sandstone foundation was still here when I was a kid, but the place has been filled in since.’
“We were standing at the point listed on the map as Ongs Hat. No buildings mark the spot now,
but across a narrow, sandy road from the clearing in the woods is a tall oak tree. It stands apart from
the woods and close to the edge of Four Mile Circle road.
“‘This is the tree that’s supposed to have held Ong’s hat,’ Smitty offered. ‘A story has gone
around for many years that a Chinaman lived in these parts by the name of Ong. Some kids grabbed his
hat one day and threw it up in that tree. It stayed there for quite a while, and that’s how the place got
its name,’ Smith continued.
“Looking up at the long, crooked limbs he added, ‘They tell me there’s been several people hung
on that tree, probably for horse thieving.’
“An examination of the historic, old landmark revealed a far different modern-day use for the
tree. Its hollow interior had become a receptacle for empty beer cans.
“The dirt road leading from Four Mile Circle road, passes the tree, winds its way into a woods to
several white bungalows. Since no one answered my knocks at the first three houses, I deduced that
their owners used the places for weekends and vacations.
“Pale purple and yellow iris, roses and other flowers bloomed in the yards. Some showed signs
of the recent application of a trowel. It wasn’t hard to imagine the bungalow owners as harassed office
workers during the week, who sought the refreshing refuge of a home in the pines, whenever they could
get away from their jobs.
“Going back to the old oak, I crossed Four Mile road and followed another sandy road into
Lebanon State Forest. About a mile from the tree was the only visible clue that the name of the former
village is still remembered. A sign nailed to a post at the intersection of two roads has on it the word
‘Ong’s Hat’ and an arrow pointing in the direction of the village. It seemed curious that there is nothing
at the tree to tell the traveler when he arrives at the place.
1391

Henry Charlton Beck; Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey; Rutgers University Press; 1983;
provided by Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy, Burlington County Library System, 5
Pioneer Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060; http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us

“Most people living in the vicinity, like Charlie Smith, are blueberry farmers. The only business
establishment near Ongs Hat is a bar about a quarter of a mile from the old oak at the intersection of
Four Mile Circle, Magnolia and Buddtown roads.
“About two miles from bar lives the oldest ‘old timer’ in the vicinity. He is James Carpenter, 86,
who lives in a neat white farmhouse with his brother Orville and their cousin, Mrs Emma Bodine, who
keeps house for the men.
“Asked about memories of Ongs Hat, James Carpenter said, ‘When I was younger, there was a
house near the tree. The fellow who lived there sold liquor without a license, but that was over 50 years
ago. Nothing’s been there since the house went down, and I guess a hotel pre-dated the house. That’s
about all I know, and I’ve lived here all my life.’”1392
***SEVEN STARS, OCEAN COUNTY1393, NEW JERSEY***
New Jersey Guild Associates records: “At 40.9 miles is a relic of a vanished community, the
remodeled inn known as Seven Stars Tavern. The original tavern of that name, a stagecoach station on
the Barnegat Bay-Freehold route, received its name after its guest, lying on his couch, was able to count
seven stars through a hole in the roof; though the proprietor probably repaired the roof after further
complaints, the nickname stuck.”1394
***SHIP BOTTOM, OCEAN COUNTY1395, NEW JERSEY***
Vivian Zinkin reveals: “1817: This name is associated with one of the many marine disasters,
which have occurred along the Ocean County coast. Most stories agree that during a great storm in
1817, a wrecked ship was washed ashore, with its hull bottom half-way up, Long Beach Island, and that
a rich Tuckerton Quaker, a Stephen Willets, discovered the wreck and rescued its one surviving victim. It
is in respect to the survivor that some disagreement has developed and about whom the following tales
are told: 1) Trapped in the ship was a young Spanish-speaking woman, who on her rescue, immediately
kneeled on the shore and ‘drew a figure in the sand with her finger. It was the sign of the cross.’ 2)
Trapped in the ship was a beautiful young girl, who on her rescue, went through the same performance
as the Spanish lady, then was sent off to New York and was never heard of again. 3) Trapped in the ship
was a beautiful young girl, who after her rescue, stayed on in the village, married, and became the
‘ancestor of a Sandy Hook pilot’. 4) Trapped in the ship was a beautiful Spanish princess; what she did
after she was rescued no one has ventured to say.
“The village of Ship Bottom remained a part of Long Beach Township until 1925, when it was
incorporated into a borough known as Ship Bottom – Beach Arlington, but the second part of the name
was soon dropped and only Ship Bottom remains.”1396

1392

Freddie Boyle; Only Spirit Remains of Ongs Hat; provided by Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History &
Genealogy, Burlington County Library System, 5 Pioneer Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060;
http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us
1393
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/ocean/seven-stars.cfm
1394
New Jersey Guild Associates; New Jersey: A Guide to Its Present and Past; Stratford Press; 1939;
provided by Samantha Stokes, County of Ocean, Cultural & Heritage Commission, Ocean County Parks &
Recreation, 14 Hooper Ave, PO Box 2191, Toms River, NJ 08754-2191; [email protected];
http://www.co.ocean.nj.us/ch/
1395
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Bottom,_New_Jersey
1396
Vivian Zinkin; Place Names of Ocean County, New Jersey: 1609-1849; Ocean County Historical
Society; 1976; provided by Information Services Department, Ocean County Library, 101 Washington St,
Toms River, NJ 08753-7625; http://theoceancountylibrary.org/

Miriam Bush spells out: “The great stands of cedar bent in strong gusts of wind and white caps
skipped madly across Little Egg Harbor on that dark and fateful November day in 1817, when a
Tuckerton man put out to sea.
“His family and friends thought him foolhardy; Mariners with any sense kept to port in wintry
northeasters, and this storm was a particularly nasty one. But Cap’n Stephen Willets, who cut an
unusual figure among the sea-going population of the small town, would have none of the coziness of
hearth and home.
“Vignette: Besides, Willets believed he had a secret power. He considered himself a psychic in
those days, long before the advent of what moderns call extrasensory perception.
“‘I’m going anyway,’ he spoke firmly as his distraught wife wrung her hands.
“Jamming on oilskins and summoning a rather fearful half dozen of his regular crew, he boarded
his tiny schooner at Willow Landing and … then out across the bay to the tip of Long Beach Island.
“The winds roared and the young sailors thought their skipper mad, but he kept to his course,
telling them he had had a vision of a ship in distress and he must go to the scene.
“For several hours, the crew struggled, as the heavy seas threatened to swamp the craft and add
to the toll of hundreds, who had died in wrecks along the shores of the island. But Cap’n Willets, by that
time using only his jib, stood fierce at the helm. He had a mission by God, and he swore he would
complete it.
“Beating to windward, the boat plied along the coast as the day waned. Nothing but surging
seas, slashing rain, and the howling of the mighty winds. The captain himself began to worry. How
would he manage to reach the safety of home port if the blow continued?
“Then suddenly, a lookout on the port bow spotted the outline of a vessel along the shore.
‘Wreck,’ he cried, and Willets swung into action.
“With two young sailors helping, he managed to put a small dinghy over the side, after
anchoring the schooner about 100 yards off shore. The three men rowed with difficulty over the
towering waves. Moving closer they found a brig had been beached, bottom side up.
“‘No sign of anyone,’ screamed one of the worried crewmen. He was anxious to get back to his
wife and children.
“‘Wait until we take a look farther along the beach,’ growled the captain, his doubts about his
psychic powers somewhat allayed. After all he had only been told to look for a ship in distress and this
was certainly such.
“But something warned him to row a few minutes longer in the crashing breakers. And then it
came, a light tapping from inside the hull, audible through the noise of the churning seas.
“‘Help, help.’ He thought he heard a voice, and a woman’s at that.
“‘Move in, move in,’ the captain cried, and seizing an axe he jumped out into the surf.
“Standing in water up to his waist, he hacked a hole in the battered hull. As the splinters gave
way, a face emerged from the blackness of the inside.
“Willets threw the axe to one of the sailors, who had plunged into the water to help him, and
then reached to lift out the shivering victim of the wreck.
“Though her dress was in tatters and her face and arms covered with slime and seaweed, the
woman Willets carried through the hole in his arms was a dark-haired beauty, what one of the seamen
might call a senorita.
“She babbled thankfully in a foreign tongue and cried as the captain carried her to the beach. As
soon as she stepped onto the sands, she knelt down and made the sign of the cross.
“Willets waved toward the broken ship and then out to sea. ‘Anyone else?’
“Shaking her head and sobbing, the woman managed to tell him she was alone.
“And then he noticed that the rain had let up and the winds were tapering off. He put the
tearful woman into the dinghy and rowed out to his waiting ship.

“The trip home proved uneventful, with calming seas and a bit of sun filtering through the
scudding clouds.
“After landing, the woman was taken to the customs house, but since no one could understand
the language she spoke – some thought it was Spanish – she remained a mystery figure.
“Willets retired to a local pub and a kindly sea captain’s widow took in the woman for the night.
Two days later customs officials sent her by stage to New York, where they hoped authorities could
provide some assistance.
“The town never heard about the woman again, but the broken hull of the ship from which she
emerged stayed on the island beach for many years.
“And this is how the borough of Ship Bottom got its name.
“Or so one legend has it.”1397
***SKIN CORNER, BURLINGTON COUNTY1398, NEW JERSEY***
Peggy Manser touches on: “The location of Skin Corner is on Google maps, so I decided to talk to
a library staff member from the area. They contacted the president of the local Riverfront Historical
Society and here is the response: ‘The only ‘Skin Corner’ I know was in Bridgeboro around where
Hartford Road and Bridgeboro meet. I recently brought it up at a Delran Historical Society meeting. The
two old-timers there turned around to me & laughed at me. My friend’s 90 year old mother mentioned
it and laughed. She said it was where couples went to make out and such. ‘Where the young guys went
to try to get some ‘skin’.’”1399
***TIMBUCTOO, BURLINGTON COUNTY1400, NEW JERSEY***
HH Bisbee clarifies: “Now usually abbreviated to ‘Bucto’. A small settlement about two miles
south of the county seat on the road to Rancocas, in Westhampton. The place was formerly a
prominent wharf on the Rancocas Creek, and camp meetings were held here. Originally settled by freed
slaves, the name is African in origin.”1401
HH Bisbee documents: “Westampton Township. A small settlement located about two miles
south of Mount Holly on road to Rancocas. Name has been shortened to Bucto on recent maps. The
name is African in origin and was probably bestowed on the place, because freed slaves once occupied
the area. There are two accepted spellings of the name of this city on the southern edge of the Sarah
desert on the left bank of the Niger River, Timbuktu and Timbuctoo.”1402
***WATER WITCH, MONMOUTH COUNTY1403, NEW JERSEY***
1397

Miriam Bush; Legend Says Ship Bottom; Asbury Park Sunday Press; Sunday, August 12, 1973;
provided by Information Services Department, Ocean County Library, 101 Washington St, Toms River, NJ
08753-7625; http://theoceancountylibrary.org/
1398
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/burlington/skin-corner.cfm
1399
Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy, Burlington County Library System, 5 Pioneer
Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060; http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us
1400
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/burlington/timbuctoo.cfm
1401
Henry H Bisbee; Place Names in Burlington County, New Jersey; Burlington County Publishing; 1955;
provided by Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy, Burlington County Library System, 5
Pioneer Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060; http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us
1402
Henry H Bisbee; Sign Posts: Place Names in History of Burlington County, New Jersey; Alexia Press;
1971; provided by Peggy Manser, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy, Burlington County Library
System, 5 Pioneer Blvd, Westampton, NJ 08060; http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us
1403
http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/nj/monmouth/waterwitch.cfm

JP King observes: “This Hallowe'en don't be afraid of the Water Witch, for it is only a section of
the Borough of Highlands and has no connection with Hallowe'en ghosts, sorcery or wicked witches
flying on broomsticks!
“Originally it was merely the intriguing literary name invented by the great American writer
James Fennimore Cooper as the title of his novel The Water Witch, or the Skimmer of the Seas.
“Cooper's fame as a novelist rests primarily with his very popular Leather Stocking Tales, such as
The Deerslayer, The Pathfinder, and The Last of the Mohicans, his best known work. His sea stories,
however, are more authentic, for they are based on his personal experience aboard the Sterling, where
he learned sea legends, seaman dialogue and accent and the art of story-telling. He used the sea not just
as a setting but as a principal character in a moral drama and influenced Herman Melville's Moby Dick
and Joseph Conrad's Before the Mast.
“Cooper wrote his Water Witch from notes, sketches and memories he took to Naples, Italy, in
1830, especially from his experiences in the Navy in patrols around New York City. He was thoroughly
familiar with the geography and beautiful scenery of the harbor, the Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays,
Sandy Hook itself and the Highlands. He no doubt often sailed Naval patrol or private craft into the
landscapes and seascapes he painted into his tale of The Skimmer of the Seas, The Water Witch.
“The figure of The Skimmer was inspired by the infamous pirate Captain Kidd and is set in 1720
amongst the hills, waters, and beaches of Highlands and Sandy Hook, an area where even today some
might imagine pirate's treasure buried and awaiting discovery. The patroness of the Skimmer is the good
Water Witch, whose figurehead adorns the bow of his sleek, black, mysteriously moving sailing ship,
now disappearing, now reappearing without reason when pursued.
“The Skimmer's illicit trade in untaxed and stolen goods brought him to Highlands to deal with
the respectable country gentleman Van Beverout whose summer mansion, called Lust in Rust, was
situated in the hills on the west bank of the Shrewsbury River.
“The Highlands scene had been attracting summer visitors from the city since long before the
Civil War. Some came to stay in the hotels along the river; others preferred the exclusive club
atmosphere reserved for members. The Neptune Club on the Navesink River was established in 1866,
soon followed by the Jackson Club on the Shrewsbury. Then in 1895, a group of affluent New Yorkers
formed an association and purchased all the lands in today's Monmouth Hills and all the way down to
the river's edge on the sea-level plain below. The name Water Witch Club was selected by these wellbred and well educated founding members, who were familiar with the setting of Cooper's novel, and
perhaps desired a name to rival the exclusive old Neptune Club not far away.
“They laid out building lots, plans for a water and power plant, a marina and bathing areas along
the river. Their street names naturally came from the novel they knew so well: Fennimore Terrace,
Coquette Lane, Witches Lane, and Water Witch Avenue, which ran from the hill top to the water's edge.
“The club soon relinquished its interest in the lower area due to an economic down turn and
allowed the Water Witch Development Company, in 1906, to widely market the area to middle-class city
people. They laid out inexpensive building lots and named the streets from Cooper's novel: Barberie St,
Seadrift Ave, and Snug Harbor Ave. From history, they took Washington St and Huddy Ave, after the first
President and Joshua Huddy, a hero of the Revolutionary War hanged by Tories in 1782. To emphasize
the area's beneficial qualities they, selected Cheerful, Recreation, and Marine Places.
“Water Witch was actually a section of Middletown Township, until it became part of the
Borough of Highlands in 1914, when its annexation was approved by a one vote margin. However it has
maintained a rustic character and charm distinctly its own. In the old days, it had its own train station on
the Central Railroad of New Jersey line, Water Witch Station, its own physician and druggist, taverns and
food stores. At its center, was the friendly old Conners Cedar Grove Hotel, with its summer bungalow
colony and summer cottages on Gravelly Point.

“Old post cards from the 50s and long before demonstrate Water Witch's close knit and unique
quality of summer life. They were simply addressed, eg, ‘Marge Flood, Gravelly Point, Water Witch, NJ’,
reflecting a relaxed time uncomplicated by house numbers, zip codes and e-mail addresses, a wonderful
time when people knew their neighbors.”1404
**NEW MEXICO**
RH Julyan says: “A blend of Native American, Spanish, and Anglo-American elements, the name
New Mexico is an appropriate paradigm for the state itself. The name’s roots extend into Mexico; the
Nahuatl Indians, who created the Aztec empire, were called Aztecas, from Aztlan, their traditional place
of origin, but also Mexicas, from Mexi, their traditional leader, and an alternative name for Tenochtitlan,
the Aztec capital, was Mexitli. Mexico was the term the Spanish used to refer to the former Aztec
empire. The first Spaniard to give a name to the region that is now New Mexico was Fray Marcos de
Niza, in 1539. Beholding the Zuni pueblos from a distance and believing them the fabled cities of Cibola,
he formally bestowed the name Kingdom of St Francis. Coronado explored the region in 1540-2, and the
region was labeled Nova Hispania, ‘New Spain’, on Gaspaldi’s 1546 map and the Mercator map of 1569.
The first documented use of the name New Mexico came in 1563, when Don Francisco de Ibarra, after
his appointment as governor of the Mexican province of Nueva Vizcaya, referred to the region to the
north as un otro or Nuevo Mejico, ‘another’ or a ‘New Mexico’. Ibarra had led an expedition to an Indian
village, whose inhabitants reminded him of the Aztecs of Mexico. The idea of a new Mexico was an
appealing possibility, for the Aztec empire had been fabulously wealthy, and the thought of another
Mexico to conquer and plunder was tantalizing indeed, despite Coronado having demonstrated 20 years
earlier that the dream did not match the reality. In 1581 Captain Chamuscado explored the northern
regions, and on August 21, he and his men took possession of the land for the king. They named the
pueblo where this occurred San Felipe and also gave that name to the entire province. Obregon in his
Historia, written in 1584, almost invariably wrote San Felipe de Nuevo Mejico. In 1582-3 Antonio de
Espejo explored portions of what is now New Mexico and reported ‘visiting and exploring the provinces
of New Mexico, which I gave the name Nueva Andalucia, as I was born in the district of Cordoba.’ Lujan,
the chronicler of Espejo’s expedition, used the name Nuevo Mejico on the title page of his journal, and
that is the name by which it has been called ever since. When Onate took permanent possession in
1598, he called himself ‘governor, capital general, and adelantado of New Mexico and its kingdoms and
provinces’.
“That was not the end of the story, however, for while the name New Mexico was secure for
more than 250 years, when the American territory of New Mexico desired statehood, objections were
raised that the name would suggest the region still was part of Mexico and not the US. (Perennial gaffs
by persons and institutions that should know better prove those fears weren’t entirely unfounded.)
Other names were proposed: Lincoln, Hamilton, Montezuma, and Acoma (the latter proposed in part
because it would dislodge Alabama at the head of the alphabetical list). In 1873 a traveler wryly
suggested that the territory be called Pobrita, ‘little poverty’. But territorial representatives made clear
that people here would have no other name than New Mexico.”1405
www.e-referencedesk.com spotlights: “The name of this state is an anglicized version of Nuevo
Mexico, the Spanish name for the upper Rio Grande. Mexico, an Aztec spelling, means ‘place of Mexitli’
one of the Aztec gods.”1406
www.statesymbolsusa.org underscores: “New Mexico was named by the Spanish for lands north
of the Rio Grande River (the upper region of the Rio Grande was called Nuevo Mexico as early as 1561).
1404

John P King; Water Witch, Just a Novel Name; [email protected]
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1406
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/new-mexico.html
1405

The name was Anglicized and applied to the land ceded to the United States by Mexico after the
Mexican American War. Mexico is an Aztec word meaning ‘place of Mexitli’ (an Aztec god). New Mexico
became the 47th state on January 6, 1912.”1407
DJ McInerney comments: “Expansionism intersected with transportation development in 1853
as Democratic President Franklin Pierce dispatched South Carolinian James Gadsden to Mexico.
Gadsden had his eye on a quarter of a million square miles of northern Mexico that would provide land
for American settlers (and their slave laborers) and a desirable route for a transcontinental rail line from
New Orleans to San Diego. Mexican officials resisted Gadsden’s demands; Northern politicians wary of
Southern designs sparked a Senate debate. In the end, the ‘Gadsden Purchase’ secured less than 30,000
square miles of land south of New Mexico territory for $10 million – while opening one more point of
contention between Northerners and Southerners.”1408
***AEROPLANE MESA, CATRON COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan emphasizes: “In Gila Wilderness, near headquarters of Middle Fork of Gila River. As
local people tell the story, Claire Chennault, later of Flying Tiger fame in World War II, and other pilots of
the US Army mail service, would touch down often on this remote mesa, hike down to the Middle Fork
of the Gila River, fish, and then return. On at least one occasion however, Chennault’s plane crashed
here, hence the name.”1409
***ALBUQUERQUE, BERNALILLO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan gives: “Settlement, county seat; on the Rio Grande, west of the Sandia Mountains; on
the Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad and at the junction of Interstate 25 and Interstate 40; post
office 1851-82, mail to New Albuquerque, 1882-present. A long and complex history lies behind the
name of New Mexico’s largest city, a history that in many ways reflects that of the state itself.
“The area now occupied by Albuquerque certainly was settled and named by Native Americans
before Coronado’s arrival in 1540, but their names, like so many prehistoric names, have been lost.
Spanish settlers replaced the Indians, and when the Spanish governor of New Mexico, Don Francisco
Cuervo y Valdes, early in 1706, sent Juan Ulibarri to the area to determine its suitability for settlement,
Ulibarri reported that it was ‘a very good place for a new villa’. At the time of Ulibarri’s visit, the locality
was called Bosque Grande de Dona Luisa, Estancia de Dona Luisa de Trujillo, San Francisco Xavier del
Bosque Grande, and, more commonly, simply Bosque Grande, ‘big forest, thicket’.
“Governor Cuervo y Valdes accepted Ulibarri’s report and soon thereafter authorized the
founding of New Mexico’s third villa (after Santa Fe and Santa Cruz). He named it San Francisco de
Alburquerque, in honor of Don Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, Duke of Alburquerque, 34th
Viceroy of New Spain, then resident of Mexico City. Don Francisco Fernandez was the second duke
titled Alburquerque to serve as Viceroy of New Spain and was the tenth in succession from the first
Duke of Alburquerque, Don Beltran de la Cueva, King Enrique IV. The city for which the dukedom was
named once was encompassed by Portugal, but it now is within the province of Badajoz, Spain, about
ten miles east of the Portuguese border. The dukedom of Alburquerque still exists, and occasionally the
current duke visits the New Mexico city.
“The name Alburquerque most likely developed from one of several Spanish forms of the Latin
albus quercus, ‘white oak’ (the trunk of the cork oak is white after the outer layer has been exposed);
the seal of the Spanish city of Alburquerque bears the design of an oak.

1407

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/New_Mexico/NewMexicoNameOrigin.html
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1409
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1408

“It also is remotely possible however, that the name is Arabic in origin, as the Spanish city is in a
region ruled for centuries by the Moors, and the al prefix, the definite article in Arabic, is extremely
common in Arabic names of all kinds, including place names. Indeed, many Hispanic names in New
Mexico have an Arabic etymology; Alcalde (from Arabic al-qadi, ‘the judge’) and Alkali (from al-qaliy,
‘the ashes of saltwort’). Assuming an Arabic origin for Alburquerque, the most likely etymology would
be al burquq, ‘the plum’.
“Governor Cuervo y Valdes, in choosing St Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, as the new villa’s
patron, honored not only his own patron saint but also that of the viceroy. The Duke of Alburquerque,
however, fearing the displeasure of King Philip V of Spain, who had not authorized the villa, changed the
name to San Felipe de Alburquerque, honoring the monarch’s patron saint. The church of San Felipe
Neri on Own Town Plaza honors St Philip Neri, a 16th century priest of Rome and founder of a religious
congregation. The new name did not gain immediate acceptance, however; according to Fray Angelico
Chavez, Franciscans continued using San Francisco de Alburquerque, and occasionally, San Felipe
Apostol, until 1776, when they finally began using San Felipe Neri as a title.
“Throughout the colonial period and even into the 19th century, as the settlement grew in
importance, its name preserved the original spelling, but English-speaking travelers, arriving early in the
19th century, began to drop the first ‘r’. Zebulon Pike in 1807, George W Kendall in 1841, and JF Meline
in 1866, all spelled it ‘Albuquerque’, even though Escudero’s Noticias of 1849 continued the original
spelling. It’s possible that confusion with a titled Portuguese family named Albuquerque, or
Alboquerque, contributed to the present spelling. In 1993 the well-known New Mexico author Rudolfo
Anaya published a novel about the city he entitled Alburquerque, using the original spelling, and upon
his urging, other people began suggesting the city return to having two ‘r’s in the name; in the 1995
state legislature, a non-binding resolution was passed also recommending the original spelling, but
informal polls showed the public divided over the issue, and in 1995, few if any signs had actually been
changed.
“The matter of the name’s form became even more complicated later in the 19th century, with
the arrival of the railroad. In 1879 the New Mexico Townsite Co, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka,
and Santa Fe Railroad, founded a new town in anticipation of the first trains, which entered the new
station on April 22, 1880. Soon there were two Albuquerques, and two post offices: the old town
centered on the plaza and the new town centered on the railroad station to the east. As Marc Simmons
has described the situation, ‘Local controversy over who was entitled ownership of Albuquerque’s
historic name continued for several years. Then in 1886, the postal authority effected a compromise by
designating the west station, Old Albuquerque, and the east station, New Albuquerque. It proved an
easy way out, particularly since by this time people had developed the habit of referring to the former
as Old Town and the latter as New Town. Later of course, as New Albuquerque reached out to engulf
the plaza, the day came when it could legitimately drop the qualifying adjective.’
“Though Albuquerque seems a distinctive name, in fact it appears on other towns and features
throughout the world in the former Spanish empire. Indeed the Albuquerque Cays off the Nicaraguan
coast even have evolved into the same misspelling as the New Mexico city. What makes the name
unique here is that it honors a member of the Spanish nobility and the governmental hierarchy in the
New World, something the Spanish namers in New Mexico did with few if any other names here.
“The names by which Navajos know Albuquerque is simpler; it means ‘two large bells in place’, a
reference to an early bell tower.”1410
***ALCATRAZ, SAN JUAN COUNTY1411, NEW MEXICO***
1410
1411

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
http://newmexico.hometownlocator.com/nm/san-juan/alcatraz.cfm

Catherine Davis pens: “Alcatraz means ‘pelican’ in Spanish, but we are too far from the Gulf of
Mexico and the Pacific Ocean for pelicans to have flown into this area. However, because that area was
very marshy when the early Spanish settlers came, and there were lots of migratory birds that flew into
this marshy area, it could of mistakenly been named ‘Alcatraz’.
“I have checked with several area sources about Alcatraz, but once again, nothing. It could have
had a post office for two years. Then it became known as Turley, NM. Turley was named because that
was the family that had the post office, and their son, Jay Turley, did the early surveying for the dam site
that eventually became the site for Navajo Dam.”1412
JW White scribes: “The first Hispanic settlers arrived at this site, fifteen miles east and a little
south of Aztec in the 1870s. It is where Largo Canyon meets the San Juan River. As with most early
settlements, a church was soon completed, and the area became known as Alcatraz. The most likely
theory is that the site was named after the famous federal prison in California, because of its isolation
and difficulty to access.
“Pablo Candelaria moved to the area around 1890. He petitioned for a post office and
suggested Alcatraz as the name for the post office. Pablo also highly recommended himself for the
postmaster position.
“His request was granted, and he was appointed to the postmaster position on April 7, 1892.
The post office was located in his small general store. The mail was received three days a week from the
Largo Post Office.
“When Pablo vacated the position and the location on March 27, 1894, the office was
discontinued. The mail for the few remaining residents in the area was retained at the Largo Post Office
for pick up.”1413
***ANGEL FIRE MOUNTAIN, COLFAX COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan states: “11,060 feet. Colfax County; in the southwest part of the county, on the east
side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Though stories explaining this name differ in their details, most
agree the name began with the Moache Utes, who once lived here. One account says lightning ignited a
fire on the mountain and threatened an Indian camp. Just as the Indians were about to evacuate, the
wind shifted, and a rainstorm extinguished the fire. The Indians began calling the peak ‘breath of
spirits’; when Franciscan friars encountered the legend, they Christianized the name ‘breath of angels’
and later to Angel Fire.
“Other accounts attribute the name to the reddish alpenglow on the peak at dawn and dusk, a
phenomenon noted by Kit Carson, among others. Christian missionaries again interpreted the glow
according to their ideology.
“When the Moache Utes were removed from the Moreno Valley in the 1870s, their legends
regarding the name went with them, and not until the establishment of Angel Fire resort and ski area
was interest rekindled in the poetic name.”1414
***ANIMAS RIVER, SAN JUAN COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan alludes: “Flows southwest from Colorado into New Mexico, paralleling US 550, joining
the San Juan River at Farmington. Before being shortened and Anglicized to its present form, the name
borne by this river was the Spanish Rio de las Animas, ‘river of the souls of the dead’, the animas likely
from animas perdidas, ‘lost souls, more specifically, lost in hell’. The name is very old; it’s even possible
1412

Catherine Davis, Archivist, San Juan County Historical Society, PO Box 1252, Aztec, NM 87410
James W White; The History of San Juan County Post Offices; Alcatraz-Turley; 2003; provided by
Catherine Davis, Archivist, San Juan County Historical Society, PO Box 1252, Aztec, NM 87410
1414
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1413

Coronado gave it, when he traveled in the San Juan Valley in 1541, seeking the fabled Cibola. One
popular but apocryphal story behind the name is that the Spaniards battled Indians here and tossed
their bodies into the river; the Indians, being unbaptized, were damned, their souls ‘lost’. Another
popular and more likely story is that the river was named for its treacherous crossings, at which many
travelers lost their lives. Or possibly the river was named for other reasons lost in time.”1415
***APACHE KID WILDERNESS, SOCORRO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan communicates: “In the San Mateo Mountains, southwest of Magdalena. The White
Mountain Apache, who came to be known as the Apache Kid, was born near Globe, Arizona, about 1860.
He spent his youth first as a captive of Yuman Indians, then as a street orphan in Army camps. The
name Apache Kid was given to him by Army scout Albert Sieber, who befriended the young Apache and
employed him as a scout in the Geronimo campaigns. But whiskey and an Apache feud caused him
trouble with the Army, and in 1889 he was convicted of wounding Sieber in a shootout; the Apache Kid
denied the charge. While being taken to prison, he escaped. Finding himself outlawed by the Whites
and with his Apache friends and relatives in prison, the Apache Kid became a renegade and for four
years conducted a one-man reign of terror in the region. Finally in September 1894, New Mexico
cattleman Charles Anderson and some cowboys ambushed some rustlers in the San Mateo Mountains,
killing one – the Apache Kid. He was buried near Apache Kid Peak, 10,048 feet, located in the heart of
the wilderness between Blue Mountain and San Mateo Peak. The Apache Kid Wilderness, administered
by the Cibola National Forest, was designated in 1980 and includes 44,650 acres.”1416
***AZTEC, SAN JUAN COUNTY1417, NEW MEXICO***
KB Harder depicts: “The Aztecs, known also as Nahuatls, were the major tribe of Indians during
the period of the Spanish conquest of the area that is now Mexico. They belonged to the Uto-Aztecan
linguistic stock and lived mainly in the region that is now Mexico City, although tribes were scattered
throughout Mexico. Named [in New Mexico] because it was believed that the ruins of a nearby pueblo
had once been inhabited by a tribe of Aztecs.”1418
William Bright enumerates: “The English name of the Aztec people, who dominated much of
central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest, comes from Spanish azteca, which in turn is from
the Nahuatl (Aztecan) singular form aztecatl, plural aztecah. The name means ‘coming from aztlan’, the
legendary home of the Aztecs.”1419
Marilu Waybourn gives an account: “The Aztec area was first inhabited by early Pueblo people.
They left behind a virtual history book of villages filled with artifacts that help educate us about what
was going on before the pioneers arrived. That ancient history is the reason Aztec was misnamed.
Information from the Aztec City Library helps us resolve how Aztec got its name. One early reference to
this area is on Baron Alexander von Humbolt’s 1804 map of New Spain. This location is cited as ‘First
abode of the Azteques from Aztlan’. Henry S Tanner’s 1823 and 1846 maps both cite the area as the
‘former residence of the Aztecs’. Finally on an 1849 US map by JH Colton, this area is noted as
‘Supposed residence of the Aztecs in the 12th Century’.

1415

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1417
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec,_New_Mexico
1418
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1419
William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press;
Norman, OK, 2004
1416

“Current knowledge explains that they were not Aztec but ancestral or early Pueblo people who
left the area around 1300. A few hundred years later, new settlers began the establishment of Indian
reservations and the moving around of tribes. On May 20, 1862, Pres Abraham Lincoln signed the
Homestead Act, and when the law took effort on January 1, 1863, the move westward was in full swing.
“The Aztec area, which later became San Juan County, New Mexico, went through several steps
before it was opened to homesteaders. An executive order dated March 25, 1874, and signed by Pres
Ulysses S Grant, set aside this region as part of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, and thus, the land was
withdrawn for sale and settlement. The boundary ran along the edge of the Navajo Reservation. A
couple of years went by, and the area remained almost empty; according to historical record, the
Jicarilla Apache did not want to live so close to the Navajo.”1420
***BLACKDOM, CHAVES COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan points out: “Sixteen miles south of Roswell; post office 1912-9, mail to Dexter. To the
African-American homesteaders who came to live in Blackdom, the lure of owning their own farms and
having fellowship with other African-American farmers in a tiny Black ‘kingdom’ must have been
irresistible. The community was founded around 1900 by Francis Marion Boyer, who had walked to
New Mexico from Georgia, pursuing the dream of his father, Henry Boyer, a former slave, of a selfsustaining community, where African-Americans could own land and live in peace. Years later, Lillian
Collins Westfield, who had lived in Blackdom, recalled the beautiful New Mexico sunshine and the
company of good friends and neighbors. But irrigation in the Blackdom area was unsuccessful, and the
community withered soon after 1920; many of its residents, including Francis Boyer and his wife, Ella
Louise McGruder Boyer, migrated to the community of Vado south of Las Cruces, where many of their
descendants still live. Only foundations remain of Blackdom.”1421
***BRILLIANT, COLFAX COUNTY1422, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan relates: “Colfax; settlement; in Dillon Canyon, 3 miles northwest of Raton; post office
1906-35, mail to Swastika, 1940-54, mail to Raton. Brilliant, now abandoned, was a company-owned
coal town that began when the St Louis, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Co opened the Brilliant Mine in
1906; the name is said to have been inspired by the unusually lustrous sheen of the coal from nearby Tin
Pan Canyon. The mine supplied coal for the railroads and also for the coke ovens at Gardiner nearby to
the South. Operations were suspended in 1908, then resumed in 1912. In the 1920s, Brilliant was
joined in the canyon by Swastika, another company-owned coal town just a mile south of Brilliant, and
the two existed together until the Brilliant post office was closed in 1935. During World War II, Swastika
changed its name to Brilliant II.”1423
***GHOST RANCH, RIO ARRIBA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan stipulates: “Conference center; 13 miles northwest of Abiquiu. When Arthur Newton
Pack, founder of the conference center, arrived in 1933, his guide to the property told him it had been
called Rancho de los Brujos, ‘ranch of the witches’, because it was supposed to have been haunted by
evil spirits. ‘The name came to be freely translated as Ghost Ranch,’ said Pack. Some cottonwoods on
1420

Marilu Waybourn; Images of America: Aztec; Arcadia Publishing; 2011; provided by Catherine Davis,
Archivist, San Juan County Historical Society, PO Box 1252, Aztec, NM 87410
1421
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1422
http://newmexico.hometownlocator.com/nm/colfax/brilliant.cfm
1423
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996;
provided by Arthur Johnson Memorial Library, 244 Cook Ave, Raton, NM 87740;
[email protected]; http://www.ratonnm.gov/

the property were reputed to have served as gallows for local cattle thieves. The canyon was settled
near the end of the 19th century by the Archuleta family, who built a stockade of cedar poles that came
to be known as the Ghost House. A girl brought up in this house said she always believed the canyon
was inhabited by evil spirits, or brujos, including ‘Earth Babies’, six feet tall with red hair.”1424
***GUT ACHE MESA, CATRON COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan writes: “North of Alma, near Saliz Pass on US 180. As TM Pearce related, ‘This grazing
area was named Belly-ache or Gut-ache Mesa, because a cowboy cook warmed over some soured
frijoles, thus upsetting the stomachs of all the cowhands on a roundup. Another version blames bad
son-of-a-gun stew for the upset.’ US Forest Service officials complain about signs with this name
repeatedly being stolen as curiosities.”1425
***HERMITS PEAK, COLFAX COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan articulates: “Southwest of Raton, near the abandoned mining camp of Gardner. Local
lore tells that in the 1880s, a ranch laborer named Juan became demented upon losing his wife to
another man. Around 1892, he built a lean-to and became a hermit at the peak previously known as
Red River Peak. ‘Crazy Juan’ was well-known in the area, until his death in 1918 to the flu.”1426
***HIGH LONESOME, HIDALGO COUNTY1427, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan describes: “One must be familiar with the seemingly endless expanse of the High
Plains of New Mexico to feel the compelling poetry in this name. It appears on 22 features in New
Mexico, many of them windmills, in 14 of the state’s 33 counties.”1428
***HORSETHIEF MEADOWS/CREEK, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan establishes: “Creek heads in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, northwest of Cowles,
and flows southeast to join Panchuela Creek; meadow is three miles long on Panchuela Creek, just
below its junction with Horsethief Creek. As Elliott Barker tells the story, an organized band of horse
thieves, possibly part of the notorious Vincente Silva gang of Las Vegas, active in the 1880s, used this
area to pasture stolen horses. It is said that after a particularly valuable stallion was stolen, the owner
and the sheriff of Las Vegas trailed the stolen horses to the meadows, where they found animals newly
rebranded; the thieves had fled.”1429
***JORNADA DEL MUERTO, DONA ANA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan highlights: “Between the Rio Grande and the Fra Cristobal Range on the west and the
San Andres and Oscura Mountains on the east. ‘Journey of death’ is how many people translate the
Spanish name of this 90 mile route on the Camino Real, and it’s easy to see why this translation has
become popular. For while travelers’ journeys over the Jornada del Muerto were shorter by at least a
day, than the difficult route along the Rio Grande, the Jornada del Muerto was waterless, sandy,

1424

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1426
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1427
http://newmexico.hometownlocator.com/nm/hidalgo/high-lonesome-wells.cfm
1428
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996;
provided by Rosie Marquez, Reference Library Aide, Lordsburg-Hidalgo Library, 208 E Third St,
Lordsburg, NM 88045; http://www.hidalgocounty.org/index.php/services/library/
1429
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1425

desolate, and vulnerable to frequent Indian attacks; scores of people died along the route, and their
graves and bones would have been grim reminders of its terrors.
“But the name Jornada del Muerto actually translates to mean not ‘journey of death’ but
‘journey of the dead man’, specifically one Bernardo Gruber, a German trader, who in 1670, had
escaped two years of imprisonment at the Ortega estancia in the Sandia Pueblo jurisdiction, where he
had been accused by the Inquisition of witchcraft. He was fleeing south over the route later named for
him when he perished. From the discovery of his sun-dried corpse at a place later called El Aleman, ‘the
German’, the name Jornada del Muerto is believed to have evolved. Jornada Lakes (Sierra County, five
miles south of Engle).”1430
***KNEELING NUN, GRANT COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan portrays: “At the end of Ben Moore Mountain, near Santa Rita. According to a legend
at least 200 years old, this conspicuous rock formation represents Raquel Mendoza de Alarcon, daughter
of a Mexican miner and an Apache woman. Raquel was sent to a Chihuahua convent and returned a
nun, but she fell in love with Capt Fernando Alarcon; she renounced her holy vows and married the
dashing captain, but he soon deserted her. Distraught and destitute, she climbed Ben Moore Mountain,
where she prayed for forgiveness even as a snowstorm overtook her. When the weather cleared, her
kneeling figure had been turned to stone. Other versions of the legend say the nun was a Sister Teresa,
who fell in love with a soldier named Diego. Becoming a stone pillar was her fate too.”1431
***LA LUZ, OTERO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan remarks: “Settlement; two miles east of US 54, five miles north of Alamogordo; post
office 1886-present. This name likely dates from 1719, when Spanish Franciscan missionaries built a
chapel here dedicated to Nuestra Senora de la Luz, ‘Our Lady of the Light’, one of the many names for
the Virgin Mary. Actual settlement however, did not begin until around 1860, when Spanish-speaking
settlers arrived from villages devastated by floods on the Rio Grande; one of the leaders was Jose
Manuel Gutierrez. A folk tale gives another etymology for the name dating from this period. It says
male pioneers, leaving the women behind, while they pushed ahead seeking the best spot to settle, lit a
signal fire. Seeing it the women exclaimed, ‘La luz! Alla esta la luz! Esta bien.’ ‘The light. There’s the
light. All’s well.’ Other explanations include the name referring to a will-o’-the-wisp light in the canyon
and a lamp kept perpetually burning in an elderly woman’s home. La Luz Canyon heads on the west
slope of the Sacromento Mountains and runs west past the village of La Luz.”1432
***LAS CRUCES, DONA ANA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan shares: “Settlement, county seat; at the junction of Interstate 25 and Interstate 10, on
the Rio Grande; post office 1854-present. Numerous stories attempt to explain why this city is named
‘the crosses’. Some attribute the name to crosses marking the graves of unfortunates massacred by
Apaches. Indeed Susan Shelby Magoffin, wife of Santa Fe trader Sam Magoffin, in January 1847, wrote
in her diary: ‘Yesterday we passed over the spot where a few years since a party of Apaches attacked
General Armijo as he returned from the Pass with a party of troops, and killed some 14 of his men, the
graves of whom, marked by rude crosses, are now to be seen …’ Adolph Bandelier, searching archives in
Mexico City, found a report from a Spanish army officer, Don Gabriel, who in 1693 wrote: ‘I have just
received report of Indian raids in the region of Los Organos, where three Spaniards were killed, the
raiders then going on to a place called Las Cruces …’
1430

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1432
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1431

“Present-day Las Cruces has been identified with the site known as Estero Largo, ‘long swamp,
estuary’, mentioned in numerous 17th century accounts of travel along the Camino Real, but the region
sparsely populated during the 18th century. The present community dates from 1848, when local leader,
Don Pablo Melendres, first justice of the peace in Dona Ana County, asked Lieutenant Sackett, of the
First US Dragoons, to lay out a town several miles south of Dona Ana, to alleviate overcrowding in the
village of Dona Ana, resulting from Americans flocking to the newly acquired territory. The survey party
chose a site six miles south of Dona Ana, near an old burial ground, with crosses likely the ones seen
earlier by Magoffin; the new community took the name Las Cruces.”1433
***PIE TOWN, CATRON COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan stresses: “Settlement; on US 60, 14 miles east of Quemado; post office 1927-present.
Here’s the story, as researched by Kathryn McKee-Roberts: In October 1922, Clyde Norman (some local
residents say his name was Herman L Norman) filed a mining claim in the middle of the stock-drive route
here. Mining wasn’t profitable, so he opened a gas station that he called ‘Norman’s Place’, but he liked
to bake, and when he began offering homemade apple pies as well as gas, he changed his sign to read
Pie Town. Early in 1924, Norman Craig arrived from Texas and went into partnership with Norman, but
mining still wasn’t profitable, and in November that year Craig bought out Norman. Craig continued the
pie-making enterprise however, and soon his new wife and her two daughters also were involved. The
pies were very popular, not only with road travelers but also with local ranchers and cowboys. In 1927
the citizens of Pie Town asked for a post office; local lore tells that when a postal inspector suggested a
more conventional name, Craig told him, ‘It’ll either be named Pie Town, or you can take your post
office and go to hell.’ Craig knew best; Pie Town remains among New Mexico’s most intriguing place
names.”1434
***SATAN PASS, MCKINLEY COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan composes: “On New Mexico 371, between Thoreau and Crownpoint. Navajos know
this route by a name meaning ‘blue all the way up’, referring to the color of the mud here. Early
Spanish-speaking travelers called it Canon Infierno, ‘hell canyon’, likely because it was hellishly rough.
And English-speakers have called it Satan Pass, because it’s a ‘devil’ of a pass. The canyon through
which it passes now is called Satan Pass Canyon. The road through the pass now is paved and gives little
hint of the tribulations early travelers here endured.”1435
***SOLDIERS FAREWELL HILL, GRANT COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan designates: “6,173 feet, north of Interstate 10, west of the Continental Divide. At
least three legends – all dating from the late 1800s and all apocryphal – explain this romantic name.
One is that soldiers manning a signal station here – mirrors by day, flares at night – were trapped by
Apaches and, tormented by thirst, signaled a farewell, saying they were going down to battle the
Indians; all were killed. Another story says a soldier from the east, despondent over separation from his
sweetheart, killed himself here. The most widely accepted story says soldiers, escorting wagon trains
and travelers en route to California, were ordered to go no farther than here, where they were forced to
say ‘farewell’.”1436
***STARVATION PEAK, SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
1433

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1435
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1436
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1434

RH Julyan expands: “7,042 feet, southwest of Las Vegas, 1.5 miles south of Bernal. This dramatic
chisel-shaped butte, a conspicuous landmark on the Santa Fe Trail, has long been a magnet for legends,
certainly before 1884, when the first published account appeared (in the Detroit Free Press!). Though
the details vary, the legends all agree the name resulted from an incident in which travelers ambushed
by Indians sought refuge on the summit and endured hunger there. In some versions, the travelers
perished, in others they were rescued. Dr Lynn Perrigo of Las Vegas researched the various versions and
concluded, ‘In one form or another, the tradition persists, but nobody can cite documentary proof.’ But,
he adds, this doesn’t mean an incident didn’t occur.”1437
***SWASTIKA, COLFAX COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan illustrates: “Settlement; five miles southwest of Raton, in Dillon Canyon; post office
1918-40, changed to Brilliant. The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit and means ‘good fortune’, an
appropriate name for the coal-mining town the St Louis, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Co established
here as a sister community to Brilliant, a mile north. The two camps co-existed until 1935, when Brilliant
closed; during World War I, Swastika changed its named to Brilliant II. But by then the demand for coal
was dwindling, and now both camps are abandoned.”1438
***TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, SIERRA COUNTY1439, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan maintains: “Settlement, county seat; on Interstate 25 and the Rio Grande, southwest
of Elephant Butte Reservation; post office as Hot Springs, 1914-51, as Truth or Consequences, 1951present. Truth or Consequences, often abbreviated to TorC, probably is New Mexico’s most often asked
about and persistently controversial name. An early Spanish name for the locality has been reported to
be Alamocitos, ‘little cottonwoods’. As English-speaking settlers moved into the area, the locality came
to be called Hot Springs, for the thermal springs here – the early Spanish name was Ojo de Zoquete,
‘mud spring’ – and when a more formal settlement sprang up with the construction of Elephant Butte
Dam in 1912-6, it took the name Hot Springs. But then in 1951, Ralph Edwards, host of a popular TV
game show, as a promotional gimmick, offered to broadcast the show from a town that would adopt the
show’s name – Truth or Consequences. The New Mexico State Tourist Bureau relayed the news to New
Mexico Senator Burton Roach, also head of the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce. Not only would the
community garner national publicity, but also it no longer would be confused with the numerous other
towns named Hot Springs (Geographic Names Information System lists 78 populated places in the US
named Hot Springs). In a special election, the change was approved 1,294 to 295. A protest was filed
and another vote held; again the change won 4 to 1. In 1964 the town’s citizens again voted on the
name, and again the citizens approved the change. And then in 1967, still another vote was held, with
the same outcome. Yet throughout New Mexico, Hot Springs partisans shun and ridicule the new name
as a promotional novelty, while Truth or Consequences partisans point to the worldwide recognition it
has given their community. And Ralph Edwards kept his word; long after the TV show had been
cancelled, he continued to visit and lend his celebrity status to the town that took him up on his
offer.”1440
***WEREWOLF HILL, EDDY COUNTY1441, NEW MEXICO***

1437

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1439
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico
1440
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1441
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1438

RH Julyan presents: “Northwest of Carlsbad. This name doesn’t appear on any map, and no one
seems to know where it comes from, but for at least 50 years, Carlsbad residents have known this as a
well-known place for necking and partying; they tell stories about parkers seeing a werewolf-like
creature scratching at car windows.”1442
***ZUZAX, BERNALILLO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO***
RH Julyan renders: “Settlement; on Interstate 40, three miles east of Tijeras. Herman Ardans,
who has been described by a competitor as ‘the cleverest retail man I ever knew’, opened a curio shop
on US 66 here around 1956 and made up the name Zuzax so it would capture people’s attention and
also be the last entry in the phone book (as it is the last entry in this book). When asked by customers
about the origin of the name, he often told then it referred to the Zuzax Indians. Ardans eventually left
the curio business, and his curio shop is gone, but the name he created still intrigues travelers passing
the Zuzax exit on Interstate 40.”1443
**NEW YORK**
HB Staples sheds light on: “The territory of the imperial State of New York was comprised in the
royal grant to the Duke of York in 1664, of all the land ‘from the west side of the Connecticut River to
the east side of the Delaware Bay’. In 1664, the Duke fitted out an expedition, which took possession of
New Amsterdam, and the place was thereafter called New York, in honor of the Duke. The same name
was applied to the State. By a strange caprice of history, the greatest State in the Union bears the name
of the last and the most tyrannical of the Stuarts.”1444
KB Harder suggests: “For James, Duke of York and Albany (1633-1701), later James II of England
(1685-8). When the British acquired the Dutch territories in America (1664), those which later
comprised the colonies of New York and New Jersey were granted by Charles II of England on his
brother James. The territory west of the Hudson River was briefly called ‘Albania’ after the second of
James’ titles, the area east of the Hudson, ‘Yorkshire’, after the first. When James granted his western
territories (now New Jersey) to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, Yorkshire became known as New
York.”1445
www.statesymbolsusa.org calls attention to: “New York was named after the English Duke of
York and Albany (and the brother of England's King Charles II) in 1664, when the region called New
Amsterdam was taken from the Dutch. The state was a colony of Great Britain, until it became
independent on July 4, 1776.”1446
DJ McInerney connotes: “Unencumbered by theological debate, Dutch colonization in the
seventeenth century was a simpler matter of worldly pursuits, revolving around the fur trade. An
employee of the Dutch East India Company, Henry Hudson, sailed up the river that now bears his name
in 1609, in yet another effort to find a passage to Asia. The Dutch built trading posts and by 1624,
established the first permanent settlement at the mouth of the river, where New York City stands today.
Two years later, Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island from local Indians and christened the settlement
‘New Amsterdam’. The villages quickly attracted a diverse group of nationalities, religions, and races,
most of whom were on the make for quick riches, a proud tradition that continued after the English took
control of the settlement in 1664 and renamed it ‘New York’.”
1442

Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
Robert Hixson Julyan; The Place Names of New Mexico; University of New Mexico Press; 1996
1444
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1445
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1446
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/New_York/name_origin.html
1443

DJ McInerney details: “In 1664 Charles II treated his brother James, the Duke of York, to a grant
of American land. In the midst of a war with the Dutch, a small English fleet seized New Netherlands,
and made the colony part of a large piece of real estate renamed New York. The new owner
encouraged Dutch settlers to stay, sponsored emigration from England, and by the end of the
seventeenth century, rewarded political supporters in New York with huge estates that would serve as
the basis of yet another manorial society. James eventually lopped off two portions of his property,
giving New Jersey to a pair of proprietors in 1664 and Delaware to William Penn in 1682.”
DJ McInerney explains: “The real trick was to link all three water routes. In 1817 New York State
began work on a solution: the Erie Canal. When completed in 1825, the 364 mile-long Erie was three
times the length of any single canal in the United States. More importantly, it was a great economic
success. With the canal in place, people and goods could flow north from Manhattan Island, up the
Hudson River to Albany, west along the canal to Buffalo, and from there across Lake Erie and the other
Great Lakes to points throughout the Old Northwest. Farmers and processors in the new western
territories could send their products back to eastern markets along the same route. Canal freight rates
fell to less than a tenth of the cost of wagon hauling. New York City, the starting point and end point of
the trade route, became America’s largest urban center and its commercial and financial capital. One
state after another tried to copy the Erie’s success; none provided as profitable. Some canals managed
to operate successfully for a time. All were eventually affected by the next great transportation
improvement, one which literally shook the ground over which it rolled.”
DJ McInerney imparts: “Another famous (or infamous) community combined perfectionism,
socialism, and some eye-popping sexual theories. John Humphrey Noyes and his followers established
the Oneida Community in 1848, near Syracuse, New York. Convinced that the millennial Kingdom of
God was underway, Noyes believed that human beings could free themselves from sin. They could also
free themselves from the corrupt power of civil government and selfish, exclusive institutions of
‘ownership’, such as private property and monogamous marriage. The latter was an especially touchy
subject. Unlike those nice Shaker people down the road, who believed the community should
collectively give up sexual activity, Noyes thought that his society should collectively give in to it. He
proposed a theory of ‘complex marriage’, whereby the community’s men and women were all married
to one another. To outsiders, the arrangement seemed suspiciously European, what with all the
carousing and free love that must have been going on. Local authorities remained on guard but simply
could not keep that Noyes down. Actually the Oneidans had not liberated sexuality so much as
systematized it: the community screened members, approved partners, required male continence, and
chose only a select few for reproduction. Still it was more than the neighbors could stand. Noyes left
for Canada in 1879, and the society gave up its distinctive marriage arrangements, taking up the
production of animal traps and silverware instead.
“Whether enduring or short-lived, utopian societies promoted communal, cooperative
principles in a nation apparently driven by individualism, competitiveness, and selfish ambition. They,
like other Northern reformers, remained anxious about their region’s economic and social discord – a
view shared, ironically, by Southern critics as well.”
DJ McInerney mentions: “The rise of modern cities generated problems everywhere in the
western world, but the process was particularly difficult in the United States: leaders simply did not
anticipate the rapid growth of urban centers. The cluttered, congested, commercial look of American
cities testified to a lack of long-range thinking about their design and appearance. ‘Urban planning’ was
a dream, and private development commonly overrode public interest. Government officials neither
expected nor prepared for the waves of people and enterprises that crowded into compact spaces.
Tragically, cities with limited facilities became centers of immense hardship.
“Housing was often shoddy, expensive, and congested. City dwellers lived in single-family
residences, homes divided into apartments, or terrace houses. In Manhattan’s Lower East Side, with

one of the world’s highest population densities, residents crammed into ‘tenements’, 4-8 story buildings
with four apartments per floor, all of which had limited sunlight and fresh air, none of which had private
bathrooms. Urban water supplies were generally inadequate, until the end of the nineteenth century.
Sewage and drainage systems were so limited that, up to the early 1900s, most simply overflowed into
the streets after heavy rains. Roads were narrow and poorly maintained, crammed with people,
wagons, and animal waste. Homes and factories burning soft coal fouled city air. Burglary, gangs,
prostitution, and urban rioting (against minorities), all contributed to rising crime. For their poorest
residents, cities were hardly fit places to live.
“The sad conditions resulted not just from a lack of planning but also from a lack of power.
Cities usually did not have the political resources necessary to solve their problems. State governments
traditionally chartered municipal governments, and the rural interests that dominated most state
governments had little interest in sharing their power with emerging cities. To keep a political lid on
urban cities, states left municipal government weak.
“Politicians abhor a power vacuum. They filled the void in America’s expanding, jumbled,
opportunistic, and mechanized cities by creating informal organizations, appropriately called political
‘machines’. Controlled by both Republican and Democrats, machines sprang up throughout the urban
United States. In the hierarchal world of machine politics, a ‘boss’ sat at the top, pulling the strings in
municipal hiring, firing, spending, legislating, and bribing. Under a boss’ direction, city contracts
appeared or vanished, regulations passed or failed, and judges ruled or winked. Representatives in city
neighborhoods made sure of the vote from local residents, lubricating the machine by offering food,
fuel, rent, jobs, or other forms of assistance to the party faithful. In a world where the poor and
powerless were usually left to fend for themselves, political machines provided a crude system of social
welfare, albeit one based on corruption, political loyalty, and personal favoritism. In turn-of-the-century
cities, even disreputable service made a difference.”
DJ McInerney puts into words: “In the early 1920s, investors bought into the stock market on
the plausible expectation that economic growth would translate into higher company profits and share
prices. The cost of shares was reasonable relative to the earnings of companies, and the returns were
handsome. From 1924 to 1929, the New York Times index of industrial stocks increased from 106 and
452, the volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange ballooned four and a half times, and
the total market value of stocks tripled between 1925 and 1929. Investors could get in on the action
with as little as 10 percent down; the rest came from expensive loans, provided by brokers’ loans that
increased from $3.5 to $8.5 billion (at a time when the federal government spent about $3 billion per
year).
“By 1927 and 1928, stock prices bore little relation to business performance. Increasingly
buyers purchased equities, not as sound economic investments, but as wild speculative gambles, betting
that what had gone up would keep going up. Wall Street became a wide-open casino, and a largely
unregulated one at that. The federal government did little to monitor the activities of a market that
absorbed so much attention and capital. In fact the government probably made matters worse by
easing credit and lowering tax rates, releasing more money into speculation.
“By the autumn of 1929, the consumption that fueled prosperity had declined, and key sectors
of the economy barely limped along. In a weakened state, the Wall Street house of cards began to
collapse; a series of falls took place. On 28 and 29 October, major indices lost a quarter of their value.
Efforts to shore up the market failed, and the tumble in prices continued. General Electric (GE), which
sold for nearly $400 per share in September, went for $168 in November. The collapse in prices
continued for months and years, and in 1932, shares of GE went for as little as $34. At its lowest depth
in 1933, the Dow Jones industrial index had fallen 83 percent, from 365 down to 63.”1447
1447

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

**ERIC CANAL, UPSTATE NEW YORK**
DJ McInerney reports: “The opening of the 363-mile canal in 1825, linked the Atlantic Coast and
the Old Northwest, lowered freight rates, expanded trade among Americans, made New York City the
business US port, boosted Western settlement, and started a canal-building craze in the young nation.
Key sites visible today, traveling from east to west, include: Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve, Clinton Park;
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, Fort Hunter; Erie Canal Village, Rome; Old Erie Canal State Park
and Canastota Canal Town Museum, Canastota; Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum, Chittenango;
Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse; Medina Terminal Canal State Park, Medina; Erie Canal Heritage Center,
Lockport.”1448
***ANTHONY’S NOSE, WESTCHESTER COUNTY1449, NEW YORK***
Henry Gannett shows: “Anthony’s Nose: promontory on the Hudson River, New York, said by
Irving to have been named so in reference to Anthony Van Corlear’s nose; Lossing says, ‘Anthony de
Hooges, secretary of Rensselaerwick, had an enormous nose, and the promontory was named in honor
of that feature.’”1450
***CALCIUM, JEFFERSON COUNTY1451, NEW YORK***
NC Thomas talks about: “A small, unincorporated hamlet in Jefferson County, with a current
population of around 3,000. However the town was not always called Calcium. Formerly known as
Sanford’s Corner, residents’ mail was often sent by mistake to Stanfordville, NY. In the early 1900s,
Madison Cooper, apparently irked by many personal postal misdirections, petitioned successfully to
change the town’s name. Being involved in cold storage and refrigeration, which at the time used
calcium chloride, Cooper chose to rename the town Calcium, not only to reflect the chemical used in his
profession, but in hopes of solving his lost mail problem, since no other US town had that name.”1452
***DEPOSIT, DELAWARE COUNTY1453, NEW YORK***
Mary Cable catalogs: “Deposit is situated in the valley of the Delaware, sixty miles from its
source, nestled among mountains, which surround it on all sides, with their summits nearly a thousand
feet above the bed of the river. (Illustrated History of Delaware County 1880)
“The name Deposit was logical because, in early times, vast quantities of pine lumber were
drawn in winter on sleighs, from as far away as the Susquehanna, and deposited on the banks of the
river here, to await the spring high waters, when the logs were fashioned into rafts, sometimes as large
as 200 feet in length, and taken to Philadelphia's market. This was in most cases the only cash income
for these early settlers, who did business the rest of the year by bartering and the giving of notes of
promise to pay.
“Before the coming of white settlers, this part of the Delaware River Valley was inhabited by
Indians from several different tribes. The Lenni Lenapes, or Delawares, were most numerous, but the
Mohawks held the upper hand. There were also some Oneidas and Tuscaroras. Their council ground,
1448

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony%27s_Nose_%28Westchester%29
1450
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1451
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium,_New_York
1452
Nicholas C Thomas; Connecting Element Names with the Names of US Towns; Chemistry
Department, Auburn University at Montgomery, AL 36124; 2009
1453
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit,_New_York
1449

where they held public meetings and performed ceremonial dances, was on a level piece of ground
about 8 rods square, situated a few feet south of the present location of the Revolutionary Cemetery.
On the flats below the railroad, they had cleared 30-40 acres of land, where they raised corn and also
had a number of apple trees.
“To the Indians, this area was known as Koo Koose (Cookose, Cookhouse) ‘the place of owls’.
The local chapter of DAR [Daughters of the American Revolution] has adopted the name Koo Koose, and
the Deposit Historical Society has adopted the owl for a logo.
“The first permanent settler was John Hulce, who came from Orange County in the spring of
1789 and settled on the west side of the river at the northerly side of the village. Next was Phillip Pine,
who came from Fishkill on the Hudson in 1791. Other residents came - including Jonas Underwood and
Henry Evans.
“In 1790 Captain Nathan Dean, a native of Taunton, Massachusetts, removed to Kortright,
Delaware County, where he remained until June 1791. Then, as there were no roads, he lashed two
canoes together and loaded his family and goods thereon and floated down the river to Cook-house,
where he found an empty log house and lived there, until he could provide one for his family on his farm
consisting of two lots of two hundred acres, each covering that part of what is now Deposit, in Broome
County, of which he was the first settler. Later streets were laid out, and the area became known as
Deansville. In 1811 the village, containing twelve dwellings on the westerly side of the river, on land
consisting of Lot No 43 of the Evans patent, containing 156 acres extending only to ‘the property line’,
was incorporated. In 1851 the charter was amended to include 400 acres in the Town of Sanford,
Broome County. A provision was inserted that the village, except for elections and schools, should be
regarded as belonging to either or both counties. The next and present charter, made in 1871, was a
very special act of the State Legislature, because of the unique location of the Deposit in two counties.
We even have a special date for village elections. But our dual ‘nationality’ has created some problems
over time.
“Logging was at first the main industry, as settlers cleared the land for residential purposes.
Then this part of New York State became agricultural, with some very large farms in existence. But the
rebuilding of highways and changing economy has reduced farming to a minimum.
“There have been and still are various industries, printing establishments, fiberboard processing,
and harvesting and sale of bluestone from local quarries.
“There are a number of lakes nearby, and this gives an enhancement to summer population.
Now the Delaware River itself is coming into its own for recreation, and several small businesses are
testing the waters, and very successfully.
“Deposit really is a great place to live and to visit. Check out our local Deposit Free Library and
the Deposit Historical Museum, with its genealogical department, which is thriving. And we have good
stores and good restaurants, a great theater, and a 5,600-square foot Family Health Care Center, one of
the best in the area.”1454
***HANDSOME EDDY, SULLIVAN COUNTY1455, NEW YORK***
John Conway conveys: “One of the lesser known but highly interesting stops on tomorrow’s 11th
annual Architectural/Historical Bus Tour, sponsored by the Liberty Museum & Arts Center, is a quiet
stretch of the Delaware River just below Barryville, known as Handsome Eddy.
“An eddy, of course, is a section of the river where the current actually turns back on itself,
creating a very slow, nearly imperceptible whirlpool.

1454
1455

Mary Cable; Historic Deposit; March 3, 1997; http://www.dcnyhistory.org/deposit.html
http://newyork.hometownlocator.com/ny/sullivan/handsome-eddy.cfm

“Handsome Eddy was named sometime prior to the dawn of the 19th century, and, according to
John Willard Johnston writing around 1900, ‘Its name [was] doubtless suggested by the native features it
presented. The title was indeed appropriate, and it is quite doubtful if the Delaware, or any other river
in the United States, can offer to the human gaze a scene more inspiring in its primitive beauty and
grandeur.’
“Johnston should know. The teacher/surveyor/lawyer/politician/historian was born in 1819 in a
farmhouse on the New York side of the river, just northwest of the eddy.
“Sometime around mid-morning tomorrow – and then again in mid-afternoon – about 50
people will disembark from a deluxe motor coach and take in a section of the D&H [Delaware & Hudson]
Canal that includes what was once designated Lock 67. They will learn about the economic significance
of the canal in the development of Sullivan County, and they will be told about the early 20th century
farmhouse-turned-boardinghouse popularly known as Handsome Eddy Farm. Then they will walk to the
edge of the river, to hear about the timber rafting industry and about the phenomenon once considered
among the most curious on the river: The Whirlpool.
“The Whirlpool was at once feared and respected as a force of nature that could not be ignored.
It was among the most dangerous spots on the river, but also among the most useful. Generations of
timber rafters knew of its powers and adjusted their itineraries accordingly.
“For about a mile below the placid eddy, the river ‘sets heavy against the New York side,’ writes
Manville B Wakefield in his history of the canal, Coal Boats to Tidewater. ‘This extensive sag terminates
in what was once known as the Whirlpool, just at the edge of Buttermilk Falls, also recorded as
Blackmore’s Rift.’
“The whirlpool was about a half-acre in size, and at its peak swirled sufficiently to capture any
object – boat, raft, loose timber, even man – that came within its grasp.
“‘The water commenced to circle at the outer edge, with a radius of about 60 feet, and
continued with regularly increasing violence until, at the center, it formed the shape of a tunnel and
seemed as though discharging through an opening at the bottom, thus forming a perfect maelstrom,’
Johnston wrote in his musings, which were later published in book form under the title ‘Reminiscences’.
‘Anybody floating upon the surface was quite liable to be caught in the whirl and detained for a time
before gaining the freedom of the current.
“‘This combined to render the whirlpool advantageous indeed, for catching lumber floating wild
upon the flooded stream, with which, in the days of plentiful lumber, the surface of the Delaware was
literally covered at time of raging freshets, and the consequent catastrophes to the rafts and lumber
piles. I have known 50 to 75 thousand feet of good lumber to be secured, at this point, in a single day by
means of pike poles and hooks. A number of human bodies drowned in the river above, also floated in
the eddy and [were] held by the whirl, until taken from the water and buried.
“‘In my early years, five graves were visible on the adjacent bank, but quarry and canaling have,
like the whirlpool, hidden them from view.’
“Bluestone was once quarried extensively in the area – true local history buffs might recall that
the nearby hamlet of Pond Eddy changed its name to Kilgour briefly in the 1870s, in honor of the huge
chain of quarries operated in the vicinity by that company – and a rather large quarry was established at
this location, just off the berm of the canal. It was in fact this bluestone quarry that was actually
responsible for the whirlpool’s demise.
“‘The quarry operators made the whirlpool a deposit for the rubbish and debris from cutting,
thereby obliterating all traces of the whirling phenomenon,’ Wakefield writes.

“Johnston wrote shortly before his death that ‘the few living and once familiar with its locality
may yet know where it was; but they and others can now see in its stead nought but an unseemly heap
of stones, earth, and quarry refuse.’”1456
***LAUGHING WATERS, SUFFOLK COUNTY1457, NEW YORK***
PF Cohalan discusses: “According to Antonia Booth, the Southold Town Historian, Laughing
Waters (or Laughing Water) in the town of Southold, Long Island, New York, was named by CH Wickham
of Mattituck, Southold Town, after a translation of the original Indian name for Mattituck. The Wickham
Family are among the founding families of Southold in the 17th century, and CH Wickham was a property
developer in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, and created the name for his property.”1458
***NEVERSINK, SULLIVAN COUNTY1459, NEW YORK***
Debbie Herman expounds: “Over the years, Neversink has been spelled and pronounced in
never-ending ways, including ‘Nevisinck’, ‘Naewersink’, ‘Narvasing’, ‘Narvavasing’, ‘Neiversink’ and
‘Never Sink’! There are different explanations as to the name’s origin, but all relate to the river that runs
through the town – also called Neversink. Some think Neversink describes a continually running stream
that never sinks into the ground, or a stream that runs so rapidly objects are carried away instead of
sinking. But many others believe it comes from an Indian word; perhaps Ne-wa-sink, an Algonquian
word meaning ‘Mad River’, and Mahackamack, as the river was labeled on an early map. Other
suggested definitions of the Indian word (whatever word that may be) are ‘highland between waters’,
‘water between highlands’, ‘fishing place’, and ‘at the point’. And that’s every explanation but the
kitchen sink!”1460
***PAINTED POST, STEUBEN COUNTY1461, NEW YORK***
Kirk House impresses: “In the days when this was Seneca Indian territory, the Seneca shaped a
large tree trunk at or near the site of the current Village of Painted Post. This was decorated with a
number of human figures, the meanings of which are not certain today.
“Eventually the tree was no more, though there are conflicting stories of how it met its
demise. But this was referred to as the Painted Post Country. The first official town (now broken into
six towns) was called Painted Post. Today that name designates an incorporated village, a built-up area
within the Town of Erwin.
“To replace the original ‘painted post’, white residents erected a series of Indian figures. The
first two were two-dimensional sheet-metal figures. The third was a factory-built Indian that was
eventually struck by lightning. All three of these figures are now in possession of the Corning-Painted
Post Historical Society.

1456

John Conway; Handsome Eddy Was Once a Dangerous Place; Sullivan County Democrat; April 28,
2006; provided by Sullivan County Historical Society, 265 Main St, Hurleyville, NY 12747;
[email protected]; http://www.sullivancountyhistory.org/
1457
http://newyork.hometownlocator.com/ny/suffolk/laughing-waters.cfm
1458
Peter Fox Cohalan, New York State Supreme Court Justice (Ret), Suffolk County Historian, Suffolk
County Historical Society, 300 West Main St, Riverhead, NY 11901; [email protected];
www.suffolkcountyhistoricalsociety.org
1459
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neversink,_New_York
1460
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1461
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Post,_New_York

“Around 1950 a new statue was unveiled, designed by an art teacher at the Painted Post High
School (which no longer exists). That statue, which includes a representation of the tree/post, has
become the symbol of the village.”1462
JW Barber notates: “The village of Painted Post, 22 miles southeast of Bath, at the junction of
the Conhocton River with the Tioga, contains about 60 dwellings, and is a place much noted in the early
history of this section of the country. The celebrated ‘painted post’, from which the town of Painted
Post derived its name, formerly stood upon the bank of the river. There have been various stories in
relation to its origin; the following account, taken from the narrative of the captivity and sufferings of
General Fregift Patchin, who was taken prisoner by a party of Indians under Brant during the revolution,
is probably correct.
“‘Near this, we found the famous Painted Post, which is now known over the whole continent,
to those conversant with the early history of our country; the origin of which was as follows. Whether it
was in the revolution, or in the Dunmore battles with the Indians, which commenced in Virginia, or in
the French war, I do not know; an Indian chief, on this spot, had been victorious in battle, and killed and
took prisoners to the number of about 60. This event he celebrated by causing a tree to be taken from
the forest and hewed four square, painted red, and the number he killed, which was 28, represented
across the post in black paint, without any heads, but those he took prisoners, which was 30, were
represented with heads on a black paint, as the others. This post he erected, and thus handed down to
posterity an account that here a battle was fought; but by whom, and who the sufferers were, is
covered in darkness, except that it was between the whites and Indians.’”1463
***PENN YAN, YATES COUNTY1464, NEW YORK***
Henry Gannett puts in pen in paper: “Penn Yan: village in Yates County, New York. The name is
a compound of the names of the two classes of settlers – Pennsylvanians and Yankees.
“Yankee: this name, with various suffixes, forms the name of many places in the United States.
The name is a corruption of the Massachusetts Indian pronunciation of the word ‘English’ ‘Yengeese’,
and was bestowed upon the inhabitants of New England by the people of Virginia, when they refused to
aid them in a war with the Cherokees, it meaning to them ‘cowards’. After the battle of Bunker Hill, the
people of New England, having established a reputation for bravery, accepted the name.”1465
***RED JACKET, ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK***
Henry Gannett represents: “Named for a chief of the Seneca Indians, who derived his name
from the brilliant red jacket which he wore, given him by a British officer.”1466
***SUICIDE CORNERS, GENESEE COUNTY1467, NEW YORK***
HB Owens specifies: “Suicide Corners has a reputation, and as the name implies, it's not a good
one.

1462

Kirk House, Director, Steuben County Historical Society, PO Box 349, Bath, NY 14810;
[email protected]; www.steubenhistoricalsociety.org
1463
John W Barber; Historical Collections of the State of New York; 1851
1464
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Yan,_New_York
1465
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1466
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1467
http://newyork.hometownlocator.com/ny/genesee/suicide-corners.cfm

“While accidents may not be frequent where East Road crosses Route 20, when they have
occurred - at least until a few years ago - they've been deadly.
“There were fatal accidents at the intersection in June 1998, April 1999 and June 2004. One was
a triple fatal and another a double fatal.
“After the 2004 accidents, Bethany residents gathered 2,633 signatures asking the NYS [New
York State] Department of Transportation (DOT) to do something about the intersection.
“Their thought – re-grade Route 20.
“The state's response: No physical changes to the roadway were necessary. The DOT put up
bigger and brighter signs.
“There hasn't been a fatal accident at the intersection since, only fender-benders, according to
Tom Douglas. He said accidents have been reduced by 36 percent.
“Douglas, who with his wife, Debbie, raised six kids in a 200-year-old house (formerly an inn
with a second-story dance floor) on property abutting Suicide Corners. He and his son personally
witnessed the 2004 accident, which claimed the life of an infant and two other people.
“Now seven years after the last fatal accident, DOT officials have apparently decided it's time to
take more drastic measures to make the intersection safer.
“The proposal: A $1.8 million traffic circle, a roundabout like the one on Oak Street in the City of
Batavia.
“If the project is approved, Tom and Debbie Douglas will lose their home. The state will seize
their property through eminent domain (providing fair market value and relocation expenses).
“About a quarter of the traffic circle will be on their current property, with the roadway through
the area moving moved southward several dozens of feet.
“Tom Douglas said not only will his family lose their home, a home with some local history, he
doesn't believe the project serves any useful purpose.
“‘Statistically,’ he said, ‘It’s not needed.’
“Lori Maher, public information officer for the DOT in the Genesee Region, said what the DOT is
looking at is the entire history of the intersection, not just the past few years.
“‘That (no fatalities since 2004) doesn't mean that the problem is corrected, and we should walk
away from it, so we are pursuing a safety improvement program,’ Maher said.
“But she said that doesn't mean the state will necessarily build a roundabout and that the
Douglases will lose their home.
“The proper corrective action is still under review, and state engineers may yet determine that a
roundabout is not the best solution (weighing, in fact, the serious decision of proceeding with eminent
domain on the Douglas property).
“The project, however, has been funded for construction to begin in the summer of 2013.
“There will be public meetings and ample time for the public to provide feedback on the project,
Maher said, but because fact-finding is not yet completed, no dates for those hearings have been set.
“Douglas, town building inspector (Debbie is town clerk) and Bethany Town Supervisor Louis
Gayton, also question the wisdom of spending money on a roundabout, when the Bethany Town Center
Road Bridge over Route 20 is in such drastic need of replacement or repair. Chunks of it regularly fall off
onto Route 20.
“‘One of these days, somebody is going to get injured,’ Douglas said.
“The main issue, Douglas said, isn't the traffic on Route 20. It’s the drivers on East Road, mostly
northbound drivers, blowing through the intersection.
“Douglas and others have suggested rumble strips on East Road, but both the state and the
county highway department have rejected the idea as impractical.
“‘They think people will just drive around them,’ Douglas said. ‘But if they're driving around
them, they're slowing down. It would still alert them to the intersection.’

“Gayton wonders if the roundabout will even improve safety.
“‘Trucks come through there at 60 to 65 mph,’ Gayton said. ‘Now they've got to slow down to
15 mph. I don't need to tell you what will happen.’
“Tim Hens, the county's highway superintendent, in an email sent Monday to county legislators
obtained by Douglas, also questioned the DOT's decision.
“‘This is not set in stone yet as it has to muster a public review process and final board adoption,
but if adopted, we stand to lose funding for three bridge projects in the immediate TIP [Transportation
Improvement Program] period covering 2011-14. This may only be the tip of the iceberg, if new
transportation reauthorization is not clear by the end of the year.
“‘I did find it odd that they decided to keep the NEW Rt 20/East Rd (Suicide Corners) roundabout
in the plan versus EXISTING bridges that are deteriorating. I know there has been loss of life at this
corner, but not sure the roundabout is a popular solution with many local people.’
“Maher said, however, that the funding sources for bridges are different than the funding
sources for intersection improvements. If an improvement - roundabout or not - for Suicide Corners isn't
approved, then the $1.8 million slated for the project will just go to another intersection in the Genesee
Region in need of improvement.
“Sheriff Gary Maha, who attended a May 24 meeting with the DOT, where the plan was first
presented, said he will leave the decision about how to improve safety to the experts, but he does know
the state is increasingly using roundabouts throughout the state to improve safety on major roadways.
He just visited two in Saratoga Springs.
“‘There's been a lot of serious accidents there over the years,’ Maha said. ‘I support anything
that could improve safety in the area, certainly.’”1468
***VILLAGE OF THE BRANCH, SUFFOLK COUNTY1469, NEW YORK***
PF Cohalan tells: “The Village of the Branch, accordingly to the Smithtown Historian Bradley
Harris and his deputy Kiernan Lannon, is so named because of a branch of the Nissequogue River. A
large Smithtown Estuary runs through the Village, which has carried the name for a few hundred
years.”1470
**NORTH CAROLINA**
HB Staples chronicles: “North Carolina and South Carolina may be considered under one
heading. Allen, in his History of Kentucky, ascribes the origin of the name Carolina to the French settlers
of Port Royal, who named it after Charles the Ninth of France. This is the popular impression, but there
is reason to question its accuracy. In the charter of Carolina granted to the Lords Proprietors by Charles
II. In 1663, the name of Carolina is recognized. More than thirty years before Charles I had granted a
tract of territory south of the Chesapeake to Sir Robert Heath, naming it Carolana after himself. This
grant became forfeited by non-user. The name, however, so given to the territory was doubtless

1468

Howard B Owens; State considering $1.8 million roundabout for Route 20 at Suicide Corners;
October 19, 2011; http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/state-considering-18-million-roundaboutroute-20-suicide-corners/28745; provided by Kathleen Facer, Reference and Technology Librarian,
Richmond Memorial Library, 19 Ross St, Batavia, NY 14020; [email protected];
http://www.batavialibrary.org/index.php
1469
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_the_Branch,_New_York
1470
Peter Fox Cohalan, New York State Supreme Court Justice (Ret), Suffolk County Historian, Suffolk
County Historical Society, 300 West Main St, Riverhead, NY 11901; [email protected];
www.suffolkcountyhistoricalsociety.org

revived in the new charter of 1663. It would not be a pleasant reflection that two States of the Union
derived their name from the king who commanded the massacre of St Bartholomew.”1471
KB Harder declares: “For Charles I of England, who called the territory occupied by the states of
North and South Carolina ‘Carolana’ in his grant (1629) to Sir Robert Heath. At this time, however, the
area was already known as ‘Carolina’, having been so named in 1562 by Jean Ribaut (circa 1520-65), in
honor of his patron, Charles IX (1550-74), king of France. The name was officially changed from
Carolana to Carolina in 1663.”1472
www.e-referencedesk.com displays: “In honor of Charles I of England. In 1629 King Charles I of
England ‘erected into a province’, all the land from Albemarle Sound on the north to the St John's River
on the south, which he directed should be called Carolina. Carolina is rooted in Latin and comes from
the word Caroliinus. The word Carolina is from the word Carolus, the Latin form of Charles.”1473
DJ McInerney expresses: “Political and religious divisions stalled England’s ventures in the New
World for over eight decades. Queen Elizabeth came to recognize that America provided a land from
which the crown might extract great wealth, to which merchants might sell their goods, and on which
the nation might project its Protestant aspirations against Catholic rivals. After 1565, the English also
had the lessons of Irish ‘plantations’ to go on in developing new lands. The experience taught that
colonizers should subdue native ‘savages’, appropriate their land, separate English settlements from the
local populations, and suppress any resistance movements. Veterans of the Irish conquests led Sir
Walter Raleigh’s colonial venture off the Carolina coast on Roanoke Island in 1585. Friction with Indians
and failure with mining caused the effort to fail in 1586. Raleigh tried again in 1587. When the crew of
a supply ship returned in 1590, they found that the Roanoke settlement had been deserted; its more
than 100 colonists were never seen again.”
DJ McInerney notes: “Charles II’s generous land grants also extended to Carolina. Founded in
1663, its proprietors concocted an ambitious design for the colony in 1669. Anthony Ashley Cooper and
his talented assistant, John Locke, wrote up the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. As in Maryland,
the Carolina proprietors wanted the New World to look a lot like the Old, by creating landed estates,
titled noblemen, fixed ranks, and a deferential society. But again like Maryland, the experiment in neofeudalism fell apart in the turbulence of a competitive commercial world. By 1729 Carolina had split
into two parts.”
DJ McInerney records: “Four decades later, in Carolina, another struggle broke out over issues
tied to trade. Yamasee, Creek, and Choctaw tribes, infuriated with the fraud, deceit, and brutality of
white traders, organized attacks that drove Carolinians from inland settlements back to the Atlantic
coast. The ‘Yamasee War’ ended after colonists entered into an alliance with the Cherokee, longstanding rivals of the Creeks. Playing Indians against Indians, whites managed to end another challenge
by native peoples.”1474
***BLACK CAT, CARTERET COUNTY1475, NORTH CAROLINA***
Pat Edwards reveals: “We have both learned something today. I've never heard of ‘The Black
Cat’ and thought you had the wrong state. However, an ‘old timer’ was in here dong research and out
of the blue I asked him if he'd ever heard of The Black Cat, a town in Carteret County. His response:

1471

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1473
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/north-carolina.html
1474
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1475
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/carteret/the-black-cat.cfm
1472

‘It was not a town but an area of Beaufort used by the African-Americans as a beach. It had
a pavilion, which burned down (can't find the date). If you look at a map of Beaufort, find Carrot island
off its southern coast. Now on the mainland, go east to the far point; that's where the beach was. 'The
end of Lennoxville Rd had a circle, then the beach.’”
Pat Edwards continues: “I called an elderly African-American, who has lived for over 80 years in
Beaufort. She was so proud of what her community did in ‘Black Cat Beach’.
“It was a beach that they got to via boating down Taylor Creek from Beaufort proper. She said
that ‘the black community owned’ Black Cat Beach. It was falling under ‘squatters–rights’ in her mind,
for when I asked if they had a deed, the answer was ‘no’. ‘It was a beautiful beach and we built a big
building with beautiful hardwood floor, full kitchen facilities. They had name entertainers come from
New Orleans to perform; dances; events all summer. The building did burn down, but the beach
continued to be used for a long time. Eventually ‘the rich white people’ wanted to build large homes
there and now we can't go to that beach.’ They also became hesitant to go when some children died in
the water; there was no life guard on duty.
“Two entertainers she named were the ‘New Orleans Stompers’ and ‘Silent Screen Girls’.”1476
David Montgomery spells out: “One such book does give some history to the name of ‘the Black
Cat’ section of Beaufort. In the book Beaufort By the Sea: Memories of a Lifetime by Neal Willis (Seaside
Publications, 2000), he says that the area known as ‘Black Cat’ was at the end of Lennoxville Road (east
of town). Mr Willis states that a Ferris wheel, a bathhouse and a pavilion, were located there for AfricanAmericans only. So according to this author, it was the location of an amusement park for AfricanAmericans. He goes on to say the facility burned and was not rebuilt. Simon Gatlin managed the
site.”1477
***BLOODRUN CREEK, CHATHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox touches on: “Vein Mountain community in McDowell County is called that because of
gold veins running through the mountain – not for the blood-carrying network.
“There is a Blood Camp Ridge though, in Avery County. It’s where Billy Davis cut his foot a long
time ago. And a Blood Creek over in Wilkes County. And there’s a story about how Bloodrun Creek in
Chatham County got that name: During the Revolutionary War, a small group of Whigs and Tories fought
a furious and bloody skirmish there. Both sides wanted to keep their losses secret, so they buried their
dead quickly and privately. One of the burial places was near this creek, and the survivors named the
creek as a reminder of those who shed their blood in the in the struggle.
“Bloody Rock is in Macon County, near Cullasaja. Sometimes a blood-colored liquid seeps from
the rock which, if you believe the legend, is where one young man killed another over the love of a local
girl.”1478
***BOOGERTOWN, GASTON COUNTY1479, NORTH CAROLINA***
RA Ragan clarifies: “One of Gaston County’s most interesting and enduring legends is that of
Booger Mountain and its namesake settlement, Boogertown, names and places fondly recalled by many,
but their unique history known by few. Not far out Union Road from Gastonia, near the intersection of
1476

Pat Edwards, Library Director, The History Place, 1008 Arendell St, Morehead City, NC 28557;
[email protected]; http://thehistoryplace.org/new/
1477
David Montgomery, Carteret County Public Library, 1702 Live Oak Street, Suite 100, Beaufort, NC
28516; [email protected]; http://carteret.cpclib.org/
1478
Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1479
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/gaston/boogertown.cfm

Neal Hawkins Road and Robinwood Crossing shopping center, is a small mountain that has been known
by several names – Pleasant Ridge, Robinson Mountain, Jackson Knob and the one that seems to have
prevailed through the vicissitudes of time, Booger Mountain. Today it is known simply as The Mountain
or Little Mountain, with its development of lovely homes and spectacular views along streets with
names such as Eagles Walk, Cliffside Drive and Richard Circle; yet the legend and its more whimsical
name endures.
“For a period of 200 years, from its original settlement in the mid-eighteenth century until
perhaps 1950, this specific area of the county was known as the Pleasant Ridge section, after the original
name of the range of hills. Several members of the Robinson family were among the first settlers and
owned much of the land, which they farmed for generations, thus the association of that name with the
mountain. For the first half of the twentieth century, Mr and Mrs John Craig Robinson owned all of the
property now encompassing the shopping center, Robinson Elementary School, Robinson Presbyterian
Church and Martha (Robinson) Rivers Park.
“It was in the 1890s that the 1,080-foot mountain became known as Booger Mountain. The
origin of the name came about when Thomas Grier Falls, a prosperous farmer who operated a large
licensed distillery atop Pleasant Ridge, sought ways to keep the distillery isolated from curious neighbors
and difficult to reach by Federal tax agents, who came at regular intervals to inspect his business.
Several illiterate shanty dwellers in the neighborhood amused themselves by ‘spying’ and hunting on the
pinnacle. Suspicious by nature, they reported having seen weird lights and sounds, and eerie sightings
at night. They speculated there were boogers or bogeymen – ghosts. The rumor spread and facilitated
Falls’ desire to frighten people away.
“Soon a small settlement of residents and country stores developed at the foot of the
mountain’s east side, along Union Road, and it became known as Boogertown. Henry Kendrick is said to
have established the first store there in 1914. At one time a nearby road that cuts across the lower
Crowder’s Creek neighborhood to US 321 was called Booger Mountain Road – it is now known as
Robinson Road. These names were found on local maps as recently as ten years ago, and there was a
state sign on US 321 that read: ‘Boogertown 3 Miles’.
“Legends abound and amusing stories proliferate regarding the mountain’s mystical and comical
name. One of these anecdotes long remembered by Gaston Countians involved a prominent and
cultured Gastonian, Bettie Caldwell Ragan, who was raised in the 1870s and 1880s, on a farm along
Crowder’s Creek in southern Gaston County. After having married Gastonia’s mayor and risen to a
dignified, city status, she was asked in amusement by one of her dearest friends, Sue Gallant Robinson,
another cultured city dweller, whose husband Sam Robinson was raised on a farm at Pleasant Ridge, if
she was embarrassed, after having achieved such social prominence, to admit to her sophisticated city
friends that she was raised in the country at a place with a name like Crowder’s Creek. Mrs Ragan wryly
bantered back, ‘Not at all, Sue. It sounds pleasantly pastoral, I think. It is you who should be humbled
to admit that your husband was born and reared in Boogertown. Now, I would say that does not sound
very sophisticated. It would be rather embarrassing to admit, don’t you think?’
“So unusual is the name that on March 17, 1999, the Wall Street Journal featured a story on the
renowned Booger Mountain, and local newspapers, even television programs, find occasion to recall its
history and legend. It is a shame that the name has all but disappeared from our current vocabulary and
that the next generation of Gaston Countians will perhaps never know its unique and colorful story.”1480

1480

Robert Allison Ragan; The History of Gastonia and Gaston County, North Carolina: A Vision of
America at Its Best; Loftin and Company; 2010; provided by Stephanie Elliott, Curator, Gaston County
Museum of Art & History, 131 W. Main St, PO Box 429, Dallas, NC 28034;
[email protected]; www.gastoncountymuseum.org

***BURNT CHIMNEY CORNER, POLK COUNTY1481, NORTH CAROLINA***
Kathy Taft documents: “The Burnt Chimney corner is located where South River Road (dirt road)
meetings Hunting Country Road. Before many roads in Polk County had names, they were designated as
‘State Road No xxx’ by the Department of Transportation. Hunting County Road is SR 1501 – South River
Road, being dirt, didn’t have a number designation. Because the ‘old home place’ burnt down and the
chimney remained, it became a local landmark, and everyone called it Burnt Chimney corner, as it gave
good directions for local people. The nice thing is that the chimney is still very much in evidence and
obviously was very well built.”1482
JB Mintz observes: “Ancestors of the Bridgeman family settled in Polk County in the early 1800s.
“What is known as the ‘Burnt Chimney’ in Hunting Country was the old home place of the James
Franklin (Fink) Bridgeman family. The family lived here in the late 1800s until 1905.
“In 1905 or thereabouts Fink bought a tract of land which stretched from what is now Highway
176 to the Block House. He bought this tract of land – several hundred acres – for $3 per acre. The Fink
Bridgeman family moved to the Block House in 1905.
“There were 11 children born to Fink and Carolyn Bridgeman. Nine of them were born at the
‘Burnt Chimney’ home place. After moving to the Block House, their two youngest children, Ada and
Mae, were born.”1483
KE Newsome recounts: “Grandpa and Granny were married and had 11 children (Lavinia,
Amanda, William Franklin, Bella, John Thomas, James Edgar, Margy, Minnie, George, Ada (my Mama),
and Mae). My grandparents owned a lot of land in the Hunting Country.
“The Burnt Chimney is a well-known landmark in the area. Grandpa had the house built for his
family (that the chimney was attached to) in the late 1890s. It was a white two-story house, with a one
story dining room and kitchen built on one side. A porch was built across the entire front. Their
daughters, Margy and Minnie, and son, George, were born there.”
KE Newsome continues: “When Grandpa died on Dec 4, 1928, at age 65, all his children owned
their own homes. He still had all his black hair, all of his teeth, and had never had a cavity. While he
was dying, the Burnt Chimney house was burning to the ground. That’s strange! Granny died in June
1938, at age 71, in Pacolet Valley, where her daughter, Mae (and her husband) had built a new house,
that now belongs to Mrs Hub Thompson.”1484
***CAT SQUARE, LINCOLN COUNTY1485, NORTH CAROLINA***
JL Harpe says: “Cat Square is a crossroads community located in the northwestern part of
Lincoln County that was named after unwanted cats and kitchens that were left there, near a
community general/feed store on several occasions. The community has painted a cat’s face in a square
at this intersection, and there is a very large festival at this location annually.”1486
***CHARLIE’S BUNION MOUNTAIN, SWAIN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
1481

http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/polk/burnt-chimney-corner.cfm
Kathy Taft, Vice President and Membership, Polk County Historical Association, PO Box 503,
Columbus, NC 28722
1483
Josephine Bridgeman Mintz; The Bridgeman Family; provided by Kathy Taft, Vice President and
Membership, Polk County Historical Association, PO Box 503, Columbus, NC 28722
1484
Katherine Edwards Newsome; Edwards and Newsome Family; provided by Kathy Taft, Vice President
and Membership, Polk County Historical Association, PO Box 503, Columbus, NC 28722
1485
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/lincoln/cat-square.cfm
1486
Jason L Harpe, Executive Director, Lincoln County Historical Association, 403 East Main St,
Lincolnton, NC 28092; [email protected]; www.lincolncountyhistory.com
1482

JP Cox spotlights: “Charles Connor and George Mesa were early residents of Swain County and
could look out their windows anytime and see the Smoky Mountains. One day they were standing at
the fence dividing their property and talking about nothing in particular, when George looked over in
the direction of a bumpy-looking mountain peak.
“‘Look over there, Charlie, at that old mountain, what does that crookedly shape remind you
of?’ he asked.
“Charlie studied the peak a bit and rubbed his chin. ‘I’d say it looks like a bunion on Old
Smokey’s foot,’ he replied and grinned.
“George told a lot of people about ‘Charlie’s bunion’. It wasn’t long before the mountain was
being called Charlie’s Bunion Mountain. It is on the line between Swain County and Sevier County,
Tennessee.”1487
***CHOCOWINITY, BEAUFORT COUNTY1488, NORTH CAROLINA***
www.townofchocowinity.com underscores: “Chocowinity is located in Beaufort County, North
Carolina, about 3 miles south of Washington, North Carolina. Once known as Godley's Cross Roads,
shortly before the Revolutionary War it was changed to Chocawanateth. According to historians, the
name is derived from the Tuscaroran Indians who lived here several hundred years ago. Rev NC Hughes,
Jr, traced the name to Chocawanteth Creek, now spelled Chocowinity Creek.
“The meaning behind the name Chocowinity has been a mystery for many years, but in 1928,
encamped on the banks of the Edisto River, Rev Hughes met a well-educated Indian. While talking with
this man, Rev Hughes mentioned that he was from a small village with an Indian name. Rev Hughes
pronounced the name ‘Chocowinity’ and also spelled its former name of ‘Chocawanteth’. The Indian
thought for a moment and told Rev Hughes that the word means ‘FISH FROM MANY WATERS’. Rev
Hughes was reminded of the many waters associated with the Chocowinity Creek and Chocowinity Bay,
as well as the Pamlico River and all the different fish that had been caught in the waters. In 1912 with
Rev NC Hughes, Jr, as mayor and magistrate, Chocowinity was incorporated. He was mayor for 6 years
and was responsible for recording the boundary lines for the town: On the north by Tar and Pamlico; on
the east by Aurora some eight or ten miles from home - the cross roads; on the south by the Craven
County lines; and on the west by the Pitt County line. In 1959 the General Assembly of North Carolina
submitted an act to amend House Bill 475, entitled An Act to Incorporate the Town of Chocowinity in
Beaufort County. It was ratified on April 23, 1959.”1489
www.coastalcarolinaindians.com comments: “Chocowinity (Tuscarora) – Prior to about 1602/08,
this was shown on maps as Panawicky. By the mid-1600s, this is now Chocowinity, which is a corruption
of a Tuscarora word meaning ‘Otters’ or ‘Little Otters’.”1490
Sara Whitford emphasizes: “The pronunciation of Chocowinath as it appears in this deed is
phonetically virtually identical to the pronunciation given above for Lawson’s description of the word
Chackauene and Rudes’ entry for the Tuscarora word for ‘otter’.

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1488
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocowinity,_North_Carolina
1489
http://www.townofchocowinity.com/thennow.html; provided by C Burke, Reference, BHM Regional
Library, 158 N Market St, Washington, NC 22889; http://bhmlib.org/website
1490
http://www.coastalcarolinaindians.com/1790-coastal-carolina-indian-cross-reference-database/;
provided by C Burke, Reference, BHM Regional Library, 158 N Market St, Washington, NC 22889;
http://bhmlib.org/website

“So it appears we can conclude that the ‘well-educated’ Indian to whom Rev Hughes spoke on
the Edisto River in South Carolina in 1928 was most likely pulling the good Reverend’s leg when he told
him that Chocowinity meant ‘fish from many waters’.
“The mystery is now truly solved. The name Chocowinity comes from the Tuscarora word for
1491
‘otter’.”
www.hauntedstories.net gives: “The town of Chocowinity is the very definition of a small town
with less than 1,000 people. Make that 1,000 live people and at least 2 ghosts. The town, whose name
means ‘Fish From Many Waters’, can trace it's history back well before the Civil War, but it's just after
the war where our stories take place.
“The war had just ended with Lee's surrender to Grant, and while the people of the south were
beaten in battle, they were more than ready to rebuild their homes and towns. One of those people was
General J Bryan Grimes, who had been beside Lee at Appomattox. He was a well-respected and well
liked man. In fact, the nearby town of Grimesland is named for his family, and the state has erected
historical markers telling of his service in the military.
“On Aug 14, 1880, Gen Grimes was on his way home from a political meeting in the town of
Washington, NC. While traveling through Bear Swamp, a shot rang out from the brush, striking the
General in the left arm and coming to rest near his lung. The general died at the scene.
“Immediately a cry rang out for justice, and suspicion fell on a man named William Parker. Public
outrage was so great, the trial had to be moved from Washington to Williamston. In a sensational trial
that lasted for weeks, Parker was found not guilty by the jury.
“Having returned to his home, Parker was soon a victim of vigilante justice, as a group of men
tied him up, and hanged him from a drawbridge crossing the Pamlico River near Washington.
“As the story goes, an ex-slave confessed to the murder of General Grimes on his deathbed.
Revenge for his brother was supposedly the motive. As the ex-slave died, his uttered the words, ‘There
Lord, I have confessed my sin. Now let me die in peace.’
“William Parker was not so lucky. Fishermen in the area claim that you can still see the body
swinging under the bridge, which has been replaced by steel and concrete. They also claim that on quiet
nights, you can hear the chains that bound him and his ghostly voice repeating over and over ‘Not guilty,
not guilty.’
“Our next story involves a man that came to Chocowinity sometime after the mob came for
William Parker. No one knows where he came from, or even his real name, they just called him ‘Joe
Savage’. Joe was suspected of committing petty crimes around the town, which if he just kept it at that
he would've been fine, but a young woman accused him of rape.
“It is said that the same men who hanged Mr Parker also came for Joe Savage. They hanged him
on the holly tree, where the offense had occurred.
“Savage, like Parker, cried out that he was innocent. However he also threatened the men who
were about to do him in. He said that were he hanged, his spirit would not rest until it was proven that
he was innocent. He also exclaimed that he would cause terrible things to happen to the descendants of
those responsible for his death. The only way to escape it, was to come to the tree in the dark of the
moon and apologize to the ghost of Joe Savage.

1491

Sara Whitford; Chocowinity: What’s in a name?; 2008;
http://www.coastalcarolinaindians.com/?s=chocowinity; provided by C Burke, Reference, BHM Regional
Library, 158 N Market St, Washington, NC 22889; http://bhmlib.org/website

“The holly tree still stands on the outskirts of Chocowinity. It is said that some young people go
to the tree during the dark moon and apologize to Joe Savage … Just in case.”1492
***CHUNKY GAL MOUNTAIN, CLAY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox pens: “Poor chunky gal. When it was all over, all that remained for her were memories
and a namesake mountain.
“Chunky Gal was an Indian girl, who lived long ago near Shooting Creek in Clay County. Being a
little plump – but delightfully so – she caught the eye of an Indian brave, and the couple fell in love.
“The bad news was that the brave was from a tribe in Macon County, and his tribe and Chunky
Gal’s got along about as well as the Hatfields and McCoys.
“’No way,’ said Chunky Gal’s father, when she confessed that she wanted to marry her Macon
County love. ‘I don’t care how big his campfire is or how many arrows are in his quiver. No daughter is
getting hooked up with that bunch from Macon County.’
“Well, Chunky Gal had a mind of her own. She sneaked out of camp and met the brave. ‘I’m
sick and tired of my daddy telling me what I can do,’ she told her sweetheart. ‘Now, you gather some
extra venison jerky, roll up a bunch of nice rabbit skins, and come over late tonight. When I hear you
give a hooty-hoot call three times, I’ll come out and we’ll run away.’
“That’s exactly what they did. They ran and ran until it was daylight and they had reached the
big spring at a mountain gap. They sat down there to rest.
“BIG MISTAKE. It was there Chunky Gal’s father and a posse of braves overtook them.
“Father insisted he knew best, and a tearful Chunky Gal went home without her Macon County
true love. Forever after, the brave told all who knew him how he left his heart in Clay County on Chunky
Gal Mountain.”1493
***COLDASS CREEK, CALDWELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox scribes: “Which brings us to Coldass Creek in Caldwell County. Oh sure, modern day
sissies call it Cold Water Creek, but not everybody has forgotten that descriptive original name.
“The same story accounts for the naming of Caldwell’s Pinch Gut Creek, too.
“Once upon a time, two hunters set out together to try their luck in some unfamiliar and
unnamed territory. They began by following a stream to where it forked.
“There they talked about which fork to take and decided that each would take one and meet
back at the end of the day. And for future reference, they agreed to name the forks after they returned
– some appropriate name, they said, according to how they felt about the streams.
“One man carried the food and the other sleeping equipment. Since they planned to meet later,
there seemed no need to change that arrangement.
“But as plans frequently do, this one miscarried. Each man lost his way and had to spend the
night alone in the wilderness. By the time they struggled back to their meeting place the next day, the
two hunters were not happy campers.
“’This is Coldass Creek,’ declared the fellow who had carried only the food with him.
“’And let this other miserable creek be known from here on out as Pinch Gut,’ grumbled the
hunter who had slept well but hadn’t eaten since the day before.

1492

The Ghosts of Chocowinity; http://hauntedstories.net/ghost-stories/north-carolina/ghostschocowinity; provided by C Burke, Reference, BHM Regional Library, 158 N Market St, Washington, NC
22889; http://bhmlib.org/website
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“Of course, there’s another version of how Pinch Gut Creek (or Branch, some call it) in Stokes
County got its name. It has to do with the time Indians depended heavily on the creek for fish – a major
source of their food supply.
“A severe drought came and dried up the creek. Without fish, the people went hungry and felt
‘gut pinching’. Most moved away to find better fishing and hunting.”1494
***DEVIL’S BALL ALLEY, MCDOWELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox states: “Chief Kenocoonk’s son, Wabajanick, a strong young man, worried his father with
his frequent absences from this village.
“The reason for his disappearances became apparent, when he returned one day bringing with
him the daughter of Chief Lanamouski of the Catawba tribe, who had been forbidden to have anything
to do with the Cherokees.
“But Kenocoonk and his people accepted the young woman and gave a wedding feast for the
couple near the top of tall cliff’s overlooking a waterfall. In the midst of the celebration, angry Catawbas
came to reclaim his bride.
“The attack was short because the Cherokee were unarmed. But the bride and groom refused
to be separated. They wrapped their arms around each other and jumped to their deaths from the
cliffs.
“Heartbroken and enraged, the Catawba chief ordered that the Cherokee prisoners be pushed
off the cliffs as well. To assure no survivors, he had huge stones rolled off the cliffs to crush the bodies
below.
“The few Cherokee who escaped being captured, later told to the horrifying screams of those
pushed from the cliffs. They later took others to recover the bodies from the carnage site at the foot of
the cliffs. They called the place ‘The Ball Ground of the Evil Spirit’.
“The story passed down generation to generation. In more recent times, the sounds of the big
stones crashing onto the bodies were likened to the noises of a bowling alley. That explains why this
area in McDowell County is called Devil’s Ball Alley.”1495
***DEVIL’S TRAMPING GROUND, CHATHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox alludes: “The devil himself is supposed to visit Devil’s Tramping Ground in Chatham
County. Maybe not every night, but when he does, he walks in a circle and schemes to overcome the
good of the world and work his wicked ways. Proof of the devil’s circular walks, say those who think
they have it figured out, is that nothing will grow in the devil’s walking path. How long has it been here?
Forever, they say. It’s enough to raise a goose pimple.
“The Devils Garden on the Blue Ridge Parkway (on the Alexander and Wilkes County line) grows
a good crop of copperheads and especially healthy rattlesnakes on its rocky terrain. Wouldn’t you just
expect that from the devil?
“A natural rock formation looks like the devil. Literally. You’ll find Devils Head near Chimney
Rock in Rutherford County. The Devils Den is a small cave on Pilot Mountain in Surry County. A steady
breeze blows from the cave. Hot air? From way down there?
“On the lower Cashie River in Bertie County winds a bend so sharp it once was known as Devil’s
Bend. Before the Revolution, sailing vessels had to lower their sails and be pushed around the bend

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with pikes. Later steamboats had such problems with the bend that they had to cut their engines to
navigate the turn.
“In Transylvania County, the Devils Courthouse is a black rock mountain rising steep and sharppeaked. Devil’s Race Path Branch in Avery County got its name because a long time ago some evil
doings, maybe even a murder, took place there.”1496
***ESTATOE, MITCHELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox communicates: “A similar but sadder tale is that of the beautiful Indian princess Estatoe
and a young warrior from the Wataunga region.
“The warrior was traveling through what is now Mitchell County, when he chanced upon Estatoe
picking berries in a meadow. They spent some happy hours together and fell hopelessly in love.
“Knowing that their families would oppose the romance, the lovers eloped.
“But someone had spied on the couple, and soon Estatoe’s father and brothers were in furious
pursuit. They captured the pair at a cliff overlooking a mighty river.
“Estatoe screamed in anguish as her brothers snatched the warrior from his horse and thrust a
heavy spear through the young man’s heart. She turned in desperate grief and threw herself from the
cliff into the swirling waters below.
“Some say the Toe River where Estatoe drowned was once called ‘Estatoe River’ by her guiltstricken family. (Horton Cooper, in his History of Avery County North Carolina, begs to differ with the
Indian princess version of the Toe River name. Cooper says the name came from the South Toe River
that was named for a Mr Towe, who visited and traded with the Indians and hunted in the lower Toe
River Valley.)
“There is a Mitchell County community on Brushy Creek, though, which is named ‘Estatoe’,
allegedly for that girl of long ago.”1497
***GRAVEYARD RIDGE, HAYWOOD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox depicts: “If you plan to visit Graveyard Ridge in Haywood County, you might rather go in
broad daylight. Not that any human remains have ever been found buried there. But with that name,
diggers have looked into grave-resembling mounds found in a flat area along the ridge.
“The theory is that many hundreds of years ago a tremendous windstorm uprooted a lot of trees
on the ridge. Time rotted the old stumps, leaving dirt mounds. The slight depression beside each
mount may be the hole where the stumps were.”1498
***GRIMESLAND, PITT COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox enumerates: “The Pitt County town of Grimesland had several names before settling on
the name honoring Confederate General J Bryan Grimes.
“It was first known as Boyd’s Ferry, than Mt Calvert, then Nelsonville, before changing to
Grimesland in 1887. (Part of the town is located on a portion of what was once 5,000 acres of Grimes’
land.)
“General Grimes survived the Civil War in spite of fighting in several of the bloodiest battles and
having his horse shot from under him more than once.
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“Grimes was not as fortunate against an assassin’s bullet on August 14, 1880.
“On that day, he stopped to water horses at Pitt County’s Bear Creek. He had no way of
knowing that death stood behind a tree in the person of William Parker, who shot him.
“Parker, who was twice tried for the crime but not convicted, turned out to be his own worst
enemy. Eleven years later, he got drunk in Little Washington and bragged of killing Grimes. He was
found dead not long afterward. He had been lynched.”1499
***HALF HELL, BRUNSWICK COUNTY1500, NORTH CAROLINA***
Barbee Public Library gives an account: “Half Hell appears to be the oldest named community
along present-day Midway Road (SR 1500), which was referred to as Half Hell Road for over a century
until the 1950s. The community is located in the area of Lewis Loop Road (SR 1506), immediately south
of the Town of Bolivia, where name of the lanes and roads reflect the names of early settlers. Families
were living on both sides of Half Hell Swamp in the mid-1800s, where they farmed and produced naval
stores. Boxed pine trees and ‘tarkle pits’ (tar kiln pits) are still in evidence of their livelihood. How the
community received the name Half Hell is not known for certain at this time; however, some say the
unusual name came from the area’s reputation as a place for illegal activities, where the constable felt
as if he had gone ‘half way to hell’, when he had to go into the area on business.
“Another source indicated that the community may have obtained the name Half Hell as a result
of its location being the midway point for travelers heading to Southport to pay their taxes.”1501
***KILL DEVIL HILLS, DARE COUNTY1502, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox points out: “The name of a Dare County spot didn’t scare off the Wright brothers in 1903.
They made their first successful flight from Kill Devil Hills. Most agree that the name had something to
do with a popular rum consumed by locals – a brand of Medford Run, so strong some said it would ‘kill
the devil’. William Byrd of Virginia, in 1728, wrote in History of the Dividing Line, ‘Most of the rum they
get in this country comes from New England, and it is so bad and unwholesome, that it is not improperly
call’d Kill Devil.”1503
Scott Harper relates: “According to the book The Outer Banks of North Carolina by local
historian David Stick, the first appearance of the town's name traces to an 1808 map, where it was listed
as Killdevil Hills. A map printed in 1814 put the name as Kill Devil Hills for the first time.
“But what does it mean?
“Perhaps the most plausible explanation - and the one the town officially endorses - stems from
rum-carrying ships that sometimes ran aground off the treacherous barrier islands during Colonial days.
“In 1728 William Byrd of Virginia, hardly a fan of Carolinians, wrote that ‘Most of the Rum they
get in this Country comes from New England, and is so bad and unwholesome, that it is not improperly
called ‘Kill-Devil’, and there is a story that the ship loaded with this ‘Kill-Devil Rum’ was wrecked
opposite the sand hills, thus accounting for the name,’ according to Stick's book.

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1500
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/brunswick/half-hell.cfm
1501
Barbee Public Library, 8200 E Oak Island Dr, Oak Island, NC 28465;
[email protected];
http://library.brunsco.net/Home/LibraryLocations/tabid/546/Default.aspx
1502
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Devil_Hills,_North_Carolina
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“The town's Visitor's Guide skips the smarmy comments from Byrd and just says the
shipwrecked rum, later scavenged by locals and stashed in the dunes, ‘was strong enough to ‘kill the
devil’.’ And the name stuck.
“The guide also mentions another tale, this one much more fun but far less believable.
“As legend goes, a local man once tried to extort money from the devil himself, then trapped
him in a deep pit atop one of the many tall dunes that shape the town's rugged landscape.
“Stick also describes other possible, less sexy origins.
“A shore bird known as the killdeer once heavily populated the sand and scrub on the Outer
Banks, and the name ‘Killdeer Hills’ became a town nickname. Eventually, as nicknames often do, the
term morphed into something else – ‘Kill Devil Hills’.
“Another option, Stick writes, comes from an article published in 1851 in the Norfolk American
Beacon.
“‘In the vicinity of Nag's Head,’ the article reads, ‘very conspicuous when sailing down the
sound, there is a range of sand called Kill Devil Hills, not because his satanic majesty was there disposed
of ... but because sailors say, it is enough to kill the devil to navigate that part of the sound.’
“Stick writes that there has been controversy over which name is correct, ‘Kill Devil Hill’ or ‘Kill
Devil Hills’. Actually, both are.
“Kill Devil Hill is the name of the largest dune amid a series of them on the western fringe of
town; Kill Devil Hills is the name of the community.
“Located in Dare County, the town today includes more than 6,000 full-time residents, shops,
hotels, restaurants and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, a tourist attraction and monument in
the scrubby hills where the first flight occurred.”1504
***LABORATORY, LINCOLN COUNTY1505, NORTH CAROLINA***
GR Hasegawa stipulates: “Real and anticipated shortages of medicines during the Civil War
prompted the Medical Department of the Confederate States Army to establish laboratories to
manufacture drugs for Southern troops. There were probably fewer than a dozen such facilities, and
until recently, substantial (although very incomplete) records had been found, only for the ones at
Macon, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina.
“Intrigue has long surrounded accounts of the laboratory at Lincolnton, North Carolina.
According to lore, the closely guarded facility made medicines from native plants and from opium
poppies cultivated in nearby fields. Some local residents have suspected that the laboratory covertly
made gunpowder or was kept secret, for fear that Federal soldiers would destroy or take its medicines;
the paucity of laboratory records has been said to reflect Confederate efforts to conceal what went on
at the facility. One of the more charitable descriptions of the laboratory’s director, Surg A Snowden
Piggot, has characterized him as a short, stocky, and exacting Yankee, who was hated by many locals but
loved by others. Other accounts have portrayed Piggot as a taciturn, hot-tempered, and unfriendly
eccentric with a long, unkempt beard. Piggot’s supposedly secretive manner has caused him to be
called the ‘Ollie North of the Confederacy’, and as late as 1994, it was said that ‘folks still aren’t sure
where he [Piggot] went or what became of him’ after the war. One author has concluded that ‘Lincoln
County never trusted Doctor Piggott.’”
GR Hasegawa continues: “One site evidently considered by Piggot was Talladega, Alabama,
where sulfur and other mineral resources were in good supply. Piggot was also ordered to visit the
1504

Scott Harper; What’s in a name? Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina; The Virginian-Pilot; December 13,
2010; provided by Naomi Rhodes, County Reference Librarian, Dare County Library, Kill Devil Hills
Library, 400 Mustian St, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948; [email protected]; http://www.earlibrary.org
1505
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/lincoln/laboratory.cfm

Macon laboratory, and by early April 1863, he decided to locate his facility at Lincolnton, some thirty
miles from Charlotte and connected with that city by rail. Once the selection was made, the surgeon
general directed Piggot to visit the Columbia laboratory and any other sites that would help him
establish the new facility. Piggot’s selection of Lincolnton was probably influenced by his familiarity with
North Carolina and guided by a careful analysis of numerous practical considerations: costs, resources
(raw materials, power sources, buildings, land, labor), and the quality and proximity of transportation.
Piggot’s official assignment as surgeon in charge of the Lincolnton laboratory dated from June 1, 1863.
“The exact building location selected by Piggot is not revealed in his papers, but local opinion
places the laboratory about 2 ½ miles south of Lincolnton, on the bank of the South Fork Catawba River,
near the current community of Laboratory, North Carolina, and possibly where a Rhyne Mill structure
now stands. Piggot’s duties at Petersburg apparently kept him there, even as preliminary steps were
being taken to erect the Lincolnton laboratory. Soon after Piggot decided on Lincolnton, his clerk, TS
Beckwith, Jr, was there trying to procure laborers, animals, building materials, land on which to grow
crops, and buildings to house laboratory personnel. Beckwith reported having difficulty finding citizens
in the Lincolnton area willing or able to help. One of Beckwith’s first orders of business was to see to
the planting of flax (for flaxseed or for linseed oil) and opium poppies.
“Architect George Finch, who had worked for Piggot at Petersburg, was on the job at Lincolnton
by May 4, 1863, but the structures intended for actual laboratory operations were not ready before fall
1863. The first laboratory building is said to have been oblong and constructed of bricks made from clay
dug from the riverbank. Its machinery was evidently powered by water. During the summer, Piggot
worked to secure building materials, mules, and laboratory equipment. In July 1863, he asked
Richmond’s Tredegar Iron Works to send a man to help build leaden chambers, which were needed to
produce sulfuric acid. The following month, he requested fragile ‘chemical apparatus’ from the Macon
Central Ordnance Laboratory and a still from the medical purveying depot in Charlotte. In October
1863, about the time that his first buildings were ready, Piggot wrote Stephen R Mallory, secretary of
the navy, for help. The laboratory needed ‘a good deal of copper work’, and Piggot asked that it be
done at the navy yard at Charlotte; Mallory approved. Piggot called on Mallory again, in March 1864,
for more help from the navy yard, this time in making heavy iron castings. The laboratory eventually
contained a reverberator furnace, mill, kiln, leaden chambers, and equipment formerly owned by the
North Carolina Military Institute.”1506
***LISTENING ROCK, ASHE COUNTY1507, NORTH CAROLINA***
Sam Shumate writes: “From what I've learned over the years, people used to go to Listening
Rock to listen for their cattle. Common grazing land was the norm for ‘summering’ the cattle on the
mountain. Different cowbells gave sounds recognizable to the owners. Sound traveled up the mountain
much like the wind at Blowing Rock. Therefore farmers went to Listening Rock to listen for their
cattle. That's my story, and until I hear something more plausible, I'm sticking to it.”1508
***LIZARD LICK, WAKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
1506

Guy R Hasegawa; ‘Absurd Prejudice’: A Snowden Piggot and the Confederate Medical Laboratory at
Lincolnton; The North Carolina Historical Review; Vol 81; Num 3; July 2004; provided by Jason L Harpe,
Executive Director, Lincoln County Historical Association, 403 East Main St, Lincolnton, NC 28092;
[email protected]; www.lincolncountyhistory.com
1507
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/ashe/listening-rock.cfm
1508
Sam Shumate; [email protected]; provided by Teresa Bare, County of Ashe, 150
Government Circle, Suite 2500, Jefferson, NC 28640; [email protected];
http://www.ashecountygov.com/departments/administration

JP Cox articulates: “Is there a North Carolinian who hasn’t heard of Lizard Lick? Or one version
of how Lizard Lick got its name?
“Situated in Wake County between Zebulon and Wendell, Lizard Lick community developed in
the 1800s. It later became known as Lizard Lake, then Talton’s Crossroad, but the community reclaimed
its original name in the 1960s.
“Some of us, who are lizard-cautious, know a little about lizards, and for us, a little is enough.
We’ve heard that lizards have good hearing and sight. And we’ll accept on good authority that lizards
can see colors. We’ve seen the lizard’s long tongue, but we assume he uses it more for flicking insects
out of the air than for licking, although it may appear otherwise to a casual observer. One thing we
know for sure is that we don’t intend to get close enough for him to lick us with it.
“All versions of the origin of the Lizard Lick name say that way back lizards regularly sunned
themselves on a rail fence near a local still. This became a convenient way to give directions to those
looking for whiskey.
“‘Go down there to the fence where the lizards like, and you’ll find a drink close by.’
“Another version is that a fellow with a walking stick visited the still and liberally sampled his
purchase, before making his way back home along the path beside the rail fence. He was feeling so
good that be was twirling his walking stick. Occasionally, he would interrupt his twirling to take a lick at
the lizards on the fence.
“There wasn’t much entertainment in Lizard Lick at the time, so this performance was not only
noted but preserved in the community’s name.”1509
***MATRIMONY CREEK, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox describes: “It could be just as well. Listen to what Sir William Byrd, American Colonial
writer and official, wrote in his journal (later published in his History of the Dividing Line) about
Rockingham County’s Matrimony Creek. In Sir William’s own words: ‘About four miles beyond the River
Irwin, we forded Matrimony Creek, call’d so by an unfortunate marry’d man, because it was exceedingly
noisy and impetuous.’
“Well, Sir William must have looked at what he had written and, with an eye towards later
publication, added: ‘However, tho’s the Stream was clamorous, yet like those Women who make
themselves plainest heard, it was likewise clear and unsully’d.’
“Smart fellow, that William.”1510
***NANTAHALA GORGE, GRAHAM/SWAIN COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox establishes: “Nan-toh-ee-yah-heh-lih means ‘Sun in the Middle’ in Cherokee. The
Nantahala Gorge in Graham and Swain Counties is so deep that the Indians believed that only the midday sun was strong enough to brighten its depths.
“Uktena, a giant horned serpent, who possessed a brilliant gem between its horns, lived there.
The gem had qualities of good and evil and could cause the death of the family of any person who
simply looked upon it. But if the gem could be taken from the serpent’s head, it would reveal the future
of the person who possessed it.
“One hunter dared to try to kill the serpent and claim the gem. He clothed himself in leather to
protect his body and stealthily approached the serpent. Luckily the serpent was asleep, and the hunter
leaped upon it, stabbing and fatally wounding it.
1509

Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1510
Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000

“When the hunter tore the gem from the serpent’s head, the serpent, in its death throes,
twisted, and rolled from one side of the gorge to the other. The force of the giant body against the sides
of the canyon caused the shutting out of the sun, and from that time on, there has been only twilight in
Nantahala Gorge.”1511
***PAINT ROCK, MADISON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox highlights: “Paint Rock in Madison County is a sheer 100-foot cliff overlooking the French
Broad River. Red stains on the rock’s surface inspired the name.
“For the scientifically inclined, the explanation for the red stains is iron oxidation. For
romantics, there is this: Again Indian lovers from different tribes were forbidden to marry. Rather than
live without each other, the couple jumped to their deaths from this cliff. The rock became forever
stained with their blood.
“A tidbit about Paint Rock, which has absolutely nothing to do with lovers, is that the place got
some notoriety in 1855. Two Asheville men, John D Hyman and Dr WL Hilliard, fought a bloodless duel
here. Hyman was editor of the newspaper Spectator and had printed criticism of the mail service. Dr
Hilliard, who was postmaster, got plenty ticked off and challenged Hyman to a duel. Hyman accepted,
and the men chose Paint Rock as the dueling site.
“Fortunately the duel ended after one round of rifle fire, with the only damage done being to a
clipped-off button from Hilliard’s coat.”1512
***PEE DEE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY1513, NORTH CAROLINA***
HT Ward and RPS Davis, Jr, portray: “The Southern Piedmont region is archaeologically
significant within North Carolina. During Late Woodland times, the cultures, located between the
Uwharrie Mountains and the border between North and South Carolina, did not participate in the
Piedmont Village Tradition. They were influenced by a very different cultural tradition called South
Appalachian Mississippian.
“Between AD 1000 and 1400, Mississippian-influenced societies developed from the coast of
Georgia to the mountains of North Carolina. Known archaeologically as Etowah, Wilbanks, Savannah,
Pisgah, Irene, and Pee Dee, these politically complex cultures built mounds for their elite, participated in
an elaborate ceremonialism, and sometimes ruled over large territories.
“In the southern North Carolina Piedmont, the clearest expression of South Appalachian
Mississippian tradition is the Pee Dee culture. And the most obvious archaeological site relating to the
Pee Dee culture is the Town Creek site, located on the Little River in Montgomery County.
“The southern North Carolina Piedmont is also unique in the History of North Carolina
archaeology. It is here that the first formal excavations were organized and launched by North Carolina
archaeologists. Excavations in the southern Piedmont began an unbroken tradition of research that
gradually spread across the state and is manifest today in a multitude of public and private programs.
“The people who lived at the Town Creek site during its heyday have been referred to as the
‘Pee Dee Indians’ and their distinctive lifestyle, the ‘Pee Dee Culture’. The site itself is located on the
west bank of the Little River, near its confluence with Town Fork Creek, in Montgomery County. A few
miles downstream, the Little River flows into the Pee Dee [River], which becomes the Great Pee Dee, as
it cuts through northeastern South Carolina to empty into the Atlantic Ocean.
1511

Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1512
Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1513
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Dee,_North_Carolina

“Excavations revealed that the mound at Town Creek was constructed over an early rectangular
structure that has been described as an earth lodge. Individual posts set in holes formed the structure's
walls. Earth was then piled in an embankment around the walls and over the roof to create the ‘earth
lodge’. Eventually this structure collapsed. Its remains and the surrounding area were covered, creating
a low earthen mound that served as a platform upon which a temple or town house was erected. That
structure ultimately burned. Its charred remains were also covered by a thick layer of soil, which served
to enlarge and heighten the original mound. A second structure, identical to the first, was built atop the
new mound.
“The mound at Town Creek faced a large plaza or public area, where public meetings and
ceremonial activities took place. Several structures, including some that served as burial or mortuary
houses, were constructed around the edge of the plaza. The mound, plaza, and habitation zone were
enclosed by a stockade made of closely set posts. Evidence of five episodes of stockade building has
been found. All but the latest stockade stood before the mound was constructed.
“Although not visible like the mound, equally impressive is the large number of human burials at
Town Creek. A total of 563 burials are thought to be associated with the Pee Dee culture. Several of
these graves are clustered in mortuary areas. Most individuals were interred in simple pits, with their
bodies arranged in a loosely flexed position. A few were buried with their bodies fully extended, and a
small number of individuals appear to have been reburied as bone bundles. The bodies of several infants
and small children were tightly wrapped and placed in large pottery vessels – called burial urns - that
were then placed in the ground. A few of the Pee Dee burials were richly adorned with a variety of
exotic artifacts made from copper, imported from the Great Lakes area, and shells from the coast.
Copper artifacts include copper-covered wooden ear spools and rattles, pendants, sheets of copper, and
a copper ax. Beads, gorgets, and pins were fashioned from conch shell.
“The Pee Dee culture of Town Creek represented quite a departure from the Piedmont Village
Tradition to the north and that which had previously characterized the southern Piedmont. It was so
different, in fact, that in 1952, Pee Dee culture was described as being ‘one of the best archaeological
records of the movement of a people in the Southeast. The people who built Town Creek were seen as
invaders from the south, who traveled up the Pee Dee River Valley and introduced an entirely new and
alien way of life on the southern North Carolina Piedmont. At the time, it was thought that this new
culture arrived around AD 1550 and had disappeared by 1650, ‘like a beam of light flashing across a dark
sky’.
“Today, archaeologists know that Pee Dee culture is considerably earlier than originally thought,
and that invaders did not introduce it from the south by moving en masse into the North Carolina
Piedmont. Pee Dee is better viewed as a regional center of South Appalachian Mississippian that
interacted and evolved with other regional centers scattered from the Coastal Plain of Georgia and
South Carolina, to the western North Carolina mountains.
“Archaeologists now believe that the fourteenth century saw the decline of many South
Appalachian Mississippian centers, like Irene and Town Creek. As the temple mounds were abandoned,
burial practices changed to reflect a more egalitarian society. The shift from government by an elite to
government by public consensus also is seen in the increased use of large public council houses, rather
than priestly temples atop mounds. In the Savannah River Valley, this decline in chiefly power is viewed,
at least in part, as a consequence of prolonged drought conditions, which caused a significant decline in
agricultural production. The large number of burials at Town Creek may mean that the Pee Dee Indians
faced a similar fate.
“The Town Creek Site, like a powerful magnet, has drawn the attention of archaeologists for
over 60 years. With only mild hyperbole, it could be said that the mound on the banks of the Little River
has been the center of the archaeological universe in the southern North Carolina Piedmont. However

since the 1980s, the focus of archaeological excavations has shifted away from Town Creek, to outlying
Pee Dee villages without mounds.”1514
***ROANOKE ISLAND, DARE COUNTY1515, NORTH CAROLINA***
KB Harder remarks: “From an Indian word spelled Roanoak by the first English settlers. The
Indians applied it to an island, meaning ‘place where white shells are found’ or perhaps ‘shells which are
used for money’. Site of the first attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in North America.
After failure in 1585, a new settlement was established in 1587, but when a supply ship returned in 1591
it had disappeared.”1516
***SCREAM RIDGE, MACON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox shares: “If you’re the jittery type and roaming around North Carolina, something like this
could happen to you: You take this notion to prove how brave you are, and you talk two buddies into
going with you to spend the night on top of Scream Ridge in Macon County. Now, your friends are not
excited about this idea, but they agree, and off you go, all whistling and talking about what a great time
you’re going to have in the peace and quiet. It’s still daylight, and it’s not like you’re traveling along
Spooks Branch over in Buncombe County.
“You walk on, and twilight fades to black. The terrain gets steeper, and a little fog drifts fast and
brushes dampness across your forehead. Not much talking now, except somebody mentions it’s getting
chilly.
“About that time, it happens. The sound. Rising from who knows where, or who knows what
source. Low at first, moving to ear-piercing intensity and then gone, quickly as begun.
“‘Sounded like a ha’nt to me,’ says one buddy in a voice that cracks.
“‘Ain’t no such things as ha’nts,’ you say, though the hairs on the back of your neck are frozen
straight-up stiff.
“Your other buddy’s flashlight beam is doing a bobbing Macon Light, except it’s the wrong
county. But he speaks up.
“‘Sounded to me like one of those wildcats,’ he says.
“‘Probably ain’t no wildcats left in this country,’ you say. You never did know not when to keep
your mouth shut.
“The scream, or whatever else you want to call it, comes again. And with it, the scuffle of
moving feet and a chilling realization …
“Which is your buddies have taken off and left you standing all by your lonesome on top of
Scream Ridge; while they’ve headed out to their mamas’ loving arms or the state line, whichever comes
first.”1517
***SEVEN DEVILS, AVERY COUNTY1518, NORTH CAROLINA***
www.sevendevils.net stresses: “Indian arrowheads can still be found in our windy saddle known
as Alpine Meadows. We don’t know much about the original natives in this area, but we do know that
1514

H Trawick Ward and RP Stephen Davis Jr; Time before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina;
University of North Carolina Press; 1999; http://www.nchistoricsites.org/town/pee-dee.htm
1515
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Island
1516
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1517
Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1518
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/avery/seven-devils.cfm

on March 19, 1775, the government opened up all of the Grandfather Mountain lands for
homesteading. This land became known as the Grandfather Community. The first known settler was
Issac McClurd from Scotland, who originally settled in Lenoir, NC. There he received a grant for 2,000
acres ‘at the head of the Watauga River’, which included our area. This occurred at approximately the
same time that the famous Daniel Boone lived and hunted in Boone, NC.
“Records exist showing that several families lived on our mountain during the next 150 years,
and the land was primarily used for farming. According to local folk, the lower end of the mountain
became known as Mast Mountain, and it produced good cabbage, potatoes, and tobacco. In fact the
present Town Hall location was a cabbage and potato patch. The upper end of the mountain was known
as Valley Creek, including a section known as Buckeye Hollar. This area was mainly used for raising
cattle. High above the meadows were the predominant geographical features of the mountain, Hanging
Rock, Four Diamond Ridge, and Hawksbill Rock, which were named in the early 1800s.
“Seven men on horseback braved an old wagon trail and observed these peaks one fortunate
day in 1964. The four Reynolds brothers; Buck, Frank, Dan, and Herb, Ray Smith, George Hampton, and
Gardner Gidley, saw this magnificent mountain, as something that should be shared by many. The LA
Reynolds Industrial District of Winston-Salem, NC, formed the Resort in 1965, and the founders were
met with the challenge of naming the Resort.
“At this time there was a rumor about an old man on the mountain, who had seven sons ‘as
mean as the devil’. People were heard commenting that in the winter the mountain was ‘as cold as the
devils’ or ‘as windy as the devil’. The founders wanted a catchy, unique name that would bring attention
to the mountain. They noticed the repeated appearance of the number seven, including the seven
predominant rocky peaks surrounding Valley Creek, as well as the many coincidental references to
‘devils’. ‘Seven Devils’ seemed to suggest a frivolous, mischievous resort where people could
‘experience the temptation of Seven Devils’.
“The Resort flourished with a golf course, ski slope, lake, riding stables, campground, and more,
until it was sold in 1972. A year later the Resort was in financial trouble, which came to include a
bankruptcy in 1976. During this period, the Resort was kept going by the Resort Club, which was acting
as a Property Owners Association. Mountain Realty Company of Greensboro, NC, purchased the Resort
and worked with the residents to have the Resort incorporated. This incorporation of the Town of Seven
Devils on June 30, 1979, served to establish a firm economic base for the Resort. Growths accelerated
between 1979 and 1986, and many improvements were made. ‘The Mountain Group’, headed by Robert
Kent and Robert West, purchased the Resort from Chester Brown of Mountain Realty in 1980. Kent and
West distributed the land among many individuals, which completed the transition from Resort to
Resort Town. During this period, the Town acknowledges that growth was inevitable and set forth to
control its growth properly and retain its quaint resort character.
“Today the Town has many accomplishments to be proud of; financial independence and
stability, Comprehensive Zoning and Land Use Plans and Regulations, Town Ordinances, successful Tax
Collections, beautification programs, a remodeled Town Hall, a very successful Police and Fire
Department, a hard working Public Works Department, Town vehicles and equipment to help with daily
improvements. The Town is also in the process of improving the water system and road system. Seven
Devils is a thriving community with lots of amenities to offer the citizens.”1519
***SHOOFLY AND SHAKERAG, GRANVILLE COUNTY1520, NORTH CAROLINA***
JH Wilson, Jr, composes: “Shoofly is located on the Culbreth Road, 2.8 miles south of Culbreth
and 0.5 mile west of the junction of Culbreth Road with Old NC Highway 75 near Stem. The only sign of
1519
1520

http://www.sevendevils.net/page7.php
http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/granville/shoofly.cfm

Shoofly in 2004 is a sign that reads ‘SHOOFLY’ at 4000 Culbreth Road. In the first half of the 1900s,
Shoofly had a thriving store operated by Ollie O Bullock. His business increased from 1942-45, when
Camp Butner was nearby. The Bullock Store at Shoofly was located fifty feet north of the SHOOFLY sign,
in the northwest corner of a driveway that now leads to Ollie Bullock’s daughter’s home in 2004.
“Shoofly prior to 1830 was known as Harmony Grove. By 1830 it was known as Mabin’s Store.
A store run by a Mr Mabin was located here and was still in operation in 1842. Mabin’s Store was still
on the maps as late as 1880. RE Booth (1847-1935), called Uncle Ned, a Granville County Deputy Sheriff,
had a store at Shoofly in 1896. He was with the Sheriff’s Department from 1898 to 1918. He sold eight
hundred chickens annually that he ‘traded in’ for his merchandise. He carried or sent the chickens to
the ‘city folks’, perhaps at Durham on regular intervals. A store or inn was probably also located at this
location, when it was called Harmony Grove, but the owner is not known. Harmony Grove, Mabin’s
Store and Shoofly (same location) were located on the Old Indian Trail from Petersburg, Virginia,
(formerly Fort Henry) to Augusta, Georgia. In North Carolina, the trail, and later a road for the white
settlers from Virginia, points north, and ran through Grassy Creek, Gela, Oxford (then Harrisburg),
Providence, Tally Ho and on to Knap of Reeds and Hillsborough.
“John B Mayes, Sr, related the following story to Francis B Hayes, Oxford writer, in the early
1900s. ‘After the Civil War (1861-65), Robert W Booth lived near Mabin’s Store. Mr Booth hired a
carpenter named Noah Duke to build his store. While Mr Duke was pestered by flies and frequently
cried out shoo fly – shoo fly. Another story says before Mr Booth’s Store was finished, he ordered some
shoes and sold them from his home. They went so fast, someone applied the word ‘Shoe fly’, meaning
those shows flew (were gone) fast. A third story says Ned Booth was operating his store and said, ‘I
don’t know what to call this place, I think I’ll call it the next thing I hear.’ Shortly a customer pestered by
a fly said, ‘shoo fly’, so the owner called the place ‘Shoofly’. There you have it – you can choose for
yourself the origin of the name Shoofly. We living mortals may never know which one is correct.
“When you ask someone in the Berea, Culbreth, Stem or Shoofly, area about Shoofly, they often
bring up Shakerag. Unlike Shoofly, Shakerag has no past history, and no one really knows where it was
located or if there ever was such a place. It depends on whom you talk to, as to where it was located
and where it got its unusual name. Three good stories (there may be more) concern where Shakerag
was located, and how it got its name. Let’s share these stories.
“Story number one is the simplest story. Somewhere, in the area west of Shoofly and Culbreth
and close to Moriah and Berea, was a lady who lived close to a dirt road. She hated the dust from the
unpaved roads. She spent a good part of the day dusting off her furniture, and almost every time
someone came down the road, she was at the door shaking the dust from her dust rag.
“Story number two is more dramatic. Oscar Hawley, age 91 in 2004, relates this story, told him
by his father Nathan Hawley. Two women in the Moriah area got in a fight in a yard. They tore each
other’s clothes to rags. Henry Cousins came by and witnessed the fight from a distance. After the
women went into their houses, he hung the rags of clothes they had ripped off on a fence. He said,
‘Shake Rags’ and went on his way. Nathan and Oscar Hawley lived near the Person-Granville Line,
between Culbreth and Moriah.
“Story number three is perhaps the most logical. After the Civil War, the area around Berea,
Moriah and Culbreth was inhabited by poor farmers. Most of their clothes were rags. After working in
the field all day, they would ‘shake their rags’ on the porch, before entering their houses to eat supper
(yes, Yanks, our evening meal is called supper; dinner is our noon meal).
“Archie Wilkins was a long time Chief of Police in Oxford until 1979. He married Thelma Clark,
and they made their home southwest of Berea at 698 George Sherman Road. Wilkins took great pride in
saying he lived at ‘Shakerag’. Some of his friends made a sign that reads ‘SHAKERAG’ and installed it in
his front yard. His grandson Jeremy Wilkins has the sign in 2004. An official Shakerag sign was erected
but was either stolen by a sign lover or removed by government officials. Further west on the George

Sherman Road at the home of Reverend Keith Williams, longtime pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in
Berea, is a brand new official road sign in 2004 that reads ‘Shake Rag Trail’. Reverend Williams
emphasizes that this is not Shakerag – just the trail to Shakerag.”1521
***SOCO GAP, HAYWOOD COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox designates: “The Cherokee called this mountain gap on the Haywood-Jackson County
line, Ahalu’na (‘place where they ambushed’.) It is now called Soco Gap. Likely, the gap was named
after Haywood County’s Soco Falls.
“‘Soco’ is thought to be a corruption of the Cherokee word sog-wah, meaning ‘one’, which is
how many of De Soto’s men, the Cherokee threw over the falls.
“The Cherokee used Soco Gap as a lookout and at one time ambushed a large party of invading
Iroquois. They killed all the Iroquois except one, and as was the custom, the Cherokee cut off the
survivor’s ears and sent him home to tell his people what happened.
“During the War of 1812, a tribal meeting instigated by the powerful Shawnee Indian Chief
Tecumseh took place at Soco Gap. Tecumseh supported the British in the War and he, with some
representatives of tribes north of the Ohio, traveled to the gap to enlist help from the Cherokees.
“Tecumseh presented his case at a tribal council, but was overruled by Cherokee Chief
Yonaguska, who advised continued peace.
“Tecumseh was so furious at the refusal that he sprang to his feet and left the council by
jumping over the heads of the warriors seated around the chiefs.”1522
***STANDING INDIAN MOUNTAIN, CLAY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox expands: “Standing Indian Mountain rises 5,600 feet above sea level in Clay County and is
called by many ‘the grandstand of the Southern Appalachians’.
“Once, a winged beast with glittering eyes and giant claws terrorized an Indian village. It spied a
small group of children playing and swooped down, sinking his talons into the smallest child and
snatched him, screaming, away.
“People of the village were distraught. They kept their children close, but even those efforts
failed. The beast was too swift and unpredictable. He carried away more children to their deaths.
“‘We must do something,’ the people said. ‘We must find this beast and destroy him.’ So
hunters tracked the beast to its den on the south slope of a mountain peak, only to find it inaccessible.
“The villagers stationed a brave to watch the den and returned to the village to pray for help.
‘Save us, Great Spirit,’ they asked. ‘Let our people no longer have to live with this dreadful fear.’
“A barrage of lightning bolts struck the mountaintop, setting it ablaze and killing the beast in his
lair. So devastating was the fire that even today the peak remains bald.
“The brave stationed there started to flee his post, when the first bolts split the air. His
punishment was severe and everlasting. He stands, in stone, at his vigil site keeping eternal watch.”1523

1521

John H Wilson, Jr; Roaming Around Granville County and Vicinity: Places, People, Facts; 2004;
provided by Mark Pace, North Carolina Room Specialist, Richard H Thornton Library, PO Box 339, Oxford,
NC 27565; [email protected]; http://library.publiclibraries.org/NorthCarolina/Oxford/RichardHThorntonLibrary.html
1522
Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1523
Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000

***WARRIOR, CALDWELL COUNTY1524, NORTH CAROLINA***
JO Hawkins illustrates: “On Wednesday, Oct 20, 1897, the Lenoir Topic reprinted the following
column by HHC Bryant and published it in the Charlotte Observer.
“‘The traveler, in going from Lenoir to Blowing Rock, over the Caldwell and Watauga Turnpike
road, passes through a negro settlement, four miles from the former town, known as Warriors’ Gap
campground. Ignorant are many people, who pass this insignificant looking spot, of its history. The
place is the spot of the fiercest Indian battle ever fought in this state. It was there that thousands of
Indians lay dead on the ground after the conflict. The war was declared over a trifling affair, but it was
to the tribes on either side, a serious matter before it ended. The Indians to the south were Cherokees
and Catawbas, while those to the north of the gap were of the Six Nations. The gap, which lay between
the mountains, was the dividing line.
“‘For some time the Indians of the tribes of the Six nations had called the Cherokees and
Catawbas ‘pale-faces’.
“‘It was in 1737 that a young Cherokee buck and a young Catawba buck tripped across the gap
of the historic battleground and went into the field of the Six Nations and cast the glove of challenge
into the camps of their chiefs. These two brave Indians ran like wild deer and dropped the glove into
the camp of the enemy, and after the Indian custom, immediately whirled and ran back to their own
camps. The toxin of war was sounded in the camps of the Six Nations. The bearers of the Six Nations
heard the sound, as they fled across the hills and valleys. At once signal stations were placed among the
streams. These signal stations sometimes extended for a hundred miles, and within an hour’s time a
signal could pass from one end to the other. The acceptance of the challenge was acknowledged by the
blowing of horns. Both sides began to prepare for war. Ten thousand warriors on either side met on
Warrior Mountain, near the gap, soon after the challenge. The conflict was hand-to-hand. The weapons
were spears, bows and arrows, tomahawks and battle clubs - weighing from four to ten pounds. In
these close conflicts, the Indian custom was to fight to a finish. But in this battle, the fighting was so
fierce that the combatants were driven back six times. On the 20,000 that entered the fight, a mere
handful on either side was left to tell the story. The battle was not to the end. Neither side won. The
few that were left were ostracized by the squaws, because the battle was not a finished one; because
the warriors did not die or whip.
“‘After the fight, there was no burying of the dead. They lay there by the thousand for the
animals of the forest to destroy. Not long afterwards the mountain remained, but few Indians. The
tribes scattered in many directions. It was about this time that they began to fear the white settlers.
“‘This is the historic story of Warrior’s Gap as told me by Dr JM Spainhour of Lenoir, who is well
up on North Carolina Indian history.’
“In Here Will I Dwell, Nancy Alexander relates a variation on the story. The battle is between
the Cherokee and Catawba tribes, and the cause is that one tribe felt the other tribe was yielding to the
invading white man. The battle fought to an impasse, with many of the finest young warriors on both
sides being killed. Finally the tribal leaders sat down and came to an agreement, which was symbolized
by the tying together of two sapling poplars. The ‘twin poplars’ can still be seen in the Setzer’s Creek
section of Caldwell County.
“To my knowledge, there is no record of these battles, except as told by word of mouth.
However they make nice stories and perhaps give us some insight to our Native Americans
forerunners.”1525
1524

http://northcarolina.hometownlocator.com/nc/caldwell/warrior.cfm
John O Hawkins [[email protected]]; Stories Tell of a Fierce Indian Battle; News-Topic;
Saturday, February 22, 1997; provided by Emily F Gibbons, Reference Assistant, Caldwell County Public
Library, 120 Hospital Ave NE, Lenoir, NC 28645; [email protected]; http://www.ccpl.us/
1525

***WOODSTOCK, BEAUFORT COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA***
JP Cox maintains: “Not that the name Woodstock is all that scary sounding – unless you were a
parent during a certain generation. But Woodstock is said to be a ghost town beneath the waters of the
Pungo River, near Winsteadville in Beaufort County. Woodstock was the county seat of Hyde County
until 1790. The courthouse burned in 1789, and the county seat moved the next year.
“Folks tell of seeing the remains of the old courthouse at low tide off Woodstock Point. And if
your eyes were open to such things, perhaps seeing in those shimmering waters some reminder of a
supposed-to-be witch they said was burned at the stake in old Woodstock. She was accused of putting a
spell on a small boy who died.”1526
**NORTH DAKOTA**
Henry Gannett presents: “Dakota: named for the Indian tribe. The Indian form is Lakota,
Nakota, or Dakota, according to the dialect, signifying ‘allies’, the common name of the confederated
Sioux tribes.”1527
KB Harder renders: “For the Dakota Indians, a major tribal grouping of Siouan linguistic stock.
The name in their language means ‘friend’ or ‘ally’. The Dakotas are more popularly known as the Sioux,
a French version of Ojibway Nadouessioux, ‘adder’ or ‘enemy’. Other tribes attribute names according
to their reaction toward the Dakotas: ‘roasters’, because of their torturing enemies, ‘long arrows’,
‘cutthroats’, ‘birds’, and others.”1528
www.nd.gov sheds light on: “On March 2, 1861, President James Buchanan signed the bill
creating the Dakota Territory, which originally included the area covered today by both Dakotas, as well
as Montana and Wyoming. The name was taken from that of the Dakota or Sioux Indian Tribe. Beginning
about 1877, efforts were made to bring Dakota into the Union as both a single state and as two states.
The latter was successful, and on November 2, 1889, both North and South Dakota were admitted. Since
President Benjamin Harrison went to great lengths to obscure the order in which the statehood
proclamations were signed, the exact order in which the two states entered is unknown. However,
because of alphabetical position, North Dakota is often considered the 39th state.
“Dakota is the Sioux Indian word for ‘friend’.”1529
www.statesymbolsusa.org suggests: “What does the name North Dakota mean? Dakota is the
Sioux Indian word for ‘friend’. President James Buchanan signed the bill creating the Dakota Territory in
1861.
“The Dakota Territory originally included the area covered today by North and South Dakota, as
well as Montana and Wyoming. On November 2, 1889, both North and South Dakota were admitted to
the Union, becoming the 39th and 40th states.
“There have been attempts made to change the state name by dropping the ‘North’ and
renaming the state simply ‘Dakota’, but these resolutions were defeated in 1947 and again in 1989.”1530

1526

Jamie Perry Cox; Talking Turkey and Other Stories of North Carolina’s Oddly Named Places; Down
Home Press; 2000
1527
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
Washington, DC; 1905
1528
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1529
http://www.nd.gov/content.htm?parentCatID=74&id=Origin%20of%20the%20Name
1530
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/North_Dakota/NDakotanameorigin.html

***BONETRAILL, WILLIAMS COUNTY1531, NORTH DAKOTA***
Kathryn Reitan calls attention to: “When the CO Borstad family homesteaded in 1904, they
began what was later to become Bonetraill, North Dakota. Mr and Mrs Charles Wieglow, with their
sons, Oscar and Clayton, also homesteaded in 1904, as did Ole Vestre, Ed Bothum and Si Slocum. They
were joined the following year by Mr and Mrs John Wall and Marie; Mr and Mrs Charles Walters, Francis
and Chick; Mr and Mrs Carl Nelson; Mr and Mrs Andrew Thompson, Ovedia, Adolph and Clara; Oscar
Wilson, Charlie Baumann, Ole Manger, Gusta Halvorson, Albert Strand and Annie Kringen.
“During the first years, the homesteaders and Indians collected the many tons of buffalo bones,
which were scattered over the prairie, and hauled them to Williston in wagons to sell, thus the trail and
later the town got the name of Bonestraill. To this day, it is the only community in the United States to
use the name of Bonetraill. The original trail was a little west, running north and south of the town of
Bonetraill.”1532
***DEVILS LAKE, RAMSEY COUNTY1533, NORTH DAKOTA***
www.tourism.devilslakend.com connotes: “Explore the Past: Devils Lake derives its name from
the Native American name Miniwaukan. Early explorers incorrectly translated the word to mean ‘Bad
Spirit’ and were bolstered by the many legends of drowned warriors and lake monsters. The name
evolved into Devils Lake. Devils Lake is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota. Devils Lake
covers more than 100,000 acres and has hundreds of miles of shoreline. This very fertile prairie lake
grows large numbers of Walleye, Northern Pike, White Bass, and it has earned the reputation of being
the ‘Perch Capital of the World’. Perch weighing more than two pounds are caught quite frequently. In
the fall, hundreds of thousands of waterfowl migrate through the area and give both local and visiting
hunters outstanding hunting opportunities. The City of Devils Lake is a community in touch with the
values of the past, with eyes focused on the opportunities of the future. We are a city of 8,000
neighbors living, working and building a future for our children and our community. Over 500 businesses
call Devils Lake home, and they offer outstanding shopping, great service and career opportunities. Our
medical facilities, schools and park system, enhance the quality of life for our residents. Our city and
county governments are dedicated to maintaining good roads, quality water and a safe and secure
environment for our citizens. Lake Region State College offers higher educational degrees and
continuing education that will allow our businesses and workforce to stay in step with the fast paced
global market. If you are thinking about making Devils Lake your home and we can be of any further
assistance, please let us know.
“So remember, there is always plenty to see and do in Devils Lake and the entire Lake Region —
the opportunities in Devils Lake are ‘As Endless as Your Imagination’.”1534
A Bicentennial History of Devils Lake, North Dakota, details: “‘Enchanted Waters’, wrote
explorer John Charles Fremont in 1839, ‘is a beautiful sheet of water, the shores being broken into
pleasing irregularity, by promontories and many islands. As in some other lakes on the plateau, the
water was brackish, but there are fish in it, and it is doubtless freshened by the rains and melting snows
in the spring. No outlet was found, but at the southern end, there are low grounds by which, at the
season of high water, the lake may discharge into the Shayan. This would put it among the sources of
1531

http://northdakota.hometownlocator.com/nd/williams/bonetraill.cfm
Kathryn Reitan; Bonetraill Township History; in Williams County Historical Society; The Wonder of
Williams: A History of Williams County, North Dakota; Vol 1; 1975; provided by Jim Ryen, Deputy
Auditor, Williams County Auditor's Office, Williams County Historical Society, PO Box 2047, Williston, ND
58802-2047; [email protected]
1533
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Lake,_North_Dakota
1534
http://tourism.devilslakend.com/?page_id=79
1532

the Red River. The most extended view of its waters, obtainable from any of the surrounding hills,
seemed to reach about forty miles in a northwesterly direction.’ Later in 1865, Lyman K Raymond, a
soldier under General Alfred Sully, was impressed by the size of the great lake, describing it perhaps
exaggeratedly, as ‘sixty miles long and forty miles wide and very deep’. What a contrast the lake must
have been to the miles of grassy prairie they had traversed to reach this lake, located between the
present Ramsey and Benson Counties, roughly eighty miles from the Canadian border and ninety from
the Minnesota line!
“‘Enchanted Waters’ soon became known as Devils Lake. The Indian name Miniwakan, spelled
variously, meant ‘Spirit’ or ‘Bad Water’. The early explorers interpreted that to mean ‘bad spirit’,
probably influenced by the Indian legends of drowned warriors and unpredictable waves up to four or
five feet. Later data seems to indicate that the Indians were referring to the water’s brackishness, which
made it not potable, since elements of sulphite, carbonate of sode, lime, magnesium and iron, much like
the ocean, were in the water. In the early days, this was bottled as medicinal potions.
“For many years, the Chippewa and the Sioux had been bitter enemies. The Chippewa were
gradually pushing the Sioux southward and westward. Finally the Chippewa found themselves deep in
Sioux territory, with their war parties camped on the northern shore of the lake. The conical teepee of
the Sioux was pitched on the southern shore of the lake.
“The Sioux warriors met in council, determined to drive the Chippewa from their hunting
grounds once and for all. As darkness fell, they decided to cross the lake, surprise the Chippewa and
destroy them. On the north side of the lake, the Chippewa were making similar plans.
“No thought was given to the law of the Great Spirit concerning warfare – no attack must be
made before sunrise or after sundown; no attack could be made unless the war cry was first given so as
to warn the women and children to a place of safety.
“Silently the war parties started to cross the lake. In the very center, they met and a fierce
battle ensued. The water came red with blood. So intent were the warriors in fighting that they did not
hear the moaning of the wind. The blood-red water rocked and swelled with the onslaught of the wind,
and a great wave flung itself upon the canoes, and all the men were hurled below.
“From that day on, an Evil Spirit dwells within the lake. The place was shunned by Sioux and
Chippewa alike. The Evil One waits patiently for an Indian to paddle a canoe on the water so that he
may overturn the canoe and claim the Indian for his own. The Evil One stays where the Great Spirit has
been forgotten.
“The following is entitled The Story of Howastena (‘Beautiful Voice’) and was translated by
Father Jerone. ‘My father lived on the lake shore near what is now Minnewaukan town, as early as
1851. I was born there in 1863. My father told me of an island which used to be there. Since the lake
has sunk, this island is but a point of land. One night in summer when there was no moonlight, and
darkness was so thick that the island could not be seen from the mainland, strange sounds were heard.
The beating of a drum came across the water, the sound of chanting, and confused voices mingled with
the usual rustle and swish of waves. There was great wonder in the camp. Could Chippewas have come
so close? Could friends be looking for us? In the early dawn, a number of Dacotahs swam over to the
island and searched the woods. But a few frightened deer and small animals were all they found. So real
had been the sound of voices in the night, and so regular the beating of the drum, that they could not
believe the sounds to have been made by the winds or animals. From that time, they called the lake
Minnewaukan or ‘Holy Lake’. What you call ‘Devil’s Heart’, we call the ‘Heart of the Holy Lake’.’”1535

1535

A Bicentennial History of Devils Lake, North Dakota; Ness Printing; 1976; provided by Lake Region
Public Library, 423 7th St NE, Devils Lake, ND 58301-2529; [email protected];
http://www.ci.devils-lake.nd.us/departments/library.html

JS Longie (Blackbird) explains: “In the land of the Dakotas is the lake of many mysteries, Devils
Lake. It is located in the northeastern part of North Dakota, near the Canadian border.
“The Sioux Indians originally called this lake Minnewaukan, meaning ‘mystery’ or ‘spirit water’.
However the white people have misinterpreted the real meaning and called it ‘Devil’s Lake’.
“The lake at one time was 55 miles long and 15 miles wide, but after the appearance of the
Great Spirit Man and the Sea Monster, the water began receding, until today the lake has dried to but a
few miles.
“Many, many moons ago, the water in Devils Lake had become so polluted that all the fish
disappeared. The Indians became so uneasy about the whole matter that Little Shell, Chief of our tribe,
sent Ke-ask-ke (‘Big Liar’), our medicine man and inventor, to investigate.
“Ke-ask-ke found a band of Sioux Indians living at the lake. The old Sioux medicine man related
this strange story of how there had appeared to them Owanda, the Seer.
“It seems the Sioux had just completed a bloody battle, and victorious, had driven the
Chippewas to the Canadian border.
“The Sioux had planned another attack on the Chippewa, to drive them beyond the border,
when there appeared to them the Great Spirit Man, Owanda the Seer, with the warning that if they did,
a HUGE MONSTER WOULD COME OUT OF THE LAKE AND SWALLOW THEM UP.
“They did not heed this warning. The Chief of the Sioux warriors ordered the strongest men to
dress in full war regalia.
“Drums began beating. The Indians began howling. ‘Ki-ya-ya, Ki-ya-ya.’ Bows, arrows, and
hatchets flew. Oh! What fierce people.
“Indian women also danced in a circle. Even young boys were dressed in full war clothing,
dancing.
“But just as they were ready to go on the warpath, they saw the water rise and boil. The earth
seemed to tremble from under their feet. A LARGE UGLY MONSTER CAME OUT OF THE WATER. HIS
SAUCERLIKE EYES FLASHED LIKE COPPER FIRE. The Sioux became terrified. Never in their lives had they
seen such an animal. He had short legs, a short chubby neck, and a large head.
“He made for the Sioux. They fought for their lives, but the demon was too powerful. One by
one, he swallowed everyone in sight. However a few got away to other Indian camps.
“The medicine man, who had left upon the warning of the Spirit Man, returned a few days later
with another band of Indians. That was the beginning of mysteries.
“The lake water became salty, like that of the sea. The medicine man was baffled.
“Then the fish disappeared as if by magic. Not even a dead fish could be found. Fish had been
plentiful. In fact the Indians formerly had taken them out in the springtime with pitchforks, hauled them
away in wagonloads.
“The old Sioux medicine man sent for other tribal medicine men to help investigate. That was
the reason our Chief Little Shell had sent Ke-ask-ke.
“They prepared a séance, known as brains of Know-It-All. All night the Indians feasted, danced,
sang, and prayed.
“At last Ma-che-gombe said he had the answer. He ordered the largest boat and, with the
medicine men, set off on the lake. They came to an area of water, which had suddenly turned to a
stormy sea. A few yards off, they saw large bubbles on the surface. The medicine men became panicstricken.
“They wanted to cast him overboard. However Ma-che-gombe convinced them they need not
fear.
“But the whirlpool pitched one of the medicine men overboard. When he hit the water, he
began spinning around, going deeper and deeper. Then he disappeared – ‘vanished to the grave of the
sea monster’, his companions thought.

“This was enough. The medicine men started sharpening their knives. It was time to kill Mache-gombe.
“‘Do you not know,’ Ma-che-gombe said, ‘that he who fell into the water is the Spirit Man of the
Water? The Great Spirit will not suffer us loss of our brother. This problem is not a matter of one man,
but one of concern to all the Indians’ welfare, and it is our mission to solve their problem.’
“The medicine men for once agreed.
“They rowed along the boiling hole until the Spirit Man, who had fallen into the water, appeared
again.
“He described what he had discovered. Deep in the water, he said he found a hole where the
water came out boiling. This was the mouth of a subterranean passage connecting with an underground
river that ran across the county to the Gulf of Mexico.
“They decided the monster came to Devil’s Lake from the sea through this underground river.
And as he made his way into Devils Lake, the salt drew all the fish into this underground river, and they
were never able to get back into the lake.
“TODAY DEVILS LAKE IS STILL SALTY, AND NOT A FISH CAN BE FOUND.
“Mile by mile the lake is slowly drying up, and one can see miles and miles of a flat alkaline
bottom, where sea gulls come to rest and look for food.
“Many Indians will not go near the lake at night, for fear of the sea monster.”1536
***FOUR BEARS VILLAGE, MCKENZIE COUNTY1537, NORTH DAKOTA***
Marilyn Hudson imparts: “Fours Bears is the name of two of the most distinguished chiefs of our
tribe – the Mandan Four Bears lived in the early 1800s and died in the smallpox epidemic of 1837. The
Hidatsa chief Four Bears is noted for his signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851. The Four Bears
Village is named in honor of these chiefs.”1538
www.ndstudies.org mentions, regarding Mandan Chief Four Bears: “Four Bears, Mah-ta-to-pe or
Mahto Topé, was born about 1800. He grew up along the Missouri River at the mouth of the Knife River,
located near present-day Stanton, North Dakota. The Knife River villages were among the largest
farming and trading centers of the northern plains.
“Four Bears established his leadership through the Dog Soldier and Half Shorn societies. He rose
to prominence and became second, or sub-chief, of the Small Village at Knife River before 1837. He had
a successful war record and fasted many times, a feat that would have never elevated him to more than
a war leader. However the many feasts that he gave, to which the older hereditary bundle-owners were
invited, gave him prestige. Four Bears had a sacred robe, with a rainbow painted on it. It was believed to
possess the power to invoke rain and bring luck.
“Four Bears gained recognition by participating in the Okipa Ceremony. In the early 1830s, the
Mandans were visited by the artists George Catlin and Karl Bodmer, who later became close friends and
admirers of Four Bears. These artists rendered paintings of Four Bears, making him well known on the
upper Great Plains prior to 1837. Four Bears acted as a go-between for white traders and as diplomat to
other tribes. Maximillian relied on his knowledge of the religion and language of the Sahnish, who had
not yet allied themselves with the Mandans.

1536

James S Longie (Blackbird); Star Journal New Sunday Magazine; February 9, 1941; provided by Lake
Region Public Library, 423 7th St NE, Devils Lake, ND 58301-2529; [email protected];
http://www.ci.devils-lake.nd.us/departments/library.html
1537
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Bears_Village,_North_Dakota
1538
Marilyn Hudson, Three Tribes Museum (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara), Three Affiliated Tribes, 404
Frontage Rd, New Town, ND 58763; [email protected]; http://www.mhanation.com/

“Four Bears became an artist in his own right, and a number of his robes have been preserved.
He was a casualty of the 1837 smallpox epidemic that decimated about 87 percent of the Mandan Tribe.
Four Bears died on July 30, 1837.”1539
www.ndstudies.org puts into words, regarding Hidatsa Chief Four Bears: “Between 1837 and
1845, the Awaxawi and Awatixa joined the Nuitadi Mandan, because they were so few in numbers and
all required protection from the Sioux. These three groups organized a council, headed by the Hidatsa
chief, Four Bears. Four Bears was responsible for the physical defense of the people, and Missouri River
organized the ceremonies for establishing the new village at the Like-A-Fishhook Bend.
“The top leaders in 1845, when they built the village, were the Hidatsa head chiefs, Missouri
River, Four Bears, the war chief who took no part in the organization of the village, and Big Hand. The
other leaders, called ‘Protectors of the People’, the group entrusted with the supernatural protection of
the village, were Big Cloud, Bear-Looks-Out, Bobtail Bull, Bad Horn, and Big Hand.”1540
***MEDICINE HOLE, DUNN COUNTY1541, NORTH DAKOTA***
www.killdeer.com reports: “A Mysterious hole on a North Dakota mountaintop has kept people
guessing for years. Did the Sioux really escape down its narrow and winding passage: The legend began
over 100 years ago and has yet to be verified. For ambitious hikers, the legend awaits them on a scenic
mountain top 10 miles north of Killdeer.
“The place is called Medicine Hole, a small entrance to a narrow, little explored cave that
extends down into one of the high, steep hills known as the Killdeer Mountains. Medicine Hole got its
name by emitting a smoky fog on cold mornings, and visitors can still feel air currents rising from the
‘hole’.
“There are few facts about the Medicine Hole, and a whole lot more folklore fiction. Nearly
every visitor will ask if anyone has ever been down the narrow passage way. Some knowledgeable locals
will say ‘yes’, many years ago people explored the cave, while others will say no one has ever risked a
venture into its narrow shafts.
“Little was known about the Medicine Hole until General Alfred Sully led a punitive expedition
against the united and warring Sioux in 1864. He found the Indians - 6,000 warriors from 110 different
bands, with all their women and children - camped at the foot of the Killdeers. In the battle that
followed, on July 28, 1864, Sully’s 2,200 soldiers with artillery, routed the overconfident Sioux, sending
the entire camp fleeing in panic up the ravines into the Killdeers. The Indians so fully expected victory,
they had let Sully’s soldiers get within easy reach of their camps, which were well stocked for the
approaching winter.
“As the legend goes, the fleeing Indians left everything and lit out for the Badlands. One band of
Sioux, surrounded near the top of the hills, disappeared. Where? Down the narrow Medicine Hole?
“Little more than a week later, Sully’s army was miles west of the Killdeers, searching for
stragglers, and encountered the same band of Indians that allegedly escaped down the hole. As the
story goes, the Indians had traveled through a network of underground caverns underlying western
North Dakota. The fact that wind currents can be detected from the hole only lent support to the tale.
Early settlers to the area, aware of the many natural springs that come from the Killdeer Mountains, give
even more credence to the cavern theories.
“The Medicine Hole’s setting is as spectacular as it is fascinating. Weird rock formations, like
Signet Rock, Three Old Maids and Eagle Rock, add to the natural beauty of the steep, wooded hills. A
breathtaking view of the rolling plains below awaits the hiker who braves the narrow path to the top.
1539

http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/threeaffiliated/leaders_trad_mandan.html
http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/threeaffiliated/leaders_traditional.html
1541
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Hole,_North_Dakota
1540

“Medicine Hole can be reached from Highway 22 north of Killdeer. At mile marker 110, a small
sign indicates a gravel road leading west, ending at the Duane and Becky Meester ranch at the foot of
the mountain. A small campground and picnic area is there, with outdoor toilets, a few picnic tables, but
no water. From there, the path leads through a pasture, a few fence lines, and then straight up the
steep hillsides to the ‘hole’.
“Years ago people visiting the Medicine Hole would drop rocks down the shaft to hear their
bouncing echoes as the rocks dropped down the deep, twisting passageways. Naturally, over the years
the passages became plugged. The cave entrance has been dynamited twice. Once to seal the hole and
again to re-open it. With this kind of activity, anyone trying to crawl down the passages will have to
move huge amounts of rock, in order to travel only a few hundred feet.
“Nearly 50 years ago, a group exploring the hole managed to descend about 175 feet. There
they found three openings - all plugged from rocks thrown down from above. From one opening, a
strong, steady wind was blowing.
“Even today the stories of caverns and passageways continue. The stories lure people to climb
the steep slopes, but once there, the beauty of the Medicine Hole country rewards the visitor.
“For a day trip and a scenic picnic site, the Medicine Hole is worth a visit. And the legend of the
mountain? The only thing that’s certain is the Medicine Hole isn’t telling any secrets.”1542
***ON-A-SLANT VILLAGE, MORTON COUNTY1543, NORTH DAKOTA***
www.lewisandclarktrail.com shows: “On the west side of the mighty Missouri River, Fort
Abraham Lincoln Park encompasses history of legendary proportions. Lewis and Clark camped here, the
Mandan Indians settled the On-A-Slant Village, and General George A Custer and his vaunted 7th Cavalry
rode out from Fort Abraham Lincoln to their destiny at the Little Bighorn.
“On October 20, 1804, Captain Clark writes: ‘I saw an old remains of a village on the Side of a
hill, which the Chief with Too ne' tells me that nation lived in 2 (a number) villages, 1 on each side of the
river, and the Troublesom Seaux caused them to move about 40 miles higher up, where they remained a
fiew years & moved to the place they now live.’
“Reconstructed Mandan Indian earth lodges overlook the Heart and Missouri Rivers from a low
bluff. Each lodge is 30 to 40 feet in diameter and stands 10 to 12 feet high. At one time, this village had a
population of about 1,000 people; but it was deserted by the time Lewis and Clark noted it in their
journals.”1544
***YPSILANTI, STUTSMAN COUNTY1545, NORTH DAKOTA***
MF Young talks about: “The County Auditor sent me your letter to answer, quite an honor,
considering that I’m 94. Wish we could talk, I have some stories about the early settlers of Ypsilanti. I
think it is quite interesting that there is an Ypsilanti and Montpelier in Vermont, Michigan, and North
Dakota. As those settlers moved west – they stopped and named their towns, the same as Vermont,
where they came from.
“Enclosed is a book I have about Ypsilanti – maybe it would be helpful for you. Wish you the
best, every place has a story, and someone should tell it.”1546
1542

http://www.killdeer.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B6A18131E-021F-4236-96E535D9F48325E6%7D
1543
http://northdakota.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1940259,n,on-aslant%20village.cfm
1544
http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/section2/ndcities/BismarckMandan/fortabraham/index.htm
1545
http://northdakota.hometownlocator.com/nd/stutsman/ypsilanti.cfm
1546
Mary Faith Young, 315 – 6th St NE, Jamestown, ND 58401

1982 Centennial Committee catalogs: “In 1879 the United States Government gave 621 acres of
land to the Northern pacific Railroad, and part of this became Ypsilanti Township and Ypsilanti Townsite.
“Ypsilanti Townsite was staked out by Wm Hartley Colby (grandfather of don S Colby) and a
partner by the name of Lloyd DePuy (grandfather of Lloyd Jimmy DePuy, of Jamestown, North Dakota).
WH Colby came from Ypsilanti, Michigan. He named the new town site after the Michigan city.
Ypsilanti, Michigan, was named in honor of Demetrius Ypsilanti, a Reunion Commander and brother of
Prince Aleksondrus Ypsilanti, the Greek revolutionary patriot.”1547
**OHIO**
HB Staples conveys: “Ohio is named after the beautiful river, its southern boundary. From
Johnson’s Account of Indian Tribes, the word Ohio, as applied to the river in the Wyandot language, is Ohe-zuh, signifying ‘something great’. The name was called by the Senecas, dwelling on the shores of
Lake Erie, the Oheo. Mr Schoolcraft observes that the termination io in Ohio implies admiration. On the
old French maps, the name is sometimes ‘the Ochio’, and sometimes ‘the Oyo’.”1548
KB Harder discusses: “Named by French explorers after similar words in several Indian
languages. In the Iroquoian tongue it is oheo, ‘beautiful’, or ohion-hiio, ‘beautiful river’; in Wyandot, o,
he, zuh, ‘great, grand, fair to look upon’. The French called it La Belle Riviere, ‘the beautiful river’. The
territory and state were named for the river.”1549
www.e-referencedesk.com expounds: “From an Iroquoian word meaning ‘great river’.
“The state of Ohio is named after the Ohio River. Ohio is the name that the Iroquois Indians
used, when referring to the river, and means ‘large’ or ‘beautiful river’.”1550
GP Donehoo impresses: “There has been much discussion as to the exact origin and meaning of
this name of the river, which from its mouth on the Mississippi, was known as the Ohio, or Allegheny
River. The present river, Ohio, was looked at as being a continuation of the stream, which is now known
as the Allegheny. The Monongahela was simply a tributary of this stream. It will not be possible in this
note to enter into the entire discussion concerning this name, by which the river was known of all of the
early explorers and travelers. Heckewelder says, ‘There are persons who would have had me believe
that the Ohio signified ‘the beautiful river’, and others ‘the river red with blood’, or the ‘bloody river’.’
He said that the Delawares always called the river Kit-hanne, ‘great river’, or ‘main stream’. Hence
Kittanning, ‘on the great river’. Heckewelder then goes on to give the various meanings of Indian
(Delaware) words, similar in sound to Ohio – such as Ohiopeek, ‘white with froth’, Ohiopeekhanne, ‘a
stream whitened by froth’, and other forms, in which the Delaware word or sound, Ohio, is found. He
mentions the fact (which the author has frequently noticed), that the river, during an up-stream wind, is
covered with white caps, and says that the Indians would exclaim, ‘Ohiopeek, the stream is very white;’
or ‘Ohiophanne, the stream is very white.’ And such is the meaning which he gives the name. But the
river had the name Ohio, or Oyo, before the Delawares had migrated to the banks of the stream, and
when they were living on the banks of the Delaware. The earliest French maps give the name Ohio, and
invariably translate it, La Belle Riviere, or ‘The Beautiful River’. When the French explorers, LaSalle,
DeLery Celoron and others, first reached the river, they came in contact with the Seneca, or other
Iroquois tribes, who give them the name, which they translated. Ohio is not a Delaware word, but a
Seneca word, or compound, which does signify ‘Beautiful River’. Ohio was the Seneca name for the
1547

1982 Centennial Committee; 1882-1982 Ypsilanti Centennial, Ypsilanti, North Dakota; Two Rivers
Printing; 1982; provided by Mary Faith Young, 315 – 6th St NE, Jamestown, ND 58401
1548
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1549
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1550
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/ohio.html

river. Alligewi-sipu, or more properly, Tallagewi-sipu, was the Delaware name (hence Allegheny). Ohi-io
is the form used in the Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca prophet. This is the form given by AC
Parker, with the significance ‘River Beautiful’. The various derivations and meanings, given by Stafford,
‘endless river’, as the meaning of Allegheny; Trumbell (Welhik-hanne – Allegheny), ‘fairest river’, and the
meaning of Ohio as given by Mary Jemison, ‘bloody river’, are simply interesting, but have no foundation
whatever. They are similar to the confusion in names made by Trumbell, who says, ‘The Indian name of
the Alleghenies has been said – I do not remember on whose authority, to mean ‘endless mountains’.’
The name used is not Allegheny but Kittatinny, which was so translated – ‘endless mountains’ – and the
authority is the Indian Deed of 1749, and other Indian Deeds for the Susquehanna lands.
“Hermann’s map of Virginia and Maryland (1670), in the legend at the top of the map, calls the
river ‘the Black Minquaas River’. Who these Black Minquaas were has never been discovered. They
belonged to the Iroquois stock, and were destroyed by the Iroquois and the Susquehannas (Conestoga)
before 1670. Previous to that time, they carried on a trade with the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware.
According to Van der Donck, they were called Black, ‘because they wear a black badge on their breast,
and not because they are really black’. They are mentioned by Hudde in 1656, as ‘Southern Indians
(called Minquas) and the Black Indians’ – the former name having reference to the Susquehanna. These
Indians were then carrying Beaver skins to the Delaware. In 1662 William Beekman informed Director
Stuyvesant, ‘The Chiefs informed us among others, that they (the Susquehannas) were expecting shortly
for their assistance, black Minquas, and that 200 of this nation had already come in, so that they were
fully resolved to go to war with the Sinnecus next spring and visit their fort. They asked therefore, that
we Christians should not neglect to provide them with ammunition of war against payment.’ There
seems some grounds for thinking that these ‘Black Minquas’ were either the Erie or the Wenro. While
the term Sinnecus was applied to the Iroquois in general, it was the name of the present Seneca. In
1681 Jacob Young stated, before the Council at St Mary’s (Maryland), after a visit to the Indians to the
northward, and accompanied by an Onondaga and an Oneida, from who he got this information, ‘They
likewise say that another nation called the Black Mingoes, are joined with the Sinnondowanes, who are
the right Sinniquos; that they were so informed by some New York Indians, whom they met as they
were coming down. That they told then that the Black Mingoes, in their way coming to the Sinniquos,
were pursued by some Southern Indians, set up and routed, several of them taken and bound, till the
Sinniquos came unto their relief.’ On Louis Franquelin’s map (1684), the river is marked as ‘Ohio ats
Mosopeleacipi ats Olighin’. The Mosopelea was a tribe, which has not been identified. It is noted on
Marquette’s map (1681), as having a village on the Mississippi, just below the mouth of the Ohio. In
1682 LaSalle met a Mosopelea chief, who was living among the Taensea, to which place he had gone
after the destruction of his villages by some unknown enemy. On Franquelin’s map, about midway up
the Ohio, there is marked ‘Mosapelea. 8 Vil. Detruit.’ (‘Mosopelea, 8 villages, destroyed’). These
villages were situated about midway on the river Ohio, or between the Sciota and the site of Pittsburgh.
On De l’Isle’s map of Louisiana, on the southern bank of the Ohio there is marked, les Tongoria (the
Iroquois name for the Ontwaganha, which means ‘foreigners’, and included the Miami, Shawnee and
other alien tribes). This name is placed about south of Franquelin’s Mosapelea – on the opposite side of
the Ohio. These were probably the Shawnee. The region from which the Mosopelea were driven, and
their villages destroyed, was about the region in which the various earthen mounds are found. In Cyrus
Thomas’ Problem of the Ohio Mounds (1889), he gives many reasons for thinking that these mounds
were built by the Tallegwi (Heckewelder’s Allegewi), who were the ancestors of the present Cherokee.
These Tallegwi, as well as the Cherokee, were mound builders. The most important point in his very fine
argument is however the fact that ‘when this tradition was first made known, and the mounds
mentioned were attributed to this people, these ancient works were almost unknown to the
investigating minds of the country. This forbids the supposition that the tradition was warped or shaped
to fit a theory in regard to the origin of these antiquities.’ There can be little doubt but that the Tallegwi

(Cherokee) were the builders of these mounds in the Sciota valley, and probably those along the Ohio
River above this region. Is it then not possible that the Mosopelea and the Tallegwi were one and the
same people, and that the name Mosopeleacipi (‘River of the Mosopelea’), and Olighin (or
Heckewelder’s Allagewi-sipu), are simply names for the same people, who lived along the shores of the
Ohio, the Tallegwi? And may it not also be possible that the ‘Black Minquas’, the Mosopelea and the
Tallegwi, were simply different names for the same Iroquoian tribe? The mound builders were evidently
the most prominent tribe, which lived on the Ohio in this period before the historic days, and in the
period before 1670, the ‘Black Minquas’ were the most prominent and warlike tribe living on the Ohio.
The Eries, who were destroyed by the Iroquois in 1654-6, may have been a tribe which separated from
the main body of the Tallegwi, as the former occupied the region which joined that of the latter along
the Allegheny and Ohio. Both were of Iroquoian stock. VanKeulen’s map of New France (1720) marks
the river, ‘Riv d’Ohis autrement apelec Acansea Sipi’ or ‘River of the Akansea’. Gravier stated, 1701, that
the Ohio was known to the Miami and Illinois as the ‘river of the Akansea’ because that people had
formerly lived upon it. The Akansea, or Arkansa, is a Siouan tribe which was living in that year on the
Arkansas River. The traditions of the Osage, Kwapa and Omaha, all have traditions which carry them
back to the headwaters of the Ohio, as the land from which they migrated westward. Catlin, Sibley,
Dorsey and others heard this same tradition from the various tribes related to the Akansea. It is of
passing interest to notice that Catlin seems inclined to think that the earthen mounds in Ohio were built
by the ‘Welsh colony, the followers of Madoc’, who sailed up the Mississippi and then up the Ohio to the
region of the Muskingum, where they flourished until ‘the savages’ about them became jealous and
assaulted their settlements. They then built the earthen fortifications, as a protection against ‘the
savages’. They then left the region, going to the Missouri, and then on up that river to the country
where Catlin met the Mandans, who he regarded as the descendants of these Welsh colonists. This
theory was advanced by Catlin because of the various peculiar facts he mentions, in the appearance of
these Indians – hair of all colors, of ‘civilized society’, blue eyes, hazel eyes, etc. In all of the French
documents and letters of the historic period, after 1748, the river is always mentioned as ‘Ohio ou La
Belle Riviere’, and so it became known to the British, who first entered the region (officially) in 1748.”1551
***ANTIQUITY, MEIGS COUNTY1552, OHIO***
WL Ashley provides: “Antiquity is a small village situated in Letart Township four miles below
Letart Falls and one mile above Racine. It is a mile long and as far back as you can see, which is the cliff
or rocks along which the dwellings were built. It was settled in the early nineteenth century.
Supposedly, it was named by Nadok Cramer, who charted the Ohio River, and mentioned in The
Navigator the following: ‘I call it the ‘Rock of Antiquity’, which is a large smooth rock in a huge pile that
fell at one time from the cliff behind the village. On this rock, seen only when the river was very low, is
the outline of an Indian sitting in a squatting position, his elbows on his knees and holding his pipe in his
mouth with one hand.’ This carving has never been seen since the dam at Racine was built.”1553
***BLOWVILLE, CLERMONT COUNTY1554, OHIO***

1551

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/meigs/antiquity.cfm
1553
Provided by Wanda L Ashley, Pomeroy Public Library, 216 W Main St, Pomeroy, OH 45769;
[email protected]; http://www.meigs.lib.oh.us/
1554
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/clermont/blowville.cfm
1552

Ron Hill notates: “Blowville is a small hamlet near Marathon and ten miles from the county seat
of Batavia. It received that name in early 1800s. On several occasions during that period, high winds
and maybe even a tornado struck the area. Thus the name Blowville.”1555
***BRILLIANT, JEFFERSON COUNTY1556, OHIO***
JM Hanlin puts pen to paper: “‘I can’t cover two hundred years in a poem, as you will agree,
So I will just say what is important to me.
I could list every business and every store,
But to me, Brilliant is so much more.
‘Brilliant is a small town facing a river, and surrounded by hills.
The scenery provides more tranquility than the strongest pills.
LaBelle, Ohio and Third Streets are lined with beautiful trees,
With branches that provide shade, and sway in the gentle breeze.
You can listen to the boats and whistles of a train,
And smell the sweet, clean, fresh scent after a rain.
One thing that always has been a favorite of mine,
Is hearing the curfew siren every evening at nine.
The citizens have charity craft shows and donate what they made,
And they all gather on the streets to watch a parade.
Churches serve meals during and after a flood
For victims who move furniture and clean up the mud.
Children gather at a church for VBS [Vacation Bible School],
And when asked to help, most adults say, ‘yes’.
Donations are made by businesses both large and small,
So the town’s children may be able to play ball.
EMTs and fireman go on calls both night and day
Knowing very well, that they won’t receive any pay.
You can walk down the street anytime and not be afraid.
Yes, Brilliant is a town where fond memories are made.
‘The town’s people do favors and never charge a dime,
Even though it takes a lot of work, energy and time.
They show love in many ways when someone is ill or passes away,
And they remember to send greeting cards on your special day.
There is a mother who buys and renews dolls for the poor,
And a woman who buys clothes for the children next door.
A senior citizen knits hat sets even though she’s ninety one,
And she enjoys giving them away, so for her it’s fun.
A grandmother spends hours sewing for the Appalachian girls and boys,
To be able to wear new clothes, must give the children great joy.
A seamstress sometimes alters clothes for free,
If she thinks there would be a hardship if there were a fee.
For the food pantry, a couple spent many hours looking for good deals,
1555

Ron Hill, Clermont County Historical Society, PO Box 14, Batavia, OH 45103; [email protected];
www.clermont-county-history.org
1556
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant,_Ohio

To provide the low-income families with nourishing food for their meals.
Several families invite those who live alone for meals on the holidays.
If you have no transportation, then they will provide the way.
A teenage girl donates her beautiful long hair
To cancer patients just because she wants to share.
When I am away, my neighbor watches my house and feeds my cat,
I am so thankful that I know kind and generous people like that.
Brilliant is people who feel each other’s joy and pain,
Which is why former residents want to come home again.
‘I know Brilliant was once called Phillipsburg and LaGrange.
To people who live elsewhere, the name Brilliant may sound strange.
It’s a fact that it was named after the Brilliant Glass Factory that later burned down,
But I think the name Brilliant describes our bright, warm, beautiful and love-filled town.”1557
***BROKEN SWORD, CRAWFORD COUNTY1558, OHIO***
WH Perrin represents: “The principal stream is the Broken Sword, deriving its name, as usually
given, from the following circumstances: When Col Crawford had made good his escape from the
Indians, after the engagement, he missed his nephew, and retracing his steps, in company with Knight
and others in search of him, he was captured by the Delawares, who conducted him to Upper Sandusky,
and in coming to this stream, the Colonel drew his sword and broke it over a rock on the bank; hence its
name. Another tradition is that a broken sword that had been dropped by the retreating army of
Crawford, was found by the Indians upon the bank, from which it received its name. This stream is put
down on some of the early maps of Ohio as ‘Crooked-knife-creek’. This stream has its most distant
source in the southeast of Sandusky Township, and following a southeasterly course, cutting Todd
Township diagonally through the center. Its entire bed in this territory consists of a shaly limestone
rock. There are two other streams – Indian Run and Grass Run. The former rises in the northeast part of
the township, flowing to the southwest, crossed by the Benton road, two miles north of Osceola.
Nothing of general interest is connected with this or Grass Run, which is in the south part of the
township. The undulating surface and clay soil of this entire strip of land, in comparison with the level
plains skirting it on the south, present a striking contrast. But a very small percent of the surface of the
township consists of black soil. The body is of a pale clay loam, enriched by the mulch of many crops of
forest leaves. The soil is filled with stone, mostly boulders and their fragments, belonging to the glacial
period.
“The bed of the Broken Sword and its banks are composed of loosely stratified limestone,
abounding in well-preserved fossils – fragmentary corals, and shell indentures distinctly outlining several
species of the brachiopods. Of the articulates, a small variety of the trilobite are frequently discovered
by the workmen. Messrs Snavely Bros, the principle workers of the quarries in the township, have found
many of the above specimens. This calcareous soil and rolling upland has been exceptionally prolific in
producing a rank growth of timber.”1559

1557

Judy M Hanlin; Poem Brilliant; in Lisa Marlin; Brilliant: Shining Brightly Since 1819; 2003; provided by
Larry Owens, Wells Township Trustee, 409 Prospect St, Brilliant, OH 43913; [email protected];
http://www.wellstownship.net/
1558
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokensword,_Ohio
1559
William Henry Perrin; History of Crawford County and Ohio: Containing a history of the state of Ohio,
from its earliest settlement to the present time … a history … early settlers and prominent men, etc, etc;

***DEADMAN’S CURVE, CLERMONT COUNTY1560, OHIO***
Ron Hill specifies: “Deadmans Curve is on SR 222 near the intersection with SR 125. Since 1969
a reported 93 people have been killed there. There is a rumor that an additional 11 people have died
there, not in automobile accidents.”1561
www.creepycincinnati.com chronicles: “Said by some to be the most haunted place in Ohio,
Dead Man’s Curve does seem to have a dark history. This allegedly haunted stretch of road is between
Amelia and Bethel, in the village of Bantam in Clermont County, where Route 222 meets Route 125.
Urban Legend says that this stretch of road is haunted by a faceless hitchhiker. He is said to roam this
area late at night, usually between 1:20 and 1:40 AM, hitching a ride, sometimes appearing in the
middle of the road, where unsuspecting drivers hit him, only to jump and chase your car afterwards.
People report seeing this strange man on the side of the road, others tell of their car being pelted with
rocks from someone unseen. Those who have gotten close enough to him to get a good look all report
the same thing, there’s no sign of a face at all, just blackness!
“The road itself does have a reputation for being dangerous. After all, it’s not called Dead Man’s
Curve for nothing. However, oddly, there’s not even much of a curve at Dead Man’s Curve, at least not
anymore. That stretch of road was originally part of the Ohio Turnpike, built in 1831. The original road
was designed in a way that it curved sharply at the top of a hill, causing many horses and carriages to
slip or roll over and down the hillside, in turn, causing many deaths. It was a two lane highway until
1968, when it was straightened and widened to four lanes. There was said to have been a celebratory
ribbon cutting commemorating the end of Dead Man’s Curve. However this turned out to be a bit
premature.
“A month later, there was a huge accident at the intersection. An Impala with 5 teenagers inside
was hit by a green Roadrunner, said to have been traveling at 100 mph. Only one person survived the
wreck. By most accounts, it was after this accident that the faceless hitchhiker started to appear. There
have also been reports of a green Roadrunner chasing drivers down this stretch of road from time to
time since then. Since that accident, it’s said that over 70 people have been killed at that intersection.
We haven’t verified this number yet, but we do know there have been numerous accidents there.
Considering the road is pretty much a flat, straight run, this fact does seem a bit weird. I’m not sure why
the time from 1:20 to 1:40 is when ole’ faceless likes to cause trouble, but I guess it might
have something to do with the time of the accident.
“I asked the Ohio State Patrol about this, and what they say doesn’t exactly match up to what
urban legend says (go figure). Here’s their response to my question (from late 2009).
“‘The SR 222/Bantam Rd intersection is located at the 10.35 milepost of SR 125. There have
been 25 reported crashes reported on SR 125 between mileposts 10 & 11 since the beginning of 2008.
Eighteen (18) in 2008 and seven (7) thus far in 2009. The only incident, during that time period between
1:20 & 1:40 AM, occurred on 10/18/2008. The sheriff investigated (report 08-10-27) a vehicle striking a
deer.’
“So if you decide to go looking for the faceless hitchhiker, be careful and drive safe, but looks
like you should be ok. Maybe, just maybe, somebody should just pick the guy up and give him a lift, how
long are we gonna make him wait out there? Sheesh!”1562
Baskin & Battey; 1881; provided by Emily Buck, Bucyrus Public Library, 200 East Mansfield St, Bucyrus,
OH 44820; [email protected]
1560
http://www.forgottenoh.com/Counties/Clermont/deadmanscurve.html
1561
Ron Hill, Clermont County Historical Society, PO Box 14, Batavia, OH 45103; [email protected];
www.clermont-county-history.org
1562
http://creepycincinnati.com/2011/11/11/clermont-county-dead-mans-curve/

www.forgottenoh.com declares: “One of the darkest legends I've run across is that of Dead
Man's Curve, a dangerous turning intersection in Clermont County - according to the most common
reports, at the place where 222 meets State Route 125. The road was part of the Ohio Turnpike built in
1831, and it has a long list of victims.
“In September of 1969, the State of Ohio rebuilt the road into a straight four-lane road. On
October 19, 1969, five teenagers died there, when their 1968 Impala was hit at more than a hundred
miles an hour by a 1969 Roadrunner. There was only one survivor: a guy named Rick.
“Ever since that day, the intersection has been haunted by ‘the faceless hitchhiker’, whom Rick
has seen five times. It is described as the pitch-black silhouette of a man, a ‘three-dimensional
silhouette’.
“I'll offer some quotes here from Haunted Ohio III.
“Rick's friend Todd: ‘Rick and I were heading home from Bethel to Amelia. I noticed a man's
shape on the side of the road. It turned like it was hitchhiking, with an arm sticking up. The thing wore
light-colored pants, a blue shirt, longer hair - and there was just a blank, flat surface where the face
should have been. We looked back. There was nobody there. I've also seen the black shadow figure,
walking its slow, labored, dragging walk by the side of the road.’
“Rick hired a psychic from Pittsburg, who had never heard of the intersection and didn't want to
hear about it in advance. She asked to be dropped off there for a few hours so she could feel it out. Five
minutes later she called him from the deli up the road, asking him to come get her. ‘Someone very evil is
there,’ she said. ‘He died suddenly and he is still there.’
“A female friend of Rick's was driving there, and the shadow figure threw itself in front of her
car. She felt her wheels bump over it. When she stopped, she saw it climbing onto her car with one foot
on her trunk and its hands in the luggage rack. Even now she gets the shakes when she talks about it.
“A driverless Impala and a mysterious green Roadrunner are seen in the area as well.
“This story is of special interest to me, because one night when my friends, Hoss and Dan, and I
were driving around late at night out in the country, we saw something far ahead on the road. It was a
shadow man, a tall, thin thing made entirely out of blackness, legs scissoring as it moved across the road
way too fast. We all saw it, and none of us has ever been able to figure out what it was. I wish I could
remember if we were in Clermont County that night.
“Due to rerouting, the actual location of Dead Man's Curve is somewhat in doubt. They say it's
at 222 and SR 125, near Bantam Road. As you head east on 125, 222 turns right towards Felicity and
Bantam Road turns left toward East Fork Lake State Park. The spot is just below a carryout.”1563
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County1564, www.allthingsclevelandohio.blogspot.de tells:
“Dead Man’s Curve is one of those Cleveland landmarks that was never intended to be a landmark. The
near 90-degree curve is where I-90 takes a hard left, where it splits off with Ohio Route 2 westbound, or
with a hard right for drivers going eastbound. Constructed in 1959 as part of the Inner belt project
(which started in 1954), it opened with a speed limit of 50 miles per hour. With this speed being far too
fast for a curve so severe, it didn’t take long for the curve to become a high accident area. The speed
limit was dropped to 35 mph in 1965, and in 1969, the curve was modified to include a banked turn,
with improved signs and rumble strips in the road.
“Despite the fact that years later, the signs, rumble strips, 35 mph speed limit plus added
concrete barriers are still in place, inevitably someone – seemingly most often truckers – misjudge the
curve and wind up losing control. This can create horrific traffic snarls that affect people trying to get out
of, and through, the city. The Innerbelt itself gets in excess of 120,000 vehicles a day, many of those
vehicles passing through Dead Man’s Curve.
1563
1564

Dead Man's Curve; http://www.forgottenoh.com/Counties/Clermont/deadmanscurve.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland

“A few years ago, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) made proposals for
improvements with the Innerbelt, including smoothing out Dead Man’s Curve. The Innerbelt project as a
whole continues to be analyzed and disputed by many, due to its potential effects on businesses by the
changing of exits, and the possible effects on structures that are currently in the way of the new
Innerbelt Bridge configuration. While no one seems to disagree that Dead Man’s Curve remains a
dangerous area, the changes to the Innerbelt and Shoreway that need to take place in order to
accommodate improvements are also in dispute.
“Cleveland's Dead Man's Curve, I-90 Eastbound: In the meantime, the Innerbelt Bridge, made in
the same style as the Minneapolis Bridge that collapsed in August of 2007, continues to deteriorate. The
Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on December 19, 2007:
“‘The Ohio Department of Transportation originally planned to build a new Interstate 90 bridge
over the Cuyahoga River, then rehab the existing 48-year-old bridge, estimated to cost more than $140
million. But the state will speed up its repair plan and delay building the new bridge.
“‘So in just more than two years, motorists will face this:
“‘Eastbound and westbound traffic lanes on the bridge - the main artery into and through
downtown Cleveland - will be reduced from four to two in each direction to make room for the work.
Besides the deterioration, another reason for the change is that planning for the new bridge is taking
longer than expected. So if ODOT stuck with its original schedule, work to rehab the existing bridge
wouldn't start until 2016 or 2017. … ODOT is waiting for federal highway officials to review and approve
a draft of the overall Inner Belt plan, which includes softening Dead Man's Curve and improving the flow
of traffic through the accident-prone ‘trench’ in Midtown, in part by reducing on and off ramps.’
“So we wait. But in the meantime, let’s all slow down and have respect for the REAL Dead Man’s
Curve in Cleveland. And while you’re at it, you can watch and listen to the video from YouTube, with Jan
and Dean’s song about the fictional Dead Man’s Curve. Just don't watch while you're driving.”1565
***DEFIANCE, DEFIANCE COUNTY1566, OHIO***
KB Harder displays: “For Fort Defiance, the strongest post built by Anthony Wayne during the
campaign of 1794. It was situated at the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers within what is
now Defiance, Ohio. Wayne repeatedly exclaimed, ‘I defy the English, Indians, and all the devils in hell
to take it,’ and General Charles Scott replied, ‘Then call it Fort Defiance.’ From it, Wayne moved down
the Maumee valley to the victory of Fallen Timbers (large numbers of fall trees in the vicinity), a decisive
battle in the Indian Wars.”1567
WD Overman expresses: “Defiance is at the intersection of routes 15, 24, and 66 in Defiance
County. It is located on the site of and is named for Fort Defiance. The fort was built in 1794 at the
confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers by General Anthony Wayne. He described the fort as
being so strong that he ‘defied hell and all her emissaries …’ to take the fort.”1568
***DODO, CLARK COUNTY1569, OHIO***

1565

http://allthingsclevelandohio.blogspot.de/2008/02/clevelands-dead-mans-curve.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance,_Ohio
1567
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1568
William D Overman; Ohio Town Names; Atlantic Press; 1958; provided by Judith Cosgray, State
Government Outreach Consultant, State Library of Ohio, 274 East First Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201;
[email protected]; http://library.ohio.gov
1569
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/clark/dodo.cfm
1566

The newspaper titled Remember Where Dodo, Allentown Were in Country? notes: “The village
of Dodo is dead – just as dead as the bird for which some 19th century wag had christened it.
“But some 85 years ago, say about 1855, when Col Thomas Kizer drew his famous map of Clark
County, there was a Dodo, Clark County, Ohio. It was on the map too.
“Dodo is just one of the settlements in Clark County whose names were household words to an
earlier generation, but which now have passed largely from the public memory.
“Some of them, like Dodo, and its namesake, are extinct. Others have grown up under other
names.
“There were at once time or another, such villages as Allentown, Lawrence Station,
Chambersburg, Brottensburgh, Newburg, Hennessy, Noblesville, Monroe, Owlton, Concord, Clarksburg,
Orchard and Windsor. Old-timers are few who can locate them accurately, or tell what existing villages
they now represent.
“Dodo, when Col Kizer’s map was drawn, lay at the junction of the Marquart rd and the New
Carlisle-St Paris rd. They named it Dodo because it had only a post office, and it, like the famous bird,
was almost extinct, too.”1570
***FORT FIZZLE, HOLMES COUNTY1571, OHIO
Candace Barnhart records: “The Holmes County Rebellion, 1863: ‘A rebellion against the Union,
spurred on by an unfair draft law and an abusive enrolling officer, came to a quick halt at Fort Fizzle.
“French Ridge was the home to many French-Swiss immigrants of little wealth. In response to
President Lincoln's new draft law, enrolling officers came to the settlement, slandering and ridiculing the
women, most of whom could not understand or speak English. This provoked the local men to anger and
was directly responsible for US Marshals trying to arrest a local man and attempt to take him to
Cleveland for trial. But this party was met with a growing band of more than 75 men, demanding his
release. Ultimately the government sent 420 soldiers from Camp Chase, with a section of battery, to
quell this resistance. This resistance, now including surrounding copperheads and peace democrats,
were headquartered in a stone house, or ‘fort’, owned by one of the leaders in the resistance
movement. As the troops neared the fort, the advance guard was fired upon. A charge against the fort
sent the rebels running into the surrounding hills, and the fortification was taken. The battle was a fiasco
and brought a quick end to the resistance movement in Holmes County, thus being a ‘fizzle’.
“A few arrests were made, and a few persons were indicted for resisting the US authorities, but
with a single exception, all were canceled.
“Today all that remains to mark the place where the incident occurred is a historical marker
along the road, in the peaceful hills in rural Richland Township in Holmes County.”1572
***GNADENHUTTEN, TUSCARAWAS COUNTY1573, OHIO***

1570

Remember Where Dodo, Allentown Were in Country? Old Maps and Histories Tell Many Forgotten
Chapters in History of Vicinity; newspaper article; 1939; in Clark County Kin; Clark County Chapter of the
OGS; Vol 28; Issue 4; Fall 2010; provided by Natalie Fritz, Curatorial Assistant, Clark County Historical
Society, 117 S Fountain Ave, Springfield, OH 44502; [email protected]
1571
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/holmes/fort-fizzle.cfm
1572
Candace Barnhart, Curator, Holmes County Historical Society, 484 Wooster Road, Millersburg, OH
44654; [email protected]; http://www.holmeshistory.com/
1573
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten,_Ohio

Henry Gannett reveals: “Gnadenhutten: village in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, settled by Moravian
missionaries. A German word meaning ‘sacred hut’ or ‘log tabernacle’.”1574
www.ohiohistorycentral.org spells out: “In 1772 Moravian missionaries founded a mission for
Native Americans in the Ohio Country at Schoenbrunn (‘Beautiful Spring’ in German). Because of its
success, Rev David Zeisberger founded a second village in the same year at Gnadenhutten (‘Tents of
Grace’ in German). Life at Gnadenhutten was similar to life at Schoenbrunn.
“The American Revolution made life difficult for the residents of Gnadenhutten and other
Moravian settlements. During the war, non-Christian Delawares increasingly supported England, instead
of the rebellious Americans, or the Christian Indians, who hoped to remain neutral. To protect his
followers, Zeisberger consolidated the Moravian missions at Lichtenau in 1778, but he eventually
reestablished the village of Gnadenhutten in April 1779.
“In 1781 British authorities ordered the Christian Delawares to abandon their current villages
and relocate in northern Ohio along the Sandusky River. Arriving at their new villages in the late fall, too
late to plant crops, the Moravians and the Christian Delawares faced serious food shortages during the
winter of 1781-2. Hoping to alleviate their suffering, Zeisberger sent a group back to Gnadenhutten in
March 1782, to harvest whatever crops remained in the fields. Mistakenly believing that these peaceful
Indians were responsible for raids in Pennsylvania, militiamen attacked the village, captured the
inhabitants, and then murdered them. This gruesome event is known as the Gnadenhutten Massacre.
After the incident, the Moravians never rebuilt the village.”1575
www.ohiohistorycentral.org adds regarding the massacre: “On March 8 and 9, 1782, a group of
Pennsylvania militiamen, under the command of Captain David Williamson, attacked the Moravian
Church mission founded by David Zeisberger at Gnadenhutten. The Americans attacked the natives in
retaliation for the deaths and kidnappings of several white Pennsylvanians. Although the militiamen
attacked the Christian Indians, these Native Americans had not been involved in the previous incidents.
The Christian Delawares had abandoned Gnadenhutten the year before, but some of them had returned
to harvest crops that were still in the fields.
“On March 8, the militiamen arrived at Gnadenhutten. Accusing the natives of the attack on the
Pennsylvania settlements, the soldiers rounded them up and placed the men and women in separate
buildings in the abandoned village overnight. The militiamen then voted to execute their captives the
following morning. Informed of their impending deaths, the Christian Delawares spent the night praying
and singing hymns. The next morning, the soldiers took the natives in pairs to a cabin and killed them. In
all Williamson's men murdered twenty-eight men, twenty-nine women, and thirty-nine children. There
were only two survivors, who informed the Moravian missionaries and other Christian Indians as to
what had occurred.”1576
***JUMP, HARDIN COUNTY1577, OHIO***
Nancy Laubis touches on: “If you travel west on Route 67 and turn north of CR 75 (Jumbo) then
west on CR 150, you will come to what was once the frontier town of Jump, or N-word Island.
“Jump is supposed to have gotten its name from the fact that the Island located there was a
jumping off place for people going through the Scioto marshlands. The Island, known as ‘N-word Island’
was used as a hiding place for runaway slaves escaping from the south. They were hidden there by

1574

Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1575
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=723
1576
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=499
1577
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/hardin/jump.cfm

members of the Underground Railroad, until they could be sent on their way to Canada. Some say the
slaves were also hidden on Anstine Hill on Route 67.
“The Marsh was thriving, and onion fields were highly productive. Jump was accessible only
over a cord log road that ran through the heavily forested marshland, but there were several homes of
log and rough frame construction, two small cabins for school buildings, two grocery stores, a
blacksmith and the Red Hawg Saloon, which drew young men from neighboring districts – such as
Jumbo, to break up the activities, do some drinking and a little fighting.
“There was no church closer than Jumbo, so the school buildings were used for Sunday School
classes and preaching services as well. Too many people took exception to the name of ‘N-word Island’,
so the church was known as the Island Grove Church. The gang rivalry did not stop at the Red Hawg.
Guards had to be posted at the school doors during church services, and many a preacher had to dodge
rotten eggs and over-ripe tomatoes.
“Around the turn of the 20th century, the Red Hawg Saloon was voted out. It served its last drink
and was torn down. ‘N-word Island’ itself died out, as the marshland became spent, and the productive
onion fields were turned into less lucrative crops. Today it is a ghost town.”1578
***KNOCK-EM-STIFF, ROSS COUNTY1579, OHIO***
Steven Rosen clarifies: “Ardith Chaney, 85, brings out a framed, yellowed newspaper clipping
that she keeps with other memorabilia in her house along the highway through this hamlet in southcentral Ohio.
“It shows the exterior of a seemingly deserted general store, an old-fashioned gasoline pump
dating it as decades old. It is not much of a photo despite its Hopperesque aura, but the caption is
mysteriously provocative: ‘Loiterers on the porch of Knockemstiff’s general store adjourned to the inside
when they saw a stranger with a camera.’
“What could have prompted such a response?
“‘They probably had said stuff they didn’t want to be saying,’ said Mrs Chaney, a resident of this
unincorporated town since 1941. ‘It used to be real rowdy.’
“Her 48-year-old daughter, Crystal Ball, who lives nearby, said the picture was probably taken
when moonshining was still common in this Appalachian community. Publicity was not a good thing.
“But Knockemstiff has been in the news lately. A former resident, Donald Ray Pollock, used the
town as the setting for a book, Knockemstiff (Doubleday), a series of hard-edged, violent and profane
short stories about the squalor of life here. The book’s cover, showing a bullet-riddled Knockemstiff
highway sign, sets the tone for the collection.
“‘Knockemstiff had a reputation for being a really rough place,’ Mr Pollock said from his home in
Chillicothe, eight miles to the northeast. ‘When I started writing, I took that and cranked it up a few
amps.’
“The town’s name is a source of folklore and conjecture. At the Ross County Historical Society’s
McKell Library in Chillicothe, an archivist, Pat Medert, has a 1955 article from The Dayton Daily News
about the town’s effort to change its name.
“Ms Medert said it quoted a resident saying that the origins dated far back, perhaps 100 years,
to an episode in which a traveling preacher came across two women fighting over a man. The preacher

1578

Nancy Laubis; Jump; published by Hardin County Historical Museums, 223 N Main St, Kenton, OH
43326; [email protected]; www.hardinmuseums.org; provided by Sandy Thaxton,
Head of Reference, MLJ-Hardin County District Library, 325 East Columbus St, Kenton, OH 43326;
[email protected]; http://www.mljlibrary.org/
1579
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockemstiff,_Ohio

said that he doubted the man was worth the trouble and that someone should ‘knock him stiff’. But
variations on that story exist, as do ones that say the name is associated with moonshine and bar fights.
“Just as much a source of debate is when Knockemstiff actually became Knockemstiff. The
historical society has a county road map from 1940 showing its existence, and one from 1919 that does
not. It has also been hard for county officials to decide on the town’s boundaries, to estimate its current
population. A Knockemstiff native, Lyle Johnson, 59, said there were about 200 residents.
“Since Mr Pollock’s book was published in the spring, interest in the town has been building.
There was an effort to start a Knockemstiff Hillbilly Bash music festival in mid-July, but it did not happen.
Ms Ball said a history professor at the Chillicothe campus of Ohio University was eager to know if she
was a character in Mr Pollock’s book, and, ‘I said, ‘No, I don’t think I’m in there.’
“E Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University — where Mr Pollock, a 53-year-old former
paper mill worker, is studying creative writing — recently drove through Knockemstiff on a tour of the
state. He said he had read the book and wanted to see for himself; Mr Pollock said Mr Gee even wanted
to get his picture taken next to the sign.
“If only there were a sign — or more of a town — left to visit.
“There are no stores or bars left in Knockemstiff, only the ruins of several, including one that
was run by Mr Pollock’s parents, who still live in town. Souvenir hunters have taken whatever they can
find. The sign on the book’s cover, which had extra bullet holes added by a graphic artist, had
disappeared by the time of publication.
“The only indication that this is a community with a history, and not just isolated rural homes, is
Shady Glen Church of Christ in Christian Union. It is right at what was the town center, near the corner
of Shady Glen and Black Run Roads in Huntington Township.
“Once a farming area, Knockemstiff was close enough to industries in Chillicothe — especially
the Glatfelter paper mill and the former WearEver Aluminum plant — that residents found work there.
“As Shady Glen climbs the hillside from Black Run, it turns increasingly remote until the paved
road ends. There are houses dipping below and rising above road level. In one, a modular home with a
long wooden front deck, 60-year-old Sue McRae, a retired worker at the county senior center in
Chillicothe, sits and quietly smokes with a friend, Berl Sullivan, 57.
“Neither has read Mr Pollock’s book, but Ms McRae said she had learned about it while on the
Internet communicating with her 11 children. Her online name is Knockemstiffmom.
“Ms McRae finds reports of the book’s sensationalism amusing, but is not prepared to read it
just yet.
“‘I’m waiting for the sequel,’ she said.”1580
www.forgottenoh.com describes some of the creepy happening around Knock-em-stiff: “Devil’s
Leap: Located behind the old McComis property, these cliffs are haunted by the ghost of a suicide, who
supposedly leapt from the top, when he was haunted by the voice of the devil in his head. You are
supposed to be able to hear him scream all the way down.
“Foggymoore: The creepiest story out of Knockemstiff is that of the permanently foggy dip in
the road known as Foggymoore. One night a lady and her daughter were driving home and happened
upon a man lying in the road on his side, with one hand propping up his head, smoking a cigarette.
Instead of getting up and moving, the guy simply floated away, still in the lying-down position. Very
creepy.
“Donald’s Pond: It’s not the pond that’s haunted so much as the forgotten cemetery behind it,
which dates to the 1700s. (Chillicothe was the first capital of the Northwest Territory.) Locals report all
sorts of weird occurrences in the old boneyard behind Donald’s Pond.
1580

Steven Rosen; What’s in a Name? Ask Knockemstiff; August 5, 2008;
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/us/05ohio.html?_r=0

“Lindy Sue: The ghost of a beautiful girl named Lindy Sue is said to wander the hollows of
Knockemstiff. Apparently she was parked with her boyfriend, Clem Slatterson (some accounts call him
Jason), in a buggy on a bridge over Paint Creek, when dogs all over the area started howling. Her body
was later found on the bridge, strangled. The horse was found a couple of days later by a search party,
dead of fright, the buggy smashed, a huge red mark on her neck, where whoever – or whatever – killed
her, got a handhold. Clem was never found. Lindy’s ghost haunts the area to the day, but Clem has
never been heard from, perhaps because he’s embarrassed by his name. If you park on their bridge at
night, you’ll hear Lindy Sue crying out in terror from whatever it was that took her life.”1581
***LIARS CORNER, ATHENS COUNTY1582, OHIO***
JD Cunningham documents: “In reality it is a T-shaped junction of Townships Road 322 & 324 on
Sand Ridge in Dover Township, Athens County, Ohio. I believe the late Mr Brown’s residence is still
standing. In the late 1970s, there was an herb shop run by Mr & Mrs Gerald Chorba on the site.”1583
A newspaper article from 1972 observes: “Carl H Brown, 71, Millfield Route 1, the ‘mayor’ of
Liars Corner, was found dead at his home Tuesday evening. Dr RE Butts, Athens County coroner, ruled
death occurred Monday night and was caused by an apparent heart attack.
“Mr Brown was widely-known as a story teller and trader, and his home at the junction of two
rural roads on Sand Ridge was known as ‘Liars Corner’. He had erected signs and often referred to
himself as the ‘mayor’. He was frequently visited by shoppers in search of antiques or hard-to-find
items, or by persons simply wishing a friendly man with whom they could visit. He delighted in spinning
tall tales, and his door was always open to visitors, who sometimes left with an item they had
purchased, and at other times, with just the memory of story swapping and a few new yarns to pass on,
all of which they attributed to their genial host.
“He was a lifelong Athens County resident, a son of the late George W and Rachael Brown. Mr
Brown was a farmer and for seven years was employed at the McBee Co, until forced to retire following
an injury. His wife, Edith, died in 1967. Three brothers, Fred, Walter and Edgar, also died previously.
“He is survived by a son, Earl H of Millfield, Route 1; two daughters, Mrs Dale (Dorothy)
Channell, The Plains, and Mrs Nicky (Edna) McBride, Athens, Route 2; six grandchildren and a brother,
Charles P Brown of Athens.
“Services will be held Friday at 1 pm in the Hughes Funeral Home by the Rev Paul Johnson.
Burial will be in the Hilltop Cemetery.
“Friends may call at the funeral home after 3 pm Thursday.”1584
***MAGNETIC SPRINGS, UNION COUNTY1585, OHIO***
RW Parrott recounts: “Magnetic Springs began in 1879, when JE Newhouse discovered a
magnetic spring of water in his park, Green Bend Garden. Visitors to this park found relief from a
number of afflictions after drinking from the spring, and its fame began to spread. A devout minister
1581

http://www.forgottenoh.com/GhostTowns/knockemstiff.html
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/athens/liars-corner.cfm
1583
John D Cunningham, Library Volunteer, Levering Library, Athens County Historical Society &
Museum, Athens County Genealogical Chapter, 65 North County St, Athens, OH 45701;
[email protected]; www.athenshistory.org
1584
Carl H Brown Dies; ‘Mayor’ of Liars Corner; February 9, 1972; provided by John D Cunningham,
Library Volunteer, Levering Library, Athens County Historical Society & Museum, Athens County
Genealogical Chapter, 65 North County St, Athens, OH 45701; [email protected];
www.athenshistory.org
1585
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_Springs,_Ohio
1582

told Newhouse that he would be committing a very grave sin if he did not put the water to use, to ‘help
heal suffering humanity’. Thus Newhouse and Company was formed and opened the Magnetic Springs
Bath House.
“The success of this bath house was amazing. Soon 500 baths were given daily. ‘The crowds
find their way in buggies, carriages, horseback, foot, or anyway to get there.’ Invalids came from all over
the country seeking relief from such ailments as Bright’s disease, diabetes, rheumatism, paralysis, kidney
disease, nervous disorder, and etc.
“To meet the needs of hundreds of invalids that streamed to the springs, a new town rapidly
grew up. Lots were surveyed off and Magnetic Springs, the boom town, sprang into existence. Hotels,
boarding houses, businesses, and homes were built as fast as contractors could construct them. In 1883
the town was incorporated with 300 permanent residents and up to 10,000 guests and invalids flooding
the town in the summer months.
“There were seven hotels in Magnetic Springs: the Fountain House (1880-1924), also known as
the Central Hotel and the Park Hotel Annex; (first) Park Hotel (1881-1922); Hoskins Hotel (1882-1981),
also known as the Union, Columbus, and Conrad Hotel; Conrad & Herrod Hotel (1904-5); Sager Hotel
(1916-80), also known as the Incor Hotel; Ballard Hotel (1921-81); and (second) Park Hotel (1923-).
“From its beginning in 1879, until World War II, the town was constantly alive with guests – both
those who came for medical reasons and those who came for pleasure. As a resort town, Magnetic
Springs offered an amusement park – Maple Dell, boating, horseback riding, golfing, hunting, fishing,
and slot machines, to name a few attractions. One could take the trolley to Magnetic Springs or fly into
the Dr JF Conrad Hotel Airport. Once at Magnetic, one could ride a steamboat or take a chariot to
Maple Dell and enjoy ice-cream at the Maple Dell Hotel. Each hotel offered its own form of
entertainment, such as boxing in the lobby, hot-air balloon ascensions in front of the hotel, or fireworks
off the balcony.
“After World War II, advances in medicine and drugs made mineral bath treatments obsolete.
Business declined and eventually closed. The Park Hotel was converted into the Magnetic Springs Polio
Clinic for a time, but closed after a vaccine was discovered for the disease. By the late 1960s, baths
were no longer given in the town, and most of the springs were closed up.
“As part of its centennial activities, the town formed the Save Our Springs Committee (SOS) in
1983. One of the goals of this group was to once again open a spring to the public. Money for this
project was raised through the annual Spring Water Festival. In 1985 the Spring Water Park was created
and the old Incor Hotel Spring was reopened.
“Today, Magnetic Springs consists of about 300 citizens.”1586
***PLUGGY’S TOWN, DELAWARE COUNTY1587, OHIO***
RE Buckingham says: “Judge EM Wickham did a great deal of research in order to determine the
exact site of Pluggy’s Town, an Indian village known to have existed in this area during the years from
1773 to 1778. Chief Pluggy, a Mohawk Indian, had become disgruntled with life in their New York
haunts, so he gathered together a sizeable group of followers and headed for Ohio. The Mohawks were
a part of the Iroquois speaking nation. Early settlers tagged all of those who spoke thusly as Mingoes, a
corruption of the Iroquois words, Minngwe or Magua, which meant ‘snake’. They settled for a time
near Coshocton. Being of a restless nature, they moved farther west and established a permanent
1586

Robert W Parrott; Magnetic Springs, Ohio; in History Book Committee Union County, Ohio; Family
Heritage Union County, Ohio 1985; Taylor Publishing; 1985; provided by Stephen W Badenhop, Union
County Records Center and Archives Coordinator, Union County Archives, 128 South Main St, Ste 114,
Marysville, OH 43040; [email protected]; http://www.historyohio.com/contact_us.html
1587
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1068737,n,pluggys%20town.cfm

village with seventy warriors and their families. Judge Wickham was able to establish the village site as
being located at the east end of Lincoln Ave, between Union Street and the Olentangy River. The Ohio
Revolutionary Memorial Commission concurred in Wickham’s findings and erected a marker denoting
the spot. There is positive proof that the famous Chief Logan lived in Pluggy’s Town for two years.
“Pluggy, the Mohawk, was a belligerent Indian, who raided white settlements in neighboring
states. It is probable that many of his captives were brought back and subjected to Indian tortures. It
was on one of these raids into Kentucky that Chief Pluggy himself was killed in 1777. Based on reports
from two men, George Morgan and William Wilson, who had visited this territory, the Virginia Council
organized an army to thwart Pluggy’s raids. But Governor Patrick Henry stopped the move, he being
fearful it might end in all-out war.”1588
***WHITEWOMAN, COSHOCTON COUNTY1589, OHIO***
RK Hoover spotlights: “Confusion about Mary Harris, the first white woman settler to live in
Ohio, has done a great disservice to this brave and worthy resident of our region. Her name became
associated with several oral traditions that were combined into a single narrative legend that implied
she was a murderess.
“A variety of Indian towns were found along the Muskingum River and its tributaries. Mary
Harris came to live seven miles north of present-day Coshocton from the 1740s to early 1750s.
“Her beauty supposedly captivated Chief Eagle Feather, who made her his wife.
“In his history of Coshocton County, historian Albert Adams offered details of the legend,
including Mary mixing war paint and putting it on her husband, polishing his hatchet with soapstone and
pluming him with feathers. She is said to have accompanied him on war parties and assisted in burning
poor captives.
“Her legendary marriage, however, was unhappy, perhaps because she was childless. The
legend said that, one day, Eagle Feather brought home a white female captive and wanted her to stay in
her wigwam. This made Mary angry, and she hated the competition of this newcomer. The next
morning, Eagle Feather was found with his head cut open by a tomahawk. It is unclear whether the
crime was carried out by Mary or the newcomer, but the accusation fell on Mary. A related myth is that
the other woman tried to escape and jumped off ‘Whitewoman Rock’ on the Walhonding River, but in
reality this had no connection to Mary Harris.
“The true story of Ohio’s first white woman settler is more difficult to track down. My wife,
Alice, has done considerable research on Mary Harris, and the following narrative is our collaboration:
“Mary was born in the Massachusetts territory in the late 1600s. When her father died, her
mother could not support her children, so Mary became a servant girl for the Beamon family. They
moved to Deerfield, Mass, an isolated English settlement on the Connecticut River.
“In February 1704, Deerfield was attacked by Indians allied with the French. Almost 140
residents escaped, about 40 were killed and 112 were marched 300 miles to Canada in winter. The
journey was arduous and about 20 whites were killed or perished along the way.
“Mary’s captor took her to Caughnawaga, 10 miles from Montreal. This was a village of
Christian Indians, converts of the Jesuits. Mary was 9 or 10 years old when she was adopted by an

1588

Ray E Buckingham; Delaware County Then and Now: An Informal History; Historybook; 1976;
provided by Susan Logan, Library volunteer, Delaware County Historical Library, PO Box 317, Delaware,
OH 43015;
[email protected]; http://delawareohiohistory.org/index.html
1589
http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1067518,n,white%20womans%20town.cfm

Indian family, whom she came to love. Her new way of life slowly changed her outlook, and she learned
to appreciate the customs of her new faith, more than those of her strict Puritan background.
“Eventually she embraced the native lifestyle, married a Mohawk brave and had several
children.
“In the late 1740s, Mary, her family and other Caughnawaga friends, moved to the Ohio
Territory at the request of the French, who wanted a firmer claim on the land. This was a risky move in
the Muskingum Valley wilderness. Mary courageously made her home at Whitewoman Town, near
Warsaw. An English land agent, Christopher Gist, met her there on Jan 15, 1751. She was about 50
years old at that time, and her fame had spread in the region. The Walhonding (‘White Woman’) River
was named for her. When the French and Indian War erupted, Mary, her family and friends, returned to
Canada. As Ohio’s first white woman settler, her time with us was short, but influential.”1590
**OKLAHOMA**
Henry Gannett underscores: “Oklahoma: a Choctaw Indian word meaning ‘red people’.”1591
KB Harder comments: “Suggested by Rev Allen Wright, chief of the Choctaws, at the
establishment of the Indian Territory (1866) under the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty. From Choctaw, ‘red
people’, a combination of okla, ‘people’, and humma or homma, ‘red’. When it became an organized
territory in 1890, Colonel Elias C Boudinot, a Cherokee, suggested it be named the Territory of
Oklahoma.”1592
www.e-referencedesk.com emphasizes: “From two Choctaw Indian words meaning ‘red people’.
“Oklahoma is a word that was made up by the Native American missionary Allen Wright. He
combined two Choctaw words, ukla meaning ‘person’ and humá meaning ‘red’, to form the word that
first appears in an 1866 Choctaw treaty. Oklahoma means ‘red person’.
“Native America: Oklahoma has the largest Native American population of any other state.
Many of the 250,000 American Indians living in the state are descended from 67 tribes who inhabited
Indian Territory. Tribal headquarters for 39 tribes are in Oklahoma.”1593
www.statesymbolsusa.org gives: “Oklahoma is based on Choctaw Indian words which translate
as ‘red people’ (okla meaning ‘people’ and humma meaning ‘red’). Recorded history for the name
Oklahoma began with Spanish explorer Coronado in 1541, on his quest for the ‘Lost City of Gold’.
Oklahoma became the 46th state on November 16, 1907.”1594
MH Wright pens: “Oklahoma means ‘Red People’ from the words in the Choctaw language, okla
meaning ‘people’ and humma or homma meaning ‘red’.
“This name was applied to the Indian Territory in the Choctaw-Chickasaw treaty of 1866, signed
in Washington, DC, by the Choctaw and the Chickasaw delegates and federal commissioners. The treaty
provided details for the organization of a territorial government in this as yet unorganized region.
“The meaning of the proposed territory took place one day, when the different delegations from
the five Indian nations (or Five Civilized Tribes) were in conference with the United States officials
1590

Richard K Hoover; Ohio’s first Anglo-American woman settler; The Coshocton Tribune; July 10, 2011;
provided by Deborah Crowdy, Local History/Genealogy Reference Assistant, Coshocton Public Library
655 Main Street, Coshocton OH 43812; [email protected];
http://coshoctonlibrary.org/genealogy/index.php
1591
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
1592
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1593
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/oklahoma.html
1594
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Oklahoma/Oklahomanameorigin.html

discussing the new territorial organization. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs asked, ‘What would you
call your territory?’ Allen Wright, one of the Choctaw delegates, who was translating the ChoctawChickasaw treaty under consideration at the moment, immediately replied, ‘Okla-homa’. No one of the
Indian delegations present raised any objections, even though their own treaties of 1866 made brief
provision for a territorial government. Thereupon the name was written in the Choctaw-Chickasaw
treaty, stating that the chief executive of the new territorial organization should be titled ‘the governor
of the Territory of Oklahoma’.
“The organization of the Indian Territory was not completed under the provisions of the treaties
of 1866. The name ‘Oklahoma’, however, became popular and was widely known throughout the
country, appearing in several bills providing for the organization of the Indian Territory introduced in
Congress, none of which was enacted and approved, during a period of nearly twenty years.
“A year after the opening of the 1,880,000 acres of the Unassigned Lands in central Indian
Territory to homestead settlement by the ‘Run of 1889’, the western half of the old territory was
regularly organized by Congress as ‘Oklahoma Territory’. The eastern half remained the ‘last Indian
Territory’, where the five Indian nations allotted their lands in severalty preparatory to closing their old
tribal governments. Seventeen years passed before the two territories were organized together and
admitted as the State of Oklahoma, the forty-sixth state of the Union, in 1907.”1595
***ALABASTER CAVERNS, WOODWARD COUNTY1596, OKLAHOMA***
LM Sullivan scribes: “The best hike here is into the gypsum caves. A .75-mile guided walk deep
into the main cave is a nice beginning, but the real fun comes when you obtain a permit to explore one
of the five other caves on your own. If you’d rather stay above ground, four designated trails wind
through the park. Check at the park office for guidance on the best trail for your skill/endurance level.
The best trails wind through Cedar Canyon, where outlaws once hid out among the dense trees. Ask a
park ranger to point out the ‘Difficult’ trail leading to an area once spanned by a natural bridge.
“Legend of a Golden Treasure: Old-timers who live near the moonscape of the Great Salt Plains
tell a story of hidden treasure and friendship gone bad. Back in 1854, a group of miners was returning
from California with more than a thousand pounds of gold, when they were threatened by a band of
Indians. To safeguard their treasure, the miners wrapped their cache in buffalo skins and buried it near
red bluffs, just after they crossed the Salt Fork River.
“Indians soon attacked and killed all but one of the miners. The single white survivor drew a
careful map marking the location of the treasure, then happy to be alive, left Indian Territory and went
on with his life. Years later, a homesteader named Carl Joseph Sheldon showed up in Cherokee country
near the Salt Fork River with a map, a friend, and digging equipment.
“The two men located a pole in the ground, where the map indicated the treasure was buried,
and set about drilling into the crusty salt flats. They quickly hit quicksand and water, and Sheldon rode
off to town to have a core sample analyzed. By the time he got back with the report showing traces of
gold and buffalo hide, his friend had removed the marker and drill (and possibly more) and disappeared.
“Sheldon, in a fit of greedy fury, bought 20 acres of land on the river near the red bluffs for $400
and spent the next three decades searching for the gold. When the State of Oklahoma built a dam on
the river in 1936, Sheldon was forced to give up and sell his land to developers for $50 less than he paid
for it.

1595

Written by Muriel H Wright, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, OK; published in George H
Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1596
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabaster_Caverns_State_Park

“No sign of gold was found during construction of the dam. Some say it never existed. Some
say if it did exist, it would have been impossible for Sheldon’s friend to move all thousand pounds in
such a short period of time; therefore, some or all of it is still buried somewhere near the dam.
“When you’re out there hiking, watch for decaying markers, forgotten buffalo hides, specks of
dropped gold, and suspicious pockmarks in the salty terrain. And remember, if you find anything, send a
nice token of thanks to the author who told you where to look.”1597
***BOOKERTEE, OKFUSKEE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk states: “Three miles northeast of Weleetka. An important black community, it reached
its maximum significance about 1920, and has since entirely disappeared. Named for Booker T
Washington.”1598
***BROKEN ARROW, TULSA COUNTY1599, OKLAHOMA***
www.tulsaokhistory.com alludes: “Long before the Creek Indians were removed by the United
States Government from Georgia to the Creek Nation, Indian Territory, they had a community known as
Broken Arrow. In 1826 when the Creeks came to Indian Territory, they retained the old names for their
communities. The Creek Indian settlement of Broken Arrow was situated two to five miles south of the
present City of Broken Arrow. There is much dispute over the name Broken Arrow. Some say it comes
from the former Creek settlement in Georgia, which was located near a canebrake. The Indians found it
easy to break off the long smooth joints of cane and convert them into arrows. Others say that it is an
English translation of the Creek Indian name of a nearby stream. A final theory says the name comes
from a Creek ceremony held following the Civil War, in which an arrow was broken to symbolize a
reunion of the two Civil War tribal factions. Whatever the origin of the name, the Creeks were able to
prosper in the Broken Arrow region, despite the setbacks caused by the US Government, the Osage and
Delaware Indians, and the Civil War. Some of the more important and prosperous Creek families
included the McIntoshes, Perrymans, and Childers.”1600
***CAMP NAPOLEON, GRADY COUNTY1601, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk communicates: “A temporary encampment established in 1865 near present-day
Verden. Site of a large Indian conference, intended to establish closer relations between the Indians of
Indian Territory and the Plains tribes. Named because of the supposed presence of an emissary of
Mexican Emperor Maximilian, a puppet of Napoleon III.”1602
***CHICKIECHOCKIE, ATOKA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk depicts: “Three miles south of Limestone Gap. Post office established June 17, 1891,
and name changed to Chockie, February 8, 1904. Named for Chickie and Chockie, the two daughters of
Charles LeFlore. Chickie was later Mrs Lee Cruce, Oklahoma’s second First Lady.”1603
***CUTTHROAT GAP, KIOWA COUNTY1604, OKLAHOMA***
1597

Lynne M Sullivan; Hunter Travel Guides: Adventure Guide to Oklahoma; Hunter; 1999
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1599
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Arrow,_Oklahoma
1600
http://www.tulsaokhistory.com/cities/brokenarrow.html
1601
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verden,_Oklahoma
1602
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1603
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1604
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutthroat_Gap_Massacre
1598

GH Shirk enumerates: “Located in the extreme northwestern section of the Wichita Wild Life
Refuge. Took its name from a savage massacre of a Kiowa village by an Osage hunting party in
1833.”1605
***DEAD WOMAN CROSSING, CUSTER COUNTY1606, OKLAHOMA***
Centennial History Book Committee gives an account: “During Weatherford’s first decade, there
were famous (or infamous) incidents of violence. At a city council meeting in July of 1903, recently
deposed Town Marshal John Isom shot Bill Weatherford in his left thigh, because he was angered by
what Weatherford had said about him to the council. Weatherford responded by pulling a gun from
under his shirt and chasing Isom. When the acting marshal tried to restrain Weatherford, Weatherford’s
gun went off, setting his pants afire and leaving him with a nasty powder burn on his abdomen. He then
surrendered his weapon and later recovered from his injuries. Meanwhile, John Isom was never
charged with a crime.
“On July 8, 1905, Kate James was shot to death south of Deer Creek, two and one-half miles
northeast of Weatherford. The mystery surrounding her murder has long since become local legend,
and the bridge across Deer Creek, close to where her body was found, is now known as ‘Dead Woman’s
Crossing’. While traveling to visit relatives, James and her 13-month-old daughter, Lulu Blanche James,
met Fanny Norton for the first time, and the three spent the evening of July 7 with the AR Moore family
in Weatherford, before heading to Hydro the next morning.
“Kate James probably did not know that Norton had been previously tried and acquitted for
shooting a Weatherford bartender in the back. Later that morning of July 8, a woman left a baby, who
turned out to be Lulu, with John Bierschied’s family, and pitched a bundle of bloody clothes in nearby
bushes before driving away. While Lulu was unharmed, Kate James could not be found. When private
detectives questioned Norton about the disappearance, she claimed James had abandoned the baby
with her. Then in the midst of questioning, Norton excused herself to go to the bathroom, where she
poisoned herself to death.
“In late August, KB Cornell stumbled upon the severed skull of Kate James, with a bullet hole
behind the right ear. Her decomposed body was found ‘hidden in a clump of bushes’, one mile north of
the Morton School House. Norton’s .38 caliber revolver with one of two cartridges missing was found
nearby. In September a coroner’s jury concluded that Fanny Norton had murdered Kate James in order
to rob her.
“Nevertheless, until this day, uncertainty remains over the possible involvement of potential
accomplices such as Martin James, the spouse of Kate James, or William Moore, Norton’s brother-inlaw, and questions regarding why Kate James joined up with Fanny Norton to travel with her. Thus
while the coroner’s jury ostensibly closed the case, for many locals the story of Kate James remains one
of Weatherford’s mysteries. She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery and has a large monument.”1607
***FORT SILL, COMANCHE COUNTY1608, OKLAHOMA***
LM Sullivan points out: “Fort Sill, a working military base, is one of the most interesting spots in
the Lawton area. Follow signs on I-44 to the main gate, then take a right to Randolph Road, which leads
1605

George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Women_Crossing,_Oklahoma
1607
Centennial History Book Committee; Weatherford (Oklahoma, 1898-1998); 1998; provided by
Marion Davidson, Heartland Museum, Heartland of American Heritage Foundation, 1600 S Frontage Rd,
Weatherford, OK 73096; [email protected];
http://oklahomaheartlandmuseum.com/
1608
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawton,_Oklahoma
1606

to the stone visitors’ center. The exhibits here will bring you up to speed on the history of the fort,
which was founded by General Phillip Sheridan, during a campaign against the Southern Plains Indians in
the winter of 1869. In the beginning, the fort was base camp for operations during the Indian Wars.
Then during World War I, became an artillery training facility. Still later it was headquarters for the
country’s first aero squadron.
“While you’re at Fort Sill, be sure to visit the Old Post Guardhouse, where Geronimo was held
prisoner. You may be surprised to learn that this famous Apache was not exactly the wild man depicted
in most historical stories. He actually was held prisoner at the Guardhouse only on the few occasions
when he had too much to drink. Most of the time, he traveled with Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show.”
LM Sullivan continues: “Tales of Geronimo: Geronimo, an Apache chief, was arrested in 1886,
for leading his tribe in bloodthirsty warfare. He was held prisoner in Florida and Alabama for eight
years.
“In 1894 he was transferred to Fort Sill, where he was under military control but allowed to
roam about the property.
“A notorious alcoholic, Geronimo was often thrown into the guardhouse to sober up.
“The public was enthralled by the outlandish Apache, and he was in great demand at fairs and
exhibitions. Geronimo was granted liberal leave to travel about the country and make public
appearances. He entertained at the World Fairs in Omaha in 1898, Buffalo in 1901, and St Louis in 1904,
where he sold his autographed pictures for two dollars each.
“President Roosevelt asked Geronimo to be in his inaugural parade, and Pawnee Bill’s Wild West
Circus featured him in traveling shows.
“The Apache chief died of pneumonia in 1909 and is buried in the cemetery at Fort Sill.”
LM Sullivan goes on: “When you leave the cemetery, drive north on Fort Sill Boulevard to King
Road. Turn west and go to the end of the road and across a bridge. The first left after the bridge leads
to Medicine Bluff, a sacred Indian spot on Medicine Creek. These sheer granite cliffs overlooking old
Apache village sites are considered to have special powers, and Apache descendants come here during
the Heritage Fair every Memorial Day weekend to dance the sacred Fire Dance. A small animal park is
just north of the creek, and there are picnic tables and fishing docks nearby.
“North of the base, off I-44, take SH-49 west to Medicine Park, which was a summer resort and
health spa in the Wichita Mountains during the 1920s and 1930s. Equally popular among both gangsters
and politicians, the town is a unique creation of native granite cobblestones. The Old Plantation
Restaurant is on the first floor of what was once a three-story luxury hotel. You can still get a snack or a
drink here, but save your appetite for the gigantic Longhorn-beef burger served at Meers Store in the
gold rush town of Meers.
“SH-58 is the most scenic route north from Medicine Park, but take a westward jig on SH-49 and
a northward jag on SH-115 to get to Meers. Meers Store was once a general store that served
prospectors, who came to the mountains looking for gold. In the best of times, the town had a
population of about 500 people and a dozen businesses. Today the town is nothing but a building from
1901 that is included on the National Register of Historic Places. This single wooden structure once held
a general store, a doctor’s office, and a newspaper office. At present, it is home to four people, a
federal seismograph station, and a hamburger so big it has to be eaten with a fork.
“After you’ve eaten all you can – or care to – drive back south toward SH-49 and the north
entrance to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. This is the highlight of southwestern Oklahoma.
Not a national park, nor a profit-based animal park, this is a true wilderness – a refuge for all kinds of life
in its native and wild state.
“At the turn of the century, President William McKinley declared the Wichita Mountains a Forest
Reserve. In 1905 Theodore Roosevelt designated the area as a Game Preserve, making this the oldest
managed wildlife preserve in the country. Unfortunately by 1905 there was very little wildlife to

preserve. Bison and elk were already extinct because of over-hunting, and other animals had dwindled
in number.
“Today thanks to restocking and careful management, the craggy mountains range and vast
grass prairie has herds of bison and elk, as well as deer, coyotes, Longhorn cattle, raccoons, gray fox,
eagles and bobcats. They live a protected existence, which visitors are welcome to witness, but only
under the right circumstances.
“As long as you stay out of restricted land or have the right permits in hand, the refuge is very
accessible and visitor friendly. The best orientation comes from driving the scenic route – slowly, and
early in the day or just before dusk – on the top of Mount Scott. Coming in on SH-115 from Meers to
the north or Cache to the south, turn east onto SH-49, stop at Quetone Overlook on the left, then turn
north on the curving road up the mountain. At the top, you’ll have a panoramic view of lakes,
grasslands, weathered boulders, and stony mountains.
“If you look for a lush forest, you’ll be disappointed. But if you gaze out into the spacious
wilderness with an open mind and realistic expectations, you’ll be richly rewarded. These granite and
quartz mountains were named for the Wichita Indians, relatives of the Pawnees, who farmed the land,
built round houses out of grass (they looked much like a haystack), performed the horn dance for
agricultural blessings, and believed the spirits of their ancestors inhabited the rugged mountain
boulders. Find a quiet place and listen. Some say you can hear the ancient Wichitas still performing
their sacred ghost dance.
“Holy City, located on the west side of SH-115 near Mount Scott, was built in the 1930s to
resemble the city of Jerusalem. An annual passion play is held here in a natural amphitheater the night
before Easter Sunday, and visitors can tour the 110-acre area with its 22 native granite buildings all year.
The most interesting structure is the World Chapel, which has elaborate ceramic brickwork and lovely
murals.”1609
***GHOST MOUND, CADDO COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk relates: “A distinctive land feature. Nine miles south of Hydro. Legend attributes much
Indian ceremonial significance at this site.”1610
***LAST CHANCE, OKFUSKEE COUNTY1611, OKLAHOMA***
Jan Zuniga stipulates: “Last Chance is located north of Okemah and a bit to the east on Highway
56. It began as a little settlement at a crossroads and at one time had homes, a general store, a
blacksmith shop, a church and a small service station. The unusual name came from travelers stopping
by the service station for water, remarking that this was the last chance to get water. The name
stuck. Today the Last Chance Baptist Church is still in service. The Last Chance Ranch RV Park and
Campground nearby preserves the settlement's name.”1612
***MORAL, POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk writes: “Two miles north of Trousdale. A post office from May 28, 1892, to December
15, 1908. Name selected by Brooks Walker, because he had been successful in preventing saloons at
the town site.”1613
1609

Lynne M Sullivan; Hunter Travel Guides: Adventure Guide to Oklahoma; Hunter; 1999
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1611
http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/okfuskee/last-chance.cfm
1612
Jan Zuniga, Okfuskee Historical Center and Art Gallery, 401 West Broadway, Okemah, OK 74859;
[email protected]; http://www.okemah.co/pages/new/index.php
1613
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1610

***MOUNDS, CREEK COUNTY1614, OKLAHOMA***
Susan Johnson articulates: “Mounds is a small town in Creek County, about ten miles south of
Sapulpa. Creek County is named for the Muskogee Creek tribe, who were mound builders while located
in southeast US. Upon removal to Oklahoma in the mid 1800s, this area was designated for the
Muskogee and their confederacy.
“The town, established in 1895, was first called Posey, for a Muskogee poet. When the town
moved five miles away in 1898, it was renamed Mounds in honor of the twin hills nearby. It's still a small
town, but has excellent school system and lots of friendly people.”1615
***OGEECHEE, OTTAWA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk describes: “Seven miles southeast of Miami. A post office from January 4, 1895, to
June 15, 1907. The name is from the Cherokee word a-git-si, meaning ‘my mother’ and comes from a
Cherokee tradition that a Shawnee captive lost her life protecting her captors from a great serpent and
henceforth was known as their ‘mother’.”1616
***PAW PAW, SEQUOYAH COUNTY1617, OKLAHOMA***
Louise Humphrey establishes: “Paw Paw took its named from the Paw Paw Society, a semisecret
organization of Southern sympathy during the Civil War. Paw Paw trees were plentiful, and many took
for granted it was named for the trees. It is located in Sequoyah County, seven miles southeast of
Muldrow on the Arkansas River.
“The early settlement boasted a blacksmith shop and a general store with a post office in the
back. Land was available if one wanted the task of clearing.
“The owner of the general store was called Governor Watts, a large, heavy man, who claimed
most of the land along the river. He created enough interest that a few families moved in and the
community began to grow.
“A cotton gin was built near the river, for cotton became an industry with the good rich soil.
Steamboats came from Little Rock, going as far as Muskogee, carrying supplies, produce, and
passengers. Thus the settlement made progress, until the accident.
“At Fort Smith a railroad bridge crossed the river, with a span that opened to let the steamboat
through. One day the bridge failed to open, and the boat broke in half and sank. The old glamour of
transporting by steamboat was never regained.”1618
***REMUS, POTTAWATOME COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk highlights: “Four miles northwest of Maud. A post office from July 3, 1893, to February
15, 1906. It was named for one of the traditional founders of Rome who was slain by his twin brother,
Romulus. A post office named Romulus was located 5 miles southwest of Remus, and consistent with
the tradition, it survived Remus as a post office.”1619
1614

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mounds,_Oklahoma
Reference Librarian, Sapulpa Public Library, 27 W Dewey Ave, Sapulpa, OK 74066;
[email protected]; http://www.sapulpa.lib.ok.us/
1616
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1617
http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/sequoyah/paw-paw.cfm
1618
Louise Humphrey; Paw Paw; in Sequoyah County Historical Society; History of Sequoyah County,
Oklahoma; 1976; provided Earl Strebeck, President, Sequoyah County Historical Society, PO Box 1366,
Sallisaw, OK 74955
1619
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1615

***SLAPOUT, BEAVER COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk portrays: “Twenty miles west of May. The name comes from the circumstance that the
local storekeeper would always reply that he was ‘slapout’ of whatever item was requested for
purchase.”1620
***SPIRO MOUND, LEFLORE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA***
GH Shirk remarks: “Famous Indian mounds. Partially excavated, the mounds have revealed
artifacts indicating a high culture existing about 1000 AD. Took its name from nearby Spiro.”1621
***THE HOLY CITY, COMANCHE COUNTY1622, OKLAHOMA***
Larry O'Dell shares: “On April 4, 1926, Rev Anthony Mark Wallock (1890-1948), an Austrian
immigrant raised in Chicago, initiated an Easter service and dramatic production with cast of five, in the
Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. The play quickly grew into a large, traditional passion play, attracting
thousands of spectators each year. Wallock had attended Chicago University and Garrett Biblical
Institute, Evansville, Indiana, before accepting leadership of Lawton's Congregational Church in 1924.
The 1926 Easter service, held near Medicine Park in the Wichita Mountains, drew two hundred visitors
and grew to five hundred the next year. In 1930 approximately six thousand people witnessed the
pageant. Oklahoma City's WKY radio broadcast the production live in 1936, and it was carried on two
hundred stations nationwide. By the late 1930s, the event annually drew more than 100,000 observers.
American theaters showed newsreel footage, and in 1937 the US government produced a full-length
film of the pageant. In 1949 Hallmark Productions released a color movie, titled The Lawton Story,
featuring the Easter pageant. Interestingly the studio disliked the actors' Oklahoma accents and
redubbed the voices. The film premiered in Lawton.
“In 1934-35 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the present Holy City of the
Wichitas, five miles west of its original location. The installation was situated twenty-two miles
northwest of Lawton. A $94,000 grant supported construction. A dedication ceremony in 1935
commemorated the completion of numerous full-sized buildings and structures, including the temple
court, Pilate's judgment hall, Calvary's Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, watch towers, rock shrines,
and perimeter walls. By the next year, WPA workers had built the Lord's Supper building, Herod's Court,
a chapel, and other amenities. Locally quarried granite was used for the buildings and structures. The
chapel replicated Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, which George Washington had attended. Murals
by artist Irene Malcolm adorn the chapel's ceiling and walls.
“The script generally depicts Jesus's life from birth through crucifixion and resurrection. In its
first years, the several-hours-long drama began in the early morning, between two and three o'clock,
and culminated at sunrise with the resurrection. At sunrise in 1935, skywriter Art Goebel inscribed
‘Christ Arose’, above the pageant grounds, and in subsequent years, aviators were hired to write or to
drop flowers at the end of the ceremony. Attendance peaked in the 1940s and slowly declined to as few
as three thousand in the 1980s. In 1985 trying to bolster the crowd, the pageant changed its schedule to
begin at midnight and end in the dark at four in the morning. In 1986 the start time changed to nine
o'clock in the evening, although many traditionalists desired the sunrise ending. In 1997 three thousand
people experienced one of the nation's longest-running Easter pageants. The event has never charged
admission. The 150-acre site is leased from the federal government by the Wichita Mountains Easter
Pageant Association, a private organization.
1620

George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
George H Shirk; Oklahoma Place Names; University of Oklahoma Press; 1965
1622
http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/comanche/the-holy-city.cfm
1621

“Situated in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, the Holy City of the Wichitas
admits tourists during daylight hours. The chapel has hosted a large number of weddings since its
construction. Their memories, whether of a wedding or of the pageant, bring many visitors on recurring
pilgrimages to the site. In 1975 the Holy City dedicated an eleven-foot-tall, white marble statue, titled
Christ of the Wichitas, in memory of Reverend Wallock. In 1981 the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) filed suit, demanding removal of religious items from federal land. A federal judge dismissed the
case. In September 1995 a memorial to the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing was dedicated at the
site.
“Easter pageants have also been held in many other churches and communities across the state.
These have included presentations in the 1930s, in Platt National Park near Sulphur and in Lincoln Park
in Oklahoma City. Two other traditional pageants have occurred in Tulsa, continuously from 1936
through 2001, and at Kenton, from 1952 and continuing into the twenty-first century.”1623
**OREGON**
HB Staples stresses: “The name of Oregon was at first applied to the Columbia River, then to the
territory, and lastly to the State. The origin of the name is conjectural. The earliest printed mention of it
is in Carver’s travels in 1763. Carver explored the sources of the Mississippi River, and states that by his
residence among the Indians, especially the Sioux, he obtained a general knowledge of the situation of
the river Oregon or ‘the river of the West that falls into the Pacific Ocean at the Straits of Anian’. By that
which he calls the Oregon, the sources of which he placed not far from the head waters of the Missouri,
he may have referred to some one of the sources of the Missouri, or to one of the two rivers which,
rising in the Rocky Mountains, formed the principal eastern tributaries of the Oregon. Carver was
misled as to the locality of the river of the West, and the supposed sources of it, he may have
confounded with the sources of the Missouri or of one of the tributaries in question. … He designated by
the name Oregon a great river flowing into the Pacific, and when in after times, such a river was
discovered, the name was ready at hand. To illustrate the obscurity of our knowledge on this point, we
quote a passage from an article in the North American Review, vol XLVIII, on Nautical discovery in the
Northwest. The writer says: ‘We wish that Mr Worcester, or Mr Bradford or some scholar in the
Western States, distinguished like those gentlemen for geographical science, would explain the origin of
this word Oregon, which so far as we know is not satisfactorily settled. Mr Darby in his Gazetteer traces
the name to the Spanish Oregon for the ‘sweet marjoram’ growing on the banks of the river. But to this
is a serious objection that the name Oregon does not seem, so far as we remember, to have been in use
among the Spaniards. And as there are and have been no settlers of that nation upon the river, how
should their word for wild marjoram come to designate the river? Humboldt speaks of ‘le mot indien
Oregon’. Of what Indian is it the word? Not of those living on the Columbia. Humboldt also talks of the
Oregan de MacKenzie, but MacKenzie did not introduce the word. We find it in Carver’s travels, 1763,
and that is the oldest authority for it which has met our eye.’”1624
Henry Gannett composes: “Oregon: the name said to have been derived from origanum, a
species of wild sage found along the coast in the state; but another authority states that it is derived
from the Spanish Oregones, which name was given the Indian tribes inhabiting that region by a Jesuit
priest, the word meaning ‘big-eared men’.”1625

1623

Larry O'Dell; Holy City of the Wichitas Passion Play;
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/H/HO018.html
1624
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1625
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905

LA McArthur designates: “But one important contribution to our knowledge of the origin of the
word Oregon has been made in the last hundred years. That was the discovery, not unexpected, that
Jonathan Carver may have appropriated the name, but not the spelling, from a Major Robert Rogers, an
English army officer, who was commandant at the frontier military post at Mackinac, during the time of
Carver’s journey into the upper valley of the Mississippi. … Major Rogers used the form Ouragon or
Ourigan in a petition or proposal for an exploring expedition into the country west of the Great Lakes.
This was in London in 1765. His petition was not granted, but he was sent to Mackinac as commandant.
Carver is the first person to have used the form Oregon in referring to the River of the West. … His
Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America was first published in 1778, and in the introduction
occurs the following passage purporting to list the names of the four great rivers of the continent: ‘The
River Bourbon, which empties itself into Hudson’s Bay; the Waters of Saint Lawrence, the Mississippi
and the River Oregon, or the River of the West, that falls into the Pacific Ocean at the Straits of Annian.’
It is well to get clearly in mind the chronological sequence of Carver’s book and the petitions prepared
by Major Rogers. Carver’s Travels was first published in London in 1778 from manuscript finally
prepared just previous to its publication, but to use Carver’s own words, was based upon ‘journals and
charts’ claimed to have been made during his journey to the west in 1766-77, and while at Mackinac in
the fall of 1767. Kenneth Roberts’ historical novel Northwest Passage, 1937, has a good deal to say
about Carver and his relations with Rogers. Rogers’ petition containing the name Ourigan was dated
February 1772. A petition by Carver to the King’s Privy Council, showing the original association of
Carver with Rogers, for the purpose of the western exploration, was acted on in May 1769, and another
petition by Carver, showing that the journals and charts previously mentioned had been and were still
deposited with the Board of Trade in London, is dated November 1773. Not only did Major Rogers put
into writing the name Ouragon during the year before he engaged Carver, but also none of Carver’s
petitions, so far examined, contain the name Oregon as we spell it, although he mentions other
localities.
“The subsequent history of the word Oregon, and some of the theories of its origin were themes
of the late Harvey W Scott, editor of the Oregonian. The compiler cannot do better than to reprint some
of Mr Scott’s editorial comments on the subject, but it must be borne in mind that these comments
were not originally printed together as they are here reproduced.
“‘But the name Oregon came very slowly into notice. It was long after the publication of
Carver’s book when it again made its appearance. The name seems not to have been known to
Vancouver or to Gray, since neither uses it. The latter, entering the river as a discoverer, called the river,
not the Oregon, but the Columbia, for his ship – a fact which shows that the name Oregon was quite
unknown. The name was not used by Lewis and Clark in the report of their travels; in Astor’s petition to
Congress, presented in 1812, setting forth his claim to national assistance for his undertaking, on the
ground that his efforts to establish trade here, under the sovereignty of the United States, would
redound to the public security and advantage, the name Oregon is not used to designate or describe the
country; nor is it used in the Act of Congress passed in response to his petition, by which the American
Fur Company was permitted to introduce here goods for the Indian trade. At this time, indeed, the
name appears to have been quite unknown, and perhaps would have perished but for the poet Bryant,
who evidently had happened, in his reading, upon the volume of Carver’s travels. The word suited the
sonorous movement and solemn majesty of his verse, and he embalmed it in Thanatopsis, published in
1817. The journal of Lewis and Clark had been published in 1814-7, and the description therein of the
distant solitudes and ‘continuous woods’ touched Bryant’s poetic spirit and recalled the name he had
seen in Carver’s book. There are men whose susceptibility to literary excellence, whose skill and power
in producing literary effects, gives us results of this kind.’
“‘The textbooks in the hands of our children in the public schools continue to furnish them with
erroneous information that the name of the state of Oregon was derived from the word oregano, the

Spanish name for the plant we call ‘marjoram’. This is a mere conjecture, absolutely without support.
More than this, it is completely disproved by all that is known of the history of the name. There is
nothing in the records of the Spanish navigators, nothing in the history of Spanish exploration or
discovery, that indicates, even in the faintest way, that this was the origin of the name, or that the
Spaniards called this country, or any part of it, by that name. … From the year 1535 the Spaniards, from
Mexico, made frequent voyages of exploration along the Pacific Coast toward the north. The main
object was the discovery of a passage connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Consequently the
explorers pain little attention to the country itself. After a time, finding the effort to discover a passage
fruitless, they desisted for a long period. But after the lapse of two centuries, they began settlements
on the coast of California; and then voyages toward the north were resumed by some of their
navigators. In 1775 the mouth of the Columbia River was seen by Heceta, but owing to the force of the
current, he was unable to enter. The fact here to be noted is that the Spaniards of that day did not call
the country Oregon, or, if they did, they have left no record of it. Others have professed or proposed to
derive the name Oregon from the Spanish word oreja (‘the ear’), supposing that the Spaniards noted the
big ears of the native Indians and named the country from the circumstance. But the Spaniards
themselves have left no record of the kind; nor has it been noted, so far as we are aware, that the ears
of our Indians were remarkably large. The word orejon is nearer our form; it signifies ‘slice of dried
apple’, we may suppose, from its resemblance to the form of the ear. Many years ago Archbishop FN
Blanchet, of Oregon, while in Peru, noted a peculiar use of the word orejon in that country, which he
ingeniously conjectured might throw some light on the origin of the name Oregon. We believe it
probable that the name Oregon arose out of some circumstances connected with western explorations
of the French. Earlier than the English, the French had pressed on westward from the Great Lakes on
the Red River, to the Saskatchewan and to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. They were ranging the
country of the upper Mississippi, in search of furs and for trade with natives; they were full of curiosity
and active in inquiry about the great distant West and the unknown western sea. Of this sea they
possessed Spanish charts, and perhaps used among the natives, the word Aragon as a homonym of
Spain. When Jonathan Carver, of Connecticut, was on his expedition of the upper Mississippi country, in
1767-8, he made all possible inquiries, he tells us, about the country toward the west, the western river,
and the sea and the word Oregon. Recent writers have shown that much of Carver’s book is made up of
unacknowledged extracts from French explorers before him, particularly from Hennepin, Lahontan and
Charlevoix; and as Carver had no scholarship, it is believed the book was compiled in London, partly
from Carver’s own story and partly from the records of French and English exploration.’
“It seems clear to the compiler that the name Oregon originated in the Mississippi Valley, and
not on the Pacific Coast, for as far as known, there is not a line about early Pacific Coast explorations
that contains the word. The name might have originated in the Mississippi Valley from one of the three
sources, French, Indian or Spanish. TC Elliott … mentioned in the first paragraph under this heading,
associates the names used by Major Rogers with the French word for ‘storm’, ouragan. William H
Galvani writes of the possible Spanish origin of Oregon … Joaquin Miller suggested the Spanish oye
agua, ‘hear the water’, as a source of Oregon in the Oregonian, October 21, 1907, but this seems
fanciful to the compiler. Thus the matter rests.”1626
KB Harder illustrates: “The origin of the name is obscure, but there are several possible roots:
Shoshonean oyer-un-gon, ‘a place of plenty’; Shoshonean ogwa, ‘river’, and pe-on, ‘of the west’,
referring to what is now called the Columbia River; an unknown Indian source (possibly Siouan),
ouragon or ourigan, referring to a great western river, and which is similar to the French word ouragan,

1626

Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

‘hurricane’. The name Oregon was first used by Jonathan Carver in his Travels through the Interior Parts
of North America [1778].”1627
www.e-referencedesk.com expands: “The first written record of the name ‘Oregon’ comes to us
from a 1765 proposal for a journey written by Major Robert Rogers, an English army officer. It reads,
‘The rout ... is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River
called by the Indians Ouragon. ...’ His proposal rejected, Rogers reapplied in 1772, using the spelling
Ourigan.
“The first printed use of the current spelling appeared in Captain Jonathan Carver's 1778 book,
Travels through the Interior Parts of North America 1766, 1767 and 1768. He listed the four great rivers
of the continent, including ‘the River of Oregon, or the River of the West, that falls into the Pacific Ocean
at the Straits of Annian’.
“Historians say Oregon was most likely named after one of two rivers. The Columbia River,
which forms a coastline along the northern border, was at one time called the Oregon or Ouragan,
which is French for ‘hurricane’. Others believe the name was derived from a mapmaker's error in the
1700s. The Wisconsin River was named the Ouisconsink and was picked up by travelers.”1628
***ALECS BUTTE, YAMHILL COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur maintains: “Alexander Carson, generally known as Alec Carson and sometimes
called Essen, was a well-known western hunter and trapper in the very early days. … Carson was on the
upper Missouri River as early as 1807. He was for the first time a member of Wilson Price Hunt’s party
traveling west in 1810. In 1814 he appears to have been trapping in the Williamette Valley and was
classed as a ‘freeman’ or free American trapper, not connected with the British fur companies. He was
in Peter Skene Ogden’s brigade that trapped the Snake country in 1824-5. Indians killed him at the small
hill now known as Alecs Butte in 1836. This butte is about a mile and a half south of Yamhill, west of the
Tualatin Valley Highway and east of North Yamhill River. In 1944 it was part of the William Fryer farm.
The compiler has an original letter from TJ Hubbard of Fairfield to James W Nesmith, dated September
24, 1858, telling about the murder of Carson. The substance of the letter is that in April or May, 1836,
Carson, then sick, spent two or three weeks at Hubbard’s home. He had with him his Nefalitin (Tualatin)
Indian trapper Boney, Boney’s wife and Boney’s son, twelve or fourteen years old. Carson had
confidence in the Indian. When he was well enough to travel, the party of four set out and camped the
first night at Ellicks Butte (now Alecs Butte). In the night, Boney compelled his son to murder the
sleeping Carson with a shotgun. Other Indians were at the camp, and they plundered Carson’s property.
Click-kowin, a part Tillamook Indian, had a hand in the murder and shared in the plunder. He was later
shot by Waaninkapah, chief of the Nefalitins. Hubbard said he never knew why Boney committed the
crime, which was the first to mar the friendly feeling between Indians and whites in the Williamette
Valley.”1629
***BABY ROCK, LAND COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur presents: “This rock is on the southwest shoulder of Heckletooth Mountain, and
above the track of the Southern Pacific Company just southeast at Oakridge. It was named by the
Indians. Mrs Lina A Flock has given the compiler an unusual legend about the name. Indians who slept
near the rock were believed to have been bitten by some animals that left the footprints of a baby. The
1627

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1628
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/oregon.html
1629
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

wounds were fatal. Finally two Indians determined to exterminate these peculiar animals, and hiding in
the rocks above, they surprised the visitors, jumping down on them and covering them with blankets in
such a way that they could not escape. The animals were twisted in the blankets are burned up. Indian
Charlie Tufti would never go near this rock. Mrs Flock’s grandfather, Fred Warner, was of the opinion
that the peculiar animals were porcupines, which make tracks not unlike a small baby. Indians asserted
that the baby tracks remained about the rock for many years, hence the name.”1630
***BLOODY RUN, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur renders: “This stream is three miles east of Grants Pass. It was so called because of
an incident in the Rogue River Indian War in the 50s. In 1944 WA Moxley of Lebanon wrote that there
was a sharp skirmish at this point, and one of the white men, separated from his companions, was shot
while he was stopping to get a drink from the stream. His blood ran into the water and this gave rise to
the name of the run.”1631
***CAPE PERPETUA, LINCOLN COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur sheds light on: “Cape Perpetua, which is in the extreme southwest corner of the
county, is one of the historic geographical features of Oregon. It was discovered on March 7, 1778, by
Captain James Cook, the famous English explorer, and it has been frequently asserted that he named the
cape because the bad weather seemed to hold him perpetually in sight of it. It is apparent from a
careful reading of his journals that this was not the case, but that he named the headland for St
Perpetua, who was murdered in Carthage on March 7, 203, for it was on St Perpetua’s Day that made his
discovery. A pious gentleman informs the writer that Perpetua the Martyr was a noble lady of Carthage,
and in the face of her father’s pleadings and tears, professed the faith and was thrown to the beasts and
beheaded.”1632
***CAPTAIN COOK POINT, LINCOLN COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur suggests: “Captain Cook Point is the first prominent point south of Cape Perpetua,
and Captain Cook Chasm is a well-known landmark at the end of the point. The Oregon Coast Highway
crosses this chasm on a concrete viaduct. These features bear the name of Captain James Cook, Royal
Navy, one of the greatest explorers of all time. He sailed along this part of the Oregon coast in 1778,
and on March 7 of that year, discovered and named Cape Perpetua, just north of Captain Cook Point.
James Cook was born in 1728 in Yorkshire, and joining the Royal Navy in 1755, he soon began to
demonstrate his talents as a navigator. Before 1776 he had made two very important voyages and,
above all, had made remarkable advance in the prevention of scurvy. He sailed from England in 1776 on
his third and last voyage, during which he sighted the Oregon coast. After important discoveries in
Alaska, he visited the Hawaiian Islands, where he met death at the hands of natives on February 14,
1779. Distinguished honors were paid to him by many countries. The compiler was unable to find that
any geographic features had been named for him in continental United States, and in 1931

1630

Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1631
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1632
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

recommended to the US Board of Geographic Names that the name Captain Cook Point be applied to
the Oregon promontory. The board adopted the name in October of that year.”1633
***CHIEF JOSEPH MOUNTAIN, WALLOWA COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur calls attention to: “This mountain has been known at various times as Tunnel
Mountain and Point Joseph, but in 1925 the US Board of Geographic Names officially named it Chief
Joseph Mountain in honor of the famous Nez Perce Indian chief. Joseph, or Young Joseph as he was
sometimes known, was born near the mouth of Imnaha River in June 1837, and died at Nespelem,
Colville Indian Reservation, September 21, 1904. He was the son of Old Joseph, who died about 1871,
and the grandson of Ollicut, a Cayuse Chief. Old Joseph took his wife from a band living near the mouth
of Asotin Creek. In May 1877, Young Joseph and his band began to threaten the white settlers in the
Wallowa Valley, claiming the valley as his ancestral home. After some skirmishing and encounters, the
Indians finally began their famous journey to Montana, pursued by troops. Chief Joseph made his last
stand at the Battle of the Big Hole, August 9, 1877, and on October 4, 1877, he surrendered to Colonel
Nelson A Miles at Bear Paw, Montana.”1634
***GRAVE CREEK, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur connotes: “This stream rises in the northwest corner of Jackson County and flows
into Josephine County. It receives Wolf Creek near Leland. In 1846 a girl named Martha Leland Crowley,
died on what is now Grave Creek, and her burial there gave rise to the name. James W Nesmith, in a
letter published in the Oregonian, November 23, 1883, wrote that in the late summer of 1848, he
started for California with a party of gold seekers, and they found Miss Crowley’s grave had been
desecrated by Indians. They reinterred the remains, and called the stream Grave Creek. In January
1854, the legislature passed an act changing the name of Grave Creek to Leland Creek, in honor of Miss
Leland, but the public did not accept the new name and it remains Grave Creek. Statements that Miss
Crowley’s name was Josephine and that the county may have been named for her cannot be
substantiated by the compiler. … Martha Leland Crowley was the daughter of Thomas and Catherine
Linville Crowley, who came to Oregon from Missouri in 1846. Thomas Crowley and Martha Leland
Crowley died in Oregon but before the family reached the Williamette Valley. Thomas Crowley’s
daughter Matilda and a son Calvin also died on the trip out from Missouri, as well as Calvin’s wife and
child. In 1848 Mrs Thomas Crowley was married to James M Fulkerson in Polk County.”1635
***HALF.COM [HALFWAY], BAKER COUNTY1636, OREGON***
Nick Douglas details: “One year before eBay bought it, Half.com paid the town of Halfway,
Oregon, to rename itself and become the ‘world's first dot-com city’. Blogger William Drenttel called
around the town of Half.com to ask, seven years later, about the deal.
“I asked him about the town's decision to rename itself Half.com, which Kaesemeyer told me,
turned out to be a rather short-term arrangement. ‘We just passed a proclamation that lasted for one
year.’ I asked him whether the town actually got the money and computers promised by Half.com:
‘Yeah, we got our money and some computers,’ he assured me. ‘Course that just caused some problems
1633

Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1634
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1635
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1636
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfway,_Oregon

like money always does.’ Encouraged by his answers, I thanked him for his time and asked him to put me
in touch with Halfway's mayor.
“‘That would be me,’ he replied.”1637
***JUMPOFF JOE CREEK, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur explains: “Jumpoff Joe Creek is in the extreme northeast corner of the county. The
Pacific Highway crosses it in Pleasant Valley. James W Nesmith, in a letter printed in the Oregonian for
November 23, 1883, says the stream was named for an exploit of Joe McLoughlin, in 1837 or 1839, but
does not state the nature of the exploit. McLoughlin died December 14, 1848. Data in possession of
Oregon Historical Society indicate the naming of the stream probably took place in 1828, rather than at
the time mentioned by Colonel Nesmith. Joe McLoughlin, so of Dr John McLoughlin, was in southern
Oregon in a trapping party under the leadership of Alexander R McLeod. The trappers camped one
night on this stream and McLoughlin, who came in after dark, fell over the edge of the bluff and received
very severe injuries, which it is said, subsequently caused his death. Myron Eells gives this as the correct
origin of the name. … Other stories about this name do not seem to be substantiated by historical
records.”1638
***LOOKINGGLASS, DOUGLAS COUNTY1639, OREGON***
LA and LL McArthur impart: “Lookingglass, Douglas. Lookingglass Valley was visited in 1846,
according to local stories, by Hoy Flournoy, and he is said to have named the valley because of the
beautiful appearance of the green grass in the valley, which reflected the light almost as well as a mirror.
Lookingglass post office operated from January 1871 to October 1942.
“Lookingglass Creek, Umatilla, Union. This stream flows into Grande Ronde River from the west.
It bears the name of Lookingglass, a chief of the Nez Perce, who was so called by the whites, because he
carried with him a small looking glass. His Indian name was Apash-wa-hay-ikt. There is also a
Lookingglass Lake, presumably named for the same man, in townships 5 and 6s, R 443, on the boundary
between Baker and Union counties. There was a station, Looking Glass, on the Union Pacific Wallowa
branch at the mouth of the creek. The above has been the accepted origin for many years, but access to
the Horner papers in 2002 gives a different story. Horner, page 954, says the confluence of the creek
and Grande Ronde River was a favorite picnicking spot in the 1879s and 1880s. There was a large tree
with a hole in its trunk. One could look through this hole and, when the light was right, see reflections
on the water.”1640
***MEMALOOSE ISLAND, WASCO COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur mentions: “There are a number of geographic features in Oregon bearing the
Chinook Jargon word for ‘death’ or ‘dead’. They were so named because they were Indian burial places.
Several islands in the Columbia River are named Memaloose. The most important is near the south
bank of the river between The Dalles and Mosier. On it is buried Vic Trevitt, a prominent pioneer citizen
and for many years a resident of The Dalles. His monument is easily seen from the mainland.
Memaloose is given by Gibbs as memaloost, who says it is from the Chinook Indian word memalust,

1637

Nick Douglas; The history of Half.com, Oregon; August 30, 2006; http://gawker.com/197661/
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1639
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookingglass,_Oregon
1640
Lewis A McArthur and Lewis L McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Oregon Historical Society
Press; 2003; provided by Douglas County Museum, 123 Museum Dr, Roseburg, OR 97471
1638

meaning ‘to die’. Memaloose is the spelling adopted by the US Board of Geographic Names and is in
general use.”1641
***NEAHKAHNIE MOUNTAIN, TILLAMOOK COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur puts into words: “There has at times been some controversy about the meaning of
the Indian name of this bold headland north of Nehalem River. Neahkahnie is a place of romance and
mystery. Tales of buried treasure, marooned Spaniards, galleons laden with beeswax candles and
suchlike, have drawn the attention of the white man for three-quarters of a century. Chunks of
engraved wax and curious letters on half-buried stones have been all the more mysterious. Joseph H
Frost’s diary of 1841 … says: ‘This mountain is called Ne-a-karny – after one of the deities of these
natives, who it is said by them, a long time since, while sitting on this mountain, turned into a stone,
which stone, it is said, presents a colossal figure of Ne-akarny to this day. And in our passage over the
mountain, which is a prairie on the side next the ocean, we discovered a stone, which presented a figure
of this kind.’ Silas B Smith says … that Ne-kah-ni meant the precipice overlooking the ocean, the abode
of Ekahni, the supreme god. Lee and Frost in Ten Years in Oregon, 1844 … give the Clatsop word Acarna,
meaning chief deity. Mrs Ed Gervais, a Nehalem Indian, is authority for the statement that the name
Neahkahnie had its origin in the word used by the supposed Spanish wreck survivors when they saw elk
on the side of the mountain, and exclaimed ‘Carne’, meaning ‘meat’. This is probably fanciful.
Neahkahnie is one of a number of Indian names beginning with the prefix Ne-, which had to do with
villages or places where certain tribes lived. These names include also Necanicum, Nehalem, Neskowin,
Netarts, Nestucca and Neacoxie. John Gill informed the writer that a Clatsop Indian told him ne meant
‘a place’. Neahkahnie Mountain presents a bold front to the Pacific, and stands 1795 feet above the
water, an imposing sight. The best collection or romances and facts about the place is in the book by SJ
Cotton, Stories of Nehalem. Thomas H Rogers’ Nehalem should be read by all interested in Neahkahnie.
It contains an excellent picture of the glyphic rock.”1642
***NENAMUSA, TILLAMOOK COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur reports: “Nenamusa Falls are on the east border of the county in the west part of
the township 4 south, range 17 west, in the Nestucca River drainage. Nenamusa post office was
established nearby January 16, 1912, with Peter N Forsyth first and only postmaster. The office was
closed August 31, 1917. It was about eight miles east of Blaine. Information about the origin of the
name of the falls is unsatisfactory. The word is said to be Indian, meaning ‘sweetheart’, or ‘love’, but
the writer has not been able to trace any such word or meaning in available Indian dictionaries. It is
reported that the word may have been brought to Oregon from an eastern state. Indians known by the
writer had no knowledge of the sentiment of love as known to white people, or of the word sweetheart,
either. The prefix ne in the northwest Oregon area was used by Indians as a locative, and may be
translated, roughly, as a ‘place’. The nearest approach to Nenamusa offered by the Chinook Jargon is
the expression ne moosum, which may be translated as ‘place to sleep’. It might refer to a place for a
temporary camp. It has been suggested that Nenamusa means a place for a honeymoon, but all this is
conjectural.”1643

1641

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Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1643
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

***RHODODENDRON, CLACKAMAS COUNTY1644, OREGON***
Wiki expands: “A post office was established in the area in 1909 and named ‘Rowe’ after Henry
S Rowe, a mayor of Portland, Oregon, who was interested in developing the state's scenic attractions. In
1917 the office was renamed ‘Zig Zag’ and shortly thereafter ‘Zigzag’. (The name was later reused for
the post office in the current community of Zigzag.) In 1920 the office was renamed ‘Rhododendron’
because of the large number of rhododendrons growing near there. The community started out as
a summer resort colony, but with the increased popularity of skiing, it became a year-round
settlement.”1645
FJD John shows: “If Oregon Trail pioneer Sam Barlow had been murdered, it would have been
because of Laurel Hill. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of emigrants would have cheerfully done the deed
if he’d been handy, when they were descending this terrifying grade.
“Laurel Hill was the worst spot on the Barlow Road, which was saying something - the rest of the
Barlow Road was not exactly posh either. It was so steep that wagons had to be lowered down the slope
with block and tackle. Some of these parties hadn’t brought strong enough ropes, and more than a few
wagons hurtled down the hill to end up in messy - and often bloody - wrecks. And to add insult to injury,
each party had paid Barlow the then-princely sum of $5 for permission to use the road, which he had
blazed in 1845.
“Bad as the Barlow Road was, the alternative - a wild and chancy excursion through the rapids of
the Columbia River in a caulked wagon or on a prohibitively expensive ferry - was worse.
“Still typically by the time an emigrant party reached it, everyone was just about played out, the
livestock were skinny and feeble and often at least one person was on the brink of death.
“Laurel Hill pushed more than a few of those over the threshold, and it’s a safe bet that at least
one or two of those died with a curse for Sam Barlow on their lips.
“At the bottom of the hill was a more-or-less permanent camp, where the emigrants would
stop, nurse their wounds, catch their breath - and bury their dead.
“Today the site of that camp is Rhododendron Village (the ‘laurels’ of Laurel Hill were actually
rhodies). Rhododendron Village is basically an old logging camp, which the Cascade Geographic Society
is in the process of restoring to its 1890s splendor.
“And the word is, the place is haunted.
“Smitten reports that strange glowing ‘orbs’ have appeared in photos taken of the old
bunkhouses; the buildings, which don’t have much in the way of foundations, shake mysteriously as if
under footsteps; and most puzzlingly, when an old piano with a mirror on the front of it was
photographed, a woman’s face appeared in the mirror, as if she were playing it.
“There’s also a door in the old mess hall - between the cook’s sleeping quarters and the kitchen
area - that is reputed to open by itself every day at around 4 am. The theory is that a ghostly cook is
getting up to start fixing breakfast.
“Volunteers in 2001 found a pair of rock-covered graves - a pioneer grave and a Native American
grave - near the mess hall. Of course, a photo was taken. When the film was developed, those strange
orbs were hovering over them.
“All of this may be true evidence of pioneer ghosts, or it may be the fruit of overheated
imaginations of people all too aware that they’re standing on the site of one of the great graveyards of
the Oregon Trail. Either way the legends add spice to one of the most dramatic places in Oregon’s
history.

1644
1645

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron,_Oregon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron,_Oregon

“The old village is easy to find and well worth a visit; from Highway 26 after passing through
Welches, turn north on Lolo Pass Road and go straight onto Autumn Lane.”1646
***SISKIYOU MOUNTAINS, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur talks about: “George Gibbs, in his Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, 1863, gives the
following version of the origin of this name: ‘Siskiyou. Cree. ‘A bob-tailed horse’.’ This name,
ludicrously enough, has been bestowed on the range of mountains separating Oregon and California,
and also on a county in the latter state. The origin of this designation as related to me by Mr Anderson,
was as follows: Mr Archibald R McLeod, a chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in the year 1828,
while crossing the mountains with a pack train, was overtaken by a snow storm, in which he lost most of
his animals, including a noted bob-tailed race horse. His Canadian followers, in compliment to their
chief, or bourgeois, named the place the Pass of the Siskiyou, - an appellation subsequently adopted as
the veritable Indian name of the locality, and which thence extended to the whole range, and the
adjoining district.’ Alexander C Anderson was connected with the Hudson’s Bay Company. On page 598
of Lacombe’s Cree dictionary, Montreal, 1874, published in French, is the Cree word sisikiyawatim,
which refers to a spotted horse or possibly a pack-horse. The obvious similarity between the first part of
this word and the word Siskiyou is too great to need comment. The compiler feels that when Gibbs
attributed Siskiyou to the Cree, he was on firm ground. The story that the name Siskiyou comes from
the French six cailloux, meaning ‘six stones’, has always seem fanciful to the compiler. It is alleged that
the six stones were used in fording various streams, but there are several versions of the story, and
none is well authenticated. They cover too much territory and are very indefinite. Professor AL Kroeber
of the University of California says of this etymology: ‘(it) looks too much like a typical case of folketymology to engender much confidence. The usual assumption of an Indian origin, though not
necessarily from a tribal name, is more credible.’ The Siskiyou Mountains are part of what geologists call
the Klamath Mountains, which lie as a connecting uplift between the Coast Range and the Cascade
Range. Joseph S Diller, in his Topographic Development of the Klamath Mountains … gives an
interesting description of the geography and geology of this part of Oregon. Attention is called to the
fact that there is some confusion about the given name of McLeod, referred to by Gibbs. Presumably
this is the same person generally mentioned as Alexander R McCleod, for whom McCloud River in
northern California is said to have been named.”1647
***SKOOKUM LAKE, CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur discusses: “This small lake on the north slope of Thunder Mountain drains into Fish
Creek, a tributary of Clackamas River. It is named with the Chinook Jargon word, which originally meant
a ‘strong or powerful malign deity’, and later came to mean simply ‘strong or stout’. When used in
connection with localities, the word skookum generally indicated a place inhabited by a skookum, or ‘evil
god of the woods’. It sometimes meant a place used as a burial ground. There are several geographic
features in Oregon described with this name. Indians avoided skookum places and considered them
haunted. A Skookum Chuck did not mean a strong, swift stream, but a place to stay away from. The
modern meaning of the word skookum is quite different from the earlier connotation. In

1646

Finn JD John; Rhododendron Village, graveyard of Oregon Trail, still said to be haunted; August 24,
2009; http://www.offbeatoregon.com/H0908b_LaurelHill.htm
1647
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

contradistinction to a skookum, a hehe was a good spirit and a Hehe Chuck was a fine place for games,
races and other sports and festivities.”1648
***STARVOUT, DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur expounds: “The locality called Starvout is on a stream of the same name, which
flows into Cow Creek a few miles east of Gatesville. The place has been called Starvout since early days.
Early in 1946, Miss Bess A Clough of Canyonville was able to get the history of this name from her uncle,
George Elliff, then mining gold in northern California. The Elliff family were well-known Douglas County
pioneers. Sometime in the 50s, Hardy Elliff grubstaked one George Walton and sent him up on the
creek to prospect. Gold was scarce and when Walton came out in the spring, neighbors said he had
starved out, hence the name of the stream. Some good diggings were found later on, further up the
creek. Starvout post office was established on the banks of this stream on February 18, 1888, with HL
Miser postmaster.”1649
***SWASTIKA, JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur impresses: “Swastika post office was in the extreme east part of the county, in the
northeast part of township 38 south, range 4 east, at or near Deadwood. The office was established
December 11, 1909, with Clayton E Burton first of two postmasters. The office was discontinued
September 15, 1912. The name of the office was derived from the stock brand of CE Burton, who
branded his livestock with a swastika. It is apparent that the name Deadwood could not be used for this
office, because that name was already in use in Lane County for an office, which was in service from
1884 to 1914. Hitler had not yet been heard of, and there was no objection to the use of Swastika as a
place name.”1650
***THE DUNGEON, CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur notates: “This locality is on the east side of Molalla River, about three miles
southwest of Table Rock. The place was named by Andy Wyland and Joe Davis of Molalla, who built a
rough shelter of cedar shakes there in the early 80s. Most of the structure has since disappeared, but
the place is still known by its original name. The building was low and without windows and this name
was quite descriptive. Joe Davis, a well-known character of Molalla, was a prospector and trapper. He
died on Molalla River, was buried about 150 feet south of the original site of The Dungeon. Dee Wright
of Eugene furnished these data.”1651
***THREE FINGERED JACK, JEFFERSON COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur puts pen to paper: “While this peak is one of the lesser ones of the Cascade Range,
as far as altitude is concerned, its unusual appearance has given it much prominence. Its elevation is
7,848 feet, or practically the same as that of its neighbor, Mount Washington. Its name is in a way
descriptive, but the writer has been unable to learn who named it, or when. It has three main rock
spires. It is not mentioned by any writer of the exploratory period. Sometime in the 70s, it was called
1648

Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1649
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1650
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1651
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

Mount Marion, because of the activities of a Marion County road locating party under the leadership of
John Minto, who investigated passes over the Cascade Range nearby. The writer was told about 1900
that the present name had been applied because of a three-fingered trapper who lived nearby, whose
name was Jack. As far as known, the first ascent made of Three Fingered Jack was on Labor Day,
September 3, 1923, when six boys from Bend, some of whom had made the first ascent of Mount
Washington on August 26, reached the summit. These boys found a series of lava chimneys to ascend
in, mounting the almost perpendicular walls of the highest finger.”1652
***THREE SISTERS, DESCHUTES COUNTY1653, OREGON***
KB Harder catalogs: “Three peaks in the Cascade Mountains: North Sister, Middle Sister, and
South Sister. It is said that they were once named Mounts Faith, Hope, and Charity.”1654
LA McArthur conveys: “These peaks are among the most interesting in Oregon. There are but
two higher mountains in the state, and the Three Sisters, together with Broken Top, comprise the most
majestic alpine group in the Cascade Range in Oregon. The writer has been unable to learn who named
the Three Sisters, and they are not frequently mentioned earlier by explorers or pioneers. The earliest
mention of these mountains, as far as known, is by David Douglas, as follows: ‘Thursday 5th [October
1826]. After a scanty breakfast proceeded at nine o’clock in a south course. Country more hilly. At one
o’clock passed on the left, about 25 or 30 miles distant. Mount Jefferson, of Lewis and Clarke, covered
with snow as low as the summit of the lower mountains by which it is surrounded. Above 20 miles to
the east of it, two mountains of greater altitude are to be seen, also covered with snow, in an unknown
tract of country, called by the natives who inhabit it Clamite.’ … From certain positions the Three Sisters
appear as two mountains, and Douglas’ mistake was natural. The mountains appear as the Three Sisters
on Preston’s Map of Oregon, 1856. There is a story to the effect that at one time the three mountains
were known as Mount Faith, Mount Hope and Mount Charity, beginning at the north. In 1927 William P
Vandevert of Bend, a native son of Oregon, confirmed this, and informed the compiler that when a
youth, he was often told that the name Three Sisters was originally applied by members of the
Methodist mission at Salem in the early 40s, and that the individual peaks were given the names
mentioned above. In 1928 John C Todd of Bend told the compiler that in early days he heard the Three
Sisters called Faith, Hope and Charity many times.”1655
***TOMBSTONE PRAIRIE, LINN COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur represents: “This is a pleasant place on the South Santiam Highway, despite its
melancholy name. Hackleman Creek flows eastward from the prairie into Fish Lake, and just west of the
prairie, the highway crosses Tombstone Summit, the watershed between the South Santiam and the
McKenzie River drainage. On the south edge of the prairie is a tombstone with the inscription: ‘JAMES
A, son of JW & SM McKnight. From an Accidental Shot. Oct 17, 1871. AGED 18 Ys 9 Ms and 9 Ds.’
Below this inscription, there are eight stanzas of poetry, apparently composed by Mrs McKnight.”1656

1652

Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1653
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters,_Oregon
1654
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1655
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1656
Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952

***UMPQUA, DOUGLAS COUNTY1657, OREGON***
LA and LL McArthur specify: “Umpqua, Douglas. Umpqua is a historic name in the state. It was
used by the Indians to refer to the locality of the Umpqua River and came to be applied to Umpqua
River. There have been several places known as Fort Umpqua. John Work visited the Umpqua River in
1834, and Fort Umpqua, which was later established by the Hudson’s Bay Company near the present
site of Elkton, did not then exist. Work mentions ‘umpqua old fort’, which appears to have been
established in 1832 near Calapooya Creek. In the summer of 1850, a party of prospectors, originally
planning to visit the Klamath River, explored the Umpqua River and established Umpqua City on August
5, 1850. It was on the east side of the river, near its mouth. West Umpqua was the name selected for
the community planned for the other side. There was some development at both places, but the towns
had petered out by 1867. Umpqua City post office was established on September 26, 1851, with Amos E
Rogers postmaster. Samuel S Mann became postmaster on February 24, 1852. This office may have
been on the east side of the river when first established, but in 1860 the post office and community of
Umpqua City were on the west side of the river about two miles north of the mouth. A military post was
then at the same place. The present Umpqua post office is on Umpqua River near the mouth of
Calapooya Creek and a long way from the places mentioned above. The post office now known as
Umpqua was originally called Umpqua Ferry and was first established March 16, 1877, with John C
Shambrook postmaster. About 1905, the word Ferry was eliminated from the name. When the Oregon
& California Railroad was built south in 1872, a station named Umpqua was established at what is now
Wilbur. This had nothing to do with other places with the same name.
“Umpqua River, Douglas. Umpqua was the Indian name of the locality of Umpqua River, and the
name came to be applied both to the river and to a tribe; given as Umptqua or Arguilas River by David
Douglas in 1825. Peter Skene Ogden refers to Umqua Mts on November 25, 1826, writing of the
Cascade Range, which he was viewing from the Deschutes River. John Work used the style Umquah
Mountain in his journal for October 3, 1833, referring to the divide between the Umpqua and Rogue
Rivers. Alexander Ross gives Imp-qua in his First Settlers on the Oregon, and Umpqua in his Fur Hunters
of the Far West. Wilkes’ map (1841) shows Umpqua. William P McArthur uses the form Umpqua in his
survey of the Pacific Coast in 1850. Hale gives Umpquas in Ethnography and Philology, and Umpqua and
Umkwa. The Umpquas are classed as an Athapascan tribe of the upper Umpqua River. The territorial
legislature created an Umpqua County, January 24, 1851. It ceased to exist October 16, 1862, its area
having been added to other counties. The Hudson’s Bay Company had an establishment in the Umpqua
Valley as early as 1832, probably on Calapooya Creek. It was generally called Old Fort Umpqua. The
company later had another Fort Umpqua near the present site of Elkton. During the Indian wars, there
was a federal establishment called Fort Umpqua just north of the mouth of Umpqua River.”1658
***WHISKY CREEK, WALLOWA COUNTY, OREGON***
LA McArthur tells: “Whisky Creek drains an area northwest of Wallowa. The Illustrated History
of Union and Wallowa Counties, page 674, gives the origin of the name. Raz Tulley, a resident of
Wallowa, is authority for the statement that in the summer of 1872 traders brought a supply of whisky
by pack train from Walla Walla and began to barter the firewater to the Indians for Indian goods. Local
residents, including Tulley, Masterson, White, Cox and several others, became much alarmed and went
to the camp to put a stop to the business. A three-cornered fight ensued, which was won by the
settlers. The kegs were broken and the whisky ran into the stream, which has been known as Whisky

1657

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umpqua,_Oregon
Lewis A McArthur and Lewis L McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Oregon Historical Society
Press; 2003; provided by Douglas County Museum, 123 Museum Dr, Roseburg, OR 97471
1658

Creek ever since. In 1931 JH Horner confirmed this story, and said he got his information from WW
White.”1659
**PENNSYLVANIA**
HB Staples chronicles: “Pennsylvania owes its name to its founder, William Penn. The name
given by Penn himself was Sylvania, but King Charles II, insisted that the name of Penn should be
prefixed. It is the only State in the Union named after its founder.”1660
AH Espenshade declares: “The name Pennsylvania means ‘Penn’s forest land’. The oft-repeated
statement that the wilderness province was named Pennsylvania in honor of its illustrious proprietor is
simply not true. William Penn modestly interprets the name as ‘the high or head woodlands’, and
explains that it was given in honor of his father.
“On March 14, 1681, as soon as King Charles II had signed the grant that made William Penn the
master of a province about three hundred miles by one hundred and sixty in extent, William Penn wrote
to his friend, Robert Turner, as follows: ‘After many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in
Council, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers
and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania; a name the king would give it in honor of my father. I
chose New Wales, [that] being, as this, a pretty hilly country; but Penn being Welsh for ‘a head’ (as
Penmanmoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in
England), [they] called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or high woodlands; for I proposed, when the
secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added Penn to it; and
though I much opposed it, and went to the king to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, and
would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the under-secretary to vary the name; for I
feared lest is should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king, as it truly was, to
my father, whom he often mentions with praise.’
“This Pennsylvania received its sonorous and appropriate name. The founder suggested
Sylvania, ‘forest land’, and to this the king prefixed Penn. Who can gainsay the will of a king? The pious
proprietor was anxious to disclaim the responsibility for the apparent vanity lurking in the name of
Pennsylvania, but in spite of his protest and his genuine modesty, may we not suppose that he
afterwards became reconciled to the name and was even secretly pleased that the king was arbitrary
and still-necked in this choice of a name? Pennsylvanians at least should be thankful. New Wales would
have been a poor substitute.”1661
DJ McInerney displays: “The most radical of the ‘purifying’ groups, the Quakers, left England to
take up residence in another proprietary settlement in the Middle Atlantic region. In 1681 King Charles
II granted over 45,000 square miles of land to William Penn, a leading English Quaker. The King’s grant
helped satisfy a debt to Penn’s father and also helped rid the realm of a troublesome sect. The Quakers’
challenges to social deference and hierarchical authority – along with their bizarre talk of the believer’s
‘inner light’ and the spiritual equality of women – made them a clear and present danger to the stability
of English life. Better King Charles felt, to let them carry on an ocean away. Penn’s ‘holy experiment’
sought to apply Quaker principles to everyday life, creating a world that shielded people from the
arbitrary power of government, served their varied needs, and even tried to create peaceful relations
with Indians. In the end, the colony of Pennsylvania was more of an economic than a theological
success, attracting a wide diversity of settlers who, by 1701, created a form of government that even
checked the power of the Penn family itself.”
1659

Lewis A McArthur; Oregon Geographic Names; Binfords & Mort Publishers for Oregon Historical
Society; 1952
1660
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1661
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969

DJ McInerney expresses: “The Middle Atlantic region stood apart in other ways. It was home to
the thriving urban centers of Philadelphia and New York which, by the later 1700s, surpassed Boston as
the largest cities in America. The middle colonies also attracted the most diverse ethnic mix from
Europe with English, Irish, Scots, Scots-Irish, Welsh, German, Dutch, French, Swiss, Norwegian, Swedish,
and Finnish settlers. And one middle colony, Pennsylvania, even followed what, for the time, was a
remarkable policy towards Indians: William Penn assumed that the land was theirs.
“During Penn’s leadership of the colony, Pennsylvanians and native peoples did not war with
one another. Some Indians, such as the Tuscarora and Shawnees, even came to Pennsylvania to avoid
confrontations with more belligerent settlers in other colonies. Penn held that native groups had to
receive compensation for the fields and forests whites wanted to claim. His government supervised
other relations between settlers and Indians, including regulations on trade with native peoples.
Unfortunately, once Penn left power, the European immigrants attracted to his colony proved much
more willing to resort to coercive measures against Indians.
“The conflicts that erupted later in Pennsylvania’s history generally occurred earlier in the
settlement of other colonies. Some of the most brutal struggles between whites and Indians took place
in 1675 and 1676. In New England, Wampanoag Indians led by Metacom (named ‘King Philip’ by
Europeans) struck in mid-1675, at colonists who had deprived them of tribal lands. During ‘King Philip’s
War’, Metacom’s forces attacked more than half of the Puritan towns. Four thousand died in fighting
that lasted until Metacom’s death in the late summer of 1676.”
DJ McInerney notes: “The patriots’ republican ideology helped colonists understand their
predicament and express their beliefs. Its principles also guided the work of the Continental Congress,
an assembly of 55 delegates from all colonies except Georgia, who gathered in Philadelphia in
September 1774, to discuss the growing imperial threat. The Congress responded in three ways. First it
recommended resistance, condemning the Intolerable Acts and encouraging Massachusetts to defend
itself against possible British attack. Secondly delegates affirmed self-rule, conceding Parliament’s
limited commercial powers, while asserting their individual rights as Englishmen and their assemblies’
exclusive authority to legislate and tax. Thirdly Congress urged retaliation, establishing the Continental
Association to ban all commerce with Britain.”
DJ McInerney records: “On 2 July 1776, as the Continental Congress voted in Philadelphia to
make America independent, British forces landed near New York City to keep America subordinate.
General William Howe and his brother Admiral Richard, Lord Howe, gathered 32,000 troops to do battle
with a 19,000-man Continental force. The British planned to take New York City, defeat George
Washington, and use local loyalists to restore legitimate authority. In the late summer and early
autumn, the British enjoyed a string of victories in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and White Plains, pushing the
Continental Army north into upper New York. The patriots fled south to New Jersey and then retreated
again, crossing the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The high hopes of July faded quickly. Even the
enthusiastic Tom Paine lamented that these were ‘the times that try men’s souls’. Washington,
however, kept his beleaguered troops on the move rather than settling them into winter quarters. His
forces seized enemy posts in Trenton and Princeton and pushed the British out of New Jersey. The small
victories lifted patriot morale and unnerved local loyalists.”
DJ McInerney reveals: “Victory at Saratoga did not change the course of the war immediately for
the Americans. Continental forces outside Philadelphia endured an agonizing winter in 1777-8 at Valley
Forge. Short on pay, food, and clothing, over 2,500 troops died, as many as had perished in battle up to
that time. Discord and bitterness ran high. A foreign volunteer, Prussian-born Friedrich von Steuben,
helped stem the disorder and turn the soldiers into a better-disciplined fighting force. Drilling troops in
the spring of 1778, von Steuben brought back a measure of order and confidence to the Continental
Army. As the new British commander-in-chief, Sir Henry Clinton, moved his troops out of Philadelphia in
May, to resume positions in New York, Washington’s forces followed, pursuing the redcoats up to White

Plains. Anticipating word from French naval forces about joint military actions, Washington kept an eye
on British troops. The wait was a long one, running through 1778 and 1779. The war in the North had
turned into a frustrating stalemate.”
DJ McInerney spells out: “The convention, approved by Congress, met in Philadelphia in 1787 in
Independence Hall, where almost 11 years earlier patriots had declared independence. Some would
have nothing to do with the proceedings. Rhode Island refused to send any delegates. The
revolutionary patriot, Patrick Henry, cast a wary eye, claiming he ‘smelt a rat’. The 55 individuals who
did gather formed, in Jefferson’s eyes, ‘an assembly of demi-gods’. Although heroes such as George
Washington and Benjamin Franklin may have been present, demi-demi-gods such as James Madison,
George Mason, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris took the lead.
“Early on, nationalists dominated the debate. They wanted to scrap, not modify, the Articles
and replace them with a strong national government, composed of three branches, empowered to
regulate trade and levy taxes, and able to enforce its will on states and citizens. Their ‘Virginia Plan’
even gave the new Congress the power to veto state laws. Delegates from smaller states feared their
interests would be swallowed up in a consolidated government. The opposition developed an
alternative ‘New Jersey Plan’ to reform, rather than discard the Articles, by granting greater authority to
the existing, one-house national Congress. A month into its proceedings, the convention originally
called to revise the Articles voted instead to construct a brand new government. Several factors
explained the shift. Constitutional changes in the states provided a precedent; sentiment among
delegates ran toward greater national authority; a few firm opponents simply walked out rather than
trying to stem the tide; and the meetings were closed, allowing delegates to speak their minds freely
without being disturbed by public scrutiny.
“Having agreed to start from scratch, debate over details of the new political system began.
One contentious issues involved representation. Nationalists supported proportional representation in
the two-house legislature: the larger a state’s population, the more representatives in the lower house;
and lower house members would elect members of the upper house, chosen from nominees provided
by the states. Opponents feared that small states would have too few representatives in one body and
perhaps none at all in the other. They called for equal representation. The ‘Great Compromise’ settled
the matter by applying proportional representation to the House (based on a state’s population) and
equal representation to the Senate (granting two senators for each state).
“At the same time, delegates squabbled over what constituted a state’s ‘population’. It was in
this context that the question of slavery arose, not as a moral issue, but as a political and economic one.
Firmly committed to revolutionary republican principles, the delegates, for the most part, firmly resisted
any discussion of abolition. The questions of power and liberty that they debated had to do with whites
– or, more accurately, white men. In other words, they talked about the chattel system as it affected
free whites, not enslaved blacks. Southerners wanted slaves counted as part of the population for
purposes of representation: the more slaves, the more political power for the region in the national
government (although, of course, slaves never exercised any political choice). Northerners wanted
slaves counted as part of the population for purposes of taxation: the more slaves, the more ‘wealth’,
and the more wealth, the higher the tax bill for the South. The solution came in a formula used under
the Confederation Congress: three-fifths of slaves would be counted for purposes of representation and
taxation. As it turned out, there were no direct federal taxes over the next seven decades, so the South
ended up as the big winner in the bargain.
“The delegates then disposed of two other questions related to slavery: Congress would not
interfere with the foreign slave trade until 1808; but it would interfere by recapturing fugitive slaves.
Remarkably while the proposed Constitution dealt so clearly with slavery, its authors managed to avoid
completely using the words ‘slave’ or ‘slavery’ in the next. Instead they chose phrases such as ‘person
held to service or labor in one State’ or ‘all other persons’. The Founders could ‘settle’ the problem of

slavery without naming it. Whatever literary conceits they employed, the Constitution both recognized
and protected the interests of slaveholders.
“Having indirectly set the limits of liberty by race and gender, delegates then directly defined
the new government’s powers. By comparison, those discussions went rather smoothly. In September,
the document was ready for ratification. Special conventions in each state would vote the proposal up
or down. Only nine of the thirteen conventions had to approve for the document to take effect. The
ground rules made ratification more likely, but not certain.
“Consider how odd and alarming the proposed government looked to those who adhered to
revolutionary republican principles. The document created a coercive, centralized government that
wielded unprecedented authority. It could force its will on citizens, tax them, regulate their commerce,
raise armies, and deploy the military to execute its laws and quell insurrections. It created a strong
executive that concentrated power in the hands of one individual and even allowed a veto over the
legislature. It outlined all sorts of controls exercised by government but provided no corresponding list
of rights guaranteed to citizens. A person might legitimately ask how any of this was different from the
oppressive rule that the Revolution had challenged. Consider as well, all of the government’s
bewildering branches and institutions and posts and terms of office and election procedures. The
framers seemed to forget Paine’s call for simplicity in government and, instead, reproduced all the
Byzantine political complexity that Old World regimes used to wield force and hide corruption. And
consider finally, that the whole project hinged on the new nation’s success as an extended republic, in
the belief that one government could rule over a large country and a diverse people and still retain its
republican principles. The very idea was absurd, standing hundreds of years of republican theory on its
head. Everyone knew that successful republics existed only in relatively small areas with a homogenous
population. What could have possessed those fellows in Philadelphia? Why would they take such a
gamble, ignore the lessons of the past, and betray the spirit of the Revolution?
“Because, the fellows in Philadelphia responded, their proposal would save, not sacrifice, the
republican Revolution. Proponents of the Constitution argued that the new government was the logical
extension of 1776, not a dangerous departure. They took on the name ‘Federalists’, a clever ploy since
the term more accurately described the position of their opponents, who favored dispersed, state
authority and opposed a strong national government. The truly federalist-minded group was a bit slow
on the public-relations uptake and promptly found themselves saddled with the label ‘Anti-Federalist’,
with all the negativity and obstructionism the name implied.
“Having muddied the political waters by claiming a false identity, the Federalists redeemed
themselves through their illuminating political commentary. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and
John Jay penned a series of 85 anonymous essays, known later as The Federalist Papers. They explained
the failures of the Confederation, the benefits of their new system, and the proper goals of a republican
government. Their analysis remains the best introduction to the Constitution.”
DJ McInerney touches on: “Opposition to Hamilton’s program proved formidable. Congress
granted a small increase in tariffs on imports, modest excise taxes on items such as whiskey, and little
else. Perhaps it was just as well, for what did pass caused considerable controversy. Southwestern
Pennsylvania farmers in particular resented the whiskey tax. Far removed from markets, they routinely
distilled their crops into spirits, instead of paying high prices to transport bags of grain overland. The tax
not only cramped their style but also ate into their profits. By 1794 the locals had disrupted tax
collection, retaliated against those who complied, and threatened federal agents. An angry Hamilton
called for a show of force against the insurgents. Washington complied and an army of 13,000 marched
west to put down the ‘Whiskey Rebellion’. By the time they arrived, there was no insurrection left.
Troops rounded up a small group of agitators, two of whom were convicted of treasonable offenses and
later pardoned. Tussles between federal ‘revenuers’ and cantankerous ‘moonshiners’ continued over
the years and became a staple of American folklore. The Whiskey Rebellion itself was hardly a laughing

matter, however. By choosing to quell civil unrest, the federal government had made a simple but
profound point: it would enforce the laws it enacted.”
DJ McInerney clarifies: “Although he lost a fifth of his men at Chancellorsville – along with his
comrade, Stonewall Jackson – [Robert E] Lee launched yet another offensive drive. His army traveled up
to a village in southern Pennsylvania, where they confronted Union forces under General George C
Meade. On 1 July, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Lee pushed Meade’s line back but left Union
forces in high, strong positions. The following day, Confederate assaults on Meade’s left and right flanks
failed. In one final effort, on 3 July, Lee launched a 15,000-man infantry assault on the Union center.
Two-thirds of the troops in ‘Pickett’s Charge’ were cut down during their advance. Having lost a third of
his army, Lee retreated. The battlefield was covered was casualties: 23,000 of Meade’s forces, 28,000 of
Lee’s. Gettysburg turned out to be the last Confederate offensive of the war.”1662
***ALIQUIPPA, BEAVER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade documents: “Bears the name of the celebrated ‘Indian queen’, who lived on the
site of McKeesport about 1755. The name is said to signify ‘hat’. She was frequently referred to as the
‘Queen of the Delawares’, though she was probably a Mohawk. Queen Aliquippa – sometimes called
Allegrippus in the early days – took offense at Washington for not paying his respects to her when he
traversed her domain in 1753. On his return, he propitiated her with a bottle of rum. In his Journal, he
says: ‘I went up about three miles to the mouth of the Youghiogany to visit Queen Aliquippa, who had
expressed great concern that we passed her in going to the fort. I made her a present of a watch-coat
and a bottle of rum, which latter was thought much the better present of the two.’”1663
***AMITY, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade observes: “Was laid out in 1797. The settlement grew up about the old Amity
Presbyterian Church, a name significant of ‘the religious and social amity, which the people desired to
foster’. Here, shortly before his death in 1816, the Reverend Solomon Spaulding of Connecticut, who
had been graduated from Dartmouth College in 1785, is said to have written the first draft of the famous
Book of Mormon. He was an antiquary, much interested in Indian relics. He wrote a romance, which
purported to be translated from curious inscriptions on certain tablets, found in one of the Indian
mounds in this vicinity.
“A Mr Patterson of Pittsburgh undertook to publish the romance under the title The Manuscript
Found, but failed to fulfill his contract. For two or three years, the manuscript remained in the hands of
the would-be publisher, and one of his printers, Sidney Rigdon by name, copied it. ‘Hearing of Joseph
Smith’s digging operations for money through the instrumentality of necromancy, Rigdon resolved that
he would turn this wonderful manuscript to good account and make it profitable for himself. An
interview took place between Rigdon and Smith, terms were agreed upon, the whole manuscript
underwent a partial revision, and in process of time, instead of finding money, they found curious
plates, which when translated, turned out to be the ‘Gold Bible, or Book of Mormon’, which was found
under the prediction of Mormon, in these words: ‘Go to the land Antun, until a hill, which shall be called
Shin, and there have I deposited unto the Lord all the sacred engravings concerning this people.’’ After
reading all the contemporary evidence given by persons who knew Spaulding and had heard him read
parts of his manuscript, one must at least admit the probability that the wandering evangelist and
antiquary, Solomon Spaulding, may have written the first draft of the Book of Mormon at the little
village of Amity.”1664
1662

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1664
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1663

***ASYLUM, BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNYSLVANIA***
AH Espenshade recounts: “The hamlet and the township … are all that now remain of an
ambitious and visionary French colony established in Pennsylvania in 1794, as an asylum for refugees at
the time of the French Revolution. Robert Morris and John Nicholson were the chief American
promoters of this scheme, which was partly philanthropic and partly speculative. Two noblemen, Louis
Marie, Viscount de Noailles, a French officer in the American Revolution and a brother in law of the
Marquis de la Fayette, and Antoine Omer, Marquis de Talon, were the French leaders in this enterprise.
“By 1801 the Asylum Company had purchased about 400,000 acres of land and had its
settlement well under way. Some of the exiled Frenchmen were nobles, many were soldiers, a few were
clergymen, but all had been reared in the city, where they had become accustomed to a life of luxurious
ease. Their settlement was doomed to utter failure, because they did not know how to clear and till the
land, to endure toil and hardship, or to adapt themselves to their new surroundings and their
backwoods American neighbors. In its early days, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans and afterward King of
France, spent some time at Asylum.”1665
***BETHLEHEM, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade says: “Was named on Christmas Eve, 1741, for the birthplace of Christ in Judea.
Here the Moravian Brethren had begun their settlement on the Lehigh River by erecting a log house. In
this rude building, they entertained their great leader and bishop, Count Nicholas Ludwig von
Zinzendorf, who had but recently arrived from Germany by way of New York. On Sunday, December 24,
1741, the little company of Moravians ‘assembled in the first house, celebrated the Holy Communion,
and kept the vigils of Christmas eve. At the close of this latter service, between nine and ten at night,
the Count led the way into the adjoining stable and began to sing, with deep emotion, a German hymn
in which occurred the following lines:
‘Nicht Jerusalem, sondern Bethlehem,
Aus dir kommet was mir frommet.’
This incident gave the settlement its present name.’ Bethlehem early became the great center of
Moravian influence, educational work, and remarkable missionary activity among the Indians and the
widely dispersed white settlers. Bethlehem was incorporated as a borough in 1845; and twenty years
later South Bethlehem, which has in more recent years grown much larger than the mother town, was
also made a borough. In 1910 the boroughs of Bethlehem and South Bethlehem were combined and
incorporated as the City of Bethlehem.
“It is noteworthy that Bethlehem, whose name commemorates the birthplace of the Prince of
Peace, has become famous throughout the world as one of the most important American centers for the
manufacture of munitions of war.
“The Hebrew word Bethlehem, which means ‘the house of bread’, apparently refers to the great
fertility of the valley surrounding the ancient Judean town and once producing an abundance of grain,
olives, figs, and grapes.”1666
***BIRD-IN-HAND, LANCASTER COUNTY1667, PENNSYLVANIA***

1665

Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1667
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird-in-Hand,_Pennsylvania
1666

Debbie Herman spotlights: “This community got its name when people ‘saw the sign’! The
village of Bird-in-Hand was named for a Colonial-era inn. The inn had a swinging sign in front, with a
painting of a bird perched in a hand and the saying ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’
(meaning it’s better to be happy with who you have, than to try to get more and risk losing everything).
Many say that the original sign was a bit different, showing a man with a bird in his hand and two birds
perched in a bush.
“And how did the inn get its unusual name? When a road was being built between Lancaster
and Philadelphia, two road surveyors found themselves in the area after a day’s work. While discussing
whether to sleep there for the night or go back to Lancaster, they remembered the old adage ‘A bird in
the hand is worth two in the bush’ and decided to stay!”1668
***BLOODY RUN, BEDFORD COUNTY1669, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo underscores: “A branch of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata, which it enters from
the north, about 8 miles east of Bedford, at Everett, Bedford County. Christopher Gist turned westward
at this point in 1750, on his way to the Ohio. The Warriors Path, running northward from the Potomac,
and the Raystown Path, from the Susquehanna to the Ohio, crossed near the mouth of the Bloody Run.
Various traditions have been related as to the origin of the name. During and just after, Pontiac’s
Conspiracy, various attacks were made upon the traders, who were carrying supplies to Fort Pitt, near
Bloody Run. These attacks were ascribed to the Indians, but in all probability they were committed by
the ‘Black Boys’, an organization of white settlers, commanded by Col James Smith, which sought to
prevent the carrying of supplies to the western Indians. … Doctor John Ewing says in his journal of 1784,
‘John Paxton keeps ye Tavern at ye Warrior’s Mn or Bloody Run; so called from the murder of a number
of People sent to escort Provisions to Mr Buchanan, who was surveying ye Roads to Bedford in ye year
1755.’”1670
***BLUE BALL, LANCASTER COUNTY1671, PENNYSLVANIA***
HMJ Klein comments: “Blueball, at the junction of the old Paxtang and Horseshoe roads, is a
banking town of 300 population. Its history covers a period of more than 150 years, its site having been
part of the original tract of the Weavers. On August 27, 1766, Robert Wallace bought twelve acres from
Jacob Weaver, and became a storekeeper at the junction of the roads. Soon he erected a tavern and
opened it ‘At the Sign of the Blue Ball’. In November 1778, he sold to Peter Grim. The tavern for many
years was a noted crossroads hostelry. John Grim, son of Peter, became prominent in mercantile,
agricultural, and church activities, for thirty-two years being a ruling elder in Cedar Grove Presbyterian
Church. Blue Ball of today in business activity consists of a shirt factory, two tobacco factories, a large
machine shop, a large general store, and other retail places, and of course the Blue Ball Hotel. In
addition there is the Blue Ball National Bank, the capital of which is $50,000, and the surplus about
$30,000.”1672

1668

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1669
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Run_(Raystown_Branch_Juniata_River)
1670
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
1671
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ball,_Pennsylvania
1672
HMJ Klein; Lancaster County: A History; Vol 1; Lewis Historical Publishing; 1924; provided by Philip
Crnkovich, Adult Services, Lancaster Public Library, 125 North Duke Street, Lancaster, PA 17602;
[email protected]; www.lancaster.lib.pa.us

***BURNT CABINS, FULTON COUNTY1673, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo emphasizes: “The name of a village … near the headwaters of Little Aughwick
Creek. It is derived from the incident of the burning of the log houses of the settlers, who had taken up
lands upon the unpurchased Indian land west of the Susquehanna, in 1750. These ‘squatters’ upon the
Indian lands had been the cause of much trouble to the Provincial authorities for many years previous.
The Iroquois, who claimed the land, demanded again and again that these settlers be removed. Various
proclamations had been issued by the Governors of the Province, demanding that all white settlers
remove from these lands, but no attention was paid to these orders by any of the people living beyond
the Blue Mountains. Complaint had been made by the Iroquois as early as 1740. At the Council of the
Iroquois with the Governor, Hamilton, in Philadelphia in 1749, the Indian deputies demanded that these
settlers be removed. After much discussion, Gov Hamilton commissioned Richard Peters and Conrad
Weiser to see to the carrying out of the order for the removal of all of these ‘squatters’ upon the Indian
lands. These two, with the assistance of the Magistrates of Cumberland County, went to all of the
places where these settlers had built their cabins, ordered the inhabitants to leave and burnt the cabins.
This order was carried out at the settlements on the Juniata, on Sherman’s Creek, at Big Cove, Little
Cove, and other places. Among those removed from Sherman’s Creek was Simon Girty, who ever
afterwards was an enemy of the white man and of every form of government.”1674
Glenn Cordell gives: “In colonial Pennsylvania, the Quaker founder William Penn wanted to live
peacefully with the native Indians. Before allowing white settlers to take up vacant land, he would
negotiate or make an agreement with the Indian tribes for that land. The area of present-day Fulton
County was not opened for settlement until 1755. However a few white settlers crossed the mountain
into our area in the mid-1740s, when this was still considered Indian territory. A Mohawk chief and
representatives from the Six Indian Nations asked to have the illegal settlers removed. In 1750
Benjamin Chambers, founder of Chambersburg, and other officers were authorized to cross the
mountain and ask the settlers to remove all their belongings. Men under the command of the Province
then burned 11 cabins of the settlers to pacify local Indians.
“In 1755 our area was officially opened for settlement, but this was soon followed by a great
massacre of settlers on November 1 of that year by unhappy Indians.”1675
***CONNOQUENESSING, BUTLER COUNTY1676, PENNSYLVANIA***
LR Eisler and GC McKnight pens: “Connoquenessing (‘con-no-kwe-NESS-ing’) is a southern
Connoquenessing Township borough; the name was first used for the post office in 1853. The earliest
name attributed to the town was McKinney’s Tavern. Since McKinney’s first name was Peter, it became
known as Petersburg and later as Petersville. Tradition says the good citizens did not want their village
commemorating a keeper of spirits, so they petitioned the courts to become a borough and change the
name to Connoquenessing for the nearby creek bed. The petition was granted in 1871. The population
of Connoquenessing was 343 in 1900 and four hundred in 1910; in 2003, it was 507.
“Connoquenessing Creek, called the Big Connoquenessing or Crooked Creek, is the principal
stream of Butler County. Connoquenessing is an Indian word meaning ‘a long way straight’, which
suggests that our Native American forebears had a sense of humor. More serious minds attribute the
name to the ‘long way straight’ into, through, and out of Connoquenessing Borough before the roads
were rerouted. The creek runs a very crooked path through the city of Butler and the townships of
1673

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Cabins,_Pennsylvania
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
1675
Glenn Cordell, Fulton County Historical Society Library, PO Box 115, McConnellsburg, PA 17233;
[email protected]; https://www.fultonhistory.org/
1676
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connoquenessing,_Pennsylvania
1674

Butler, Center, Forward, Penn and Summit. It is fed by Bonny Brook, Thorn Creek, Glade Run, Breakneck
Creek, Powder Mill Run and the Little Connoquenessing and empties into the Beaver River. The
headwaters of the Connoquenessing are located in Concord Township. George Washington regarded
the Connoquenessing as the south fork of the Beaver River.”1677
***FRENCH MARGARET, LYCOMING COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo scribes: “The name of a former Indian village at the mouth of Lycoming Creek,
Lycoming County, a few miles west of the Williamsport station. The site of this village is noted on all of
the early maps, after those of Evans, 1749 and 1755, who notes French T, the village of Madame
Montour, at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek. French Margaret was, according to Reichel, who probably
takes the statement of Martin Mack as his authority, a niece of Madame Montour. Andrew Montour,
the famous interpreter, is said by Mack, in his journal, to have been a brother of French Margaret,
although Shikellamy said that Margaret Montour was a daughter of Madame Montour. Martin Mack
called to see her in 1753. If she was a sister of Andrew Montour, then she was a daughter, instead of a
niece, of Madame Montour, as the various Colonial Records clearly show that Andrew Montour was a
son of Madame Montour. Martin Mack makes French Margaret to be a niece of Madame Montour and
a sister of Andrew Montour, which is impossible. The husband of French Margaret was named
Katarioniecha, or Peter Quebec, as he was called by the English. Their children were, Catherine, Esther,
Mary, a son who was killed in the south in 1753, and Nicholas. The husband was a man of more than
ordinary character. Margaret told Martin Mack, that he had not tasted rum for over six years. French
Margaret was the first person to put a ‘Local Option Law’ into force in this early period, as she would not
allow the use of rum in her town. The daughter known as ‘Queen Esther’ was the most infamous of all
who bore the name. She married a Munsee named Eghohowen, and in 1772, was living at Sheshequin,
at the present Ulster, Bradford County. Soon after this date, she removed to the place known as ‘Queen
Esther’s Town’, opposite the present Athens. She took part in the fearful massacre of Wyoming on the
3rd of July 1778. French Margaret attended a number of the Indian Councils, at Philadelphia, Easton and
Albany. She was also a visitor to the Moravian institutions at Bethlehem, where she attended divine
service. She is frequently mentioned in the various Journals of the Moravian missionaries, as well as in
the records at Bethlehem.”1678
***GNADENHUETTEN, CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo states: “‘Tents of Grace’. There were five villages of this name, founded by the
Moravian Church, and occupied by the Indian converts; first the village near the mouth of Mahoning
Creek, Carbon County, at the site of Leighton. This village was commenced in the spring of 1746, and
was occupied by the Christian Indians from Shecomeco, who had found a temporary home at
Bethlehem. The mission prospered under the influence of Martin Mack and his helpers. Various tracts
of land had been purchased by the Moravian Church, until in 1754, there were 1,382 acres in the
mission tract, on both sides of the Lehigh. In 1747 a grist mill was built on the Mahoning. A saw mill and
black-smith shop were added to the settlement. In 1749 Bishop Cammerhoff dedicated the chapel.
Various additions were made to the population from Pachgatgoch, Wechquadnach and Meniolagomeka,
from 1747 to 1754. In May 1754, the mission was transferred to the east side of the river, to the site of
Weissport. This was the second Gnadenhuetten. In December 1754, the mission numbered 137
Mohickon and Delawares, besides the converts living at Wyoming and Nescopeck. The entire village had
1677

Luanne R Eisler and Glee C McKnight; An Historical Gazetteer of Butler County, Pennsylvania; Butler
Area Public Library; 2006; provided by Lu Eisler, Genealogist, Butler Area Public Library, 218 N McKean
St, Butler, PA 16001; [email protected]; http://www.butlerlibrary.info/
1678
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977

been invited to remove to Wyoming, through the influence of Tedyuskung. In April 1754, 70 converts
removed to Wyoming – fifteen of these afterwards removed to Nescopeck. The chapel at the second
Gnadenhuetten was dedicated in 1754. At this time the defeat of Washington at the Great Meadows,
and the conflict for the possession of the Ohio, was drawing many of the Delaware and Shawnee of the
French influence. The defeat of Braddock in 1755 led to the open hostility of the Delaware and the
Shawnee, who then commenced to make raids upon the settlements. The massacre at Penn’s Creek,
and other acts of hostility aroused the white settlers throughout the entire frontier to a bitter hatred of
the Indians. The mission at Gnadenhuetten was in charge of Mack, Grube, Schmick and Schebosh.
These lived on the east side of the Lehigh, with the Indian converts. Many of the buildings were on the
Mahoning; Anna Senseman, Gottleib Anders, Martin Nitschmann and other Moravian helpers lived on
the Mahoning. On the 24th of November, Zeisberger reached Gnadenhuetten, on the Lehigh, and was
getting ready to go to the Mahoning, when Mack tried to persuade him to remain. But Ziesberger was
determined to go on. He was fording the Lehigh, when he heard the cry of horror from the mission
house. He reached the other shore and then turned back. The Brethren at Gnadenhuetten had been
attacked by the Delawares, when at supper. Ten were killed, and on captured. The buildings were
destroyed. Zeisberger carried the news to Bethlehem, when he arrived at 3 o’clock on the morning of
November 25th. The entire body of Indian converts fled from Gnadenhuetten, on the Lehigh, to
Bethlehem. Susanna Nitschmann was the only captive taken. She died some months after at Tioga. The
massacre created a great deal of feeling throughout the state. It was found out later that the party,
which made this attack, was made up of Munsee, under Jacheabus. The destruction of this village led to
the attempt to build a fort at the site of Gnadenhuetten, on the Lehigh. On January 1st 1756, the
‘savages’ made an attack upon the soldiers at this place, drove them away, and burned the village.
Benjamin Franklin arrived at the site of Gnadenhuetten and at once commenced the erection of Fort
Allen.
“The third Gnadenhuetten was a settlement of white persons at the site of Gnadenhuetten the
Second. The Fourth Gnadenhuetten was situated on the Tuscarawas River, Clay Township, Ohio, at the
site of the present Gnadenhuetten, Ohio. This village was established in 1772, through the efforts of
Zeisberger, who had been working on the Beaver River. This village thrived as had all of its
predecessors. In 1781 Col Depeyster of Detroit became convinced that the Indians on the Tuscarawas,
who were midway between the British and the American lines, were carrying information to Fort Pitt.
The hostile Indians in Ohio threatened the Christian Indians would not join with them in their raids into
the settlements of the Americans. The frontiersmen in southwestern Pennsylvania threatened the
Indians in these villages, because they hated all Indians, regardless of tribe, or condition. Col Brodhead
had urged these Moravian Indians to remove to Fort Pitt, for their own safety. Both Zeisberger and
Heckewelder were blind to the real situation in which these Christian Indian villages were placed at this
time. In August 1781, DePeyster removed these Indians to Sandusky. This removal was conducted by
Capt Elliott, Dunquat and Capt Pipe. Before the Moravian Indians reached Sandusky, nearly everything
which they had, was stolen from them. The winter which followed was one of bitter privation and
hardship. In the spring of 1782, a number of the Indians returned to Gnadenhuetten and Schoenbrunn
to get some of the corn, which they had left standing in their fields. Most unfortunately for these
Indians, the hostile Wyandot and Shawnee had been making raids into the settlements in the present
Washington County, at this very time. The family of Robert Wallace, near Florence, was killed in
February 1782. The Indians who had committed this outrage returned to Ohio through Gnadenhuetten.
John Carpenter, who was captured by this same party, said to the inhabitants of the village, ‘My captors
will undoubtedly be pursued and tracked to this place.’ The Indians in the village were much alarmed,
but the Moravian assistants quieted them. They remained, gathering their corn, and getting it ready to
take away, when the company of frontiersmen, under Col David Williamson, consisting of 75 to 100
mounted men, reached the village, and on March 8th, 1782, committed one of the vilest deeds in

American history. A deed, which for blood-thirsty savagery, has no equal in the Annals of Indian History.
The whole number of the victims of these scoundrels was 90, men, women and helpless children. The
crime is too black to even record.
“Gnadenhuetten, the Fifth, was founded after the return of the Christian Indians from Canada,
upon the lands granted by Congress, June 1st, 1796. In the spring of 1797, Heckewelder returned to
Gnadenhuetten and interred the bones of the converts, who had been slaughtered in 1782. It was not
until October 4, 1798, that the settlement was commenced by the Indians who returned from
Canada.”1679
***HARMONY, BUTLER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade alludes: “Owes its existence and its name to a remarkable German colony widely
known as the Harmony Society. The history of this strange community can here be sketched only in the
barest outline. George Rapp, for more than 40 years the religious and industrial leader of the Harmony
Society, was born in Wurtemberg [Germany] in 1757. Although he came from peasant stock and had
but a meager education, he was a man of extraordinary energy and great natural ability. When about
thirty years old, he began to advocate certain religious ideas more or less at variance with the
established faith. A few years later, he and his followers became obsessed with a burning desire to
return to what they conceived to be primitive Christianity. In 1803 because of bitter persecution, Rapp
came to Pennsylvania and bought of the eccentric Dettmar WF Basse about 5,000 acres of land in the
fertile valley of the Conoquenessing. Hither in 1804, he brought from Germany about 600 of his
adherents, and in the ensuing year they organized the Harmony Society. They laid out a town, which
they called Harmony to indicate one of the principles of their organization.
“Though the community was without a definite creed and never became a distinct sect, its
members were deeply religious. Three main facts distinguished them from other Christians: they held
all property in common; they adopted a distinctive and uniform dress; and most of them practiced
celibacy, in the hope of attaining greater sanctity. The Harmony Society was noted for sincere piety,
extraordinary industry, practical efficiency, and common sense. Within five years, they had cleared half
their land and were producing annually about 20,000 bushels of grain, 10,000 bushels of potatoes, and
several tons of flax. They started breweries, distilleries, furnaces, foundries, and brick-kilns. In fact they
practiced almost every craft and occupation necessary to a self-sustaining community. And they did all
these things in the fear of the Lord, while they were hourly awaiting His second coming.
“In 1815 lured by rumors of more fertile lands in the valley of the Wabash, the Society made the
mistake of selling all its property in Butler County for $100,000 and of migrating to Posey County,
Indiana, where they bought 25,000 acres and started the town of New Harmony. Here they remained
nine years. Scourged by malaria, they sold their Indiana property for $150,000 to the English socialist,
Robert Owen, who was eager to make a communistic experiment of his own.
“In 1825 the Harmony Society moved once move into Pennsylvania, bought about 3,000 acres of
land, and founded the town and the township of Economy in Beaver County, on the east bank of the
Ohio, seventeen miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Here by industry, thrift, and capable business
administration, they again grew rich and prosperous. Economy was no misnomer: for the society
exercised an economy, which supervised with the closest scrutiny all the operations of dwelling-house,
farm, and workshop. Their business enterprises extended over most of western Pennsylvania. They
opened coal mines and started salt works. They engaged in extensive lumbering operations. They
established cotton, woolen, and silk mills. Finally the discovery of oil on their lands made them
immensely wealthy.

1679

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977

“Meanwhile the community suffered greatly from frequent and prolonged litigation, from bitter
internal dissensions, and from the unnatural state of celibacy. In 1903 Susie C Duss became sole trustee
of the society; and a few years ago, in default of heirs or successors, the property of the Harmony
Society, which once numbered 800 members, reverted to the State. The village of Economy has become
part of the borough of Ambridge.”1680
***HERMIT SPRING, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
EC Miller communicates: “Hermit Spring – a cluster of houses and cottages in the west-central
part of Cherry Grove township. Named because a so-called hermit lived near this excellent spring for
many years. Samuel Wallace, whose home was originally in the Waterford (Erie County) – Cambridge
Springs (Crawford County) region, became angry at this parents and left home and journeyed to the
Cherry Grove area during the 1860s. Settling near the spring, he survived with a cow, a fine vegetable
garden which he cultivated, and berries found in profusion in the woods; his clothing was made from
deer hides which he tanned and sewed. During the famous Cherry Grove oil excitement of 1882-3,
crude oil seeped into his spring and ruined it temporarily. Wallace left the place and disappeared
forever.”1681
***HUNGRY HOLLOW, ARMSTRONG COUNTY1682, PENNSYLVANIA***
LA Clever depicts: “When individuals received patents for tracts of land, they frequently gave
them names that were whimsical. I have references to patent names such as Union Green, Cornfield,
Bird Bottom, Farmers Delight, etc, which had meaning to those who named them, although the meaning
passed with those who chose them. I believe Hungry Hollow to be such a name, although I have no
specific patent to refer to. I guess it is just as likely that the early settlers had a tough time eking out a
living on the land, and Hungry Hollow is a disparaging comment on the quality of the land they were
attempting to farm. My money is on a patent name however.”1683
***ICE MINE, POTTER COUNTY1684, PENNSYLVANIA***
David Castano enumerates: “As you can see from the enclosed brochure, the Ice Mine is a site
located in the village of Sweden Valley in Potter County. There are actually 3 more ice mines known in
the county, but only the Sweden Valley mine is open to the public.”
The included brochure says: “See nature forming ice under the hot summer sun. Temperature
in summer never above freezing point. It is a fact that no ice forms in the winter. This is a remarkable
freak of nature.
“Almost unbelievable, yet such a wonder actually exists! Beautiful and fantastic formations of
ice begin forming in spring, and continue through the hot summer, melting as winter approaches.
“‘Of one thing I feel very sure, the Coudersport Ice Mine is a true glacier, and obeys the identical
natural laws, which hold sway in all glaciers. Any traveler who has not visited one or more of the great

1680

Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
Ernest C Miller; Place Names in Warren County, Pennsylvania; Western Pennsylvania History; 1971
1682
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/armstrong/hungry-hollow.cfm
1683
Larry A Clever, PhD, Researcher, Armstrong County Historical Museum & Genealogical Society,
Lankerd Thomas Genealogical Library, PO Box 735, Kittanning, PA 16201; [email protected];
http://achmgs.yolasite.com/contact-us.php
1684
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/potter/ice-mine.cfm
1681

European glaciers will certainly see here a natural phenomenon, a most impressive one.’ Edwin Swift
Balch, Authority on Glaciers”1685
***INTERCOURSE, LANCASTER COUNTY1686, PENNSYLVANIA***
www.intercourseheritagedays.com gives an account: “Formerly known as ‘Cross Keys’ from a
noted old tavern, this village was founded in 1754. Much speculation exists concerning the origin of the
name of this quaint little country village. There are several explanations, but none really can be
substantiated. The first centers around an old race track, which existed on the Old Philadelphia Pike;
there is a long stretch of race course, and was known as ‘Entercourse’. It is believed that ‘Entercourse’
gradually evolved into ‘Intercourse’, which became the name of the town in 1814.
“Another theory concerns two famous roads that crossed here. The Old King's highway from
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh (now the Old Philadelphia Pike) ran east and west through the center of the
town. The road from Wilmington to Erie intersected in the middle. The joining of these two roads is
claimed by some to be the basis for the town ‘Cross Keys’ or eventually ‘Intercourse’.
“A final idea comes from the use of language during the early days of the Village. The word
‘intercourse’ was commonly used to describe the ‘fellowship’ and ‘social interaction and support’ shared
in the community of faith, which was much a part of a rural village like this one.
“No matter how Intercourse got its interesting name, it is a town full of delightful treasures and
friendly shopkeepers, nestled amongst scenic Amish farmland.
“The town of Intercourse will be celebrating its 258th year in 2012, with community festivities
scheduled June 15, 2012 - June 16, 2012. Enjoy your visit!”1687
***JERSEY SHORE, LYCOMING COUNTY1688, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade points out: “Was one of the many Waynesburgs then in Pennsylvania. The first
settlers, Reuben Manning and his nephew, Thomas Forster, had migrated from Essex County, New
Jersey. ‘As the settlement grew, it came to be called Jersey Shore because Manning and Forster were
Jerseymen.’ At first the term Jersey Shore was merely a derisive nickname given by the Irish settlers
dwelling in the Nippenose bottom across the river. The traditional explanation of the origin of the name
is that these Irishmen usually referred to the shore on which the Jerseymen had settled as ‘the Jersey
Shore’. The nickname finally prevailed, and the act that incorporated the borough in 1826 directed that
‘the place shall be called and styled Jersey Shore’.”1689
Jim Allen relates: “Jersey Shore was originally named Waynesburg by the two brothers, Reuben
and Jeremiah Manning, who laid out the town circa 1785. Around the time that this was happening, a
settlement arose on the eastern side of the West Branch Susquehanna River opposite Waynesburg. A
rivalry developed between the two settlements, and those on the eastern shore began referring to the
settlement on the western shore as the ‘Jersey Shore’, because the Manning family had relocated from
New Jersey. The nickname became so fixed that in 1826 the original name of Waynesburg was officially
abandoned and changed to Jersey Shore.”1690

1685

David Castano, Potter County Historical Society, PO Box 605, 308 North Main St, Coudersport, PA
16915; [email protected]
1686
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Pennsylvania
1687
How Intercourse Got Its Name; http://www.intercourseheritagedays.com/history.html
1688
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania
1689
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1690
Jim Allen, Treasurer, Jersey Shore Historical Society, 200 S Main St, Jersey Shore, PA 17740;
[email protected]; http://js-hs.tripod.com/

***KING OF PRUSSIA, MONTGOMERY COUNTY1691, PENNSYLVANIA***
LL Riley stipulates: “King of Prussia was settled by Welsh immigrants in the early 1700s, who
originally called it Reeseville, after a prominent family who owned much of the land. During the latter
part of the 18th century, it became common to refer to the area as King of Prussia, after a tavern by that
name operated by the Reese family. That may be the only piece of the puzzle which is certain; the exact
date when the tavern was established, and the political reasons behind the name, are clouded by time.
“The tavern was first licensed sometime between 1762 and 1769, but the building may have
existed as a private residence as early as 1709. It was not uncommon at the time for homeowners
situated on a main thoroughfare to take in travelers, and many inns evolved from private residence to
public house over a period of years.
“All agree that the inn was named to honor Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia, from 1740
to 1746, but the political reasons behind the name are debated. One theory asserts it was named prior
to the Revolution, to honor Frederick's assistance to the British in the Seven Years War with France,
which ended in 1763. Others argue it was named to recognize Frederick's support and admiration for
George Washington during the Revolution. A more sales-oriented idea is that it was named to attract
the business of Prussian soldiers camped at Valley Forge. But on a spy map of 1777, the inn is referred to
as ‘Berry's’, the name of the general manager at the time. In 1850 the postal service made common
usage official, recognizing the surrounding town's name as ‘King of Prussia’.”1692
***LANGUNTOUTENEUNK, LAWRENCE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo writes: “Name of the Moravian Indian village, on the east bank of the Beaver River,
between the Shenango River and Slippery Rock Creek, in Lawrence County. The new town was on the
west bank, near the same place. The German name, Friedensstadt, ‘City of Peace’, is the name, which is
most commonly given to the place. The Indian name has the same meaning. On April 17, 1770, the
Christian Indians left Lawunakhannek in fifteen canoes. They reached Fort Pitt on April 20th, and went
on down the Ohio to the Mouth of the Beaver, and then went up that stream. When they reached the
site of the level land below the mouth of the Mahoning River, they commenced to build their village.
Their first business was a visit to Packananke, the Munsee chief, at Kuskuski (New Castle). Abraham, an
Indian convert, went with Zeisberger on this mission. Glikkikan, the war chief of Packananke, became a
convert and joined the mission. This act made the chief at Kuskuski very angry, but he was finally
brought back into friendly relations by Zeisberger’s being officially adopted into the Munsee tribe on
July 14th. This act of adoption brought many of the Munsees from the former village of Goshgoshunk to
the mission on the Beaver. Towards the end of July, Zeisberger laid out the new town on the west bank
of the river. Here a church was built. General Irvine, in 1785, states in his report of his survey, ‘The
distance from the above named line (McLain’s survey of the Donation Lands) to an old Moravian Town is
three or four miles, from thence to Shenango (the river), two and half or three miles; - from the mouth
of Shenango to Cuskuskey, on the West Branch (the Mahoning River), is six or seven miles, but it was
formerly all called Cuskuskey by the natives along this branch as high as the Salt spring, which is 25 miles
from the mouth of the Shenango.’ This would place the Moravian mission about the site of the present
Moravia, and at the site noted on Howell’s map of 1792 as ‘Moravian’. It would also place Kuskuski, of
1792, near the present Edenberg. Zeisberger’s Journals however place the Kuskuski of 1770 at the site
of New Castle. The name Kuskuskies was applied to the entire region of level land along the Mahoning
River, and to the level along the Shenango. On Christmas Eve, Glikkikan and Gendaskund were baptized.
The mission then had 73 members. In March 1771, Zeisberger made his first visit to
1691

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Prussia,_Pennsylvania
Linda L Riley; History of King of Prussia; Valley Forge Convention & Visitors Bureau;
http://www.kingofprussia.com/kophistory.asp
1692

Gekelmukpecheunk, the Delaware capital in Ohio, where he was the guest of Netawatwes, the leading
chief. He returned to the mission on the Beaver, where the church was dedicated on the 20th of June.
Owing to the various difficulties, which had to be encountered, chiefly the drunken Indians from
Kuskuski, the mission was abandoned in the spring of 1773. The Moravian Indians were then removed
to the new missions at Gnadenhuetten and Schoenbrunn in Ohio.”1693
***MAGHINQUECHAHOCKING, VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo articulates: “The name of a former Indian village, destroyed by General Brodhead
in 1779, which was situated ‘about 20 miles above Venango (Franklin, Venango County) on French
Creek, consisting of 35 large houses were likewise burnt’. The Historical Map of Pennsylvania (1875)
places this village on the upper Allegheny River. The name seems to be a corruption of Mequachake,
one of the clans of the Shawnee, and hacki, meaning ‘land of the Mequachake’. The name is similar to
several of the place names of the Shawnee in Ohio. It may be a corruption of Meech-schinghacki, ‘great
level land’, and have reference to the long stretch of level land along the Allegheny River, or along the
upper waters of French Creek. The name is found in no other writer save Brodhead.”1694
***MANHATTAN, TIOGA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo describes: “The name of a post office in Tioga County. The Indian name does not
belong in this state. The name is derived from that of a tribe of the Wappinger that occupied
Manhattan Island, and the eastern shore of the Hudson River, called Manhattes etc. The name is said by
Tooker to be derived from Manah, ‘an island’, and Atin, ‘hill’, meaning ‘the hill island’. Heckewelder
derives it from Manachachtanienk, meaning ‘the island where we all became intoxicated’. Some
Delaware Indians said, ‘We called that island Manahatouh, ‘the place where timber is procured for bows
and arrows’. The word is compounded of N’manhumin, ‘I gather’, and tanning ‘at the place’.’”1695
***MASON AND DIXON, FRANKLIN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade establishes: “Is situated, as its name indicates, near the famous boundary line
between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which was run in 1763-7, by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon,
two noted English mathematicians and surveyors. To mark the boundary, they set up, at five mile
intervals, large stones bearing William Penn’s coat of arms on one side and Lord Baltimore’s on the
other. At every mile between these large stones, smaller markers were erected with P on one face and
M on the other. Thus the line was run westward from the Delaware, and marked for nearly 250 miles;
and thus was settled a bitter boundary dispute that had lasted nearly a century. In 1784 David
Rittenhouse continued and completed the Mason and Dixon line, after the settlement of a similar
territorial controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia.”1696
***MURDERING TOWN, BUTLER COUNTY1697, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo highlights: “An Indian village mentioned in Gist’s Journal of 1753, as Murthering
town. He places it about 15 miles from Logstown, ‘on a branch of Great Beaver Creek’. He again refers
to the place on the return trip. Here they meet an Indian, who Gist says they had seen at Venango. This
Indian, who was mistrusted by Gist, fired at them. Washington mentions the town as Murdering Town,
in his Journal of the same trip, and also mentions the incident noted. On Gist’s map of 1753, the town
1693

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
1695
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
1696
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1697
http://www.visitbutlercounty.com/cultural-origins
1694

on this branch of Beaver Creek is noted as Minacing Town. The village was probably that which was
noted by CF Post in 1758, as Conoquenessing. The Creek of that name is the branch of ‘Great Beaver
Creek, mentioned by Gist. The name Murdering Town was probably given to the place by Washington
and Gist, because of the incident noted.”1698
***PUNXSUTAWNEY, JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo portrays: “The name of a town in Jefferson County; the name of a former Delaware
village at the same place. A corruption of Ponks-uteney, ‘gnat town’. Heckewelder says in his Narrative
that the place was infested with these gnats, or sand-flies. ‘That not a moment’s rest was to be
expected at this place otherwise than by kindling fires throughout the camp, and sitting in the smoke.’
He relates the tradition, told in 1772, that about 30 years before, a hermit lived there on a rock. This
Indian was a magician, who would appear in various form to frighten travelers, some of whom he killed.
Finally a chief killed him. Thus far the story is said to have been true. The chief burned the hermit’s
bones to ashes. These were thrown into the air to be thrown away, but turned into Ponksak, ‘sand-flies’
– hence the trouble to the travelers and horses in later years. Ettwein, who passed over the trail from
the West Branch, with the Moravian converts, says in his Journal (1772), ‘In the evening the ponkis were
excessively annoying, so that the cattle pressed towards and into our camp, to escape their persecutors
in the smoke of the fires. This vermin is a plague to man and beast, both by day and night. But in the
swamp, their name is legion, and hence the Indians call it Ponksutenink, ie, ‘the town of the Ponkis.’ CF
Post returned from his mission to the Ohio in 1758, by this route, on his way to Shamokin. He says, ‘In
the afternoon we twice crossed Chowatin (now Mahoning Creek) and came to Ponchestanning (an Old
town that lies on the same Creek).’ The old trail from Shamokin (now Sunbury) to Kittanning passed
through this point. Not far from the swamp, which was west of the present town, the trail crossed the
branch of the Frankstown Path, leading to the mouth of the Tionesta, and also to Venango. Post had
traveled over both of these paths. Marie LeRoy and Barbara Leininger, who were captured below
Shamokin in 1755, were taken over this trail to Kittanning. In the Narrative of the captivity of these
young women, it is stated, ‘There we stayed ten days and then proceeded to Puncksetonay or
Eschentown.’ (Eschen is the German for Ponkis, or ‘sand-flies’.) The trail from Shamokin to Kittanning,
via the West Branch, Bald Eagle, Marsh Creek, Clearfield and Punxsutawny was one of the oldest
between the Susquehanna and Ohio. After the southern trail via Bedford, Ligonier and Kittanning, or
the Frankstown Path, via the Juniata, Kittanning Point, Cherry Tree, etc, were used (after 1758), this
northern route was abandoned to a great extent, because of its various disadvantages, such as lack of
game, difficult grades and sand-flies, which were exceedingly annoying to the traders horses.
“While it is stated by most writers, Post included, that there was a village at this point, it is
doubtful. The Indians would hardly locate a village at a point, where there were no advantages, and
where they would be afflicted with the sand-flies, when so many good village sites were so easily found.
The Indians evidently knew the place, because of the great number of sand-flies, as Ponks-utenink, ‘the
town of the sand-flies’, and no doubt these were the only occupants of the place.”1699
***SCALP LEVEL, CAMBRIA COUNTY1700, PENNSYLVANIA***
Cambria County Historical Society remarks: “Many varied and interesting stories exist
concerning the origin of the borough's unique name. The majority involve legends of early skirmishes
with the Indians. Another relates a feud between two families, who constantly threatened to scalp each

1698

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
1700
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalp_Level,_Pennsylvania
1699

other. Still another story concerns an old mountaineer who would, after heavily imbibing in whiskey
each Saturday night (sold at 6 ¼ cents per pint), announce that he would ‘scalp them all level off’.
“A more authentic story concerns an early clearing project in the village, when Jacob Eash
gathered all the able-bodied men together for a community ‘frolic’, as it was termed, to cut down the
trees and laurel. He spurred the workers on with shouts of, ‘cut them off level’.
“Another relates the name came from the topography of the village itself, being a narrow strip
of level land between the abrupt and high hills. The mountaineers at the time used the provincial
expression ‘skelp’ to indicate leveling off, such as the leveling of the land or leveling the bark of a tree by
blazing. The town was known as Skelp Level for many years, so it seems plausible that the latter story is
the most accurate.”1701
***SCHUYLKILL (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo shares: “The origin of this name has been variousily given. In 1684 Gerrit
VanSweeringen’s Account of the Settling of the Delaware by the Dutch and Swedes, he says, ‘The
Sweeds ship sailed up as high as Tenacum hideing themselves in a creeke, therefore it is called to this
day the Schuylkill, in English ‘Hideing Creeke’.’ Watson gives the meaning as ‘Hidden River’, because its
mouth was not seen, as it was passed on the Delaware. Capt Cornelius Hendricksen, the Dutch Skipper,
probably was the first European to sail up the Delaware to the mouth of the Schuylkill. Hendricksen
appeared before the Dutch Assembly on August 18, 1616, and gave an account of his discoveries
between New France and Virginia, or between 40 to 45 degrees Latitude. He made this trip of
exploration in a vessel called Onrust, (or ‘Restless’). Between 38 and 40 degrees of Latitude, he had
discovered a bay and three rivers. In 1623 the Dutch, under Capt Cornelius Mey, landed on the South
River (the Delaware) and landed near the present Gloucester, where Fort Nassau were erected. In 1638
the Swedes purchased the lands along the western shore from the Indians to the falls, near Trenton.
Peter Minuit, who had been with the Dutch West India Company for 9 years, and who had changed his
service to Sweden, landed on the Delaware in April 1638, and at once commenced the erection of a fort
at the mouth of Minquas Creek, which he named Christina River, in honor of the young Queen of
Sweden. The fort was also named in her honor. This little colony of 50 persons would have perished,
had not the arrival of a new colony, with abundant supplies, in the spring of 1640, reached the
settlement. In 1642 a still larger colony arrived, under Lieut John Printz. Printz was commissioned as
Governor of New Sweden, and at once established his seat of Government at Tinicum, where he built a
house and a fort, called Gottenburg. He also built a fort about 4 miles below Salem Creek, which was
called Elsinburg. The various conflicts between the Dutch and Swedish powers for the possession of the
rich trade of the Minquas (Conestogas) makes up much of the history of the various conflicts on the
Delaware at this period. Everything in the way of the trade with the Susquehanna Indians was in the
hands of the Swedes, who occupied the western shore of the river, and all of the creeks leading to the
Minquas country. The Report of Andreas Hudde, the Dutch Commissary on the Delaware, shows how
successful the Swedes had been in getting possession of this rich trade, which was the one thing for
which both Dutch and Swede were struggling. The name Schuylkill has been recorded under many
forms. These are of little value, as they are simply attempts to spell the Dutch, or Swedish name. Some
of these forms are: Schole Kill (1669); Schulkill (1681-4); Scoolkill (1685); Schuyl Kill (1656); Scuilkill
(1693); Skolkill (1683); Skoolkill (1690).
“The present form of the name was used by Hudde and others of the early officials on the
Delaware.
1701

Cambria County Historical Society; Cambria County Sesquicentennial; 1954; provided at Kathy Jones,
Curator, Cambria County Historical Society, 615 N Center St, PO Box 278, Ebensburg, PA 15931;
[email protected]; http://www.cambriacountyhistorical.com/

“The Indian name of the river, which is mentioned in the Deed to William Penn in 1683, was
Manaiunk, which has been corrupted to Manayunk.”1702
***SEVEN STARS, JUNIATA COUNTY1703, PENNSYLVANIA***
SH Schlegel stresses: “Though a tiny village, Seven Stars can be compared to the spokes of a
wheel of which the store is the hub. Seven Stars is on the way for travelers from Millerstown to
Richfield or from Liverpool to McAlisterville. The tiny hamlet with a long history is located at the
intersection of Seven Stars Road and Route 235 in Greenwood Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania.
“An early settler, Edward McConnell took a warrant of land in 1763 at Seven Stars, then
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He built a cabin of hand hewn logs and lived there for three weeks,
until a band of Indians appeared, and he fled to Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. By 1831
Juniata County was formed with seven townships including Greenwood Township. Later the township
was subdivided, but Seven Stars remained in Greenwood Township, Juniata County.
“By 1767 Edward McConnell and his brother Henry took out a warrant for 122 acres adjoining
Edward’s land. Soon other settlers with surnames like Marshall, Dimm, Wilt, Cox, and Castle, joined
them on the frontier. More families moved into the thriving community, bringing more surnames such
as Long, Chubb, Minium, Nipple, Feltman and others.
“According to Noah L Zimmerman, ‘In 1800 the village was called Cabala (sometimes spelled
with a K), which was an Indian name meaning ‘eagle’s nest’. Later the tavern in the hotel was named
Seven Stars, and apparently the name stuck. Several stories have floated around about the origin of the
name, but the most common is that ‘a man got hit on the head and saw seven stars’. Historians have
not discovered much information on the origin of the name ‘Seven Stars’. But a nearby creek still carries
the name ‘Cabala Run’.”1704
***SHADES OF DEATH, MONROE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo composes: “The name applied to the great Swamp, or rather to the western end of
this swamp, which is noted on Scull’s map of 1770, and also on Evans’ map of 1775. One of the oldest
trails from the Delaware to the Susquehanna ran from Wyoming through this swamp to Pechoquealin,
on the Delaware. Another trail joined this one about 22 miles north of Easton, leading through the Wind
Gap to Easton. This trail was followed by Sullivan’s army in 1779 to Wyoming, from Easton, and is
frequently mentioned in the Journals of this expedition. In the Journal of Rev William Rogers, DD,
Chaplain to Hand’s Brigade, he says, for June 21, ‘This day we marched through the Great Swamp and
Bear Swamp. The Great Swamp, which is eleven or twelve miles through, contains what is called on our
maps, the shades of death, by reason of its darkness; both swamps contain trees of amazing height,
hemlock, birch, pine, sugar-maple, ash, locust, etc.’ This swamp was situated in the northwestern part
of Monroe County, on the headwaters of the Lehigh. It was known as The Shades of Death long before
the fugitives from Wyoming sought refuge in it, as stated by several writers. It is so noted on Scull’s map
of 1770.”1705
***STANDING STONE, HUNTINGDON COUNTY1706, PENNSYLVANIA***
1702

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/juniata/seven-stars.cfm
1704
Shirley H Schlegel, Research Volunteer, Juniata County Historical Society, 498 B Jefferson St,
Mifflintown, PA 17059; [email protected];
http://juniatacountyhistoricalsociety.org/donate/
1705
George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
1706
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntingdon,_Pennsylvania
1703

GP Donehoo designates: “There were two places in the State known by this name. The most
prominent was at the site of the present Huntingdon, where at the mouth of Standing Stone Creek, once
stood a famous standing stone, which was a prominent landmark on the trail to the Ohio. John Harris in
1754, says that this stone was 14 feet high and 6 inches square. This stone is supposed to have been
erected by one of the tribes of the Iroquois, probably the Seneca, who may have at one time occupied
the valley, previous of their migration into New York. Heckewelder gives the name of this place as
Achsinnick, ‘where there is a large stone’. The Seneca name was Tyu-na-yage, ‘projecting rock’. A name
which Mr Hewitt says ‘is said to refer to a standing stone to which the Indians paid reverence’. There is
little doubt but that the standing stone at this place was a meeting place for the Iroquois tribes,
returning from their war expeditions to the south, and that they here celebrated their victories. This
stone was at the intersection of a number of the Indian trails, from the Susquehanna to the Ohio, and
from the West Branch and North Branch, leading southward across the State by way of the Warriors
Path, which ran along the foot of Warriors Mountain in Old Town, Maryland, where it crossed the
Potomac, and ran on southward into the Carolinas. The trail to Bald Eagle Valley, to Shamokin, down
the Juniata, across the Cumberland Valley, to the Potomac, to Kittanning, to Raystown, to Bedford, all
centered here. It was a central point for all of the great trails of the Indians. From this point, every part
of the entire system of trails could be reached. This stone, no doubt, gave the name to the river Juniata,
which is a corruption of Tyu-na-yate, the Seneca name for the place. The original stone, which stood at
the mouth of Standing Stone Creek, was removed by the Indians after the Purchase of 1754. A
memorial stone has been erected in Huntingdon bearing the inscription:
‘Onojutta,
Juniata,
Achsinnick.
Erected September 8,
1896,
As a Memorial of
the Ancient Standing Stone,
Removed by the Indians,
In 1754.’
The author spent some time at this place studying the course of the various trails, which centered here.
The spot was an ideal site for an Indian village, and yet there is no record of a village having been here,
within historic times, at least. The reason why no Indian village stood at this beautiful spot was probably
because of its situation on the pathway of the various war parties of so many different tribes. It was a
sort of Neutral Ground, or a Hague tribunal of War, instead of Peace. One can only realize the real
situation of the place, as a ‘Trail Center’, by studying Scull’s map on the spot, with the various mountains
and valleys in view. To the southeast, the Juniata passes through the narrow gorge, called Jack’s
Narrows, near the present Mount Union, where the trail forked to Aughwick (Shirleysburg); to the
northwest runs the valley through which the trail ran to the Bald Eagle Valley; to the west ran the trail to
Frankstown, and to the south ran the Warriors Trail to the Potomac. The Raystown Branch of the
Juniata enters the river just below Huntingdon. Conrad Weiser passed through this place in 1748, on his
way to the Ohio, from Harris’ Ferry. He mentions it as the Standing Stone. John Harris gives the place in
his table of distances of the Ohio, in 1754, ‘to Jack Armstrong’s Narrows, so called from his being there
murdered – 8 miles (from Aughwick), to the Standing Stone – 10 Miles, At each of these last places we
cross Juniata’. The trail crossed the Juniata, from the south, just above Mount Union, ran along the
northern bank of the Juniata to Standing Stone, crossing the river again near the present bridge, and
then ran westward to Frankstown, or southward to Everett, and Old Town, Maryland. The site is noted

on all of the early maps, Evans (1755), Scull (1770), and is mentioned in many of the early Journals.
Hugh Crawford, the Indian trader, was one of the first settlers in this region. In 1768 the Board of
Property recorded the following minute, ‘In 1755 Barnaby Barnes took out a Warrant for Mr Teas Use
for the place in dispute. In 1763 Mr Teas Received from George Croghan 10 Pounds 13 Shillings to take
out a Warrant for Charles Coxe in the name of William Paxton for 200 As on the North Side of Juniata
between Hugh Crawfords place at the Mouth of Standing Stone & Sheavers Run in the County of
Cumberland. In 1766 Doctor Smith took out an Application for the same place as Mr Teas Warrant. … By
Mr McClay’s Information there is but one place between Hugh Crawfords place the Mouth of Shavers
Creek on the North Side of Juniata which could be the Object of a Warrant.’ After an examination of the
case, Doctor Smith, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, was granted the land. Doctor Smith laid
out a town on this tract, which he gave the name of Huntingdon, in honor of Salina, Countess of
Huntingdon (England), who had made a gift to be University. The few white settlers living in this region
before 1762 erected a stockade fort, which was abandoned during the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 1763.
After the return of the settlers to the Juniata, after the Treaty of 1768, the fort was strengthened, or
rebuilt. During the Revolution it was a meeting place for the Tories of Sinking Valley, who made an
attack upon the settlers, who had taken the oath of allegiance, and drove them away. Gen Daniel
Roberdeau says in a letter, April 23, 1778, ‘The insurgents from this Neighborhood (Standing Stone), I
am informed are about thirty.’ On April 24, 1778, Lieut Carothers, in writing from Carlisle, says, ‘a body
of Tories, near 320, in and above Standing Stone, had collected themselves together & Drove a number
of inhabitants from Standing Stone Town’. It is possible that the Delaware village, mentioned by Le Tort
in 1731, as Assunnepachla ‘upon Choniata’, which contained 12 families and 36 men, was at the place,
instead of at Frankstown. The distance given, however, would be too great for this place. The name
Assunnepachla, however, may be a corruption of Assun, or Aschin, ‘stone’, and Pachgen, ‘to turn out of
the road’, having the significance, ‘the stone, where one turns out of the road’, or ‘the stone, where the
road turns’.”1707
***SUSQUEHANNA (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade illustrates: “Susquehanna County, which was separated from Luzerne in 1810,
owns its name to the fact that within its territory, the Susquehanna River first enters the State.
Heckewelder’s explanation of this name is the one that has generally been accepted: ‘The word
Susquehanna, properly Sisquehanne, from sisku, ‘mud’, and hanne, a ‘river’, was probably at the early
date in the settlement of this country, overheard by someone while the Indians were remarking, at the
time of a flood or freshet, ‘Juh! Sisquehanne’, - which is ‘How muddy the river is!’ Thus Susquehanna is
interpreted as meaning ‘muddy river’. Another interpretation of Susquehanna is that it means ‘the long,
crooked river’, or to phrase it a little more poetically, ‘the river of the winding shore’. The most recent
explanation has been given by James McKirdy, who believes that Susquehanna is derived from the
Delaware Indian word saskwihanang, signifying ‘the straight river’ or, more accurately, ‘the place of the
straight river’. Susquehanna borough is named for the county and the river.”1708
GP Donehoo expands: “The name of a river, county, Township and a number of villages, towns
and post offices. Heckewelder gives the name as a corruption of Quenisschachachgekhanne, ‘the long
reach river’ (a name first applied to the West Branch). He said that the name given to the North Branch
was M’chewamisipu, ‘the river on which are extensive clear flats’ (name of Wyoming). The Six Nations,
according to Pyrlaeus, called the river Gahonta, with same meaning. Heckewelder says that the Indians
called the Susquehanna, ‘the great bay river’. ‘The word Susquehanna, properly Sisquehanna, from
Sisku, ‘mud’, and hanne, ‘a stream’, was probably at an early time of the settling of this country
1707
1708

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969

overheard by someone while the Indians were at the time of a flood or freshet, remarking, ‘Juh Achsis
quehanne, which is ‘How muddy the stream is’,’ and therefore taken as the proper name of the river.’
Co-hon-go-run-to, the name given by Colden, is not a name of the Susquehanna, but of the Potomac.
Reichel calls it the ‘winding River’. Cusick gave the name of Ka-un-she-wa-tau yea. Morgan gave it the
name of Ga-wa-no-wa-na-neh, ‘great island river’. On De l’Isle’s map of 1718, the river is called R des
Andastes. On Herman’s map of 1670, the river is called Sassquahana. On De l’Isle’s map, the Indians,
inhabiting the region along this river, are called Andastes ou Sasquehanoes. Andastes was the name,
which the French gave to the Sasquesahannocks or Sasquesahanough (1608). The modern form of this
name is Susquehanna. Mr Hewitt gives the meaning to Kanastoge, ‘at the place of the immersed pole’.
May it not be possible that the word from which Andaste is derived is Ka-nesta, ‘mud’, or ‘clay’, and that
Sassqua-hana is simply the Algonkian translation of the Iroquois name? Sisku-hanna would simply be a
translation of the word, which was used as the name of the tribe, Kanesta, with the suffix hanna.
Susquehanna would therefore be ‘the river of the Andastes’, as noted on the map mentioned. As the
Andastes or Susquehannas, occupied this river from its headwaters to the bay, this name would be a
fitting one for it. Sisku is evidently simply a translation of Andaste, which was a corruption of Kanesta.
The present Chemung River is called R de Kanestio on Pouchot’s map of 1758. This river was occupied
by the Andastes (or Kanesta) before their explusion from Carantouan by the Iroquois. The name of the
river was, therefore, ‘River of the Andastes’. What the significance of Kanesta, as applied to the tribe,
was, it is impossible to discover. The word Kanesta and Sisku, or Assisku, means both ‘mud’ and ‘clay’.
Heckewelder noted that the name ‘muddy river’, or ‘roily river’, was not descriptive of the Susquehanna,
and it is not. Is not this derivation a solution of the meaning of Sisku as applied to this stream? The
Indians told Smith the name of the river, simply translated the Iroquois name of the tribe living upon the
stream, Kanesta, by Sisku, adding Hanna, to designate the river? While the name Canestio (also
Canisteo, Kanestio), is now applied only to the branch of the Susquehanna, which enters the Tioga River
near Corning, NY, it was formerly applied by the Seneca to the Susquehanna River, to its junction with
the West Branch. It is so noted on the Pouchot map of 1758, to the junction of the Chemung with the
North Branch. Vandrueil says, in 1757, ‘I was informed that the English had caused 500 bateaux to be
constructed at Shamoken (Shamokin), on the River Canestio.’ And again he says, ‘A Seneca told me that
more than 100 men had gone with the Loups (Delaware) to the River Canestio to harass the English, who
are very numerous about Shamoken, where they are really building batteuax.’ John Smith first heard of
these Susquehannocks when exploring the head of Chesapeake Bay in 1608. He was told by the
Nanticoke or Pohawtan that ‘They can make neere 600 able and mighty men, and are palisaded in their
Townes to defend them from the Massawomekes, their mortal enemies.’ He also learned that they
were seated on the Susquehanna River ‘2 daies higher than was passable for the discoverer barge’. Mr
Hewitt has identified the name of these enemies of the Susquehannas Indians, the Massawomekes, with
the name M’cheuwaming, ‘at the great flats’, which has been corrupted to Wyoming. This would make
the Massawomekes, of Smith, and the Scahentoarrhonons of the Jesuit Relation of 1735, identical. The
author thinks that the Scahentoarrhonons was simply another form of the name applied to the Seneca,
Tsandowannes by the early writers in the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. This name was also written
Tsanandowas. The Massawomekes, Scahentoarrhonons, Tsandowannes, Tsanandowas and the Seneca
were probably the same. The historic northern village of the Andastes, or Susquehannocks, called
Carantouan, was situated on the present Chemung River near the New York State line, and was directly
reached from the upper branches of the river, by the Senecas, whose villages were then east of the
Genesee River. The author also thinks that the Andastes were, before the war with the Iroquois, closely
connected with the Seneca, and that the latter lived along the Juniata River before being driven north by
the Andastes, who in turn were driven down the Susquehanna by the Seneca. Smith gives the name of
six Susquehanna towns: Sasquesahanough, Quadroque, Attaock, Tesinigh, Utchowig and Cepeowig. It is
probable that the first town, Sasquesahanough, was situated near the mouth of the Conewago, or at the

Falls; Attaock was probably on or near the Juniata; Quadroque, at the forks of the Susquehanna, near
Northumberland; Tesinigh, on the Susquehanna, in the Wyoming Valley; Utchowig, on the West Branch,
in the region of Jersey Shore, or Lock Haven; and Cepowig, somewhere in the region of Gettysburg.
Besides these villages mentioned by Smith, there were a number of other villages along the upper
Susquehanna, on the Chemung Branch, which were occupied by the Susquehanna about the same time
that these villages were in existence. Among these were Carantouan, Oscalui and Gahontoto. The first
was situated at Spanish Hill, Bradford County, near Waverly, NY; the second was at the mouth of Sugar
Creek, Bradford County; and the third near the mouth of Wyalusing Creek, in the same county. In 1616
Captain Hendrickson made a report of his discoveries in New Netherland, in which he says, ‘He also
traded for and bought from the inhabitants, the Minquaes, three persons, being people belonging to
this Company; which three persons were employed in the service of the Mohawks and Mahicans; giving
for them kettles, beads and merchandise.’ After the settlement of the Delaware by the Dutch and
Swedes, the trade with the ‘Minquas’, as the Susquehanna Indians were called by early officials on the
Delaware, was the object of the struggles between these two rival peoples. On July 19, 1655, several of
the Delaware chiefs conveyed to Peter Stuyvesant a tract of land on the west shore of the Delaware, in
the presence of several ‘Minquas’. At this time, the Delaware and Susquehanna Indians were in friendly
union, and it is possible that the former were subject to the latter. A Delaware chief, Mattehoon, in
reply to a question concerning the ownership of the land, said, ‘that they were great Chiefs and
Proprietors of the lands, both by ownership and by descent and by appointment of the Minquas and
River Indians’ (a geographic designation of the Delawares living on the river). The Swedes, by taking
possession of the mouth of the Schuylkill, Minquas Kill, and the other streams landing westward to the
creeks connecting with the Susquehanna, gained possession of this trade with the Susquehanna
(Andastes, Conestoga, Minquas).
“In the Record of Upland Court the name given is Sasquehanno. While the Susquehanna
(Andaste, Conestoga) belonged to the Iroquoian family, they were not members of the ‘League of the
Iroquois’, with whom they carried on a war, which lasted for many years. This war, which had been
carried on with success by the Conestoga, finally terminated in the complete subjection of the once
powerful tribe. The Susquehannocks had several forts among the lower Susquehanna, where they made
their final stand against their foes from the north. One of these was at the mouth of Octorara Creek.
This fort figured in the Boundary Dispute between the Penns and Calverts. This fort is mentioned in the
Colonial Records of 1684 – ‘Jonas Askins heard Coll Talbot say, that if Govr Penn should come into
Maryland, he would Seize him and his retairce (?) in their Journey to Susquehanna fort.’ … The other
Susquehanna fort was situated opposite the place where Thomas Cresap settled and built his fort, at
Conejohela. It stood below Wrightsville, and was destroyed by the Senecas in 1673-4, after which the
Susquehannocks retreated to their Maryland fort, where they were defeated by the Maryland and
Virginia soldiers, in 1675, when they returned to the east side of the Susquehanna, opposite Conejohela,
where they built the fort at Turkey Hill, near Columbia. The author found along the shore of the river,
below this point, one of the oldest types of a stone axe he has ever seen. The entire region along the
river at this region, between the Conewago and Conestoga, was without doubt the region in which the
Conestoga, or Susquehanna, Indians lived when carrying on the trade with the Swedes on the Delaware.
Their villages then spread along the river to the mouth of Octorara Creek. During the war between the
Iroquois and the Susquehannas, or Conestoga, many of them sought refuge with the Delawares, with
whom they were in alliance. The subjugations of the Conestoga, no doubt, carried with it the
subjugation of the Delawares. After this time, the Iroquois claimed all of the lands, which had been
occupied by the Conestoga. It was not until later that they set up a claim for the lands occupied by the
Delawares. At a council at Philadelphia, 1720, Civility, the Conestoga chief, said that ‘some of the five
Nations, especially the Cayoogoes (Cayuga) had at diverse times expressed a Dissatisfaction at the large
Settlements made by the English on Sasquehannah, and that they seemed to claim a Property or Right

to those Lands.’ Secretary Logan replied that the Governor of New York had bought the lands in
question, and that Governor Penn had purchased the right to the lands from him. This entire subject
was gone over in a letter written by Governor Keith. The dispute concerning the lands about Conestoga
came up at various times. In 1722 a number of the chiefs of the Five Nations, with two Tuscarora, were
at Philadelphia. These, in a speech, said, ‘We have now freely surrender to you all those Lands about
Conestoga which the five Nations have claimed, and it is our desire that the same may be settled with
Christians, in token whereof we give this String of Wampum.’ A Deed had been given by the Conestoga
for these Susquehanna lands in 1700. Governor Dongan had deeded all of the Susquehanna lands to
William Penn in 1696. Dongan stated in this Deed that these lands had been purchased or given to him
by the ‘Sinneca Susquehanah Indians’. At the Treaty of 1736, the Iroquois declared that these
Susquehanna lands had been given to Governor Dongan in trust, and that they had in no way given up
their rights to them. This Deed was for all of the lands on both sides of the river to the Kittatinny
Mountains, and westward ‘to the setting sun’. In 1749 the Penns purchased all of the lands on the east
side of the Susquehanna, north of this previous purchase, from the north side of the mouth of the
Mahoney, below Sunbury, to the north side of the mouth of the Lackawaxen on the Delaware. In 1754
the Susquehanna Company purchased, at the Treaty at Albany, the tract of land beginning at the 41st
degree north latitude, at ten miles east of the Susquehanna River, to the end of the 42nd degree. This
was the beginning of the conflict between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, which lasted for years and cost
hundreds of lives. At this same Treaty at Albany, the Penns purchased all of the lands on the west side
of the Susquehanna, from the Kittatinny Mountains northward to a mile above the mouth of Penn’s
Creek, and then northwest to the limits of the Province. At this Treaty, it was stated that the lands
under consideration ‘did really belong to the Cayugas and Oneidas in Right of the Conquest of the
Sasquehanna Indians’. At the Treaty of Easton, 1758, all of the lands west of the summit of the
Allegheny Mountains were deeded back to the Iroquois, because of the various disputes concerning
these lands. At the Treaty at Fort Stanwix, all of the lands, which had been deeded back to the Indians
in 1758, and the lands west of the Susquehanna to Pine Creek, south of the West Branch, and south of
the line to Kittanning and south of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, was purchased. This was the last
purchase made by the Penns. The land north and west of this purchase was bought from the Iroquois at
Fort Stanwix in 1784, and the Triangle at Erie was purchased in 1789. In the various documents relating
to the Susquehanna River, and the lands along it, the Seneca at no time made any claim to these lands,
and yet it is frequently stated that the Seneca were with other Iroquois, the Susquehannocks
(Conestoga). In August 1684, the Cayuga and Onondaga claimed the river and the lands. These tribes
gave the lands to Gov Dongan, ’That Penn’s people may not settle on the Susquehannah River.’ These
tribes stated, ‘Thatt we do putt the Susquehanna River above the Washinta or falls and all the rest of
our land under the Great Duke of York and to nobody else.’ At a Council at Albany, September 26, 1683,
the Cayuga and Onondaga chiefs said, ‘The aforesaid Land (on Susquehanna River) belongs to us, Cayuga
and Onnondagos, alone; the other three Nations, ie, the Sinnekes, Oneydes and Maquaas, have nothing
to do with it.’ As previously noticed, the Cayuga made the claim that they owned the Susquehanna
lands to William Penn. In the various disputes between the Iroquois and the Colonies of Maryland and
Virginia, the various purchases of these Colonies were under discussion. In 1652 Maryland bought from
the Minquaas (Susquehannas) all of the land on both sides of Chesapeake Bay to the mouth of the river.
The Maryland deputies at the Treaty of Lancaster claimed that Gov Dongan sold the Susquehanna lands
to William Penn in 1696, and that the Minquas (Conestoga) had confirmed this Deed in the presence of
the Iroquois deputies in 1718, and the Pennsylvania had bought these lands from the Iroquois to the
Kittatinny Mountains in 1736. Consequently the Iroquois had no claims against Maryland. Canassatego
replied to all of these points, acknowledged the validity of these various transactions, but denied that
the Iroquois had ever been paid for the lands along the Potomac. The Colonies of Maryland and Virginia
finally made a settlement for all of these lands. After the defeat of the Susquehannas by the Iroquois in

1675, the surviving members of the tribe were scattered. Some of them went to the Potomac, where
they settled on the east bank above Piscataway Creek. Some of them returned from this place to
Conestoga, near Lancaster, where they were living when they held a Treaty with William Penn in 1701.
The statement of Colden that they were removed to the Oneida country ‘until they lost their language’
cannot be correct, as the Conestoga and Conoy, which settled at Conestoga, went directly there from
the Potomac. The place where they settled on Conestoga Creek was probably the site of the chief town
of the Susquehannocks, previous to the final war with the Iroquois. Here the remnant of the once
powerful tribe dwindled in numbers, until in 1763, they numbered but 20. Six of these were killed by
the ‘Paxton Boys’ on the night of December 14, 1763. The remaining 14 were taken to the Workhouse
at Lancaster for their own protection. On December 27th, 50 men rode from Paxtang to Lancaster. Rev
John Elder, the Pastor of the Presbyterian Church to Paxtang, met these men and tried to prevent them
from going to Lancaster, but was not successful. They went to Lancaster, broke open the Jail in which
the Conestoga were confined, and killed the last remnant of the once masterful Susquehannocks, who
had been reduced to a pitiful condition, chiefly because of the unlicensed traffic in rum in their village at
Conestoga. Owing to the various land sales along the Delaware [River], the Delaware [tribe] began to
migrate to the Susquehanna soon after the settlement of the region along the former river. After the
Walking Purchase, the Delawares were ordered by the Iroquois to the Susquehanna. They commenced
moving to the Ohio, soon after 1724. By 1755 the majority of the Indian villages south of the West
Branch were deserted. The villages along the northern part of the river remained until after Sullivan’s
expedition of 1779, when they, too, were deserted. By that year, the great majority of the Delaware
and Shawnee were in the present state of Ohio.”1709
***TALLYHO, MCKEAN COUNTY1710, PENNSYLVANIA***
Flo Carter maintains: “Tally Ho was located near Westline, PA. It was in the midst of the lumber
industry in the late 1800s.
“Although it is not documented, it is felt that Tally Ho was a nick name for ‘Tally House’, where
they counted the timber that went on the railroads.
“There were so many lumber camps, and the federal government needed a way to deliver mail,
get cash, etc, so the camps were given names – thus Tally Ho.”1711
***TIOZINOSSONGACHTA, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
GP Donehoo presents: “A former Indian village, at the site of Cold Spring, New York, at the
mouth of Cold Spring Creek. This creek is noted on Howell’s map (1792) as Inshaunshagota. Adlum’s
map (1790) notes the village, on the west bank of the Allegheny, and above the mouth of the creek, as
Teushbanushsonggoghta. Ellicott’s Boundary map, 1787, gives the form Tushanushagota. The village,
at which the Friends established a mission in 1798, mentioned by Maria King as Geneseinguhta was at
the same site.
“In the narrative of Mary Jemison, the place is called, Che-ua-shung-gau-tau. In Zeisberger’s
Journal of 1767, he gives the form Tiozinossongatchta. He reached the village on October 11th, on his
way to the mouth of the Tionesta. On his return journey, he reached the village on October 26th. In his
Journal of this date, he calls it ‘the most central of the Seneka towns’. Zeisberger passed through the
village again in May 1768 on his way to the mission at Goshgoshing. This village is still the home of ‘the
old time people’. Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet, lived at this village from 1810 to 1812. On
1709

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/mckean/tallyho.cfm
1711
Flo Carter, Treasurer, McKean County Historical Society, 500 West Main St, Smethport, PA 16749;
[email protected]; http://www.mchsmuseum.org/index.php
1710

Morgan’s map of 1720, the village of Deonagano is situated at this place. Another form of the name is
Dyu-ne-ga-nooh. This site has been occupied by the Seneca since about the middle of the 18th century.
The region previous to the Seneca occupied was probably occupied by the Erie, or the Neutrals. It is
possible that the Wenro spread along the river previous to 1673. Col Proctor, in his Journal of 1791,
says, ‘our guide conducted us in safety, at about 10 o’clock at night, to O’Beel’s town, called in the
Indian language, Tenachshegouchtongee, or ‘the burnt house’. O’Bail’s (Cornplanter’s) town was called
Dionosadegi, ‘place of burnt houses’. This village was in Warren County, Pennsylvania, near the state
line. Proctor had evidently gotten the names of the two villages mixed.”1712
***TORPEDO, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade renders: “Is said to owe its name to a curious accident. In the winter of 1883,
the horses hitched to a wagon bound for the oilfields and loaded with nitroglycerine – colloquially
known as a ‘torpedo’ – slipped and fell while crossing the railroad. A train at full speed struck the
wagon, which was partly embedded in deep mud – a circumstance which is supposed to have broken
the terrific shock of the explosion that ensued, for the train was not greatly injured. The place was
called Torpedo in commemoration of the event. The author has not been able to verify the foregoing
explanation, which does not seem very convincing. It may by only another example of folk
etymology.”1713
***VIRGINVILLE, BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade sheds light on: “Is situated on Maiden Creek. Both the village and the stream
derived their names from a translation of the Indian name Ontelaunee, which means ‘virgin, or maiden’.
The name Ontelaunee has been given to one of the townships of Berks County.”1714
www.virginvillehotel.com suggests: “Virginville typifies the many small communities that dot the
landscape here in the heart of Pa Dutch country. Located in northern Berks County near the ‘Hex
Highway’ (Interstate 78), Virginville is a place where the Delaware Indians roamed for thousands of
years, prior to being displaced in 1730, when the heirs of William Penn started selling land for
development.
“In the 1750s, immigrants, primarily from Germany, began settling the area and came to be
known as Pennsylvania Germans or the Pa Dutch. The earliest settler was John Jacob Dreibelbis who
emigrated from Switzerland. His descendants settled in and around the town: a small village north of
here is named Dreibelbis, and some of the most famous townsfolk carry on the Dreibelbis name.
“No one is certain about how Virginville (originally called Virginsville) got its name, but it is the
subject of much debate, and is a place where it is tough to hang on to road signs, which are taken
regularly by souvenir hunters.
“Some say Virginville was named for the untouched beauty of the countryside: others attribute
the name to the honor of Comte de Vergennes, a foreign minister to France's Louis XVI.
“The exact origins of the town are not exactly clear either. About 1809, a Dreibelbis opened a
store and the town began to grow. The opening of the railroad in the latter part of the 19th Century
spurred some development, but Virginville remains essentially an agricultural community. The area is
also famous for the many underground caves, including the famous Crystal Cave that lies two miles east
of the town.

1712

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1714
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
1713

“The Virginville Hotel is the last remaining ‘public house’ in a town that once had three such
places where residents could eat, drink and be merry. The hotel began in 1885, started by Eli Hein, who
called it the Mansion House.
“Today, Virginville has a population numbering between 160 and 300, according to estimates.
While it is no longer a ‘contained village’ (a place where residents once could get everything they
needed to sustain life), Virginville has a delightful mix of homes and businesses. The Virginville Grange
has the largest membership among all the granges in Pennsylvania.”1715
***WAYNE (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade calls attention to: “Wayne County, in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania,
was formed out of Northampton on March 21, 1798, receiving its name in honor of General Anthony
Wayne, who had died at Erie a little more than a year before. ‘Mad Anthony Wayne’, as he was
nicknamed because of the many unexpected successes that he won in hazardous expeditions, was born
in 1745 in Easttown, Chester County, whence his grandfather had emigrated from Ireland, some years
after the battle of the Boyne. At the age of 30, he entered the Revolutionary army as colonel, and two
years later, was commissioned a brigadier-general. His services during the Revolution are so well known
that they scarcely require comment. He fought at Three Rivers, Brandywine, Paoli, Monmouth, Stony
Point, and Yorktown: ‘where Wayne went, there was a fight always; that was his business.’ At the close
of the war, he was brevetted major-general and, returning to civil life, was elected to Congress.
“In April 1792, he succeeded General Arthur St Clair as commander-in-chief of the United States
Army, with the rank of major-general. Neither General Josiah Harmar nor General Arthur St Clair had
succeeded in subjugating the warlike and unruly Indians on the western and northwestern frontiers,
where the agents of the British government seemed to be constantly inciting them to new depredations
and atrocities. General Wayne prudently spent more than a year in preparing his soldiers for the
peculiar warfare that they would have to wage against their Indian foes. On August 20, 1794, he met a
force of 2,000 Indians in the wilderness at Fallen Timbers, fully 300 hundred miles from civilization, and
there won ‘the most important victory ever secured over Indian foes. This victory made possible the
settlement of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and the West. It closed a campaign similar in its objects and
difficulties to that of Caesar in Gaul.’
“A year later, at Greenville, Ohio, General Wayne negotiated a treaty in which twelve Indian
tribes participated. The service that Anthony Wayne rendered his native State, in effectually breaking
the Indian power and in giving permanent peace to the western frontier, can hardly be overestimated.
After his conquest of the northwestern tribes, the colonization and development of western
Pennsylvania began in earnest, and the settlements in this region grew with amazing rapidity.
“‘Wayne, Wayne, Anthony Wayne,
Fiery heart and cool, clear brain,
Deep in the wilds of the Northwest region
Marched at the head of his hard-drilled legion,
Pressing where two had failed before,
Bringing the choice of peace or war.
Iroquois, Ottawa, Chippeway,
Back of the fallen timbers lay;
Wyandot, Shawnee, Delaware,
Pour their shot from the sheltered lair.
Over the root-laced parapet
1715

Virginville's History; http://www.virginvillehotel.com/about.htm

The legion stormed with the bayonet,
Hunting the warriors out and out;
Hard on the flank of the savage rout,
Leaping the trunks in their reckless course,
Thundered the mad Kentucky Horse,
Lunging, plunging, bridles ringing,
Pistols flashing, sabers swinging,
Till the woods were clear as a new-washed fleece
And the vanquished sachems sued for peace.’
“As to how the surname Wayne or Wain originated, no definite information can be given. The
word means ‘wagon’. It may have been abbreviated from Wainwright, or derived from an old tavern at
the sign of ‘The Wain’.”1716
***WELAGAMIKA, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY1717, PENNSYLVANIA***
James and Linda Wright connote: “Name of an Indian village located between Nazareth and
Schoeneck. It was one of the relatively few Delaware villages occupied in Northampton County, when
white settlements began in the 18th century. The main part of this village seems to have been in the
meadows along the Schoeneck and Black Rock Creeks north or northeast of the Whitefield House in
Nazareth. Nazareth proper was the site of the Indians’ peach orchards. On the hillside to the west, the
Indians grew strawberries in the field of 6-8a. When the Moravians came to the Nazareth Tract in 1740,
they found the Indians growing vast stores of corn, squash and pumpkins. The meadows were bordered
with plum trees. The old Indian burial grounds at the village were plowed up by a farmer named John
Clewell about 1820.
“According to John Heckewelder, the name Welagamika was formed from two Lenape words,
wehlick meaning ‘best’, and hacki meaning ‘land’. It could be translated thus, as ‘rich, fine soil’. In other
records, the village appears as Welagemeki, Welagesan, and Welagemiko. The village was also called
Capt John’s Village, for Capt John was the sachem when Nazareth was founded in 1740. His Indian name
was Welapachtschi chen, meaning ‘erect posture’, but he was known to the whites as John. There is
some evidence that he was a half-brother of Teedyuscung. He was one of the few Indians to remain in
the Forks of the Delaware region after the Walking Purchase. He was a source of consternation to the
Moravians at Nazareth, who for years were unable to induce him to leave his village. Count Zinzendorf
visited the old chief on June 25, 1742, to try to talk him into leaving the Nazareth Tract, but he was not
successful. Soon after 1742, however, he did remove to the Deep Hole on the Bushkill Creek near
Stockertown. Since Moses Tatemy was living here, Capt John may have come here to reside near him.
Here the chief lived out the reminder of his life and died in August 1747. Moravian records show that
carpenters, working on the new gristmill at Christian Springs, stopped their work to build a coffin for
Capt John. The chief desired to be buried in a Christian manner, and his body was carried to the old
Indian cemetery at Welagamika, where it was interred.
“Indians occupied the area of Welagamika for thousands of years. Yearly upon plowing, large
numbers of Indian relics are yielded by the farmers’ fields here. The relics range in age from a few
hundred years to the early Archaic Period of Indian prehistory (10,000 years ago). Unfortunately the site

1716
1717

Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1210869,n,welagamika.cfm

of Welagamika is rapidly becoming a residential area of Nazareth, and the days of relic hunting are
undoubtedly numbered.”1718
***WHISKERVILLE, BUTLER COUNTY1719, PENNSYLVANIA***
LR Eisler and GC McKnight detail: “Whiskerville is a Washington Township village. The former
railroad town is frequently called Ridgeville. The country store is now gone, but some homes and the
church still stand at the country crossroads of Branchton and Kohlmeyer-Nagy Roads. The unusual
name for the town is a bit of local history. It seems a rather good-looking bachelor of the community
had a long white beard. One day a neighbor caught him in the midst of an indiscretion with the
neighbor’s wife. The injured husband grabbed him by his whiskers and paraded him down the street for
everyone to see.”1720
***WYOMING (COUNTY), PENNSYLVANIA***
AH Espenshade explains: “One of the ‘seventeen original townships’ in the Connecticut County
of Westmoreland, which was wholly within the State of Pennsylvania, was Putnam Township, so called
in honor of General Israel Putnam, the Connecticut hero in the American Revolution. In 1842 when the
people of this region, who were for the most part descendants of the early Connecticut settlers,
petitioned the Legislature to create a new county out of Luzerne, they requested that it might be called
Putnam County, for the old township of Putnam and in honor of their beloved hero; but the bitterness
engendered by the ‘Pennamite war’ still lingered, and it was apparently too early for Pennsylvania to
perform a gracious act by complying with what now seems a reasonable request. In the Legislature, the
member from Luzerne County moved that the name of Wyoming be substituted for Putnam, and thus
the new county was named Wyoming.
“Originally the name Wyoming, or Wyoming Valley, had been used to designate all the territory,
which the Susquehanna and the Delaware Counties of Connecticut had bought of the Iroquois Indians in
1754, and which is now included in the counties of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming, Susquehanna, and
Wayne. To take the name of Wyoming Country from the Wyoming Valley was not inappropriate,
because the county forms the northern opening of the exquisitely beautiful valley of Wyoming, famous
in history, legend, and literature.
“According to Heckewelder, the Delawares called the North Branch of the Susquehanna
M’chewami-sipu, ‘the river of extensive flats’; and they named the valley M’chwewormink, ‘extensive
plains or meadows’. Neither the Moravian missionaries nor the Connecticut Yankees could be expected
to pronounce or retain the first syllable of this name. The former called the region ‘Wayomik’, and the
latter ‘Waioming’, which subsequently assumed the present form of Wyoming.
“The borough of Wyoming, in Luzerne County, and counties in New York and Virginia, and one of
the states of the great Northwest, have all been named for the Wyoming Valley.”1721
GP Donehoo imparts: “The name of a county, a valley and a former Indian village. The name is a
corruption of M’cheuomi, or M’cheuwami, having the significance of ‘great flats’. Heckewelder says that
the North Branch of the Susquehanna was called M’cheuweami-sipu, ‘the river of the extensive flats’.
1718

James and Linda Wright; Place Names of Northampton County, Pennsylvania; 1988; provided by
Howard McGinn, Researcher, Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, 342
Northampton St, Easton, PA 18042; http://sigalmuseum.org/
1719
http://pennsylvania.hometownlocator.com/pa/butler/whiskerville.cfm
1720
Luanne R Eisler and Glee C McKnight; An Historical Gazetteer of Butler County, Pennsylvania; Butler
Area Public Library; 2006; provided by Lu Eisler, Genealogist, Butler Area Public Library, 218 N McKean
St, Butler, PA 16001; [email protected]; http://www.butlerlibrary.info/
1721
Abraham Howry Espenshade; Pennsylvania Place Names; Gale Research Company; 1969

He said that the Iroquois called it Gahonta, a word of like significance. The Iroquois name
Skehandowana, or Schandowana, was frequently used by Conrad Weiser, in referring to the Wyoming
Valley. Tsanandowa and Tsanandowana, was also a Seneca form of the name. All of these names have
the same significance of ‘large flats’, or ‘great meadows’, and were first applied to the region now
known as the Wyoming Valley, rather than to a particular village in it. The locative of M’cheuwami
would be M’cheuoming or M’cheuwaming, meaning ‘at the great flats’. Hewitt says that the animate
plural of this word would be M’cheuomek, which was probably the name which was corrupted by John
Smith to Massawomecke, who were the mortal enemies of the Susquehannocks, mentioned by him in
1608. This would identify the Massawomecks of Smith, and the Scahentoarrhonons of the Jesuit
Relation for 1635, as being the same. The Massawomecks and the Scahentoarrhonons were the ‘people
of the great flats’. The name Scahantowano was the name given to Wyoming at the Treaty at Lancaster
in 1744. The author is of the opinion that the Seneca were the occupants of these ‘great flats’ before
their occupation of the region in New York. Or that the Massawomecks of Smith; the
Scahentoarrhonons of the Jesuit Relation; the Tsanandowas, of the early Colonial Records, said the
Seneca of later history, were all of the same Iroquoian tribe. These inhabitants of ‘the great flats’ were
destroyed by the Iroquois in 1652. They were probably a remnant of the Seneca, which had remained
behind on the Juniata (later going to Wyoming) at the time of the eastern migration of the Delaware and
Iroquois. The Massawomecks, or Scahentoarrhonons, had probably driven the Susquehannocks
southward from the upper Susquehanna, before the final conflict between the Seneca of New York with
the Carantouannais, who probably crossed from Carantouan to the West Branch valley, after the
destruction of their village in the wars with the Iroquois. The first mention of Wyoming in the Archives
of this State is perhaps that of 1712, in which, at a Council at Philadelphia, the Indians present a number
of gifts from the Five Nations; ‘The first was from that Town our Indians call Mechatenawgha, or
Sennecaes, being the Tsanondouans, & consisted of six Beavers & -drest skins.’ If this name refers to
M’cheuwami, which seems certain, then the Seneca were living at Wyoming in 1712. The first
settlement, of historic record, was made by the Shawnee and Minisinks, who were driven from the Forks
of the Delaware after 1742. Nutimus, with a number of his followers, settled near the present WilkesBarre, and Kakowatchky, the Shawnee ‘King’, from the Forks of the Delaware, settled at Shawnee Flats,
at the present Plymouth in 1728. This chief and his clan remained here until about 1743, when he
removed to Logstown, on the Ohio. This chief remained true to the English, even after many of the
Shawnee had gone over to the French influence, under the leadership of Peter Chartier. After the
departure of this Shawnee ‘King’ to the Ohio, Paxinosa became the leading chief at Wyoming. Paxinosa
was at Wyoming when Count Zinzendorf visited the Shawnee in 1742. When Zinzendorf visited
Wyoming in 1742, it was occupied chiefly by Shawnee. In 1751 the Nanticoke had a village at the lower
end of the valley, on the east side of the river, near the present Nanticoke. When Mack, the Moravian
missionary, visited Wyoming in 1744, there were but 6 or 7 cabins in the town. The sites of these
various villages are shown as the maps of the Manors of Stoke and Sunbury. At the Treaty at Albany in
1754, when the Iroquois sold the lands drained by the Juniata to the Penns, they reserved the lands at
Wyoming as a hunting ground, and as a place of refuge from the French. John Shikellamy, son of
Shikellamy, was appointed to look after these lands. At the Council at Easton, in 1757, Tedyuskung, the
Delaware ‘King’, asked that these lands at Wyoming be so fixed ‘that it shall not be lawful for us or our
children ever to sell, or for you to any of your children ever to buy’. When it was discovered that this
land had been sold at the Treaty at Albany by the Mohawk to Lydius, the agent of the Connecticut
Company, Conrad Weiser declared that this sale was fraudulent, and that unless the settlement of this
region was prevented, and the Deed declared null and void, an Indian war would result. The attempt of
Connecticut to take possession of this region resulted in the long dispute between the Penns and the
Susquehanna Company, and was the direct cause of the so-called ‘Massacre of Wyoming’, which was
nothing less or more, than the final attempt of the Indians to drive the white settlers from lands, which

had not been purchased from them. In 1755 the Mohawk refused to accept the second payment for
these lands. In July of the same year came Braddock’s defeat, and then came the vengeance of the
Indians, who had been cheated in 1737 and again in 1754. As the clouds began to gather over the valley
of Wyoming, Paxinosa, the friendly Shawnee chief, removed to Tioga, and then to the Ohio, in 1758.
Tedyuskung removed to Tioga in the early part of the summer of 1756. Loskiel says that in 1756
Wyoming was entirely deserted. After the Council of 1757, the Penns offered to pass a law granting to
Tedyuskung, and his tribe, the Wyoming lands as a perpetual possession. But this was not done, chiefly
because the lands had not then been bought from the Iroquois. Tedyuskung made various requests for
a fort at Wyoming, for teachers, for ministers, saying, ‘You must consider that I have a soul as well as
another.’ Tedyuskung had removed to Wyoming in the spring of 1758. At the treaty of Easton, 1758, he
again presented his request for a permanent grant of the Wyoming lands, and charged the Mohawks
with having fraudulently sold these lands. Tedyuskung had to pay with his life for the statements he
made at this Council. The Province was anxious to make peace with the Delaware and Shawnee, as the
expedition of Gen Forbes was getting ready for its attempt to take possession of the Ohio. Thompson
and Post were sent on a mission to Wyoming, but were warned by Tedyuskung from doing so, as the
woods were filled with bands of hostile Indians. In the spring of 1763, a number of Connecticut families
settled at Wyoming. This foolish attempt to settlement, in existing conditions, in which 20 of the
settlers were killed. Again in 1769, another party of settlers entered the valley, and commenced the
erection of Fort Durkee at Wilkes-Barre. The Pennsylvania authorities erected Fort Wyoming in 1771,
for the reduction of the former fort. Mill Creek Fort was erected in 1772; Forty Fort, in 1770. The
hostility during the French and Indian War, the Conspiracy of Pontiac, the fraudulent purchase of 1754,
the attempt of Connecticut settlers to take possession of this land, which the Indians regarded as their
one place of refuge, the War of the Pennamites, the War of the Revolution, the hostility of the Iroquois
– all these events made the attempt of the Connecticut settlers to take possession of the Wyoming
Valley the most utterly foolhardy thing, which was ever attempted in American history. The ‘massacre
of Wyoming’ was, under existing conditions, a foregone conclusion. While the cruelty of the event is
without excuse, yet the Indians had given warnings from 1763, as had every Indian authority in the
Province. The Indians had appealed to every Council from the very first attempt at settlement, to drive
these ‘squatters’ out, but if the Province was powerless to drive out the ‘squatters’ from the Juniata
Valley, from the Great and Little Coves, from the West Branch, it was utterly unable to cope with the
determined attempt of colonists from another Colony to settle on Indian lands. Every effort had been
made by the Indians to settle the matter in a peaceful way. Every effort had been made by the
Provincial authorities to enforce her decrees of removal, from the time of the first settlement of the
Connecticut colonists at Cushietunk in 1761. All of these efforts had failed. Then the Indian did the
inevitable. He did exactly what men have always done, and as they always will do, when their
possessions are taken against their will, and after all appeals to law or equity have failed, then comes
the inevitable appeal to the last Court of Red Man and White Man, the bloody Court of Arms. The
‘massacre of Wyoming’, cruel and bloody as it was, has been repeated again and again, not by Indians,
but by civilized men of every race. The ‘Battle of Wounded Knee’, in which United States troops
slaughtered harmless Indian women and children with the death-dealing machine guns, was without a
shadow of the excuse, which the Indians had for the ‘Massacre of Wyoming’. The one was committed as
an act of revenge, upon harmless women and children, by the army of a Christian nation; the other was
an act of vengeance for broken promises, and committed only after every other appeal had failed. Both
were brutal, but one can be justified – if any appeal to arms can be justified – while the other, in the
light of calm reason, was without even the shadow of an excuse. In June of 1778, when the settlers
became aware of the fact that a large force of Indians and Tories was approaching, under Maj John
Butler, they sought refuge in the various forts about Wyoming. The majority gathered at Forty Fort.
Butler’s army consisted of about 1,100 men. Of these about 200 were British, 200 Tories, and about 700

Indians, chiefly Seneca and Cayuga. They descended the Susquehanna to a point a few miles above
Wyoming, at the head of the valley. On July 2nd, the army marched to Forty Fort, and demanded its
surrender. This was refused. The entire number of men in the fort was less than 400 men, chiefly old
men and boys. On July 3rd, this small force marched out to attack the enemy. Then followed the defeat,
and the fearful massacre. After the massacre of Wyoming, the entire frontier was subject to Indian
raids. In the fall of 1778, Col Thomas Hartley went on an expedition up the Susquehanna to Sheshequin,
Tioga, and other points along the river, returning by way of Wyoming, after a fight with the Indians near
Wyalusing. In order to drive the Indians back upon the British for subsistence, and to take away the
base of supplies in the Indian country along the lakes of New York, Washington decided to send an
expedition up the Susquehanna to destroy the Indian villages and cornfields in that region, and to send
another expedition up the Allegheny to destroy the villages in the Seneca country. Gen John Sullivan
had command of the former expedition, and Col Daniel Brodhead of the latter. These two expeditions
were to unite in the Genesee region, but the success of both forces made such a union unnecessary.
Sullivan’s army reached Wyoming on June 14th, where it remained until the 31st of July, awaiting
supplies. The place at that time was filled with the widows and orphans of those who had been killed in
the massacre the year before. The army reached Wyoming, on its return from the expedition, on
October 7th, and left for Easton on October 10th. Various Indians trails passed through Wyoming, from
the Iroquois country to the Carolinas, and between the Susquehanna and the Delaware and the Ohio.
One of the oldest trails between the Delaware and the Susquehanna was that which went from
Wyoming to the Delaware Water Gap. This trail is shown on the Manor of Stoke map, and also on the
maps, which are found in the Journals of Sullivan’s expedition. There was also a trail up the
Susquehanna to the mouth of the Lackawanna, and then up that stream to its head, and then across to
the mouth of Calkin’s Creek, at the site of the former settlement of Cushitunk, now Cochecton. The trail
from this point on the Delaware, by way of Little Meadows, across Moosic Mountain to Capoose
Mountain, and on to Wyoming, was the course followed by the Connecticut settlers to Wyoming. It was
the first wagon road from the Hudson and Delaware to the Susquehanna. The trail from Wyoming to
the Delaware Water Gap forked, one branch running on the ‘Forks’ at Easton. The main trail up the
river, from Shamokin, ran along the western side of the river to the Shawnee Town, at Plymouth, and on
up to Sheshequin. Another trail ran across to the head of the Wapwallopen Valley, and then down it to
the Susquehanna, where it crossed to the western shore, joining the Shamokin Trail, down the river, or
went by way of the Warrior’s Trail to the Great Island. The trail up the Susquehanna, from Wyoming,
along the eastern shore of the river, was then followed by the army of General Sullivan in 1779. The
Trail to the Great Island, by way of Shamokin, was one of the first trails to the Ohio. This was perhaps
the course of Arnold Viele in 1694, as it was the course of Post in 1758. It ran up the West Branch to the
Great Island, where it crossed and ran up the Bald Eagle to Marsh Creek, and then up that stream, over
the divide to Clearfield and on to the Allegheny, by several branches, one going to Kittanning, and
another to Venango (Franklin). The Trail up the Bald Eagle Valley cut through the mountain at Milesburg
and ran on to Standing Stone, and there joined the Warriors Path to the Potomac, at Old Town. All of
these main trails had many branches, running to various points on the main trails leading east and west.
“Mahaniahy (1742); Mahaniay (1742); Maughwawame (1743); M’cheuomi; M’cheuwami;
M’chwauwaumi; Mechatenawgha (1712); Mechayomy (1732); Meehayomy (1728); Meheahoaming
(1732); Scahantowano (1744); Schahandowa (1755); Schahacdawana (1756); Seahautowano (1755);
Skehandowana (1742); Chanandowa (1727); Tsanandowa; Waioming (1755); Waiomink; Wajomick
(1794); Wajomik; Waughwauwame (1852); Wawamie; Wayomick (1755); Wayoming (1755); Weoming
(1779); Weyoming (1779); Wioming (1749); Wiomink (1757); Woyumoth (1743); Wyaming (1782);
Wyomin (1742); Wyoming (1756); Wyomink (1757); Wyomish (1756).”1722
1722

George Patterson Donehoo; Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania; Gateway Press; 1977

**PUERTO RICO**
DJ McInerney mentions: “The conflict that followed was quite brief but also quite successful for
the United States [alluding to Spanish-American War]. Fighting lasted four months, 400 Americans died
in battle, and the struggle cost $250 million. All in all, Secretary of State John Hay reflected, it was ‘a
splendid little war’. The campaign in Cuba, however, was only part of the story. Spain was a weak but
worldwide colonial power, and the United States aimed to pick off its possessions. The biggest prize fell
to Commodore George Dewey; in May 1898, his Pacific naval squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet in
Manila Bay. McKinley sent additional troops, and American forces took Manila in mid-August. Under
the final peace terms, Spain gave up Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam, and handed over the
Philippines to the United States for $20 million. Suddenly the heirs of an anti-colonial revolution at the
end of the eighteenth century found themselves with an empire of their own at the end of the
nineteenth century.”
DJ McInerney puts into words: “The United States also maintained control over its other war
trophies. In 1900 the United States created a colonial government for Puerto Rico; 17 years later,
America declared the island an unincorporated territory and granted its people United States
citizenship. Under the terms of the Platt Amendment in 1901, Cuba remained only nominally
independent. Its foreign policy decisions could not threaten US interests; it had to grant military bases
to America; and Cubans had to recognize the right of the United States to intervene in their internal
affairs (a privilege that the American military exercised in 1906, 1912, and 1917).”1723
James Ferguson reports: “Puerto Rico contains a curious mix of colonial Spanish and modern
American influences. Spanish from 1508 until the US annexation of 1898, the island was an important
military base in the eighteenth century, a role reflected in the imposing San Cristobal and San Felipe del
Morro fortresses, which guard San Juan’s harbor. Old San Juan is comprised of a walled city, situated on
a spit of land between the Atlantic and San Juan bay. It has some of the finest colonial architecture in
the Caribbean, including churches, convents and official residences. The Casa Blanca, built in 1523 by
the family of Ponce de Leon, has been the residence of both Spanish and US military commanders,
before being converted into a museum. Outside the growing urban sprawl of the San Juan conurbation
is Caparra, the site of Ponce de Leon’s first settlement in 1508. A ruined fort is still visible, but little else
remains of the town, which was abandoned in 1521 in favor of San Juan. The southern city of Ponce is
also extensively renovated, offering several museums, a theatre and many other buildings associated
with the traditional role as a cultural centre. West from Ponce is Guanica, the place where US troops
first disembarked in 1898. Two smaller islands, Vieques and Culebra, are dependencies of Puerto Rico.
Vieques has for many years dominated by the US military, which uses two-thirds of the island for
bombing practice and other exercises, much to the resentment of many local people.”
James Ferguson shows: “In 1512 a Spanish expedition also began the colonization of Puerto Rico
under the leadership of Juan Ponce de Leon, who had already tried to form a settlement in 1508. Here
the Spanish encountered ferocious resistance, seemingly from indigenous Boriquenos or Caribs, who
had reached this far up the island chain from South America. Less gold was found in Puerto Rico than in
Cuba, and the ‘pacification’ of the indigenous inhabitants took longer than elsewhere. Ponce de Leon,
meanwhile, was obsessed with discovering the mythical ‘foundation of youth’, which was reputed to
exist somewhere in the Bahamas. His search took him to Florida in 1514, where he later died in the
course of its conquest.”
James Ferguson adds: “Within three months, the [Spanish American] war was over. As US
forces occupied the island, the Spanish sued for peace. On 10 December, a treaty was signed in Paris,
whereby Spain relinquished its control not only of Cuba, but also of Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
1723

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

‘They have been conferred upon us by the war’, said President McKinley, ‘and with God’s help and in the
name of the progress of humanity and civilization, it is our duty to respond to this great trust.’ At the
negotiating table were American representatives, but not a single Cuban was present to witness the
birth of ‘Cuba Libre’. With the treaty, ended slightly more than four hundred years of Spanish territorial
possession in the Caribbean.
“As the twentieth century dawned, Cuba was nominally independent, albeit under a US military
government, but Puerto Rico’s status was altogether less clear. Even before the Paris peace talks, US
troops had occupied the island in a straightforward act of annexation. The occupation effectively
abrogated the autonomy, which Spain had granted to Puerto Rico as a last-minute concession, and was
explicitly expansionist in a way, which Cuban policy was not. The annexation was applauded by an
editorial in the New York Times: ‘There can be no question of the wisdom of taking and holding Puerto
Rico without any reference to a policy of expansion. We need it as a station in the great American
archipelago misnamed the West Indies, and Providence has decreed that it shall be ours as a
recompense for smiting the last withering clutch of Spain from the domain, which Columbus brought no
light and the fairest part of which has long been our heritage.’
“Little account was taken of the wishes of the Puerto Ricans themselves, many of whom since
the 1860s, had been pressing for independence from Spain. The priority, as the newspaper editorial
implied, was strategic, and the island became a US military base. The smaller offshore islands of Vieques
and Culebra were also militarized shortly after the takeover. But if the USA had no doubts over the use
to which Puerto Rico could be put, it was less confident about how to describe its new acquisition. An
attempt to define Puerto Rico’s status in 1901 (‘a non-incorporated territory which belongs to, but is not
part of the United States’) revealed a certain degree of confusion.
“One of the heroes of the ‘splendid little war’ was Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), Governor of
New York, Assistant Secretary of State, and eventually President in 1901. For Roosevelt, the SpanishAmerican war was the realization of an ambition expressed in 1898, ‘to shape our foreign policy with a
purpose ultimately of driving off this continent every European power’. His view of foreign policy was
memorably encapsulated in the much-repeated dictum: ‘speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go
far’.
“Roosevelt was unrepentant about Puerto Rico’s annexation, but inherited from McKinley a
more delicate situation in Cuba. There in the immediate aftermath of the war, the US military
government had been confronted with a derelict economy, a people ravaged by hunger and disease,
and the distinct possibility of confrontation with an armed and restive rebel army. Over the next four
years, the military authorities made some progress in rebuilding Cuba’s shattered infrastructure and in
disarming the rebels (at a cost of US $3 million). But doubts over the USA’s long-term intentions
persisted among many Cubans, and a revolt against the US presence in the Philippines in 1899, raised
fears in Washington of similar embarrassments closer to home. In 1900 McKinley decided to establish a
friendly government in Cuba rather than to continue the occupation, and a constituent assembly was
elected to work on a new constitution.”
James Ferguson talks about: “The Depression hit Puerto Rico as hard as it did Cuba, but direct
US control of the island prevented similar levels of social and political unrest. As in Cuba, the sugar
industry was particularly affected, and production and prices fell steeply. Other sectors such as tobacco
and a growing needlework industry, based on cheap female labor and duty-free exports to the USA, also
suffered badly. Many US-run companies responded to the crisis by cutting wages and sacking workers.
At the same time, import prices rose dramatically, underscoring the island’s reliance on importing even
the most basic goods. Because Puerto Rico had been effectively incorporated into the US economy, it
had no alternative trading partners. In the 1930s, almost 92 percent of the island’s imports came from
the USA, while 98 percent of exports went to the ‘mainland’.

“Poverty and unemployment became endemic in the 1930s. Sugar plantation workers had to
endure long periods of unemployment during the post-harvest ‘dead season’ and reduced wages of 75
cents a day when they worked. Some needlework employers paid as little as four cents an hour to
women who worked at home. ‘There is today more widespread misery and destitution in Puerto Rico
than in any previous time in its history’, remarked US Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, in 1935.
Perceptively Ickes wrote that the island: ‘has been the victim of the laissez faire economy, which has
developed the rapid growth of great absentee owned sugar plantations, which have absorbed much
land formerly to small independent growers and who in consequence have been reduced to virtual
economic serfdom’.
“From 1929 to 1933, per capita income fell from an already inadequate US $122 to an
impoverished US $86. One response was migration, since in 1917 the Jones Act had conferred American
citizenship upon Puerto Ricans (hence enabling them to be conscripted into the US military), and they
were free, in theory, to live and work in the USA. In the 1920s, some 42,000 people left the island,
followed by 18,000 in the 1930s. It was the beginning of a migration pattern, which has determined the
economic and cultural development of Puerto Rico, although during the Depression many migrants
found conditions in New York or other cities little better than at home.
“The Depression years saw the development of three ideological strands, which still largely
dominate Puerto Rican politics. One tendency advocated that Puerto Rico should opt for statehood and
join the Union as part of the US. Another preferred the existing arrangement but urged greater
autonomy and local participation in government. The third, nationalist and explicitly anti-American,
pressed for independence and an end to US control of the island. The economic hardships of the 1930s
polarized these different positions, as Puerto Ricans either blamed US capitalism for the crisis or argued
that Roosevelt’s ‘new deal’ would bring much-needed relief from the Depression. Yet throughout such
debates, the fact remained that real power in the island remained firmly in American hands. Education,
justice and public health, for instance, were all administered by US functionaries and determined by the
US Congress and Supreme Court. Restrictive trade policies ensured that Puerto Rico did business only
with the USA. Although the term ‘colony’ never appeared in official documents, the island was
undeniably an economic dependency of the USA, and one beset by poverty and deprivation.”
James Ferguson catalogs: “After the crisis of the 1930s, post-war Puerto Rico was also ripe for
constitutional and political reform. Public opinion in the USA was broadly opposed to the concept of
colonialism, and despite measures of self-government and US citizenship (second class, according to
critics) introduced from 1917 onwards. Puerto Rico still seemed to be condemned to colonial status.
The United Nations, much to US embarrassment, included Puerto Rico on its list of colonies and
demanded annual reports on progress made in decolonization. For many Americans, the choice was
clear: integration into the USA and full statehood or outright independence. But most Puerto Ricans
rejected independence, preferring the certainty of a guaranteed US market for their exports and the
right as citizens to travel freely and work in the USA. Statehood, conversely, carried the threat of federal
taxation and the loss of the special fiscal exemptions, which attracted US corporations to the island.
Neither Spanish nor American, many Puerto Ricans were suffering an identity crisis, compounded by the
hardships of the Depression period. The crisis exploded into violence in 1937, when an uprising led by
the nationalist Pedro Albizu Campus, ended in a massacre in the town of Ponce. In the so-called Palm
Sunday incident, police fired on pro-independence demonstrators, and by the end of the day, some 200
civilians and police had been killed or wounded.
“The election of 1940 brought a breakthrough of sorts to this tense deadlock, when Luis Munoz
Marin (1898-1980) and his Popular Democratic Party (PPD) come to power. An extraordinary energetic
and charismatic figure, Munoz Marin rejected the statehood versus independence argument, stressing
instead the need for urgent economic reform and greater local government control. The PPD promised
to break up the land dominated by the big US corporations and enact a land reform in favor of the

island’s small farmers and landless peasants. It also emphasized the need for industrialization, claiming
that Puerto Rico’s salvation would lie in attracting American businesses and industries to the island, with
the lure of low wages and tax breaks. This strategy reinforced Munoz Marin’s decision not to opt for
either independence or statehood, since it was precisely in its tax-free, but US-controlled, status that
Puerto Rico’s attractiveness to American investors lay. The outcome was a third path, a sort of
dominion structure of commonwealth.
“In 1947 the governorship of Puerto Rico was transferred from US direct nomination to an
elected system, and Munoz Marin was voted Governor. Under his aegis, the island became an estado
libre asociado (a ‘free associated state’), whereby it attained self-government in all local matters but
remained dependent on the USA for its defense and foreign relations. In 1950 the US Congress
approved the creation of a new constitution for Puerto Rico, subject to a referendum and US
presidential and congressional support. Seizing the opportunity to placate the United Nations and rid
itself of the stigma of colonialism, the administration of Harry S Truman backed the new constitution
which, with some amendments, was adopted as Public Law 600. Under this framework, Puerto Ricans
were confirmed as US citizens but were not allowed to send voting representatives to Congress. While
given all the obligations of citizenship (including military service), the islanders were exempted from
federal taxation. Federal government, meanwhile, was obliged to provide grants and other financial
support to Puerto Rico as if to any other state.
“Munoz Marin solution to the perennial ‘status problem’ in Puerto Rico has survived to the
present day and has, its supporters argued, laid the basis for the island’s relative prosperity. Puerto
Rican exports are included with the US custom barrier and hence arrive duty-free in the mainland.
Puerto Ricans may travel and work at will in the USA, while special tax exemptions have encouraged
large-scale US investment in the island. But nationalism and even a virulent strain of anti-Americanism
remain, and many Puerto Ricans remain fiercely attached to their Hispanic heritage.”
James Ferguson conveys: “In the polarized ideological climate of the late 1940s and 1950s, the
competing advocates of free enterprise and socialism was keen to find models of economic
development, which would prove the superiority of their particular vision. The island of Puerto Rico
became one such model from 1950 onwards, as it experienced a dramatic economic transformation,
based on industrialization and capitalist investment. Until the Second World War, Puerto Rico had been
known as the ‘poorhouse of the Caribbean’, a backward producer of low-value agricultural commodities
such as sugar, tobacco and coffee. Luis Munoz Marin, the island’s first elected Governor, accurately
described its economy as ‘providing all the after-dinner benefits without the dinner’. In 1947 only
thirteen US companies were operating in the island, mostly running low-paid needlework sweat shops.
“Munoz Marin’s strategy for Puerto Rico, once its constitution had been rewritten to confirm
‘commonwealth’ status in relation to the USA, was to use this anomalous relationship to attract largescale US investment. In what was known as ‘Operation Bootstrap’, Munoz Marin planned to raise living
standards and to diversify the economy out of sugar by encouraging rapid industrialization. Puerto Rico,
he believed had two comparative advantages; its relatively low wages compared to those paid in the
USA and its separate taxation system. By offering US corporations a low-paid workforce and a range a
tax exemptions, he was confident that investment would create employment and raise living standards.
An Economic Development Administration was founded to modernize ports and other infrastructural
facilities, and a federal law ensured that US investors were exempted from paying tax on profits made in
Puerto Rico.
“Operation Bootstrap was, by its own criteria, a huge success. From 1950 to 1960, Gross
National Product more than doubled, annual growth averaging 8.3 percent. Per capita annual GNP rose
from US $342 in 1950 to US $716 a decade later. US corporations flooded into the island, creating
thousands of jobs and an ‘economic miracle’, which the Truman administration called a ‘showcase for

democracy’. The San Juan industrial park was filled with factories, leased at advantageous rates by US
companies.
“Yet the economic miracle also had its critics. Nationalist opinion in Puerto Rico rightly pointed
out that Operation Bootstrap merely tied the island into greater dependence on the USA. The shift
towards manufacturing meant that agriculture lost its importance, and food imports rose accordingly.
Wage levels, too, remained low, while prices were higher than on the mainland. In 1950 the average
hourly wage rate in Puerto Rico was 28 percent of that paid in a comparative industry in the USA,
although this was to rise to nearer 50 percent by 1965. Most of the companies, which initially came to
the island, were therefore involved in labor-intensive, low-technology manufacturing such as textiles
and electronic assembly work. They formed so-called ‘export enclaves’, separated from the rest of the
Puerto Rican economy as subsidiaries of large US corporations. Over time capital-intensive investment
was to come to Puerto Rico and with its higher wages, but during the 1950s, the typical offshore plant
on the island was relatively small, technologically backward and dependent upon cheap labor.”
James Ferguson discusses: “In some cases, unrest was caused by high unemployment and social
deprivation. Even in relatively prosperous Curacao, for example, there were serious riots in May 1969,
when unemployment reached 20 percent and police decided to break up a trade union demonstration.
Elsewhere conflict was motivated more by frustrated nationalism, as in Puerto Rico, where armed proindependence groups such as the Macheteros conducted a terrorist campaign against the
Americanization of their island. In Guadeloupe, similar resentments against perceived French
colonialism inspired a violent underground movement.”
James Ferguson expounds: “One of the reasons, say Puerto Ricans, that their island’s
independence movement has never gained widespread popular support is the proximity of the
independent Dominican Republic and its often shambolic politics. Pero mira lo que pasa en la Republica
(‘Just look what’s going on in the Republic’) is a common riposte to those who advocate an end to
Puerto Rico’s relationship with the USA. This relationship has evolved since the early days of ‘Operation
Bootstrap’ in the 1950s, yet the options open to the island and the critical problem of its dependence
remain very much the same.
“In the mid-1970s, the US strategy of encouraging industrialization changed perceptibly with a
greater emphasis on capital-intensive rather than labor-intensive manufacturing. The low-wage
sweatshops were gradually replaced by more high-tech assembly plants, requiring a skilled and higherpaid workforce. Although textiles remain an important part of the island’s manufacturing sector, the
newer industries include electronic components, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Wages paid in Puerto
Rico are still lower than those for comparable jobs in the USA, yet the gap has narrowed appreciably
since the 1950s. The disadvantage of capital-intensive investment, however, has been a steady rise in
unemployment. Today an estimated 60 percent of Puerto Ricans live in a state of poverty, as defined by
the US government. Meanwhile the policy of using tax incentives to attract US businesses had
consistently underpinned Puerto Rico’s industrial development, leading to a situation where a large
proportion of profits are remitted tax-free back to the mainland rather than being reinvested locally.
“The Americanization of Puerto Rico has brought undeniable benefits, not least a standard of
living, which is higher than most other Caribbean islands. But the transformation of the island from a
primarily agricultural economy to an industrial, urban society has also created profound problems.
Federal welfare, mostly in the form of food stamps, accounts for as much as a third of some Puerto
Ricans’ income, creating an unhealthy dependence syndrome. Agriculture has been neglected, with the
result that basic foods are imported at high prices. Drug-related crime has reached epidemic levels,
especially in the poorer housing estates around San Juan, and there are well-grounded concerns that
unregulated industrialization is causing irreversible damage to the island’s environment. Migration is
still the chosen solution for many Puerto Ricans, and some two million now live in the USA, more than

half the number remaining in the island. Remittance payments from the so-called Nuyoricans are a vital
part of the economy.
“A century after its occupation by the USA, Puerto Rico still suffers from a deep identity crisis.
Part North American, but more authentically Hispanic, the island depends on, yet resents, its ties to the
USA. Independence candidates win no more than 5 percent of the vote in elections, since most Puerto
Ricans recognize that their relative prosperity would not survive a break with the mainland. Yet
resistance to Americanization takes many different and often subtle forms: a preference for Spanish
over English, an attachment to traditional religious and cultural expressions, a resilient sense of
nationhood.
“The debate over Puerto Rico’s future continues, especially since budget-cutting US
administrations have raised the prospect that subsidies and tax incentives may eventually be reduced or
removed altogether. The advocates of the existing ‘commonwealth’ status have lost ground in recent
years to the ‘pro-statehood’ current, the New Progressive Party, which argues for the island’s
incorporation as the fifty-first state of the Union. Yet two plebiscites in recent years have shown that a
slight majority of voters are in favor of preserving the status quo. Whether Puerto Rico retains its
current ambiguous status or opts for statehood will involve a complex balancing of economic and
cultural criteria on the part of its people.”1724
**RHODE ISLAND**
HB Staples impresses: “The origin of the name of Rhode Island is quite obscure. A writer in the
Providence Journal, over twenty years ago, in regard to the Aquetneck Island, afterwards Rhode Island,
from which the State derived its name, says – ‘How and for what reason it received the name Rhode
Island is a disputed and obscure question. Some ancient authors write the name Island of Rhodes.
Some have believed that the name was to be derived from the Dutch Roode Eylandt, which signifies ‘Red
Island’, and which the first Dutch explorers of the Bay sometimes gave to the Island. Others have
written the name Rod Island. Perhaps it could also be Road Island (the Island of the Roadstead or
harbor island), because the real and authentic origin and beginning of the name appears to be so
uncertain. I also find that in the early history of the State, persons of the family name Rhodes are also
mentioned. Could not one Mr Rhodes have been among the first English settlers?’ Mr Schoolcraft in his
history of the Indian Tribes, adopts the Dutch origin of the name. Mr Arnold in a note to his valuable
History of Rhode Island says, ‘The derivation of this name has given rise to much discussion; by what
strange fancy this Island was ever supposed to resemble that of Rhodes on the coast of Asia Minor, is
difficult to imagine, and it is equally strange that the tradition that it was named from such resemblance
should be transmitted or be believed, unless indeed because it is easier to adopt a geographical
absurdity than to investigate an historical point.’ Mr Arnold then goes on to say that the celebrated
Dutch navigator, Adrian Block, who gave his name to Block Island, sailed into Narragansett Bay ‘where
he commemorated the fiery aspect of the place, caused by the red clay in some portion of its shores, by
giving it the name of Roode Eylandt, the ‘Red Island’, and by easy transposition, Rhode Island.’ In
support of the theory that the State was named after the island in the Mediterranean Sea, we have the
authority of Peterson’s History of Rhode Island. We have also the commanding authority of the public
act by which the name was given. From Vol I, p 127, of the Rhode Island Colonial Records, we make this
extract: ‘At the Generall Court of Election held at Nuport 13 Jan 1644. It is ordered by this Court that the
ysland commonly called Aquethneck shall be from henceforth called the Isle of Rhodes or Rhode Island.’
The form of this vote introducing that Isle of Rhodes first is opposed to all the theories of the origin of
the name, except that which refers it to the island in the Mediterranean. It is stated by Mr Hildreth that
the name, as given to the island by the purchasers, was the Isle of Rhodes, and that it was afterwards
1724

James Ferguson; A Traveller’s History of The Caribbean; Interlink Books; 2008

called Rhode Island. When we consider that Sir Henry Vane was instrumental in the purchase of the
island from the Indians, we are at no loss to account for a name, which displays an historical
imagination.”1725
KB Harder notates: “Derivation is uncertain, for there are two contending theories. The island
(now called Aquidneck Island) may have been the one sighted by the Italian explorer Giovanni di
Verrazano in 1524, which he said was about the size of the Island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese Islands
off the west coast of Asia Minor. Certainly the island was seen by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, who
named it Roodt Eylandt, ‘red island’. Early English settlers used the Indian name, Aquidneck Island, until
1644, when it was changed to the ‘Isle of Rhodes’. The colony was called ‘Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations’.”1726
www.statesymbolsusa.org puts pen to paper: “What does the name Rhode Island mean? The
first mention of Rhode Island in writing (‘isola di Rhode’) was made by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano
in 1524 (he refers to an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay, which he compares to the Island of
Rhodes in the Mediterranean). Some attribute the name to Dutch explorer Adriaen Block (‘Roode
Eylandt’), again because its red clay is similar to the Greek island of Rhodes.
“The first official reference to the island by the English is in these words ‘Aquethneck shall be
henceforth called the Ile of Rods or Rhod-Island.’ The earliest recorded English colonist text (by Roger
Williams) refers to it as ‘Ilande of the Rodes’ (without the ‘h’).
“The name ‘Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations’ was adopted in the Royal
Charter granted by King Charles II of England in 1633 (note: the words ‘State of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations’ appear on Rhode Island's state seal). Rhode Island became the 13th state on
May 29, 1790.”1727
**RHODE ISLAND’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
RA Douglas-Lithgow represents: “The Narraganset territory was stated to extend to Pawtucket
River, Brookfield, and the Blackstone River, in a northerly direction, westerly to Wickabaug Pond, at
West Brookfield, southerly to the ocean and on the east by Narraganset Bay: or as Gookin says about 30
or 40 miles from Sekunk River and Narraganset Bay, including Rhode Island and the other islands in that
Bay. Roughly speaking, therefore, their boundaries are represented by the State of Rhode Island as it is
today.
“During the first half of the 17th century, the rule of this belligerent and formidable tribe was
effectively administered by their two great sachems, Canonicus and Miantunnomoh, and in 1642, they
were perhaps, the strongest, as well as the most warlike of the New England Indians. Although the
estimates of their numbers vary very considerably, it is fair to assume that, at this time, the tribe
aggregated between 4 and 5,000. Their warfare with the Wampanoags, the Pequots, the Mohegans and
the English, gradually reduced their strength, and the steady advance of the white settlers within the
confines of New England land had so diminished them that, in a little over a century, this great nation
was reduced to only a few hundred persons.
“The Nehantics or Niantics constituted a branch of the Narragansetts, and their greatest sachem
was Ninigret: the principal residence of the tribe was at Wickabaug, now Westerly, Rhode Island. A
section of this tribe resided in Connecticut, when they were known as the Western Niantics.”1728
1725

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1727
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Rhode_Island/RhodeIslandName.html
1728
Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow; Native American Place Names of Rhode Island; Applewood
Books; 2001
1726

***ANNAWOMSCUTT, BRISTOL COUNTY, RHODE ISLAND***
William Bright specifies: “Front a Massachusett (Algonquian) word meaning ‘at the end of the
rocks’ (ie, ‘at the top of the rocks’), from wunnashque ‘at the end of’, plus ompsk, a combining form of
the word for ‘rock’, plus utt ‘place’.”1729
***NOOSENECK, KENT COUNTY1730, RHODE ISLAND***
JR Cole tells: “Nooseneck is a post office in West Greenwich. There have been several
definitions given of this name, but the following, by Sidney S Rider, of Providence, RI, is worthy of
credence. He says:
“‘The word Nooseneck is said to have been derived from the setting of running nooses for
catching deer in the Nooseneck Valley. Whatever may be the derivation of the word, this explanation is,
of course, nonsense. I therefore propose advancing a theory of my own concerning it. The tract of land
designated by the name Nooseneck is a narrow neck lying between two small streams, which unite and
become tributary to the Pawtuxet. As you approach the sources of these streams, the land rises to a
considerable height, and is known as Nooseneck hill. The narrow neck, which consists of the lands
through which the streams flow, is an exceedingly beautiful valley. The name Nooseneck is affixed to
this locality on Benoni Lockwood’s map of Rhode Island, made in 1819, where it is printed as here
written. I have been peculiarly struck by the pronunciation by the residents, of this name, and I have
frequently inquired the name of the locality for the purpose of observing this singularity. They
invariably pronounced it ‘Noozeneck’, pronouncing the ‘s’ like ‘z’. This appears to me to possess
peculiar significance. There was once held in the Narragansett country, a large tract of land by Harvard
University. On the tract was a fresh water pond, which appears in the old records (1675) by the name
Noozapage. This word, Mr Trumbull informs us, came from two Indian words, noosup and pang, which
mean ‘beaver pond’. Mr Williams, in his Key, defines noosup as a ‘beaver’. The corrupt spelling in the
old record indicates the pronunciation, which the inhabitants of Nooseneck have unconsciously
preserved down through generations. Their name arose no doubt from this Indian word noosup,
‘beaver’. The small rivers with their beautiful valleys became the home of the beavers. The sites of
their dams are very numerous. Hence the locality became known as Noosup neck, corrupted in time as
we now see it. I have noted this pronunciation by peculiarity in spelling, in a pamphlet printed here in
1831 thus, Neusneck. That this spelling is corrupt appears from the Lockwood map cited above, and
printed thirteen years previously. Hence it is significant only as indicating the pronunciation of the
period.
“‘There is one other point upon which I wish to touch. There has been a suggestion to me that
the name arose from the transmission of news by means of signals on top of the hill. Had this been the
case, how came the word neck to be used in naming a hill? Moreover, this hill is far inland and not in
the line for communication with any specially important point: and moreover, it is quite clear that the
term ‘Nooseneck Hill’ followed the use of the term ‘Nooseneck Valley’. The valley was first named,
hence the use of the word neck was a rational use. This, of course, is simply a theory sustained by such
arguments as could be easily brought to bear upon it, but it seems plausible, and certainly worth
consideration until something better can be set up.’

1729

William Bright; Native American Placenames of the United States; University of Oklahoma Press;
2004
1730
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nooseneck,_Rhode_Island

“Nooseneck is the largest collection of houses in the town. The river flowing through this valley
has made a valuable privilege, owing to the rapid fall.”1731
***PURGATORY, NEWPORT COUNTY1732, RHODE ISLAND***
Edward Peterson chronicles: “Hog Hole, before the hand of modern vandalism despoiled it of its
pristine beauty, was the scene of many of joyous festival. Purgatory, at Sachuest Beach, is invested with
a high degree of romance, from the traditional account of two lovers, who met at the brink of this
dangerous chasm. The lady, to test the strength of his affections towards her, as the condition of the
nuptial celebration, required that he should leap across it. Dangerous as was the experiment, he quickly
sprung; she caught the skirt of his coat, which instantly rent, while he landed safe on the opposite side
to the terror and dismay of the fair one. The Devil’s foot-print is strongly impressed on the rocks, near
to this chasm, with some singular marks, which has made it a place of interest to those visiting the
island.
“If affords pleasure and delight to ramble amid those joyous scenes, and listen to the aerial
choristers warbling their orisons. The inhabitants of this charming retreat, seem the only undelighted
enjoyers of the scene, because to them it exhibits no novelty, consequently but little allurement; the eye
of the stranger alone beholds it with admiration and wonder, and the heart of sensibility could alone
feel the exquisite sensation of delight its contemplation inspires. In the words of the poet, we would
say:
‘There’s not a brook I have not leapt,
Anear my native town –
Nor field nor hill where man has stept,
I have not wandered down:
And these as freshly haunt me still,
And still their forms I know –
The brook, the field, the high peaked hill,
That charmed me long ago!’”1733
***QUONOCHONTAUG, WASHINGTON COUNTY1734, RHODE ISLAND***
Anne Doyle declares: “Essentially, the name Quonochontaug means ‘home of the blackfish’. It is
a word used by the Narragansett Native Americans to describe not only the salt pond, but also the land
adjacent to the salt pond. Obviously, there was an ample supply of blackfish here at that time.
The Narragansetts used to live here in the summer, fishing and clamming for part of their survival food.

1731

JR Cole; Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island, including Their Early Settlement and Progress
to the Present Time; a Description of their Historic and Interesting Localities; Sketches of their Towns
and Villages; Portraits of some of their Prominent Men, and Biographies of many of their Representative
Citizens; WW Preston; 1889; provided by Thomas R Evans, State Librarian, Rhode Island State Library,
Office of the Secretary of State, State House, Room 208, 82 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02903;
[email protected]; http://sos.ri.gov/library/
1732
http://rhodeisland.hometownlocator.com/ri/newport/purgatory.cfm
1733
Edward Peterson; Histry of Rhode Island; 1853
1734
http://rhodeisland.hometownlocator.com/ri/washington/quonochontaug.cfm

In the winter, they would travel just a few miles inland from the sea, and set up their winter camp.
There presently are several Native American names for places in Rhode Island.”1735
**SOUTH CAROLINA**
www.e-referencedesk.com displays: “In honor of Charles I of England.
“North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729. Carolina was named to honor Charles IX
of France and then Charles I and Charles II of England. Carolina is rooted in Latin and comes from the
word Caroliinus. This word is derived from the name Carolus, translated as ‘Charles’.”1736
www.statesymbolsusa.org expresses: “What does the name South Carolina mean? Carolina is
from the Latin word for Charles (Carolus) honoring King Charles I of England (who made the original land
grant in 1629). South Carolina was formed in 1729, when the Carolina colony was divided in two. South
Carolina was the eighth state to ratify the United States Constitution in 1788.”1737
DJ McInerney notes: “One of the pieces of federal property Lincoln vowed to protect was Fort
Sumter. Sitting on a small island in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, the fort symbolized Union
authority in the heart of secessionism. The fort’s commander, Major Robert Anderson, notified federal
officials that his men were low on provisions and needed fresh supplies as soon as possible. On 6 April,
Lincoln informed the governor of South Carolina that a relief expedition would bring food to the
installation – but not soldiers, weapons, or ammunition. Convinced that a confrontation would win over
the Upper South to the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis ordered General PGT Beauregard to
demand the fort’s surrender and to take it by force if necessary. As relief ships neared the island on 12
April, Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter. On 14 April, Major Anderson surrendered.
Soldiers lowered the stars and stripes of the US flag and raised the stars and bars of the Confederate
banner. On 15 April, Lincoln called 75,000 state militiamen into federal service for 90 days. Their
mission was to suppress an insurrection.
“The states of the Upper South now had to take sides in the conflict. By May 1861, Virginia,
Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina cast their lots with the Confederacy. In four other slave states,
the story was different. In Delaware, with only 2 percent of the population composed of slaves, the
decision to remain in the Union came quickly. In Maryland, the arrests of pro-Confederate leaders, the
imposition of martial law in Baltimore, and the suspension of writs of habeas corpus helped keep the
deeply divided state in the Union (and, unfortunately, helped sacrifice basic civil rights in the name of
urgent national security). In Kentucky, Confederate troops violated the state’s proclaimed neutrality,
occupied several cities, and pushed the government into the Union camp. In Missouri, fighting broke
out between Unionists and pro-Confederate forces; a guerilla war continued for years, but Union
supporters held sway.
“Eleven Confederate states stood against Union forces by late spring 1861. Both sides expected
a speedy resolution to the conflict. Neither anticipated the horror of coming events, what poet Walt
Whitman called ‘the red blood of civil war’.”1738
***BELLY ACHE CREEK, DARLINGTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer record: “When you consider that the stream’s original name
was Belle Acres Creek, it becomes clear that the present Belly Ache Creek is not a description but an
1735

Anne Doyle, President of the Quonochontaug Historical Society, PO Box 46, Charlestown, RI 02813;
[email protected];
http://www.quonochontaughistoricalsociety.org/Welcome.html
1736
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/south-carolina.html
1737
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/South_Carolina/SouthCarolinaName.html
1738
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

accepted mispronunciation. The stream in Darlington County is not named because its mineral waters
might cause stomach cramps; it runs through the old Bacot family plantation, Belle Acres, and folk
etymology (continued mispronunciation) helped its present name evolve.”1739
***CATEECHEE, PICKENS COUNTY1740, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer reveal: “She was a fictional Indian maid, who was so
‘documented’ that she now has many places named for her, and some people get upset when we say
she wasn’t ‘for real’. In the 1890s, James Henry Rice (historian and father of Carew Rice, the
silhouettist) wrote a story, set in the northwest upcountry area during the 1760 Indian War, and the
Cherokee maiden Cateechee, called Isaqueena in the Choctaw language. She overheard the Indian chief
telling his braves of plans to attack Cambridge Fort (the Star Fort at Ninety Six) the next day. Cateechee
immediately left the Cherokee town of Keowee and rode the 96 miles down to the Star Fort and
Cambridge to warn her white lover, Allen Francis, and his people. As she crossed the streams on her
ride down the path, she named them – Six Mile Creek, Twelve Mile Creek, Eighteen Mile Creek, Six and
Twenty Mile Creek, etc, and these names are still recorded on maps today. In 1898 Dr James Walter
Daniel, Methodist minister in Abbeville, wrote the story in verse, Cateechee of Keowee. His little book,
with explanatory notes and an introduction claiming the story to be ‘a historical fact’, was widely
popular and much believed. When on television or radio talk shows, we call the Cateechee story a hoax,
we get calls from indignant folk who disagree: ‘We know it’s true. We have Doctor Daniel’s documented
book. Do you dare to question the word of a man of the cloth?’ We too were among the believers, until
state historian AS Salley showed us George Hunter’s 1730 map, whereon the streams, creeks, and rivers
down the old Cherokee Path were already named, 30 years before Cateechee’s ride, for their distance
from the village of Keowee – named by the traders who traveled the trail to swap wares with the
Indians. The village of Ninety Six (without the hyphen) was also already named. Names that
commemorate the fictional maiden include Cateechee Mill on Twelve Mile River, a brand of flour called
Cateechee, the Cateechee Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter in Anderson, and Isaqueena
Falls on the river crossed by the Cherokee Path.”1741
***CHEROKEE SPRINGS, SPARTANBURG COUNTY1742, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer spell out: “From the Indian word meaning ‘fiery or ground
squirrel’, Cherokee is possibly our most prevalent Indian place name – a county in the northwestern part
of the state; a colonial trail from the coast along the river valleys into the western backcountry (now
Oconee County) to the Cherokee town of Keowee; a waterfall; a white rose; a voting precinct; streets
and roads throughout the state; and Cherokee Springs, five miles northeast of Spartanburg on US 221,
renowned for its mineral water at the turn of the century. The name Cherokee Road in Aiken (near the
Savannah River) was short-lived. Originally Whiskey Road, it was so called because in early days the
road, and its extensions, were used for hauling rum from the coast inland. Some summers ago, the
ladies of the Aiken Improvement Society changed the name Whiskey Road to Cherokee Road and
appropriately planted climbing Cherokee roses along the road’s borders. When the winter residents –
Northerners who wintered in Aiken’s milder climate – returned to town, a veritable hullabaloo arose,

1739

Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1740
http://wikimapia.org/3695490/Cateechee-South-Carolina
1741
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1742
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Springs,_South_Carolina

and the road got back its alcoholic name. Appropriately, close to town, Whiskey Road intersects with
Brandy Lane, hard by Easy Street.”1743
***COOSAWHATCHIE, JASPER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer touch on: “The unknowing sometimes put the w in the third
syllable (‘KOO-sa-WAHTCH-i’). It’s an Indian word that may mean ‘cane-creek people’. Coosawhatchie is
a little town in low country Jasper County on US 278 and South Carolina 462, off US 95, north of the
county seat of Ridgeland.”1744
***COWPENS, SPARTANBURG COUNTY1745, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer clarify: “The folks in the little town haven’t gotten above their
raisings in their pronunciation of their town name, though newcomers to the state sometimes say
‘KOW-penz’ or ‘KUP-penz’. The town of Cowpens is now on US 29, off Interstate 85, some ten miles
northeast of Spartanburg. In Colonial times, Hannah’s Cowpens (some say Saunder’s Cowpens) was the
stopover for cattle drives from the upcountry; it was also a trading area with the Cherokee Indians. The
Battle of Cowpens (January 17, 1781) was the first in an important series of decisive battles leading to
the British defeat at Yorktown. There were 150 Revolutionary battles in South Carolina – more than in
any other colony. Of the six important battles for which the Continental Congress authorized gold
medals, two were in South Carolina: Cowpens and Eutaw Springs.”1746
***DUE WEST, ABBEVILLE COUNTY1747, SOUTH CAROLINA***
ME Kuykendall documents: “I am writing to you about my beloved little town of Due West
where I have lived since marriage 43 years ago. I am not a historian, but I was married to one for 36
years, and I can tell you what he thought. I know that there are towns in other states with the name
‘Due West’. It would be interesting to compare the reasons for it.
“There are differing explanations for the name of Due West here, but I think my husband's is the
most reasonable. The northwest corner of South Carolina was formerly Cherokee Indian territory. The
border was what is now Abbeville/Anderson County line. This land was ceded after the first Cherokee
war with the Treaty of 1766. (Since the Indians sided with the British in the American Revolution more
land was forfeited to SC. It included was is now Pickens, Oconee, Anderson and Greenville Counties.) At
the crossing of border by the Indian trading path known as the Keowee Trail, a man named Dewitt or
Dewett ran a trading post. It was situated at Corner Creek. On the 1820 Mills Atlas map, it is recorded as
Dewitt's Corner. Later maps show it as Duets. The first Post Office license in 1838 awarded to the town
was ‘Due West Corner’. This name was used as late as 1869. Later the word ‘Corner’ was dropped, and it
remains Due West. All this paragraph is from my faulty memory. My husband felt that the name derived
from the corruption of the name of the trading post owner.1748
***EARLE, OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
1743

Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1744
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1745
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpens,_South_Carolina
1746
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1747
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_West,_South_Carolina
1748
Mary Elizabeth Kuykendall, PO Box 575, Due West, SC 29639; [email protected]

Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer observe: “The pronunciation of this name depends on how
distinctly its owner chooses to pronounce the ‘r’. Earles Grove is a community, school, and church in the
northwest county of Oconee. Earle’s Bridge, across the Seneca River, is on the road from Anderson to
Townville. An old Earle homestead, called Evergreen, was located along the Savannah River near the
Anderson County line. Earleville, in upcountry Spartanburg County, was settled before the Revolution
by brothers John and Bayles Earle from Virginia. Earle’s Ford (now named Landrum in Spartanburg
County for Baptist preacher John Gill Landrum) was the site of a Revolutionary battle; Earlewood Park in
north Columbia is named for FS Earle, two-term mayor of the city. The oldest house in Greenville, 107
James Street (now the house of historian Mary C Simms Oliphant), was built in 1810, home of Elias T
Earle. Colonel Earle was state senator, US Congressman, silk grower, manufacturer, and Commissioner
of Indian Affairs. Colonel Earle is reputed to have given the name Dark Corner to the upper Greenville
section: a tax appraiser went to a humble log cabin up in the hills. The man of the house wasn’t at
home, and his wife came to the door with a shot gun. ‘What you want?’ ‘Congress wants to know what
your husband’s land’s worth.’ ‘My old man’ll go up there and whup Mr Congress for come meddlin’ in
our ‘fairs.’ As she raised the shotgun, the tax appraiser made a hasty retreat down the hill. When
Colonel Earle heard the story, he chuckled, ‘That must be the dark corner of the district.’ And it’s been
called Dark Corner ever since. At least that’s one of the stories of its origin. But it was also at Dark
Corner that one of the finest early schools flourished – Moffattsville. And it was the Rev SJ Earle of Dark
Corner who operated Gowanville Academy, established 1880. From 1798 to 1916, the Counties of
Spartanburg, Greenville, Sumter, and Oconee together had one or more Senator Earles in the state
legislature. The name still has many representatives, including Samuel Broadus Earle, Jr, an Anderson
architect, and Julius Richard Earle, a Walhalla physician.”1749
***FAIR PLAY, OCONEE COUNTY1750, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Leslie White recounts: “According to a book called Historic Oconee in South Carolina by Mary
Cherry Doyle published around 1935, ‘Fair Play is a very old settlement and is only a few miles from the
Georgia state line. While a muster was being held at that site, two men engaged in a fight. There was a
cry of fair play from the onlookers, and the place became known as Fair Play.’ The town was founded (I
believe) around 1835, so I assume the ‘muster’ that they are referring to must have been associated
with the American Revolution or that of a general militia. If I find any other references to it, I'll be sure
to let you know, but that is the only one I can think of at the moment.”1751
***HAPPY BOTTOM, BARNWELL COUNTY1752, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Kim Hatfield says: “Happy Bottom was located in what is now the Corley Heights of the town of
Barnwell. Its name was derived in the 20s or 30s, I am told by a local judge in our area. It was an area
where one could purchase illegal liquor and visit house of ill repute. Thus the term ‘Happy Bottom’.”1753
***HAPPYTOWN, LEXINGTON COUNTY1754, SOUTH CAROLINA***
1749

Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1750
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Play,_South_Carolina
1751
Leslie White, Director/Curator, Oconee Heritage Center, 123 Browns Square Drive, Walhalla, SC
29691; [email protected]; http://www.oconeeheritagecenter.org/
1752
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/barnwell/happy-bottom.cfm
1753
Kim Hatfield, Barnwell Librarian Clerk, 40 Burr Street, Barnwell, SC 29812; [email protected];
http://www.abbe-lib.org/barnwell/
1754
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/lexington/happytown.cfm

CH Neuffer spotlights: “Lee R Gandee, our Lexington County name specialist, has sent us two
more names to be added to the discussion he had in Volume VIII (1961), pp 15-21: Happytown is a
Negro area west of West Columbia and Saluda Gardens, so called for the loud carousing ever expected
there. It grew up around the former Friday-Mayrant slave quarters, so that in the middle of Happytown,
even in the middle of the street, is located the iron-fenced burial plot of the Revolutionary War hero
Gabriel Friday and his family.”1755
***HELLS HALF ACRE, BARNWELL COUNTY1756, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Kim Hatfield underscores: “Hells Half Acre was located around the former jail area, what is now
Perry St; its name also came to be around the 30s or 40s. According to a former teacher born and raised
in this area, it was so named because it was a very, very unsavory area. Where a lot of ‘hell’ was
raised.”1757
***HURL ROCKS, HORRY COUNTY1758, SOUTH CAROLINA***
WL Thomas comments on: “The Hurl Rocks property on the south end of Myrtle Beach was
developed in the 1930s by Miss Margaret Anne Klein. After purchasing a tract of land that included
Hearl Rocks, evidently named for the Hearl family, Miss Klein changed the spelling to ‘Hurl’ because of
the way the water hurls around the rocks. She reserved a large section by the rocks for a park. Miss
Klein was born into Walterboro, South Carolina, and became a teacher in Flushing, New York. She was
also a writer and gourmet cook. In the early 1900s, Hurl Rocks was a popular spot for picnics. Today it is
an interesting place to find various forms of sea life, which live among the crevices.”1759
The Independent Republic Quarterly emphasizes: “As we go to press, word has come that a
prospective motel operator in the Hurl Rocks section of Myrtle Beach has petitioned the Mayor and
council to remove the rocks! Horryites, we cannot countenance such wanton description of our natural
landmarks. As long as human life has existed on our stretch of strand, these rocks have served as a
place of refuge and recreation for fishing and picnicking, for a moment of ecstasy when we behold their
contour in relief against our sandy shore.
“Hurl Rocks are unique on our southern coast. They have long drawn property holders and
investors to the south end of Myrtle Beach. Why should we now destroy them at the whim of one man
who is not yet in business? Furthermore, the Hurl Rocks Park, serving as parking area for fishermen,
bathers, picnickers, and strollers over the rocks, was given to the city for use of those wishing to enjoy
the rocks. If the rocks be removed, the heirs of the donor may then press their rights to reclaim the
park.
“Members of the Horry County Historical Society, express yourselves now to Mayor Mark C
Garner and his council, lest unwittingly irreparable loss strike our strand.”1760
1755

Claude Henry Neuffer; Notes on Names; published in Names in South Carolina; Vol 13; University of
South Carolina; 1966; provided by Marie Jefferies, System Reference Librarian, Lexington County Public
Library System, 5440 Augusta Rd, Lexington, SC 29072; [email protected]; http://www.lex.lib.sc.us/
1756
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/barnwell/hells-half-acre.cfm
1757
Kim Hatfield, Barnwell Librarian Clerk, 40 Burr Street, Barnwell, SC 29812; [email protected];
http://www.abbe-lib.org/barnwell/
1758
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/horry/hurl-rocks.cfm
1759
Wynness L Thomas; The Grand Strand Coloring Book; Sandlapper Publishing; 1997; provided by
Marion Haynes, Technical Assistant, Horry County Government, Horry County Museum, 805 Main St,
Conway, SC 29526; [email protected]; www.horrycounty.org
1760
Hurl Rocks in Danger!; published in The Independent Republic Quarterly; Vol 2; No 4; Horry County
Historical Society; 1968; provided by Marion Haynes, Technical Assistant, Horry County Government,

***ISAQUEENA FALLS AND CREEK, OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer give: “Isaqueena Falls and Creeks are in Oconee, the
northwestern most county of the state, a few miles northwest of the town of Walhalla (South Carolina
28 and South Carolina 107). Isaqueena was the fictional Choctaw name for the fictional Cherokee Indian
maiden Cateechee. The lengthy poem Cateechee of Keowee (1898) by Dr James Walter Daniel, is
documented ‘proof’ of her existence still accepted by many. It was at Isaqueena Falls, according to the
legend, that the Indian maiden and her white lover, clasped in each other’s arms, leapt to their deaths
to escape the wrath of the Cherokees she had betrayed.”1761
***KETCHUPTOWN, HORRY COUNTY1762, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Susan Buffkin pens: “During the 1920s, farmers in the community, about 10 miles north of
Aynor, would say to one another, ‘Let’s go catch up on the news.’ Every Saturday afternoon would find
them at Herbert ‘Hub’ Small’s little country store at the intersection of Highways 99 and 23. Highway 99
led east to Loris and southwest to Galivants Ferry. Cool Spring was about 10 miles away on Highway 23.
“The intersection was first in the shape of a ‘T’ with Highway 23 ending at 99. In the 1920s,
Small asked a friend, Ruth Floyd Gerrald, to sign up to give land from a right of way to extend Highway
23 to Highway 917, the road that leads to Sandy Bluff and Mullins. In 1927 after the extension of
Highway 23, Hub Small purchased an acre of land on the northwest corner of the crossroads from Lewis
Gerrald for $100. He built a house and small store, where he sold clothes, food, ice and hardware. The
ice man came from Mullins several times a week to restock the ice that was sold to customers. A
separate building provided storage for the ice. Ira Quincy and Nina Floyd Gerrald (daughter of Willie
Floyd), lived in the southeast corner of the intersection, when Herbert and Blanch moved their family to
the area in September of 1927. The house the Gerralds lived in still stands in its original location.
“Talbert Johnson, Genarie Gerrald and Mildred Nunamaker were some of the names that Hub
hired to operate the store while he was away.
“Hub Small and his young family lived with his father, Guilford ‘Gilf’ Small, and mother, Jacaann
Willoughby Small, in the first few years of his marriage, before operating a store in the Pleasant View
area. They lived a short distance to the north of what is now Highway 23, about half way between
Ketchuptown and the intersection of Highways 23 and 917.
“No roads were paved in those days. A wooden bridge provided access across Lake Swamp. The
area was referred to as ‘Over the Swamp’, depending on which side of the swamp you were on. Travel
was by horse and buggy or wagon. Electricity was introduced in 1938, and the roads were paved around
1949-50.
“When Hub started his business at the crossroads, farmers began arriving on Saturday to trade
at the store and talk with friends from other sections of the community. Oak trees across the road from
the store provided a place to hitch the mules and horses. Many people could not afford the weekly
paper from Mullins or Conway, and others did not know how to read, so news was hard to come by.
The southeast corner of the intersection served as a political stump meeting place for a couple of years.
“Hub and Blanche Stroud Small had four children: Ruth Marie, Dewey Chalmer, Mable Lynn and
Cecile Christine. Ruth was 10 years old when her father built the house and store in 1927. Her job was
to care for her baby sister, Cecile, so their mother could wait on customers, while their father was away
Horry County Museum, 805 Main St, Conway, SC 29526; [email protected];
www.horrycounty.org
1761
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1762
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchuptown,_South_Carolina

selling Raleigh products. He carried and sold flavoring, pie filling, medicines and liniments, etc, in his car,
selling them house to house. Hub traveled over a good portion of Horry and Marion Counties. In the
summer, it was convenient for Blanche to iron clothes on the front porch with a gas iron (no electricity
was available at that time), and when she saw a customer coming, she would just step over to the store.
A school house, which was in the location where Mt Pisgah Baptist Church now stands, provided primary
education for the small kids and others. Mildred Nunamaker of West Columbia, SC, a teacher at the
local school, was a boarder in the Small home. She worked in the store during the summer.
“Many farmers bought on credit, and the debt was settled in the fall when the crops were sold.
“Around 1930, Hub began working for the News and Courier. He was the first person to deliver
the paper in his area, and it was only delivered on Sunday. He often carried Ruth and some of her
girlfriends with him on his route.
“As the children grew older, each took turns working in the store. While Ruth worked, she
always had a pencil and paper in her hand. She liked to sketch a pretty ‘K’ and would often write the
word ‘Ketchuptown’. As time passed, the spelling just seemed to conform.”1763
***KIBLER, NEWBERRY COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer scribe: “Kibler’s Bridge in central Newberry County is the
Southern Railway span across the deep valley south of South Carolina 773 and west of Interstate 26.
The area was earlier called Kibler’s, then Kibler’s Station, named for the German Kubler family that had
settled in the area by 1766. Before 1836 David Kibler (1802-82) moved from Kibler’s to Frog Level (since
1873 called Prosperity; US 76 and South Carolina 391), where he was a farmer, merchant, and the first
postmaster. Among the many undocumented explanations of the origin of the name Frog Level, this is
the best story: A man with a jug reeled through the area on a mule. When he had drunk all the spirits,
he and the jug fell off the mule and rolled into a ditch. When a gulley-washing rain brought him to, he
saw a frog croaking on the edge of the ditch above him, and he was very ashamed. ‘I’ve been low in my
time, but this is the first time I’ve been below frog level.’ He straightened up, became a proper citizen,
and henceforth the town nearby was called Frog Level. The town celebrated its centennial as Prosperity
in 1973; J Walter Hamm is the mayor. Professor James Kibler, of the University of Georgia English
Department and descendant of David, the first postmaster of Frog Level, summons up remembrance of
things past and says maybe he’ll retire early from teaching, go back to Prosperity, get the name changed
back to Frog Level, and become another Kibler postmaster.”1764
***NINE TIMES, PICKENS COUNTY1765, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Wayne Kelley states: “Nine Times Road runs through the heart of the Nine Times Community,
which is part of Sunset, South Carolina, a rural unincorporated area of northern Pickens County, along
the Blue Ridge Escarpment and the Jocassee Gorges, named this year one of the fifty ‘last great places in
the world’ and ‘a destination of a lifetime’ by National Geographic Magazine. Nine Times Road takes its
name from the fact that the early road crossed a running waterway nine times along its roughly three
mile length. The town of Six Mile and the landmark mountain of the same name overlooking the town
take their name from the fact that they were six miles from the Colonial Era Fort Prince George. Built in
1763

Susan Buffkin; Ketchuptown: 1927-1994: The Place to Catch Up on the News; published in The
Independent Republic Quarterly; Vol 31; No 3; Horry County Historical Society; 1997; provided by
Marion Haynes, Technical Assistant, Horry County Government, Horry County Museum, 805 Main St,
Conway, SC 29526; [email protected]; www.horrycounty.org
1764
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1765
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/pickens/nine-times.cfm

1753 by the Royal Governor James Glen at the request of the Cherokee chiefs, the fort was the source of
immense trading wealth for the English Colony of South Carolina. Fort Prince George was situated by
the Keowee River and was one mile from a tributary called Mile Creek. Numerous waterways and
communities in the Upcountry and Piedmont of South Carolina have numerical names based on their
distance from Fort Prince George including Twelve Mile River, Eighteen Mile Creek, Three And Twenty,
Six and Twenty, and, of course, Ninety Six National Historic Site.”1766
***NINETY SIX, GREENWOOD COUNTY1767, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Jennifer Donlon alludes: “The name Ninety Six is actually derived from two possibilities,
unfortunately, no one positively knows which one is correct.
“Legend has it, that an Indian maiden named Issaqueena, who befriended the settlers at a
trading post (Ninety Six), rode her horse 96 miles from the Keowee Indian village to the trading post to
warn the settlers of the impending war declared by the disgruntled tribe. She named several landmarks
along the way: Mile creek, Six Mile, Twelve Mile, Three and Twenty, Six and Twenty and finally Ninety
Six. The towns of Six Mile and Ninety Six exist today. Issaqueena Falls are located in the Upstate area of
South Carolina, and it is claimed when the tribe learned of her actions, she hid in the waterfall, which
the Indians deem as haunted. Believing her dead, they left. Once they passed, she fled. No one can
verify or disclaim the truth to this. However it is 92 miles from her starting point to Ninety Six, so she
was very close.
“The second one is also a guess. The British who marched here from Charleston, SC, would mark
rivers and streams as landmarks. One theory is there were 9 rivers and 6 streams from Charleston to the
trading post, hence 9/6 and became 96 on maps and documents. This also cannot be verified as
confirmation on the town’s name.
“Whatever the reason, we are more than happy to live with our Town's name and enjoy being
one of the few number Towns. On a side note, South Carolina has some odd names ... Due West, Six
Mile, Ninety Six are just a few in the local area. Pennsylvania has the Town named 84, along with a host
of odd names as well.”1768
***NO MAN’S LAND, UNION COUNTY1769, SOUTH CAROLINA***
OJ Kelly communicates: “No man's land is a strip of land between two neighborhoods in the area
of Lockhart, SC, a small Union County town on the Broad River. The story I've been told relates that the
boys in the two neighborhoods did not get along, and any intrusion upon this strip of land by either side
was met by a barrage of stones by the other side.”1770
***PELHAM, SPARTANBURG COUNTY1771, SOUTH CAROLINA***

1766

Wayne Kelley, Senior Vice President, Pickens County Historical Society, PO Box 775, Pickens, SC
29671; [email protected];
https://sites.google.com/site/pickenscountyhistoricalsociety/home
1767
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety_Six,_South_Carolina
1768
Jennifer Donlon, Executive Director, Ninety Six Historical Society, PO Box 557, Ninety Six, SC 29666;
[email protected]; www.ninetysixhistoricalsociety.com
1769
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1232995,n,no%20mans%20land.cfm
1770
Ola Jean Kelly, Executive Director, Union County Museum, 127 W Main St, Union, SC 29379;
[email protected]; http://www.unioncountymuseum.com/
1771
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Tit,_South_Carolina

Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer depict: “The upcountry community of Pelham (South Carolina
14, off Interstate 85) is on the Enoree River between Greenville and Spartanburg. In 1820 it was Pelham
Mill, but the mill and company store burned many years ago. It may be the same area that today has a
different unofficial name: a news reporter, trying to pinpoint the location of a tornado, asked an elderly
resident, ‘What’s this place called, ma’am?’ She answered, ‘It’s the road to Pelham.’ But her little
charge pulled on her skirt to interrupt, ‘Ah, Granny, everybody knows it’s Sugar Tit.’ The story is that
after a day in the mill and a noisy supper in the midst of his large family, the man of the house retreated
to the general store for a bit of calm and several cups of cheer. And when his brood would ask, ‘Where’s
Daddy?’, Momma would sigh, ‘Oh, he’s gone to get his Sugar Tit.’ Hence the store was called Sugar Tit,
and the area nearby still bears the name. (For the unknowing, a sugar tit for a baby is a homemade
pacifier of a tightly tied nipple-shaped wad of cloth dipped in sugar water.)1772
***PLAYCARD, HORRY COUNTY1773, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Ben Abercrombie enumerates: “Generally the story for the name of the area comes from the
fact that in the Playcard Swamp there is an old slave-built hand-dug gristmill and dam system. During
the early to mid-1800s all the way to the 1950s, the gristmill was utilized by the local people as a place
to go and ‘play cards’, in other words, gamble. Legend has it there is a person or two that have lost their
land and a few, even their lives, because of those card games back in history, or so we are told. Many a
horse, parcel of land, bushel of wheat, and even a cow or two have been bet over the years in card
games in ‘Playcard Swamp’.”1774
***ROUND O, COLLETON COUNTY1775, SOUTH CAROLINA***
AS Salley, Jr, gives an account: “Some years ago, I did contribute to The State an article on
Round O, but I sent the only copy which I possessed to Congressman Whaley, in an endeavor to secure
his cooperation in having the post office of that section restored to the original name, in order to
preserve a name, which had obtained a very respectable position in South Carolina history.
“That section of South Carolina was known as Round O as early as 1700, in which year Thomas
Elliott procured warrants for two tracts of land, one on the north side of Round O, Savannah, and the
other on the south side. From that time on to the time when the post office people dropped the O, that
section under that name, contributed considerably to the history of South Carolina.
“Prior to the Revolution, one of the ten companies of the Colleton County regiment was known
as the Round O Company. At the outset of the Revolution, it was commanded by Captain William
Sanders, who became Colonel of the regiment after Colonel Hayne was hanged. Several important
skirmishes took place at the Round O during the Revolution.
“Not only was the section known as Round O, but the creek which runs therefrom and empties
into the Horse Shoe was known as Round O Creek. The name preserved that of a famous Cherokee
Indian, who had a purple medallion tattooed on one shoulder. The English traders found it easier to call
him by his ornament than by his lengthy Indian name. This moniker seemed to flatter the Indians, for
1772

Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1773
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/horry/playcards.cfm
1774
Ben Abercrombie, Playcard Environmental Education Center, 10729 Highway 19 West, Loris, SC;
[email protected];
http://www.horrycountyschools.net/pages/Horry_County_Schools/Ac2/Playcard_Education_Center/Co
ntact_Us; provided by Marion Haynes, Technical Assistant, Horry County Government, Horry County
Museum, 805 Main St, Conway, SC 29526; [email protected]; www.horrycounty.org
1775
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_O,_South_Carolina

one of the Cherokee head men described himself as ‘Brother of the Round O’ in a treaty with the South
Carolinians at the conclusion of the Cherokee war in 1761. There were doubtless several Indians in
succession to bear that moniker, Round O.
“About 1756 Chief Attakullakulla was in conference with Governor Glen, who advised him to
send a good man to the Creek Indians to arrange a treaty. The Chief replied that he would send
Shaungutton. The interpreter explained that Shaungutton was the Round O.
“I am going to ask Congressman McMillan to try to have this historic name restored to the post
1776
office.”
***STYX, LEXINGTON COUNTY1777, SOUTH CAROLINA***
ER Stuart points out: “Several of these railroad stops on the Southern Railroad from Columbia to
Savannah in Lexington County were names from mythology. The daughter of an official of the railroad
selected the names because of her love of mythology. After crossing Congaree Creek, much of the land
was hilly and barren. In summer the sand reflected the sun’s rays and made it hot as the mythological
state on the other side of the River Styx. The names she chose were Styx, Macedon, Ossa, Pelion and
Thor. Ossa and Pelion, mountains in northern Greece, were the names she chose for two high hills on
the rail bed from Cayce to Augusta. In Greek mythology, two handsome but mischievous giants
attempted to climb to heaven to conquer Mount Olympus. They took two mountains, Mount Pelion and
Mount Ossa, and piled Ossa on Pelion to reach their goal. ‘Imponere Pelio Ossam’ from the Latin author
Virgil translates ‘to pile Ossa upon Pelion’.”1778
***THREE TREES, CHARLESTON COUNTY1779, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Dorothy Glover relates: “According to several sources, the legend is that this was a location
marked by three large oak trees, where Indian tribes met to settle differences and smoke the peace
pipe.
“The older residents of James Island still refer to the spot as Three Trees. It is on Fort Johnson
Road across from the James Island soccer fields, near the end of Fort Johnson Road, where the
Department of Natural Resources and NOAA's Hollings Laboratory is. During the 50s and 60s when I
lived on James Island, Rodger's Nursery and Landscapers was there. In 1900 a Reverend JH Cornish, an
Episcopal minister, moved his Sheltering Arms orphanage from Morris Island to the Three Trees area of
James Island and established a school in connection with the orphanage.
“Several Native American tribes inhabited the area, the main ones being the Stono and the
Kussoe. The Stono lived on James and John's Islands. The Kussoe lived across the Stono River, between
that and the Ashley River. Native American sites on James Island date to as early as 500 BC, confirmed
by archaeological studies. A second site of significance is found at McLeod Plantation on James Island
dating to 1500 AD, making it the northernmost Savannah archaeological site known to exist, according
to Douglas W Bostick in his book James Island, Jewel of the Sea Islands.

1776

AS Salley, Jr; Where Round O Got Its Name; The Press and Standard; Wednesday, March 17, 1926;
provided by Aleck F Williams, Jr, Reference Librarian and Young Adult Librarian, Colleton County
Memorial Library, 600 Hampton Street, Walterboro, SC 29488; [email protected];
http://www.colletonlibrary.org/
1777
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1244400,n,styx.cfm
1778
Elsie Rast Stuart; Lexington Rural Roads; published in Names in South Carolina; Vol 28; University of
South Carolina; 1981; provided by Marie Jefferies, System Reference Librarian, Lexington County Public
Library System, 5440 Augusta Rd, Lexington, SC 29072; [email protected]; http://www.lex.lib.sc.us/
1779
http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/sc/charleston/three-trees.cfm

“None of the sources I consulted give dates for when these tribes conferred. Judging from
Bostick's work, it can be assumed that this was a continuing practice from the earliest date, until the
time the Native Americans were forced inland. Again, this is legend.”1780
***WHOOPING ISLAND, EDISTO ISLAND, CHARLESTON COUNTY1781, SOUTH CAROLINA***
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer stipulate: “Whooping Island has nothing to do with the
endangered species of crane. Located in the Edisto Island area south of Charleston, Whooping Island
was very important to the Edisto Island folk prior to the bridge’s being built across the Dawhoo River in
1918. Here the people who’d been visiting on the mainland would whoop for the ferryman to come
take them home to Edisto.”1782
**SOUTH DAKOTA**
www.statesymbolsusa.org writes: “What does the name South Dakota mean? Dakota is the
Sioux Indian word for ‘friend’. President James Buchanan signed the bill creating the Dakota Territory in
1861.
“The Dakota Territory originally included the area covered today by North and South Dakota, as
well as Montana and Wyoming. On November 2, 1889, both North and South Dakota were admitted to
the Union, becoming the 39th and 40th states.”1783
***BAD WOUND, BENNETT COUNTY1784, SOUTH DAKOTA
Bennett County Historical Society articulates: “Bad Wound was most likely named after Robert
Bad Wound who was an early settler in the area.”1785
Kathryn Spragg and Dorothy Rice describe: “Robert Bad Wound lived on Pretty Hip Creek, nine
miles straight north of Martin. He married Jennie Day Quiver. He always ran cattle, and later his son,
Oliver, lived on the place and continued with the cattle herd. Robert had about 100 head of cattle. He
also had 200 head of horses, which were used as bucking stock for rodeos in Nebraska and South Dakota
at the early County Fairs. Robert’s grandson, Jimmy, rode in the Indian wagon races at the fairs.
“Early friends and neighbors included Harry Tall Elk, who lived to the south, William Charging
Cow, who lived to the east, and Tom Black Eyes and family.
“Robert Bad Wound leased land to several white neighbors: Howard Ireland, Harold Kosmicke,
Howard Phipps, and Leigh and Joy Fairhead. The name Joy was given to several of his grandchildren.
“There was good hunting in the vicinity of Robert Bad Wound’s home – grouse, prairie chickens,
rabbits, ducks and geese were plentiful. There were also deer, elk, and antelope, but in limited
numbers.
“The Bad Wounds used wood for heating but usually had some coal on hand for the severe cold
weather to keep the family warm. They liked to use campfires for cooking when the weather was warm.

1780

Dorothy Glover, South Carolina History Room, Charleston County Public Library, 68 Calhoun Street,
Charleston, SC 29401; [email protected]; http://www.ccpl.org/
1781
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edisto_Island,_South_Carolina
1782
Claude Henry and Irene Neuffer; Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names;
University of South Carolina Press; 1983
1783
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/South_Dakota/SouthDakotaname.html
1784
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/bennett/bad-wound.cfm
1785
Bennett County Historical Society; 70 years of Pioneer Life in Bennett County; 1981; provided by Sara
Wylie, Research Dept, South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr, Pierre, SD 57501;
[email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/

“Robert came to Martin every week in a wagon drawn by a team of horses to purchase groceries
and clothing.
“For social life, they visited mostly within the family.
“Robert Bad Wound, Sr, was a Treaty Council Chairman. He died in August 1939. He and his
wife are buried in the Inestimable Gift Episcopal Church cemetery north of Allen. Most of Robert’s and
Jennie’s descendants live in Bennett County.
“Robert was interested in having a public school for his grandchildren. A two-room log house
furnished both a classroom and living quarters for the teachers. The teachers, Mrs Mary Ogden, Mrs
May Bell Hockenbary, and Mrs Amanda Jamison, had indelible influences on the pupils far beyond
teaching the classroom curriculum. They served the daily noon mean and taught the children cooking,
sewing and art hobbies.
“Mary Ogden recalls that Easter was the favorite holiday of the year. There would be a
community potluck dinner for which Mary baked and served Robert’s favorite pie for dessert. She
further reminisced, ‘This teaching experience at the Bad Wound School was a highlight of my life.’”1786
Amanda Jamison establishes: “In 1949 the teacher was sick and quit the school. There was no
school for five weeks. George Hoffman, then on the school board, told Mr Fullerton to ‘send Manda
Jamison out there if she would get a horse and came in’. I was there a week, then came to town to get
some necessary belongings, went back, and then that storm came. Three days with no school. Then
Dan Bad Wound came and shoveled snow from the door so I could open it – it opened out.
“As there had been no school for five weeks, I asked George to let me teach Saturdays, which I
did. There was no way to get to town. Three months and a week and I never saw a white face. But
never a lonesome minute. In the evening, someone would come and visit.
“We were all out of groceries. (We had hot lunches at noon.) So Pierre Poor Bear and Dan and
Julia Bad Wound took a horse and started to Martin. It took most all day; they charged off riding.
“I sent a letter to Hoffman, also Jamison. And next day an airplane came out and left sacks of
groceries for us all. That evening after school was out, everyone got his groceries. Grandma Bad Wound
was the first one to school to get hers. She came through the deepest snow of anyone. That lasted us
until a team could get to town.”1787
***BADNATION, MELLETTE COUNTY1788, SOUTH DAKOTA***
VDH Sneve highlights: “Badnation was known as Runningville until July 1, 1938, when it was
renamed for the township in which it is situated. The township was named for an Indian chief.”1789
www.genealogytrails.com portrays: “Bad Nation (Oyate Sica): The original members of this
community were called this because they acquired a bad reputation during the past.

1786

Kathryn Spragg and Dorothy Rice; The Robert Bad Wound Family; published in Bennett County
Historical Society; 70 Years of Pioneer Life in Bennett County South Dakota 1911-1981; 1981; provided
by Marsha Fyler, Library Director, Bennett County Library, 101 Main St, PO Box 190, Martin, SD 575510190; [email protected]
1787
Amanda Jamison; Bad Wound School; published in Bennett County Historical Society; 70 Years of
Pioneer Life in Bennett County South Dakota 1911-1981; 1981; provided by Marsha Fyler, Library
Director, Bennett County Library, 101 Main St, PO Box 190, Martin, SD 57551-0190;
[email protected]
1788
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/mellette/badnation.cfm
1789
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, editor; South Dakota Geographic Names, Brevet Press; 1973; provided
by Sara Wylie, Research Dept, South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr, Pierre, SD
57501; [email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/

“History of Bad Nation Community by Homer Whirlwind Soldier (transcribed from the Mellette
County 1911-1961 book, published August 15, 1961, by the Mellette County Centennial Committee)
“Major George Wright, Jr, took over the duties of his father, Major George Wright, Sr, about the
year 1891. His policy was to disband the Brule Sioux, who congregated in and around Rosebud Agency,
because the Custer Battle and the Wounded Knee Massacre were still fresh in the minds of the Indians,
and they might rise up in hostility.
“Any group of Indians who agreed to move away from Rosebud Creek with their leader was
promised land, where they could locate their camp or headquarters. The United States Government
would reorganize the leader as a sub-chief, and a school would be built for the use of the children. If and
when this school was ever abandoned, it would revert back to the use of the sub-chief or owner of the
land.
“Whirlwind Soldier and his group, which included Spotted Tail's sons who had grouped together
with relatives, agreed to leave. They moved to the present Bad Nation Community, this was on the Big
White River, where the Colony Building used to be. They moved along the river as far as the Presho
Bridge, trying to locate a suitable place to camp permanently.
“Finally they located the place where they wanted to make their permanent homes, about four
or five miles from the mouth of Oak Creek, and the government surveyed a section of land on the creek
and allotted it to Whirlwind Soldier and his wife. A day school was built for the use of the children on his
wife's allotment known as Big Axe Allotment. This school was built in 1894 and continued until 1920,
when it was abandoned to Whirlwind Soldier's family.
“When this group of followers located in Bad Nation, Spotted Tail's sons pulled up camp and
went back to Rosebud Agency, and others followed because of the Indian celebration or dances that
continued there at the agency.
“Then a new group of Indians, who were known as continual trouble makers, moved to the
Whirlwind Soldier camp. They were not wanted anywhere by the other Indians, because of their trouble
making habits. They were called ‘Bad’ or o-ya-te si-'ca or undesirable. They intermarried into the
Whirlwind Soldier's camp members and continued to cause various troubles. Finally the others of the
camp said we ought to be called Bad Nation, because of the bad behavior and acts of this certain group.
Then Walking Shield, a fugitive from justice, was apprehended here in 1903 and was hung in Sioux Falls.
That clinched the name Bad Nation for good. Even our township is known by that name.
“The Episcopal was the first frame church building built about 1896. Before that time, the
Episcopal laymen or preacher held services in tepees or log cabins.
“The Congregationalists held their services in a long log house, until the present Gilbert
Memorial Church was built about 1909. The Catholic Church was built in the year 1911 by Brother
Hartman of St Francis Mission.
“At the present writing, all families have either passed away or moved into other communities
or towns. The only remaining Indian families are, Homer Whirlwind Soldier, Sr, and family, Lucy Hawk's
family, which consists of her brother, and Narcisse Jackson, who is the only member of his family living
in Bad Nation. These were descendants of the original camp of Whirlwind Soldier.”1790
***BALANCE ROCK, GARRETSON, MINNEHAHA COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller remarks: “Balance Rock, on the opposite side of the [Split Rock] river, is a formation
that seems to defy the laws of gravity, for it stands on a narrow base at the top of a cliff and looms
larger above, apparently lopsided. The mass of alternating red and gray stone seems to hang

1790

http://genealogytrails.com/sdak/mellette/badnationhist.htm; provided by Rita;
[email protected]

precariously – on the verge of crashing to the depths below; yet the rock has evidently been there for
ages, a bold sentinel against the sky, defying wind storms, lightning, and raging blizzards.
“Other attractions in the [Palisades State] park include the Devil’s Kitchen, an enclosure walled
in by red rock, where queerly-shaped stones, jutting through the floor, might be imagined as some
banished devil’s store and kitchen furniture.
“Chimney Rock is sometimes missed, because part of its bulk is hidden by tall trees; the color of
the stone is a deep vivid red. On both sides of the stream are paths that are full of surprises leading to
unexpected crevices and queerly-shaped rocks. Cool places for picnics are available, with tables
provided. Excellent fishing can be enjoyed during the season, the cold waters yielding channel catfish,
speckled trout, black bass, rock bass, and pickerel.”1791
***BRANDON MOUNDS, MINNEHAHA COUNTY1792, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller shares: “The mounds left by the Mound Builders, known locally as the Brandon
Mounds, are on a hill between Split Rock and Big Sioux Rivers. There were originally 38 easily
distinguishable mounds. Relic-seekers have opened several of them; but the only scientific investigation
was made in October 1921, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute. William E Meyer, who
supervised it, died before his findings could be published, and the Smithsonian has artifacts but no
record of the investigation. Most of the available knowledge concerning the Brandon Mounds is based
on the word and unpublished manuscripts of Dr WH Over, curator of the University of South Dakota
Museum in Vermillion. Dr Over was present when the excavation was made and carefully kept notes
concerning all of the skeletons and artifacts which were uncovered.
“It is thought that the Mound Builders migrated from the East. They are said to have been less
inclined toward a nomadic life than the Sioux Indians, but eventually they crossed the width of
Minnesota and settled near where the Split Rock River flows into the Big Sioux River. Modern Indians
are of the opinion that the village could not have been very far from the mounds; the white settlers in
the vicinity have found many arrowheads on the site, and some rubbish-piles still exist.
“The most unusual bit of information concerning the Brandon Mounds, disclosed by the
investigation of 1921, was that the Sioux Indians reopened the mounds for their burials. At the depth of
7 or 8 feet, there was found the older remains and artifacts; and at the depth of 5 feet, the bones were
in a better state of preservation, and some of the relics are made of metal.
“The upper, shallow burials are credited to the Sioux Indians, and deep, lower burials are
considered to have been those made by the Mound Builders.”1793
***DEAD MAN CREEK, CORSON COUNTY1794, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller stresses: “Dead Man Creek is crossed just south of Sturgis. On its banks is a monument
of varicolored stones of the memory of Charles Nolin, a pony mail carrier, who was killed and scalped by
the Indians at this point. The monument is the form of a shaft and is surrounded by the ornamental
fence, with posts constructed of like material. Behind the monument are five black walnut trees

1791

John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1792
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon,_South_Dakota
1793
John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1794
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,1,fid,1265179,n,deadman%20creek.cfm

growing from the slips obtained from five historic American battlefields, including Gettysburg, Valley
Forge, and Antietam.”1795
***DEADWOOD, LAWRENCE COUNTY1796, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller compose: “Deadwood, historic mining town of gold rush days, has a most unusual
location. No one, who has stood on the rocky ledge of Mt Moriah cemetery and looked down at the
substantial little city in the gulch, can ever forget the sight of this compact small community, where the
closely set pine trees vie with dwelling houses for possession of the steep slopes on either side.
Deadwood is a town of one main street, the narrow bottom of the gulch having no room for more; and
that one street is needed for the business section. So the houses must climb the steep sides of the gulch
on either hand and the roads that lead to them form so many terraces. Where the gulch divides toward
the upper end of town, the buildings follow both valleys, the business houses below the residences
above; while at the lower end of town, the valley becomes so narrow that the road itself is forced to
leave the stream and wind its way up the almost perpendicular hillside. Above the famous Mt Moriah
cemetery, with its graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane, tower the glistening pinnacles of the White
Rocks, from which, northward, can be seen the gleaming line of the Slim Buttes, 100 miles away.
“Every year the ‘Days of ‘76’ celebration draws aside the curtain of the years that would dim the
memory of hard-bitten men, drawn by the lure of gold from the far corners of the world to the
wilderness that was Deadwood. For a brief time during the month of August, there are festivities that
may invoke the ghosts of those whose glasses clinked in the old Green Front Saloon to the strain of a
prospector’s fiddle. The program is keyed to recall the easy abandon with which gold dust and nuggets
were ‘swapped’ for liquor and other camp entertainment. The swinging doors, painted front, and
wooden sidewalks of the old saloon have disappeared, but the memory of the pack mules with bulging
saddle-bags, of men and women, loud with energy and hope, lives anew through ‘Days of ‘76’.
“Each morning of the celebration, over the paved highway, which follows the same course that
the first placer miners packed out through the gulch, there winds a mile-long historical parade. Ox
teams, covered wagons, stage coaches, sidesaddle girls, a prospector with his pack mules, Sioux Indians
in native dress, Preacher Smith killed by the Indians, Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, Wild Bill Hickok, and
Jack McCall who shot him in the back, march up Main Street. Wild Bill is shot; in the evening his
murderer, Jack McCall, is tried by a miners’ rump court and acquitted. The night life of the mining camp
is revived. There are gay dance hall girls, and a carnival. In the Bucket o’ Blood, the Deadwood of ’76 is
rebuilt. There are saloons where games of chance, faro, poker, and roulette wheels may be found. And
after the ‘Days of ‘76’ are over, Deadwood reassumes her sober mask.
“But it is only a mask, for Deadwood of the present is the same mining town of ’76 for all its
modern trappings. Because the business of Deadwood always was and always will be – gold. And gold
never loses its glamour or fascination, or the things with which it is so richly and closely associated.
“Deadwood still has her saloons and dance halls, which operate under the name of ‘night clubs’.
And glasses still ring and cards continue to slide across tables for a price, whether that price be gold dust
or crisp bills and silver dollars. But Calamity Jane, she who carried her gun on her hip and bought drinks
for the boys, might be a bit disgusted with the feminine antics of her modern sisters; certainly she would
have scoffed at the conventional chains that curtail their freedom over the streets at the old gulch. The
general social life of Deadwood swings around its night clubs. Some of these, known at one time the
country over as rough mining resorts, are now the essence of polish and propriety. But Deadwood grew
up with glitter, and it cannot quite put away its past.
1795

John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1796
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood,_South_Dakota

“Deadwood’s prosperity rests on a very substantial basis, due to various factors. To begin with,
it is the seat of Lawrence County, which contains three cities, rich farming land, irrigated orchards, and
valuable mining properties. Then it has a Nation-wide fame and is a magnet for every tourist who enters
the Black Hills. In fact it would be unthinkable to leave the Hills without seeing historic Deadwood. In
the third place, it shares in the prosperity of its larger neighbor, Lead. And lastly it has the reputation all
through that region of being a liberal, more or less ‘wide open’ town, a reputation it has held from the
beginning and still holds. It has, it is true, spasms of virtue at times, but like many another penitent, it
finds it difficult to hold to the narrow way. As long as its guests do not infringe upon the rights of
others, they are welcome to avail themselves of those pleasures, which Deadwood so freely offers.
“Such is Deadwood, the most famous town not only in the Hills but in the State; for people all
over the country have heard of this little town of thirty-six hundred inhabitants in the northern Hills.
The reason for this lies in Deadwood’s history, both true and false. Thousands of boys have read
millions of words about Deadwood Dick’s adventures, and Deadwood itself has always been
synonymous with adventure, with the old frontier, and with gold.
“In 1874 Custer’s expedition discovered gold on French Creek, near where Custer stands. At
once various parties set out for the Hills, but many were turned back by the soldiers, since this was at
that time Indian country. But in the fall of 1875 the Government, after a fruitless parley with the
Indians, no longer offered any objections to the entry of white gold seekers, and the latter poured into
the Hills from every direction in the turbid flood, which only a gold rush knows. Most of them went to
the southern Hills, where gold had first been discovered. But late that same fall, John B Pearson of
Yankton penetrated the northern Hills and discovered rich placer diggings in Deadwood Gulch. That
winter the snow was very deep, with little communication, and perhaps Pearson kept the good news to
himself. At any rate, it was March of the next year before word of the rich gold strike got out. At this
time, Custer was said to have a population of 7,000. When word of the strike in Deadwood Gulch
reached it, the town was depopulated almost overnight. It is said that less than 100 people remained.
There was a mass movement northward through the Hills, and Deadwood was born, taking its name
from the gulch in which it lay, which in turn was named for the dead timber of some forgotten fire.
“There were 25,000 people up and down that narrow gulch before the end of the summer, and
the new town had to meet their needs. It would probably be impossible to overdraw the glamour of
those early Deadwood days and that first summer in particular. There were the usual accompaniments
of a gold strike – saloons, dance halls, brothels, and gambling houses. There was an unusually colorful
assemblage of individuals, even for that time and place. Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and Preacher Smith
walked the streets, together with an assortment of men who were glad to be there, because their
presence was undesired elsewhere. The most momentous happening of that summer, and indeed of all
Deadwood’s history, was the shooting of Wild Bill. Next in importance perhaps came the killing of
Preacher Smith, by the Indians while on his way to Crook City. Of the three most noted personages of
that summer, two died in their prime, and the third, Calamity Jane, out-lived her environment.
“In the early years of Deadwood’s prosperity, profits were high, and gold plentiful. Each miner
carried his buckskin sack filled with gold dust, which he squandered recklessly. One big miner scattered
the contents of his gold sack on the streets to see the people scramble for it. Flour cost $60 per 100
pounds; wages were from $5 to $7 a day, while mine owners made small fortunes in a short time.
“By the year, 1879 the town had outgrown the canyon and had already started climbing the
mountainsides of Deadwood and Whitewood gulches. On the night of September 25th, a fire, which
originated in a bakery on Sherman Street, spread to a hardware store next to it. In the latter was stored
a great deal of black powder which exploded, sending cinders all over the wooden buildings of the little
gulch. Having no water system, miners, and merchants alike stood helpless and watched their town
burn. But in spite of the fact that it laid hundreds of miles by wagon road from its nearest base of
supplies, the town was soon rebuilt.

“During the winter of 1883, the snowfall had been unusually heavy and had melted but little;
then followed warm rains, swelling Whitewood and Deadwood Creeks, until the town was flooded and
much damage done. Strong retaining walls have since been built on Deadwood Creek, harnessing the
stream, black with mill tailings, to its course through the heart of the city.
“As with all boom mining towns, Deadwood’s greatest glory was in her first years. When the
placer diggings became exhausted, many miners left. A new gold strike in Lead, which was later
absorbed by the Homestake Mining Co, attracted still other inhabitants of the older town. But in 1887,
with a silver boom in the nearby towns of Carbonate and Galena, Deadwood experienced a
rejuvenation. In like manner, in 1894, when the price of silver declined, Deadwood slumped in
population to a total of 1600. Later a smelter was built, and the Golden Reward erected its plan and
reduction works in the town. A cyanide plant was constructed for the Rossiter Mill. These activities
brought about a revival of prosperity for a time. But this came to an end with the strike of 1909, which
closed all the plants, and only the Golden Reward reopened.
“Deadwood shared in post-war prosperity and since then has progressed steadily and rapidly.
This is particularly true of the years, 1934-7, for Deadwood’s prosperity is closely linked with that of its
larger neighbor, Lead, only 3 miles away and with a population of almost 8,000. When the United States
went off the gold standard in 1934, the price of gold rose substantially, and this brought such prosperity
to the Homestake that, in addition to the high wages that it habitually paid, it gave bonuses to its
employees twice a year. This has brought a boom period to Lead, which in turn has found its reflection
in Deadwood business conditions.”1797
***DEVIL’S GULCH, GARRETSON, MINNEHAHA COUNTY1798, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller designates: “Right on the road to the tree-hidden canyon called Devil’s Gulch, often
referred to as ‘Spirit Canyon’. Its fascination lies in the weird beauty, solemn, and almost oppressive. A
jagged wound, burnished by nature’s hand, across the gently rolling plain, Devil’s Gulch in a sanctuary of
charm and inspiration. The chasm is featured by bold walls of pink and purple rock, cleft by crevices,
some so deep that they are thought to be bottomless; mysterious green water reflects the cedars
clinging to the stone and the fronds of ferns that thrive in the moist, cool air.
“Surrounding this gulch is a park, maintained by the town’s authorities. However aside from
providing tables and seats for the convenience of picnickers and building the footbridges, nothing has
been done to disturb the beauties of nature. The winding paths follow a natural way among the rocks,
and from the peak of the last one, a glimpse of the red rock can be caught through the branches of a
many varieties of trees and shrubs that thrive there.
“The footbridge, protected with iron guard rails, affords a splendid point from which to view the
perpendicular cliffs of quartzite. Striking is the coloring of the rock in sun and shadow, red in the light
and purple in the shade. Bushes and ferns grow wherever a little earth has become lodged in the
narrow ledges, but the cedars cling to the bare rocks in a fantastic manner. These beautiful trees grow
luxuriantly on the very top of the cliffs where nothing but bare, weather-beaten stone can be seen, and
the wonder is that they grow nowhere else in the vicinity except on similar formations at the Palisades,
and at the Dells.
“Just under the bridge is the Bottomless Pit. The water is dark and oily and seems to have no
current, but there is a powerful undertow that forces the plumb line against some projection of the
walls, so that no one has been able to measure the depth below 600 feet under water level.

1797

John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1798
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garretson,_South_Dakota

“Crossing the bridge, the path leads along the edge of the canyon. Many platforms of smooth,
bare rocks afford points of observation to those who can stand on the very brink on the chasm without
becoming dizzy. The black shadows on the water at the foot of the cliff opposite create an illusion that
the great wall overhands a deep cave, and if one gazes fixedly for a moment at that dark reflection, the
cliff seems to approach silently and menacingly, as if it had become the prow of a giant ship.
“At the head of the gulch is the famed Devil’s Stairway. Only those with strong muscles, steady
heads, and sound hearts are advised to attempt the descent. There are several long jumps and huge
steps; but those who are brave will be well rewarded. From the bottom, the view is almost bewildering.
The contrast of blue sky and dark green waters and the red, pink, and purple cliffs overhanging
threateningly would delight an artist. Seen from below, the cedars and ferns seem to cling to the rock
by some inexplicable magic. The strange moaning of the wind adds to the feeling of being in the abode
of some unearthly being. At night or when a storm rages and thunder echoes and reechoes within the
walls, one can easily imaging that the devil of the Indian legend is about to emerge from some dark
crevice to gather in another soul. The climb upward is easier than the descent. The visitor, slowly
retracing his steps along the canyon, discovers new rocks and new platforms, each with new and
startling effects.”1799
***ENEMY SWIM LAKE, DAY COUNTY1800, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller expands: “From the highway, Enemy Swim Lake can be seen. The lake is the setting for
a famous Indian legend which has several variations, but it is generally agreed that its name was derived
from a battle between the Sioux and Chippewas. According to the old legend, handed down for
generations, a band of Sisseton Sioux was camped in the woods of the peninsula, which extends from
the southeastern shore and almost reaches a long, high island. A pow-wow was in progress one
evening, and the squaws had been sent out for more firewood, while the others sang and danced
around the fire. Meanwhile a band of hostile Chippewas from the Mississippi country, who were on a
hunting trip, saw the reflection of the fire in the sky and followed the light to the lake shore. Leaving
their horses in the woods on the eastern side of the lake, the Chippewas planned a surprise attack on
the village after, the dance was over and all were asleep. Sioux guards being stationed on the mainland,
the Chippewas quickly made rafts and landed on the island, which provided an approach from which no
attack was expected. As the tom-toms beat loudly, the Chippewas quietly crossed the waist deep neck
to the peninsula and hid in the bushes waiting for the village to retire. But one of the squaws, picking up
sticks, heard her dog growling; when she went to find it, she saw a stranger in war paint crouching
nearby. She screamed. There was no escape from the excited, war-whooping Sioux. The Chippewas
splashed back to the island and, as the Sioux followed, they swam for the shore and their waiting horses.
‘Toka nuapi!’ (‘The enemy swim’), cried the Sisseton chief. Some of the Sioux rode their horses around
the bay, as the swimming enemies reached the shore, they were trampled to death.”1801
***GUMBO, MEADE COUNTY1802, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller illustrates: “The Gumbo, as it is universally called, is a desolate region looking like a sea
with long rollers that have suddenly become petrified. Few people make their homes here the year
1799

John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1800
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_Swim_Lake
1801
John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1802
http://www.mytopo.com/locations/index.cfm?fid=1264192&utm_expid=23437130&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

round. It is too bleak, and the soil conditions are too obstinate. Gumbo, geologically known as Pierre
clay, is a black soil of almost unbelievable viscosity when wet. In the days of freight wagons, the
freighters were obliged to remove their brake blocks as soon as the gumbo began to ‘roll’. It is
characteristic of gumbo to ‘ball up’, and the feet of unlucky humans or animals forced to travel in it
seem to grow continually larger. It is practically impossible to move a bunch of stock across it when wet.
Gen Crook and his cavalry, coming from the Battle of Slim Buttes, tried to cross the gumbo in a ten-day
rain. Before they reached the Belle Fourche River, half of the horses were dead of exhaustion, and they
had had to kill and eat many others. Gen Crook in his report said that he doubted whether in the annals
of the American Army, there had been a journey involving so much hardship and suffering.
“The gumbo, when dry, is creased with innumerable wrinkles, like the face of a very old man.
When rain comes, these wrinkles disappear, and the soil flows together in a sea of mud. It is difficult to
farm when it is too dry, and impossible to work when wet. Therefore the farmer’s activities are apt to
be somewhat curtailed at inconvenient times.
“On the gumbo, there is no sod. Each spear of grass grows independently from its own root.
Compared with sod grass, gumbo grass is sparse; but in content it is much richer. Gumbo lambs always
outweigh the sand lambs in the fall. In the summer, the gumbo is apt to be covered with herds of cattle
and bunches of sheep from the surrounding regions. Lack of water is the chief difficulty, but dams are
solving that problem, where water holes are not available.
“US 85 leads over a series of steep gumbo hills, from the last of which there is a splendid view of
the fertile Belle Fourche Valley. The contrast between the greenness of the irrigated valley and the
brown of the gumbo is most striking.”1803
***HANGMAN’S TREE, RAPID CITY, PENNINGTON COUNTY1804, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller maintains: “Hangman’s tree, on Hangman’s Hill, is the setting of a true tale of the early
days of Rapid City. On June 21, 1887, the sheriff was notified that his services were required north of
town. He called for volunteers and 10 men responded. After an absence of about two hours, the posse
returned with three strange men and five horses that bore the Sidney Stage Company’s brand of ‘LV’.
There was no jail, and while the sheriff was deliberating where to hold the men for investigation, a
crowd gathered. One of the witnesses heard the youngest but largest of the three remark: ‘If they had
not caught us asleep, they would never have taken us.’ He talked continuously, while the other men
said nothing. A witness identified the ‘LV’ brand.
“The prisoners were put in a granary and armed guards stationed outside. Shortly after the
prisoners were lodged in the granary, the Deadwood stage arrived with the superintendent of the Crook
City barn. He immediately identified the horses as the ones taken from their barn the night before.
Considerable interest was manifested that night over the affair, and around the post office, spectators
head the phrase, ‘Whiskey drinks are free tonight, Stage Company’s treat,’ passing from mouth to ear.
“The next morning the attention of citizens was drawn to a tree on a high hill just west of town,
where the bodies of three men were visible hanging limply from the limbs. A coroner’s inquest was held
that morning with about 50 men present, and the witness heard the testimony of the guards. ‘Hung at
midnight by unknown parties,’ was the verdict signed by Roscoe Burleight, coroner. The original tree has
long since disappeared, but one that stood close by it has been preserved in a casement of stone and
cement, to commemorate the first sentence meted out locally to criminals, for so serious an offense as
horse stealing.

1803

John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1804
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_City,_South_Dakota

“The story is that during the night, the three prisoners were placed on two horses, with their
hands tied and ropes dangling from their necks. The right arm of one and the left arm of the other of
the two men that rode the one horse were tied together. In this state, the horses were led up the hill to
a big pine tree that had limbs extending far out in opposite directions, just high enough to let the horses
and men pass under. A horse was led on either side and when the riders were just beneath the limbs,
the horses were stopped, the ropes thrown over the limbs, and made fast. Those details being attended
to, the horses were led away and back down the hill, leaving the men to atone for their crime.”1805
***HIDDEN CITY, RAPID CITY, PENNINGTON COUNTY1806, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller presents: “Consisting of a long wall below ground, excavated for a distance of a quarter
of a mile and roofed over to protect it from the weather. This wall is thought by some to have been the
work of a prehistoric race, the sole surviving remnant of a ‘hidden city’. But others, among them the
faculty of the School of Mines, believe it to be a natural though very unusual formation, a series of
sandstone dikes. The subject is still controversial.”1807
***IGLOO, FALL RIVER COUNTY1808, SOUTH DAKOTA***
www.keloland.com renders: “Igloo (ghost town) ‘In the rugged prairie of southwest South
Dakota, not far from the city of Edgemont, there’s a reminder of a by-gone era. More than 800-bunkers,
once used to store weapons and ammunition for the military, still dot the landscape. In all it is more
than 21,000 square acres, and in the 1950s, was listed as the 15th largest city in the state. Known as Fort
Igloo, because of the shape of the bunkers, the Black Hills Ordnance Depot was home to more than just
weapons. Thousands of people lived and worked at the base.’”1809
www.coldwartourist.com sheds light on: “In mid-summer, the Black Hills are literally a calming
oasis, compared to the vast plains that lie to the east. Yet I’m compelled to leave the cooling comfort of
whispering pines and granite spires for something unusual and mysterious. Instead of aiming east and
heading for home, I drive south and descend into rolling grassland. As the landscape opens up,
temperatures climb into triple digits and cell service fades. I’m searching for things new to my eyes and
there they are. Manmade or natural? First there are a few. Then many. Then hundreds. Not crazy like
hoodoos, but uniformly bumpy like giant Braille. It takes miles of driving, but now I see them for what
they are.
“Fort Igloo is no longer owned by the Government, although the US Army has a minor presence
here, in the form of test wells maintained by the Corps of Engineers. The wells are a legacy of the
former storage and disposal of munitions, containing conventional explosives, as well as the blistering
agent, mustard gas, and the nerve agent, sarin. The bumpy countryside is actually a vast, abandoned
storage facility with 800 or so ‘igloos’, each constructed of poured concrete, with a steel door and
covered with earth.
“Frankly calling Fort Igloo a storage facility doesn’t even do it justice. In addition to the concrete
storage magazines, the 33 square mile complex once included all the amenities of a well-planned
1805

John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1806
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_City,_South_Dakota
1807
John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1808
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/fall-river/igloo.cfm
1809
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/memories-from-fort-igloo/?id=149675; provided by Sara
Wylie, Research Dept, South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr, Pierre, SD 57501;
[email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/

town. In addition to living quarters for over 1,000 people, Fort Igloo (properly known as Black Hills
Ordnance Depot [BHOD]) also boasted an Army hospital, a school district, community center, day-care
center, movie theater, bowling alley and other mainstays of small-town America. These amenities were
actually a necessity, due to the remote and isolated location. Indeed the isolation was also a necessity
dictated by the mission of the Depot and the nature of items warehoused there.
“BHOD was conceived, built and opened during World War Two, with the mission of receipt,
storage, issue and maintenance of ammunition. The depot also housed several hundred Italian
prisoners of war beginning in 1943. The facility performed its mission through three wars and was
eventually closed in 1967. All types of ammunition were stored here, from small arms ammunition to
artillery rounds, bombs and chemical weapons. The sprawling nature of the base, along with its remote
location in southwestern South Dakota, provided a relatively safe buffer in case of a deadly mishap.”1810
***IRON LIGHTNING, ZIEBACH COUNTY1811, SOUTH DAKOTA***
Ziebach County Historical Society suggests: “Iron Lightning: This town was named after the Iron
Lightning family, who were early settlers in the area.”1812
MG Armstrong calls attention to: “By the year 1890, many people of the Cheyenne River Sioux
Tribe had settled peacefully along the Cheyenne and Missouri Rivers. Some families, however, were
anxious to find better grazing lands. There was also a desire to live farther away from close
governmental supervision. Consequently a few families hunted for a likely place to found a new home.
Some of the men desired to choose for themselves the best lands in the upper Moreau River grazing
area.
“This new home was located on the upper Moreau River, some one hundred miles from its
mouth. In the locality, the water and grass were good, the wood plentiful, the wild game still roamed at
will, and the population was sparse. No doubt the fact that the white influence was not very effective in
this particular part had something to do with the selection of new home sites.
“It is certain that some of the Sioux people had come into this area before 1890 and settled in a
wide area, extending from the upper Moreau to below the present site of the Thunder Butte Station.
Here are the translated names of some of these early settlers: Paul Red Bird, Amos Clown, James Fights
Thunder, John Lame Eagle, John Two Moon, Abraham White Horse, the Wet Skirt Family, and the Card
Family. The Fool Dog, Curley, Mandan, Knife, Talks, and Little Hawk Families were the first to locate in
this immediate locality, about 1890.
“The last of the early settlers came to this area shortly after 1906, when the first approved
allotments were made. The Iron Lightning family, for whom the community was named, came at that
time.”1813
MG Armstrong connotes: “Mr Iron Lightning spent most of his life on this reservation at Cherry
Creek Station. At one time however, it is said that he went with others to Canada, taking his family with
him. Mr Iron Lightning didn’t stay long, but (returned) to Cherry Creek.
“Mr Iron Lightning came to this vicinity to live on his allotment in 1906 or 1907. With him, he
brought his three wives, whom he had married in traditional fashion. He had bargained for the oldest
1810

http://coldwartourist.com/fort_igloo_sd
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/ziebach/iron-lightning.cfm
1812
Ziebach County Historical Society; South Dakota’s Ziebach County: History of the Prairie; 1982;
provided by Sara Wylie, Research Dept, South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr,
Pierre, SD 57501; [email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/
1813
Myron G Armstrong; Iron Lightning; 1941; published in Ziebach County Historical Society; South
Dakota’s Ziebach County History of the Prairie; State Publishing; 1982; provided by Twila Schuler,
Treasurer, Ziebach County Historical Society, PO Box 452, Dupree, SD 57623
1811

wife, White Buffalo, with her father, to whom he gave a horse. White Buffalo’s father also gave him Red
Crane (born 1863), who was White Buffalo’s younger half-sister, then a young girl. It is said that Red
Crane was supposed to wait upon White Buffalo. Later Mr Iron Lightning brought his second wife, Pretty
Elk, another half-sister to White Buffalo. Apparently another horse was the price. So Mr Iron Lightning
had three wives, all of them half-sisters to each other, having had different mothers. The middle wife,
Pretty Elk, had the first born child, a son named John, who lies in the Iron Lightning family cemetery up
on the hill. Then White Buffalo had the second child. Altogether Mr Iron Lightning begot twenty-six
children: seven by White Buffalo, twelve by Pretty Elk, and seven by Red Crane. Ill health and
tuberculosis stalked this family. White Buffalo and Red Crane raised only one child a piece and Pretty
Elk only seven. At present (1941), four of Pretty Elk’s children are still living: Grant Iron Lightning, Rose
Iron Lightning Red Bull, Ellen Iron Lightning Red Bird and Gertie Iron Lightning Iron Bird. None of White
Buffalo’s children has survived and only one of Red Crane’s is living, Dora Iron Lightning Talks.
“When the government urged Mr Iron Lightning to choose one of (his wives) for his legal wife,
the oldest and the youngest stepped aside and said, ‘let it be Pretty Elk, for she has seven children living
and we have one a piece.’ However, it is said that Mr Iron Lightning didn’t marry any of them (in the
Christian way), leaving the matter of establishment of his legal heirs to be decided after his death.
“Mr Iron Lightning had great herds of horses. I listened to a eulogy of Mr Iron Lightning the
other day, given by Mrs Pete Talks, who was speaking for her husband. Of Mr Iron Lightning, he said, in
effect, ‘He was a great and powerful man. He could walk great distances and endure great physical
hardships. His finesse in stealing horses marked him as a great man. He would start out walking and
always came back with a horse. He was considered a Chief by the Indians, who admired his prowess.’
“From this I think we have the answer as to why this community was named after the Iron
Lightning family, as most of the families had settled here long before the Iron Lightning family came,
some of them almost twenty years before.
“While the present Mr Iron Lightning (Grant), follows his father’s steps as a leader of his
community, there the likeness ends. The old Mr Iron Lightning represents the Sioux of old traditions,
the Sioux of tribal life and customs. The present Mr Iron Lightning represents the modern Indian, who
has adapted his life to fit in with the ways of white culture, who has kept of the old way of life what is
useful to him and has discarded what is not. With his wife, educated at the Pierre Indian School, Mr Iron
Lightning is trying hard to establish independence for their nine healthy children.”1814
***JESSE JAMES’ CAVE, GARRETSON, MINNEHAHA COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller details: “Right on this road to a farmhouse, where inquiries must be made for the route
to Jesse James’ Cave. This reputed hide-out of Jesse James has no sunken lake, underground river, or
sparkling stalactites, but it is the only cave in this part of the country, and from the entrance is a
magnificent view of the north.
“Twenty-five years ago, a farm hand, who was working for the farmer owning the land on which
is the cave, found the name ‘Jesse James’ carved in the wall of the strange hole in the rocky cliff of the
Split Rock River. Early settlers knew of the place, and there was a sort of legend about the notorious
desperado having hidden there after the robbery of the bank at Northfield, Minnesota.
“No one unacquainted with the area could find the beginning of the rough and slightly
dangerous stairway made of coarse blocks of stone in the cliff. Extreme care must be taken while
descending this steep incline, as the rocks are slippery, and no rail or guard of any sort is provided.

1814

Myron G Armstrong; Iron Lightning Family; 1941; published in Ziebach County Historical Society;
South Dakota’s Ziebach County History of the Prairie; State Publishing; 1982; provided by Twila Schuler,
Treasurer, Ziebach County Historical Society, PO Box 452, Dupree, SD 57623

“The only way to the cave from the foot of the natural stairs is through a narrow tunnel, a little
more than 3 feet in diameter and perhaps 12 feet in length. One must crawl through, but the walls are
smooth quartzite and the floor solid. There is no danger. It must be understood that the cave is not at
the bottom of the cliff, where the clear water of Split Rock River flows noiselessly, but halfway down,
about 30 feet from the base.
“This little tunnel gives access to a sort of ledge, a level platform of red granite about 10 feet
square, from which is a beautiful view of the valley. The scenery is fascinating with color effects of red,
purple, and gray cliffs, blue sky and mirror-like water. Directly across the river, green meadows extend
to the broken cliffs, which resemble ruins of a gigantic wall. Cedars clinging to the bare rocks, and
groups of thickly foliaged trees, growing where the cliffs have collapsed, add to the beauty of the
picture.
“The cave itself is quickly explored; a flashlight is necessary, because of many jutting rocks and
projecting ledges. Legend has it that Jesse James used to creep in the shadows and hide on one of the
high shelves when enemies came near. After crawling through some narrow places, and passing
through chambers with very rough walls, for a distance of about 50 feet, the end of the cave is
reached.”1815
***MAIDEN’S ISLAND, STONY POINT, WATERTOWN, CODINGTON COUNTY1816, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller explains: “Stony Point is a resort with bathing, boating, fishing, skating, and other
recreational facilities. Three hundred yards from shore is Maiden’s Island. A legend is told of a hunter
and his daughter, Minnecotah, who made friends with the Sioux tribe. The young warriors of the tribe
vied with each other to win the affection of the pretty maiden. She decided that whoever of them could
hurl a stone farthest into the lake would be the recipient of her love. The man of her choice had
journeyed to the west and was not expected to return for several months. The warriors hurled rocks
and boulders, exerting every fiber of their muscles to out throw their competitors, not realizing the wily
diplomacy of Minnecotah in the contest. No one could judge the exact distance because of the waves.
After days and nights of rock throwing, the braves realized the trickery used on them. So many rocks
and boulders had been thrown that a stone island had been formed a few hundred yards out from
shore. The maiden was forcibly placed on the island without food or shelter, the Indians believing that
her choice of one of them would be forced by suffering and exposure.
“A great white pelican at night brought Minnecotah fish for food and saved her from starvation,
and after many days, her lover returned to learn of her predicament. Quietly paddling his canoe
through the stillness of night, he took her from the stone island and escaped to the west. Upon finding
the maiden gone the following morning, the braves decided that the white pelican had been sent by the
sun god to transport her to other regions.”1817
***MEDICINE ROCK, GETTYSBURG, POTTER COUNTY1818, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller imparts: “Right on this road to Medicine Rock, long held sacred by the Indians, and a
subject of controversy among scientists. On it are the imprints of three human feet, a hand, and many
animal tracks. Although the footprints are of enormous size, they are perfect in outline. This fact caused
Indians to tie bags of medicinal herbs on poles above the rock, with the belief that the herbs would
1815

John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1816
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown,_South_Dakota
1817
John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1818
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg,_South_Dakota

absorb additional powers. They also laid gifts upon the rock, offerings to the ‘Great Spirit’. The
presence of the rock was known before 1825, for on that date General Henry Atkinson and Col Benjamin
O’Fallon, having heard of it, visited the site while on a trip up the Missouri River, and reported the fact
to Washington.
“For a long time, it was generally believed that the imprints were made by some man of
prodigious sites, who walked across the rock before the clay had hardened into stone. Some believed it
was the work of an artist-jokester, who desired to give future generations something for speculation.
However scientists are now of the opinion that the prints were made by some sagacious medicine man,
who wanted further to impress his followers.”1819
***PRAIRIE QUEEN, LAKE COUNTY1820, SOUTH DAKOTA***
www.smith-zimmermann.dsu.edu mentions: “Prairie Queen: ‘The town, located 13 miles
northeast of Madison, was the first of all Norwegian settlements in the Dakota Territory. The first post
office of the area was located in the southeast quarter, Section 19, Summit Township in the home of Ole
Olson Overskei, the first postmaster. A group of men met to decide on a name for the new post office
and town. Many names were mentioned. One of the men spoke up and said, ‘We should name it in
honor of Mrs Overskei. Let’s call it ‘Queen of the Prairie’, since she was the first white woman in this
area, and also for her dedication in helping people.’ They decided this name was too long, however, so
they settled on ‘Prairie Queen’.’”1821
Delores Overskei puts into words: “The Prairie Queen Cemetery is located on the east side of
Section 19 of Summit Township, or ½ mile south, one mile east, and ¾ mile south of Nunda, South
Dakota.
“In 1884 the Prairie Queen Lutheran Church was organized, and the church was built on three
acres of land, donated for the church yard and cemetery by Mr and Mrs Ole O Overskei. The church
building was not completed until 1889.
“A group of men in the area met to decide on a name for the post office and church in that area.
Many names were mentioned, and suddenly one person spoke up and said, ‘We should name it in honor
of Mrs Overskei, let’s call it ‘Queen of the Prairie’.’ They decided this name was too long so settled on
‘Prairie Queen’. Mrs Ole (Julia) Overskei was the first white women in the area. She was called on to
help in case of any illness. She also delivered many babies born in the settlement, and washed, dressed,
and prepared for burial many who died.
“In 1924 the Prairie Queen Ladies Organization purchased the arch with the church and
cemetery named ‘Prairie Queen 1884’.
“In the year 1953, the church was in need of so many repairs, it was torn down and the
congregation merged with Nunda Lutheran Church, Nunda, S Dak; the Prairie Queen congregation was
the larger of the two.
“On October 21, 1955, one acre of land was purchased from George Larson for the sum of
$150.00 to enlarge the cemetery.
“Now as you walk through the arched gate reading ‘Prairie Queen 1884’ and proceed down the
side walk, which used to lead to the church doors, instead you approach a lovely tall monument with the
1819

John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1820
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/maps/featuremap,ftc,3,fid,1263178,n,prairie%20queen.cfm
1821
http://www.smith-zimmermann.dsu.edu/prairie-queen.asp; provided by Sara Wylie, Research Dept,
South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr, Pierre, SD 57501;
[email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/

picture of the Prairie Queen Church chiseled into the stone. Just below the church is the Lutheran
emblem and these words. ‘In memory of the Prairie Queen Lutheran Church founded in 1884. This
congregation merged in 1953 with Grace Lutheran of Nunda.’
“And on the back of the granite stone it reads: First officers of the congregation: Rev Martin
Shirley, AJ Lee, Ole Jacobson, Chester Selland, Nels Bakke, Ole Overskei, A Legaard. Served by the
following pastors: Martin Schirley, Marcus Svaren, OP Upstad, Alfred Nelson, Otto G Austin, IH Rossing,
Irvin A Suby, MM Sheldahl, LO Onerheim, George Natwick.”1822
***PUNISHED WOMAN’S LAKE, CODINGTON COUNTY1823, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller reports: “Left on this unnumbered road is Punished Woman’s Lake. At this point is the
junction with a graveled road. Right on this road is South Shore, a country hamlet. … Punished Women
Effigy: The two huge rocks are supposed to represent the legendary figures of Wewake, a Sioux maiden,
and Wapskasimucwah, a young brave. The girl had spurned the favors of Chemoki, a 60-year-old
chieftain, for the young lover. The chief, enraged by her resistance, killed Wapskasimucwah and bound
the women to a tree on the north shore of the lake, now known as the Punished Woman’s Lake. The
bodies were placed on a nearby knoll, and the chief, while making an angry speech exhorting his people
to fear the example of his erstwhile love and her slain lover, was struck by a bolt of lightning out of a
clear sky. The effigy of Chemoki in repentance was placed at the feet of the two lovers.”1824
***RED SCAFFOLD, ZIEBACH COUNTY1825, SOUTH DAKOTA**
VDH Sneve shows: “Red Scaffold derives its name from Red Scaffold Creek. The name has a
disputed origin. One is that a corpse of an Indian, which had been ‘buried’ in a tree along this creek, fell
to the ground and was found to have been wrapped in a red blanket. The other story concerns two
young Indian girls, who killed each other in a fight over a man, and were buried side by side on a scaffold
painted red.”1826
Ziebach County Historical Society talks about: “The history of Red Scaffold begins with the
people who settled along the upper Cherry Creek, after Hump’s and Sitting Bull’s bands returned from
Canada in 1881, and again after the survivors of Big foot’s band returned from the Wounded Knee
Massacre of 1890.
“Many of these people lived thirty miles from the sub-station at Cherry Creek, which was the
central point for business. Trips to the station took three days at the least. Each family desiring to get
rations was compelled to make the trip once a month.
“Narcisse Narcelle built his NSS [Native Student Services] headquarters a few miles west of
present Red Scaffold. Many ‘old-timers’ rode for Narcelle. Ed Lyman and James Chasing Hawk chose
allotments west of Narcelle.
“Other settlers along upper Cherry Creek were Eagle Staffs, Ed Red Bull, James Bear Stops, and
George Little Crow. Phillip Black Moon and John Little Star lived on Cherry Creek, east of Narcelle’s, in
the 1940s.
1822

Delores Overskei; Prairie Queen Cemetery; provided by Office of Register of Deeds, Lake County,
South Dakota, 200 East Center St, Madison, SD 57042
1823
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Shore,_South_Dakota
1824
John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1825
http://southdakota.hometownlocator.com/sd/ziebach/red-scaffold.cfm
1826
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, editor; South Dakota Geographic Names, Brevet Press; 1973; provided
by Sara Wylie, Research Dept, South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr, Pierre, SD
57501; [email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/

“Billy Circle Eagle’s allotment was north on Red Scaffold Creek, as were Drag Rope’s, Curley’s,
and Lillibridge’s. Hollown Horns and White Wolfs settled around the mouth of Red Scaffold Creek. The
Did Not Go Home, Comes Out, Holy Bull, and Phillip Lone Eagle families lived east of present Red
Scaffold.
“Charlie Knife, Charging Clouds and War Bonnets lived near present Frazier. Owl Kings, Brown
Wolfs, Little Dogs, Dan Red Bull, Thunder Hoops, Widows, Shoots Off, Longbrakes, Inamongsts, Knights,
and Bridwells were among the families who lived on Ash Creek.
“Many of the old family names such as Brown Dog, Grouse Running, and First Eagle are no
longer heard in Red Scaffold.
“By 1911 a Catholic church, St Pius, had been built south of the Cherry Creek, near Paul Chasing
Hawk’s. St Mark’s was built by 1921, east of Red Scaffold. In 1938 it was moved into Red Scaffold and
named Sacred Heart.
“Education of the children, during the early 1900s, required living near a Day School such as
Carson, Turtle Creek, and later White Swan, or sending the children to boarding schools in Rapid City,
Pierre or Cheyenne Agency.
“In the 1930s, while John Collier was Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a change in philosophy at
the Federal level brought the Wheeler-Howard or Indian Reorganization Act, Tribal government and BIA
[Bureau of Indian Affairs] Day Schools, which completely reversed the educational process.
“These schools were to become the center of community activities. Their purpose was to give
training to the adults as well as to the children.
“This area organized as a district and took the name of Red Scaffold. A celebration in the
summer of 1936 commemorated the event, and a scaffold was built near the mouth of Red Scaffold
Creek, on the sight of an original scaffold.
“Red Scaffold and Red Scaffold Creek get their name from a traditional burial scaffold. Some say
that the original scaffold was painted red. Others say a red blanket was used on the scaffold to honor
the dead person, possibly a brave leader or an oldest son.
“Charles Royer ran a store in Red Scaffold, near the present rodeo grounds, in the 1940s. In the
early days, he had driven a stagecoach from Philip to the Cheyenne River, possibly to Pedro.
“Joshua Comes Out had a log building on a flat north of Cherry Creek. It was called Joshua
Comes Out Hall and many dances were held there.”1827
***SILVER CITY, PENNINGTON COUNTY1828, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller catalogs: “Silver City, one of the ghost towns of the Hills. The general store and neat,
white-painted Catholic Church are in striking contrast with the rough, unpainted board shacks that still
stand, eloquent of the days when mining was the chief industry, and the hope of wealth beat high in the
heart of every miner and prospector in the Hills. Today the only evidences of the old mining days are a
huge hoisting drum and the dismantled engine that turned it, now lying beside the railroad track and not
valuable enough to pay the freight for their removal. Silver City was founded in 1876, at the time of the
gold rush along Rapid Creek. Jack, Tom, and Luke Gorman were the real founders of the town, although
other prospectors had located ore in the hills and along the creek before their arrival. The Gorman
brothers located the first mines on the hillsides, one called The Diana, and the other, The Lady of the
Hills. These mines had a heavy yield of silver, combined with some gold and other metals. The camp
was called Camp Gorman at first, but a company of seven men was organized, and they platted a town
1827

Ziebach County Historical Society; South Dakota’s Ziebach County History of the Prairie; State
Publishing; 1982; provided by Twila Schuler, Treasurer, Ziebach County Historical Society, PO Box 452,
Dupree, SD 57623
1828
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_South_Dakota

site, had it patented, and named it Silver City. It grew to a community of several hundred inhabitants,
and the hills and gulches surrounding it were thronged with searchers after precious metals. An Eastern
syndicate sent representatives to try to buy the holdings of the Gorman brothers, offering them
$300,000. The brothers were ignorant and uneducated men who could not figure whether the offer was
more or less than a million dollars, which they insisted was their price. They delayed their decision till
one night their cabin caught fire, and the eldest brother was burned to death. The other two brothers
disappeared. Their heirs in the East still hold title to the property.
“Left from Silver City is a trail leading into the Unknown Land. This is only a foot trail, since in
many places it is overgrown with brush, blocked by fallen trees, and gullied out. The Unknown Land is a
region bounded roughly on the north by Rapid Creek, on the west by the Burlington Railroad, on the
south by Spring Creek and the National Forest Boundary, and on the east by US 85A.
“There is no public land within this territory. It is all United States Forest Reserve and staked
mining claims that have been proved up and patented.
“This whole region is practically inaccessible, except to hikers and horseback rides, and in many
places, it is hard for a horse to find footing. High mountains, deep canyons, and tall timber are the
principal features. The region abounds in game, being the home of most of the black tail deer, outside
the Game Preserve, in the Hills. Sometimes elk may be found hiding in some dark gulch. There are no
streams of any size, so there is no fishing; but springs of pure sparkling water are found in all the
gulches.
“Little lumbering has been done, except along the edges, as the rough nature of the country
prevents the transportation of timber, without expensive roads or railroads. The hiker or hunter who
penetrates these hills and valleys to make his camp finds himself in woods and mountains much as they
were in the days of ’76.
“In 1876-9, many prospectors located mining claims along the bars of Rapid Creek from Pactola
westward. They found gold, but no very rich strikes were made, and they concluded that the ‘mother
lode’ must be somewhere in the hills to the south and west, along the course of the stream. Some of
the miners, more hardy than the rest, set out to prospect the hills, and penetrated into the wilderness,
seeking the source of the placer gold. They failed to find mines of any great value, although a number of
quartz veins were discovered that yielded low grade ore. In the meantime, the Homestake Mine was
discovered at Lead, and most of the mining activity was transferred to that locality.
“In 1879 however, OF Johnson located a mining claim in this territory and uncovered a vein of
quartz 150 feet wide and 3 miles long. Expecting to develop it, he succeeded in interesting a group of
New York investors, who gained control of the property, but never developed it. Ore from the vein
assayed about $3 or $4 per ton, but various difficulties have so far prevented development.
“About this time three brothers, named Scruton, built a cabin near the foot of the highest peak
in this section, which is still called Scruton Mountain. They had a mine somewhere in the vicinity and
from time to time brought out gold, but they never told where the mine was located, nor did anyone
else ever discover it. They died without disclosing its location. It was this lost mine that gave the
territory its name, The Unknown Land. At 5 miles is Camp Wanzer, a Federal summer camp for
tubercular and undernourished children. Here in the pine-scented air, where there is an abundance of
clear cold water and good wholesome food, the less fortunate little ones of South Dakota come every
summer. Under the supervision of doctors and trained nurses, they are given a chance to gather
strength and health.”1829

1829

John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006

***SISSETON INDIAN RESERVATION, ROBERTS COUNTY1830, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller conveys: “The Sissetons and the Wahpetons (‘dwellers among the leaves’) bands of the
Sioux Nation, found this region of cool crystal lakes, wooded ravines, edible berries, buffalo, and fish, an
earthly paradise when they migrated westward. Good hunters and fishermen, these peaceful people
never strayed far. They welcomed the visits of Jean Duluth, Father De Smet, Francis Rondell, and
Stephen Return Riggs, trading with Duluth and Rondell, and listening to the religious teachings of De
Smet and Riggs.
“Following the Minnesota Massacre at New Ulm, during the Civil War period, the Sissetons were
advanced upon by troops from Fort Snelling, Minnesota. The tribal council made a law that all whites in
their lake country would have to dress like Indians to keep from being massacred. Fleeing Indians,
pursued by soldiers, came into the Sisseton country, bringing their captives with them; the Sissetons
were instrumental in having the captives released to the soldiers, and in return the military advance was
discontinued. Another troop, however, came into the Indian country, burning gardens and tents.
Attempts were made towards peace, but continued misunderstandings arose, followed by actual
warfare. Old Indians enjoy relating how, while fleeing, they turned about so that the cannon would be
brought into use. To their extreme amusement, they dodged the baseball-sized cannonballs directed
toward them. In 1863 the Sissetons, who had been driven west across the Missouri River and into
Canada, returned to their lake country. Camped at Enemy Swim Lake, the soldiers surrounded them.
There a treaty was made which, in Indian language, was to the effect: ‘There will be no more wars; we
will be brothers.’
“With the help of the Indians, Fort Sisseton was established in 1864, and in 1876, a treaty was
made establishing the Sisseton Indian Reservation. The Indians settled around the lakes – Enemy Swim,
Pickerel, Blue Dog, Red Iron, Piyas, Two Mile, Four Mile, Six Mile, and Nine Mile – in family groups. In
1892 the Federal Government purchased the reservation from the Indians, opening it to homesteaders.
The Indians were allotted 160 acres for each individual; there is unallotted land there at present. As
families have grown, there has been no new land for the children, so that today one plot and one house
serve an old man and his wife, together with their married children and families.
“There are 2,740 Indians on the reservation roll, only 775 of which are full-blooded. A small
annual increase in the Indian population is reported by the superintendent of the agency. The close
proximity to the whites during the past 45 years has resulted not only in intermarriage, but adoption of
white men’s customs. The Sioux language is used at pow-wows, church, and meetings, but English is
understood by nearly everyone. There is no tribal property; instead, 70,630 acres of Indian-owned land
is rented, and 5,781 acres cultivated by Indian farmers. Native handicraft is no longer engaged in to any
degree. Wild fruits are still gathered and processed by old methods; corn is dried on cheese cloth; and
choke-cherries and wild plums are ground with meat. There is still some fishing, particularly in winter
through the ice. ‘Store clothes’ are worn exclusively, and few old-time garments survive. At summer
pow-wows, the washtub has taken the place of the hide tom-tom, and lipstick the place of war paint.
There are 306 permanent homes used by Indians and less than a dozen log cabins. A few tents are seen
in summer as temporary dwellings. There are about 200 Indian children in public schools on the
reservations, 200 in Federal boarding schools, and 100 in church on boarding schools. The churches –
mostly Episcopal, Catholic, and Presbyterian – furnish the social life. Wagons and old cars start toward
church on Saturday, loaded with Indians, staying all night with friends or relatives who live near the
edifice.”1831

1830

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Traverse_Indian_Reservation
John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1831

***SITTING BULL PARK, STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller discusses: “Left on this road is Sitting Bull Park, where the Sioux chief was killed during
the Messiah War. (Indian guide available during summer.)
“It was during the early dawn of the crisp, frosty morning of December 15, 1890, that Sitting
Bull, last chief of the Hunkpapa Sioux, fell riddled with bullets at the hands of his own people, the Indian
police, sent to arrest him. Here Sitting Bull last exhorted the wavering fragments of his once powerful
band. Today the site of the medicine man’s home is a public park, unimproved in order to preserve the
actual setting. The sites of the cabins, the spots where each man fell, the common grave of the seven
followers who died with Sitting Bull, and various relics of the famous ‘struggle in the dark’ are preserved
in this park.
“The old chief spent most of his life in South Dakota, but his body was taken to Ft Yates, North
Dakota, the agency, for burial. There in a solitary grave, in a corner of the old army post cemetery,
Sitting Bull sleeps; bodies of white men, once buried near him, have been removed.
“Probably no figure in all Sioux history has caused more controversy, more uneasiness, was
more colorful, more disliked and more respected. When Sitting Bull was killed, and his followers were
dispersed on that cold, hazy morning, the dim lamp of hope that had flickered so long in Sioux breasts
suddenly flared crazily, resulting finally in the Battle of Wounded Knee and the pitiful crushing of the
dying spirit of the Indians. The ghost dance had been the last straw at which the Indians, in their final
stand against ‘civilization’, had grasped. Believing that the white men, Wasicun (pronounced
‘waseeehun’), would suffer for their greed and selfishness, the Sioux imagined a Messiah would soon
come and punish their enemies. The Wasicun had crucified their savior, and retribution, they were sure,
would overtake them.
“Many books have been written about this chief, part of whose influence rested on his fame as a
medicine man. Some disparage him; others praise him. Those who knew him declare he was canny,
treacherous, deceitful, and cowardly. He never was a brave warrior in battle. At the Little Bighorn
battle, he was busy making medicine in his tipi, while braver leaders were in the thick of the red tide,
directing the extermination of Custer’s detachment or engaged in driving Reno across the river. But at
any rate, he always exerted a powerful influence, and caused no end of worry to white authorities,
especially Maj James McLaughlin, for many years agent on the Standing Rock Reservation where Sitting
Bull lived. When McLaughlin learned that Sitting Bull was preparing to leave the reservation, he deemed
it wise to place him under arrest. Detailed for the uncertain and risky task were 43 Indian policemen,
under the command of Lieutenant Bullhead, a cool and reliable man, and an avowed enemy of Sitting
Bull, as well as of his chief bodyguard, Catch-the-Bear.
“The police approached Sitting Bull’s camp quietly, at daybreak December 15. The medicine
man was sleeping when the police burst into his cabin, struck a light, and read to him the order of arrest.
He consented to go with them and sent one of his wives to saddle his favorite mount, a trick circus horse
he had brought back with him from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, with which he had traveled at one
time.
“While the police were hurrying him into his clothes, word was spread about the camp of the
arrival of the police, and quickly the medicine man’s followers began to assemble about the cabin. The
police, seeing the impending danger, hastened to get Sitting Bull out of the cabin and whisked away,
before bloodshed should occur, and half-dressed, he was dragged outside. Once out of the cabin and in
view of all his loyal tribesmen, he hesitated; and while jibes from his young son, Crowfoot, from one of
his wives, and others in the group, stung him deeply, he made up his mind that he would not be taken
without a struggle. Lieutenant Bullhead and Sergeant Shave Head held Sitting Bull, each by an arm, and
Sergeant Red Tomahawk was guarding the rear, while the rest of the police (Metal Breasts, the Sioux
called them) were trying to clear a path through the barricade of menacing red bodies, which hemmed
them against the cabin.

“When Catch-the-Bear, rifle in hand, appeared among the warriors, shouting threats at
Lieutenant Bullhead, his personal enemy, Sitting Bull cried out, ‘I am not going! I am not going!’ Catchthe-Bear threw up his rifle and fired. Bullhead fell, a bullet in his leg. But as he fell, he turned and sent a
slug into the body of Sitting Bull, who was shot from behind at the same time by Red Tomahawk. Shave
Head was struck simultaneously with a bullet, and the three – Sitting Bull, Bullhead, and Shave Head – all
went down in a heap. Then began a terrible hand-to-hand struggle between 43 policemen and about
150 of Sitting Bull’s warriors. It was no common fight; with Indian against Indian, Hunkpapa against
Hunkpapa, the result was frenzy, brutality – Indians clubbing, stabbing, and choking each other. Some
of the police were Yanktonnais and Black Feet; the rest were Hunkpapas, Sitting Bull’s own people.
“Soon after the firing started, most of the police dodged behind the cabin where they had the
advantage, while the enemy took refuge behind trees that fringed the stream nearby. They held each
other at bay until the arrival of the troops.
“An event that almost struck panic to the more superstitious of the Indian police was the
behavior of the gray circus horse, which Sitting Bull had ordered saddled and brought to his door.
During all the fighting he sat calmly down in the midst of the melee and lifted one hoof as he had been
trained to do. Then he performed other tricks he had learned with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. This
spectacle frightened some of the police, who feared that the spirit of the dead Sitting Bull had been
reincarnated in the horse and had returned to punish them for their deed. Despite the fact that the air
was alive with bullets, the old horse came through without a wound.
“The seven warriors who had fallen with Sitting Bull on December 15 lay unburied for two weeks
after the battle. Relatives were afraid to return, because they thought the soldiers were still there. It
was then that the Rev TL Riggs, son of Stephen R Riggs, pioneer missionary of South Dakota, volunteered
to go with them and assist in the burial. They were placed in a common grave near the scene of the
fight. Dr Riggs was still living at Oahe, and through this act, which at the time he thought
inconsequential, he endeared himself to the hearts of Sitting Bull’s people.”1832
***SQUAW HILL, MARSHALL COUNTY1833, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller expounds: “Squaw Hill, which was named about 100 years ago by the Sioux. A large
group of Sioux women was picking berries. The men of the tribe had gone southward, trailing a buffalo
herd. One young woman, with a papoose on her back, noticed a movement among the bushes. Peering
closely she spied a Chippewa man. Without showing alarm, she quietly dropped a word of the
impending danger to the others, who were talking loudly; seeing nothing, they accused the young
women of having a vision. Slipping stealthily among the brush, the young squaw worked her way to the
lake and hid. The piercing war cry of the Chippewa was followed by screams and crying. When all was
quiet, the women returned to the hill, only to find the bodies of the Sioux women and babies mutilated
and strewn about the hill. When the Indian men returned from their hunting trip, they found the bodies
and, amid great lamentation, buried them on the hill’s summit.”1834
***THREE SISTERS, PIERRE, HUGHES COUNTY1835, SOUTH DAKOTA***
JE Miller impresses: “On Missouri Ave and Crow St, were originally three, now survived by two,
towering cottonwoods in Riverside Park. They are believed to mark the spot where a ship loaded with
1832

John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1833
http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=2596156
1834
John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1835
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre,_South_Dakota

bullion sank in the 1860s. The legend connected with them has several times caused excavations and
shaft drilling for the lost gold. The story is that a ship carrying gold from the mines in Montana, came
down the Missouri River with its precious cargo, years before settlement was begun on the site of
Pierre. The ship sank in the treacherous river near where three large trees stood close together. A
search was made for the Three Sisters along the river bank, and these trees were believed to be the
ones mentioned in the ship’s dispatches. In 1922 a company was organized and a shaft sunk, but
neither gold nor ship was found. The shaft, suck in solid ground where the shifting river used to flow,
can still be seen, covered with boards.
“Pioneers recall having seen Indian bodies in these trees, in accordance with their custom of
disposing of the dead high above ground.”1836
***WOUNDED KNEE BATTLEFIELD, PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION1837, SOUTH DAKOTA***
VDH Sneve notates: “Wounded Knee was founded in the early 1890s, as a trading post, and was
named for nearby Wounded Knee Creek. Wounded Knee is a translation of the Sioux name for this
creek. Somewhere along the creek, an Oglala warrior was wounded in the knee by an arrow in a fight
with Crow Indians and was known as ‘Wounded Knee’.”1838
JE Miller puts pen to paper: “Right on this road to the Wounded Knee Battlefield, where on
December 29, 1890, occurred the last important conflict between the whites and Indians. The battle
marked the end of the Messiah craze, which for months had been ‘deluding’ the Indians and terrifying
white residents on or near South Dakota reservations.
“Although today referred to as a battle, many insist the affair was nothing short of a massacre in
which non-combatants – squaws with infants on their backs, boys, and girls – were pursued and
ruthlessly shot down by maddened soldiers, long after resistance had ceased and nearly every warrior
lay dead or dying on the field. Pictures taken on the battleground two days after the encounter and
before the Indians had been buried, showed bodies scattered for 2 miles along the creek, mute
testimony of the relentlessness of the pursuit.
“Today near the battlefield, is a monument and cement curbing, indicating a common grave, a
rude trench, in which the bodies of the slain Indians – men, women, and children alike – were hastily
buried.
“The chief ritual of the Messiah ‘delusion’ was a ghost dance, conceived and introduced to the
tribes by a Nevada Paiute Indian named Wovoka, whose Christian upbringing had little effect on his
Indian superstitions. He claimed to have seen a vision, following an eclipse of the sun in 1889, in which
the buffalo were restored to the prairie and the whites driven from the earth. He declared he had seen
the glory of the Indians returned to them as it was in the days before the white men came.
“This vision Wovoka began to relate among the tribes near his home. Word of the supposed
revelation spread like a prairie fire, and soon every tribe in North America had heard of it and many
were practicing its teaching. It took deepest root among South Dakota tribes, where two skilled
exhorters, Kicking Bear and Short Bull, became imbued with the belief and began preaching it among
their followers. Soon hundreds had flocked turbulently into camps to take part in the weird ceremonies.

1836

John E Miller; the WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1837
John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006
1838
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, editor; South Dakota Geographic Names, Brevet Press; 1973; provided
by Sara Wylie, Research Dept, South Dakota State Library, MacKay Building, 800 Governors Dr, Pierre, SD
57501; [email protected]; http://library.sd.gov/

“During the ceremonial dance, the Indian men wore a special garb, consisting principally of a
calico garment, called a ‘ghost shirt’. The ritual started with the participants joining hands and shuffling
around in circles, slowly at first, and after careening crazily until one by one they fell exhausted. The
medicine men pronounced them dead, but said that after a visit to the Great Spirit, they would return to
tell what they had seen. Needless to say, what they told was imaginary. ‘The buffalo are coming back!’
they cried. They saw the whites at the mercy of the Indians; sickness had vanished from the earth; the
red man’s paradise was returning. They believed the bullets of the whites could no longer harm them.
“Short Bull’s band of dancers hurried away to the fastnesses of the Badlands, to engage in
further ceremonies. In the meantime, the implacable Sitting Bull had been killed, and his followers fled
to join Big Foot’s band of dancers on the Cheyenne River. Soldiers sent to arrest Big Foot found him
willing to submit, but in the night, he and his band escaped and reached the Badlands. He was
overtaken at Wounded Knee Creek.
“The soldiers were ordered to disarm the warriors, but found them wretchedly equipped with a
few out-of-date rifles of little value. Dissatisfied with the results, the soldiers were ordered closer to the
tipis, where a more thorough search was instituted. In the meantime, Yellow Bird, a medicine man, was
haranguing the Indians, telling them the ghost shirts were impervious to the bullets of the enemy. As
Yellow Bird spoke in the Sioux tongue, the soldiers did not realize the import of his talk. When one of
the searchers began to examine the blankets of the Indians, Black Fox jumped to his feet, drawing his
gun as he rose, and fired at the soldiers. The rest of the warriors, as if waiting for a signal, joined in so
quickly that the attendant volley sounded almost like one report. The soldiers immediately returned the
fire and for a few minutes the carnage was terrible. So close together were the combatants that many
discharged rifles into the faces of their foes. When the firing started, a battery of Hotchkiss guns, firing
two pounds at each charge and at the rate of nearly one a second, raked the camp, shattering and
setting fire to the tipis, and killing everyone within range.
“The superior numbers of the soldiers, who were equipped with modern rifles and aided by
artillery, soon routed the Indians; only a handful escaped through the lines of the whites and took
refuge in ravines and depressions of a fringe of hills nearby.
“Meanwhile the tipis were burning above the dead and dying within them, and the rest of the
Indians – women mostly, carrying small infants on their backs – were fleeing in wild panic, as soldiers cut
them down ruthlessly and left them scattered over the plain. Big Foot was killed; his son died beside
him, while most of the warriors killed in the melee fell near the chief’s tipi. The members of the burial
party, who came with wagons three days later to bury the dead Indians, found several live babies
wrapped in shawls close to the cold bodies of their lifeless mothers, though the temperature during the
interval had been near zero. The bodies of the dead Indians were placed in wagons and hauled, several
in each load, to a large grave, where they were placed without ceremony.”1839
**TENNESSEE**
HB Staples represents: “Tennessee formed a part of the grant of the Carolinas. Its name is
derived from its principal river, though formerly the name Tennessee did not apply to the main river, but
to one of the small southerly branches thereof. There is authority for saying that the name of the river
was derived from the village of Tanasse, the chief village of the Cherokee tribe, and situated on its bank.
Hayward, in his Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, attempts to trace the origin of the name
Tanasse as an Indian river name, to the ancient river Tanais, and on this discovery, as well as on other
similar resemblances, he founds the argument that the ancient Cherokees migrated from the western
part of Asia. Mr Allen claims that the name is derived from an Indian name signifying ‘a curved spoon’,
1839

John E Miller; The WPA Guide to South Dakota: The Federal Writers’ Project Guide to 1930s South
Dakota; Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2006

and there is authority for still another derivation from an Indian word signifying ‘a bend in the river’, in
allusion to the course of the river. I am not aware that in either case the Indian word has been given,
nor is it believed that any such word exists.”1840
KB Harder specifies: “For an important Cherokee town, Tanasi (and other spellings Tenasee,
Tanasee, Tanassee, Tansi), on the Little Tennessee River in what is now eastern Tennessee. The
meaning of the name is unknown. When North Carolina ceded its western lands to the Union in 1784,
the area created a formal but unofficial government as the state of Franklin (1784-8) and, after reverting
to North Carolina, became officially the Territory South of the Ohio (1790).”1841
www.e-referencedesk.com tells: “Of Cherokee origin; the exact meaning is unknown.
“The state of Tennessee was named after the Little Tennessee River. Originally Tanasi, the river
took its name from two Cherokee villages on its banks.”1842
www.statesymbolsusa.org chronicles: “The state of Tennessee was named after a Cherokee
Indian village called Tanasi. Tanasi was also the Cherokee word for the river. Tennessee became the
16th state on June 1, 1796. Many states derive their names from Native American languages.”1843
DJ McInerney declares: “East of the area, General Ulysses S Grant used the Tennessee and
Cumberland Rivers as pathways into the Confederacy. His forces took Forts Henry and Donelson in
February and then pushed farther south through western Tennessee. On 6 April, at Shiloh Church, a
surprise Southern attack by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and PGT Beauregard almost destroyed
Grant’s army. Pushed back, Grant regrouped his forces, secured reinforcements, and defeated the
Confederates the following day. The fighting claimed 13,000 Northern casualties and 10,000 for the
South. The Confederates’ rail hub at Corinth, Mississippi, fell to Union troops shortly thereafter. At
year’s end, during the Battle of Murfreesboro, Northern forces also turned back Braxton Bragg’s effort
to push his Confederate army through Tennessee and Kentucky.”1844
***BITTER END, CARTER COUNTY1845, TENNESSEE***
Scott Bowers displays: “This is the message I was sent last night by a local.
“The talk I always heard was that they had so many fights and shootouts in the neighborhood
that they named it the Bitter End. There is a couple of cemeteries out there and a few houses. A nice
quiet place now, I think.
“So there is one account so far.”1846
***BLONDY, LEWIS COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller expresses: “The pastor of a church in this community wondered about this name. ‘I
was curious as to how this name … came into existence. After my father, a long-time Blondy resident,
passed away, he left one surviving brother. I phoned him and asked him. Here is his answer, ‘Many
years ago when we were small boys, there was a train that came through the community, on its way to
Hohenwald. It seems that when this train would come by, neighborhood boys would stand by the side
of the tracks and ask the engineer to blow his whistle. The engineer was a blonde-haired gentleman and
the children would shout to him, ‘Blow it, Blondy!’ Evidently the other people on the train began to call
1840

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
1842
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/tennessee.html
1843
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Tennessee/TennesseeNameOrigin.html
1844
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1845
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/carter/bitter-end.cfm
1846
Scott Bowers, Carter County Historian; [email protected]
1841

this place Blondy. As a matter of fact, the railroad company erected a railroad sign that still exists today
in our community, reading simply Blondy.’”1847
***BONE CAVE, VAN BUREN COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller notes: “During the War of 1812 and the Civil War, a large dry cave at this location was
mined to supply nitrates used in gunpowder. During the Civil War period, the bones of a giant
prehistoric ground sloth were unearthed in the cave, and the place became as Big Bone Cave. The
appellation became shortened over the years to its current form.”1848
***BUSY CORNER, COFFEE COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller records: “A source close to the scene advises, ‘when we moved here in 1979, we were
being shown homes on the outskirts of town by a State Farm agent … now deceased … who then lived
near Busy Corner. He told us, ‘I named Busy Corner, because it is.’”1849
***DAYLIGHT, WARREN COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller reveals: “An account in an early Warren County history includes more than one version
of the possible name selection process. The most entertaining one holds that Harvey Dodd, Oliver
Towles, and US Knight were conferring on what to name the hamlet. It is said that Knight preferred
‘Knight’, but the others dissented, with Dodd opining that he would prefer ‘Daylight’ to ‘Knight’. Some,
however, subscribe to the belief that Daylight was one of three names submitted, the others being
Yager (for local storekeeper Edward Yager) and Hickory Grove. Obviously, Daylight won out.”1850
***DEFEATED, SMITH COUNTY1851, TENNESSEE***
Vonda Dixon spells out: “The name came from the Indians having a laugh at the white settlers’
expense.
“In the time when Tennessee was still part of North Carolina, the Cherokee claimed
guardianship of these hunting ground lands. However the white man was moving in and coming with
their ‘land stealing’ equipment. The leader of the Cherokee band was called Hanging Maw, and the
Peyton Surveyors fell victim to an attack by him and his warriors. It was on a Sunday evening in
February 1786, twin brothers John and Ephraim Peyton, another brother, Thomas Peyton, Esquire
Grant, and John Fraser had set up camp on an island (that no longer exists). They sat up late playing
cards, when they were attacked by Hanging Maw. All except Ephraim were wounded, though none
seriously, Ephraim later fell and injured his knee. They abandoned all their equipment and horses. All
found their way back to the fort not too far from Nashville, each believing he was the lone survivor until
meeting their comrades at the fort. So the Indians had a big laugh – and the white land stealers were
Defeated. All this took place in what now would be called Difficult; Defeated Creek actually begins
north of there. Today the area known as Defeated/Defeated Creek is about 3 or 4 miles and consists of
a grade school, 3 businesses, and the beautiful US Army Corp of Engineers Park. The Corp flooded a

1847

Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1849
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1850
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1851
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeated,_Tennessee
1848

portion of what had been the town, when it created the lock, dam, and powerhouse – and thus created
the park, beach, and campgrounds.”1852
***DIFFICULT, SMITH COUNTY1853, TENNESSEE***
Vonda Dixon touches on: “The story of Difficult was more fun. And a testament to legible
documents. The US postal service required a form with the proposed name of the post office to be
located here. It was said the chairman, of the committee to select a name, had ‘handwriting of a type
not legible’. After some unsuccessful attempts to read the form, a frustrated post office dept employee
in Washington impatiently told an assistant, ‘Grant them this post office and call it Difficult’. The name
the local citizens had requested was actually Williams Crossroads. Today Difficult is actually much
smaller than Defeated.”1854
***FARRAGUT, KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller clarifies: “During the Franco-Mexican War, the ship Erie was under the command
(1838) of a Navy officer named David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70). Farragut later became the first US
Navy admiral. He is famous for uttering the words, ‘Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!’ This
community traces its name back to Admiral Farragut. Farragut was incorporated in 1981. It had once
been known as Campbell’s Station.”1855
***FRENCH BROAD, COCKE COUNTY1856, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller documents: “The community’s name is a reference to the French Broad River. In her
book Over the Misty Blue Hills, Ruth Webb O’Dell cites an instance, in which William French told a noted
historian, he had seen deeds in which the waterway was called John French’s Broad River. The
Cherokees referred to the stream as Tah-kee-os-kee, for ‘racing waters’, or Agiqua, for ‘broad’. There is
some disagreement over how the name became French Broad. Some point out that the label French
Broad River appears on certain maps that pre-date John French. Others believe waters flowing east of
the mountains were thought to be in the possession of the English, while waters flowing westward from
the Blue Ridge Mountains were conceded to the French. Still others feel the ‘French’ name was the
name of a noted hunter.”1857
Wilma Dykeman observes: “In the mountains of the French Board are found certain insects that
occur nowhere else in the South; game animals, fish and birds, and every hollow tree, every rotting log,
every rock slide and spring reveal such workings of common and uncommon types of smaller animals,
amphibians and reptiles as to spark our curiosity and spur again our wonder. An ornithologist studying
the forest litter of these Appalachians made us statistically aware of the multiplicity of the minute
hidden lives around us: he found nearly a million and a quarter insects in the topsoil alone of every acre
of forest litter. To these small unnoticed scrabblers also the forest owes its porousness, the water owes
its storage powers, and the river owes part of its existence.
1852

Vonda Dixon, President, Tennessee Society Order of Confederate Rose, Supporting our Southern
Brothers, the Sons of Confederate Veterans; [email protected];
http://www.tnsocr.org/contactus.html
1853
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/smith/difficult.cfm
1854
Vonda Dixon, President, Tennessee Society Order of Confederate Rose, Supporting our Southern
Brothers, the Sons of Confederate Veterans; [email protected];
http://www.tnsocr.org/contactus.html
1855
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1856
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/cocke/french-broad.cfm
1857
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001

“Thus it is not such a startling marriage of opposites to shift from the smallest of what we call
the highest form of life on the river – from its salamanders to its people. For the people too are richly
varied, rare and worthy of attention. Who are they? What are they? And what has the river been to
those who lived within the French Broad watershed?
“To the earliest dwellers who have left us any mementoes of themselves, the ancient Mound
Builders, the river was source of sustenance, spiritual power and pleasure. Along the lower reaches of
the river, they left the mounds that have become our Rosetta stones of knowledge concerning their
existence.
“A farmer on the river, who had one of these mysterious mounds in the middle of his wide flat
cornfield, was shocked to learn that there were grown men who spent their time and muscle unearthing
the secrets of the mounds. ‘Yup. They come up here from the University. A whole batch of ‘em. Six or
seven, I reckon. Know what tools they had? Teaspoons! I’d swear it true on a stack of Holy Bibles.
Teaspoons and whisk brooms! They pitched in to that mountain down there, aiming to break it down
with whisk brooms. Worked six months off and on. Then their funds run out, they said. I couldn’t tell
you what they ever found. Bits of bone and bowls, such as that, I reckon. But you can see they didn’t
make much of a dent on that there mound. I say a man ought to have a ‘dozer to really get whatever’s
in there busted out.’
“To the Cherokee who roamed this country of the French Broad and had the legendary villages
of Kanuga on the Big Pigeon and Kanasta on the French Broad, who hunted these forests and fished
these waters, a river was part of their religion and livelihood, their commerce, their myth, and their
recreation. From the solemn rites of purification when a boy entered manhood to the utilitarian
pleasure of fishing for food, the river was a part of Cherokee life, and they gave it a name and a
personification: Long Man, the River, fed by the tributaries of his Chattering Children, all the brooks and
rivulets winding through the mountains. To the French Broad specifically they gave the name Agiqua,
and for at least part of its length, the rapids below Asheville, they called it Tahkeyostee, meaning ‘Where
they race’. The Cherokees were right. This river needed several names to fit its several moods and
natures.
“The lower, more accessible Cherokee towns in Georgia and Southwest North Carolina saw the
first approach of the white man. But Long Hunters were not long in climbing the mountains. From the
coast of Carolina, they soon left behind them the fringes of civilization and penetrated wilderness.
Discovering mountains, naming rivers, cataloguing for the first time the features of a new land, they
were tough as whang-leather and literal as rain. They recorded the character of the country they found
in the names they set upon its hills and rivers. Newfound Gap, Snakeden Top, Hawkbill, Bearwallow,
Shinbow Rock, Humpback Mountain, Pretty Hollow. As their path led toward the up thrust Blue Ridge,
the rivers must have impressed them by their width for they named them First and Second and English
Broad. And when at last a party of these trail breakers climbed the Ridge and stood in a gap, facing
toward the unknown western land under control of France by way of the Mississippi, they looked at the
new river they found in the valley just beyond the Blue Ridge and called it the French Broad. It flowed
towards the lands and rivers owned by France; when a Long Hunter had gulped from a spring on the far
side of the dividing mountains, he could say he had drunk of the French waters. He had traveled a far
piece west.
“A strange beautiful river, this one the hunters found and settlers peopled and travelers
described, but few knew intimately and almost none knew in its entirety for many years to come.
To the treaty markers, part of its course served as a natural dividing line between lands owned by
Cherokees and whites. For the soldiers of both peoples, white settlers and red owners, the one seeking
to have and the other to hold this land, the river was a campsite and a route on their way to bring death
to their enemy. To the first surveyors, the French Broad was a handy and permanent boundary to set
between land grants, counties, individual farms. For explorers and later rail builders, its middle third set

a passage through the steep mountains that today divide North Carolina and Tennessee. To some the
river was inlet into the whole challenging Territory South of the Ohio; for others it was outlet to the
great world of the Tennessee River and beyond. Thus William Faubion, near the site of Newport,
Tennessee, built, in the early 1800s, a flatboat rigged with a paddle wheel on the rear end. He also took
along a blind horse which could serve as a sort of landing tug when the boat was in shallow water or
other difficulty. Loaded with flour, bacon, dried fruit, feathers and other farm goods, this little craft
made its way down the French Broad to the Tennessee, up the Tennessee to the Ohio, from that river to
the Mississippi, and at last to the metropolis of New Orleans. Here Faubion and his crew sold their boat
as well as goods and made their way home by land. Flat boating to New Orleans from lower points
along both the French Broad and Nolichucky rivers was fairly common at this early date.”1858
***FROG JUMP, CROCKETT COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller recounts: “The community was so small that local jesters observed that a frog could
probably go from one end of town to the other in a single bound.”1859
***GABTOWN, WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller says: “The community arose in the early 1800s. One historian speculated that those
who moved here constructed their cabins close together for fellowship and met frequently to exchange
news and gossip. Someone conferred upon the town the name Gabtown, which is recognized to this
day.”1860
***GOAT CITY, GIBSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller spotlights: “At one time, this community was referred to as Centerville. It is said to
have acquired its current colorful label when a frustrated resident called it Goat City because folks were
constantly ‘butting into other people’s business’. Apparently, the remark was overheard and repeated,
the result being that the name stuck.”1861
***HANGING LIMB, OVERTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller underscores: “In early days, farmers would herd their cattle to a grazing site high in the
Cumberland Mountains, establishing camp there. A large nearby tree had a huge trunk and many sturdy
limbs. The workers would hang their saddlebags and bridles on the limbs to keep wild hogs and rates
from gnawing on them. Thus, the place became known as Hanging Limb.”1862
***LICK SKILLET, DECATUR COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller comments: “According to local lore, a group of campers had cooked up a large meal
and proceeded to devour it. One camper, arriving late to eat, found everything gone, and began to lick
the skillet. From that time on, the place was known as Lick Skillet.”1863
***LOUSE CREEK, MOORE COUNTY, TENNESSEE***

1858

Wilma Dykeman; The French Broad; Wakestone Books; 1992; provided by Stokely Memorial Library,
383 East Broadway, Newport, TN 37821
1859
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1860
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1861
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1862
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1863
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001

LL Miller emphasizes: “The stream called Louse Creek begins near Lois and empties into
Mulberry Creek. One version of the name states that an army officer, in the War of 1812, led his troops
to the banks of this stream to let their horses drink. There had been recent rains and the creek was
quite muddy, prompting the officer to remark, ‘This is a lousy creek.’ Another version has a doctor
traveling down the road and passing a house, where he observed a woman, on the porch picking lice
from her child’s head. The physician is said to have remarked to no one in particular, ‘This must be
Louse Creek.’”1864
***MARROWBONE CREEK, CHEATHAM COUNTY1865, TENNESSEE***
Cheatham County Historical and Genealogical Association gives: “Marrowbone Creek: When I
was a boy, I went down on Big Marrowbone Creek to see old Mrs DeMumbreun, said to be 130 years
old, because she was the first white woman who was in Nashville. The DeMumbreun family were of
French descent, and I have heard both my Grandfathers say that they used to board with her, when they
first came to Tennessee. The name of the creek, Big Marrowbone, caused my boyish curiosity to know
where it got its name, and was told by John B DeMumbreun, an old man 80 years old, son of the old lady
with whom he was living, that in an early day some men were traveling and got short of rations, and one
night when they stopped, they had one pone of bread and they called the creek ‘Whole Pone’. The next
night they stopped on another creek and called it ‘Half Pone’. The next night they had nothing but the
big bone of a deer's leg, which they had to crack and get the marrow to eat, and they called the creek
‘Big Marrowbone’. The next night they had nothing but the small bone of the deer, and they called the
creek ‘Little Marrowbone’. The next day the survivors got to Nashville to old Mr Demumbreun’s who
lived in a log cabin right where the capitol now stands. (An unknown correspondent writing from Paris,
Texas, to the Memphis Avalanche, Sept 8, 1884.)”1866
***MEMPHIS, SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller pens: “It is believed that when the discoverers or settlers of this site looked out upon
the Mississippi River, they considered it ‘the Nile of America’. Thus they were inspired to christen the
place Memphis, after an ancient city on the Nile. Founded in 1818, it was laid out the following year by
John Overton. Memphis was incorporated in 1826. Those who founded and named the site are
believed to have been James Winchester, Andrew Jackson, and Overton.”1867
***MILKY WAY, GILES COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller scribes: “Located at this site, Milky Way Farms was a complex at one time consisting of
2,700 acres, 38 barns, numerous houses, and a spectacular mansion. It was the brainchild of Frank C
Mars, founder of the Mars Candy Company, who established the estate. (Mars Candy Company made
Milky Way candy bars.) In its heyday, the farm operated almost like a small city, and was equipped with
its own railroad siding. As of 1997, the grounds featured a bed and breakfast, facilities for weddings, a
gift shop, and tours.”1868
***NAMELESS, JACKSON COUNTY1869, TENNESSEE***
1864

Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/cheatham/marrowbone.cfm
1866
Cheatham County Historical and Genealogical Association, PO Box 703, Ashland City, TN 37015;
[email protected]
1867
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1868
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1869
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nameless,_Tennessee
1865

Evelyn Elkins states: “The Nameless community lies in the southwest corner of Jackson County;
its population today consists of approximately one hundred and fifty people, scattered over a wide area
of family farms. The following story has been circulated over time as to how Nameless got its name:
William M Neill was a farmer in the community in the late 1870s. He had served in the Civil War with
George Morgan. Mr Morgan later became Attorney General, and Mr Neill continued his friendship with
him. In an effort to honor Mr Morgan, Neill petitioned the United States Postal Service to establish a
post office in his community and to name the office ‘Morgan’. Although the Postal Service agreed to the
establishment of a post office in the rural community, the request for the name was denied. The
authorities gave no reason for their denial of the name ‘Morgan’, but many citizens felt that the United
States Government was reluctant to name any establishment in honor or someone who had served,
however honorably, in the army of the Confederate States of America.
“When the Postal Service wrote to Mr Neill requesting him to submit another name for the new
post office, Mr Neill replied that he would prefer that ‘the office remain nameless rather than have
anything other than Morgan for a name’ – and so it did. Nameless Post Office was established and
flourished until early in the twentieth century.
“An elementary school, two stores, and churches made up the business section of Nameless
community. In the 1930s, the Nameless school was famous for its basketball prowess. The school was
sometimes a one-teacher school and other times a two-teacher school. The number of pupils held
steady at sixty to sixty-five students, but many of the upper grade students were sixteen and seventeen
years old. Students remained in the seventh and eighth grade levels for two and three years – not for
academic reasons but for basketball! Better roads and subsequent opportunities for transportation
resulted in the Nameless school being consolidated with other county schools, and by the 1950s, most
children in the community were bussed to larger schools.
“Nameless today consists of the same number of people, and the churches still meet regularly.
However the stores and the school are no longer used. The Nameless Volunteer Fire Department and
the Nameless Community Center are vital components of the community and enjoy the support of its
citizens. Because the story of Nameless has appeared in a book (Blue Highways) and in several
periodicals and newspapers, many tourists have detoured from their travels on Interstate 40 or Highway
70 to find this interesting place.”1870
***NO BUSINESS CREEK, BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL RIVER AND RECREATION AREA1871, TENNESSEE***
Morgan Simmons alludes: “Deep in the interior of the Big South Fork National River and
Recreation Area is a geologic feature named Maude’s Crack, where the sandstone cap rock is split from
top to bottom to form a narrow, cave like passage, barely wide enough for hikers to squeeze through.
“At the bottom of the gorge is No Business Creek. Until the end of World War II, this remote
drainage was home to families who grew crops along the creek and cleared land up to the base of the
cliffs to graze sheep and cattle.
“Maude’s Crack, No Business Creek — these are just a few of the place names of the Big South
Fork that cry out for investigation.
“‘The landmark names of this region caught my attention as soon as I came here 28 years ago,’
said Tom Des Jean, archeologist and cultural resource specialist for the Big South Fork. ‘Take Roaring
Paunch Creek. Where I come from, a paunch is a big belly. So does the name mean Roaring Big Belly
Creek? I still don’t know.’
1870

Evelyn Elkins, Jackson County Museum, Jackson County Historical Society, PO Box 874, Gainesboro,
TN 38562
1871
http://www.nps.gov/biso/learn/historyculture/nobusiness.htm;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_South_Fork_National_River_and_Recreation_Area

“Located on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and Kentucky, the Big South Fork National
River and Recreation Area covers approximately 125,000 acres along the Big South of the Cumberland
River. From the 1920s until 1947, the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company operated a network of railroad
lines to access the coal and timber. When Congress authorized the area in 1974, a number of families
still farmed the ridge tops and river bottoms.
“One person who has researched the place names of the Big South Fork is park ranger Howard
Duncan. Born and raised in Fentress County, Duncan began exploring the Big South Fork as a boy long
before it became a park.
“‘There’s a story behind every name, even if the story is lost,’ Duncan said.
“Duncan describes his investigation into the place names of the Big South Fork as a long process
that sprang from his personal interest in local history, as well as his work as an interpretive ranger for
the National Park Service. One of his most valuable sources was Scott County historian Henry Clay Smith,
who chronicled the pre-park history of the Big South Fork region in his book Dusty Bits of the Forgotten
Past.
“As to how No Business Creek got its name, Duncan subscribes to the story of an early pioneer
woman, who told her husband they had ‘no business’ settling in such a remote area. Duncan said it’s no
coincidence that creeks flowing in adjacent drainages to No Business were named Troublesome, Rough
Branch, and Difficulty (pronounced ‘Difick-ulty’).
“‘A lot of the names emphasized the challenges people faced traveling,’ Duncan said. ‘No
Business was wild and rugged, even for the day.’
“Maude’s Crack was named after Minnie Maudie Roysdon, who lived with her husband, Rev
Isham Roysdon, near the No Business community. She reportedly used the crevice in the bluff to access
a large rock shelter, where she and her husband lived temporarily after their house burned.
“Growing up, Duncan remembers how the older generation — including his grandfather —
never used the term rhododendron. To them, rhododendron was mountain laurel, and mountain laurel,
in turn, was called ‘ivy’, or ‘mountain ivy’. Duncan said this explains why Laurel Branch and Laurel Creek
are such common stream names in the Big South Fork.
“‘Because rhododendron grows so prolifically along the stream bottoms, it’s not surprising that
so many streams were given the name Laurel,’ he said.
“Some names aren’t as obvious as they might appear. Bandy Creek, for example, might have
been named for a family that lived along its banks. But another story holds that the creek got its name
from an abandoned homestead, and that the word ‘abandoned’ was abbreviated to ‘Bandy’.
“Similarly, down below Charit Creek Lodge is Grand Branch, which is anything but grand in terms
of its size. Duncan discovered that Grand Branch was in fact named after a man named Grand Hatfield,
who lived at the mouth of the stream.
“So what’s in a name? Here are the stories behind a few other place names in the Big South
Fork:
“Charit Creek - Local legend tells of a young girl named Charity who drowned while crossing this
rain-swollen stream. Older people speak of ‘Charit’s Creek’ in the possessive form.
“Leatherwood Ford - Named for the leatherwood shrub that grows along the river. Native
Americans and early settlers used the tough, pliant inner bark to make fish traps, baskets and shoe
string.
“Parch Corn Creek - Legend has it that two long hunters were trapped near the creek by a
blizzard, and stayed alive by eating parched corn, the last of their rations.
“Station Camp - The camps of the early long hunters were often called stations. For this reason,
the name is common in both Tennessee and Kentucky.
“Cumberland Valley - Not named for the local geographic feature, but rather for the

Cumberland Valley Lumber Company that ran a saw mill and camp on this ridge top in the 1920s.”1872
***PROMISE LAND, DICKSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
Rachel Martin and EH Moore communicate: “First settled by freedmen during Reconstruction,
the community of Promise Land, north of Charlotte in Dickson County, sheltered its residents from the
Jim Crow South, offering them protection from the strife and bigotry surrounding them. At Promise
Land, freedmen were the only residents, creating a world they could control.
“Ancestors of the founders of Promise Land were brought to Dickson County early in the
county’s settlement, as slave laborers for farms and for the iron works at Cumberland Furnace, a major
antebellum iron operation. Ironmaster Montgomery Bell, who began his operations in 1804, became
one of the South’s major users of industrial slavery. In 1825 Bell sold his property to Anthony Vanleer,
who continued to operate the iron plantation, heavily dependent on slave labor, through the initial
years of the Civil War. With Emancipation, African-Americans in Dickson County left in droves, many
finding new opportunities in urban areas such as Nashville. The founders of Promise Land, however,
chose to stay. They chose Promise Land’s location because it was available and affordable, certainly, but
the village was also central to the neighboring mostly white communities where they could work. The
earlier history and persistence of industrial work in Dickson County meant that African-Americans there
had different opportunities than in most of the South.
“Soon after the end of the war, around 1870, the Bowen, Redden, and Vanleer African-American
families purchased one thousand acres in the vicinity of Promise Land. When Arch and John Nesbitt left
the nearby community of Vanleer in 1880 or 1881, they used their war pensions to purchase a plot of
land less than one mile away from these initial purchases. Though the origin of the community’s name is
unknown, one possibility is that the families had finally claimed the land the federal government had
promised them; another is that the location was viewed as one of more promise than the initial
settlement around 1870.
“In 1881 what had been a hamlet of families began to organize as a community when the
Nesbitt brothers donated land for a church and school, forming Promise Land’s new heart. By 1900 the
families had founded a Baptist church, a Methodist church, and an African Methodist Episcopal (AME)
congregation; the Baptists and AMEs shared their worship space, so there were only two church
buildings. Sandwiched between the two (only the Methodist church survives) was Promise Land School,
with the front section of this historic building dating to 1899. In addition to the community buildings of
the school and two churches, Promise Land contained several stores, creating a largely self-contained
community.
“The three churches of Promise Land were important community institutions. Members often
visited the other congregations, particularly on special occasions. During Promise Land’s heyday, the
most popular events were the all-night singings organized by Theo Edmondson, father of Bernice Herd
and Helen Hughes. Though the concerts attracted outsiders of both races, none of the Promise Land
residents recalled any racial hostility during the performances. In fact Hughes recalled two white men
who came, because they had befriended her father and enjoyed singing with him. Because the whites
came to the blacks, there was no segregation those nights. So many audience members enjoyed hearing
Herd and other girls her age sing Touch Me, Lord Jesus that Edmondson formed the Promise Land
Singers, which toured Middle Tennessee and even had a regular slot on WVOL Radio in Nashville.
Parents in Promise Land stressed education, and records show that this emphasis began as soon as the
community began around 1880 and led to the school’s construction and expansion over the years. The
1872

Morgan Simmons; Where on earth is No Business Creek?; Knoxville News Sentinel; June 20, 2014;
provided by Brennan LeQuire, Reference Assistant, 508 N Cusick Street, Maryville, TN 37804;
[email protected]; http://www.blountlibrary.org/

highest enrollment at the school occurred at the turn of the twentieth century, and numbers peaked in
1905 at ninety-three students. During these crowded years, the two-room building was too small to
house all the pupils, so the children divided by grade and age. Sometimes the younger children
remained in the school, while the older students went to Mt Olive Baptist Church for their lessons; other
semesters, one group came to classes in the morning while the others came after lunch.
“A major improvement to school services came around 1935, when the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) worked with the local board of education and the African-American community to
add a cafeteria and kitchen wing.
“As was true across the South, residents of Promise Land began leaving the area during the
Great Migration of the 1910s, and the flow continued throughout the coming six decades, draining the
village of its population. As families moved and school enrollment dwindled, at some points during the
1940s and 1950s, fewer than thirty students enrolled in classes. Beginning in 1956, the seventh and
eighth graders from Promise Land went to Dickson for classes, and in the spring of 1957, the county
board of education closed the community’s school, consolidating the Promise Land School with Cedar
Grove Elementary in Charlotte. Even after the end of classes, the building remained a center of
community life. During the annual homecomings hosted by the different churches, the congregations
served meals in the structure. Over time, residents remade the building into a community center, which
it still is today.
“The annual homecoming tradition continues, as the Promise Land Community Festival occurs
the first weekend of June each year and draws visitors from around the nation and even the world, as
some descendants have taken jobs in both Germany and Japan. Through these occasions, many of the
residents who had moved away from the village have begun to reinvest in its life, some by coming back
for the annual visits and others by restoring their families’ properties in preparation of a return. Thus
after several decades of neglect, the community has been revitalized by becoming the locus from which
networks of kinship spread.”1873
***RASCAL TOWN, LAWRENCE COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller depicts: “Two versions exist of how this place acquired the name. One holds that local
lads were raiding storekeeper Orb Brown’s watermelon patch and he was overheard saying, ‘I’m going
to have to get them little rascals.’ Another version states that men used to congregate outside the local
store, and some began to refer to the group as a ‘gathering of the rascals’.”1874
***RED BOILING SPRINGS, MACON COUNTY1875, TENNESSEE***
Shelvy Linville provides a newspaper advertisement from 1890: “Cloyd Brothers. Red Boiling
and Black Boiling Springs. Sulphur, Free-Stone and Chalybeate Waters.
“The Red Boiling water has proven to be an invaluable remedy in all kidney and bladder
diseases, actually dissolving phosphoric stones in the kidneys and bladder and passing them off through
the proper channels.
“The Black Water is very efficacious in the treatment of liver troubles, dropsy and rheumatism,
and is an excellent general tonic.
“By using the Sulphur waters, the urine is kept neutral, which makes them very useful in the
treatment of chronic female diseases. The Chalybeate water is a fine appetizer and blood purifier.
1873

Rachel Martin, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Elizabeth H Moore, Middle Tennessee
State University; Promise Land; The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture; January 05, 2010;
http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1657
1874
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1875
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Boiling_Springs,_Tennessee

“Our New Hotel: We have built a nice Hotel upon a beautiful elevation up out of the dampness
and fog of the creek bottom, and furnished it with new beds and bedding.
“Our Hotel is open all year and the water is IN GOOD CONDITION AT ALL SEASONS! All the
mineral springs Boil up in nice slate basins, and are protected from the creek waters. Special care taken
of INVALIDS.
“Route. Via, Gallatin, or Carthage Tenn. Hack Line from both places.
“Terms. $7.00 per Week, or $1.25 per Day.
“When you start here, be sure to call for Cloyd Brother’s Hotel. For further particulars address,
Cloyd Bros, Red Boiling Springs, Macon Co, Tenn.”1876
www.tnghosthunters.com enumerates: “The Thomas House is a mysterious hideaway high atop
a gently rolling hill on the outskirts of Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. Originally, it was known as The
Cloyd Hotel. The original wooden structure was built by the Cloyd family around 1890. After a
devastating fire in 1920, the hotel was rebuilt. The new structure was larger and more elaborate than
the original - being constructed of brick this time. The brick used was manufactured there on the Cloyd's
property.
“The Thomas House has several ghosts roaming its hallways and rooms. The Tennessee Ghost
Hunters have a continuing investigation at the hotel in hopes of being able to validate the many reports
of apparitions. We have yet to produce any video or photographic evidence, but our EVP [Electronic
Voice Phenomenon]'s speak for themselves.
“One particular spirit who has drawn our interest is the report of a little girl named Sarah Cloyd.
We believe we have captured Sarah's voice answering our question, when she was asked if she wanted
to come down and speak to us. She emphatically replied, ‘No!’
“The owners of the hotel offer the best southern hospitality. After a weekend of investigating,
you we still leave refreshed and recharged. They have become like family to us. They are quite open
about their ghosts and encourage anyone who experiences anything while visiting to let them know.
They enjoy telling interested guests a few of their own stories, but only when prodded as to not
influence their guests to manufacture their own stories.
“We are not going to discuss stories we have heard from the owners, only those which we have
witnessed and evidence we have gathered.
“After researching the history of the property, we verified one death on the premises. A
gentleman, who was a merchant, died of heart complications. The hotel has been added to the National
Register of Historic places as of 1986. The property has also been called Mossy Creek.
“As this is an active and ongoing investigation, further history will be reported when we uncover
it.”1877
***SHACKLE ISLAND, SUMNER COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller gives an account: “In 1900 the Post Office Department finally validated this designation
by using it for the name of the community. The July 1994 Fact Book reveals its genesis: It seems there
was a small shack on an island in a nearby stream, and illegal whiskey could be obtained therein. It was
common to hear the suggestion, ‘Let’s go to the shack on the island for a drink.’ This evolved into the
label Shackle Island.”1878

1876

Published in The Country Doctor; 1890; provided by Shelvy Linville, Macon County Mayor, Room
201, Macon County Courthouse, Lafayette, TN 37083; [email protected];
http://www.maconcountytn.gov/business/contact.php
1877
http://www.tnghosthunters.com/thomashouseinvestigations.htm
1878
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001

***SHINEY ROCK, DEKALB COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller points out: “Many names were associated with this locality. The church was called
Whorton Springs, the school was designated Oak Grove, and the post office was labeled Hollandsworth.
Shiney Rock itself is often mis-designated on maps as Shining Rock. As the story is told, in the 1890s, the
illegal whiskey trade was flourishing. A customer was instructed to place his money under the shiny
rock and leave. When he returned a few minutes later, he would find his whiskey there. If summoned
before a grand jury, he could swear under oath that he did not know from whom he bought it.”1879
***SKULLBONE, GIBSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller relates: “This name is sometimes styled Skull Bone, or Skullbonia. It is believed the
name was conferred upon this locality because, for a period, it was notorious for mayhem, murders, and
feuds, some of which may have been racial in nature. One account states that bare-knuckle fights took
place here, in which all blows were required to be struck to the ‘skull bone’. Non-cranial punches were
considered fouls. Locals referred to the matches as ‘fist and skull’ contests. Prior to that time, the
locality was known as North Gibson.”1880
***STINKING CREEK, CAMPBELL COUNTY1881, TENNESSEE***
TH Nash stipulates: “Stinking Creek traces its name to bitterly cold winter of 1779-80, when
animals perished: The winter of 1779-80 was known as a cold winter. Snow began in late
October. Intense cold followed for weeks. Streams froze over. Animals that had drifted to the cane
breaks and timber perished in the bitter cold. When spring and summer came in the beautiful valley of
cane and meadow, all the animals had perished from the cold. It was an animal charnel house. For
months, Indian and white hunters alike avoided the place by reason of the carrion stench. Turkey
buzzards and animal scavengers that had dens in the cliffs gorged on the putrid flesh of the dead
animals. From that time until the present, the name of the creek and the beautiful valley has remained
Stinking Creek.”1882
***SUCK CREEK, MARION COUNTY1883, TENNESSEE***
Nonie Webb writes: “Physiographically, the Tennessee River first flows south from its
headwaters located a few miles above Knoxville in northeast Tennessee. When it reaches Marion
County, it briefly flows in a westerly direction, encountering the mountains that make up part of the
Cumberland Plateau: namely Walden's Ridge (of which Suck Creek Mountain is a part) and Raccoon
Mountain. This portion of the river proved to be very treacherous to the early settlers due to its
extremely variable flow, unexpected variation in the width of the river, and sudden changes in depth
from very shallow to very deep, This wild river literally snaked its way between these mountains into
eastern Marion County and over time, cut a gorge that is 1,000 feet deep through the mountains. This
gorge, the Tennessee River Gorge, is sometimes referred to as the ‘Grand Canyon of the Tennessee
River’.
“This 39-mile stretch of the river though this canyon was dangerous, and various points along its
route were given names by the early settlers; names such as the ‘Suck’, ‘Boiling Pot’, the ‘Skillet’, ‘Pan’,
and the ‘Narrows’. At the point termed the ‘Suck’, the river rushes through a narrow gorge at a rapid
1879

Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1881
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/campbell/stinking-creek.cfm
1882
Trulene H Nash, Vice President, Publications, Campbell County Historical Society, 235 E Central Ave,
La Follette, TN 37766; [email protected]; http://tngenweb.org/campbell/
1883
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/tn/marion/suck-creek.cfm
1880

rate, so that boats entering these waters were pulled (or ‘sucked’) through the passage at a speed
dangerous to navigation. The names of both the creek that enters the Tennessee River nearby and that
of the mountain from which it flows, get their names from the ‘Suck’; namely ‘Suck Creek’ and ‘Suck
Creek Mountain’. (You might be interested in knowing that this creek falls 1,000 feet in a mile and as a
result is a popular place for kayakers, etc. During our hot, humid days of summer, it provides a cool,
refreshing break for those fortunate ones traveling over the mountain from Chattanooga.)”1884
www.johnnorrisbrown.com articulates: “In the canyons around Signal Mountain, there lies a
small community called Suck Creek. Its name isn't the only unusual thing about it. Suck Creek is actually
the name of the creek, which flows through the area. The creek received this unusual name because as
it flows into the Tennessee River, it causes rapids and whirlpools, which were known to suck in passing
boats.
“The community of Suck Creek is located on the edges of Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management
area in rural Marion County, TN, not far from the Hamilton County line and Chattanooga. It's a nice little
community nestled between high mountains. It's very small, and you can pass through without noticing
much. As you drive through along state highway 27, you will enter Prentice Cooper Wildlife
Management. As you drive through, you will notice a hiking trail which crosses the highway. This is the
Cumberland Trail. The area of this trail up the hill from the highway is said to be haunted by a slave who
tried to escape to freedom many years ago.
“During the days of slavery, many a slave tried to escape to freedom. One slave escaped from a
master in Suck Creek, and fled up the mountain. Unfortunately, his master had brought in the
bloodhounds and was right on his trail. A mob had joined in the search, and they were out for blood.
The slave ran up the mountains, but finally could run no more. The party caught up to him, and
proceeded to beat him savagely. After beating him until he was unconscious, they decided to lynch him.
They hanged him from a tree and left. Amazingly he survived this, and woke up hanging from a tree.
Sadly the men must have heard him moving, because they returned. This time they beat him even
worse, making sure they had murdered him. All in all, it is one of the worst incidents in Marion County
history.
“Today many people in the area have claimed to hear groans and pain that this slave endured so
many years ago. Since the trail is closed after dark, it's difficult to look for the ghost. Passing motorists
on highway 27 have claimed to have seen an apparition crossing the highway or in the woods near
where the trail crosses the highway. The story is that this spirit is searching for the men who killed him
so that he can have revenge on them. Most people tend to sympathize with him, and hope he does find
those who did this terrible deed, so that he can punish them.”1885
***SWEET LIPS, CHESTER COUNTY, TENNESSEE***
LL Miller describes: “‘How sweet to the lips’ are said to have been the words uttered by a
wayfaring Civil War soldier, who came upon a spring here and knelt to partake of its clear, cold waters.
The name, obviously, caught on.”1886
***TATER PEELER, WILSON COUNTY1887, TENNESSEE***
1884

Nonie Webb; Keepsake Memories: Cherokee’s & 1st Settlers Early Records Complied, Marion County,
Tennessee; NH Webb; 2002; provided by John Pinnix, Jasper Regional History Museum, 715 Phillips
Avenue Jasper, TN 37347; [email protected];
http://marioncountychamber.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=16
1885
The Suck Creek Spirit; http://johnnorrisbrown.com/paranormal-tn/suck-creek/index.htm
1886
Larry L Miller; Tennessee Place Names; Indiana University Press; 2001
1887
http://tennessee.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1312887,n,tater%20peeler.cfm

DG Ferrell establishes: “I know the story that has been passed down over the years. The road is
in a rural area, and in those days, families grew their own food, like potatoes. They used horse & wagon
[buckboard] to take their produce home from the fields. On an occasion when a farmer was going home
on the old road, he said, the road was so bad, ‘it would peel yo taters’ before you got home & the name
stuck. In other words, if you had a load of potatoes in your wagon bouncing up & down on that old road,
it would peel the potatoes before you got them home. Like a lot of old roads, most were almost
impassable; today it is a paved road, but still goes by the name of Tater Peeler Road.
“Book: History of Wilson Co TN, G Frank Burns, p236: ‘TATER PEELER - A community of the 18901910 era west of Doaks Cross Roads at the intersection of Tater Peeler Road with Chicken Road. The
origin of the name is said to have been when Tom Jones, a resident of the community taking a wagon
load of new potatoes to Lebanon in the 1870s, found that the jolts on the way had rubbed off all the
peeling so that he had peeled potatoes.’
“I like my version better ;-) I knew G Frank Burns, no idea where he got his info. When I was a
little girl, my aunt & uncle lived on Tater Peeler Rd, probably where my info came from, my uncle's
family had lived in the area for generations, but I've heard the same story from several people. BTW: I
was born in 1935.”1888
***YUM YUM, FAYETTE COUNTY1889, TENNESSEE***
WR Garnett highlights: “I am the great grandson of John Henry Garnett (1833-1916), the man
responsible for naming the community Yum Yum. Thank you for your interest in its name. I am asked
this question regarding its unusual name often. I am forwarding to you an attachment written by our
community historian, the late Sarah Rhea McNamee. Up until the 1970s, Yum Yum was a rural
community in Southwest Tennessee and consisted of an elementary school, three churches, a general
store, and a cotton gin. These days the churches are still viable but the other entities have closed. Our
community is based on agriculture, primarily cotton, soybeans, and corn. Many of the families living
here are the progeny of the original settlers of this part of Tennessee.”1890
SR McNamee portrays: “John Henry Garnett (1833-1916) is given credit for naming the Yum Yum
Postoffice.
“In 1879 Mr and Mrs Garnett established a general merchandise chiefly for the convenience of
their own 1,500 acre plantation. He opened for business at 5 AM.
“The story as handed down to me:
“Mr or Squire Garnett, as he was called, was very anxious to have a post office in his store. He
was good friends with long time Senator KD McKellar and had asked for his help.
“One day, as the story goes, Senator McKellar contacted Mr Garnett to tell him he could have
his post office. Several names were suggested and rejected. Finally Mr Garnett said, ‘just call it Yum
Yum’. That was the name of a candy or cookie that was very popular at that time. So on May 28, 1886,
Yum Yum post office was established and continued in operation until it was closed on December 5,
1905.
“August 1994: I contacted Guy F Claxton, son of Jim and Mary Humphrey Claxton, who is in his
90s and lives in Memphis. He was born in District #4, north of Somerville but moved to Memphis at an
early age. He corroborated my story. He also repeated something he had told us previously.
“He was partner (now retired) with his brother Buford in a brokerage firm called Claxton
Brothers. They represented Brock Candy Company. He said about 30 years ago he discussed with his

1888

Donna Graves Ferrell, Wilson Co, TN; [email protected]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum_Yum,_Tennessee
1890
William Rutledge Garnett; [email protected]
1889

company about putting out a new candy bar. He asked that it be named Yum Yum. They reported back
to him that they could not use that name as it had already been patented.”1891
**TEXAS**
HB Staples remarks: “The State of Texas formerly Spanish territory, then Mexican, and later an
independent State is the only State acquired by annexation. There is a conflict of opinion as to the
origin of its name. Johnson’s Cyclopaedia, article Texas, states that ‘it is now proved conclusively to be
of Indian derivation, the generic title of numerous tribes known to La Salle on his visit in 1685’. On
Seale’s map, 1750, the centre of the territory is occupied by Indians called the Tecas, which may be the
generic title referred to. But Mr Bryant, in his History of the United States, vol II, page 518 note, says ‘It
is supposed that the name Texas is from the Spanish Tejas in allusion to the covered houses’ found by La
Salle on his visit in 1785. In Morphis’ History of Texas, the name is given as of doubtful origin. He states
in substance that some refer the name to the capital village of the Nassonite tribe, others refer it to the
Spanish word tejer ‘to weave’, in reference to placing the grass over the cottages, others derive it from
tejas meaning ‘cobwebs’, the account being that the Spaniards encamped in an expedition into the
country, and one morning the commander, seeing many spider webs between himself and the rising
sun, exclaimd, ‘Mira las tejas!’ and named the land Texas. It will be observed that this author in respect
to one explanation of the name, lends support to Mr Bryant’s supposition. The cobweb theory may well
be dismissed as legendary.”1892
KB Harder shares: “From an Indian variation, texia, of Spanish tejas, ‘allies’, used by various
tribes in reference to their mutually protective alliances. The name was recorded as early as 1690, and
eventually came to be applied to the area north of the Rio Grande that now includes that state of Texas.
Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836 and became a republic.”1893
PL Fry stresses: “The word texas (tejas, tayshas, texias, thecas?, techan, teysas, techas?) had
wide usage among the Indians of East Texas even before the coming of the Spanish, whose various
transcriptions and interpretations gave rise to many theories about the meaning. The usual meaning
was ‘friends’, although the Hasinais applied the word to many groups - including Caddoan - to mean
‘allies’. The Hasinais probably did not apply the name to themselves as a local group name; they did use
the term, however, as a form of greeting: ‘Hello, friend.’ How and when the name Texas first reached
the Spanish is uncertain, but the notion of a ‘great kingdom of Texas’, associated with a ‘Gran Quivira’
had spread in New Spain before the expedition of Alonso De León and Damian Massanet in 1689.
Massanet reported meeting Indians who proclaimed themselves thecas, or ‘friends’, as he understood it,
and on meeting the chief of the Nabedaches (one of the Hasinai tribes), mistakenly referred to him as
the ‘governor’ of a ‘great kingdom of the Texas’. Francisco de Jesús María, a missionary left by Massanet
with the Nabedaches, attempted to correct erroneous reports about the name, by asserting that the
Indians in that region did not constitute a kingdom, that the chief called ‘governor’ was not the head
chief, and that the correct name of the group of tribes was not Texas. Texias, according to Jesús María,
meant ‘friends’ and was simply a name applied to the various groups allied against the Apaches. Later
expeditions by the Spanish for the most part abandoned the name Texas or else used it as an alternative
to Asinay (Hasinai). Official Spanish documents continued to use it but later narrowed it to mean only
the Neches-Angelina group of Indians and not a geographic area. Other putative meanings have less
evidence from contemporary accounts to support them: ‘land of flowers’, ‘paradise’, and ‘tiled roofs’ 1891

Sarah Rhea McNamee; Yum Yum Postoffice District #4, Fayette County, TN; provided by William
Rutledge Garnett; [email protected]
1892
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
1893
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

from the thatched roofs of the East Texas tribes - were never suggested by first-hand observers so far as
is known, though later theories connect them with tejas or its variant spellings. Whatever the Spanish
denotations of the name Texas, the state motto, ‘Friendship’, carries the original meaning of the word as
used by the Hasinai and their allied tribes, and the name of the state apparently was derived from the
same source.”1894
DJ McInerney composes: “Since 1824, Mexico had tried to develop its lands in Texas by
encouraging American immigration. The young republic succeeded all too well. By 1835, 30,000
Americans – and their slaves – lived in Texas, far outnumbering the Mexican population. The Americans
soon demanded autonomy. Settlers declared their independence of 1836, and fighting broke out with
Mexico. The rebels suffered defeat early in the conflict, as in the disastrous March 1836 loss at the
Alamo in San Antonio, but their forces under Sam Houston overcame Mexican troops at San Jacinto in
April. A peace treaty (never formally ratified by Mexico) granted independence. For years, Texans tried
to join the United States, but concerns about the sectional imbalance its admission would create
prevented annexation. Finally after Democratic Party maneuvering, Texas gained admission as a slave
state in 1845. The expansionist-minded President, James K Polk, set his sights on even more territory.
He dispatched an emissary to Mexico City to gain recognition of the annexation and to bid for the other
Mexican lands. Mexico’s government rejected the proposals.
“Failing at negotiation, Polk turned to force. He ordered General Zachary Taylor’s troops to
cross the Nueces River into disputed territory, and to provoke a fight with Mexico. Skirmishes erupted.
Polk accused Mexico of invading US territory, and Congress declared war in May 1846. Taylor crossed
the Rio Grande, took Matamoros, attacked Monterrey, and defeated Mexico troops further south at
Buena Vista. Colonel Stephen W Kearney led forces from Kansas to Sante Fe, where he secured the
territory of New Mexico. Kearney then marched to the coast and, joining with the US Pacific squadron
and a band of insurgents directed by John C Fremont, took control of California by January 1847.
General Winfield Scott’s troops seized Vera Cruz in March and led forces westward to Mexico City,
which fell in September 1847. Peace terms were outlined in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as the war
came to an end in early 1848.
“The war opened an immense range of land for the United States. The treaty secured American
claims to Texas and also transferred control of Mexico’s northern provinces to the United States (an
area including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and portions of Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas). The ‘Mexican Cession’ and Texas covered nearly a million square
miles. Oregon Territory, obtained two years earlier in negotiations with the British, stretched across
285,000 square miles. In three years, from 1845 to 1848, the United States acquired more territory than
in the previous 50 years. The new lands were larger than the Louisiana Purchase and larger than the
original 13 states. Their acquisition ‘produced a new American nation’.
“The territorial gains pleased many but alarmed some. Emerson predicted that the United
States would defeat Mexico, but ‘it will be as the man swallows the arsenic, which brings him down in
turn. Mexico will poison us.’ The land Americans coveted as a golden elixir turned out to be that
poison. Historian William Wiecek notes that the United States maintained internal peace on the slavery
question, by relying on sectional bargains created within fairly fixed borders. In 1820 Congress tried its
hand at one such move with the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting slavery in all lands of the Louisiana
Purchase north of 36 degrees 30’. Drawing a line across space presumably solved the issue of slavery,
because the space itself did not change – at least for a quarter of a century. What undercut the old
formulas, what brought the national house down, was sudden and rapid growth. As Wiecek explains,

1894

Phillip L Fry; Texas, Origin of Name; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association;
June 15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pft04

‘the Civil War would probably not have occurred – and certainly not in 1861 – had the dispute over
slavery been argued out in a stable, nonexpanding nation’.
“By 1848 the continental republic, poised for even further expansion, tried to determine how to
deal with its new lands. Some suggested prohibiting slavery in the Mexican Cession. Others pushed for
‘free soil’ in all territories. Some considered extending the 36 degree 30’ line further west. Many
Southerners insisted that citizens could bring their property (including human possessions) into all
territories. Still others advocated a system of ‘popular sovereignty’ that allowed territorial legislatures
(rather than the federal government) to decide the slavery question. One small group maintained that
the only answer was to abolish slavery entirely. Over the next decade, the debate swirled and
intensified. Ironically, as the ground of settlement in America grew, the ground of compromise
narrowed.”
DJ McInerney designates: “By the autumn of 1963, a president who celebrated activism had
scored only modest legislative gains. Broader benefits in Social Security, unemployment, and housing
had all been passed; educational and medical proposals failed. Kennedy started to move towards
legislation on civil rights and poverty, but remained hampered by conservative Democrats. To shore up
Southern support, he traveled to Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Jacqueline. On 22 November 1963, as the
couple rode in an open-car motorcade past friendly crowds, shots rang out. Decades have passed, but
older Americans still carry vivid memories of where they were, when they heard that the president had
been shot and killed. For four dramatic days, the nation came to a halt. Americans watched the reports
from Dallas, the mourning in Washington, the murder of the president’s accused killer, and the funeral
procession to Arlington National Cemetery. Eyes that focused for a thousand days on a vibrant,
energetic leader now gazed at a casket of a slain president.”1895
***ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO, BEXAR COUNTY1896, TEXAS***
DJ McInerney illustrates: “Mission remembered as the place where Texas independence forces
faced a nearly two-week siege by Mexican troops. On 6 March 1836, General Santa Anna’s army
defeated the Texans, killing almost all of them.”1897
***BABYHEAD, LLANO COUNTY1898, TEXAS***
Tommi Myers expands: “First of all, it is Babyhead all one word, and it seems that even a local
historian, Wilburn Oatman Jr, could never get the source of the name pinned down. This is quoted from
a January 18, 1990, news article from The Highlander.
“From the article: ‘Babyhead is one of those place names which leads one to ask ‘Where did
they get that name?’
“In the case of the community, mountain, and creek by that name about nine miles north of
Llano on Texas 16, the answer is not clear.
“Indian depredations are blamed in the Handbook of Texas. According to that publication, early
settlers came upon the head of a male white baby, stuck on a pole by Indians about a mile northwest of
the present community graveyard. Others credit the name to the shape of a nearby mountain.
“There is more in the article that talks about the settlement dying out and nothing remaining
but the cemetery.”1899
1895

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio
1897
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1898
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1351376,n,baby%20head.cfm
1899
Tommi Myers, Manager/Youth Services Librarian, Llano County Library, 102 E Haynie St, Llano,
TX 78643; [email protected]; http://www.llano-library-system.net/contact_us.html
1896

Jo Ann McDougall maintains: “According to one of our local history books, LLANO, Gem of the
Hill Country, written by Wilburn Oatman, he says, ‘It was said the name of Babyhead was given this
community because a baby's skull had been found in a small mountain area west of State Highway 16, a
mile or so northwest of the original village site.’
“Babyhead was located about nine miles north of Llano, Texas. The first residents with last
names of Walling, Fleming, Bagley, Hall, Barkley, McRae, McClary and Clark, were the first known in this
area. The place was established with a post office in 1879, with Shelby Walling as the first postmaster.
“Babyhead had a good farming section as well as good cattle range, and as both were
productive, they established a store and blacksmith shop. The first school there, as in most early days,
was most likely of logs, with split oak timber for seats, supported by wooden pegs at each end for the
support of the seats or bench. Later a plank public school building was erected there.”1900
***BEN ARNOLD, MILAN COUNTY1901, TEXAS***
DL Barkemeyer presents: “Currently I am the County Judge here in Milam County. As a senior at
Yoe High School in 1961 in Cameron, TX, I wrote a term paper on the history of Ben Arnold. I have
enclosed a copy of this term paper for your information.”1902
DL Barkemeyer renders: “Prosperity and peace, cheap land, and railroad expansion marked the
years of [18]’91 and ’92. The hatred and destruction caused by the Civil War had begun to mend, and
the economy of the nation was determined by the railroads. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass
Company built a line south from Waco to the ‘wild and wooly’ town of Cameron.
“The JT Nelson Townsight Company bought two hundred acres of land along the railroad rightof-way from Bob Todd, Vince Kahler, and Charlie Butts. The land was surveyed by Milam County
Surveyor Quin Walker, with the help of Wiley and James Murff, who carried the chain. The surveying
completed, the party cut across the field to the Murff boy’s home where Ben Arnold, the mayor of
Cameron, presented the deeds, which the landowners had signed, to Mr Nelson. Nelson asked Captain
Arnold to name the town. Arnold named the town Ben Arnold in honor of his young daughter Bennie
Arnold.
“On October 26, 1891, the Honorable Mayor Ben Arnold dipped a polished gold spike into a
bucket full of champagne, held by President Uriah Lott of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad,
and drove it into the ground; thus the track between Cameron and Waco was completed. Little Bennie,
dressed in her Sunday best, was placed as a mascot on the first train to go from Waco to Cameron.”1903
***BLANKET, BROWN COUNTY1904, TEXAS***
JF Lively sheds light on: “Blanket is on US Highway 67/377, ten miles northeast of Brownwood in
eastern Brown County. According to some accounts, Blanket Creek was named in 1852 by a group of
surveyors, who came upon a band of Tonkawa Indians, who had been caught in a downpour, and had
spread their blankets over sumac bushes near the creek for protection. Later the name was transferred
to the community that developed on its banks. Two of the earliest settlers in the area were FM Cross
1900

Jo Ann McDougall, Secretary, Llano County Historical Museum, 310 Bessemer (Hwy 16), Llano, TX
78643; [email protected]; http://www.llanomuseum.org/home/contactus
1901
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Arnold,_Texas
1902
David L Barkemeyer, Milam County Judge, 102 South Fannin Ave, Cameron, TX 76520;
[email protected]; http://www.milamcounty.net/countyjudge.html
1903
David Barkemeyer; Ben Arnold, Term Paper; March 29, 1961; Class of ’61; provided by David L
Barkemeyer, Milam County Judge, 102 South Fannin Ave, Cameron, TX 76520; [email protected];
http://www.milamcounty.net/countyjudge.html
1904
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanket,_Texas

and Dan Pinkard, who arrived in 1862. Pinkney Anderson established a store in 1873 and was the first
postmaster, when a post office was established in 1875. When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad
was extended from Comanche to Brownwood in 1891, Blanket was moved from its former site to its
present location. It had a population of 304 in 1904 and 472 in 1929. In the 1930s, it had twenty
businesses and a population of more than 300. By 1970 it had seven businesses and its population
remained at around 300. In the late 1980s, Blanket had five businesses and 388 residents, and in 1990,
its population was 381. In 2000 the population was 402. Artist Harold O Kelly lived for a while in
Blanket.”1905
***BLOWOUT, BLANCO COUNTY1906, TEXAS***
Richard Bruhn suggests: “Blowout Community, a settlement fifteen miles northwest of Johnson
City in northwestern Blanco County, dates back to 1854. That year a party of two dozen homesteaders
from Kentucky settled on the east side of Comanche Creek near Comanche Spring, about three miles
below the creek's origin. As more settlers moved into the area, the small community of Blowout
developed upstream from the spring. The name came from Blowout Cave, located in a hillside east of
Comanche Creek about a mile above Comanche Spring. The cave was at one time home to thousands of
bats, and a great deposit of guano accumulated in it. Supposedly, ammonia and other gases from the
decomposing guano built up in the cave, and when lightning struck at the cave mouth, the gases
exploded – hence the name Blowout. Today there is little trace left of Blowout Community or the
settlement at Comanche Spring. Only isolated ranch houses remain at those sites, and only scattered
ranches can now be found among the rocky hills along Comanche Creek.”1907
***BOOTLEG, DEAF SMITH COUNTY1908, TEXAS***
Deaf Smith County Historical Society calls attention to: “Walcott is really three communities,
three school districts, which consolidated 30 years ago. It remains the only school district, except
Hereford’s in Deaf Smith County, stretching across the entire west end of the county.
“Most of the land in Walcott was part of the XIT Ranch. Its early history is the history of that
legendary domain, its break-up which began shortly after 1900, with sale of land to settlers, and the upand-down saga of land speculators, farmers and ranchers since.
“The original Walcott, Bippus and Messenger school districts, of which the present Walcott
District was formed, were themselves formed of smaller schools and neighborhoods with various
names. The county’s most picturesque community name, Bootleg Corner, which persists today, was one
of them.
“How Bootleg Corner got its name is a question that persists, too, with stout adherents to each
version of the story. One version associates it with the old moonshine sheep camp a few miles
northwest of the corner, a camping place for cowboys and others traveling from LaPlata to Endee, New
Mexico. There was indeed a moonshine still there.
“Another story says it was named for a small school building erected, when land was being sold
by the XIT Syndicate, and moved by agents to various locations, when prospective land buyers came to
the area, to make them believe a school was located near the land they were considering buying. So it

1905

Jeanne F Lively; Blanket, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June 12,
2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlb33
1906
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/blanco/blowout.cfm
1907
Richard Bruhn; Blowout Community, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical
Association; June 12, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvbbl
1908
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/deaf-smith/bootleg.cfm

was called the ‘bootleg school’. It was apparently never used as an actual school, but was a camping
site.”1909
***BUG TUSSLE, FANNIN COUNTY1910, TEXAS***
FC Hodge connotes: “Spell it ‘Bug Tussle’, ‘Bug Tussell’ or ‘Bugtussle’, anyone will get the idea.
Bug Tussle is famous. It has been the home of Judge James Bates Fink, dubbed ‘The Law North of the
North Sulphur River’ and the site of a new activity – West Bug Tussle.
“The tiny hamlet, which has had most of its business in the last decade selling snuff, tobacco and
groceries, is the site of restoration under the David Graham Hall Foundation of Dallas. The settlement
will be restored under the direction of RF Voyer, president of the foundation.
“Bug Tussle has had few inhabitants but interesting ones. Ed Harris, a county farmer, claimed to
be the snuff dipping champion of Texas. The famous Judge Fink, who moved to Ladonia a few years ago,
who known far and wide as a fine marrying judge as well as a wielder of justice.
“Regional newspapers have written colorful stories about the Fannin County hamlet.
“Frank X Tolbert, writing in the Dallas News, has noted that Bug Tussle got its name years ago
when an ice cream party attracted a large crowd on county folks. The sweet but sticky ice cream also
attracted swarms of bugs and ruined the party. Folks decided that Bug Tussle would be a suitable name
for the settlement.
“In earlier days when Bug Tussle had a post office, the hamlet was called Truss, Texas, after the
John Truss family. Located at Highway 34 and Farm Road 1550, Bug Tussle has been called a suburb of
Dial and Bartley Wood communities in Fannin County.
“Today Bug Tussle is often referred to as ‘West Bug Tussle’. Even though the ancient general
store is closed, a new service station operated by JR Simms and a cattle loading corral have been built.
More businesses are expected eventually to open in the restored hamlet.”1911
***CUT AND SHOOT, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TEXAS***
Mikel Watson details: “The town of Cut and Shoot, to the East of Conroe, got its name after a
dispute among churchgoers. County Clerk Roy Harris, and longtime Cut and Shoot resident, says he has
heard just about every story about how the town got its name.
“There’s the one where patrons of a local saloon ‘took to fighting’ with knives and pistols,
cutting and shooting each other.
“Another story involves cattle ‘cutting’ (changing direction) and being forced in a ‘shute’ to be
dipped in pesticide.
“But the story Harris says is probably the most likely involves one building and three churches.
“Harris says a building was built, which was used as a church and as a school. Using it as a
church were two groups of Baptist churchgoers and one group of Apostolics.
“It seems an older Apostolic preacher left the church and was replaced by a younger man who
was thought to be too much of a ‘ladies’ man’, Harris said.
“The Baptists would not stand for such a thing and, Harris says, were told to come to the church
one Sunday with their knives and shotguns, and they weren’t going to let the young minister preach.
1909

Deaf Smith County Historical Society; Deaf Smith County, Texas: The Land & Its People: 1876-1981;
1982; provided by Martha Russell, Director, Deaf Smith County Library, 211 East 4th, Hereford, TX 79045;
[email protected]; www.deafsmithcolib.org
1910
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_Tussle,_Texas
1911
Floy Crandall Hodge; A History of Fannin County featuring Pioneer Families; Pioneer Publishers;
1966; provided by Bonham Public Library, 305 East Fifth St, Bonham, TX 75418; [email protected];
http://netls.tsl.state.tx.us/bonham

“When the preacher showed up for the Sunday morning service, he was met by a group
opposed to his brand of preaching and he was not allowed in the church.
“So the young, determined preacher decided to hold service outside, Harris said.
“After being insulted and threatened, the young preacher made a run for the woods to escape
the mob. The mob, in turn, went after the preacher, leaving just three people at the church building.
“One of the three, Harris says, said ‘this place needs a name’.
“So, Harris says, it was named the place where people ‘cut down the road and shoot through the
brush’.
“Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to change the town’s name, but all failed,
and the town remains Cut and Shoot.”1912
***[OLD] DIME BOX, LEE COUNTY1913, TEXAS***
History of Lee County Texas explains: “This history of Dime Box was written in 1959 by three
high school students; Susie Whitsel, Elvira Bolander and Delphine Prazek. In 1968 and 1972, it was
added to by Mrs Eldie Whitsel for use in the Dedication of the Texas Historical Marker at Old Dime Box
and for the 1974 centennial. The material and information used in this manuscript was gathered by
means of personal interviews with elders and former residents of our community, to all of whom we are
especially grateful.
“Moses Austin, a native of Missouri, and Maris Brown, of Quaker descent, took it upon
themselves as a project the colonization of Texas. They obtained a land grant for colonization purposes
in January 1821, but Austin died six months later, leaving his son, Stephen Fuller Austin, to carry out his
project. Stephen F Austin, who had a very good education, first entered Texas in July 1821; after his
father’s death and during that winter, he planned a substantial settlement near the coast between the
Brazos and Colorado Rivers, an area inhabited by Indians.
“During this time, a successful revolution had occurred in Mexico, and it was necessary for
Austin to go to Mexico City to secure the confirmation of his grants. Some years afterward, he was one
of the main factors in the struggle between two civilizations for the possession of Texas.
“Austin successfully defeated the efforts of Mexican statesmen to keep Negro slavery out of
Texas. In 1833 when Austin failed to induce the Mexican government to make Texas a separate state,
he undertook to do this without waiting for the consent of the Mexican Congress. As a result, he was
thrown into prison. In 1835 he was released and the Texas revolution followed. Austin secured the help
of money and men from people in the United States. The revolution of 1836 was successful. Austin now
found his colonies practically submerged by the flood of adventurers and immigrants.
“On February 20, 1835, through Austin, the Mexican Government had given one land grant of
one league to Niels Peterson. The land was located between the Brazos and Colorado River and about
36 miles from present-day Bryan. After much effort and work by Austin and Peterson, one day in 1848,
a very unusual procession was seen moving along the old San Antonio Road – that of covered wagons,
horses, men, women and children. After many hardships, robberies, deaths, cold and hard winters,
along with many people getting tired of traveling, the travelers stopped at the first place that attracted
them. They had reached their destiny – Neils Peterson’s League. Since some of these pioneers seemed
to be in favor of this land, Mr Peterson decided to sell part of his league to one of the immigrants,
Elizabeth Coleman, in 1846. In turn Elizabeth Coleman sold to various other settlers as follows: RM
Russell (1851), James L Holiday (1849), Rebecca M Russel (1852), WA Knox (1853), Thomas H Woods
1912

Mikel Watson; Cut and Shoot: The Stories Behind the Name; Montgomery County Magazine; 1989;
provided by Pat, Montgomery County Memorial Library System, Central Library, 104 I-45 N, Conroe, TX
77301-2720
1913
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Dime_Box,_Texas

(1853), James Pankey, John Nunn, George Parkill, WB Wayne, RJ Russel (1855), Nancy Gray (1856), Wm J
McClellan (1858), and James Moses (1859); thus breaking up Neils Peterson’s League.
“About this time, Austin was also selling his grant to homesteaders. His land had acres and
acres of forests which had to be cut; homes had to be built, and roads had to be made. Enthusiastically,
men, women, and children worked from dawn to dusk, trying to make something out of this land. With
the guidance of God, these people were successful.
“Mr Erin Bryan bought sixteen hundred acres of Austin’s land. This land was located between
what is now Mrs Herman Dube’s home and Farm Road 141. Mr Bryan had several sons. Although Mr
Bryan lived in Giddings, he put up tenant houses in a line along what is now a public road from Mrs
Dube’s to Farm Road 141. Different families lived in these houses and worked for Mr Bryan. Among
these was a Mr Joe Williams. Because of all the houses being in a line or a string, this came to be known
as Stringtown.
“WF Woods also became owner of around 1,000 acres of land here and was active in
improvements in this community. The land west of Stringtown, which is now owned by the Albert
Schuman Estate, was formerly owned by a Mr Brown. Mr Brown built a saw mill on this land.
Everybody brought trees here to be sawed. Later when Brown also built a gin, all the cotton was ginned
there. This little settlement grew and grew until finally a post office was needed. So they put up a mail
box at Mr Brown’s mill. One man would go to Giddings each week by pony to carry and get the mail. Mr
Joe Brown, Mr John W Ratliff, Mr James Brown, Mr Andrew Farmer, Mr Richard Womack, Mr SB Sproler,
Mr Wm MA Dorsett, Mr Cowan, Mr Fred McKeown and Mr August Matthijetz, were the first carriers and
postmasters in that order.
“Each person who wanted a letter mailed would take it to this box and put a dime with it for
carrying charges. The town had to have a name, so they called it Brown’s Mill, because the mail did
come to Brown’s mill. Mr Burtschell, Mr Tom Henson, and Mr Gus Maluska later carried freight from
Lincoln to Dime Box.
“The population was increasing, so naturally a school was needed. Union School was started in
January 1874, and built on the San Antonio Road near Bush Branch. Nancy Fry sold this land to the
trustees. This school was very small indeed. Some of the students attending were Reats, Tiptons,
Karchers, Phears, Ramseys, Spaceks, Whites, Knoxes, Frys, Whitfields, Whitsels, Woods, Nunns, Styles,
and others. The teachers here were a Mr Goldthorn, Gaius Huckaby, Buckner Harris, WO Bowers, Cleo
Alexander, JL Green, HF Schlosshan, Charles B Browder, and Mrs Marcella Duty, teaching respectively in
the order in which they are named.
“Later this school also served as the Presbyterian Church, which later was called the High Wilson
Presbyterian Church and is one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in the state. It no longer exists.
“About four miles east of Union School was another small settlement – Hranice. This was made
up of Czechs. They had their own school named Hranice. The families attending this school over the
years were Balcars, Blahas, Frank George, Gurecas, Kocureks, Grundmans, Bengers, Kreneks and many
others. There were two churches, the Catholic and the Czech Moravian Brethren, and each had its own
cemetery there. A gin also was located here.
“People soon decided that the Union School was not large enough for all the students that
needed to go there, and it didn’t have enough grades for the ones who did want to gain as much
knowledge as possible. These pupils, in order to get a higher education, had to finish high school at
either Giddings or Caldwell. So Mr Charles Fields gave two acres of land where Mrs Gus Pampell’s home
now stands – toward the building of a larger school. Union School, which it also was called, had classes
through the tenth grade. Some of the early teachers were Mr Ury Moses, Miss Wiede, Bettie Knox,
Leona Brown, Rudolph Hejtmancik, Josie Malinak, Hattie Moore, Ed Krenek, Mrs Mary Morgan and Mr
and Mrs HE Gibbs. Families attending were the Bakliks, Kreneks, Stewarts, Hannes, Spaceks,
Schumanns, Cepcars, Wolfs, Greuters, Helmers, Tylers, Spitzenbergers, Maluskas, Tiptons, Anschutzes,

Zschecks, Ovcariks, Mikulins, Whitsels, Harzkes, Hensons, Pitts, Hahns, Eichlers, Strongs, and many
others, including those going to the old Union School: Valiguras, Watsons, Kings, Goodsons, Smiths,
Kuceras, Ungars, Karchers, Werneckes, Becvars, Yorks and Krupas.
“Along with the homes and schools, businesses also sprang up at Brown’s Mill. Mr John Krenek
bought the cotton gin. Soon afterwards in 1896, he sold to the Hanneses, and because at this time there
was much traveling on the Old San Antonio Road, which is now Texas Highway 21, he moved the gin to
its present site on Highway 21. In 1972 Lee County Precinct No 4 equipment barn is at this location.
“The first general merchandise store was owned by Mr Dorsett in 1897. It was located in the
vicinity of Mr Kucera’s Store on Highway 21 today. Mr Dorsett became wealthy in the store business
and sold to Mr Joe Kocurek, who was also successful. This store and the cotton gin were close together.
The Hanneses were good ginners, and therefore they were in business for a long time. Ben Etzel, Alton
Zuelke, Herman Dube, EG Wolf and Tom McClellan were also owners at one time.
“Along the side of Mr Kocurek’s store were other businesses. There were a tavern, a drug store,
and a grocery store; two other general merchandise stores, a blacksmith shop, a post office with an
empty room that served as a courthouse and a place for Woodman Lodge’s Meetings. There was also a
church, where people of all religions from Catholic to Protestant attended. The church was built of
brush and poles that had to suffice until better structures could be built. In the one general
merchandise store, anything from a toothpick to a coffin could be bought. Mr Richard Boehme had the
first blacksmith shop in 1898. Dr James Holiday was the first doctor. Dr MClarty, Dr Stewart, and Dr
York followed in the field.
“Sometime between the years of 1880 and 1905, the post officials of the state asked Brown’s
Mill to change its name. They requested this because it seemed that the mail from Brown’s Mill and the
mail for Brownsville, Texas, were constantly getting mixed up. A meeting of all the citizens of Brown’s
Mill was held at Mr Brown’s mill. Someone suggested that the town be named Knoxville in honor of Mr
Knox, because he was the oldest settler of the community, but he said he didn’t deserve that honor.
Then RH Womack suggested the name of Dime Box. Everybody thought it was a very clever suggestion
indeed, and the old Brown’s Mill became Dime Box.
“Although Dime Box was new in name, it still had the same families living there, the same
homes, the same roads, and the same (plus new) problems. The roads around Dime Box, including the
San Antonio Road, were very bad during wet weather. When people went anywhere at all during rainy
weather, they usually traveled by foot because it was much easier. If they traveled by horse and buggy,
the driver had to be constantly stopping the horses, to beat the mud off the wooden wheels of the
buggy. A good stick was always carried along on any trip that was taken. One example of this was one
Sunday when someone was to be buried. The funeral procession had to travel the San Antonio Road.
The wagon carrying the corpse had to stop almost every half mile, so that the mud could be beaten off
the wheels. It took the funeral procession about two and one half hours to reach Scott Cemetery.
“Buggies and gigs were very popular. A gig was a one-seated buggy that held three people. It
was drawn by one horse and had only two wheels. Many families went to school in gigs if they could
afford one. Those that couldn’t afford it had to walk five to ten miles on occasion or ride horses.
In 1898 several Dime Box men, one of them being Mr Beaman, volunteered for the Spanish-American
War.
“In 1901 a pneumonia epidemic was sweeping the country, and it couldn’t miss Dime Box. It
struck hardest in one certain family – that of the Woods. In this family, Mr and Mrs Henry Washington
Whitsel, Mrs WF Woods, Mrs William Phears, and Mrs Ramsey died within a few months. Others died
also, but this family was hit hardest.
“For entertainment, there were usually weekly dances at someone’s home, a family gathering,
or a bar-b-que or picnic. Mr Kit Atkinson usually played his fiddle for dances and called the square
dances. Sometimes there were baseball games. It was at one of the town’s bar-b-ques in 1909 or 1910,

that the first car was introduced into Dime Box by Mr Reed Henson. At this gathering, Mr Henson
persuaded his girl into marrying him by getting this car. Since this was the first car that any one in Dime
Box had seen, most people were scared almost out of their senses; babies cried and couldn’t be quieted,
dogs barked, and chickens and all other animals ran when Mr Henson drove by.
“In about 1910, a Mr Hoxie from Tyler came to Dime Box and solicited money to build a railroad
through Dime Box. His plan was received with much enthusiasm, but he just could not seem to get any
railroad companies interested in this project. He died before he could realize his aims, and after that
the idea was just dropped. But only two years later, the Southern Pacific Railroad wanted a shorter
route from the North to the South and West than what they had, and it just happened that their railroad
was to come about three miles from Dime Box. In 1913 the railroad was built by use of horses and
mules and scrapers. There were sixteen horses or mules to one plow. The workers camped and traded
with the various families residing near their working area. Trees were cut with axes, and stumps were
dynamited. It was in 1913, when the railroad was finished that the old town of Dime Box moved to
what is now New Dime Box. Everyone had the idea that Dime Box was going to grow and grow until it
got to be as large as Chicago! So naturally, that’s where everybody wanted to move. They wanted to be
in the middle of town when it became a famous city. Even people from other towns came into Dime
Box and bought property along the railroad, and this property became very valuable!
“The people that still lived in and loved old Dime Box didn’t like it, because this town near the
railroad wanted Dime Box as its name. So finally they decided that the new town would be known as
‘New Dime Box’ and the original name of ‘Dime Box’ be retained for the old town.”1914
***FAIRY, HAMILTON COUNTY1915, TEXAS***
WR Hunt imparts: “Fairy, at the junction of Farm roads 219 and 1602 in northern Hamilton
County, was first known as Martin's Gap for James Martin, an early settler who took an oxcart through
the mountain gap. The town was named for Fairy Fort, the daughter of Confederate Army captain Battle
Fort, when the post office was established in 1884. Fairy had a cotton gin from 1900 to about 1936 and
schools, churches, and businesses serving the greater ranching and farming community. In 1947 Fairy
had a post office, three churches, three businesses, and 150 people. The post office closed in 1957, and
the Fairy school district was consolidated with the Hamilton schools in 1967. In 1980, 1990, and 2000
the population was thirty-one.”1916
***FALFURRIAS, BROOKS COUNTY, TEXAS***
KB Harder mentions: “There are a variety of explanations for the origin of this name, one being
that the name means ‘mouth of the furies’, so called because of the town’s location. Another is that the
name is a variation of Falduras, used to describe a man who once lived in the area and wore a type of
skirt known as a falduras. A third version, perhaps best substantiated, is that the word is derived from
French fanfarron, ‘fanfare’, which apparently also means ‘a swaggerer or blusterer’, or ‘showy’. The
name Falfurrias was evidently given to an early settler who was ‘full of fury’.”1917

1914

History of Lee County Texas; Lee County Historical Survey Committee; 1974; provided by Shirley
McKeown, Treasurer, Lee County Heritage Society, 1181 Private Rd 7701, Giddings, TX 78942
1915
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy,_Texas
1916
William R Hunt; Fairy, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June 12,
2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnf05
1917
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

***FOG TOWN, HOUSTON COUNTY1918, TEXAS***
Donnita Patrick puts into words: “After checking with some of the senior residents in the Foy
Town area, later referred to as Fog Town, we are able to forward to you the enclosed information. It
seems that the area was originally called Foy Town, after an African-American Family named Foy that
settled there and then evolved into being called ‘Fog Town’ due to the heavy fog there.”1919
JT Ainsworth and DE Rudloff report: “Alfred Foy, Sr, was born in 1865 and died in December
1944. He lived in the Pine Springs Community, about two miles southeast of Kennard. He built the
Rosenwald School in Ratcliff, and was its first teacher. He rode a horse through the fields to the school.
He was called ‘Professor Foy’ by his students who loved him. Though he taught school at Ratcliff, he
gave land for the school and church, which was built at Pine Springs. This later school was attended by
his children and was used until consolidation with the Kennard Colored School in 1939. Alfred Foy, Sr,
owned approximately 1,500 acres of land at one time in Houston and Trinity Counties. Alfred Foy, Sr,
married Mary Jane Wortham from Pine Springs. She was born in 1872 and died in 1942. They were the
parents of four children.”1920
***FORT SPUNKY, HOOD COUNTY1921, TEXAS***
Dorothy Leach shows: “The remnants of the Fort Spunky community are on Farm Roads 199 and
2174 and Lake Granbury in the southeastern corner of Hood County. The settlement was originally
named Barnardville. In 1849 George Barnard built one of a chain of Torrey trading houses on the Brazos
River, at what is now the site of Fort Spunky. George and his brother, Charles Barnard, the Torrey
brothers, and Sam Houston, president of the former Republic of Texas, invested in this enterprise,
thinking that it would improve Indian relations. The post itself, run by Charles Barnard, was built near a
spring and beside a settlement of peaceable, agricultural Indians. The trading post lay near well-traveled
Indian highways and the prominent landmark Comanche Peak, used by the Indians, especially the
Comanches, as a lookout, rallying point, and campground. George and Charles Barnard procured
thousands of acres near Comanche Peak and along the Brazos River. A tributary of the Brazos nearby
was called George's Creek, and a community by the same name developed in the 1850s, as a companion
settlement near the trading post. In the mid-1850s, the Indians were moved to Fort Belknap by the
United States Government, and the Barnards' trading post declined. The community acquired the
colorful name Fort Spunky because sporadic fistfights broke out in town. The community's post office
opened in 1886. The settlement was predominantly an agricultural trade center that took the place of
the defunct trading post. About forty residents lived there in 1896. In the early 1900s, John D
Armstrong, the postmaster, owned virtually all the businesses, namely the cotton gin, gristmill, general
store, blacksmith shop, and feed store. The businesses and post office were gone in the 1980s. The
population of Fort Spunky was sixty-five in 1964 and was reported as fifteen from 1966 to 2000.”1922
1918

http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/houston/fog-town.cfm
Donnita Patrick, Chair, Houston County Historical Commission, 401 E Goliad, Ste 100, Court House
Annex, Crockett, TX 75835; [email protected];
http://www.co.houston.tx.us/default.aspx?Houston_County/HistoricalCommission
1920
Jim Tom Ainsworth and DeLoyd English Rudloff; Alfred, Sr, and Mary Jane Wortham Foy; Crossing
Over Cochino: Kennard 1864-1996; Best of East Texas Publishers; 1997; provided by Donnita Patrick,
Chair, Houston County Historical Commission, 401 E Goliad, Ste 100, Court House Annex, Crockett, TX
75835; [email protected];
http://www.co.houston.tx.us/default.aspx?Houston_County/HistoricalCommission
1921
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/hood/fort-spunky.cfm
1922
Dorothy Leach; Fort Spunky, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June
12, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnf36
1919

***GOOBER HILL, SHELBY COUNTY1923, TEXAS***
LE Jasinski talks about: “Goober Hill is a small farming community on Farm Road 2427 located
about eighteen miles southeast of Center in southeastern Shelby County. The settlement may have
started by the early 1900s and was named for the peanuts, locally known as ‘goobers’ that were a major
crop in the region. During the 1930s, Goober Hill, located in Sabine National Forest, consisted of many
farms. The nearby school in West Hamilton served local residents. By the late twentieth century, Goober
Hill still appeared on county highway maps, but no population figures were available in 2000.”1924
***GUN BARREL CITY, HENDERSON COUNTY1925, TEXAS***
LS Hudson catalogs: “Gun Barrel City lies on the eastern shore of Cedar Creek Reservoir, fifty
miles southeast of Dallas and twenty miles northwest of Athens in northwestern Henderson County. The
community developed after construction of the reservoir in the mid-1960s and grew rapidly. Sixty
residents were reported there in 1970, and 3,526 by the early 1990s. In 2000 the population was 5,145.
In the early 1970s, residents of Gun Barrel City voted to incorporate so that local establishments could
sell beer and wine. The town name is derived from its motto, ‘We shoot straight with you’, and its
symbol, a rifle. Long before the lake was built, Gun Barrel Lane (now State Highway 198) traversed the
area. This mud road was a shortcut across Cedar Creek from Mabank to Trinidad and Seven Points. In
1987 community residents began local beautification projects and also collected aluminum cans as a
fund-raising project to help restore the battleship Texas. On two different occasions, the city received
second place in the Governor's Community Achievement Awards. During the early 1990s, the area
supported two community newspapers, the Monitor and the Cedar Creek Pilot.”1926
***GUNSIGHT, STEPHENS COUNTY1927, TEXAS***
MM Hall conveys: “It is located in the southeastern part of Stephens County, one mile east of
Highway 183 approximately fifteen miles south of Breckenridge, Texas.
“As early as 1858, Gunsight was on a wagon road from Fort Griffin in Shackelford County to
Stephenville in Erath County. The road ran through open territory near communities of Eolian, through
Harpersville, and by Double Mountain, which was near Half-way Oak (Roadside Park on Hwy 183 south).
It continued through the Gunsight Mountains across Colony Creek in Eastland County toward Ranger.
“Different stories are told of how Gunsight got its name. One is that the 1,500 feet high mesas,
through which the road passed to the south, because of their unusual shape, appeared from a distance
as sights on a gun: ‘staring as a gun barrel with a peak at one end’. Another story according to legend,
the community was named for an Indian fighter, who took aim at a ‘savage’, and the Indian shot first,
knocking the sight from the settler’s gun. Thus the name Gunsight arose from where the incident
occurred. Still another story was the Indians could sight settlers in the valley from their position in the
mountains as if using sights of a gun.
“Skirmishes with Indians, drought, harsh winters, and the flu epidemics failed to diminish the
migration of the settlers, and Gunsight became a vital working community, though little can be seen of
its vigor now. Only a few scattered houses, the cemetery, the community building and the once
1923

http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/shelby/goober-hill.cfm
Laurie E Jasinski; Goober Hill, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June
15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrg79
1925
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Barrel_City,_Texas
1926
Linda Sybert Hudson; Gun Barrel City, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical
Association; June 15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjg14
1927
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/stephens/gunsight.cfm
1924

Methodist church are the only remaining footprints of a colorful past. The town sight is now lost in
mesquite trees, wild flowers and perhaps a stray coyote and a lot of memories.”1928
***HOOT AND HOLLER CROSSING, WILBARGER COUNTY1929, TEXAS***
RL Haynes discusses: “Hoot & Holler crossing is located on the Waggoner Ranch and was a
crossing for Beaver Creek, which runs through the ranch. The crossing is near the ranch headquarters
apprx 15 miles south of Vernon, Texas. The crossing is just below Santa Rosa Lake. The lake empties into
Beaver Creek. Upon talking with the owner of the ranch, I learned that the crossing has been there as
long as anyone can remember. There was a wooden bridge at one time. There is no one still living who
knows the history of the crossing. The Waggoner Ranch is one of the largest ranches in Texas, covering
500,000 acres and is privately owned. The owners are very reluctant to let anyone come on to
the ranch.”1930
***MONKSTOWN, FANNIN COUNTY1931, TEXAS***
John Friar expounds: “Hidden Spanish treasure, mysterious mounds and a mine that no one
knows its use. The northeast corner of Fannin County holds all these mysteries, all within a few miles of
each other.
“During the time when Texas was under Spanish rule, legend has it that a band of Spaniards
came through here with 13 jack loads of raw gold taken from Indians in the south.
“The Spaniards, having lost their way while trying to find the coast, wandered lost into this
section of the state. Somewhere near the lower part of Bois d’Arc Creek, they were attacked by Indians.
When they tried to flee, they found the gold kept them from moving fast enough to escape the Indians,
so they dumped the gold into the creek, to keep it from the Indians.
“The legend has it the Spaniards escaped but were later overtaken by the Indians and all killed.
“Different versions of the legend disagree as to the location of the cache of hidden gold, but all
agree the gold was hidden somewhere on the lower part of Bois d’Arc Creek near where it enters Red
River.
“Located in the same area is what is described by JT Griffis and KB Foster in the 1930s, as ‘an old
mine shaft with the timbers still in fair condition, though the oldest settlers do not know who started
the mine nor what they mined’. The question still remains what were they mining, or for what were
they searching.
“An old Indian trail, used before the arrival of the pioneer settlers, crossed Fannin County at Bois
d’Arc creek about 2 miles east of Monkstown, at what is referred to as Rocky Ford. The trail meanders
across the county just south of Telephone, on by Lamasco, then just west of Bonham and on over to
Whitewright and the prairie to the buffalo’s grazing grounds. This trail was used by the Caddoes and
Kickapoos, the native tribes of this section.
“Additionally there is an old Spanish trail that crosses through this vicinity and goes into
Oklahoma near the mouth of Bois d’Arc. It is also believed by many, it is this section of Fannin County
that saw the earliest white hunters and trappers as they came across Bois d’Arc at Rocky Ford around
1800.

1928

Myra McIntire Hall; Gunsight, Texas: Mountain Pass, Legend, Stephens County Settlement; Gunsight,
Texas: The Legacy Lives On; Author’s Discovery Cooperation; 2009; provided by Freda Mitchell, Swenson
Memorial Museum of Stephens County, PO Box 350, Breckenridge, TX 76424-0350
1929
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoot_and_Holler_Crossing,_Texas
1930
Robert L (Rusty) Haynes; [email protected]
1931
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/fannin/monkstown.cfm

“Possibly the first permanent settler in the area was Carter P Clifft, who was living at Rocky Ford
in 1835, when Dr Daniel Rowlett came through with a party of colonists on the way to settle Lexington in
the Tulip Bend section of Fannin County.
“Clifft had lived at Embersons Prairie in Lamar County as early as 1815. It is not known when he
moved to the Ford.
“There is an odd mound not far from the Ford crossing, where Spaniards are said to have
washed the sands of the Red River for gold. They supposedly dug an underground shaft to the river for
water to supply the operation.
“The mound was also used as a burial ground by the earlier settlers, and one of the early graves
was of James E Beal, who died in 1827. The Beal family settled near here and operated a brick Kiln on
the bank of the nearby river.
“One historian spots this locality as the site of Alamo City that was established about 1850. The
settlement seems to have been quite prosperous at one time but disappeared along with the knowledge
about the town.
“For many, it seems that the history of Fannin County began in this vicinity that surrounds
Monkstown.
“This small community was described by the Bonham News in 1888, as ‘situated 25 miles north
of Bonham on what is known as Blue Prairie. The town is surrounded by a rich and productive farming
community.’ At that time, it had a general store, a drug store, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, a wood shop,
a steam gin and mill, a two-story Masonic building that housed both the church and school.
“‘Esquire Gross resides and holds his court in Monkstown. The population is about 150. The soil
of the surrounding country produces corn, oats, wheat and cotton to perfection. Vegetables and fruits
grow well,’ the Bonham News continued.
“Unlike what some believe, the town was not named for a sect of monks but was renamed from
Blue Prairie to honor Thomas Monks, who lived there with his first wife. After Monks’ first wife died,
leaving him with two small children, he remarried in 1877, the widow of Alfred Hart.
“Because Monkstown lacked educational facilities for the children, they sold their land and
bought land outside of Bonham, so the children could attend Carlton College.
“Outstanding features of the community were the 2 river crossings: a ferry crossing where Blue
River in Oklahoma emptied into the Red River and a foot crossing just due north of Monkstown.
“Joe Ray Goss, the son of Dr and Mrs JF Goss, had one of the largest plantations in the country
and acquired his land by buying blocks by block. There are many stories told about Joe Goss and his
plantation workers.
“One such story was that during the depression years of the 1930s, the Bonham State Bank held
mortgages on his mules. Because money was so scarce, the bank called in the mortgages.
“According to Hodge’s History of Fannin County, ‘That day hundreds of the Goss mules were
driven to town, and a neighbor along the road said it was the first mule drive she had ever seen. The
drive consumes a full day. The bank put the mules in a Bonham park to feed, but in a few days bank
officials realized the expense of upkeep. Goss did not take the mules home, when the bank requested
that he return them. He knew he could buy more mules cheaper, in order to make the next year’s crop.’
“Times have changed the Monkstown community. In the 1950s, cattle ranching became the
dominant industry. Like many communities in Fannin County, much of the land is now the site for those
who either live or have lived in the metropolitan area. Their neat houses are used for weekend retreats
or as retirement homes.”1932

1932

John Friar, Area Editor; Historic Monkstown has hidden treasure?; Honey Grove Signal-Citizen;
August 6, 1992; provided by Jean Dodson, Curator, Fannin County Museum of History, (Old Texas &

***NAMELESS, TRAVIS COUNTY1933, TEXAS***
VE Smyrl impresses: “Nameless is on Sandy Creek and just off Farm Road 1431, five miles
northeast of Lago Vista in northwestern Travis County. It was settled in 1869. When residents of the
community applied for a post office, they had difficulty getting the post office department to accept the
names they suggested. After six names were rejected, residents wrote back saying, ‘Let the post office
be nameless and be damned!’ The department took them at their word, and a post office called
Nameless was established in 1880. In 1884 Nameless reported a church, a district school, a general
store, and fifty residents. Cotton, cedar posts, and rails were the principal commodities shipped from
the area. The post office was discontinued in 1890, and mail for the community was sent to Leander.
During the 1940s, two churches, a business, and a few scattered houses marked the community on
county highway maps. No further information was available.”1934
***NECESSITY, STEPHENS COUNTY1935, TEXAS***
Brickenridge/Stephens County Sesquicentiennial Committee notates: “Necessity, Mountain
Valley, Cottonplant – whatever the name, the community has left its imprint on the history of Stephens
County.
“The town site, once bustling with people and activity, is now marked by a Baptist Church and,
across the road, a dilapidated schoolhouse, a concrete vault that once served a bank but now has prickly
pears growing atop it, and the largest rural cemetery in Stephens County. And a long grave in the
middle of the road, just beyond the intersection of FM roads 207 and 576, is another landmark that
excites curiosity.
“The origin of the name ‘Necessity’ is uncertain. But according to old-timers, it came about
through the request and granting of a post office to the village in the late 1800s. Legend has it that
when the town applied for a post office, a message was sent to Washington saying, ‘It’s necessary that
our town be given a post office.’ So the postal authorities granted the post office to the town of
‘Necessity’ in the telegram.”1936
***NOBILITY, FANNIN COUNTY1937, TEXAS***
FC Hodge puts pen to paper: “Nobility, a small settlement in Fannin County, is the site of Indian
Creek Baptist Church and cemetery. Many pioneers are buried there, with small monuments marking
the graves. The name of Nobility is a drawing card to all visitors who like to ask questions.
“Frank X Tolbert, writing in The Dallas News, has noted that Nobility was settled on Indian Creek
in 1858. Citizens named the settlement Gentry, but since Gentry, Texas, already existed, they changed
the name to Nobility. The story goes that Nobility was the closest they could get to the name of Gentry.

Pacific Railway Depot), 1 Main St, Bonham, TX 75418; [email protected];
http://www.fannincountyhistory.org/
1933
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nameless,_Texas
1934
Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl; Nameless, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association;
June 15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrn39
1935
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/stephens/necessity.cfm
1936
Brickenridge/Stephens County Sesquicentiennial Committee; Stephens County: Much to be
Cherished; Taylor Publishing; 1987; provided by Freda Mitchell, Swenson Memorial Museum of
Stephens County, PO Box 350, Breckenridge, TX 76424-0350
1937
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/fannin/nobility.cfm

“Today Nobility is a mixture of the modern and ancient, with its farmhouses spread wide across
the countryside. Withrow’s Store is often the scene of Nobility activity.”1938
***POETRY, KAUFMAN COUNTY1939, TEXAS***
BS Brown represents: “Many an early settler traveled half of his life seeking a home with a
greener pasture. This seems to hold true with the first settler of Turner’s Point.
“Elisha Turner was born in Georgia in 1788. At an early age, he and two brothers, Elijah and
Samuel were left orphans. Elisha was taken to South Carolina and raised by an uncle, Silas Magby. As a
young man, Elisha migrated to Kentucky, Tennessee, and St Landry Parish, Louisiana, before settling in
San Augustine County, Texas, in 1837. While here he was involved in several Indian skirmishes and
served in the Mexican War.
“In 1845 he received a league and a labor of land for services rendered in the Texas and Mexican
War. This land is located in the far north part of Kaufman County and extends into Hunt County.
“Very little is known of Elisha’s early life. Some researchers state his wife was Amelia Brandon,
however at this writing it has not been proven. After the death of his wife, Elisha made his home with
his youngest son and wife, Zachariah and Martha Turner.
“Zachariah and Elisha disposed of their real estate in San Augustine County and moved to
Kaufman County in 1847. They built their log cabin on the old Shreveport and Dallas road. Zachariah
built his home near the present Camp Ground Cemetery.
“Samuel W and Caroline Turner, and seven children, left Louisiana in the spring of 1849 and
moved to Turner’s Point. They were joined in 1854 by two sisters and their families; they were Maston
and Lucinda Ussery and John and Cynthia Fox. Elisha gave each of his five children two hundred acres of
land. The Turners and John Fox were noted shoe and saddle makers. Samuel was noted for a fine
saddle tree.
“The Masonic Lodge at Turner’s Point is the second oldest in Kaufman County. A petition was
filed for a charter in 1858 and was granted June 14, 1860. The petitioners were PF Paschal, Dean
Moore, OK Vance, JH McCarty, PE Stewart, WE Cane, and GW Noel. The first master was OK Vance. AH
Lowrie was the first master under the charter. Other worshipful masters were John Wilson, LB Penery,
MT Jentry, Joe C Campbell. The first Masonic building at Turner’s Point was built on the Property of
Walker Stevenson.
“Samuel Turner donated an acre and a fourth to the Tolbert Masonic Lodge, February 9, 1869.
This was on the Terrell to Camp Ground road. A large two story building was built on this land in the
1870s. The lower floor was rented to a general merchandise store. This building was destroyed … in the
nineteen twenties.
“The earliest grocery store at Turner’s Point of record was owned by James Elgan in 1860. Joe
Rushing built a general merchandise store, about one-half mile east of the Dry Creek Cemetery, about
1869. A hotel and dance hall, called Grange Hall, were built across the road. Walt and John Stevenson
built a grocery store next to the Masonic Lodge. Turner’s Point prospered in the 1870s and eighties.
Edwin Swam operated a blacksmith shop, and John Hill and James Turner operated a grist mill. The first
cotton gin was built by Walt Stevenson in the early seventies and sold to Maston Ussery and WA
Paschall in 1875.
“In 1876 the people of the community held a meeting to select a new name for their town as
Texas already had a post office named Turner. James Stiles, who was present at the meeting stated,
1938

Floy Crandall Hodge; A History of Fannin County featuring Pioneer Families; Pioneer Publishers;
1966; provided by Bonham Public Library, 305 East Fifth St, Bonham, TX 75418; [email protected];
http://netls.tsl.state.tx.us/bonham
1939
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry,_Texas

Maston Ussery suggested the name Poetry. He stated, in the spring of 1854, when he came down the
tree shaded land and saw wild flowers blooming everywhere, it reminded him of a poem and he quoted
the poem. This meeting was held a few weeks before Maston was killed by his horse.”1940
***POOR BOY, CASS COUNTY1941, TEXAS***
CA Steger specifies: “As a member of the Cass County Genealogy Society, I was given your letter
concerning ‘Poorboy’s Landing’ to answer.
“The landing was named for Caldwell ‘Po’ Boy’ Morris of nearby Douglassville, Cass County,
Texas. Mr Morris was a flamboyant cattle buyer and often related his beginning as ‘a poor boy trying to
make a living’. Colloquial terminology for ‘poor boy’ is ‘po’ boy’. It was never a river landing. It was a
pleasure boat landing and picnic area on Lake Wright Patman. This lake was built by the US Corps of
Engineers in the early 1960s, and flooded this part of Sulphur River, which was the border between Cass
and Bowie Counties.
“Sulphur River was designated by the Spanish as the Sulphur Fork and Red River. (The present
area known as Texas was once Spanish territory.) The US designated this ‘Fork’ as the boundary. Spain
firmly believed it to be the Red River. By the time Mexico had won independence from Spain in 1821,
the boundary was set as the Red River.”1942
***SEVEN SISTERS, DUVAL COUNTY1943, TEXAS***
Sylvia Whitman tells: “Seven Sisters, on Farm Road 2359 near the McMullen County line, ten
miles northeast of Freer in northern Duval County, has followed the fortunes of the oil and gas industry.
It was named for the nearby Seven Sisters oilfield, which it served as a supply point. The community
grew quickly after the first gusher was brought in on May 13, 1935. Two years later prospectors again
struck oil. By 1940 Seven Sisters had a post office, two or three stores, and a population estimated at
forty. The name of the community was translated from Spanish Siete Hermanas and refers either to
seven small mounds in the area, or more likely, to the seven daughters of an important local landowner,
Refugio Serna. According to one account, Serna maintained an interest in the oilfield through the 1960s,
when four new wells were discovered. Despite the continued oil production, several businesses shut
down in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although the population of Seven Sisters remained sixty from
1950 through 2000, the post office had closed by 1970.”1944
***SOUR LAKE, HARDIN COUNTY1945, TEXAS***
WT Block chronicles: “‘The horses turned away from the water whereupon Jackson declared
that he was thirsty enough to drink anything. The minute he tasted the bitter water, he shouted that he
had been poisoned.’ Sour Lake, 1835

1940

Beulah (Stiles) Brown; published by Kaufman County Historical Commission; A History of Kaufman
County; Taylor; 1978; provided by Jamie Laywell, Office Manager, Kaufman County Historical
Commission, 3003 South Washington St, Kaufman, TX 75142; [email protected]
http://www.kaufmancountyhistoricalcommission.org/
1941
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/cass/poorboy-landing.cfm
1942
Charles A Steger, Cass County Genealogical Society, PO Box 880, Atlanta, TX 75551-0880;
http://www.casscogensoc.org/WEB%20FILES/FRONT%20PAGE.htm
1943
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/duval/seven-sisters.cfm
1944
Sylvia Whitman; Seven Sisters, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association;
June 15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hns34
1945
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_Lake,_Texas

“With almost a century of pumping wells and petroleum tanks erected within its boundaries, the
city of Sour Lake, Texas, hardly presents a sylvan panorama of Galveston tourists and bathers seeking
healing from the town’s curative waters. Yet it is a fact that for the first fifty years of the community’s
existence, members from the wealthy cotton aristocracies of Houston and Galveston beat a path to its
door, despite the primitive modes and exorbitant rates of transportation. In fact the earliest visitors in
1848 had to bring their own tents or erect their own cabins, because no permanent facilities for their
accommodation had been built.
“Little is known about Sour Lake during Texas Revolutionary days except that it was a small lake,
about three or four acres in size. The surface contained escaping gas and splotches of petroleum as well
as waters with a sour taste. Gases escaping through the ground could be ignited and burned with a blue
flame. Surely the Bidais and Deadose Indians must have discovered the benefits of lubricating dried
rawhide with petroleum in order to make it supple. According to the Legend of Sour Lake, which was
circulated in Civil War days, the Indians believed that a ‘Fire King lived there and that a mighty blaze
wrapped the whole valley in one sheet of flames which burned … until the pale face came with his fierce
soldiers, neighing steeds, sparkling armor and waving banners …’ Whether the soldiers of that oral
tradition were a part of France’s Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle’s expedition or a Spanish one is
unknown.
“Sour Lake’s earliest settlers, Stephen and Susan Choat Jackson, arrived in Texas during 1831,
and three years later, they received authority from the Nacogdoches land office to survey the Jackson
league. On June 10, 1835, Jackson was issued one league and one labor (4,605 acres) at Sour Lake by
George A Dixon, the land commissioner for empresario Lorenzo de Zavala and the Galveston Bay and
Texas Land Company of New York. Jackson’s application stated that he was married and the father of
four children.
“While the Jacksons were clearing their lands and establishing their homestead, the events of
the Texas Revolution caught up with them. Joseph Dunman rode into Liberty, Texas, on March 4, 1836,
with a copy of Colonel William Barrett Travis’ last appeal from the Alamo. On March 7, Jackson and his
brother-in-law, David Choat, Jr, enlisted in Captain William Logan’s company at Liberty, and the
company left immediately for San Antonio. Upon arrival at the Colorado River, they learned that the
Alamo had already fallen. Logan’s troops turned back to join the main body of General Sam Houston’s
army, and after reaching Harrisburg on April 18, Jackson was one of twelve men furloughed for eight
days, in order to attend to their families. As a result, Jackson missed the Battle of San Jacinto by only
three days.
“As Jackson was leaving for home, a traveler named WF Gray was fleeing to Louisiana as a part
of the Runaway Scrape. Gray, a visitor sent to Texas by land agents in Virginia, spent the night at
Jackson’s log cabin. This resulted in the first recorded historical account of Sour Lake, when his diary
was later published. Susan Jackson was quite perturbed with other men fleeing from the Mexican Army,
since her husband was away at the front. She told Gray about Claiborne West, who also stayed at the
Jackson cabin. She said he ‘ran off from Washington [on-the-Brazos] after signing the [Texas]
Declaration of Independence before the ink was dry and in his panic, forgot his coat and hat.’
“Stephen and Susan Jackson’s marriage on October 16, 1838, was the twenty-third marriage
recorded in the Jefferson County archives, at a time when they already had five children. Lest some
eyebrows he raised, there were many such couples in Southeast Texas who had already been wed
through a bond marriage. It was quite common on the East Texas frontier, where the only place one
could be legally married under Mexican law was in Nacogdoches. A marriage bond was a legal
instrument, signed and witnessed by friends or relatives, but the bonded couple had to recertify their
marriage as soon as a nearby county seat was established.
“In their lifetimes, Stephen and Susan Jackson were to own their share of material wealth.
Jackson, born in South Carolina in 1803, was taxed in Jefferson County as early as 1839 for three slaves.

He acquired several others prior to his death in 1860. In 1839 he owned twenty-one horses and 275
head of cattle. By 1850 his livestock resources had increased to 125 horses, twenty-five mules, 200 milk
cows, 800 steers and 100 hogs. He was ranked in Jefferson County as the sixth largest cattleman and
the sixth wealthiest person. His assets, not including the value of his seven slaves, totaled $11,743 (real
property was $3,498 and personal property was $8,245).
“The following story from the nineteenth century also illustrates how Jackson discovered the
sour lake on his property:
“‘… Jackson was herding some broomtail ponies to pasture … and came upon a beautiful, small
lake of sparkling water. … Jackson and his companions were mystified when their horses took a sip or
two of the water, sniffed and then waded ashore without drinking. Himself thirsty, Jackson dismounted
and laid down on the bank to drink. After taking a deep swallow, he … called to the men that he had
been poisoned. Having no antidote for the poison … the group could do nothing but wait for Jackson to
become ill. But nothing happened. Jackson didn’t feel sick, but instead felt refreshed. He presently
realized that the lake they had accidently discovered held medicinal properties.’”1946
***TARZAN, MARTIN COUNTY1947, TEXAS***
Corky Blocker declares: “Tarzan – a unique name for a unique community. The name was
chosen from a list submitted by Tant Lindsay for the new post office, established in 1927. Lindsay was
the first postmaster and the hub of the community was located about six miles west of Lenorah. The
popular Tarzan of the Apes series was instrumental in the suggestion of the name.
“The community began when farm families purchased land from promoters, who had bought
the land from ranchers for the purpose of bringing in settlers. The first of these farmers was JB
McNerlin, who bought a half-section for about $25 per acre. McNerlin built a barn and moved his family
in 1924. Soon after the McNerlins arrived, in November of the same year, Tant Lindsay built his store, in
what some folks called the ‘middle of a pasture’.
“There was no school at Tarzan when the farmers began to arrive, and there was no post office.
The first road to be built in the community was from Tarzan to Lenorah. In 1925 a two-room school
building was constructed, and the name South Plains was selected. The first school term was 1925-26
and grades one through 10 were taught. For the first several years, the school term was seven or eight
months. School began in August and was turned out in the fall so that the students could help with
cotton picking, maize heading, feed cutting and shocking, and other harvest chores.
“Cotton was picked by hand and put into long sack, made of cotton duck, hung across the
shoulder, and pulled on the ground. When the sack was full, it was taken to a wagon, weighed, and
emptied into the wagon. When the wagon was full, mules or horses were hitched to it, and it was pulled
to the gin. The nearest gin was at Lenorah.
“The Lindsay store and school, which was nearby, became the center of the community.
Compared with today’s standards, conveniences were few. There were no graded roads, no electricity
and no telephones. Water was piped in to some homes from overhead tanks into which water was
pumped by windmills. Many homes, however, had water carried into the house in water buckets. Most
families had a container enclosed under the overhead tank, where they kept milk and butter cool. Ice

1946

WT Block; Sour Lake, Texas: From Mud Baths to Millionaires: 1835-1909; Atascosito Historical
Society; 1995; provided by Kountze Public Library, 800 South Redwood, Kountze, TX 77625;
http://www.kountzelibrary.org/
1947
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan,_Texas

was a weekend treat brought from town. The outhouse, with the mail order catalogue, was a
recognizable feature at every farm house.”1948
***TELEGRAPH, KIMBLE COUNTY1949, TEXAS***
FB Wyatt displays: “Over nine decades have elapsed since the establishment of the rural store
and post office known as Telegraph, Texas; yet, the history of the area predates the American
Revolution. It is of importance that we mentioned those ‘who came before’.
“In the summer of 1767, Nicholas dela For a, engineer and mapmaker for the expedition of
Spanish Field Marshal Marquis de Rubi, recorded a vivid description of the untamed region. We quote
from the diary: ‘One very copious stream followed the road the greater part of the way. The road
passed through a rocky canyon where several of the rocks were somewhat difficult until it reached the
descent to the Los Chanes River. On the banks of this river, the Chanes Nation formerly lived. We
forded the stream three times and camped on its right bank, near a hill thickly covered with trees where
there is a little spring of very good water. We noted several sierras and hills around us. Pasture is so
abundant that prodigious numbers of buffalo come down to graze during the winter. When hot
weather begins, they return again to the north.
“‘On the 23rd (July), we traveled 10 leagues principally north, although the road makes several
deviations from east-northeast to other directions. At the end of four leagues of very rough hills is a
very steep slope. After traveling half a league over a well-wooded plain, one again fords in shallow
water the Los Chanes River, which flows through a very deep bed. Along its banks, there are hills for a
distance of three leagues. Then comes a plain two leagues long covered with grass and a variety of
trees, among them walnut, wild plum, live oak, chaparral, mesquite, cedar, etc.’
“Some historians believe the seventeenth-century San Clemente Mission was located near here.
We quote from Robert Weddle’s writings of 1964: ‘To these settlements in 1683 came Texas Indians of
the Jumano tribe, asking the Spaniards to found a mission in the Texas hinterlands. Captain Juan
Dominguez de Mendoza led an expedition, accompanied by Friar Nicholas Lopez. He marched from the
Rio Grande into the Edwards Plateau region and established a mission called San Clemente. It was
believed for years that the site of San Clemente was on the Colorado River fifteen miles southeast of
Ballinger, but a recent study offers the South Llano River a few miles southwest of Junction as being
more likely.’
“Adding to the legend and lore of the Telegraph area, James Bowie and his contemporaries
roamed these hills before the Alamo massacre in March 1836. A half mile south of Telegraph on the
Coke R Stevenson ranch is the well-preserved Bowie cabin built of hewn oak and elm timbers. The
spring and creek bearing the name of the intrepid Jim Bowie are located approximately 4.3 miles
southwest on present Highway 377.
“According to the memoirs of Samuel Maverick, a party of about fifty men passed through the
South Llano valley on September 9, 1848. Those in the expedition were John C Hayes, Samuel
Highsmith, Samuel Maverick, and thirty-seven other Texans and ten Delaware Indian guides.
“The post office/store of Telegraph, the site of our proposed marker, was named for a canyon
on the Coke R Stevenson ranch. In 1853 President Franklin Pierce appointed a Southern gentleman,
Jefferson Davis, to serve as Secretary of War. Davis introduced the famous camel experiment at Camp
Verde, east of here in Kerr County. Among Davis’ other ingenious ideas for improving the army was a
plan to connect the frontier forts by telegraph lines. Near here, and across the South Llano River, is a

1948

Corky Blocker, Martin County Judge, PO Box 1330, Stanton, TX 79782; [email protected];
http://www.martincountytexas.us/Officials/Judge.htm
1949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph,_Texas

canyon leading into the river. Scouting parties for the army found ideal poles for telegraph lines in the
canyon and thereafter, the site was known as Telegraph Canyon.”1950
***TELEPHONE, FANNIN COUNTY1951, TEXAS***
FC Hodge expresses: “The first business operated in the town of Telephone was a general store.
Pete Hindman was the owner, and he wanted to establish a post office with it. He applied and
suggested several names for the post office. All were turned down, and in final desperation, he
suggested Telephone, since he was the only resident in the community with a telephone. The US Post
Office Department accepted the name, and the new town of Telephone came into being.”1952
***TESNUS, BREWSTER COUNTY1953, TEXAS***
Richard Bruhn notes: “Tesnus is a rail siding on the Southern Pacific Railroad, twenty-three miles
southeast of Marathon in eastern Brewster County. It was established when the railroad was built
through the area in 1882. The site included a section house, residences for the families of the section
foremen and the water pumper, and several other buildings. It also served as a shipping point for
ranchers in the area.
“The location was at one time named Tabor and was apparently called that for quite some time
by local people. When Tabor applied for a post office in February 1912, there was a conflict of names
with Tabor in Brazos County. The name Sunset was selected in allusion to the Sunset Limited symbol of
the Southern Pacific, but a post office by that name already existed in Montague County. Finally the
name Tesnus was contrived, which is Sunset spelled backwards. Tesnus had twenty people in the 1940s
and 1950s. The post office closed in 1955. Although none of the earlier structures remain, Tesnus still
serves as a siding for the Southern Pacific.”1954
***TROPHY CLUB, DENTON COUNTY1955, TEXAS***
LE Jasinski records: “The town of Trophy Club is located off State Highway 114 about fifteen
miles southwest of Denton in southern Denton County. In 1973 Houston developers contacted the city
council of Westlake and proposed the construction of an upscale planned community centered on a
country club. Texas golf legend Ben Hogan designed an eighteen-hole golf course, and the town's name
originated in the proposal that the country club would exhibit Hogan's golf trophy collection. The golf
course is reportedly the only one Hogan ever designed. Development of the land continued throughout
the next decade, and on January 19, 1985, the community incorporated. In 1990 there were 3,922
residents. Trophy Club covers an area of 2,385 acres, and citizens enjoy a variety of recreational
amenities that include the country club, two golf courses, and nature trails. The town has a
mayor/council form of government and provides police, fire, and emergency services. Its proximity to
1950

Frederica Burt Wyatt; Telegraph Postoffice and General Store; provided by Kimble County Historical
Museum, PO Box 271, Junction, TX 76849; [email protected];
http://www.junctiontexas.net/museum.htm
1951
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone,_Texas
1952
Floy Crandall Hodge; A History of Fannin County featuring Pioneer Families; Pioneer Publishers;
1966; provided by Bonham Public Library, 305 East Fifth St, Bonham, TX 75418; [email protected];
http://netls.tsl.state.tx.us/bonham
1953
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/brewster/tesnus.cfm
1954
Richard Bruhn; Tesnus, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June 15,
2010;
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvt21
1955
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_Club,_Texas

the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has facilitated substantial population growth. In 2000 Trophy Club had
6,350 residents.”1956
***UNCERTAIN, HARRISON COUNTY1957, TEXAS***
Dottie Carter reveals: “I am Dottie Carter, mayor ProTem of the City of Uncertain, TX, USA.
“You ask how our city became named Uncertain. There are many legends, but I believe the one
that has passed down through my family.
“Caddo Lake was once a steamboat passage from the Mississippi River, up the Red River, and
then through Big Cypress Bayou (Caddo Lake) and on to Jefferson, TX, which was a thriving town in
the mid-1800s. The water level fluctuated so on the Bayou, near the present sight of our little lakeside
city, that soundings for the water depth were always ‘Uncertain’. The area became known as Uncertain,
and the first fishermen/hunters' clubhouse was named Uncertain. When the town incorporated in the
early 60s, the founding fathers sent in the documentation to the state of Texas, with the name listed as
Uncertain. The state returned the paperwork with a memo that the town had to be named before
incorporation could move forward.
“The town could have been called ‘Jack of Diamonds’. Many workers on the steamboats could
not read so the cargo was marked with playing cards to designate various destinations.”1958
Texas State Historical Association spells out: “Uncertain, also known as Uncertain Landing, is an
incorporated community on the shores of Caddo Lake, seventeen miles northeast of Marshall in
northeastern Harrison County. The site was once known as Uncertain Landing, so named, according to
one local tradition, because the difficulty steamboat captains in earlier days had in mooring their vessels
there. Another tradition has it that the town name came from the uncertainty that residents had about
their citizenship, before the boundary between the United States and the Republic of Texas had been
established. The latter uncertainty was a substantial benefit to residents, who did not like paying taxes.
In the early 1900s, the site included a hunting, fishing, and boating society called the Uncertain Club.
During the 1940s, the community had scattered dwellings, a saw mill, several camping lodges, and some
five other businesses. In a bid to promote tourism by providing an area with legal alcohol consumption,
the community was incorporated as Uncertain in 1961. That year many of its 213 citizens were fishingcamp operators. The population of Uncertain was estimated at 189 in 1988, and the town limits were
irregularly shaped, as they were designed to include most of the restaurants and fishing camps along
that part of the Caddo Lake shoreline. Beer Smith’s Caddo Lake Airport, known as the Fly and Fish, also
lay within the boundaries of the community. The 1990 the population of Uncertain was 194.”1959
***WEALTHY, LEON COUNTY1960, TEXAS***
ME Kruger touches on: “Wealthy is on Farm Road 3 twenty-one miles southwest of Centerville
and five miles west of Normangee in southwestern Leon County. The post office operated from 1894
until 1914. According to one source, the town was originally named Poor, but when it applied for a post
office, the name was rejected. The name Wealthy was substituted and the application accepted. In 1896
Wealthy reported a population high of ninety. The community had a Baptist church, a barbershop, a
1956

Laurie E Jasinski; Trophy Club, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June
15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hft02
1957
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertain,_Texas
1958
Dottie Carter; [email protected]
1959
Texas State Historical Association; Uncertain, Texas; The New Handbook of Texas; Vol 6; 1996;
provided by Cynthia King, Public Services Librarian, Marshall Public Library, 300 South Alamo Blvd,
Marshall, TX 75670; [email protected]; www.marshallpubliclibrary.org
1960
http://texas.hometownlocator.com/tx/leon/wealthy.cfm

jeweler, two gristmills and gins, sorghum manufacturers, a school, a general store, and a blacksmith. In
1907 there was one school. By 1914 Wealthy had a population of twenty-five, a general store, and a
telephone connection. In 1948 it had a church, a school, and several scattered dwellings. In 1990 a
cemetery and Mount Zion church were located northeast of Wealthy.”1961
***WEEPING MARY, CHEROKEE COUNTY1962, TEXAS***
Christopher Long clarifies: “Weeping Mary is just off State Highway 21 and eighteen miles west
of Rusk in southern Cherokee County. The community was probably first settled soon after the Civil
War, by freed slaves from neighboring plantations. It is said to have been named for Mary Magdalene's
weeping at the tomb of Jesus. Alternately, variations of a local legend state that a black woman named
Mary wept from the devastating loss of her land to a white man, or that the woman, after making a pact
with the area's freedmen that no one would sell their land to the white settlers, wept over the loss of
the community when that promise was broken. Residents established a Baptist church. A local school for
black children was operation by 1896, when it had enrollment of forty. In the 1930s, Weeping Mary had
a school and a few houses. The school was closed around the time of World War II, but in 1990, a church
and a few scattered houses still remained in the area. The population was forty in 2000.”1963
**UTAH**
WR Palmer documents: “Utah. When the Mormon pioneers entered the inter-mountain empire
three quarters of a century ago, all the country now embraced in the State of Utah, from latitude fortyone to the southern state boundary and extending on to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, was the
tribal domain of the Ute Indian Nation. This great nation was divided into several (Escalante says five)
independent tribes, and these in turn, were subdivided into many smaller clans, which are usually,
though erroneously, called tribes.
“Among the Indians of Ute stock may be mentioned the Utes, Pahutes, Pahvantits, Shivwits,
Kaibabits, Uintkarets, and several others. The language of these several tribes and clans is essentially
Ute, though in the long separations, many provincialisms have crept in and modified the mother tongue.
When referred to collectively, all these tribes and clans embraced in the Ute Nation are called by the
Indians Ute-ahs. Occasionally, though less frequently, one hears them called Uintas. They speak of the
inter-mountain country as Tu-weap-ah Ute-ah, which means ‘land or country of the Utes’.
“Discussing the Mormon settlement of Utah with a group of Pahutes one day, an old Indian
excitedly jumped up, and sweeping his arms to indicate the whole country, said to me, ‘Soka tu-weap-ah
Ute-ah, Mormonie cu-up.’ Interpreted he said, ‘This whole country belonged to the Utes but the
Mormons came and took it.’”1964
KB Harder observes: “From the Indian name Ute or Eutaw, variously defined as ‘in the tops of
the mountains’, ‘high-up’, ‘the land of the sun’, and ‘the land of plenty’. Variant spellings include Youta,
Eutah, and Utaw.”1965
JW Van Cott recounts: “The Mormon pioneers first settled in their promised land between July
21 and 24, 1847, although trappers and mountain men had thoroughly covered the region during the
1961

Maria Elena Kruger; Wealthy, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association; June
15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvw24
1962
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_Mary,_Texas
1963
Christopher Long; Weeping Mary, TX; Handbook of Texas Online; Texas State Historical Association;
June 15, 2010; http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrw44
1964
William R Palmer; Indian Names in Utah Geography; Utah Historical Quarterly; 1928
1965
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976

previous 25 years. The Dominguez and Escalante party had also penetrated the region in 1776. Before
this exploration and settlement, the area was home to the native Indians. The Mormons established
their State of Deseret on March 12, 1849. The term Deseret comes from their scriptures and means
‘honey bee’. Deseret was later changed to the Territory of Utah on September 9, 1850. The word Utah
was taken from the native Ute Indians. The State of Utah was formalized on January 4, 1896.”1966
www.statesymbolsusa.org says: “Utah originates from an Apache Indian word (yuttahih), which
means ‘one that is higher up’. Europeans thought the word referred to Indians living higher in the
mountains than the Navajo - the territory became known as the land of the Utes, and eventually
Utah.”1967
DJ McInerney spotlights: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded in 1830 by
Joseph Smith, offered one expression of American religious nationalism. ‘Mormon’ followers believed
that the young Smith received revelations and spiritual visitations in the 1820s, after which he produced
the Book of Mormon, purported to be a translation of ancient golden plates containing a long-lost part
of Scripture. The book described America as a place like no other. According to Smith, America was the
site of the Garden of Eden; a tribe of ancient Israelites had traveled to America; Christ visited the New
World after his resurrection; in America, a new prophet would recover the full word of God, receive
divine revelation, expose the falsehood of other faiths, and restore God’s true church. In this ‘land of
choice above all other lands’, the faithful would establish the kingdom of God on earth. The creed Smith
expressed was not simply an example of a religion in America; Mormonism was a faith about America.”
DJ McInerney underscores: “The immense new lands posed problems of their own.
Complicating matters further were large movements of people onto the territory. In July 1847, Brigham
Young led nearly 150 Mormons into the northeastern edge of the Great Basin. By the shores of Salt
Lake, he declared ‘this is the place’ where persecuted church members would find solace and security.
Thousands of Mormon pioneers quickly followed. The nation watched anxiously as Utah Territory in the
West filled with religious radicals, deemed to menacing and subversive for the East.”1968
***ANGELS LANDING, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott comments: “Is a dramatic sandstone monolith deep in Zion Canyon National Park
across the river and north of Cable Mountain. This is a water-carved formation with a partially flattened
dome that was eroded out of the Mukuntuweap Plateau. Wind blowing sand has aided in the erosion,
leaving unusual formations, under cuttings, caves, and coves. Angels Landing was named by the
Reverend Frederick Vining Fisher of Ogden, Utah. The nearby Great White Throne was visualized as the
throne of Deity, which Fisher felt Angels would never land on but would reverently pause at the foot of
to pay their obeisance from nearby Angels Landing.”1969
***BLUE JOHN CANYON, WAYNE COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott emphasizes: “Originates in the high Roost country south of the Roost Flats, draining
northeast into Horseshoe Canyon. This entire area is now part of Canyonlands National Park. The
canyon was named after John Griffith, or ‘Blue John’, an outlaw and cattle rustler who arrived in the

1966

John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1967
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Utah/name_utah.html
1968
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001
1969
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990

area around 1889-1900. He reportedly had one blue eye and one brown eye, which had a cast in it.
Griffith’s nickname was originated by Ink Harris, another outlaw.”1970
***BOUNTIFUL, DAVIS COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott gives: “Is eight miles north of Salt Lake City on Interstate 15 and Utah 106. It was
initially settled in 1847 by Perrigrine Sessions, Jezreel Shoemaker, and John Perry and their families. It
has the distinction of being the second city settled by the Mormon pioneers in the Utah Territory. The
name has been changed on several occasions. It was originally known as Calls Settlement for Anson Call,
who stopped to visit the area. The name was then changed to Sessions Settlement for Perrigrine
Sessions. For a time, it was called North Mill Creek Canyon Ward to distinguish it from Mill Creek
Canyon Ward, east of Salt Lake City. This name was soon shortened to North Canyon Ward. In 1854 the
first post office identified the town as North Canyon Settlement. The town was also known as Stoker in
honor of John Stoker, the first Mormon bishop in the area. He finally suggested the name ‘Bountiful’,
after an ancient city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Bountiful was unanimously accepted and the
name has remained unchanged since February 27, 1855.”1971
***DANCE HALL ROCK, KANE COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott pens: “Is on the old Hole-in-the-Rock road, 45 miles east of Escalante. The
members of the expedition camped by this feature, while waiting for a passage (the Hole) to be blasted
out of the rock. This passage would provide a passageway down through the cliffs to the river crossing
below. Dance Hall Rock is a large, natural sandstone amphitheater with a comparatively flat base,
located seventeen miles from the Hole. The amphitheater was large enough to hold meetings or socials.
Members of the expedition camped at Dance Hall Rock for approximately four months before they
conquered the Hole, crossed the river, and moved on.”1972
***DEAD HORSE POINT, GRAND COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott scribes: “Is between Shafer Canyon and Shafer Basin in the Dead Horse Point State
Park, twelve airline miles southwest of Moab. The point is a prominent abutment on a steep-walled
mesa. It is about 400 yards wide and has vertical cliff walls that drop over 2,000. The narrow neck
leading into the mesa is approximately 30 yards wide. There are several versions to the name origin.
One story has rustlers either shooting or abandoning their stolen herd in order to escape a posse.
Another more accepted version records that in 1894, Arthur Taylor, a Moab stockman, was herding
cattle between the La Sal Mountains summer range and the winter range along the river, when he came
upon a large water-pocket, typical of this arid slick rock and but inaccessible. Several dead horses were
nearby. Unable to reach water, the horses had apparently died of thirst. The proximity of the dead
horses to the point on the mesa gave rise to the name.”1973
***DUTCH JOHN, DAGGETT COUNTY1974, UTAH***
1970

John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1971
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1972
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1973
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1974
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_John,_Utah

www.daggettcounty.org states: “The area of Dutch John, Utah, is not an incorporated town, but
is maintained and managed by Daggett County. The housing in the area was originally constructed by
the Bureau of Reclamation to house those who were working on the Flaming Gorge Dam. The area
received its name from John Honselena, often mispronounced ‘Hunslinger’, who was actually a native of
Sheiswig, Germany. He raised horses and had a summer camp and cabin hear the Summit Springs Guard
Station. He used winter range on the east side of the Green River in what was known as ‘Joe’s Pasture’.
His headquarters was along the river in Red Canyon, and his range spilled over into the area now called
Dutch John Flat or Dutch John Bench. Honselena was given the name ‘Dutch John’ because he talked
with a German accent and was a little hard to understand. To the people of the time, he sounded like a
‘Dutchman’. He seems to have just faded away.”1975
***ECHO, SUMMIT COUNTY, UTAH***
NaVee Vernon alludes to: “Altitude 5,571; population 75; settled 1854
“Derived its name from Echo Canyon, which received its name because of the resonance of the
cliffs that form its walls. It was called Echo City for a time but a city did not materialize so the city was
dropped.
“Echo is located at the mouth of Echo Canyon, so named because of the echoes that pioneers
heard off of the red cliffs as they journeyed along the Mormon Trail. James Bromley settled at Echo to
operate the Weber Stage Station. In 1868 the first transcontinental railroad was built through Echo,
which was a major improvement for settlers traveling to the west. Many travelers and large amounts of
freight pass through Echo on the freeway in a steady stream. It is still an important route for the
railroad. In 1868 LDS [Latter Day Saints] Church President Brigham Young purchased the entire valley
around Echo from James E Bromley for $200 and established a Mormon settlement. In a period of a
month, it became a railroad town, fifty buildings were built, and a grid of wide city streets had been
built. The town boomed during the early years of the railroad and then began to decline. Today Echo is
mostly a memory, only the history and a few historic buildings have survived, and there is approximately
75 people that live there. It is a beautiful, peaceful place with lots of memories.
“Echo! Echo! Echo!”1976
BG Ferris communicates: “From the South Pass to the Wasatch Mountains, which bound the
Great Basin on the east, the country consists mostly of rolling plains, quite similar to those over which
we had passed. These mountains present the most fatiguing and difficult portions of the entire journey.
It was, with few exceptions, a succession of steep ascents and descents, and narrow, rocky defiles; but
the scenery was alternately beautiful and grand. The Spanish word canon (pronounced ‘canyon’) is now
the familiar designation of the narrow passes through the mountains. One of these, called Echo Canon,
is twenty-five miles in length, terminates on the Weber River, and furnishes a nearly level road the
whole distance. This canon is half a mile wide, is walled in by precipitous ridges, and the rocks, in many
places, are worn into the same castellated forms so common in the vicinity of Scott’s Bluffs. In one
place, the rocks were of a bright straw color, and the reflection produced a soft, yellow light. We finally
descended into the Valley of Salt Lake, through Parley’s Canon, a dangerous pass, in places but a few

1975

http://www.daggettcounty.org/index.aspx?nid=57; provided by Cornel W Thomas, Director,
Duchesne County Library System, Duchesne Library, 130 South Center Street, PO Box 169, Duchesne, UT
84021-0169; [email protected]
1976
NaVee Vernon, Historical Director, Summit County, 60 North Main, PO Box 128, Coalville, UT 84017;
[email protected]

rods wide, and walled in by rocks more than two thousand feet high. In a military point of view, these
passes might be defended by a handful of resolute men against a host.”1977
***ELMO, EMERY COUNTY1978, UTAH***
EA Geary depicts: “Elmo had its origins between 1904 and 1908, when several families filed for
homesteads or cash entities in an area known as Washboard Flat (so named because of a series of
narrow, parallel hills divided by hollows, thus resembling a washboard). Canals were extended to supply
irrigation water to the new land, and the settlers moved onto their properties, living at first in tents,
dugouts, and log cabins. Most of the settlers came from the community of Cleveland, only a few miles
away, but still a rather long walk or wagon ride from the farms.
“In the summer of 1908, George Oviatt and Worth Tucker each purchased 80 acres of a state
school section and had the land surveyed for a town site. Most of the settlers acquired a residential lot
in the town, planning to build there after they had completed the residential requirements for their
homesteads. A combined school, church, and amusement hall, measuring 17 by 20 feet, was built in
1908. A ‘bowery’ (an open-air structure of posts, poles, and brush) was added in 1909 for community
use during the summers.
“By 1911 the community had grown to the point, where larger public facilities were needed.
The residents purchased a frame school from Cleveland, sawed in half, then dragged the sections four
miles on log skids and reassembled it in Elmo, where they also added a T-wing at the rear. This building
was still in use as a church and recreation hall into the late 1950s, when I remember visiting it. By this
time, the community also had a store. A post office was established in 1912, and a Latter-day Saints
ward in 1913. An account of the community’s history written in 1949, reads: ‘Until this time the town
had not been named officially. At a public meeting several times were selected and voted upon. The
name of Elmo received the most votes, so ‘Elmo’ it was.’ [Stella McElprang, compiler, Castle Valley: A
History of Emery County (Emery County Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1949), 134] Oral tradition has it
that the Erickson, Larsen, Mortensen, and Oviatt families were well represented at the public meeting,
and the name derived from a combination of their initials.
“Elmo was incorporated as a town in 1935. It has never been a large community, but it has the
interesting distinction of being the only town in Emery County to show some growth in every US Census
from 1920 to 2000. This results in part from its being the nearest town in the county to the regional
commercial center of Price, Carbon County. People who work in Price but desire a more rural lifestyle
are attracted to Elmo.”1979
***FERNS NIPPLE, WAYNE COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott enumerates: “Is a small cone-shaped butte in Capitol Reef National Park, southeast
across Grand Wash from Cassidy Arch. Folklore has it that the formation was named by the notorious
outlaw Butch Cassidy. Fern was supposedly a favored girlfriend of Cassidy’s.”1980
***FLAT NOSE GEORGE CANYON, GRAND COUNTY, UTAH***

1977

Benjamin G Ferris; Utah and the Mormons: The History, Government, Doctrines, Customs, and
Prospects of the Latter-day Saints. From Personal Observation During a Six Months’ Residence at Great
Salt Lake City; Harper & Brothers; 1856
1978
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmo,_Utah
1979
Edward A Geary, PO Box 1392, Huntington, UT 84528; [email protected]
1980
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990

JW Van Cott gives an account: “Originates on the East Tavaputs Plateau and drains west
southwest into Rattlesnake Canyon. Flat Nose George (George Curry) was an outlaw of the 1890s, who
led the well-known Curry Gang. He was killed on April 17, 1900, by Doc King, foreman of the Webster
City Cattle Company. King was a member of a posse out to capture Tom Dilly, another outlaw in the
area. Curry was killed by mistake in the vicinity of the canyon that now bears his name.”1981
***GHOST ROCK, EMERY COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott points out: “Is on the San Rafael Swell near Interstate 70 between Secret Mesa and
Head of Sinbad. Dutchmans Arch is one mile east. Early cowboys named this feature, as they watched
the early-morning fog shroud the base with the peak protruding above, often giving the appearance of
ghost-like figures floating in the air. Ghost Rock was an important landmark in this desert region.”1982
***GOBLIN VALLEY, EMERY COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott relates: “Is in the upper reaches of the Red Canyon drainage, fifteen miles south of
Hanksville. It is a geologically unique area with unusual highly eroded, goblin-like shapes from which the
area receives its name. It is also whimsically known as Hoodoo Valley or Golly Gully. The view is
especially dramatic in moonlight or when the sun is low. At this time, the mushroom-shaped figures
appear huddled or in praying groups.”1983
***GREAT SALT LAKE, SALT LAKE COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott stipulates: “Was first discovered by a white man in 1824. The credit – although
contested by some – is given to Jim Bridger, the well-known guide and mountain man, who acted as a
scout in this area for William H Ashley. The early explorers originally thought the lake was an arm of the
Pacific Ocean, because of the high salt content. Captain Bonneville gave the lake his own name on
subsequent maps, but the name did not hold. The lake was also previously named Lake Timpanogo and
still earlier, Thoago. The present name was given by Captain JC Fremont. The lake’s mysterious
background and atmosphere has been the source of legends from both Indians and whites, and serious
stories of giant whirlpools and water monsters have existed throughout Utah’s history. The name of the
lake indicates its high salt content, along with other commercial minerals.”1984
***GREAT WHITE THRONE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott writes: “Is a gigantic, white, truncated sandstone monolith established on a red
sandstone base. It is in upper Zion Canyon of Zion National Park, near the North Fork of the Virgin River.
Nearby is Angels Landing. These two formations were named in 1917, by Frederick Vining Fisher, a
Methodist minister from Ogden, Utah. He wrote that the features should be spoken of reverently as the
throne of God and the place where angels kneel in obeisance to God, not feeling worthy to approach
closer – hence, Great White Throne and Angels Landing.”1985
1981

John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1982
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1983
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1984
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1985
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990

***HARDUP, BOX ELDER COUNTY1986, UTAH***
Kaia Landon articulates: “From what I can tell, the place was actually called ‘Hardup’, not
‘Hardup's Place’, but that's about all I can find. There is a book on Utah place names that doesn't give
any additional information (you can find online via google).
“My wager would be that whoever gave it the name found themselves hard-up for something
when they arrived there - be it water or food or shelter or whatever. I don't know how familiar you are
with that area of the state, but it would be an understatement to call it fairly desolate - particularly if
we're talking winter, or the 19th century.
“The museum's Curator of Natural History, who has been in that area many times in the course
of collecting mineral samples, has never heard of it. While GNIS [Geographic Names Information System]
records show it as a ‘populated place’, online maps seem to suggest that there is literally nothing
there.”1987
***HURRICANE, WASHINGTON COUNTY1988, UTAH***
www.utahsdixie.com describes: “Visitors traveling through Hurricane might wonder why a town
in southern Utah shares its name with a tropical cyclone – a type of storm that never has and never will
make ‘landfall’ in the inland desert. The curious name dates back to the early 1860s, when a whirlwind
blew off the top of a buggy carrying a group of surveyors, led by Mormon leader Erastus Snow. ‘Well,
that was a Hurricane,’ exclaimed Snow. ‘We’ll name this the Hurricane Hill.’ The nearby fault, mesa, and,
later on, the town, took the same moniker. How residents say the name might catch many off guard.
Locals pronounce it ‘Her-ah-kun,” which is the British pronunciation. Coincidentally, a town in West
Virginia shares the same name and pronunciation. True to its name, the town has a reputation for being
windy and slightly colder than St George.
“Hurricane’s first residents, the Paiute Indians, called the area Timpoweap, meaning ‘Rock
Canyon’. In 1776 the Dominguez and Escalante expedition passed through the region, stopping at the
confluence of Ash Creek, LaVerkin Creek and the Virgin River, and noting the signs of irrigation left by
the Paiutes. Some speculate that mountain men, such as Jedediah Smith and George C Yount, also
passed through the area. A group led by Mormon Apostle Parley P Pratt in 1849-50, and another
exploring party led by John Steele in 1852, came through Hurricane, both using the river junction as a
landmark and a crossing point.
“Compared to other communities in Washington County, Hurricane arrived late on the scene.
Mormon settlers realized the potential of Hurricane’s 2,000 fertile acres as early as 1867, when the idea
to build irrigation system was born. Unfortunately they had to delay the project, until there was enough
funding, equipment and engineering capability to complete it. In 1893 James Jepson of Virgin and John
Steele of Toquerville, came up with a way to get water onto the Hurricane Bench from the Virgin River –
by building a dam 7.5 miles upriver from what is now known as Pah Tempe Hot Springs and diverting the
water into a canal. Soon after 53 area men signed the articles of incorporation for the Hurricane Canal
Company. Work on the project commenced the following winter. Problems plagued construction from
the beginning, including having to rebuild the dam twice and a shortage of capital. Thankfully the LDS
[Latter Day Saints] Church stepped in and purchased $5,000 worth of shares, allowing the work to
continue. Canal construction took 11 years to complete, due to the rudimentary nature of the labor,
1986

http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/box-elder/hardup.cfm
Kaia Landon, Director, Brigham City Museum-Gallery and Box Elder Museum, 24 North 300 West, PO
Box 583, Brigham City, UT 84302; [email protected];
http://brighamcity.utah.gov/museum.htm
1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane,_Utah
1987

which was done with picks, shovels, wheelbarrows and hand-driven drills, and because the work took
place largely during the winter months, to enable laborers to work their farms and support their
families. Finally on August 6, 1904, water flowed through the canal for the first time, to the jubilation of
area residents.
“The canal paved the way for the establishment of the town. Settled in 1906, Mr and Mrs
Thomas Hinton became Hurricane’s first residents. True to what the pioneers thought in 1867, once
irrigated, Hurricane’s 2,000 acres became excellent farmland, producing fine orchards and vineyards, as
well as fields of alfalfa, grain, and sugar beets. It later earned the nickname ‘The Fruit Basket of Southern
Utah’. In 1917 the town’s population was approximately 800, and by 1930, it grew to 1,197.
“Today Hurricane boasts a population of nearly 11,000 and continues to grow at a rapid pace,
with new residents attracted by the area’s pleasant climate, favorable economy, and close proximity to
recreation havens such as Zion National Park, Lake Powell and Grand Canyon National Park. Located 18
miles east of St George, Hurricane also lies within minutes of Quail Creek and Sand Hollow reservoirs,
popular spots for boating, water skiing and fishing. The city hosts Peach Days each Labor Day Weekend,
which commemorates its fruit-growing heritage. The festival includes a parade, agricultural displays, live
entertainment, food and craft vendors, a variety of contests, and children’s games, among other
activities. Hurricane exudes extreme civic pride, which has produced the Heritage Park and Pioneer
Museum, housed in the former library, in the center of town. The museum recounts the history of the
town’s settlers and the construction of the canal. Though no longer in use, a trail along part of its former
route and the museum’s exhibits preserve the canal’s memory, a testament to the ingenuity,
determination and longsuffering of Hurricane’s pioneers.”1989
***IOSEPA, TOOELE COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott establishes: “Was twenty miles south of the Great Salt Lake in the center of Skull
Valley. In 1889 with the encouragement of the Mormon Church, a group of converts from Hawaii
attempted to establish a colony at this location. At one time, over 225 Mormon Church members lived
in the colony. Hansen’s disease (leprosy) struck the settlement in 1893. When the church built a temple
in Hawaii in 1916, many of the Hawaiians returned to their homeland. By 1917 Iosepa was a ghost town
centered on a cemetery. The property was later sold to the Deseret Livestock Company. Iosepa is
Hawaiian for ‘Joseph’.”1990
***KOOSHAREM, SEVIER COUNTY1991, UTAH***
WR Palmer designates: “Koosharem. An Indian village near Richfield, Utah. The name is
pronounced by the Indians koo-shar-omp. It means ‘roots that are good to eat’. A plant flourished
there, the roots of which they cooked and ate. It is described as about the size and shape of a small
carrot, and of similar flavor.”1992
Sandy Lee highlights: “Koosharem (also known as Grass Valley) is located in the South Central
Mountains of Utah. The elevation is just over 7,000 feet. Koosharem is a Paiute Indian word meaning
‘red clover’. Indians inhabited the area for many years. (My mom remembers the Indians being here
when she was a little girl.) The first settlers came in 1873. Settlement by the Mormon Pioneers began
in 1864.

1989

http://www.utahsdixie.com/hurricane.html
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1991
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koosharem,_Utah
1992
William R Palmer; Indian Names in Utah Geography; Utah Historical Quarterly; 1928
1990

“Families migrating from England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and many other countries came
to homestead the land. They built a Reservoir with ditches through the valley to irrigate crops.”1993
***MEXICAN HAT, SAN JUAN COUNTY1994, UTAH***
Debbie Herman portrays: “Mexican Hat got its name from a nearby sandstone rock formation
that looks like an upside-down sombrero! The formation is a large, disc-shaped rock, about 60 feet in
diameter, resting on a much smaller base atop a rocky hill. It actually looks like the hat is balancing
precariously on the hill, ready to fall off at any moment! This small community in southeast Utah is
surrounded by beautiful scenery, including the San Juan River, sandstone cliffs, canyons, and sandy
desert plains. Hats off to Mexican Hat!”1995
***MUKUNTUWEAP CANYON, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott remarks: “Is in the heart of Zion National Park. The North Fork of the Virgin River
drains southwest through this canyon for about ten miles. When Major Powell named the canyon, he
kept the original Indian name. The meaning of the name, however, is another matter. It could mean
‘Straight Canyon’, ‘The Place of the Gods’, or ‘God’s Land’. It may have been named for Chief Mokun of
the Virgin River Indians and would mean ‘Land of Mokun’. The name could be a derivative of the
flowering desert plant, yucca or oose, muk-unk. If Anglicized, the term would mean ‘Oose Creek’ or
‘Soap Creek’. One source states that the name means ‘Red Dirt’ and another claims it is ‘Big Canyon’. It
should always be kept in mind that an Indian name is not standardized on a written map, and it may
apply only to a small section of a feature or area. Also in this particular region, Piute Indian names might
overlap with Navajo Indian names. In consideration of all these possible sources, it is nice to note that
today the original name is not used as much as ‘North Fork of the Virgin (River)’.”1996
***NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott shares: “Is a cluster of three natural, single-span bridges on Utah 95 near the
junction of White and Armstrong canyons west of Blanding Cass Hite; a prospector who settled Hite
(now under the waters of Lake Powell) is credited as the first white man to bring the National Bridges to
the attention of the public. This occurred in 1883. Hite named the bridges the President, Congressman,
and Senator, and gave glowing reports of his find. Jim Scorup, a local cattleman, reported seeing them
in 1895. In 1903 Scorup guided Horace J Long, a mining engineer sponsored by The Commercial Club,
into the region to see the bridges. By mutual agreement, Long and Scorup named Cass Hite’s President
Bridge, the Augusta for Long’s wife. The Senator Bridge was named the Caroline Bridge for Jim’s
mother. The Congressman was named the Little Bridge, because it was the smallest of the three
bridges; the name was then changed to the Edwin to honor Colonel Edwin F Holmes of Salt Lake City, an
ex-president of the Commercial Club. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the natural
bridge area a national monument, and this became the first site in Utah to be administered by the
National Park Service. Years later a government surveyor, William Douglas, began searching for what
was termed more appropriate Indian names to best identify the bridges. He learned the local Paiute
Indians called all natural bridges Ma-Vah-Talk-Tusip or ‘Under the Horse’s Belly’. The Caroline Bridge
was the largest of the three bridges and was renamed Kachina or ‘Sacred Dance’, because of the dance
1993

Sandy Lee, Koosharem Town Treasurer; [email protected]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Hat,_Utah
1995
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
1996
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1994

symbol pictographs carved into the bridge. The Augusta Bridge was renamed the Sipapu because of its
unusual shape. Indian legend states the name means ‘the gateway through which the souls of men
come from the underworld and finally return to it’. The smallest bridge (the Little Bridge that became
Edwin Bridge) was named the Owachomo Bridge or Flatrock Mount, for a geographic formation in the
vicinity. With all the effort made to obtain appropriate names for the bridges, all three names were
Hopi Indian names. The Hopi people were from Arizona, not Utah, but it was believed that they were
descendants of the people who built the ruins at the bridges. At any rate, the only recorded Hopi Indian
place names in Utah today are those of the Natural Bridges National Monument.”1997
***ORDERVILLE, KANE COUNTY1998, UTAH***
MS Bradley stresses: “Probably no town in Utah has a more colorful history than the small
village near the southern boundary named Orderville, because of the way of life lived there for a
number of years. Andrew Jenson, historian of the Mormon Church, wrote this of the small community:
“‘Of all the settlements founded by the Latter-day Saints in the Rocky Mountains, there is one
little town in Southern Utah, which in some respects has become distinguished ahead of any other
hamlet, town, or city in the state; not because of its superior location, for there are many towns
occupied by Latter-day Saints, which have more attractive surroundings than the one to which we refer;
yet Orderville was founded by a people, who were endeavoring to carry out the principles of practical
Christianity more perfectly in temporal and spiritual matters, than any other community belonging to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We allude to the principle of the United Order and the
success, which the people of Orderville met with, in carrying out the same to a successful issue for quite
a number of years.’
“Although there were a few settlers in Long Valley as early as 1864, men who had located at Mt
Carmel and Glendale (then known as Windsor and Berryville), because they had found the region
suitable for cattle raising, the real history of Orderville began a few years later.
“The people in Windsor and Berryville had abandoned those settlements, because of trouble
with the Indians, when a group of people from the Muddy Mission came from Nevada to Long Valley. It
was this group which, in reality, made up the original settlers of Orderville.
“These people, about 350 in number, had been called by President Brigham Young to go to a
place on the Muddy River in Nevada (at that time thought to be in Utah) and try to establish a cotton
farm for the Church. They established three communities. After a few years in 1870, they were
released from this mission, because the officials of Nevada were demanding heavy back taxes which
they could not pay, and because the experiment in cotton raising in that locality was not proving as
successful as had been hoped.
“When the mission was dissolved, the church president informed the people that they were free
to go back to their old homes if they desired, but he advised that those who felt that they could, should
go to Long Valley and help to settle that region. Most of them followed that advice.
“They sent a committee to investigate the best way to travel to the new location. The men were
also to find out what kind of place it was. The following men were on that committee: William Heaton,
AK Kimball, Daniel Stark, Lyman Lovett, James Leithead, Warren Foot, John S Carpenter, and Andrew
Gibbon. They discovered that the only way to get to Long Valley was to go first to St George, then
proceed for eighty miles over a difficult, sandy desert, then past Pipe Spring and Kanab, still on for
twenty miles over deep, drifting sand to the valley.

1997

John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
1998
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orderville,_Utah

“The advance contingent of these investigators, reached Long Valley on Christmas Day, 1870.
They made a careful survey of the valley, and reported back that it was a canyon about fifteen miles long
and three-fourths of a mile wide, enclosing about thirteen hundred square acres of tillable land, with
scarcely enough water to irrigate it. They added that the climate was mild, well adapted to the raising of
grain, vegetables and fruit and that it had very good grazing facilities.
“This report was found acceptable to the waiting families on the Muddy. Consequently they
disposed of as much of their property as they could, and nearly two hundred made their way shortly
afterward to Long Valley.
“The journey was very tedious. One of the members, Joseph Allen, who had gone through the
difficult experiences of the mobbing of the Mormons at the time of their expulsion from Nauvoo, and
the hardships of crossing the plains, declared the trip from the Muddy to be the hardest experience he
had endured. They had many delays caused by broken wagons, worn-out teams, and sickness among
the travelers. While stopping in St George at the beginning of their trip, some of the party, Thomas
Chamberlain was one, contracted measles.
“They finally reached the small settlement at the southern end of the Valley called Windsor, on
the first day of March 1871. They stopped here and were later joined by about the same number of
people, who had formerly occupied the place, but had abandoned it on account of Indian troubles some
years before.
“Not all the people from the Muddy Mission settled in Long Valley. Some stopped in Dixie.
Some returned to their former homes in Northern Utah, and others remained in Kanab.
“Those who chose Mt Carmel for their new home had been in the settlements of Overton and St
Thomas. They organized themselves into one unit. However for a time James Liethead, who settled in
the northern location, now Glendale, acted as bishop for the entire group.
“In 1874 President Young called upon the people in this locality to form a unit in which all
property was held in common and the people lived and worked as one large family.
“At this time Brigham Young had one of his families living in St George, and it was his custom to
spend part of the winter there. On his yearly trips to the Dixie country, he would visit the settlements
throughout the southern part of the Territory. It was during his annual tour in 1874 that he organized
units of the United Order in most of the settlements in Southern Utah.
“Establishment of the ‘principle of consecration’, so it was called, did not work out with practical
success in most localities, and in a very few years most of the units were dissolved. The organization in
Cedar, under the leadership of John M Higbee, continued for only a year. In Kanab it lasted with more
or less success for five or six years. It was fully successful, however, for only two years.
“The thing that makes Orderville unique is that the system worked surprising well for many
years. In fact some phases of the organization continued to function almost twenty years after the
initial organization. President Young stated that it was the most successfully run and the nearest right of
any attempt of the communal way of life, which the Prophet Joseph Smith looked forward to for the
Latter-day Saints, almost at the beginning of Mormon history. The Prophet explained that the purpose
of the plan was to make the saints more nearly equal in temporal things. Of course he had in mind too,
the individual values that would accrue from such a self-sacrificing way of living, if it could be done
successfully.
“Mark A Pendelton, writing of Orderville, says: ‘It was here over a half century ago, in a remote
region that an impoverished people solved in a unique way, the age-old problem of providing food,

shelter and clothing for the group, and attained a degree of culture second in Southern Utah only to that
of St George.’”1999
***PORCUPINE RIDGE, SUMMIT COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott composes: “Has a north-south orientation east of Avon and south of Porcupine
Reservoir. The numerous porcupines in the area caused problems for the sheep and especially
sheepdogs, who were continually getting quills in their faces. Occasionally the situation was so serious
that the sheep had to be moved from the region.”2000
***QUICHAPA CREEK, IRON COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott designates: “Originates in the Harmony Mountains and drains northeast into Cedar
Valley. The creek drains through an antelope and big horn sheep bedding ground in an alkaline area.
The name is Paiute and means ‘dung’. Other sources say it means ‘laxative waters’. There are many
spellings to the word, depending on how the Indian oral language is interpreted.”2001
***RAINBOW BRIDGE, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott expands: “Is on the northwest slopes of Navajo Mountain in the Rainbow Bridge
National Monument at the mouth of Bridge Canyon. Lake Powell now lies at the base of the bridge.
White men initially viewed this feature on August 14, 1909, when WB Douglass of the US General Land
Office, Bryon Cummings of the University of Utah, and others reached the bridge. Geologically it is a
part of the upper La Plata sandstone, which was deposited in Jurassic times. It was considered the
largest single-span natural arch in the known world until 1983, when the Kolob Arch in Zion National
Park entered the competition. Each bridge has its advocates, but the Kolob seems to have an edge over
the Rainbow. The name of the bridge is derived from Navajo Indian words such as na’nanzozh and
nannezoshie, which mean ‘great arch’ or ‘stone arch’. The Piute Indian name is Barohoine, meaning ‘The
Rainbow’.”2002
***SHIVWITS, WASHINGTON COUNTY2003, UTAH***
Dorena Martineau illustrates: “There is a book called The Southern Paiutes Myths Legends &
Lore’s that was written by LaVan Martineau that has place name of Washington County. The only thing
is the book is no longer published, but you still may be able to find it online. Shivwits, is said to be a
name for a whitish area of earth, someplace down in Shivwits country on the Arizona strip.
“(Shivwits) See’veets means ‘a whitish earth’.”2004
Gary Tom and Ronald Holt maintain: “Tabuts [elder brother/wolf] carved people out of sticks
and was going to scatter them evenly around the earth, so that everyone would have a good place to
1999

Martha Sonntag Bradley; History of Kane County (Utah Centennial County History Series); Utah State
Historical Society; 1999; provided by Dicki Robinson, Kanab City Library, 374 N Main St, Kanab, UT
84741; [email protected]; http://www.kanablibrary.org/
2000
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
2001
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
2002
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
2003
http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/washington/shivwits.cfm
2004
Dorena Martineau, Chairwoman, Native American Remains Review Committee, The Paiute Tribe of
Utah, 440 N Paiute Drive, Cedar City, UT 84720; [email protected]

live. But Shinangwav [younger brother/coyote] cut open the sack, and people fell out in bunches all over
the world, and that's why people fight. The people left in the sack were the Southern Paiutes, and
Tabuts put them here in the very best place.
“For a thousand years, the Paiute people have lived in an area that is presently known as
southern Utah, southeastern California, northern Arizona, and southern Nevada. Their homeland is
adjacent to the Great Basin and included the resource-rich Colorado Plateau and a portion of the
Mojave Desert.
“Neither the written word nor the course of historical events have been kind to the Southern
Paiutes. Theirs is a story of resiliency under great pressure and of disappointment after many promises.
With the encroachment of Euro-American settlers into the area came the destruction of much of their
traditional culture, religion, economy, and the title to their ancestral homeland. It took less than twentyfive years of contact with the Mormon settlers to reduce the Paiute population by 90 percent, and turn
them from being peaceful, independent farmers and foragers into destitute, landless people, who
survived by doing seasonal and part time work for the white settlers. Some Paiute groups even ceased
to exist.
“To further the official demise of the Paiutes, the federal government and the Mormon church
made only feeble attempts to provide needed services. These attempts implemented many ill-conceived
policies, purported to ‘help the Indian tribes’. In spite of all this, the majority of Paiutes never left their
ancestral lands - they remained and survived the barrage of acculturation, relocation, and termination
policies and practices. The Paiutes survived challenges that would have overwhelmed a less flexible
people. They adapted to their changing environment yet retained their distinct identity and deep roots
in southern Utah.
“The Southern Paiute language is one of the northern Numic branches of the large Uto-Aztecan
language family. Most scholars agree that the Numic peoples began moving into the Great Basin and
Colorado Plateau about 1,000 years after the beginning of the Christian era.
“Prior to their contact with Europeans, the Paiutes' aboriginal land covered an area of more
than 30 million acres - from southern California to southern Nevada, south-central Utah, and northern
Arizona. These areas provided not only a wide variety and choice in foodstuffs but also climates that
were comfortable to live in. The Paiutes knew the fragile environment intimately and were able to exist
and maintain a way of life without overtaxing the resources of the land.
“Their mobile lifestyle included moving frequently, primarily according to the seasons and plant
harvests and animal migration patterns. They lived in independent groups of from three to five
households. The largest concentration of Paiutes in Utah lived along the banks of the Santa Clara River.
“Paiute housing reflected the seasonal cycles. In the summer, a windbreak might be all that was
required. In the winter, a cone-shaped structure was made of a framework of three or four poles;
branches were then leaned against the framework. The walls would then be covered with juniper bark,
rushes, or other material. Starting in the 1850s, many Paiutes began to use canvas or skin teepees,
adapting this Plains style of dwelling from their contact with the Utes.
“Data indicates that the Paiutes were highly sophisticated botanists. They used at least thirtytwo families of flora, encompassing some ninety-six species of edible plants. The list would be greatly
expanded were it to include the equally impressive array of medicinal plants, many of which also had
nutritional value. In similar fashion, the Paiutes utilized most of the varieties of fauna found within their
territory: hoofed animals, rodents, carnivores, birds, reptiles, and insects. Many Euro-Americans
commented at great length on the fact that no portion of the area's fauna - from ants to deer - was
overlooked as a food source. The mountains of the Great Basin provided a great source of pine nuts
from pinyon pines. Lakes provided fish and other aquatic resources. The major gatherings of the precontact period were centered on the pine nut harvest and the spring fish spawning time at Fish Lake.

These gatherings provided a good time to catch up on news and to socialize. In many instances, mates
were found at these gatherings.
“Groups of Paiutes usually centered around one or more major food or water resources. Groups
often used resources within other groups’ core areas, and groups such as the Moapa in Nevada were
often seen in Utah. This mobile existence and the lack of ethnographic data make it somewhat unclear
how many bands of Paiutes existed in Utah, but at least sixteen major groups, or thirty-five smaller
groups, have been identified. The major groups have been categorized by their main area of activity;
they include: Parowan area; Santa Clara - three to seven groups; Kaiparowits; Cedar City - at least two
groups; Beaver Dam area; Tonoquints - multiple groups; Ash Creek - Toquer's group and possibly others;
Antarianunts; Panguitch Lake; Harmony; Uinkarets; Virgin River - multiple groups; San Juan - two groups;
Beaver; and Kaibab.
“One factor that may help account for a lack of consistency in band names is the dramatic
changes that were taking place in Paiute life, when data initially was gathered on their social
organization. In most cases, the Paiutes did not have the population or the stable residence to be
designated as ‘tribes’, as defined by the federal government. However with the loss of their best lands
and decimation by introduced diseases due to the arrival of Mormon and other settlers, members of the
various original Paiute groups coalesced to form sedentary groups.
“Leadership roles also began to change with the arrival of the Euro-Americans. Major decisions
were made in council meetings, with adult males, old women, and other interested persons present.
The traditional Paiute leader was called naïve. He would be identified by each community to lead by
example and through a search for consensus. Although such a ‘chief’ was not a decision maker, he
would offer advice and suggestions at council meetings and would later work to carry out the council's
decisions, as well as other prescribed duties. White settlers assumed that the Paiute ‘chiefs’ had more
authority than they actually did. As early as 1855, Mormon settlers were ‘setting apart’ as chiefs those
Paiutes who were allied with them. The Mormon practice of appointing bandleaders and backing those
Paiutes who stressed accommodation with whites, may have led to factional splits within Paiute groups.
“At the time of European contact, traditional rituals associated with childbirth, puberty, and
funerals were still taking place. Paiutes prayed and conducted rituals to influence the spirits of nature
and show their respect and gratitude to them. In the Paiutes' view of the natural world, there was one
most-powerful spirit being, often called simply the ‘one who made the earth’. The sun was one visible
aspect of this spirit; most Paiutes made prayers to the sun at sunrise and sometimes at noon or sunset.
The Paiutes also associated the mythic heroes Coyote and Wolf with this spirit, seeing the good and
virtuous Wolf and wicked and silly Coyote as two necessary sides of the same all-powerful creator.
Other supernatural beings such as the Thunder People and Water Babies were also part of the Paiutes'
world. Each of the food and medicinal plants as well as the various game animals also had spirits,
according to the Paiutes.
“A medicine man was called paugant in Paiute, meaning ‘one who has sacred power’. This
medicine man usually had one or more animal spirit helpers. A spirit helper might be an eagle, a
porcupine, a squirrel, or some other animal that the paugant had dreamed of or had encountered in
some other mystical way. He would pray through this animal, perform magico-religious rituals with its
feathers or fur, and might even capture one to keep as a pet. These animal spirits were believed to assist
medicine men in healing the sick or, when applied to enemies, in causing illness and death through
sorcery.
“In the late nineteenth century, Paiutes borrowed the ‘cry’ ceremony from the Mohaves and
other Yuman-speaking tribes living to the south. The Las Vegas area Paiutes may already have adopted
this funerary-type ceremony in the era before white settlement. In the ‘cry’, singers chant songs from
evening until dawn over the course of one or more nights.

“These songs belong to several sacred song cycles, including the salt song cycle, the bird song
cycle, and others. Between spells of singing, relatives and friends of the dead get up and give speeches
about the person. When it was first adopted, the ‘cry’ was a separate ceremony from funerals, and often
a cry was held to honor several people who had died over a given period. Later the ‘cry’ was combined
with individual funeral ceremonies and was held at the same time. In some cases, a second memorial
‘cry’ was held a year, or sometimes two years, after the funeral.
“The Paiutes also enjoyed different gambling games. Most notable was the hand ‘bone’ game,
which is still played today. Two teams would sit facing each other. Each team took turns hiding one or
more pairs of ‘bones’ in their hands. ‘Bones’ were bone or wood cylinders, one of which was marked
with a stripe around the middle, while the other was unmarked. While one team was hiding the bones,
that team's members would sing their own game songs to give themselves luck and discourage their
opponents. The competing team would then begin to sing its songs. Using traditional hand gestures and
special words, one of the members of the second team would try to guess which hand on the opposite
team held which bone. Score would be kept by stick counters thrust into the ground near each team.
The two teams would play for valuable stakes, such as buckskins, horses, jewelry, and other goods.
“Another popular gambling game was played with stick dice - a die being a flat piece of wood,
colored on one side and white on the other. A player would strike the dice on hard stone, usually a
metate, making the dice fly up and fall to the ground with one side up. Different combinations of plain
and colored sides had different point values. Score was kept in different ways, usually by moving a
counter along a row or circle of stones.
“Originally the Spanish considered Paiutes and Utes to be one group. They believed the area
northeast of the Hopi was populated by those they called ‘Yutas’, a term the Spanish used to refer to
both the Paiutes and their neighbors to the east, the Utes. The Spanish term gave the present state of
Utah its name. Paiutes and Utes both use another term - pronounced Payuts by the Paiutes and Payuch
by the Utes - to refer to the Paiutes as distinct from the Utes. Up until the mid-1600s, the Utes and
Paiutes essentially shared a similar way of life. Once the Utes acquired the horse, however, a series of
cultural changes took place among the Utes, based on the mobility provided by horses. Later the horse
would prove to be devastating to their generally friendly relationship with the Paiutes, as the Utes
began to raid Paiute villages and take women and children as slaves to trade in the Rio Grande Valley
and in California. Other slave raids also came from the Navajos and the Spanish. This activity created a
population imbalance among Paiutes of males to females and children. In 1776 the DominguezEscalante party from Sante Fe made the first recorded European visit to Utah Paiute lands.
“Through the mid-1800s, the Paiutes had encountered only a few Euro-Americans, primarily
traders, travelers, and trappers. The Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe to California flourished from 1830
to about 1850 and passed right through the middle of Paiute territory. Most of the travelers were
passing through to the fertile fields of California. Eventually the traffic through some Paiute farming
areas was so heavy that the Paiutes had to abandon fields that were too close to the trail. Skirmishes
were few, being limited to random potshots by the intruding pioneers and the theft of some livestock by
the Paiutes.
“Meanwhile in 1847 Brigham Young led a group of settlers into the Great Salt Lake area, in an
attempt to set up a quasi-independent state. The pioneers were members of a persecuted religious
group, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly known as Mormons. By 1849 the
Mormon population had increased to the point that they began to expand their colonization efforts.
Brigham Young envisioned a string of Mormon settlements from Salt Lake City to southern California - a
‘Mormon corridor’ that would link Salt Lake City to the sea. Young's oft-repeated Indian policy was that
‘it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them’, although Mormons, like white settlers elsewhere,
had no qualms about taking Indian lands for their own use. Upon exploring Paiute territory, the

Mormons identified some good sites for settlement. Unfortunately for the Paiutes, these sites were
often their core living and foraging areas.
“Mormon theology came as a two-edged sword for the Paiutes. According to Book of Mormon
teachings, Indians were seen both as a chosen people and as a cursed people. Many Mormons believed
that the Paiutes had to be ‘civilized’, before they could be ‘saved’. It seemed that their Indian culture
was considered to be a major stumbling block to their salvation. One of the major points of contention
with the Mormons was that the Paiutes and other tribes should not worship symbols such as the sun,
stars, and moon.
“The lives of the Paiutes shifted dramatically as Mormons became full-time residents in Paiute
country in 1851. The Paiutes utilized various adaptive strategies in an effort to keep their population and
culture intact. However their lifeways were to be altered ecologically, economically, and socially. The
influx of settlers also brought large numbers of domesticated livestock to Paiute country. This livestock
was allowed to graze anywhere, and eventually overgrazing would take its toll on the Paiutes' food
sources. Now not only was the land being taken, but also the seeds that provided a significant portion of
the people's diet were being consumed. Much of the Indians' culture was lost or significantly changed.
“One of the main reasons for Mormon expansion was that more land was needed to house the
many new converts coming to the region. Mormon colonization of Southern Paiute lands was rapid. By
the end of 1858, eight years after colonization efforts began, Mormons had established eleven
settlements in Southern Paiute territory. The best farmlands and sources of water were taken for the
new Mormon towns. The industrious Paiutes were hired to provide much of the labor needed to create
the new settlements. They helped prepare the fields for planting and performed various domestic
chores. The Mormons, in turn, provided new sources of material goods, food, and agricultural
knowledge.
“The Paiutes viewed the Mormon settlements with mixed feelings. The Mormon presence
provided some protection from the depredations of the wagon trains and the slave raiding of the Utes,
Navajos, and Mexicans. But the Paiutes would have been less accommodating, if they had understood
the sheer magnitude and devastating consequences of Mormon settlement. Prior to 1851, the Paiutes
had adapted to the many changes brought on by the Euro-Americans, as they passed through Paiute
country. But the worst period for the Paiutes in southern Utah and Nevada was the decade or so
following Mormon settlement. During those years, the Mormon settlers themselves suffered from
epidemics of diseases such as cholera, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles, mumps, tuberculosis,
and malaria. Since Paiutes were frequently living near the settlements, they soon contracted these
diseases but had less acquired immunity to them. Some Paiute groups during this time experienced
more than a 90 percent drop in population.
“One of the most controversial results of Mormon-Paiute interaction in the decade following
Mormon settlement of the area was the reported collaboration of individuals of the two groups in one
of the most horrific events of early Utah history - the Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which more than
one hundred California-bound emigrants were attacked and then treacherously murdered in the area
southwest of Cedar City in early September of 1857.
“The tragic event still remains somewhat clouded in mystery, despite some extensive and
valuable treatment by historians. The whole story does not need to be retold in detail here, as it is
commonly available; but it is important to note that many Paiute leaders (among others) believe and
claim that, contrary to most published accounts, Indians did not participate in the initial attack on the
wagon train nor in the subsequent murder of its inhabitants.
“The basic account, current for decades now, essentially maintains that Indians initially attacked
the wagon train - most likely under urging or encouragement from local Mormon leaders - but that the
emigrants were able to repel the attackers after some loss of life and injury. The Indians then were said
to have appealed for assistance from area Mormons, who perhaps on their own determined to take

advantage of the situation, involving perceived antagonists in those emotionally charged times,
following the zealous Mormon Reformation of 1856, and the prospect of war with federal troops
looming on the horizon - the so-called Utah War of 1857-8.
“The common history continues that local Mormons approached the besieged emigrant wagon
train under a flag of truce and convinced the emigrants to surrender their weapons, promising in return
a safe escort out of the area. The desperate emigrants agreed, only to be slaughtered by their would-be
protectors a few miles away, it again being claimed that Native Americans helped take part in this brutal
act of treachery.
“Accounts collected by the Paiute Tribe call into question this recounting of events, claiming that
in great part Paiutes have been wrongfully blamed for assisting in something that was not of their
making. Some of the interviews collected were with descendants of area Paiutes of that time, but the
interviews suffer from the limited vocabulary and command of English of the tellers, plus a garbling of
facts generally characteristic of such long-range reminiscences. Excerpts from a couple of these
interviews are presented below. The interested reader can consult the Paiute Tribe for more complete
transcripts and accounts.
“One interview was conducted with Yetta and Clifford Jake on November 18, 1998. Mr Jake
started the interview by introducing himself and stating that he was eighty years old. He then continued:
“‘I used to chop wood for the old man Isaac Hunkup and his sister ... He was telling me a story,
telling me what they see and what they hear also. And the Mountain Meadow massacre and Paiute
didn't know anything about what was taking place over there. They were calm and quiet. They didn't
know nothing about nothing. There was two brothers that come to the pine valley, hunting deer ... But
what he was telling me was that they were there camping out there in the mountain. In the morning
during the day [they] heard a gun, like popping, popping like a firecracker. So they went up on the
mountain. There was a wagon train; the people; where people were shooting and killing the wagon train
people, is the way he used to tell it. Oh, my goodness! Two guys were still waiting when they got down,
they got everything, everything. Even their horses, the wagons were tipped over, they had some cows
and sheep and the pigs and chickens and the women folks also. They got women folks. They were runfling around and getting shot there. They were watching from a knoll. Them two guys. ‘Oh, my god,’ they
said, ‘they are killing them people.’ They said that ‘I don't see no Indians around here,’ he said. No
Indians live around this area. This is their hunting place, not the pine valley.
“‘So, anyway, they got down, they got all of those things. Those things they took away from the
settlers, the wagon train. And they talked together. ‘Let's follow the rim about a mile, a couple of miles,
away from them, see what they are going to do.’ So they went. They took all of them people that [were]
massacring the wagon train. They went over towards the east. They followed them quite a ways from;
they followed them till they get to the place to where they are going to change their clothes. So,
anyways, they followed them clear to New Harmony. From there they sneak up on them about a halfmile. They watch them and they watch them. They sit there. They clean their selves; they took off their
Indian outfits off - clothes, Indian clothes. And they were white people. Them white people, they
washed themselves up and cleaned themselves. They were white people that done it. And they said,
‘Let's get going,’ they said. ‘Let's get going to warn them other people down to Sham the Paiute
encampment!’ They traveled to get there as fast [as] they can. I don't know if they were on a foot or on
a horse. But, anyway, they made it down there ... to get a hold of them Indians, house to house. I want
them to be aware. We are going to [be] blamed for something that we didn't have happen. For those
people, for shooting them wagon train. Better beware. They said they got really scared. After awhile
during that day, one of the guys from the younger Indians, they saddle up their horse and warn the
people around the area. Clear to Cedar City and ... maybe Moapa too. So beware; we are going to get
blamed, going to get blamed for what those white people did. There were no Indians in that massacre ...

“‘The authority came down. They got there. They said Indians don't leave their dead like this.
They started blaming the Indians for it. The Paiute Indians around this area, they didn't know anything
about what happened over there. They didn't even know nothing. There weren't no Indians around that
place there ... That's what takes a place that time. Us Paiute nation got blamed for that.’
“An interview in December 1998 with Will Rogers also provided interesting commentary. He said
in part:
“‘... they gathered some Indians up there; I don't remember how much he said, five or six. Well
anyway, them that thing was coming down on the way on this side, there was lot of people over them,
them that man John Seaman I was telling about he was looking at them white people - they were white
people - they were these Mormons, they were going to massacre that, uh, that wagon train. And then
he said, ‘I wonder what they gonna do?’ they didn't tell them people what they was going to do, you
know. Well anyway, they did no Indians went down there, he said; them four guys stayed on that
mountain, on that little mountain up there, and watched them guys kill them people - they killed all of
them off, they said, they killed all of them off. That time they were going to go down there, but they
won't let that Indians go down there, you know, after it happened; they said it took about, he said it
took about three [or] four hours I think, he said, you know, to shoot them people all. Some of them
were half-dead, some of them wasn't even dead. And, uh, there was lot of that silver dollars was there;
them little coins, silver dollars, those big as a silver dollar, two-hundred-dollar gold piece, gold piece was
about a silver dollar. Well anyway, from there they were going to get some them Indians, you know,
they were going to get some that thing, they wouldn't let them have any cause that that was, uh, it was
something no good, you get sick. ‘Don't get it, don't get anything,’ he said [they] told them Indians.
“‘That that man, he didn't go down there, he said that John Seaman, he got scared but only
three guys went. But anyway, he watched all those people die off. It was this white man's doing it
dressed up as Indians; there were about, I think he said, it could have been forty-five or fifty he said; you
know he didn't count them people.’
“Gloria Bulletts Benson, who helped conduct the interviews, summarized some of the important
points found in the interviews, in a memo to Paiute Tribal Chairwoman Geneal Anderson. Most
importantly, she stressed that there were no Paiutes involved in the killings, according to the accounts
of the interviewees. Paiute involvement was limited to hearing and watching from a distance, the killing
of the emigrants and some of their animals, and the robbing of the possessions of the dead. Some
Paiutes reportedly followed the killers towards New Harmony and saw them take off their ‘Indian’
clothes and bury and/or divide some of the stolen goods. Paiutes were told to avoid the area and not
pick up any of the scattered money, as it was ‘bad medicine’. Area Paiutes were afraid that they would
be blamed for the massacre and sent word of it to surrounding band areas to warn others.
“A book published by the Kaibab Paiute Tribe in 1978, Kaibab Paiute History, The Early Years by
Richard W Stoffle and Michael J Evans, included commentary on a photograph: ‘Dan Bullets noted
that Tunanita'a [John Seaman's father] was picked up by John D Lees's group traveling to the Mountain
Meadow Massacre. One other Paiute accompanied the group, but neither was allowed to participate in
the killing. Tunanita'a found a gold coin after the massacre, but the Mormons took it away from him,
saying it was bad medicine for him to have it.’
“Additional information important to historians is found in the oral history of Sybil Mariah Frink
that was gathered by her son, John E Scottern, and her granddaughters, Ruth Scottern and Gyppe
Scottern, and great-granddaughter, Patsy Ruth Carter Iverson. A brief summary of relevant points
follows.
“Sybil was born in Missouri in 1838. She and her family were early members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her parents died, but she traveled to Utah with her grandmother and
married Byron Warner in 1854, when she was sixteen. Before she married, she lived at the fort in
Fillmore and learned some of the Paiute language and Indian ways. She moved with her husband to

Harmony, and was there at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. One evening she overheard
her husband and other men at her house discussing plans to wipe out the Fancher party wagon train.
‘She said nothing, fearing for her life. At a later date, these fourteen men met at her home, painted their
faces, and dressed themselves as Indians.’ She followed them at a distance and reportedly watched the
massacre from some bushes. Only a few small children were spared, and it is said that Sybil even cared
for some of them, until they were claimed by authorities later and returned to relatives.
“Her husband is said to have discovered that she knew of the treachery and that he threatened
to kill her if she ever told of it. She later divorced him in about 1865, and reportedly either left or was
excommunicated from the LDS [Latter Day Saints] Church, although she remained in the territory,
serving as a nurse and midwife. She married Timothy Scottern in about 1866. She died under mysterious
circumstances in 1906, after being summoned to a remote location to care from the sick. Some have
seen a conspiracy or vengeance in her mysterious death.
“Although much about the massacre remains shrouded in mystery, resulting in intense
speculation and controversy even up to the present, the Native American claim that few, if any, of their
people were involved in the massacre in any way has seldom been heard or accorded a fair
presentation. Though some things in the interviews and accounts cited here are confused and could
have their critics, elements of them certainly are plausible and deserve serious consideration in
attempts to understand that tragedy. The fact that so much evidence, including relevant pages from the
journals of many settlers, has been lost or destroyed, testifies to many Native Americans and their
sympathizers that much of the official history cannot be considered to be complete or truthful. However
there is certainly some evidence that Indians, with base camps on the Muddy and Santa Clara Rivers,
were involved at least in the initial siege of the wagon train.
“Skeptics of Paiute involvement point to other interesting facts. According to historians, Paiutes
had not been known to attack wagon trains, confining their activities to the rustling of stray cattle or
other livestock belonging to emigrant parties. The fact that the Mormons assigned some blame to them
has been seen by some as merely an attempt to put their own culpability in a better light, to protect
both their reputation and themselves from prosecution. Paiutes claimed that they had nothing to do
with the initial attack, and, even after some Paiutes answered a summons from Mormon leaders to
come to the area, their assistance was non-existent or minimal, one reason being that they did not have
the weaponry to attack the emigrants, who were equipped with long-range rifles. Critics also point out
that it is highly unlikely that Mormons would supply the Indians with firearms and ammunition, when
their own supplies of both were limited, and they were facing the threat of federal action.
“Paiutes were not prosecuted by federal officials for the massacre, and, although most
Mormons successfully avoided prosecution, John D Lee was eventually apprehended, tried, convicted,
and executed for his part in the affair. Many then and to the present have felt that Lee became a
scapegoat to end further prosecution efforts against other Mormons.
“The Mormon settlements continued to grow, and newer arrivals, some less tolerant, came to
the region. Prospectors and miners came in search of precious metals, coal, and lead. The remaining
lands of the Paiutes soon were being taken. Soon enough Mormons had moved into the area that they
no longer needed or desired Paiute labor. By the 1870s, the Paiutes who lived near the region's
settlements had become destitute.
“Justification for taking land was given by the Mormon Church and its members, including the
idea that the Indians were not making efficient use of the land, and therefore the Mormons had the
right to take it over, because they could support more people by their methods of agriculture than the
Indians could. Although their theological view saw the Indians as potential converts and chosen people,
the common pioneer view of the Paiute was as a ‘savage’ and beggar. The Mormons assured their
dominance over the Paiutes and the other Great Basin Indians, through a combination of physically

displacing them from the resources necessary to sustain their aboriginal lifestyle, and dealing with them
according to an attitude that has been called theological paternalism.
“In 1856-5 agent George W Armstrong became the first official governmental contact person for
the Southern Paiutes. His first act was to attempt to establish two farm sites for the Paiutes totaling
1,200 acres. However nothing came of this recommendation.
“In 1865 a series of treaties was negotiated with the Indians of Utah. These treaties virtually
would end the Indians' claim to any and all land and remove them to a reservation in the Uinta Basin.
The Paiute leader, Tutzegubet, who had become friendly with the Mormons, signed this treaty. He was
to receive ‘one dwelling house’, five acres of plowed and fenced land, and one hundred dollars per
annum for the term of twenty years. Upon his arrival at the reservation, he also would receive oxen and
farming implements, a high price indeed for the some 30 million acres of land to which the Indians were
supposedly relinquishing their claims.
“Life on the reservation would have posed additional problems for the Paiutes. The Utes were
continuing their practice of stealing Paiute women and children, yet officials expected the Paiutes to
move to the same reservation to which the Utes had been moved. Attempts to remove the Paiutes from
their homeland were a complete failure. The situation with the Paiutes grew worse; despite their
theological status in Mormonism as a chosen people, they came to be considered no more than a
nuisance that the Mormons felt compelled occasionally to feed.
“In 1873 John Wesley Powell and George W Ingalls headed a special commission to look into the
problem. The commission identified 528 Paiutes left in Utah and suggested that they be moved to the
Moapa reservation in nearby Nevada. Money for such a move was scarce however, and the Paiutes
refused to leave their homeland.
“The first Paiute reservation came into being during this period. Anthony Ivins was mayor of St
George and ran cattle in the ‘Arizona Strip’ country. However hungry Paiutes were stealing from his
livestock operation in the Mt Trumbull area. When Ivins found them in his way, he utilized federal
channels to get himself named a ‘Special Indian Disbursing Agent’, serving from 1891 until 1893, and
removed the Shivwits from their homeland in northern Arizona to southern Utah. Through his efforts,
the first Paiute reservation was established in 1891, on the Santa Clara River west of St George. This
began a new phase in Paiute history, with the Indians now dependent on both Mormon Church charity
and the federal government's good will. The Paiutes who had originally been residents of the
reservation area were either dead or had moved - most to the Moapa reservation in Nevada or to Cedar
City. This fact illustrates the devastating effects of white colonization, since the Virgin and Santa Clara
Rivers had been the riverine core of the Paiute homeland and its center of densest population. The new
reservations would prove to be too small and have too few resources for the Paiutes to sustain
themselves from them.
“Ivins purchased land and farming equipment for the Indians at Santa Clara with a $40,000
congressional appropriation. The reservation was formally established by the government in 1903. In
1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order, which expanded the size of the reservation
to its current 26,880 acres. Three other Paiute reservations soon followed. The Indian Peaks reservation
was established on August 2, 1915, and was enlarged between 1921 and 1924. The reservation
consisted of 10,240 acres of rough rocky land, mostly covered with juniper, but which also yielded large
quantities of pine nuts from pinyon pines. The Indian Peaks Band was composed of remnants of the
Parogoon, Pahquit, and Tavatsock bands. Their ancestral land blended into the traditional Shoshone
lands, and some intermarriage with Shoshones was not uncommon. Their land stretched from Indian
Peak into Nevada. Isolated, they were the last group to become dependent on whites. They lived some
seventy miles northwest of Cedar City in five log homes.
“The Koosharem Band of Paiutes/Utes was established in 1928, and their reservation was
enlarged in 1937. These people considered themselves Utes and were possibly a remnant of the Fish

Lake Utes. Their ancestral homeland stretched from Richfield to Escalante. They were under de facto
control of the local Mormon Church - Sevier Stake - which also was trustee of their water rights, until the
Paiutes sued for those rights in 1958.
“Kanosh would be the last reservation to be formally established in Utah until 1984. It was
created in 1929 and was expanded in 1935 and 1937. The Kanosh Band members were descended from
the Pavant Indians, who inhabited the Corn Creek area near Fillmore, at the time of the arrival of the
Mormons. Earlier several attempts to no avail were made to remove the Pavants to the Uintah
Reservation.
“The last group of Utah Paiutes to achieve official status was the Cedar City Band. As early as
1899, the federal government appropriated money to buy land for the Cedar band; however no lands
were purchased and the money was returned to officials. In 1919 the Cedar City area Paiutes were
administrated to as a ‘scattered band’ out of the Goshute reservation to the northwest. They had use of
eighty acres of land for farming, plus five and one-half acres they lived on. Consequently they were
encouraged to move to either the Indian Peaks or the Goshute reservation; but once again, they were
too attached to their homeland to leave.
“Because many deaths from tuberculosis had taken place, attempts were made by the
government to move the Paiutes in 1924, and money was appropriated to purchase nine lots in Cedar
City. Two months later, however, William Palmer wrote an article for a local paper, saying that the
government refused to do anything for the Paiutes. Some city officials thought that the Indians could be
made into a tourist attraction. On December 15, 1926, the Paiutes moved to property purchased for
them by the Mormon Church, which retained title to the land. Their old camp, shacks, and belongings
were burned and the Indians were moved to their present location, near the Little League ballpark in
Cedar City.
“Continued efforts to help the Paiutes were sporadic and disorganized. William Manning, then
the director of the Music Department at the Branch Agricultural College (now Southern Utah University),
organized an ‘Indian show’ in order to raise money to buy blankets and clothing and provide the local
Indians with a bit of cash. In the early 1920s, Man-fling wrote of the Paiutes' lifestyle:
“‘Each family lived in a little one-room shack, which was their kitchen, bedroom, and living
room. Around the walls, ranged bed rolls in the day, and at night the floor was covered with beds,
especially if company came. Food was prepared on a small stove and eaten from a small table with the
pot or frying pan set in the middle. Each helped himself out of the pot with his fingers, and sat on the
floor, the room being too small for very many chairs.’
“The federal government did establish two schools for the Utah Paiutes: the Shebit day school in
1898, and a school near Panguitch in Orton, Utah, in 1901, which was moved to Shivwits in 1908. Once
the federal government became involved, it too would impact the lives of the Paiutes through its Indian
policies, some of which had been made for Eastern tribes. The Paiutes would be subject to rulings, which
might not fit their situation. One such opinion was that of early Supreme Court Chief Justice John
Marshall, who described American Indians as ‘domestic dependent nations’ in the Supreme Court case
of the Cherokee Nation vs Georgia in 1831. The argument of the time was that, while the tribes retained
rights as independent political powers, they were subordinate to the United States and were becoming
dependent on the United States for their welfare and existence. The Indians had the right to occupy
their lands, until the federal government chose to extinguish their title. This situation brought with it the
notion that the ‘white man's burden’ was to civilize the Indians. Of course this brought other players
into the process such as Mormons, other religious denominations, eastern Indian sympathizers, and
Congress. Matters of interpretation of ‘trust responsibility’ were part of the political and social climate.
“One of the first Indian policies to affect the Paiutes was the allotment of tribal lands to
individuals, under the Indian Homestead Act of 1875. There basically were two approaches to Indian
affairs: the gradual approach and the immediate approach. Senator Henry Dawes favored the gradual

assimilation of Indians into white society through gradual allotment. On the other hand, many land
speculators, reformers, and homesteaders favored the immediate allotment of all reservation land. The
Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 served as a compromise. Indian lands were divided up into individual plots
and, after an initial twenty-five-year ‘trust’ period, they would become liable to taxation. Lands declared
‘surplus’ would then be sold to the whites.
“By 1934 the national tribal land base had been reduced by about 86 million acres through
white acquisition. Under this allotment system, the Koosharem and Kanosh bands experienced change:
at Koosharem, 400 acres in three allotments were patented between 1904 and 1913; at Kanosh, 1,840
acres were patented in twelve allotments in 1919-20. These allotments served as a core of Indianowned land around which the Paiutes\Utes could organize their work and other movements. The
allotments also served to mark land for potential Indian ownership. When the reservations were
established at Koosharem and at Kanosh, they were adjacent to the allotments. Allotment gave the
Indians land, where before they had only squatters' rights. By the time the allotment policy had reached
the Paiutes, and the BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs] attempted to fulfill its trust obligations, the federal
government was trying to eliminate reservations. This was reflected in the establishment of only four
small reservations by executive order, between the years 1891 and 1929. They not only were small but
also contained little irrigable land or water rights.
“On January 1, 1927, the BIA consolidated several offices and put six small reservations and four
Indian settlements under the jurisdiction of the Paiute agency, located at Cedar City. The young
superintendent was Dr EA Farrow, who had previously worked at the Kaibab Paiute Reservation, just
across the border in northern Arizona. Also during this period, the Indian Peaks Band moved to Cedar
City.
“Many factors during this period would affect the lives of the Paiutes. In October 1929, the stock
market crashed, ushering in the era known as the Great Depression. The low point came in 1933, when
the American banking system virtually collapsed. The Depression era, however, actually benefited many
Paiutes, by providing some federal projects they could take advantage of. The Paiutes overall economic
condition seemed to improve. Because their annual yearly income had averaged between $150 and
$200, the more dependable incomes many were now able to earn on federal programs seemed a real
luxury.
“The Depression brought at least one Mormon church-sponsored project to the Paiutes: church
leaders gave William Palmer $500, to develop an arts and crafts business for the Paiutes. Articles such as
gloves, moccasins, beaded bookends, and bows and arrows, were created for sale to tourists and local
whites. Palmer stated that, ‘During these times when there has been no work for them, this bit of
employment has gone far toward supplying actual living necessities. They know that the church has
furnished this money and they are grateful to them for it.’ Palmer claimed that by reinvesting the
original $500, he was able to provide $1,107 worth of employment in approximately one year.
“Termination was one of the government's poorly conceived policies to acculturate and
assimilate the Indians. It seemed to be a carryover from the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. Many whites
believed that tribalism was the major stumbling block to the assimilation of Indians into the mainstream
society, and that the Indians should not be treated differently from other citizens. With this in mind, the
federal government set out to ‘terminate’ from federal trust relationship, those Indian tribes deemed
ready to survive on their own. The Utah congressional delegation was heavily involved in seeing
termination become a reality. As has been mentioned, the acculturation process would continue,
although the loss of land also continued for the Indians. Budget constraints and the eventual
abolishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs were among the reasons that made termination a popular
idea with many non-Indian Americans.
“The implementation of the policy of withdrawal of services and trust status was based on a
four-step process: withdrawal of federal trusteeship; relocation of Indians to urban centers; creation of

a claims commission to liquidate land claims and thereby eliminate any further reason for tribal
allegiance; and the progressive dismantling of the BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs]. One important person
behind termination, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was Senator Arthur Watkins of Utah, who grew
up near the Uintah-Ouray Reservation. The former director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA),
Dillion Myers, who had been responsible for removing 110,000 Japanese-Americans from the West
Coast to concentration camps in the interior, was now the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Myers was
appointed in 1950 and quickly appointed some of those who had served with him at the WRA. At a
meeting including Senator Watkins and Orme Lewis, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, on February 27,
1953, a strategy for termination was developed. Without consulting any Indians, the men decided that
termination was to be rapid process in which services were to be transferred from the BIA to the various
states; tribal assets would be redistributed to individuals or tribes as groups, and trust responsibility for
tribal lands would be transferred; tribal income and funds were to be disbursed on a pro-rata basis; and
legislation would be passed for the ‘rehabilitation’ of the Indians and their integration into the dominant
society.
“The Southern Paiutes of Utah were not mentioned in Assistant Commissioner Zimmerman's
1947 report on Indian readiness for withdrawal or in House Concurrent Resolution 108. Zimmerman's
criteria for termination included degree of acculturation, economic resources and educational level of
the various tribes and their members, the willingness of the tribe to be terminated, and the willingness
of the state to assume responsibility for services. The Southern Paiutes did not qualify in any of the
aforementioned areas, yet they were the first group to be considered for termination and, to some
degree, served as the model for the withdrawal hearings and the implementation of termination in later
tribal cases.
“There were many reports that showed how ill-prepared the Paiutes were for termination.
During the process, there were promises made and meetings held to placate the Southern Paiutes. The
Goshutes also were being considered for termination but spoke out against it. It is still a mystery how
and why the Paiutes ended upon the list of tribes to be terminated. Many scholars agree with Mary
Jacobs, when she speculates that: ‘perhaps Senator Watkins, already a strong believer in the merits of
termination, included these small groups from his own state because of his own convictions and for
encouragement to other legislators to terminate Indians in their own states.’ Another factor was that
the Paiutes were receiving little federal assistance anyway and had little political influence to oppose the
process.
“One last meeting was to take place before the termination legislation was to be signed. It was
held in Fillmore, December 30, 1953, with the Paiute bands; Skull Valley and Kaibab Indians were also
there. Senator Watkins extolled the benefits and advantages of termination, claiming it would: 1)
release the Indians from government control; 2) help everyone see how well Indians could take care of
their own affairs; and 3) provide full citizenship to Indians in which they would get all the benefits
available to them from the state and county governments. The Paiutes were advised twice during the
meeting that the bill was not final and that they could make changes and suggestions. It was said that
the bill would be changed to conform to ‘any recommended and approved adjustments’. At no time did
any of the officials mention anything but the benefits of termination, and most importantly, at no time
were the Paiutes asked if they wanted to be terminated in the first place. Clifford Jake, Indian Peaks
spokesman, spoke out against termination and was told to sit down, shut up, and mind his own
business. Promises continued to be made, such as no limit on the planting of wheat; there also was a
promise by an oil company that urged the band to accept termination and then grant the company an
oil lease on Kanosh land. Neither of these promises materialized.
“Hearings were set for the termination bill on February 15, 1954, in Washington, DC. The bill
was moving unusually fast through the legislative process. Gary Orfield has documented how Senator
Watkins dominated the hearings and forced termination of the Utah Paiutes, writing, ‘only Watkins of

the five Senate members was present for more than one hearing’. Orfield also underscored the lack of
concern for the living conditions and dependence of the tribal peoples, about to be ‘set free’. Arguing
for termination in the meeting on May 4, 1954, Watkins presented an incredible view of the degree of
Paiute assimilation and a distorted account of their history. This left the testimony in favor of
termination a maze of contradictions. Through all this the Paiutes were without money to travel to
Washington, DC, to voice their opposition. Telegrams were sent in opposition by the Kanosh Tribal
Council and the Koosharem Tribal Council, and these were followed by opposition from the Indian Peaks
and the Shivwits bands. However these protests came with no particular organization, and there was
also the fact that there was disunity within some bands. This indicates that the Paiutes themselves were
not adequately informed by the federal government, as to the implications of withdrawal of the trust
relationship. Even though the Paiutes clearly did not meet the criteria for termination, the legislation
sped through Congress, and on September 1, 1954, President Eisenhower signed Public Law 762, the bill
terminating the Paiutes, after just one and one-half years of BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs] preparation.
“Next came the implementation of the law. It now became evident just how much the Paiutes
were dependent on white advice in the early 1950s, especially concerning legislation and tribal business
ventures. In a letter to Rex Lee, area director Harry Stevens suggested that $50,000 be allotted to
prepare the four Paiute bands ‘to earn a livelihood, to conduct their own affairs and to assume their
responsibilities as citizens’. The Paiutes were given until February 21, 1957, to prepare themselves for
the end of the recognition of their special status as Indians. In order to facilitate this transition, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs established a three-pronged support system composed of the BIA Withdrawal
Office in Cedar City; an educational/vocational training program administered by the University of Utah
(based on relocation); and the national BIA relocation program. The Indian Claims Commission would
serve as an integral part of the termination effort, which was presented as holding the future promise of
wealth, in exchange for the Paiutes giving up all claims to their homelands.
“The BIA Withdrawal Office in Cedar City included Director Wesley T Bobo; a realty officer, Frank
M Scott; and a clerk/stenographer. The Cedar City withdrawal office was not established until August
1955, and Scott did not arrive until December of that year. From the Paiute viewpoint, therefore,
nothing had really happened since they had been scheduled for withdrawal; from the BIA viewpoint,
almost an entire year of the three years allotted was lost due to funding and administration problems.
From November 1955 to June 1957, Bobo and Scott were engaged in an intensive effort to explain and
discuss the implications of the termination bill with area Paiutes. Once again the resiliency and
adaptability of the Paiutes was evident, as they adapted to the changes being thrust upon them. The BIA
offered the Paiutes various options for the disposition of their land: a trusteeship for their property
could be created; the tribal property could be sold and the proceeds distributed on a per-capita basis; or
the property could be divided into individual parcels. It is indicative of the poor quality of the Paiute
reservation lands that no acceptable bids were made (estimates of an acceptable bid in the case of the
Shivwits reservation varied from $1.00 to $2.65 an acre). The Indian Peaks property was finally sold to
the Utah Fish and Game Department for $39,500, to serve primarily as an antelope reserve.
“In implementing the withdrawal of the federal trust responsibility, one of the duties of the BIA
was to designate a trust authority, to assume responsibilities for the land and for Paiute minors. The
convoluted logic of termination insisted that, although the Paiutes were deemed ready to be released
from the federal trust relationship, another trustee had to be selected for them. First Security Bank
officials had been approached but were not interested. The Utah Attorney General ruled that the state
could not assume trusteeship. On June 20, 1956, WT Bobo met in Salt Lake City, with William J
Fitzpatrick, vice-president and trust officer of Walker Bank and Trust. The meeting was originally to
ascertain whether Walker Bank would be interested in serving as trustee for the ‘subsurface rights and
monies which we may have for transfer’. Walker Bank was selected as trustee without regard for the

wishes of the Paiutes; as a result, the Paiutes left the trusteeship of the BIA, but their meager resources
entered the trusteeship of a bank.
“Although the Paiutes had received minimal services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, now they
were totally ineligible for any services. The federal government would no longer take an active interest
in them, and they were left in the care of the local authorities. The period between 1957 and 1975 was
characterized by general neglect on the part of the State of Utah, for any but the most basic needs of
the Paiutes. This was a time of growing hopelessness and social and economic decline for the majority of
the Paiute people. By all accounts, increased mortality rates, unemployment, and alcoholism were
rampant among the Paiutes during this period. The bad economic times shattered families, and children
were often raised by relatives or by whites.
“For the terminated tribes, the true impact and meaning of federal withdrawal of trust
responsibility became increasingly clear. They suffered the loss of land, federal expertise and legal
protection, federal health and education funds to individuals, and training, housing, and business grants.
The tribes and individuals were faced with taxes and the loss of the limited sovereignty, they had
enjoyed under the earlier Indian Reorganization Act.
“Almost immediately after Public Law 762 took effect, Congress began to speak in favor of
economic development instead of termination. Secretary of Interior Fred E Seaton, in a 1958 radio
speech, abandoned the policy of unilateral termination of tribes.
“In the aftermath of the decision to terminate the Southern Paiutes, the BIA did make some
attempts to relocate and rehabilitate them. The BIA assumed that Indians had to overcome the common
attitude that they were lazy, dirty, ignorant, submissive, and unfit for anything but subservient labor in
the white man's fields. The BIA contracted with the University of Utah in July 1955 to implement a
relocation/job training plan. The contract included Ute Indians from the Uintah-Ouray Reservation. Like
so many of the policies that affected the Paiutes, the University of Utah project disrupted lives, but did
not last long enough to produce any lasting results. In fact, of the fourteen Paiutes who participated in
the Adult Vocational Training through Relocation program, not one stayed away from the reservation or
finished the training.
“Denied federal welfare, education, health, and employment assistance after 1957, the Paiutes
found themselves plunged even deeper into poverty and despair. Memories of termination-period
experiences were common among survivors, who recounted increased alcohol use and the early death
of others. The medical consultant's report, by Dr Glen Leymaster, listed problems among the Paiutes of
obesity, tuberculosis, an ‘extreme degree’ of malnutrition among young infants, as well as sanitation
and sewage-disposal problems. Tuberculosis was a continuing problem, and it had been the cause of
about one-third of recorded Paiute deaths between 1889 and 1926.
“The LDS [Latter Day Saints] church also began to make a more conscious effort to spend more
time and resources pursuing Indian converts - two proponents of such a policy being George Albert
Smith and Spencer W Kimball. In 1947 an Indian placement program began on an informal basis, when a
Navajo girl came to live with an LDS stake president, Golden Buchanan, of Sevier County. Official church
sponsorship of the program followed in July 1954. In 1957 William Manning organized a Cedar Indian
Branch. Other branches were established at Richfield (by Judge Reed Blomquist), at Shivwits, and at
Kanosh.
“The Indian Claims Commission Act of August 13, 1946, created a special commission to which
tribes could bring their outstanding grievances against the United States. This was brought about
because an 1863 statute barred claims by Indian tribes based on treaties. Although there were many
problems with the Indian Claims Commission, it would give the Paiutes an opportunity to receive
compensation for land of theirs that had been taken. Since the 1865 Paiute Treaty had not been ratified
by the Senate, any claims to land had to be predicated on exclusive immemorial possession, because
joint use was not recognized in the claims act. The Paiutes plight was reported by William Palmer, acting

as a representative of the mayor of Cedar City; the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce; and the president
of the Parowan Stake of the LDS church at a meeting in Washington, DC, with Commissioner William
Brophy. Palmer continued his role as adviser by contacting Ernest Wilkinson, who with Felix Cohen was
an author of the claims act. The promise of payment for lost land appeared early in the 1950s, but the
tortuous legal process took so long that actual payments were not made until more than twenty years
later.
“The Paiutes joined with other bands to pursue their claims. There was some maneuvering by
the Justice Department to weaken the individual tribal cases, through consolidation, and to remove
lands from settlement that had traditionally been jointly utilized by two or more groups. Because there
were some time limitations and the federal government wanted to eliminate any further claims, there
was some incentive to reach a compromise to move the process more quickly. This approach, however,
allowed for no appeal from the Indians to either the US Court of Claims or to the US Supreme Court, as
did the normal land-claims process. The attorneys negotiated a compromise that represented the
Southern Paiute and Chemehuevi tribes. The precise value of the Paiute land was never determined,
since the compromise included both Paiute and Chemehuevi lands; but the payment consisted of $8.25
million for 29,935,000 acres of land. Thus, the Paiutes were to be paid about 27.5 cents an acre for their
land. The Wilkinson law firm was advised informally by the ICC [International Criminal Court] that the
compromise was fair and would probably be accepted if first approved by the Indians and the
Department of the Interior. Each band was advised by the attorneys that the compromise was the best
deal for their land and future. On January 18, 1965, the Southern Paiutes were awarded the sum of
$7,253,165.19 for about 26.4 million acres of land, or 27.3 cents per acre.
“After the settlement was accepted, however, another delay faced the Paiutes, while it was
determined how to administer and distribute the settlement. Once again, white paternalism would play
a part in the lives of the Paiutes. Several individuals and groups, including the governor of Utah, went on
record against per-capita payments to the Indians. A survey by Leonard Hill indicated that, ‘the basis of
the concern is the fact that these people generally are impoverished, uneducated, unemployed, and
inexperienced in handling money of amounts expected to be disbursed from the claim’. Neither the
State of Utah nor the BIA wanted to accept responsibility for oversight of the claims funds; this was
especially true in the case of the four terminated bands. Attorney John Boyden played a major role in
these negotiations as the attorney of record for the case (Docket No 330) and as the chair of the Utah
Governor's State Board of Indian Affairs. In the end the Paiutes had renounced, at least in the eyes of
the federal government, their rights to over 29 million acres; in return they had gained only a relatively
small monetary payment.
“Termination saw people unprepared on all sides. It took some people at the BIA until 1965 to
realize that the Indian Peaks and Cedar bands were two different entities. One of the studies used to
establish early land use and occupation also suggested how poorly the Paiutes were prepared for being
terminated. For many Paiutes, the land claims money that was supposed to facilitate their entry into the
white world was soon gone, and they were left with nothing: no land, no money, no trust relationship,
and no expectations for a brighter future. Some Paiutes did improve their lives by remodeling their
homes, and some new homes were even built. The land claims process also increased Paiute political
activity and awareness. In many ways, the claims case laid the groundwork for the 1980 restoration of
tribal status to the Paiutes. Talk for reinstatement began as early as 1958. In many ways, it seems that
termination set the Paiutes twenty-five years behind many other tribes.
“Many Paiutes continued to work as unskilled laborers, doing seasonal farm work, and some
found better work on the railroad. By this time, the traditional knowledge base had deteriorated to the
point that less than half of the Paiutes spoke fluent Paiute, very few were tanning deerskin, and very
little storytelling or weaving of baskets and cradles was taking place. Social gatherings were very
infrequent. Alcoholism began to affect more and more of the Paiutes, physically and socially. This

contributed to a low life expectancy of only forty-two years, during the early 1980s for Paiute males. The
education dropout rate ranged between 40 percent and 60 percent, with only an eighth-grade
attainment level possible for most. Social and health services were almost non-existent. Many Paiutes
were still living in substandard homes; but once again the Paiutes proved their durability and
adaptability.
“Although the talk of reinstatement of tribal status for Native Americans began as early as 1958,
the first real effort came in 1973, when petitions were circulated among the bands calling for the
restoration of tribal status. Utah State Director of Indian Affairs Bruce Parry contacted BIA area director
John Artichoker and then met with Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in Phoenix,
Arizona. Both were supportive of restoration efforts, and a report was drafted by Mary Ellen Sloan, a law
student working for the regional Solicitor's Office. Her nine-page memo essentially established that the
Paiutes had never met the criteria established for termination and that promises made by Senator
Watkins were not kept. The report also provided a policy statement on some of the errors and evils of
termination.
“In 1975 an Indian attorney named Larry Echohawk was approached by a member of the Paiute
Tribal Corporation Board and by Bruce Parry to initiate the legal process required for restoration. Many
meetings were held during 1975 to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of restoration and various
forms of tribal government. The Menominee Restoration Bill then in process was watched in hopes that
it would provide a useful precedent for Paiute restoration. Much support was given by the Paiute bands
and some was also received from local entities and the BIA. The records of the meetings held made it
obvious that the Paiutes were overwhelmingly in favor of reinstatement of federal status. Utah Senator
Frank Moss requested that the BIA draft proposed legislation. Senator Moss and Congressman Gunn
McKay, both Democrats, were ready to introduce and support the legislation, when Moss was defeated
by Republican Orrin Hatch in 1976.
“The original 1975 draft version of the restoration bill provided for each Paiute band to be
restored as a separate political entity, which was essentially its pre-termination status. After some
discussion concerning sovereignty, population, and culture, a third draft of restoration legislation was
prepared in 1976, which proposed to include all the bands under one tribal government. Newly elected
Senator Orrin Hatch and Congressman Dan Marriott became the supporters needed in Congress.
“In 1978 Mary Ellen Sloan, who would later join the Echohawk law firm and be its lead attorney,
was asked by Larry Echohawk to write legislation to create a federally recognized tribal entity for the
Paiutes. The bill, which was similar to the Siletz Tribe Restoration Bill, accompanied by a study for a plan
for a Paiute reservation, was presented to Senator Hatch. In July 1979, the first meeting of the Paiute
Restoration Committee was held. This group was formed in order to lobby for the Paiute cause. The
committee was composed of the Paiute Tribal Council and various influential Utahns from diverse
backgrounds. Tactics included encouraging individuals with contacts to write letters of support, make
phone calls, and to encourage latent Mormon support and sympathy for the Paiutes. Historical and
other materials were compiled to support the Paiute claims that they had suffered unjustly as a result of
termination.
“The essential strategy devised by Sloan and the committee was one of legislative advocacy.
This approach was utilized and refined throughout the process that led to restoration of tribal status and
was applied, with some brilliance, during the reservation phase of activity, which followed restoration.
The strategy was basically a search for support (mostly in the form of letters) from influential third
parties. There was little interest in (although also little serious opposition to) restoration from the white
population in southern Utah. But there was opposition from conservative circles to the idea of the
inclusion of a reservation plan.
“On August 29, 1979, Senator Hatch held a meeting at Southern Utah State College, in Cedar
City, to assess opinion on Paiute recognition. At this meeting, several Paiutes (forty to fifty were in

attendance) spoke strongly in favor of restoration, the need for a land base for their people, and of
discrimination suffered by Indians from local whites. Several examples of blatant discrimination against
Paiutes were cited. This testimony seems to have convinced Hatch that the Paiutes were in need of his
help. The president of Southern Utah State College noted that the Paiutes, because of their terminated
status, were unable to attend college, whereas Indian students from recognized tribes were eligible for
tuition and other assistance. Speakers also included county commissioners of Duchesne and Uintah
Counties (invited by Hatch), where the Uintah and Ouray Reservation was located, who spoke strongly
against restoration and made comments that the Paiutes and others felt were racist. The lessee of the
Shivwits grazing land also spoke in opposition of a reservation.
“Bruce Parry and Mary Ellen Sloan made a whirlwind tour of southern Utah, meeting with the
Paiute bands prior to House hearings on the restoration bill (HR 4996), in order to gather statistics on
the current socioeconomic status of the Paiutes. This information helped to document the deplorable
condition of many Paiutes after termination. This brief survey concluded that Paiute per-capita income
was $1,968, in contrast to the $7,004 per-capita income of the average citizen of Utah.
“A serious lobbying effort by the Paiute Restoration Committee, with the aim of including a
reservation plan in the restoration legislation, culminated when Jojo Hunt, staff attorney for the Senate
Select Committee on Indian Affairs, developed a series of fifteen amendments to a bill sponsored by
Senator Hatch that included a provision for new reservation lands to be selected and presented to
Congress within two years of restoration. The committee chair approved this version, and it was
adopted through the acquiescence of Senator Hatch; even with the provision for a reservation plan, he
did not kill the bill.
“Despite initial opposition from the Office of Management and Budget, which had asked for
further study without offering any money to fund it, the restoration act, Public Law 96-227, was signed
by President Jimmy Carter and became law on April 3, 1980.
“The Paiutes received a good deal of local support for the restoration of the trust relationship;
but when it came to receiving reservation lands, such support often ended or became more covert.
Throughout the entire reservation planning process, it was made abundantly clear that the Paiutes had
the support of the local personnel of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This support began at the Phoenix
Area Office and was especially strong at the Paiute Restoration Project Office, which was established at
Cedar City in November 1980, in order to implement the restoration legislation. On June 1, 1983,
Interior Secretary James Watt signed a measure giving final approval for the Cedar City office to become
a field station, serving all of the Paiutes in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. Full-scale operations began on
October 1, 1983, when the field station began to function as a Southern Paiute mini-agency.
“The restoration act required the secretary of the interior to present proposed legislation for a
Paiute reservation to Congress by April 3, 1982. The Paiutes were faced with a monumental task, as they
had to elect a six-member interim council, establish a membership roll, write a tribal constitution and
by-laws, and then elect a council under the constitution. An interim council was elected on May 31,
1980, and a constitution was adopted by the tribe on October 1, 1981. An official tribal membership roll
listing 503 members was finished by August 1981. Reservation planning began under the interim
council, with a September 1980 meeting with Utah Governor Scott Matheson. The interim council was
replaced by the newly elected tribal council on October 24, 1981. The fact that the Paiutes were able to
accomplish all of this within such a compressed timeframe was a tribute to their leaders and to their
hard work.
“Then came the most exciting, controversial, and certainly most frustrating aspect of the
restoration: the reservation planning and selection. Land selection was difficult. Virtually all of the good
land in southern Utah was in private hands. Lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management were
marginal, and while some US Forest Service lands contained valuable minerals, they were either leased
to or under the watchful eye of powerful interests. With only 503 members, the Paiute population was

small and almost destitute, and they seldom voted. Certain LDS [Latter Day Saints] church leaders were
asked to help with the reservation effort as the morally right thing to do, with the end objective of
raising the living standard of Paiutes. Emphasis was placed on the Paiutes' desire for self-sufficiency and
the need for good reservation land in order to accomplish this goal. Pressure also was brought to bear
on the Utah congressional delegation and local political leaders during this phase through personal
visits, editorials, letters, and phone calls.
“As various local and political opposition to reservation planning mounted, the support of
Senator Hatch waned. One point of contention was that the Indians were being given special treatment
not available to the general population, being ‘given something for nothing’. The general white
perception was that the Indians were being given land, not that the land was being restored to its
rightful previous owners; also involved was the Mormon tenet that some form of work is necessary from
those receiving assistance. After many heated and emotional meetings, five parcels were dropped from
consideration. While the restoration legislation called for the land selection from ‘available public land’,
some officials in the US Forest Service and other opponents maintained that forest lands were ‘not
available’. However, in 1956, some Uintah National Forest land had been returned to the Ute tribe, and
in 1974, 100,000 acres of national forest land had been put in trust for the Havasupai Indians of Arizona.
“By 1984 tribal council members were resigned to take whatever was offered to them; their
mood was one of melancholy powerlessness. The Paiute Tribal Council found itself in the familiar
position of taking something, with the assumption that it was better than nothing. In the end, HR 2898
provided the Utah Paiutes with 4,770 acres of land, less than one-third of the 15,000 acres that the
restoration legislation allowed them to select. They could have followed the example of the Western
Shoshonis and refuse to settle; however, this possibly would have netted them nothing. HR 2898 also
authorized a trust fund of $2.5 million, with 50 percent of the interest drawn for tribal government
expenses and economic development projects.
“All the ingredients seemed to be in place for the Paiutes to be a ‘bureaucratized’ people who
could function amid the red tape and legalities of today's society. Efforts and energies now were needed
to provide direction and leadership for the future success of the Paiutes. Internal squabbles, however,
would hinder their progress, as some Paiutes had learned the bureaucratic system all too well. The
Paiute leadership of the 1980s proved to be able and sophisticated. The tribe has been well served by
strong leaders (within the Paiute context) and capable staff. During the restoration and reservation
phases, interfamilial and band conflicts were somewhat muted; however, during the latter part of the
land-acquisition process, internal squabbles began to increase, which made progress and continuity a bit
more difficult. More and more conflict was evident, as families sought the help of tribal, BIA, and state
agencies in matters pertaining to food, shelter, medical care, education, and jobs.
“Since restoration in 1980, the trend has been toward the contracting of functions previously
the responsibility of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Utah Paiutes now contract almost all of their
services; therefore, the direct supervision of their lives by the BIA is minimal. There is still a definite
tendency of many tribal members to depend heavily on tribal government and services. The Paiute tribal
government acts as a surrogate for the BIA and has become the continued focal point for Paiute
aspirations and frustrations. Turnover in the tribal council has been high.
“Although health care has improved dramatically since 1980, major problems still exist; for
example, 95 percent of tribal deaths from 1981 to 1984 were alcohol related. The tribe hired an alcohol
intervention specialist. In 1984 the tribal health department estimated that 68 percent of their people's
health-care needs were not being met, and the life expectancy of a Paiute male in 1984 was forty-two
years. Improvements were made, however, and by 1989, not only were most private physicians in
southern Utah available to tribal members, but also there was a special clinic held at the tribal office
building once a month. Dental, eye-care, diabetes, well-baby, and general clinics are held. Travis
Parashoonts noted: ‘Prior to 1980, we had three deaths to every birth. We were a vanishing tribe, slowly

going into extinction. Restoration gave us access to health service, and we reversed those figures in
three years.’
“Education has been and continues to be a high priority with the Paiutes. After restoration, they
immediately hired a director of tribal education. Prior to 1981, about 40 percent of Paiute children
dropped out of school by eighth grade, and only eight Paiutes had attended college in the previous ten
years. Now however, the dropout rate has stayed in the single digits from 1982 to the present. By the
spring of 1982, forty-four Paiutes were either attending college or vocational school. Desire for
education is evident in the fact that of those between eighteen and forty years of age, 71 percent have
participated in higher education or vocational training. Unfortunately however, some progress remains
to be made: only about one in three has finished his or her degree or training programs, and of those,
only about one-half have actually been able to find work in their field. Tribal leaders have worried that,
as their children graduate, they may find that the few jobs available in southern Utah are closed to
Paiutes because of prejudice. This would force the best and brightest of the young Paiutes to find work
away from their traditional homeland.
“The Paiute Economic Development Committee was established in 1984 to seek out economic
development enterprises closer to home. A sewing plant was established at Kanosh that employs twenty
to thirty people (primarily Paiute women). In the summer of 1989, a Cedar City warehouse was
refurbished to establish a second sewing plant. Plans are currently underway to build a natural gas,
turbine-powered power plant, and possible development of a golf course, both slated for the Shivwits
reservation.
“Unemployment and underemployment still plague the Paiutes. In 1988, for example, with a
labor force of 137 potential workers, seventy-seven were unemployed at some point during the year,
and fifty-two were said to be actively seeking work. Nonetheless, there is now a core of collegeeducated Paiute professionals of both sexes, who can act as role models and help provide the lead in
escaping the customary poverty conditions of many Paiute Indians.
“The Koosharem Band has begun to benefit from the parcel of land at Joseph; five house trailers
have been located there and twelve HUD [US Department of Housing and Urban Development] homes
have been built. The tribal administration has done an excellent job of acquiring HUD housing for tribal
members at Cedar City, Shivwits, and Joseph.
“Since they reacquired a land base during the 1980s, the Paiutes have become more visible
throughout southern Utah. In 1981, to celebrate their restored trust status, the Paiute Indian Tribe of
Utah instituted a Restoration Gathering, to be held in June of each year. This celebration has become a
major contemporary social event in the Paiute calendar. The gathering marks the restoration of federal
recognition of the Utah Paiute tribe and includes a princess pageant, ball games and hand games, and a
parade through downtown Cedar City.
“The effort that goes into producing and participating in this event creates pride and solidarity
among the participants. The intertribal aspects, such as the dance contests and the hand games, create
an opportunity for the Paiutes to meet other Native Americans and exchange information and songs.
One of the primary benefits of the Gathering is its visibility; it provides an opportunity for the Paiutes to
express their ethnic pride and say to the Anglo community that they are proud of their accomplishments
and of who they are. The Paiute people never left their homeland, nor do they ever intend to leave.”2005

2005

Gary Tom and Ronald Holt; Chapter Four – The Paiute Tribe of Utah; The History of Utahs American
Indians;
http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/ethnic_cultures/the_history_of_utahs_american_indians/chapter4.
html

***SPEARMINT, SANPETE COUNTY2006, UTAH***
ACT Antrei and AD Roberts present: “In 1919 Alred L Fjeldsted built a joint bank and theater
building on the east side of the highway in Centerfield where S&H Heating is currently located. Many
stock company shows, local plays, and silent movies were performed and shown in the theater. After
Fjeldsted’s death, the bank merged with the Gunnison Valley Bank in 1926.
“On 19 September 1919, everyone assembled at the newly constructed sugar factory for the
grand opening. The factory was located south of Centerfield. Wages were forty cents an hour, and
during one eighty-eight-day campaign, 43,307 tons of beets were processed. The sugar factory was
controlled by William Wrigley, Jr, the gum manufacturer. He made extensive improvements and the
railroad spur was officially known as Spearmint. Many benefits were realized from the sugar industry as
farmers had a handy market for their sugar beets, and as many as 200 men were employed during the
sugar campaign.”2007
***SPIRIT LAKE, DAGGETT COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott renders: “Is in the north central section of the Uinta Mountains on the headwaters
of Sheep Creek, Middle Fork. Daggett Lake is two and one-half miles southeast. A feathery mist often
hangs over this lake. The lake name is derived from an Indian legend claiming that a group of Shoshone
braves were camped by the lake while on an elk hunting excursion. As the moon rose over the lake, one
brave woke up and saw a group of snow-white elk through the mist and the broken clouds. The animals
were plunging through the water, throwing a spray that mingled with the mist and the clouds. He
awakened his companions and told them of his vision and they named the lake Spirit Lake.”2008
***UPHEAVAL DOME, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH***
JW Van Cott sheds light on: “Is in Canyonlands National Park at the head of Upheaval Canyon.
The dome is believed to have formed when a 3,000 foot layer of salt pushed up through an area of
overlying weakness. The dome then bulged onto the surface as a mountain that eventually cracked
open into a series of concentric stone strata or ridges. As the salt dissolved, it left monuments of towers
and odd rock formations. The overall formation has been heavily eroded.”2009
**VERMONT**
HB Staples suggests: “The territory of Vermont was so named from the French words verd mont,
‘Green Mountain’, the ‘d’ being dropped in composition. The legal history of the name is a curious one.
At a convention of the people held at Westminster January 15, 1777, it was declared that the district
was a State ‘to be forever hereafter called, known and distinguished by the name of New Connecticut
alias Vermont’. The convention met by adjournment July 2d, 1777, and having, in the meantime,
ascertained that the name of New Connecticut had been already applied to a district on the banks of the
Susquehanna, it was declared that instead of New Connecticut, the State should ‘ever be known by the
name of Vermont’. Hall, in his Early History of Vermont, appendix No 9, claims that the words ‘alias
Vermont’ did not belong in the name as adopted in January, and that they must have been
2006

http://utah.hometownlocator.com/ut/sanpete/spearmint.cfm
Albert CT Antrei and Allen D Roberts; A History of Sanpete County [Utah Centennial County History
Series]; Utah State Historical Society; 1999; provided by Wanda Dahl, Museum Registrar, Fairview
Museum of History & Art, 85 North 100 East, PO Box 157, Fairview, UT 84629
2008
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
2009
John W Van Cott; Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names;
University of Utah Press; 1990
2007

inconsiderately added to the journal, or an early copy of it, by way of explanation after the name
Vermont had been adopted in lieu of New Connecticut, and afterwards in transcribing, erroneously
taken as a part of the original.’ Mr Hall gives various reasons in support of this claim. One is the
improbability, not to say the absurdity, that the convention should have given two names to the State.
But is there not a strong presumption in favor of the correctness of public records, and against the
mutilation of the journal? Another reason adduced by Mr Hall, is that in the remainder of the journal,
the new State is twice called New Connecticut alone. This reason is that Ira Allen, a member of the
January convention, in his history, inserts what purports to be the first named declaration with the
name of New Connecticut only. This might well be in a history written after the name Vermont was
resolved on and giving only the substance of the first name. In opposition to Mr Hall’s theory, the words
are found in Slade’s State Papers, page 70, in Williams’ History of Vermont, and in a manuscript copy of
the journal of the convention, the original being lost, in the possession of James H Phelps. Further, all
accounts concur that the name of Vermont was given to the State by Dr Thomas Young, and we find a
letter of his dated 11 April 1777, addressed to ‘the inhabitants of Vermont, a free and independent
State’, which implies that at that date the State had already received its name of Vermont, although
under an alias.”2010
KB Harder calls attention to: “From French mont vert, ‘green mountains’, applied to areas east
of Lake Champlain by Samuel de Champlain in his map of 1612.”2011
www.virtualvermont.com connotes: “Vermont was officially adopted as the new republic's
name on June 30, 1777. Two different stories are told to explain its origin.
“Dr Samuel Peters claimed that in 1763, he had christened the land, as he stood on top of a high
mountain (said to be Killington, which at the time was one of several peaks named Pisgah), from which
he could see both the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, saying, ‘The new name is Verd-Mont, in
token that her mountains and hills shall be ever green and shall never die.’ Most historians feel this
story is apocryphal, to say the least. In truth, the name Vermont probably was given by another.
“Dr Thomas Young was a Pennsylvania statesman, who took a great deal of interest in the young
republic in the mountains. It was he who had suggested that Pennsylvania's constitution be used as the
basis for Vermont's, and that was done. He also is credited with having suggested the name Vermont, to
perpetuate the memory of the Green Mountain Boys, who were named for the long north-south ridge of
mountains that nearly bisects the state.
“The Green Mountain name had been in use for those mountains for more years than anyone
could remember. Indeed it was a New York colonial official who, bedeviled by the ‘boys’ from
Bennington, Arlington and the surrounding towns, inadvertently gave the Green Mountain Boys their
name, saying he would drive them all back to their Green Mountains.
“Seven generations of scholars have pointed out that to be grammatical French, the name
should be Les Monts Verts. But that's an awkward mouthful, whereas ‘Vermont’ is easy to say and has a
pleasant sound - and Vermont it has remained.”2012
**VERMONT’S NATIVE AMERICANS**
RA Douglas-Lithgow details: “The territory now represented by the State of Vermont was
claimed as hunting-ground by the surrounding tribes, and constituted an area frequently traversed by
tribes wandering from north to south, or vice versa, as well as intersected by numerous shorter routes in

2010

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2012
http://www.virtualvermont.com/history/vermontname.html
2011

varying directions, and this was, if not the main, at least a contributory factor in preventing the
aborigines from making Vermont, to any considerable extent, a permanent residence.
“Still these are indubitable proofs that the Indians at an early period, must have resided here,
and in considerable numbers. The St Francis tribe on the north – (who had their headquarters at
Montreal, Hockhelaga as it was then called) – the Narragansets on the east, - the Pequois on the south, the Iroquois or Mohawks on the southwest, (Schenectady, Mohawk River, New York) – were the tribes
located in the vicinity of Vermont in comparatively recent times. The territory of the Iroquois, eastward,
embraced Lake Champlain and the western part of Vermont, and the Indians on the banks of the
Susquehanna, Delaware, Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, were in a kind of subjection to them.
“History records the scantiest information concerning the Indians in Vermont, and the Amerind
Place and Proper Names throughout the Green Mountain State are so few, as to but emphasize the fact
that the only remaining traces of her aborigines have almost faded away forever.”2013
***BREAD LOAF MOUNTAIN, ADDISON COUNTY2014, VERMONT***
Debbie Herman explains: “Bread Loaf was named for a nearby mountain in the Green Mountain
National Forest, which looks – when viewed from the north or south – like a loaf of homemade bread! I
guess you can think of Bread Loaf Mountain as a real ‘role model’!”2015
***CHECKERBERRY VILLAGE, CHITTENDEN COUNTY2016, VERMONT***
EM Swift imparts: “The town’s first post office was opened in 1804 at the main village of Milton;
it is still in operation. West Milton got a post office in 1832; it closed in 1901. The village that now is
known as Miltonboro had an office from 1888 to 1903. In 1890 the last post office was opened at the
village the residents called Checkerberry Village or, simply, Checkerberry, but which the federal
authorities decided should be Milton Center for postal purposes. The villagers tried very hard to
convince the government that Checkerberry was a better and more distinctive name, but their
arguments fell on deaf ears. The office finally closed in 1896 for lack of business, and the village went
right back to being Checkerberry – the only one in the state. The name comes from an evergreen plant
with spicy, red berries, known as checkerberries, which grew abundantly in the area.”2017
***LOST NATION, ESSEX COUNTY2018, VERMONT***
EM Swift mentions: “Lost Nation in Essex was off in the western part of town, toward
Colchester. The story of the name is supposed to have been that someone got lost in the area; when he
was finally found, he announced that he had been at Lost Nation. The other possibility is that there was

2013

Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow; Native American Place Names of Rhode Island; Applewood
Books; 2001
2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_Loaf_Mountain
2015
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
2016
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/chittenden/checkerberry-village.cfm
2017
Esther Munroe Swift; Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History; Stephen Greene Press; 1977;
provided by Gerrie Denison, Reference Librarian, Vermont State Library, 109 State Street, Montpelier,
VT 05609; [email protected]; http://libraries.vermont.gov/state_library
2018
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/essex/lost-nation.cfm

a small settlement in the area and, since getting there was a difficult feat, the community was in effect a
lost one.”2019
***MOSQUITOVILLE, CALEDONIA COUNTY2020, VERMONT***
EM Swift puts into words: “A local nickname for an area on the southern border of town and
partly over the line in Ryegate is Mosquitoville. Elsewhere this kind of nickname has generally been
used in derision, and it is thought that this was the case in Barnet. It is possible that the name came
about because the area around Harvey Lake is somewhat swampy, and therefore a breeding ground for
mosquitoes.”2021
***NOTOWN, WINDSOR COUNTY2022, VERMONT***
EM Swift reports: “Maps of Stockbridge made before 1884, show the town’s eastern and
southern boundaries intersecting at almost a right angle. Maps since 1884 have shown a different
configuration – a small rectangle of land projects east in the manner of a toe sticking out from a foot.
This area was known for almost forty years as No Town. It literally was no town at all, having originally
been part of Parkers Gore. No Town was overlooked when the Gore was made first a part of Medway
(now Mendon in Rutland County) and later a part of Sherburne. None of the surrounding towns had
ever claimed the area; the land had never been charted, organized or taxed, but when the legislature
proposed annexing No Town to Stockbridge, there was considerable protest. There never were many
residents in the area, but the few people who did live there liked their No Town status. Finally, in order
to gain the No-Towners’ agreement, the 1884 legislature guaranteed the residents five years of tax
exemption. Before the five years were over, most of the residents of No Town had moved away and the
area’s only business – a saw mill – was abandoned.”2023
***POMPANOOSUC, WINDSOR COUNTY2024, VERMONT***
EM Swift shows: “The next post office was established at the village of Pompanoosuc in 1849,
and was in use until 1943, when it was closed for lack of business. The village name derives from the
name of the Ompompanoosuc River, which in turn comes from an Abnaki word meaning ‘at the place of
the mushy, quaky land’. The railroads called the village Kendall, using the name of the ticket agent
there.”2025

2019

Esther Munroe Swift; Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History; Stephen Greene Press; 1977;
provided by Gerrie Denison, Reference Librarian, Vermont State Library, 109 State Street, Montpelier,
VT 05609; [email protected]; http://libraries.vermont.gov/state_library
2020
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/caledonia/mosquitoville.cfm
2021
Esther Munroe Swift; Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History; Stephen Greene Press; 1977;
provided by Gerrie Denison, Reference Librarian, Vermont State Library, 109 State Street, Montpelier,
VT 05609; [email protected]; http://libraries.vermont.gov/state_library
2022
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/windsor/notown.cfm
2023
Esther Munroe Swift; Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History; Stephen Greene Press; 1977;
provided by Gerrie Denison, Reference Librarian, Vermont State Library, 109 State Street, Montpelier,
VT 05609; [email protected]; http://libraries.vermont.gov/state_library
2024
http://vermont.hometownlocator.com/vt/windsor/pompanoosuc.cfm
2025
Esther Munroe Swift; Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History; Stephen Greene Press; 1977;
provided by Gerrie Denison, Reference Librarian, Vermont State Library, 109 State Street, Montpelier,
VT 05609; [email protected]; http://libraries.vermont.gov/state_library

***RESCUE LAKE, WINDSOR COUNTY2026, VERMONT***
KB Harder talks about: “Named by SA Giffin, former principal of Black River Academy, who felt
that Ludlow Lake, its former name, was too commonplace for such a beautiful body of water. He
invented, with some fellow campers, a romantic story in which a little girl was lost in the woods nearby,
and after some bizarre and complicated experiences was rescued, hence the name for the lake. The
story is now a part of the lore of the area.”2027
***SATANS KINGDOM, ADDISON COUNTY2028, VERMONT***
EM Swift catalogs: “Old town records show that the extreme northwestern part of town used to
be known as Jerusalem, probably because it was a far better place to farm than Satans Kingdom,
another area in town, which is thought to have been named by someone who had expected fertile,
rolling acres and had received rocks and hills instead.”2029
***SMUGGLER’S NOTCH, LAMOILLE COUNTY2030, VERMONT***
KB Harder conveys: “So named because according to legend, it was used as a place where cattle
and other goods were hidden, during the United States embargo on goods to Canada in the War of
1812.”2031
***TINMOUTH, RUTLAND COUNTY2032, VERMONT***
Grant Reynolds discusses: “I have been researching the origin of the name Tinmouth, Vermont
for nearly ten years. Everyone here has heard the statement, ‘well, there are two towns in England that
sound like Tinmouth, but they are spelled differently’.
“Well, that’s true. ‘T-Y-N-E-mouth’ is in Northumberland, 8 miles east of Newcastle, at the
mouth of the Tyne River. ‘T-E-I-G-N-E-mouth’ in Devon, in Southeast England, is at the mouth of the
Teign River. Both are pronounced the same as our Tinmouth is. Are we named for either one?
“The answer is yes. We are named for the oceanfront village of ‘TYNEMOUTH’, Northumberland,
beside the ruins of a castle and abbey of the same name. How could that be?
“Spelling provides the answer. ‘TYNEmouth’ was spelled ‘TINmouth’ until the late 18th century,
long after our town was chartered. I have road maps from the late 18th century, all using TINmouth. I
just acquired a 1790 print of the ruins of ‘TINmouth’ Castle and Abbey. So when our town was chartered
on September 15, 1761, ‘TYNEmouth’ was not the standard spelling. The name Tinmouth is a curious
mixture of Brythonic (Celtic) and Anglo-Saxon. Tin means ‘river’ or ‘water’ in Brythonic; mouth is AngloSaxon (muth, which became ‘mouth’ in Middle English). Mouth means what it means today – an
opening, like the area where a river opens into the sea.

2026

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Rescue_(Vermont)
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2028
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satans_Kingdom,_Vermont
2029
Esther Munroe Swift; Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History; Stephen Greene Press; 1977;
provided by Gerrie Denison, Reference Librarian, Vermont State Library, 109 State Street, Montpelier,
VT 05609; [email protected]; http://libraries.vermont.gov/state_library
2030
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smugglers'_Notch_State_Park
2031
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2032
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinmouth,_Vermont
2027

“I have a copy of a 1615 map of England. It shows the northeast town as ‘TINmouth’. The
Southwest one, however, has already begun to change. It is spelled ‘TINGmouth’. That was 146 years
before our town was chartered.
“Both historians and historical novelists confuse this issue by spelling ‘TINmouth’ as
‘TYNEmouth’ in the Elizabethan era, the 1500s, and even earlier, by using the later spelling. But it didn’t
exist at that time. It has been ‘TINmouth’ since the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, many writers, unaware
of this history, use the ‘TYNEmouth’ spelling in describing castle, abbey, and village regardless of the
time period they are discussing.
“There still is a Tinmouth in England – sort of. The village of Morton Tinmouth is in County
Durham, about 30 miles southwest of Tinmouth/Tynemouth. It was originally owned by Tinmouth
Abbey, and supplied food for the monks there. Its name is Anglo-Saxon: Moor = ‘field’; ton = ‘farm’.
‘Tinmouth Abbey’s farm in the [distant] fields’.
“How did the name come here? Vermont towns got their names in two ways. If the charter
applicants proposed a name, they often, perhaps usually, got it. Wallingford, the town next to us on the
east, was chartered to residents of Wallingford, Connecticut, who presumably asked for it. Otherwise
Governor Benning Wentworth – or perhaps his secretary – came up with one. Many seemed chosen to
ingratiate him with important politicians both in England and the colonies. Others, like Tinmouth, are
English place names that Wentworth may or may not have had pleasant memories of from his own time
in England. Tinmouth has been a well-known bathing resort since the 18th century. Perhaps Benning
Wentworth visited there, or just remembered hearing about it.
“He seems to have been in a nostalgic mood in the fall of 1761. Tinmouth and Wells, another
tiny town in northern England, were chartered the same day. Danby preceded us by a little; Castleton
came a little later. Both of these are small villages in Northern Yorkshire, 40 miles from Tinmouth –
although Danby’s name is usually connected to one of two noblemen, the Earl of Danby or the Earl of
Denbeigh. Esther Swift, in her Vermont Place Names, says incorrectly that there is no Danby in England.
“I’m going with traditional spelling as the clue. Wentworth’s motives for choosing ‘Tinmouth’
are still unclear, but many Vermont township names have some doubt about motivation hanging over
them. Why did he choose Wells and Tinmouth on the same day?
“I choose Tinmouth in Northumberland, now spelled ‘Tynemouth’, as the source of the name
Tinmouth, Vermont.”2033
**VIRGIN ISLANDS**
www.statoids.com expounds: “Origin of name: discovered by Columbus and named Santa
Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes: ‘Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins’.”2034
James Ferguson impresses: “The US Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917, after
two centuries of rule from Copenhagen. Charlotte Amalie, the main port of St Thomas, contains some
historic evidence of Danish influence in churches and official buildings, but has been largely spoiled by
modern tourist development. St Croix was an important sugar producer in the eighteenth century, as
shown by its main ruined plantation houses. Its main town, Christianized, has an air of elegant
prosperity, which evokes its colonial period. Today the islands are dominated by tourism and the giant
Hess oil refinery on St Croix.”
James Ferguson notates: “Military intervention was not the only option open to the USA in its
desire to safeguard the Panama Canal and hemisphere stability. As early as 1867, the King of Denmark
had been willing to cede sovereignty of the Danish Virgin Islands to the USA, and indeed that year had
2033

Grant Reynolds; Tinmouth Was named for....Tinmouth; [email protected];
http://www.tinmouthvt.org/MainPages/Organizations/HistoricalSociety.php
2034
http://www.statoids.com/uvi.html

announced the transfer of power to his Caribbean subjects, only to find that the US Senate rejected the
convention. The islands remained reluctantly controlled by Denmark until 1917, when alarm over
German influence in the ailing colonies prompted Washington to buy St Croix, St John and St Thomas
together, with sixty smaller islets, for the price of US $25 million. To the chagrin of the Danes, a tactless
US negotiator later admitted that the USA would willingly have paid US $40 million, but Copenhagen
was nevertheless relieved to be rid of its tiny tropical outpost. In buying the Virgin Islands, the USA took
control of the potentially strategic port of Charlotte Amalie, dealing yet another blow to German
regional ambitions. For the Virgin Islanders themselves, the deal was rather less satisfactory. They
endured US military government during and after the First World War and were not granted US
citizenship until 1932. As the islands stagnated under the weight of their bankrupt sugar industry, US
President Herbert Hoover memorably described them as the Caribbean’s orphanage and poorhouse.”2035
***ANNAS HOPE, SAINT CROIX2036, VIRGIN ISLANDS***
Olasee Davis puts pen to paper: “I recently conducted a walk through Estate Anna’s Hope and
Grange for the St Croix community.
“These two estates hold a lot of history and impacted young Alexander Hamilton’s life. Anna’s
Hope is one of the largest plantations on St Croix, with some 225 acres expanding into two quarters,
Company and Queen’s, about two miles west of Christiansted.
“Its intact ruins and historic buildings are scattered along the land on the south side of
Constitution Hill.
“The estate first was settled after the acquisition of St Croix by the Danish West India Company
from the French crown. The early history of Anna’s Hope is unclear. However its first owners appear to
have been Joseph and Peter Robinson, and the estate first was called Robinson’s Plantage Estate and
was in operation by 1751.
“Sometime in the 1770s or early 1780s, the estate was acquired by Count Bertram Peter de
Nully. He was the son of Pierre Bertram de Nully of Martinique. De Nully became a powerful landowner
on St Croix, when it was first settled in 1734.
“He later married Catharine Heyliger, the daughter of another powerful planter on St Croix
named Pieter Heyliger. He left the estate to the couple’s daughter Anna, thus the estate present name
Anna’s Hope.
“De Nully had six other children who also received estates of their own such as Peter’s Rest and
Mary’s Fancy.
“By 1751 the estate had an animal mill to grind cane. According to Jens Beck’s map, the original
operation was located on Company Quarter side on the low side of Constitution Hill. Beck’s revised map
of 1766-67 also shows an animal mill.
“Kuffner’s map for Oldendorp’s publication on the Moravians of 1767 also clearly shows a
windmill, indicating the advancement of Estate Anna’s Hope productive capabilities.
“In 1778 and 1794, Oxholm’s maps repeat the same information, showing a great house north
of what is now Centerline Road. Both the great house and windmill are still on the site. With the death
of De Nully, Estate Anna’s Hope passed to Anna Heyliger and her husband, Nicholas Cruger. Cruger was
a successful businessman. He had strong connections with New York through his business and family
members, including his uncle who was mayor of New York.
“Cruger also was Alexander Hamilton’s employer. Through this connection, many historians
believe that young Alexander played a role in the management of Estate Anna’s Hope. In 1822 Estate
2035
2036

James Ferguson; A Traveller’s History of The Caribbean; Interlink Books; 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annas_Hope,_United_States_Virgin_Islands

Anna’s Hope, along with many others on St Croix, was damaged by a hurricane. Historic records show
the estate — then owned by Cruger’s son or grandson, BP Cruger, and managed by Robert Jackson —
lost 12 ‘old slaves’ row houses, the roof of the rum distillery, and other estate buildings. That same year,
St Croix suffered a drought.
“In 1827 another hurricane hit the island. That marked the beginning of St Croix declining sugar
economy. Sugar prices, which had been stable on the island just following the period of the British
occupation of St Croix, suddenly fell due to the introduction of the sugar beets in America and Europe,
and the imposition in the United States of a duty on imports of foreign sugar.
“Cruger’s descendants went ‘belly up’ due to back taxes to the Land Treasury, forcing them to
sell out.
“The next owner of Anna’s Hope was George Henderson. He made improvements on the estate
and managed to increase sugar production. Henderson modernized the estate by adding a steam engine
to increase his output. He was doing well until another economic crisis hit the sugar industry. Increasing
labor unrest and decreasing prices followed by Emancipation in 1848, cut heavily into Henderson’s
profits.
“By the 1860s and 70s, the declining condition of the sugar industry on St Croix was apparent to
all. The labor uprising of 1878 was a death to the island economy. Anna’s Hope was partially damaged in
the famous ‘Fireburn’. The striking agricultural workers were moving to Christiansted from the West End
and were stopped just outside Anna’s Hope by the Christiansted militia. As a result, Anna’s Hope was
one of 28 estates spared on the island.
“Fifty-one other estates were burned or destroyed. The bell tower at Anna’s Hope today was
erected in commemoration of the estate escaping the Fireburn destruction.
“Anna’s Hope struggled after Fireburn but managed to make a profit. The estate shipped its
cane to the Central Factory near Christiansted for processing. By 1910 the estate only produced a small
amount. In 1911 Anna’s Hope was taken over by the Danish government and converted to an
agricultural experiment station.
“There is lots more to say about Anna’s Hope. However I must mention something about Estate
Grange, since my walk ended there.
“In 1738 James Lytton and his family, including Alexander Hamilton’s aunt, left Nevis for St
Croix. Like many other planters from the British, Dutch, and other Leeward Islands, the Lyttons came to
St Croix seeking a better life. The Lyttons purchased the 150 acre Grange sugar plantation. It is there
where Alexander Hamilton’s mother, Rachel, was buried in 1768, after her death from yellow fever.”2037
**VIRGINIA**
HB Staples represents: “The first step in the colonization of America by England was the charter
granted in 1584, by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Walter Raleigh. Under this charter, Raleigh took possession
of the country west of Roanoke, and called it Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen. This is the only State
of the Union whose name appears in literature, associated with the royal title. Spenser dedicated the
Faerie Queene to ‘Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, Queene of England, France and Ireland and of
Virginia’. The nearest approach to this in a public act is the order of the English Privy Council to the
Virginia Colony, after the Revolution of 1688, to proclaim William and Mary as ‘Lord and Lady of
Virginia’.”2038
KB Harder specifies: “For Elizabeth I of England, ‘the Virgin Queen’. Originally the name applied
to all territory claimed by the British on the continent of North America. An unsuccessful attempt at
2037

Olasee Davis; History of Anna’s Hope and Grange; May 26, 2010;
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/op-ed/history-of-anna-s-hope-and-grange-1.815435
2038
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882

colonization was made at Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) in 1584. The first permanent English
settlement was at Jamestown (1607).”2039
www.statesymbolsusa.org tells: “What does Virginia mean? The state of Virginia was named
after England's Queen Elizabeth I. In the early 1600s, all of North America that was not Spanish or
French was then called ‘Virginia’ in honor of ‘The Virgin Queen’, and the earliest English colonial
expeditions were sent by the Virginia Company of London. Virginia became the 10th state on June 25,
1788.”2040
DJ McInerney chronicles: “After a series of failures in the last quarter of the sixteenth century,
the English finally gained a foothold in North America early in the seventeenth century. The project did
not result from government intervention, state supervision, or military domination; the first colony to
succeed relied on that principle of progress revered in American lore: private enterprise. The agency
that launched the first permanent English colony was a joint stock company, created by businessmen
who sold shares to investors, hoping to cash in on the next great growth market, the New World. In
1606 King James I granted a charter in the southern reaches of North America; the Plymouth division
took care of northern territories.
“The promoters in Plymouth had little luck in getting a venture going in the new lands. But the
London group managed to organize a project in the southern Chesapeake Bay, on a waterway named
the James River, in a community called Jamestown, in the year 1607. Year after year, the settlement
looked as if it would fail. Colonists found neither precious metals nor a northwest passage to the Indies,
nor instant wealth for the profit-hungry investors back in England. Food supplies remained low and
spirits sagged, as malaria spread and conflicts with native tribes grew. In the period 1610-20, settlers hit
on tobacco as a promising cash crop, secured the right to own land in the settlement, and even gained
self-government through a representative assembly named the House of Burgesses. But workers
remained in short supply, and colonists turned increasingly to indentured servants and even small
numbers of slaves to expand the workforce. After a decade and a half of tinkering, the Virginia
Company had still failed to make a profit, the business collapsed, and in 1624 the ‘corporate’ colony
became a ‘royal’ colony.”
DJ McInerney declares: “At the same time in Virginia, frontiersmen led by Nathaniel Bacon
pressed for control of more land by launching attacks on Indians. The governor of the colony, William
Berkeley, tried to prevent widespread warfare with native tribes, especially those with whom the
government had come to terms. Bacon’s supporters had no sympathy with colonial authorities, who
seemed unresponsive to the needs of people on the frontier. His forces continued their assaults on local
tribes. ‘Bacon’s Rebellion’ even led to an attack by frontiersmen on Jamestown. But following Bacon’s
death in the fall of 1676, the uprising came to an end.”
DJ McInerney displays: “Cornwallis planned to concentrate his military operations in Virginia,
where he hoped to knock out local patriots and move his troops northward. The strategy might have
worked except for one small complication. After years of delay, American and French forces finally
agreed on a joint military venture – they chose Cornwallis as their target. Admiral de Grasse positioned
his French fleet to challenge British naval power; von Steuben and the Marquis de Lafayette led
Continental forces in Virginia; troops under Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau moved down
from New York. They converged at Yorktown, located on a coastal peninsula between the James and
York Rivers, where Cornwallis had positioned, and isolated, his army. By the late summer of 1781, a
Franco-American force of 17,000 confronted Cornwallis’ 8,000 troops. The allies laid siege to Yorktown
and finally forced Cornwallis to surrender on 19 October 1781. Hearing of the loss, Lord North moaned,
2039

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2040
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Virginia/VirginiaNameOrigin.html

‘Oh God, it’s all over.’ For once his assessment of conditions in America was right on target. The war
continued sporadically for months, but the debacle at Yorktown spelled defeat for Britain and
independence for America.”
DJ McInerney expresses: “State governments had made their decisions about slavery. So too,
had Congresses, presidents, and the Supreme Court. To one man, John Brown, it appeared that
established authorities all agreed that slavery enjoyed protection and assistance, while liberty suffered
restriction and decay. There seemed little reason to continue pressing the issue through legitimate
channels; all such offices had become illegitimate through their collusion with the ‘slave power’. The
righteous had to act on their own, to eradicate the sin of slavery and redeem the nation.
“After fighting in Kansas, Brown returned east. He now intended to take the struggle into the
heart of the beast, into the South itself. Financed by a group of northeastern abolitionists known as the
‘Secret Six’, assisted by 21 followers, and fired by a passionate commitment to liberty, Brown planned to
spark a series of slave insurrections throughout the South. The process would begin at a mountain base
along the Potomac River on the Virginia-Maryland border. Brown and his men would attack the US
arsenal in Harpers Ferry, seize and distribute its arms to slaves, lead an uprising, retreat, and then
launch more attacks against the slave system.
“On 16 October 1859, Brown’s band struck. The group took the armory, held its arms, and
waited to be joined by slaves from the surrounding area. Local residents gathered outside and began
shooting at the occupants. US Marines, under the command of Colonel Robert E Lee, soon arrived,
killing some of the raiders and capturing others, including Brown. Authorities charged him with treason
against the state of Virginia and conspiracy to incite slave insurrection. By early November, the state
tried and convicted Brown, sentencing him to death. From his cell, he wrote, ‘I John Brown am now
quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood.’ On December
2, Brown was taken from his cell and hanged.
“An unprecedented outpouring of sorrow and sympathy issued from the North. Groups marked
the moment of his execution with solemn meetings, eloquent speeches, and quiet ceremonies. To
participants, Brown’s means may have been regrettably violent, but his purposes were exemplary. For
some Brown nobly tried to enact, rather than merely espouse, the highest ideals of humanity. For
others Brown heroically defied the slave power. For still others, Brown bravely sacrificed his own life for
the redemption of four million slaves.
“While the North grieved, the South shuddered. How, Southerners asked, could so many
admire a man so mad? Brown was a killer, an insurrectionary, a threat to the nation’s security, yet
Bostonians, New Yorkers, and Philadelphians honored the man’s principles and actions. Their grotesque
mourning showed how chaos in the South brought cheer to the North. What sign more clearly
demonstrated that the two sections of the country shared nothing in common? What further proof did
anyone need to recognize that all Northerners – fiery abolitionists, ‘moderate’ Republicans, average
citizens – had conspired to serve their own narrow interests by destroying the fabric of Southern life?
Now was the time to close ranks, to ward off Northern violence, and to purge those who would weaken
the South from within. As the Atlanta Confederacy stated, ‘We regard every man in our midst an enemy
to the institutions of the South, who does not boldly declare that he believes African slavery to be a
social, moral, and political blessing.’”
DJ McInerney notes: “In July 1861, Northern and Southern commanders applied their textbook
lessons at Manassas, Virginia, along a stream called Bull Run (the South named battles after nearby
towns, the North by natural features). Union General Irvin McDowell led 35,000 troops against 22,000
Confederates under General PGT Beauregard. It seemed self-evident that they would defeat the
opponent’s army and end the war with one battle. McDowell at first prevailed, but his assault stopped
when Confederate reinforcements hit the North’s right flank. Union forces retreated chaotically back to
Washington, and Southern troops, exhausted from battle, did not pursue them. The fighting was

indecisive yet still claimed nearly 900 soldiers’ dead and 2,600 wounded. Bull Run gave the first bitter
taste of the war’s course: fighting would take a heavy toll; battles often proved inconclusive; the
struggle would grind on; and traditional approaches to warfare betrayed serious flaws.”
DJ McInerney records: “In the Eastern Theater, both sides launched ambitious advances, both
failed, and by year’s end, stalemate still prevailed. After seemingly endless preparation, McClellan
began an offensive drive against Richmond in the spring. He chose a circuitous route down Chesapeake
Bay, to the mouths of the York and James Rivers, where he believed he would encounter less resistance.
As McClellan moved his army down to Richmond, Thomas J ‘Stonewall’ Jackson led Confederate troops
up the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson defeated two Union armies along the way and diverted the
reinforcements McClellan desperately requested. General Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
then launched attacks on McClellan from 25 June through 1 July. At the end of the Seven Days’ Battles,
Southern forces had repulsed but not defeated McClellan. He failed to renew his drive and, by August,
Lincoln ordered him to return to join forces with General John Pope.
“Lee now launched an invasion north, directing forces against Pope before McClellan’s army
could arrive. Southern troops under Lee and Jackson defeated Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run in
late August, and Lee continued pressing his drive into western Maryland. On 17 September, at Antietam
Creek, his forces confronted McClellan’s in a battle of unprecedented ferocity. Antietam was the
bloodiest single day of the war: 4,800 men were killed and 18,500 wounded. Having lost a quarter of his
army, Lee retreated. McClellan, horrified at the losses his men had suffered, did not pursue. His forces
blocked the Confederacy’s first great offensive drive into the North, but Union troops failed to capitalize
on the situation, especially after General Ambrose Burnside’s disastrous defeat at the hands of Lee in
the Battle of Fredricksburg in December.”
DJ McInerney reveals: “[General Ullyses S] Grant drove south towards Richmond, leading his
Army of the Potomac against a Confederate force less than two-thirds its size. In early May, Grant
fought Lee at the Battle of the Wilderness west of Fredricksburg. Grant then moved to his left and
south, engaging Lee at Spotsylvania Court House. In one week, the two armies suffered 50,000
casualties. Although Northern losses exceeded those of the South, Grant kept moving to his left and
south, battling Lee’s forces in early June at Cold Harbor. The Union endured 7,000 casualties in less than
an hour. During a month of sustained and bloody fighting, Lee’s casualties totaled 31,000 and Grant’s
55,000. Again Grant moved left and south, towards the railroad junction at Petersburg, 25 miles below
Richmond. His troops laid siege to the city from June 1864 to April 1865. Grant also dispatched a force
to the Shenandoah Valley. Their mission was to stop Confederate raiding parties and to control the
valley, by destroying its resources through a scorched earth campaign.
“From Chattanooga, Sherman led 90,000 men against an opposing force that was also twothirds its size. Joseph Johnston showed himself to be a capable Confederate defender, but his
maneuvers failed to impress Jefferson Davis, who replaced him with John B Hood. The latter’s attacks
failed to stop Sherman, who captured Atlanta on 2 September. While Hood moved west and north on a
desperate (and futile) move into Tennessee, Sherman moved southwest. Destroying much of Atlanta,
his forces began a 300-mile march to the sea, severing supply lines, living off the land, and cutting a
swath of devastation up to 60 miles wide across Georgia. Sherman reached the Atlantic coast in midDecember and occupied Savannah on 22 December.
“Union forces divided the CSA [Confederate States of America], contained rebel troops in welldefined areas, pressed enemy forces relentlessly, and brought the war home to civilians in an
astounding and terrible way. The North now prepared for the final acts of the war.”2041

2041

Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

***BACKBONE, ALLEGHANY COUNTY2042, VIRGINIA***
EA Pollard spells out: “There was one reflection in the scene which remains to be indicated, and
which will live always in the writer’s recollections of it. Looking down upon the map of country below
us, the mind is seized with the reflection, how conventional are our ideas of spaces and of magnitudes!
The speed of modern travel has no more remarkable fact than the change it has wrought in our ideas of
distance – a change in some respects painful and unpoetical, for in it we have lost some of the dearest
images, and instead of the ‘wide, wide world’, the tradition of our childhood, we find ourselves
reflecting in this age of steam and telegraphs, How small, in what narrow spaces are now held all the
habitations of men! The reflection comes to us with additional pangs on this wild platform of Nature’s
observatory. The great stretch of territory from the remotest ranges of the Alleghany, sweeping down
to the North Mountain away down in Shenandoah county, extending to the ‘backbone’ of the mountains
separating Eastern and Western Virginia, lies at our feet in miniature – a patch of a map that we might
sweep over with a motion of the arm. The zigzag turnpikes along the mountain sides, where the stagecoach winds its way day and night for successive days to reach its destination, are but threads swept by
a single glance of the eye; a distant train on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad appears but a child’s
toy; the space of a whole day’s journey seems but a few strides. The poetry of distance is gone; but with
the pain of the diminution of the theatre of life and of man’s empire of industry at our feet, there was
yet a moral usefulness in the scene, and, in the language of another observer, ‘I was impressively
reminded of all extreme littleness with which these things of earth would all appear when the tie of life
which binds us here is broken, and we shall be able to look back and down upon them from another
world!’”2043
***BUSTHEAD, TAZEWELL COUNTY2044, VIRGINIA***
Chris Wilkes touches on: “Ella Webb knows all about the joke on how Busthead got its name.
“Legend has it the name comes from the moonshine brewed here.
“‘That’s what I heard,’ said Webb, who’s lived in the tiny northern Tazewell County community,
near Smith Ridge and the Lowe Branch of Indian Creek, for most of her life.
“About 50 people live here, Webb estimates. Webb has lived here ‘off and on’ for the past 39
years.
“She works at Busthead Inc, a convenience store at the crossroads of secondary State Routes
631 and 627.
“The store sells wine and beer. But about as close as you’ll get to homemade hooch here is a jar
of homemade molasses or syrup. Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control officials frown on anybody but
themselves selling certain alcoholic beverages in the Old Dominion.
“Still, if you go back to the days before Prohibition, when moonshiners like Jesse Due and the
Baldwin sisters ran their stuff up and down the back roads, you might find a different story in Busthead.
“Here, in the grassy field across the highway from Busthead Inc and Busthead Karrs, a used car
dealer, you could find a fellow selling some pretty wild stuff.
“Well, that’s the legend, at least.

2042

http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/alleghany/backbone.cfm
Edward Alfred Pollard; The Virginia Tourist. Sketches of the Springs and Mountains of Virginia:
Containing an Exposition of Fields for the Tourist in Virginia; Natural Beauties and Wonders of the State;
Also Accounts of Its Mineral Springs; and a Medical Guide to the Use of the Waters, etc; JB Lippincott &
Company; 1870
2044
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/tazewell/busthead.cfm
2043

“‘It would bust your head when you drink it – you know, how strong it is,’ Webb has been told.
‘Or it’d make your head bust.’”2045
***FORT NONSENSE, MATHEWS COUNTY2046, VIRGINIA***
Reed Lawson clarifies: “These earthworks are the remains of Fort Nonsense, first called the
Smart’s Mill or North End Mill fortification. Enslaved black laborers under the supervision of 2nd Lt
William Henry Clarke, an engineer who graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1859, constructed
the works in 1861. The fort was intended to block Union forces from advancing westward from the
Chesapeake Bay through Mathews and Gloucester Counties, toward the Confederate capital in
Richmond. Never used as planned, the fortification became popularly known as Fort Nonsense.”2047
***FRONT ROYAL, WARREN COUNTY, VIRGINIA***
KB Harder documents: “The origin of the name is uncertain. One account, locally accepted, is
that a drill sergeant was having trouble making his orders understood by the troops and, being unable to
make them execute an about-face, finally ordered them to ‘Front the Royal Oak’, the huge oak that
stood in the village square. The name supposedly became a joke and then the town’s name. The oak is
the ‘royal’ tree of England. Another version is that the name derives from a password used by soldiers
to challenge those who wished to enter the village. A simpler explanation is that the name is derived
from French le front royal, or the English frontier, since the town is one of the southern boundary of
what was then Frederick County.”2048
***JAMESTOWN, JAMES CITY COUNTY2049, VIRGINIA***
DJ McInerney observes: “The first permanent English settlement in North America (1607). The
Colonial National Historical Park site on the site of the original settlement. ‘Jamestown Settlement’ is a
living history museum offering a recreation of Jamestown life. Located 6 miles southeast of
Williamsburg.”2050
***KING GEORGE (COUNTY), VIRGINIA***
Elizabeth Lee recounts: “King George County was named for King George I of England. George
was born in Osnabruck, Hanover, Germany, the son of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, and Sophia,
granddaughter of King James I of England. George was raised in the royal court of Hanover, married
Sophia, Princess of Zelle, in 1682, and had one son, the future George II, and a daughter Sophia
Dorothea, who married her cousin Frederick William I, King of Prussia.
“The Act of Settlement, passed by Parliament in 1700, was designed so that Sophia would
become queen of England after Queen Anne's death. However, Sophia died two months before Queen
Anne. Therefore, Sophia's son became King George I of England as well as ruler of Hanover.
2045

Joe Tennis, Staff Writer; Old reputation precedes Busthead history facts; Bristol HeraldCourier/Virginia-Tennessean; February 27, 1994; provided by Chris Wilkes, Reference Librarian, Tazewell
County Public Library, 310 East Main Street, PO Box 929, Tazewell, VA 24651; [email protected];
http://www.tcplweb.org/
2046
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Nonsense,_Virginia
2047
Reed Lawson, Archivist, Mathews County Historical Society; [email protected];
http://www.mathewscountyhistoricalsociety.org/
2048
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2049
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia
2050
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

“George was a small, pale, fifty-four-year-old man when he became King of England, having lived
those years in Hanover. He did not bring a Queen to England from Hanover, as he had divorced his wife
after her affair with a military officer. His wife was locked in a castle for the last 32 years of her life. Their
son, the future Prince of Wales, never saw his mother during that time, which could explain the hostility
which existed between him and his father through the years.
“Upon his arrival in England, George faced opposition. The Jacobites, legitimate Tories,
attempted to dispose of George and replace him with James Edward Stuart, the Catholic son of James II.
The rebellion was a dismal failure. Because George's character and mannerisms were strictly German,
and due to his ignorance of the English language and customs, he spent more than half his time in
Hanover. Cabinet positions became very important in England, with the King's ministers representing
the executive branch of the government, and Parliament representing the legislative branch. As a result,
the post of Prime Minister was created as the majority leader in the House of Commons who acted in
the King's stead.
“George appointed only Whigs as his ministers, and together they skillfully avoided entering
European conflicts by establishing a complex web of alliances. The monarchy managed to stay out of
war, until George II declared war on Spain in 1739.
“Although George tried dutifully to attend to his new kingdom's needs, his primary concern was
always Hanover. He remained unpopular in England. After ruling England for 13 years, George I died of
a stroke on a journey to his beloved Hanover on October 11, 1727.”2051
***KING WILLIAM (COUNTY), VIRGINIA***
Frank Pleva says: “King William III, also known as William of Orange, was born on November 14,
1650, in The Hague, Netherlands. He was the son of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, the oldest
daughter of King Charles I of England. He married his English first cousin Mary Stuart, Protestant
daughter of Roman Catholic King James II, in 1677.
“William and Mary were invited to England by leaders of the English political parties, who were
concerned about James’ inability to cooperate with Parliament and Catholic succession to the throne,
following the birth of a son to James. William landed in England with army of some 15,000 men in 1688.
James abdicated the throne and was allowed to flee to France. The new monarchs were crowned King
William III and Queen Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland, during a coronation in Westminster
Abbey on April 11, 1688. William and Mary’s ascension to the throne became known as the Glorious or
Bloodless Revolution. It prevented the Catholic succession of the monarchy.
“During William’s reign, the rights and power of Parliament were significantly expanded, while
those of the crown were diminished. His signing of the Bill of Rights in 1689, was a major victory for
Parliament. The Bill of Rights greatly limited royal power, such as the authority to suspend or dispense
with laws, stipulated a Protestant line of royal succession ,and reserved to Parliament control of
taxation, finances and the army. The first parliamentary limits were also placed on the royal control of
foreign policy and war making authority. Other notable domestic developments included establishment
of the Bank of England and a national debt policy and enhancement of freedom of the press.
“William was an adept soldier and astute diplomat. He spent much of his adult life in The
Netherlands and England, opposing through military means and political alliances among European
countries, French King Louis XIV’s efforts to annex the Spanish Empire. His European alliances formed
the opposition to Louis during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13). His defeat of French and
Irish forces under James II at the Battle of Boyne, Ireland, in 1690, ended James’ counterrevolutionary
attempt to reclaim the throne and resulted in harsher Penal Laws against Roman Catholics. About the
same time, his victory over the Jacobites secured Scottish Presbyterianism.
2051

Elizabeth Lee; [email protected]

“William reigned during the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason), a period of scientific
discovery and political and social enlightenment. He ruled jointly with Mary, although she only actually
ruled during William’s absences, until she died from smallpox in 1694 at age 32. Following Mary’s death,
he governed alone until his death on March 19, 1702, in London, England, at the age of 51, which
resulted from injuries sustained, when he was thrown [from a horse] … William’s sister-in-law, Anne,
succeeded him to the throne since he left no heirs.
“An able monarch, more Virginia counties and cities are named, at least in part, for William than
any other person. These are the counties of King and Queen and King William and the City of
Williamsburg. The College of William and Mary, the second oldest college in the United States, was also
named after King William and Queen Mary, who granted it a royal charter in 1693.”2052
***MODEST TOWN, ACCOMACK COUNTY2053, VIRGINIA***
Debbie Herman spotlights: “According to local legend, Modest Town got its name in the 1880s,
from two prim and proper women who ran a boarding house in the area that also served as a
stagecoach stop and post office. The women had very strict rules, which required guests to behave
properly and modestly.”2054
***ROACHES CORNER, CHARLES CITY COUNTY2055, VIRGINIA***
JF Ledbetter underscores: “The intersection of Routes 155 and 612 acquired this name during
the 20th century. The name came from the Roach family, which owned land nearby.
“The immigrant John Roc was an indentured servant at Shirley Plantation in the late 1600s.
According to one writing, during the period of his servitude, he cohabited with a free black woman and
had children by her who took the name Roach. At the end of his servitude, he married a woman who
also had been indentured at Shirley by the name of Royster. It appears that some of his children chose
to go by the name Royster and others by the name Roach. Descendants of John Roc continue to live in
Charles City County to this day.”2056
***SCREAMERSVILLE, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY2057, VIRGINIA***
Samuel Mordecal comments on: “Screamersville owes its musical name to the sonorous voices
of its inhabitants, although it must be confessed there is a lack of harmony among them, and once upon
a time might have been described as a place:
‘Where hungry dogs from hungry children steal,
And pigs and chickens quarrel for a meal.’

2052

Frank Pleva; King William County 1702-2002: Honoring our history, celebrating our future,
Tricentennial Guide; provided by Heather Zavagnin, Associate Librarian, Pamunkey Regional Library, PO
Box 119, 7527 Library Drive, Hanover, VA 23069; [email protected];
http://www.pamunkeylibrary.org/
2053
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Town,_Virginia
2054
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
2055
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaches_Corner,_Virginia
2056
Judith F Ledbetter, County of Charles City, Center for Local History, PO Box 128, 10600 Courthouse
Rd, Charles City, VA 23030; [email protected]
2057
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/chesterfield/screamersville.cfm

It is now, no doubt, much more refined and daily improving.”2058
Diane Dallmeyer emphasizes: “The year 1865 brought an end to slavery in Chesterfield County,
as children learn in elementary school, but what happened to former slaves at that point is not as wellknown. Since they were considered to be valuable personal property, slave records mostly exist as parts
of wills, and most of today's African-American citizens in our county have a very difficult time tracing
their family roots.
“One of the areas believed to have been settled by former slaves was at the eastern tip of the
county and was called Screamersville. At its peak, it was home to less than 100 residents, and little
remains of the area today. Many houses were torn down in the 1980s, as construction of Interstate 295
was completed, and residents had been moving out of the area since the 1960s, in pursuit of
educational and career opportunities.
“Possibly named for its fondness for partying, Screamersville had a reputation for bootlegging
during Prohibition days. Dancing in the yards was a favorite pastime. Police officers in the area were
frequently called out there to quiet things down. However, by the time the police would arrive at the
purported scene of commotion, everyone knew they were coming, and things quite often settled down
on their own. Relationships between residents and the police were cordial; the residents understood the
police had a job to do, and the officers understood the extreme poverty that led residents to party with
passion on occasion.
“Most Screamersville inhabitants worked in a nearby saw mill, and the work was hard and lowpaying. Children attended a one-room school for blacks that was three or four miles away, and to which
they had to walk.
“Screamersville residents were a close-knit group who cared for and looked after one another.
Some claimed the community's name really came from the constant communication from front porch to
front porch before telephones were commonplace.
“Three graveyards were in the settlement, and another popular theory is that the screaming, for
which it is named, is due to the sounds coming from them. John Strachan, a white man, founded Enon
Baptist Church in 1849. He owned much of the land that evolved into Screamersville, including 375 acres
that he inherited from his father, who moved there in 1813. The Strachan cemetery is one of the three
within the boundaries of the original settlement. Now surrounded by 20th-century development, the
graves and their ‘screaming’ inhabitants are about all that remains today of the little community with
the unique name.”2059
***SCUFFLEBURG, FAUQUIER COUNTY2060, VIRGINIA***
PT Scott gives: “In a book published in 1959 entitled Fauquier County 1759-1959 by the Fauquier
County Bicentennial Historical Committee, the following appears: ‘Scuffleburg, near Paris, in thriving
days known as Mechanicsville. Dubbed Scuffleburg by a native who said a person would have to scuffle
in and scuffle out, as the little village lay between two very steep hills.’

2058

Samuel Mordecal; Virginia, Especially Richmond, in By-gone Days; 1860
Diane Dallmeyer; February 27, 2008; http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2008-0227/news/027.html; provided by Diane Dallmeyer, Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia,
PO Box 40, 10111 Iron Bridge Road, Chesterfield, VA 23832; [email protected];
www.chesterfieldhistory.com
2060
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/fauquier/scuffleburg.cfm
2059

“Unfortunately that is all I can tell you about the origin of the name. There are many small
villages in the county with very peculiar names that we, in modern times, puzzle over how they came to
be called such.”2061
***TRUE BLUE, ORANGE COUNTY2062, VIRGINIA***
Jean McGann pens: “I asked a couple of our historians here in Orange how True Blue got its’
name, or if they could tell me anything about the history of True Blue. Well neither of them had a
definitive answer. One of them did think it was named True Blue by the people in the area who were for
the most part farmers. They were hard working and took care of one another and hence the expression,
he or she is True Blue. Its’ as good an explanation as any.
“The community did have a post office which was named Trueblue (one word), which was
signed into being Dec 14, 1888. I don’t know when the True Blue school was built, I do know it was torn
down in 1982.
“It would be nice if we knew all the oral history from days gone by and why places were named.
Unfortunately the history is gone as are the people who lived it.”2063
**WASHINGTON**
KB Harder scribes: “George (1732-99), first President of the United States (1789-97), from
Virginia. The most popular and one of the greatest figures in American history, the ‘father of our
country’ made American independence possible as commander in chief of the Continental armies (177583) and then served as a prime mover in the establishment of the new nation by serving two terms as
President. He was a surveyor in early life and later an officer in the British army in the French and Indian
Wars, during which he was commander in chief of the Virginia militia. He was a member of the Virginia
House of Burgesses (1759-74), president of the Constitutional Convention (1787), and again commander
in chief of the army (1798-9). The nation’s capital bears his name; he is the only American to have a
state named for him; and more counties (thirty-one) bear his name than any other. His home, Mount
Vernon, has also been honored as a place name.”2064
www.statesymbolsusa.org states: “The state of Washington was named after George
Washington, our first President. Washington became the 42nd state on November 11, 1889 (the only
state in the Union that is named for a president). A portrait of George Washington also appears on
the state flag and official state seal.”2065
***BREIDABLICK, KITSAP COUNTY2066, WASHINGTON***
RW Blumenthal alludes: “Adjacent to Vinland on the eastern side of Hood Canal, Breidablick is
the home of Baldur, the Nordic God of Love and Beauty. Most early settlers were Scandinavian; two of
the earliest, the Nels Hansons and Olof Wistrands, arrived in 1886. They established a post office in
1892. Mr Ole M Able, who lived near Lofall, chose the name. The following year, Max and William
2061

Phyllis T Scott, Deputy Clerk, Clerk of Circuit Court, Fauquier County, 29 Ashby St, Warrenton, VA
20186; [email protected];
http://www.fauquiercounty.gov/government/departments/circuitcourt/
2062
http://virginia.hometownlocator.com/va/orange/true-blue.cfm
2063
Jean McGann, Research Associate, Orange County Historical Society, 130 Caroline St, Orange, VA
22960; [email protected]; www.orangecovahist.org
2064
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2065
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Washington/WashingtonNameOrigin.html
2066
http://washington.hometownlocator.com/wa/kitsap/breidablick.cfm

Vetter constructed a school on a lot owned by Gilbert Paulson. After the logging industry declined, the
settlers established dairy farms, fruit orchards, and chicken farms. The old schoolhouse still stands.”2067
***CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT, PACIFIC COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman communicates: “A high, headland surmounted by a lighthouse at the north
entrance to Columbia River, southwest Pacific County. On July 6, 1788, it was named by Capt John
Meares, when he failed to locate the ‘River of the West’ at a point charted by Bruno de Heceta on
August 17, 1775. On that date, Heceta charted the cape as Cabo de San Roque. In 1792, it was named
Cape Hancock by Robert Gray. The original Indian name was Kah-eese.”2068
***CLOQUALLUM CREEK, MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman depicts: “The stream of the creek rises in Lystair Lake, southwest Mason
County; flows 21 miles southwest through Grays Harbor County to Chehalis River, near Elma. In 1841,
the Wilkes Expedition borrowed from the word Klu-kwe-li-ub, which was the Chehalis tribe’s name for
the Quillayute Indians. First 3 syllables refer to a dance performed by members of a secret society in
order to gain magic power in war expeditions, and the last syllable means: ‘the people of’. Literal
translation might be: ‘the people of a dangerous Being, charged with magic’. Wilkes charted the name
as Kluckullum.”2069
***DECEPTION PASS, SKAGIT COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman enumerates: “A narrow, tidal passage between Fidalgo Island on the north and
Whidbey Island on the south, Skagit and Island counties. It is subject to very strong tides and perilous to
inexperienced navigators. On a strong ebb tide, 2.5 billion gallons of water boil through the rockbound
channel every hour. In 1790, this feature was named Boca de Flon by Manuel Quimper. The same name
was charted by Juan Francisco de Eliza. In 1792, Capt George Vancouver named it Port Gardner, not
knowing that the channel was open at the west end. When Joseph Whidbey of his command found the
western outlet, Vancouver renamed it Deception Passage, because he had been deceived as to its
nature. In 1841, Cmdr Charles Wilkes used Vancouver’s name of his charts. The name has since been
shortened to its present form.”2070
***DRUNKEN CHARLIE LAKE, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman gives an account: “A small, 3 acre lake at the head of Cherry Creek, 8 miles
northeast of Duvall, close to the Snohomish County boundary, north central King County. It was given
this robust name by pioneer settlers, for a local character who camped on the lake shore, and who
preferred a liquid diet. An alternate name is Petit Lake.”2071
***ENUMCLAW, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman points out: “Town at the Cascade foothills of south central King County, on a
plateau between White River and Green River. It depends largely on logging and saw milling. The early
settlers were mostly Norwegians and Danes. In 1885, this Indian name was applied by Frank Stevenson,
2067

Richard W Blumenthal; Maritime Place Names, Inland Washington Waters; Maritime Place Names;
2012; provided by Bonnie Chrey, Volunteer Researcher, Kitsap County Historical Society & Museum, 280
Fourth St, Bremerton, WA 98337; [email protected]; http://www.kitsaphistory.org/
2068
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2069
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2070
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2071
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985

a resident of the town. The Indians used this word as the designation of a mountain about 6 miles
north. The name has been variously translated as meaning ‘Place of the Evil Spirits’ or ‘thunder and
lightning’. The local Indians believed that the Thunder Bird lived in a cave on this mountain, and had
changed one of the tribesmen into thunder ‘for all time’.”2072
***FOOLS PRAIRIE, STEVENS COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman relates: “This prairie includes a wide area in Colville River Valley, near the town
of Valley, central Stevens County. The original name was given by French Canadians in the employ of
the North West Company, fur-traders, and was Prairie du Fou. The present name is simply an English
translation. There are 2 traditions regarding the source of this name. One which is somewhat simpler
and slightly more plausible, is that it was named for an old Indian who lived here when the white
occupancy started, and who was nicknamed le Fou or ‘the fool’. The other tradition, mentioned by
several early historians, is that the landscape fooled travelers coming from the north. On rounding a big
bend in the river, north of the present town of Valley, the landscape strongly resembled that of the area
directly south of Chewelah, leading the traveler to believe that he was many miles from his
destination.”2073
***FRIDAY HARBOR, SAN JUAN COUNTY2074, WASHINGTON***
www.historicfridayharbor.org stipulates: “San Juan Island & Friday Harbor – A Brief History: The
San Juan Islands were inhabited by the Northern Straits Salish peoples for as much as 8,000 years prior
to European contact. The Northern Straits Salish include the Lummi and Mitchell Bay Indians, who
believe San Juan Island to be their place of origin.
“The Northern Straits Salish and other Native people inhabited the islands seasonally, preserving
food in summer for winters spent elsewhere. All were drawn to the islands by the rich abundance of
food and materials found here.
“European exploration of the archipelago was begun by the Spanish in the late 18th century,
with key mapping expeditions occurring in 1791 and 1792 by Captain Francisco de Eliza. A British
expedition led by Captain George Vancouver also occurred in 1792.
“The 1846 Oregon Treaty established the northwest boundary between Canada and the US as
the 49th parallel. In the San Juan Archipelago, mapping inaccuracies would later result in conflict
between the US and British governments.
“Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC): As with the orca, the Straits Salish followed the salmon from the
ocean into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, toward San Juan Island, and beyond. So too did the Hudson’s Bay
Company, which by the mid-1800s was one of the first international business conglomerates trading in
raw materials.
“The HBC established forts at what is now Vancouver, WA, as well as throughout Oregon and
into northern Washington, Canada and Alaska. Their trade routes saw the export of beaver pelts,
salmon, timber, wheat and other products to faraway places, including England, the Hawaiian Islands,
Asia and Russia.
“In 1853 British Chief Factor, James Douglas (from Fort Victoria, BC), and HBC employees
imported over 1,300 sheep to graze on an expanse of prairie on the southern tip of San Juan Island.
While this area was ideal for agriculture and livestock, Douglas’s primary purpose was political. The
presence of British agricultural interests would solidify Great Britain’s claim to the island, which had
been in dispute with the United States, since the two nations signed the Treaty of Oregon in 1846.
2072

Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2074
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Harbor,_Washington
2073

“The Pig War: Soon thereafter, the Americans responded by dispatching a federal customs
collector and a sheriff from the American mainland, for the purpose of collecting back taxes on the HBC
sheep. Relations between the two nations became even more strained, when a small number of
Americans left the Fraser River Gold Rush to homestead on San Juan Island.
“It was the shooting of a garden-marauding British pig by an American homesteader that
escalated the dispute to the verge of war. These competing claims, and the international standoff that
followed, are referred to as the infamous Pig War.
“Early Friday Harbor: HBC employees came to the San Juans following the company’s numerous
international trade routes. One Hawaiian sheep herder and Hudson Bay employee, known as ‘Friday’,
settled the area of what is now the town of Friday Harbor. This caused many to refer to the place as
‘Friday’s Harbor’.
“Friday Harbor (the ‘s’ was dropped over time) was blessed with the right natural attributes - a
protected harbor and good anchorage - and by the 1870s, a handful of farsighted promoters had built
the town’s first general stores, hotels, and saloons. In 1873 Friday Harbor was named the county seat of
the islands.
“By 1900 Friday Harbor boasted a population of three or four hundred residents. Road and
telephone networks linked the town to the rest of the island. The community was growing, and by then
had added a bank, US Customs, a weekly newspaper, drugstore, barber, a grade school, theatre, four
large wharves and warehouses, a cannery, creamery, two churches, fraternal halls, and a number of
handsome, substantial homes.
“What these buildings had in common was simplicity of design. They were attractive and
functional, but without elaborate ornamentation or frills. Typically, both residential and commercial
buildings were built with local timber. Money was not so plentiful that it could be used for the
unnecessary, and so most buildings were painted white, more for functional protection against rot, than
for decoration.
“Sailing ships, and later, steamships came in and out of the harbor on a regular basis, hauling
passengers, mail and freight. They took the island’s bounty: apples, pears, cherries, strawberries, peas,
cream, eggs, chicken, sheep, grain, lime, timber and salmon ‘down Sound’.
“In 1909 Friday Harbor became incorporated, and to this day has the distinction of being the
only incorporated town in the islands of San Juan County.
“After incorporation, Friday Harbor came into its own, prospering and riding the economic ups
and downs of the day. The vagaries of the marketplace, the Great Depression, WWII, the pea weevil,
and the competition from Eastern Washington agriculture brought about the decline of traditional island
industries. Friday Harbor’s fortunes declined with them.
“The town wore a pinched look until the late 1960s, when tourism, retirement, real estate,
construction, the arts and a variety of cottage industries began to take hold.
“Friday Harbor Today: Today the town is again busy and prosperous. Just over 2,000 people live
within the town boundaries, with another 4,000 islanders living in the unincorporated areas of the
island.
“Though the traditional industries have all but vanished, there are still many visible reminders of
the pioneer era - fragments of 100-year old orchards, kitchen gardens, turn-of-the-century wooden
buildings and companionable roof lines - all acquaint islander and visitor alike with Friday Harbor’s
spirited early days.”2075
***GOLD BAR, SNOHOMISH COUNTY2076, WASHINGTON***
2075
2076

http://historicfridayharbor.org/friday-harbor-history/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Bar,_Washington

www.cityofgoldbar.us writes: “The early Indian residents in the vicinity of what is now Gold Bar,
known as the Skykomish, were a subdivision of the Snohomish Peoples, whose region was the
Snohomish River Basin extending from the mouth of the river to the crest of the Cascades. Their annual
living and travel patterns centered on hunting, fishing, and plant gathering seasons. Shelters during
gathering seasons were temporary pole and mat or brush shelters. Permanent villages occupied during
the winter months were large cedar plank houses.
“The first white men to explore the Gold Bar area were probably fur trappers, traders and
prospectors. The first recorded visit to the Gold Bar area occurred in the years 1859 and 1860, when
survey parties sent out by the developers of Snohomish town site traveled up the Skykomish
Valley. Convinced that the trail leading from the Eastern Washington gold fields, across the Cascades
and down the Skykomish and Snohomish River valleys, would benefit their proposed town, the
promoters of Snohomish determined to establish such a route. It was in the course of locating this trail
that the survey parties passed the future site of Gold Bar. Beyond locating Cady Pass, the trail project
was a failure.
“In 1890 Mr Andrew Haggerty bought timber from the settlers and logged the area about Gold
Bar. In 1892 he gave the Great Northern Railroad land for the right-of-way, with the idea that the
company would build a freight terminal. This plan did not materialize for twenty years.
“Gold held an interest for many, and a prospector named Boyce is said to have found traces of
gold in the Skykomish River. He hired Chinese laborers for $1 per day. With equipment made of wood,
the Chinese dug out a big hole, using a dredge built on a float. This was east of town, across the railroad
tracks form Clancey's Motel. Each worker took enough gold form the river to enrich their employer by
about $3 per day and to cause the locality to be named Gold Bar.
“An early historical account of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, published in 1906, gives this
description of the town's early history:
“‘Gold Bar is a thrifty saw mill town of between two and three hundred people, in the Skykomish
Valley along the overland line of the Great Northern Railway, twenty-nine miles east of Everett. Planted
September 18, 1900, by the Gold Bar Improvement Company, it has grown very rapidly and is now
among the substantial villages of the County. A two-story schoolhouse has been erected in which fortythree pupils receive instruction, besides which the town enjoys good telephone, telegraph and
transportation facilities. As the timber lands become available for agricultural purposes, many small
farms are coming into cultivation, thus furnishing additional support for Gold Bar. Last year 886 cars of
lumber and shingles were shipped from this point, which is indicative of the town's volume of
business. The Gold Bar Lumber Company operates an extensive lumber and shingle plant there.
By 1900 the settlement of Gold Bar boasted two houses. Mr OS Lewis built a small mill and cookhouse,
as well as more homes. The mill was just beyond the McDaniel Garage (now a mobile home park). The
millpond was on the shore of May Creek, and the bunkhouse and camp was across the creek. At one
time, 300 men were employed by the Gold Bar Lumber Company, as the mill was called. About 100 of
this number were Japanese, who did all the common labor. They lived across May Creek at what was
called Jap Town.’
“Mr Lewis donated two blocks of land on Lewis Street to the town, for a school and additional
land for a church. In 1901 a one-room school was built and by 1903 the teacher, Mrs Flint, had more
than thirty pupils. The Church was built and dedicated in 1907. The first pastor was Reverend JM
Wilder, of the Methodist Church.
“In 1904 Mr Lewis and his partner sold the Gold Bar Lumber Company mill and some timber to a
Mr Barnett from Alaska and a Mr Johansen. Between 1904 and 1908, the company built several homes
for employees. A Mr Croft built a large hotel at the corner of First and Railroad Avenues. Behind the
Hotel, a large building called the Annex was built, as was the Croft Building down the street. The mill
men, who ate their meals at the Croft Hotel, where five women served family style meals, used these

buildings. Mr John R McKay built the post office and general store in 1906. The town also boasted a
saloon, another hotel, and a dance hall.
“In 1910 the town was incorporated, with Mr WH Croft as its first Mayor. A water system was
constructed, and business began to improve in Gold Bar. The depot was built, and the round house and
freight yards finally became a reality. More businesses were built, including a two story commercial
hotel and restaurant, a clothing store a butcher shop, a drug store, real estate office, barber shop, pool
hall, a Chinese restaurant, a garage, greenhouse and a theater.
“In 1914 the roundhouse was moved to Skykomish, and Gold Bar started to become a ghost
town. In 1916 it was returned and things improved once again. Along the right-of-way from Second
Street to Eighth Street, could be seen snow shed timbers, notched in sets in Gold Bar, ready to set up at
the snow sheds on the Great Northern route. By 1922 streets were graded and sidewalks built. Then
the roundhouse was moved again to Skykomish, this time for good. The trains continued to stop for
mail and passengers but little else.
“After the railroad moved the roundhouse to Skykomish and the mill closed down, many were
out of work. In addition, within a short period of time, there were about fifty fires. The Croft House, the
Annex, the Valley Supply store, as well as other homes and businesses, were destroyed. Fire drills were
held at the High School, where students left rooms by way of canvas chutes fastened at each window. A
36 inch triangle on a pole was hit with a metal hammer to call the firemen to a fire. A two-wheeled cart
with a hose wrapped around it was used after city water was available.
“Between the years 1920 and 1970, the population of Gold Bar remained around three
hundred. In 1933 the high school closed because there were not enough students. Gold Bar kids
attended Sultan High School for then on. In the 1950s, the trains stopped using the depot.
“The 1970s saw an increase in population of about two hundred citizens; the 1980s brought an
additional increase of about three hundred. By 1990 the official population of Gold Bar had reached
1,078.
“The 1990s had seen a phenomenal increase to the population of this small northwest town,
and geographic area had doubled due to annexations. Gold Bar has become a bedroom community for
Snohomish and King Counties.
“Gold Bar remodeled City Hall in the year 2000, constructed a third turn lane on Highway 2 all
the way through town, and the Family Grocer was built.
“The City Council and Staff invite all citizens to participate in the future of our great little
city.”2077
***GRANDMA CREEK, CHELAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman articulates: “The stream of the creek rises on Entiat Ridge south of Signal Peak,
Wenatchee National Forest, and central Chelan County; flows 3 miles northeast to Entiat River. The
unusual name was given by Forest Ranger James McKenzie, for ‘Grandma’, a life-sized figure of a
woman, which was erected at the summit of Signal Peak opposite the head of this stream. It was carved
from a tree trunk by Harvey Reed, whose family settled here in 1869. Reed herded sheep along the
creek and in the general area, when he wasn’t creating wooden statuary.”2078
***HAMMA HAMMA, MASON COUNTY2079, WASHINGTON***
Robert Wood describes: “One of the smaller rivers in the Olympics, the Hamma Hamma is less
than 20 miles long and does not penetrate deeply into the mountains. The headwaters lie on the
2077

http://www.cityofgoldbar.us/Gold_Bar_History.html
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2079
http://washington.hometownlocator.com/wa/mason/hamma-hamma.cfm
2078

national park boundary in the Sawtooth Range, and except for the last few miles, the river flows through
the Olympic National Forest. Hamma Hamma is an Indian name meaning ‘big stink’ – a reference to the
unpleasant odor left by decaying salmon that died after spawning.
“The North Fork Skokomish River forms a crescent around the headwaters of the Hamma
Hamma, and the peaks on the divide between the streams – they include Washington, Pershing, Cruiser,
Skokomish, and Stone – are as rugged as the higher peaks deeper in the Olympics. However they are
too low to support glaciers other than tiny, more or less stagnant patches of ice, although permanent
snowfields are extensive. The ridges between the Hamma Hamma and the Duckabush district, to the
north, are dominated by The Brothers, one of the most conspicuous peaks visible from Puget Sound.
Lena Creek, the river’s major tributary, has its source in the national park, but most of the other streams
lie entirely in the national forest.
“The lower slopes of the Hamma Hamma watershed were extensively logged in the early 1900s,
and most of the virgin forest that survived the timber-cutting operations was destroyed by fire.
Consequently, many weather-beaten snags rise above the heavy stands of second-growth fir that now
mask the rough terrain. Thus this valley lacks the primitive aspect that characterizes much of the
Olympics.”2080
***HARD-TO-GET-TO RIDGE, GARFIELD COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman establishes: “A 3 mile long ridge on Umatilla National Forest, southeast of
Simpson Ridge, south central Garfield County. The name had once been applied to Simpson Ridge,
because it offered difficult access. When the US Board of Geographic Names restored the original name
to Simpson Ridge, they transferred the name to this ridge. It is shown on some maps, in error, as Hardy
Ridge.”2081
***HEE HEE STONE, OKANOGAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman highlights: “An historic, large boulder adjacent to He He Mountain, about 6
miles west of Chesaw, Chelan National Forest, and northeast Okanogan County. Shaped somewhat like
a human body, it was worshipped by local Indians. Before it was dynamited and destroyed by vandals,
the rock was usually covered with trinkets, deposited by Indians: leather straps, arrow points,
handkerchiefs, old clothes, and small coins. The name is from Chinook Jargon, meaning ‘laugh’, ‘mirth’
or ‘joy’. Evidently, it was connected with some of the legends which related to the stone.”2082
***HUMORIST, WALLA WALLA COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman portrays: “Railroad station 7 miles east of Pasco, southwest Walla Walla
County. When Oregon-Washington Railway & Navigation Company built through here, someone
erected directional signs, which read ‘Wallula 9 miles’ and ‘Hell 1 mile’. An arrow affixed to the latter
sign pointed straight down. A railroad officials remarked, ‘There must be a humorist here’, and his
phrase was shortened to one word as the station name.”2083
***HUMPTULIPS, GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY2084, WASHINGTON***
2080

Robert Wood; Olympic Mountains Trail Guide: National Park and National Forest; Mountaineers
Books; 2000; provided by Blake Bresnahan, Senior Librarian, Adult Services, Shelton Timberland Library,
710 West Alder Street, Shelton, WA 98584; [email protected]; http://www.trl.org/Pages/default.aspx
2081
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2082
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2083
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2084
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humptulips,_Washington

Bonnie Johannes remarks: “The book, Trails and Trials of the Pioneers of the Olympic Peninsula,
compiled by Lucile H Cleland and published by the Humptulips Pioneer Association in 1959, included this
about the Humptulips name: ‘According to Prof Edmund Meany, Washington State historian, the Indian
name Humptulips means ‘hard to pole’. The Humptulips River, rising in the Olympic Mountains, flows
swiftly over its gravel bed to empty into Grays Harbor, an arm of the Pacific. Due to the many
protruding rocks, log jams, and boiling riffles that obstructed its course, a canoe had to be shoved along
by means of a ten-foot pole thrust into the river bed. Occasionally, there was a deep, quiet pool where
the paddle could be used. It required skill and muscle to run the Humptulips River.‘ (And, so it has
nothing to do with a hump of land with tulips growing out of it!)”2085
***JUMP OFF CREEK, STEVENS COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman shares: “The stream of the creek heads in Jump Off Lake, 9 miles south of
Chewelah, central Stevens County; flows 2.5 miles northwest to Colville River. The creek, the lake in
which it heads, and a nearby peak were named in pioneer days for an episode which occurred on the
Walla Walla-Spokane-Colville stage route. The stage started to tip on a muddy, rutted road at this point.
Passengers tried to keep the vehicle from tipping over, and shouted, ‘Jump off, Joe!’ when they lost
control. The driver, taking their advice, landed on his face in the mud.”2086
***KLICKITAT RIVER, KLICKITAT COUNTY2087, WASHINGTON***
KB Harder stresses: “For an Indian tribal name meaning ‘beyond’, or those who live ‘beyond the
mountains’, the name apparently given by the Chinooks to those who lived at the falls called hladachut,
a variant of klickitat. Other names given them by different tribes include ‘scalpers’, ‘inland people’, and
‘prairie people’.”2088
***LA PUSH, CLALLAM COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman composes: “Indian fishing village, in the only sheltered cove between Cape
Flattery and Grays Harbor, at the mouth of Quillayute River, Quillayute Indian Reservation, extreme
southwest Clallam County. The name is a Chinook Jargon distortion of the French la bouche, meaning
‘the mouth’, which refers to the mouth of the river. Other suggested origins of the name, which appear
to be less logical or authentic, include the French term la peche, referring to the act of fishing, and the
French word perche, meaning ‘a pole’.”2089
***MASSACRE BAY, SAN JUAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
ES Meany designates: “Massacre Bay, at the head of West Sound, Orcas Island, in San Juan
County. The name first appears on the British Admiralty Chart 2689, Richards, 1858-9. The explorers
found evidences of Indian battles there, as they sprinkled in the vicinity such names as Skull Rock, Haida
Point, Indian Point and Victim Island.”2090
***MUTINY BAY, ISLAND COUNTY, WASHINGTON***

2085

Bonnie Johannes, Grays Harbor Genealogical Society Researcher; [email protected]
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2087
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klickitat_River
2088
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2089
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2090
Edmond S Meany; Origin of Washington Geographic Names; Washington Historical Quarterly; 2010
2086

Robert Hitchman expands: “A southwest shore bay of Whidbey Island, between Bush Point and
Double Bluff, south Island County. In 1855 the bay was named by US Coast Survey for a number of
British sailors who deserted their ship here to become settlers. A legend which recounts a different
name source is that of mutiny by the Indian crew of a trading post. They conspired with local Indians to
kill the white master and mate, and to steal the cargo, which consisted largely of whiskey. According to
the story, the ship was then ransacked and abandoned.”2091
***SKOOKUMCHUCK, THURSTON COUNTY2092, WASHINGTON***
Gayle Palmer and Shanna Stevenson illustrate: “The Skookumshuck River rises near Huckleberry
Mountain, north central Lewis County. It flows northwest into Thurston County, then west and
southwest to the Chehalis River at Centralia, Lewis County. Its total length is about 33 miles. The name
of Native American origin with the meaning, ‘swift water’. Skookum Chuck is also a Chinook Jargon word
for ‘… strong, violent’. The name is composed of the Chehalis word Sku-kum, meaning ‘strong’ and the
Chinook word for ‘water’, tl-tsuk or chuck.”2093
***SPIRIT LAKE, SKAMANIA COUNTY, WASHINGTON***
Robert Hitchman maintains: “A Gifford Pinchot National Forest lake, 1,300 feet deep, elevation
3,199 feet, 6 miles northeast of Mt St Helens summit, northwest Skamania County. The lake and
adjoining area were once attractive to sportsmen and tourists; but since the eruption of Mt St Helen’s in
May 1980, Spirit Lake has been devastated. The bottom of the lake is mostly white pumice. Aside from
the main lake, over 6 miles long, there are 30 smaller lakes in the area. The name relates to Indian
superstitions. Local natives firmly believed that the lake was haunted, as well as the slopes of Mt St
Helens; and the superstition spread to some of the early white settlers. Indian outcasts, called Siatcoes,
may have been the basis for the legends.”2094
***SUQUAMISH, KITSAP COUNTY2095, WASHINGTON***
RW Blumenthal presents: “Suquamish: Located on the western side of Port Madison, the
community was home to Chief Seattle and Old Man House. O-le-man, the Indian name for the dwelling
is Chinook for ‘strong man’. Whites converted this to Old Man House. When Wilkes surveyed the area
in 1841, he measured it at 72 by 172 feet. Hitchman wrote that it was 60 by 520 feet. Chief Seattle died
there in 1866 and is buried in the Saint Peter’s Mission Cemetery of the Catholic Church in Suquamish.
In 1824, Work wrote: ‘On the West side we came through the Soquamis Bay, from which there is a small
opening to the Westward [Agate Pass]. … We stopped at the Soquamis village situated in the bay of the
same name, it consists of 4 houses, and we saw only 8 or ten men, but understand several of the
inhabitants were off fishing. Our object in stopping here was to get the chief to accompany us as an
interpreter, but he was not at home. The houses are built of boards covered with mats.’ The earliest
settler was Allen Bartow and his wife. They arrived around the year 1900. Mrs Bartow became the
postmistress and named the community Bartow. As other settlers arrived, they suggested a name
change to honor the Indian tribe. In 1915 the US Board on Geographic Names addressed the name.

2091

Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
http://washington.hometownlocator.com/wa/thurston/skookumchuck.cfm
2093
Gayle Palmer and Shanna Stevenson, editors; Thurston County Place Names: A Heritage Guide;
Thurston County Historic Commission; 1992; provided by Michael Potts, Shelton Timberland Library, 710
West Alder Street, Shelton, WA 98584; [email protected]; http://www.trl.org/Pages/default.aspx
2094
Robert Hitchman; Place Names of Washington; Washington State Historical Society; 1985
2095
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suquamish,_Washington
2092

Some charts and atlases reflected the name Bartow, but other documents used Suquamish. The Board
opted for the latter.”
RW Blumenthal continues: “Suquamish Harbor: Located on the opposite shoreline from Port
Gamble in Hood Canal, Wilkes spelled this Suquamish for the Indian word Suk-wa-bish in 1841. The first
three issues of the Pacific Coast Pilot maintained Wilkes’ name. However the 1867 chart #662 from the
US Coast Survey and the 1889 Pilot changed the name to Suquamish Harbor; no reason was provided.
The Salish word for the area was ‘clean water’, referring to the fact that the water is cleaned with tidal
action, as opposed to a sheltered bay where the water can be more stagnant. In its March 12, 1982
meeting, the Washington State Board on Geographic Names addressed the spelling issue and approved
Squamish. The US Board followed in 1983. In 2010 the Suquamish Indian Tribe petitioned the US Board
for the return of the original Wilkes’ spelling. Referred back to the Washington State Board on
Geographic Names, a significant controversy ensued by Klallam, S’Klallam, and other tribes adamantly
opposed to this change. In its May 2012 meeting, the Washington Committee on Geographic Names
approved the change. This caused the S’Klallam tribe to submit a formal request to the Board to change
the name entirely to nexwxa?ey pronounced ‘Nu-Ha-A’, which was the original S’Klallam name. As of this
writing, neither the Washington State Board nor the US Board on Geographic Names has yet approved
this spelling modification from Squamish and Suquamish. Anticipating its approval however, I made the
change in this text.”2096
***TUMTUM, STEVENS COUNTY2097, WASHINGTON***
DL McDonald renders: “Having been Postmaster for thirty years, and having known most of the
elder members of the Spokane Indian Tribe, one would assume that I would know the meaning of this
most unusual name, but an exact definition cannot be determined, due to the fact that the word is used
in sixteen different ways in the complex Indian language. It may come as a surprise to learn that the
name Tumtum, is not confined to the Tumtum Post Office, for it is the name of a lumber company in
western Washington, plus a creek, and a mountain in Oregon. However I am of the opinion that the first
use of the name originated when Mr Charles Dempsey suggested it for our first Post Office in 1890.
Prior to that time, the word was used by the local Indians to indicate something good or unusual.
“Perhaps it can be better understood if we were to go back in time to when the first white
traders reached the mouth of the Columbia River (Astoria), which is believed to be about the year 1850.
History tells us that it was the purpose of the traders to secure furs to take back to England. To
accomplish their mission, it would be necessary to establish a series of trading posts on this mighty river,
and to barter with the Indians for furs and game.
“As they began to set up new posts, the traders soon learned that they could not converse with
the natives, and discovered that the many tribes that they encountered all spoke a different dialect,
making it necessary for the natives to use sign language among themselves.
“To overcome the language barrier, and accomplish their mission, a plan was devised to create a
type of language that could be understood by the various tribes. After much trial and error, they came
up with a hybrid, or mixed dialect, which they made into a small dictionary. The name they chose for
the dictionary was the Chinook Jargon.
“Armed with their new Chinook Jargon, they found it a tremendous help in conversing with the
many tribes that lived along the Columbia. They also discovered that a given word might be used by
most tribes, but the meanings would differ. The word Tumtum, was one of the words that was
2096

Richard W Blumenthal; Maritime Place Names, Inland Washington Waters; Maritime Place Names;
2012; provided by Bonnie Chrey, Volunteer Researcher, Kitsap County Historical Society & Museum, 280
Fourth St, Bremerton, WA 98337; [email protected]; http://www.kitsaphistory.org/
2097
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumtum,_Washington

commonly used, which when used in combination with other tribal words, gave it an entirely different
meaning, which meant that it was almost impossible to establish a true definition.
“One common belief is that the word means ‘heart’, and that the confluence of the Spokane and
the Little Spokane Rivers were known as the ‘pointed heart’. Personally I could not find any proof of
this, which leads me to believe that that word has been used as an adjective, to describe things as being
good or bad. A case in point would be the word ‘heart’ as used in the Chinook Jargon dictionary. In the
book, one will find reference to a tumtum heart, meaning a ‘good heart’, as opposed to a cultus heart
being a ‘bad’ one.
“Following this line of reasoning, it is most likely that a good rock to spear Salmon from would
be a tumtum rock. Such a rock was known to exist, as explained elsewhere, and there is little doubt that
Mr Dempsey saw the name as one that would describe the area, and still be a distinctive one. One must
admire his vision, for the name and post office has lived on for eighty-five years.”2098
***WALLA WALLA, WALLA WALLA COUNTY2099, WASHINGTON***
The Walla Walla County Commissioners provide the following: “‘WAW-luh-WAW-luh’.
Mentioned by Lewis and Clark in 1806 as ‘Wollah Wollah’ and ‘Wollaw Wollahs’, the name was first
applied to the valley and river, and subsequently to the county, fort, and city. The name comes from the
Nez Perce word walatsa, meaning ‘running water’, with repetition loosely translating as ‘many waters’.
In 1855 Isaac I Stevens, who doubled as territorial governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, made a
peace treaty with the ‘Walla-Walla, Cayuses, and Umatilla Tribes and Bands of Indians’ at the present
town site. Despite this, the Indian War broke out, and Lt Col Edward J Steptoe built a fort at the treaty
campsite around which the city developed. It was known first as Walla-Walla – the name under which it
was incorporated on 11 January 1862. The county seat is the location of the state penitentiary, which in
criminal jargon is appropriately nicknamed ‘The Walls’.”2100
**WASHINGTON, DC**
DJ McInerney sheds light on: “The funding measure passed, but the assumption proposal ran
into opposition. Key critics such as Virginia’s Representative [James] Madison and Secretary of State
[Thomas] Jefferson backed the bill, only after entering into a political deal that would influence the lives
of politicians – and tourists – for years to come. Jefferson and Madison supported assumption when
they got [Alexander] Hamilton to support something in their interest: the Secretary pledged to locate
the new national capital farther south than originally planned. The city would be built right in the heart
of the Chesapeake region, in Virginia’s (and Maryland’s) back yard. To win passage of his murky
economic proposal, Hamilton promised to place the ‘District of Columbia’ on some swampy real estate
along the Potomac – where the federal government still deals with the effects of its permanent national
debt.”2101
**WEST VIRGINIA**

2098

Don L McDonald; Life Along the Spokane (River); Statesman-Examiner; 1978; provided by Susan
(Gallyon) Dechant, Vice President, Webmaster, Researcher, Northeast Washington Genealogical Society,
195 S Oak, Colville, WA 99114; [email protected]; http://www.newgs.org/
2099
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walla_Walla,_Washington
2100
Walla Walla County Commissioners, County Public Health and Legislative Building, 314 West Main
Street, 2nd floor - Room 203, PO Box 1506, Walla Walla, WA 99362; [email protected]; http://www.co.walla-walla.wa.us/departments/comms/index.shtml
2101
Daniel J McInerney; A Traveller’s History of the USA; Interlink Books; 2001

HB Staples suggests: “The name of West Virginia, a new State formed within the jurisdiction of
Virginia, needs no separate consideration.”2102
***BETTY ZANE, OHIO COUNTY2103, WEST VIRGINIA***
MR Furbee calls attention to: “Frontier heroine Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Zane, born in the
present Eastern Panhandle about 1760, was credited with saving Fort Henry in Wheeling, when it was
besieged in 1782 during the Revolutionary War. Conflicting reports claim that Molly Scott actually saved
the fort, but Zane’s role is generally accepted.
“On September 10, 1782, 200 or more warriors, mostly Wyandots and Delaware with some
American Loyalists and British, attacked the fort. Inside 47 patriot civilians and militia held their ground,
until their gunpowder was exhausted. Betty Zane was the sister of the fort commander, Col Silas Zane.
According to a common account, she volunteered to retrieve gunpowder from the Zane family cabin,
perhaps as much as 60 yards away. ‘You have not one man to spare; a woman will not be missed in the
defense of the fort’, she is quoted as having said. Startled to see a young woman emerge from the fort
and sprint across the open field, the British and natives held their fire. In the Zane cabin, Betty gathered
a quantity of gunpowder, perhaps in her apron, and dashed back to the fort.
“Betty Zane married and moved to Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, where she died, probably in 1823.
Later the author Zane Grey, a collateral descendant, wrote the 1903 novel Betty Zane based on the
incident and related events. Some historians are skeptical of the historical accuracy of Betty Zane’s
deed, but the legend persists. There is no mention of the heroic act in any contemporary account,
including the official report by her brother to Gen William Irvine. Its similarity to the account of Mad
Anne Bailey’s dash to save Fort Lee in the same decade casts additional doubt. The earliest reports of
the episode are found in AS Withers’ 1895 Chronicles of Border Warfare and in an early 19th-century
Philadelphia newspaper account.”2104
***BIG STICK, RALEIGH COUNTY2105, WEST VIRGINIA***
Pauline Haga and June Davis connote: “‘Speak softly and carry a big stick.’
“There famous words by President Theodore Roosevelt, (in office from 1901 through 1909)
originated in the naming of a Raleigh County mining town.
“Big Stick, for over 50 years a thriving and spacious community, with the only remains now
being two lone deteriorating houses, lies between two mountains, three miles to the north of
Stotesbury.
“An era for Big Stick began in 1910 under ownership of Pemberton Coal and Coke Co. Its miners
were provided with neat frame homes on paved sidewalks, which were painted by the company at
intervals.
“A large company store, theatre building and pool hall served the men and their families. Daily
office house calls were provided by the company doctor, who had facilities in the store building. Mail
was transferred from Hotcoal or McAlpin Post Offices.
“Elementary pupils until 1947 attended Hotcoal School, and high school students attended Mark
Twain at Stotesbury.
“The community consisted of some 75 homes or more, and population statistics for 1945 were
reported to estimate 250 persons.
2102

Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Zane,_West_Virginia
2104
Mary Rodd Furbee; Betty Zane; e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia; 05 November 2010;
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1396
2105
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Stick,_West_Virginia
2103

“After closing of the worked-out mine in 1951, death to the town came in about nine years’
time, when its last family moved out.”2106
***BOZOO, MONROE COUNTY2107, WEST VIRGINIA***
CB Motley details: “Bozoo is situated on a plateau in both Monroe and Summers Counties. This
place affords an unforgettable view. From the plateau, one can view a lovely undulated country,
dimpled here and there with little valleys, a great expanse of rural beauty. At a near or greater distance
can be seen Peters Mountain, East River Mountain, Bent and White Oak Mountains and New River hills.
“To reach the heart of Bozoo, ie, Bozoo Christian Church, the Community Building, Campbell’s
store and several dwellings, one climbs to an elevation of 2,213 feet, according to a benchmark placed
by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. There is a climb from any direction, north, south, east or west.
“Some may ask how the name of ‘Bozoo’ was acquired. In the early part of the year 1920, it was
determined by the Post Office Department that a post office would be located in the community.
Before a post office is established, the postal service requires that a name be given to a community.
“Mr CS Campbell, the local merchant (father of Eugene Campbell, the present merchant) and
others in the area gathered around the pot-bellied stove in the store to decide on a name. The name
‘Chestnut Hill’ was agreed upon and the Post Office Department so notified. At that time, there was
another Chestnut Hill in West Virginia and Mr Campbell was so advised.
“During the ensuing meeting, several names were proposed. None however, met with general
approval. Finally in desperation, Mr Campbell said, ‘my bazoo is up’.
“Others in the meeting understood him to say ‘my bozoo is up’, and with one accord, they all
agreed that the post office and community be named ‘Bozoo’. The name was also agreed to by the Post
Office Department, as nowhere in all of West Virginia and, indeed, nowhere in all the United States can
a post office with the name Bozoo be found.
“Prior to the year 1910, mail was delivered to this area only three days each week. Delivery was
made on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Prior to this time, passengers and mail destined for Red
Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, arrived at Lurich, Virginia, which is on the south side of the New River.
Passengers, mail and freight were transported across the river by ferry.
“Before establishment of the post office in Bozoo in 1920, the area was served by three post
offices, namely: Neponset, Manderville and Cloverdale, all in West Virginia. These offices were closed
shortly after the Bozoo office was established, as this office served the entire area. In earlier years, mail
was delivered to the three above mentioned post offices by horse or horse and buggy on a star route
from Peterstown, W Va.
“The Virginian Railroad was completed through Rich Creek, Virginia in 1910. Considerable
charge was wrought in mail service to this entire area, as Rich Creek is on the north side of the New
River. This obviated the necessity of ferrying passengers, mail and freight across the river. It also
brought mail to Bozoo six days a week.
“Duel Fought: A Duel was fought in an earlier era one mile northwest of Bozoo. It was fought
under formal conditions, in the presence of witnesses, between a gentleman from the Bozoo area and
another from North Carolina, resulting in the death of the gentleman from North Carolina. A newspaper
item of that time read, ‘There ought to be a law against dueling which would hang the survivor – pass
the law and you will hear of no more duels.’ Fortunately without the law, duels are no longer fought.
“Hidden Gold: Gold was not loaned upon usury but was safely kept, which was of utmost
importance. One of the early settlers in the community was Billy Ballard. Billy accumulated a
2106

Pauline Haga and June Davis, Staff Writers; Big Stick – Only Two Em; Post Herald and Register; March
7, 1965
2107
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/monroe/bozoo.cfm

considerable quantity of gold for those times. Banks were few and many were unreliable. Billy was not
inclined to deposit his gold with a nearby merchant for safekeeping as many of that day did, nor did he
feel that his home was a safe place for the gold. He conceived an idea that kept his precious metal in a
place of safety. Billy placed the gold in a container and buried it beneath a huge pile of rocks that had
been gathered from the fields and stood near his home.”2108
Hamill Kenny explains: “Bozoo: This is probably from a surname. Shaw, Wood, p 59, mentions a
John Boso who came to Wood County in 1797. The original form is the French surname Boisseau, which
TDr 1937-38 Richmond gives seven instances of.”2109
***BURNT HOUSE, RITCHIE COUNTY2110, WEST VIRGINIA***
Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike (Visitor Guidebook) imparts: “The legend of Burnt House – The
community of Burnt House owes its name to a story of bizarre circumstances of murder, arson, and the
haunted remains of a stagecoach inn that burned before the Civil War. The Harris Tavern was built in
1836 by Jack Harris and his son William, with the assistance of three slaves. William became involved
with a beautiful slave named Deloris. When peddlers who stayed at the inn began to disappear,
suspicion was directed at William Harris. Locals reported seeing Deloris wearing jewelry like that sold by
the peddlers. A boy claimed he saw Harris dispose of a peddler by carrying the body to a cave located in
Dead Man’s Hollow. William and his father fled to Texas to avoid arrest. Deloris, abandoned by her
lover and unhappy with the new owners of the inn, set fire to the house and danced on the second floor
balcony, as flames consumed her body. Her unhappy ghost was said to haunt the ruins until her lover
also died. An inn was built over the ruins of the Harris Tavern in 1859 by Henry Fling. The old Fling
Hotel still stands at the intersection of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike and the road to Tanner. The
Harris Tavern was reported a station on the Underground Railroad. Dead Man’s Hollow is just beyond
the Turnpike intersection with Tanner Road, on the north side of the Turnpike.”2111
MK Lowther mentions: “John Harris built the first dwelling on the FG Fling farm at Burnt House
as early as 1836. He came from New York and kept a stage coach and a house of public entertainment.
While thus engaged, a tragic drama is said to have been enacted within the walls of this home, while
hung a shadow about the good name of the family, and furnished material for all sorts of weird tales and
ghost stories.
“A stranger, who had stopped for the night, mysteriously disappeared, and nothing ever being
heard of him again, suspicion pointed strongly to Harris or his son, William (This is variously stated), as
having been the perpetuator of a crime. A child, belonging to the family, is said to have told the
following story:
“‘That while the stranger sat at supper, the father (or brother) decapitated him with a drawingknife, and concealed his remains up a run, which has ever since borne the name of ‘Dead Man’s Hollow’.
For many years, this region was supposed to have been visited by supernatural beings – apparitions in
2108

Charles B Motley; Gleanings of Monroe County, West Virginia, History, Commonwealth Press; 1973;
provided by Doris McCurdy, Library Director, Monroe County Public Library, 103 South St, Union, WV
24983; [email protected]; http://monroe.lib.wv.us/
2109
Hamill Kenny; West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of
the Streams and Mountains; Place Names Press; 1945; provided by Doris McCurdy, Library Director,
Monroe County Public Library, 103 South St, Union, WV 24983; [email protected];
http://monroe.lib.wv.us/
2110
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/ritchie/burnt-house.cfm
2111
Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike (Visitor Guidebook): A Drive Through History & Heritage, Over 100
Sites to See; provided by Sandra L Moore, Deputy to Clerk of the County Commission of Ritchie County,
Ritchie County Courthouse, 115 East Main St, Room 201, Harrisville, WV 26362

varied forms appeared to the consternation of the fanciful. But these old superstitious traditions have
long since lost their terror – they are now naught but a memory. To those of us who are familiar with
the pleasant scenes of this section, they are but little more than interesting legends, or fairy tales.’
“Shortly after this tragic occurrence, in the early fifties, Harris sold his possessions here, to Mrs
Susan Groves – widow – and her son, John, and went west, and here his history ends. He has no known
relatives in this county.
“While the Groves family resided here, an incident occurred, which gave rise to the name ‘Burnt
House’.
“Mr Groves being a slave holder in the ‘antebellum days’, is said to have sold a little negress,
and she being so enraged at her master for this act of cruelty, set fire to some clothing upstairs, before
taking her departure, which resulted in the destruction of the house – the first dwelling where the
village now stands, the site being marked by the Ferrell hotel.
“This interesting little legend, however, is set aside by facts that somewhat modify it. The other
story being that the little black girl had been lent to Mrs John Groves, by her father, Mr Rogers, of
Waynesboro, Virginia, and that while Mr Groves was absent – taking the little wench back to his fatherin-law, the house caught fire, and was burned to the ground – hence the origin of the name.”2112
www.theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.de puts into words: “The following story is
another attempt at preserving the folklore and haunted history of our great state of WV. It comes from
Appalachian Ghost Stories and Other Tales, by James Gay Jones (1975).
“A traveler on the highways and byways of Appalachia will occasionally come upon a hamlet,
whose name may stimulate his imagination much beyond what he actually sees. Few will there be,
however, who would permit themselves to speculate to the extent of the bizarre events, which occurred
at Burnt House (a village located east of Smithville on State Rt 47, the Stanton-Parkersburg Turnpike).
“When the Parkersburg to Stanton Turnpike (Rt 47) was being built through Western Virginia,
many people were attracted to it as a passageway to the west and, for some, as a location of new
business establishments. Among these was Jack Harris of New York, who while on the way West with
his son, William, and three slaves, decided to build a tavern at the present site of Burnt House.
“The tavern was a two-story log structure with a glass-windowed lookout, a practical addition
often found on frontier structures. In time the Harris Tavern became a regular stagecoach stop for
passenger and mail service, as well as headquarters for pack peddlers.
“When Deloris, a beautiful Negro slave at the tavern, appeared in new dresses and adornments
commonly sold by peddlers, local gossips took notice and began as speculate over the source of her
good fortune. It was commonly known that Deloris and William Harris were quite fond of each other.
“Soon it was noticed that some peddlers who arrived here laden with heavy packs of goods
disappeared overnight. A more damaging rumor was related by a Harris Tavern stable boy who told of
seeing William Harris, with one swipe of a razor-sharp corn-cutting knife, cut off the head of a pack
peddler.
“The body of the peddler was then dragged by William, with the help of a slave, across the
turnpike and up a ravine now known as Dead Man’s Hollow. Meanwhile Deloris disposed of the head
and cleaned up the gory mess.

2112

Minnie Kendall Lowther; History of Ritchie County with Biographical Sketches of Its Pioneers and
Their Ancestors, and with Interesting Reminiscences of Revolutionary and Indian Times, with Portraits
and Other Illustrations; Wheeling News Litho Co; 1911; provided by Sandra L Moore, Deputy to Clerk of
the County Commission of Ritchie County, Ritchie County Courthouse, 115 East Main St, Room 201,
Harrisville, WV 26362

“These rumors spread far along the course of the turnpike and westward travelers were warned
not to stop over night at the Harris Tavern. The business of the stagecoach company was so affected
that it secured the services of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to investigate.
“Immediately Jack and William Harris sold the tavern, along with Deloris and another slave, to
the widow Susan Groves and went west under aliases of Jeff and Tex Howard.
“One Sunday morning when Parson Woodford was going into the third hour of his ‘fire and
brimstone’ sermon, some members of the congregation became restless, when the odor of something
burning came to them.
“An inquisitive young man opened the church door and promptly announced that the tavern
was afire. As the people approached the burning building, they saw a person swaying and dancing in the
glass-enclosed lookout.
“It was Deloris, the slave girl, in her finest raiment, dancing and singing while the building
burned.
“The fire was out of control, making it impossible to rescue her. While the people watched, the
lookout, with Deloris inside, fell through the second story ceiling and disappeared from view. Deloris
had been extremely unhappy in her new situation, and this act of self-immolation was her chosen way
of escape.
“After the tavern burned, stagecoaches continued to stop at the hitching post in front of the
‘burnt house’ to deliver mail. Thus it was that the village of Burnt House got its name.
“As local legend has it, Deloris, in spirit, returned to the community a number of times after her
tragic demise. Usually on damp, foggy nights she came, at first a wavering flame, then taking the form
of a young girl, she would dance over the ruins of the old tavern and finally drift over Dead Man’s
Hollow with a plaintive moan.
“On a certain day in 1882, about thirty years after the tavern burned, this phenomenon of
Deloris’ reappearance occurred for the last time. It is of interest to note here that on the same day, fate
caught up with William Harris, alias Tex Howard, when he was hanged in Texas for robbery and murder.
“In the community of Burnt House, a terrifying electrical storm swept across the valley. Daylight
turned to darkness. Torrential rain and gusty winds bent huge trees to the ground, while thunder shook
the earth and balls of fire rolled down the turnpike.
“In the midst of the tempest, Deloris came and, after dancing for a brief time over the old tavern
site, she drifted off toward Dead Man’s Hollow, where her last agonized wail mingled with the storm.
Today the traveler will find that the tranquil environment of the community of Burnt House belies its
historic and legendary past.
“Theresa’s Note: Today a home still stands on the former site of the Harris Tavern, in the town
of Burnt House (incorporated 1875). Built around 1880, the current private residence began as the Fling
Hotel, operated by Burnt House’s first postmaster, John Fling. It later passed through the Ferrell and
Reynolds’ families, and as of 2006, was owned by John and Carol Rymarz. During renovation of the
home’s front porch, it was discovered that the area under the porch was littered with burnt timbers and
other debris, supporting the belief that the home is located directly atop the previously burned Harris
Tavern.”2113
***FAME, PENDLETON COUNTY2114, WEST VIRGINIA***
Jane Conrad reports: “I live in Fort Seybert, WV, and am the Membership Chairman for the
Pendleton County Historical Society. Mr Browning Boggs, our treasurer, forwarded your letter to me.

2113
2114

http://theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.de/2011/08/deloris-slave-girl.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fame,_West_Virginia

“I will tell you what I know about the Fame post office. It was located in the old Adamson House
on my parents' property. My maiden name was Adamson. I played in that house many times while
growing up, as no one lived in it. It has since been sold, torn down, moved to California and rebuilt. I
have a small wooden box that contained a set of scales used in the post office.
“The following information was obtained from my dad, Olin Adamson, who is 93. I also asked
my aunt (who is 91) and my uncle (who is 95) for any information they might have, but neither could tell
me much. My great aunt Minnie Adamson was the postmistress there for many years. A man from the
postal service came to interview her about the position. My grandfather (her father), Jasper Adamson,
was also present. After asking her a series of questions, he said, ‘What are you going to call the post
office? You know it has to have a name.’ Minnie thought a bit and replied that she had not considered
that question at all and really didn't know what to call it. The man said, ‘Well, I think we should call it
Fame, because I have looked around this area and deem it to be quite a famous place!’ My uncle did say
that there was no such name in the area until the post office was established.
“I have no way to verify this information, so I cannot swear to its accuracy. But my dad was
quick to answer, so I believe his story is probably fairly accurate.”2115
***HUNDRED, WETZEL COUNTY2116, WEST VIRGINIA***
Quinith Janssen and William Fernbach show: “Earlier known as Old Hundred in honor of Henry
Church, who died in 1860 age 109, and perhaps for his wife too, who lived to be 106. Church settled
here about 1782 and had been a British solider under Lord Cornwallis during the American
Revolution. He was captured by Americans led by General Lafayette.”2117
www.hundredareapride.com talks about: “Hundred, of Wetzel County's Church District, was
named for a man by the name of Henry Church. Henry Church was born in Suffolk, England, in late 1750.
He was a member of the bodyguard of King George III in Britain, and when the American colonists
rebelled against alleged English tyranny and took up arms in defense of their rights, Church was
dispatched to the colonies in 1781 as a member of the 63rd Light Infantry under Lord Cornwallis.
“While on a scouting mission between Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, Church was captured
by General Lafayette’s troops and sent to Camp Chase near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He would remain a
prisoner there until Cornwallis’ final defeat at Yorktown, ending the war and securing American
independence.
“Church elected to stay in America after the war. Shortly after this time, Church became
acquainted with a Quaker maiden from Philadelphia by the name of Hannah Keine. The two were soon
married, and the union would produce eight children.
“The couple looked to the west for a place to settle. They crossed the Allegheny Mountains by
following an old Indian trail that led them up Dunkard Creek. They finally landed at the headwaters of
Fish Creek in what is now present-day Hundred. They built a cabin there and so remained until their
deaths.
“An Oath of Allegiance was required of all Englishmen remaining in America at the close of the
Revolutionary War. Henry Church refused to comply with this edict, claiming he had already sworn to be
true to King George. However upon discovering that he must swear the oath to make a good title to his
land in order to sell a portion of it, his steadfast devotion to the English ruler wavered.
2115

Jane Conrad, Pendleton County Historical Society, PO Box 293, Franklin, WV 26807;
[email protected]; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wvpchs/
2116
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred,_West_Virginia
2117
Quinith Janssen and William Fernbach; West Virginia Place Names: Origins and History; J and F
Enterprises; 1984; provided by Debra Mason, New Martinsville Public Library, 160 Washington St,
New Martinsville, WV 26155; [email protected]; http://newmartinsville.lib.wv.us/

“During the War of 1812, Henry Church was called up by the Americans to serve in their
defense. He, in fact, shouldered his rifle and headed out with the intention to aid in the fight against
England. However peace was declared before he had gone very far, so he returned home. This was the
last time Church would have to prove his loyalty to his country (America or Great Britain) by taking up
arms in its defense.
“Henry Church was 101 years of age (his wife 98) when the section of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad running through north-central Virginia was completed in 1852. In 1858, B&O company officials
sent an observation train over the line to Wheeling. When the train reached the community, several
officials offered to take the old couple to Wheeling. To this, Church replied, ‘No, I never did make a show
of myself and I never will.’ From then on, the train conductors would point out the couple, sometime
sitting on their porch, other times working in the fields, calling attention to ‘the oldest couple in the
states’.
“Henry Church died on September 14, 1860, at the age of 109. Hannah Church died on July 27,
1860, at the age of 106. Since the two were the first inhabitants of the area, lived to be such a ripe age,
and Henry was sometimes called ‘Old Hundred’, the town was originally named Old Hundred. When the
Hundred Post Office was established in 1886, the ‘Old’ was dropped and the name Hundred remained.
“Hundred was made a B&O flag stop in 1887, and as many as four or five passenger trains ran
each way per day.
“The year 1886 was one marked by economic activity for Hundred. Hundred experienced an oil
and gas boom, with the first well being drilled in that year. From this industry were born the Pittsburgh
& West Virginia Gas Station, Manufacturer’s Light and Heat Company, Null & Morehead Gas Station,
Round Bottom Gasoline Plant, Wetzel Natural Gas Company, Hundred Natural Gas Company, and
Carnegie Gas Station.
“Eventually part of the Henry Church farm was sold to a man by the name of Phillip Shough, who
later sold it to T Benson Hamilton. Hamilton planned the town and sold numerous lots beginning in
1893. The town of Hundred was incorporated in 1894, with AF Gilmer serving as its first mayor and FM
Keller as recorder.
“The town of Hundred also had a stone quarry. Batson and Company of Moundsville opened the
sandstone quarry one mile west of Hundred in 1904. The blue and buff colored stone was used by the
B&O for bridge piers and was shipped to various cities for use as building stone.
“In 1923 a high school was built in Hundred. Before this time, students had been attending
classes in the Hundred Elementary School or traveling to Mannington, Fairmont (both in Marion
County), or Littleton to attend high schools there. The school’s first senior class consisted of 17 students,
who graduated in May of 1923. Though housed in a new building, the school still functions on that site
today.”2118
***PAW PAW, MORGAN COUNTY2119, WEST VIRGINIA***
Jeanne Mozier catalogs: “Strategically located on the Potomac River, the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad and the C&O [Chesapeake & Ohio] Canal, Paw Paw was named for the banana-like pawpaw
fruit that grows in the area. It is the westernmost settlement in Morgan County, incorporated as a town
on April 8, 1891. Paw Paw had 508 people in 2010.
“Travelers heading west often crossed the gap in the mountains here, some settling to farm
along the river. Gen Edward Braddock’s army camped on a hill just east of town, during the French and
Indian War. The site became Camp Chase, a federal camp during the Civil War, where more than 16,000
Union soldiers were stationed to guard the railroad. Today it is Camp Hill Cemetery.
2118
2119

http://www.hundredareapride.com/Hundred%20History.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw,_West_Virginia

“In 1836 the C&O Canal Company began to carve a 3,118-foot tunnel through Sorrel Ridge about
a half-mile north of town, across the Potomac in Maryland. The Paw Paw Tunnel was completed in 1850.
At 24 feet high, it is the largest man-made structure on the C&O Canal. Mules and canal boats
transported manufactured goods through it until 1924.
“The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad arrived in 1838, and the Western Maryland Railway in 1905.
Once six trains per day stopped at Paw Paw. Passenger service ceased in 1961, and the railroads are no
longer a major employer. Industry has come and gone, including tanneries, apple orchards, railroads,
and canals. In 1982 Paw Paw was the site of the first branch bank in West Virginia.
“Each year Paw Paw celebrates homecoming with a parade and festivities on Memorial Day
weekend. Paw Paw serves as the westernmost entry to the Washington Heritage Trail, a National Scenic
Byway.”2120
***PETROLEUM, RITCHIE COUNTY2121, WEST VIRGINIA***
SL Moore conveys: “Petroleum was a railroad station on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
formerly the Northwestern Virginia Railroad. The train schedule for the very first train, June 2, 1857,
gave the scheduled arrival and departure times at each station from Grafton, WV, to Parkersburg, WV.
The station at Petroleum had that name on that June day of 1857. The railroad had been buying
‘lubricating oil’ (crude oil, also called petroleum) at this location during construction of the line. There
was a natural flow of oil on Oil Spring Run, north of Petroleum, and later, shortly before the Drake well
in Pennsylvania, an oil well was also drilled on Oil Spring Run. This gives WV a claim to the first well
drilled for oil – wells for salt brine had been producing oil for years before.”2122
***PLUTO, RALEIGH COUNTY2123, WEST VIRGINIA***
RK Plumley discusses: “The Pluto post office, on the headwaters of Pinch Creek on Rt 22, was set
up about the year of 1915. The mail was delivered from Hinton. The name Pluto was supposedly used
to emphasize its distance from Hinton. The route went across the mountain and down Madams Creek,
ending at the Hinton Post office. Howard Richmond and others served as post master. Reno Richard
served as mail carrier for many years.”2124
Jim Comstock expounds: “Pluto, Raleigh County, one-time post office on Pinch Creek, named for
the Roman god of the Underworld, because according to the man who established the post office, only
the devil could remain postmaster there and satisfy the public.”2125
***SKULL RUN, JACKSON COUNTY2126, WEST VIRGINIA***

2120

Jeanne Mozier; Paw Paw; e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia; 11 March 2013;
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1822
2121
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum,_West_Virginia
2122
Sandra L Moore, Deputy to Clerk of the County Commission of Ritchie County, Ritchie County
Courthouse, 115 East Main St, Room 201, Harrisville, WV 26362
2123
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto,_West_Virginia
2124
Roscoe Kessler Plumley; Memories of Richmond District, Raleigh County WV; provided by Barbara,
Reference Department, Raleigh County Public Library, 221 N Kanawha St, Beckley, WV 25801;
[email protected]; http://rcplwv.org/
2125
Jim Comstock; The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia; Vol 17; 1976; provided by Barbara,
Reference Department, Raleigh County Public Library, 221 N Kanawha St, Beckley, WV 25801;
[email protected]; http://rcplwv.org/
2126
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/jackson/skull-run.cfm

NG Carder impresses: “Skull Run, which puts into the Ohio some 215.7 miles below Pittsburgh,
has a strange name perhaps, for just an ordinary creek no more than three miles long. One can easily
understand why a similar stream in Marshall County was named ‘Whiskey Run’, but no satisfactory
explanation has ever been given for the naming of our tranquil little stream. But then, most of the
heroic deeds of our ancestors along the Ohio were not put into books; they were handed down by
tradition and grew dim and vague in the recital. According to early documents, the original spelling of
the name was Scull. Our largest landowner in the region, Thomas Coleman, always spelled the name
Scull Run, and often wrote it as one word, as in his last deed, which was recorded in 1889. The place
could have been named for John Scull, the first newspaper editor in the Upper Ohio Valley, or possibly
for the Scull brothers, a hardy breed of Pennsylvania traders and trappers, who bought furs from the
Indians all along the river, way back in the days of George Rogers Clark and Simon Girty.
“In time our community became known as Skull Run. Some confirmed this new spelling with a
story about a human skull supposedly unearthed up the run long, long ago. At length that human skull
increased to several such skulls. The exact number seemed to vary with each narrator, but they all
indicated mayhem, murder and bloodshed. Finally there was a ghost story often told and retold around
the fireside of a winter evening. It was thought to have some connection with the skulls, or at least, one
skull in particular, and it was fittingly called ‘The Headless Rider of Low Gap’. …
“Our little community was late being … History records that John Dewitt built the first cabin on
Muses Bottom in 1807, and John Nesselrode established a home at the mouth of Little Sandy in 1810.
The little valley of Skull Run, between these two settlements, for some reason, was not occupied for the
next 20 years or more. It was in the 1830s that Steven Alexander, from Pennsylvania, bought 318 acres
on the south side of the run, from a representative of Albert Gallatin. Then William Smith purchased
234 acres on the north side, from Henry and Maria Nixon in July 1834.
“A ferry was established from Skull Run to Portland, Ohio, in 1886, and a large country store and
tie-yard were built near the tracts. Skull Run was then a regular stop on the B&O [Balimore & Ohio],
with ticket office and freight depot combined. On July 16, 1890, the Skull Run post office was
established, the name by that time having been generally accepted.”2127
***SPY ROCK, FAYETTE COUNTY2128, WEST VIRGINIA***
www.wvexp.com notates: “On the Midland Trail National Scenic Highway, US-60, at Lookout,
WV, in Fayette County, this sandstone outcrop at an elevation of 2,510 feet, was known by Native
Americans as the ‘The Rock of Eyes’. Indians used the rock as vantage point from which to watch for
approaching enemies or smoke from their camp fires. The rock provides a view of Sewell Mountain to
the east and south, and parts of Greenbrier County and Nicholas County to the north.
“Spy Rock was the name given to a rock formation, but it was also the name of a community
located in Fayette County at the site of the rock outcropping.
“During the Civil War, Union and Confederate soldiers alike used the rock to monitor
movements along the Midland Trail, and early settlers referred to the formation as ‘Spy Rock’. In
September 1861, Gen JD Cox and 5,000 Union soldiers camped near the rock. Some sources claim the
community of Lookout takes its name from Spy Rock.
“A wayside marker was erected along the Midland Trail (US-60) regarding Spy Rock, which has
led some to believe the small rock along the highway near the marker is Spy Rock. However this pathetic

2127

Nathan Goff Carder; A Window on the Ohio; Jackson County WV Historical Society; 1984; provided
by Maxine Landfried, Board of Directors, Jackson County Historical Society, Washington’s Western Lands
Museum, 220 Riverfront Park, Ravenswood, WV 26164; [email protected]; http://jchswv.org/
2128
http://westvirginia.hometownlocator.com/wv/fayette/spy-rock.cfm

little rock is not Spy Rock. Not all of the markers were located at, or even near, the exact sites they
commemorate. Such markers were located where most travelers would see them.
“Spy Rock is a pillar, outcropping from the upper edge of the resistant Nuttall Sandstone, which
also forms the towering cliffs nearby, along the rim of the New River Gorge National River at
nearby Beauty Mountain. Part of the Spy Rock formation may have been destroyed during the widening
of adjacent US 60 in the 1950s. Trees have also obscured some of the view from the rock. The rock can
be scaled with moderate difficulty, though an observation area with walkway has been proposed.”2129
***STRANGE CREEK, BRAXTON COUNTY2130, WEST VIRGINIA***
Peter Silitch puts pen to paper: “In 1795 a young greenhorn surveyor’s cook, William Strange,
became lost from his party in the forests near the mouth of Holly River. Hearing gunfire and fearful of
Indian raiders, he ran. He and his dog scrambled for days across 40 miles of inhospitable country to the
upper reaches of what was then known as Turkey Creek, near the eastern corner of present Clay County.
The starving Strange settled beneath a sycamore tree to die.
“Around 1835 settlers found both skeletons undisturbed, with rifle and shot. Legends say they
also found, carved on the sycamore, a poem. Various versions have been quoted over time, but
according to WER Byrne’s Tale of the Elk, it read:
“‘Strange my name, And strange the ground, And strange that I Cannot be found.’
“Turkey Creek was renamed Strange Creek in commemoration of the unusual event.”2131
**WISCONSIN**
HB Staples represents: “Wisconsin was named after its principal river. Until quite a recent
period, the river was called the Ouisconsin, which is said to mean ‘westward flowing’. Ouis is evidently
shortened from the French ouest. Mr Schoolcraft says, that ‘locality was given in the Algonquin by ing,
meaning ‘at, in, or by’, - as Wiscons-ing’. The name is probably of mixed origin.”2132
KB Harder specifies: “Probably from Ojibway Wees-kon-san, ‘the gathering of the waters’, first
applied to the river. Quisconsin (probably the same word of a variant), ‘a grassy place’, has also been
suggested. Variant spellings include Misconssin, Misconsing, Mesconsin, Mescousing, Miskous,
Misconsin, Ousconching, Ouiskensing, Wiskonsan, and Wiskonsin.”2133
www.statesymbolsusa.org tells: “What does Wisconsin mean? The name is based on the
Chippewa Indian word Ouisconsin, believed to mean ‘grassy place’. Wisconsin became the 30th state on
May 29, 1848.”2134
***BLUE MOUNDS, DANE COUNTY2135, WISCONSIN***
Cindy Downs provides the following: Milwaukee Sentinel, July 24, 1948, defines Blue Mounds as:
“Named because of their appearance when seen at a distance. The American Indian name Mu-cha-waku-nin, ‘Smoky Mountains’, applied to them, it is said, on account of their summits being usually
enveloped in a cloud or fog.”
2129

http://www.wvexp.com/index.php/Spy_Rock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Creek,_West_Virginia
2131
Peter Silitch; Strange Creek Legend; e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia; 05 November 2010;
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/600
2132
Hamilton B Staples; Origin of the Names of the States of the Union; Press of Chas Hamilton; 1882
2133
Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2134
http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Wisconsin/WisconsinNameOrigin.html
2135
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mounds,_Wisconsin
2130

She adds, “The mounds do appear smokey blue due in part to the oak savannah.”2136
***BRITISH HOLLOW, GRANT COUNTY2137, WISCONSIN***
William Wolfe chronicles: “The first settlers were miners in search of lead. When found, the
news soon reached other towns and states, and the population grew rapidly. Thomas Hymer built the
first cabin in 1837. He moved to the Potosi vicinity the following year, then in the early 40s back to
British Hollow.
“At this location was a valley beautiful in summer. It was called Pleasant Valley for a short time.
Ben Petty, the son of Joseph Petty, told how the name ‘British Hollow’ was adopted.
“A meeting was held by his father and a few others of the first settlers to select a name. It
seems that they thought the French still had some claim to this part of America. One man remarked
that while the French claimed it, the British will soon have it, so why not call it British Hollow. Most of
the early settlers were English, so that could have influenced them in this choice.
“The town was most prosperous between 1850 and 1900. At its zenith, it had two churches,
one brewery, two stores, two saloons, one wagon maker, two blacksmith shops, a harness maker, a
dance hall, two doctors, a hotel, two butcher shops, a furnace, and the best brass band in the
country!”2138
***DEVILS CORNER, PEPIN COUNTY2139, WISCONSIN***
Jacki Drier displays: “Pepin County does not have much history on Devils Corner, other than it is
located along what is now County Road 1 in the Town of Pepin. It was a sharp 90 degree curve in the
road. When the road was gravel, it had poor banking and was a very dangerous area. We do not have
history of any specific events, but its name still appears on the topographical maps. Another devil in
Pepin County is Devil’s Gate, located in the far northwest corner of the Town of Waterville, which is also
shown on the topographical maps.”2140
Terry of [email protected] declares: “The ‘Devil’s Corner’ in Pepin County was, many years
ago, a sharp corner at the bottom of a small hill on one of our local crushed rock roads. Several vehicles
failed to make the corner and slid off the road over a period of years, and it was well known as a
dangerous spot. I don’t know if anybody actually died there, but the local people thought it bad enough
to call it the Devil’s Corner. The road has become County Road 1, and the corner has been smoothed
out and is not as sharp as it once was.”2141
***EXILE, PIERCE COUNTY2142, WISCONSIN***

2136

Cindy Downs, Blue Mounds Area Historical Society, Blue Mounds, WI 53517;
[email protected]; https://bluemoundshistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/
2137
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Hollow,_Wisconsin
2138
William Wolfe from sources originated by Gertrude Stoker and Ben Basing; British Hollow; July 1986;
provided by Kerin Colson, Library Assistant II, Local History & Genealogy Research, Schreiner Memorial
Library, 113 West Elm Street, Lancaster, WI 53813; [email protected];
https://schreinermemoriallibrary.wordpress.com/
2139
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Corner,_Wisconsin
2140
Jacki Drier, Director, Pepin County Economic Development Department, 740 7th Ave West, PO Box
39, Durand, WI 54736; [email protected]; http://www.co.pepin.wi.us/landmanage/economic.php
2141
Terry, Recycling/Solid Waste Department, 740 7th Ave West, PO Box 39, Durand, WI 54736;
[email protected]; http://www.co.pepin.wi.us/cogovt/recycle.php
2142
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile,_Wisconsin

Pierce County Historical Association expresses: “Exile is one of the ‘lost towns’ of Pierce County
that the Historical Society is ‘bringing back to life’ by searching through documents, clippings and
photos.
“Exile is noted on several Pierce County plat books. Now it is located at the crossroads of
County Roads S and X in Rock Elm Township, in the middle of Section 35. However, in the 1895 Pierce
County Atlas, the school and post office are shown where Section 25, 26, 35 and 36 join.
“The name is intriguing. There are several explanations for the unusual name. Two are in
Volume 1 of the Pierce County Heritage series. One explanation is that the Scandinavian settlers felt
exiled from their homeland. Another version is that the area is such a desolate place.
“A more likely explanation came from Miss Flora Evens, one of the community’s pioneers. WB
‘Even’ is shown, on the 1895 Atlas of Pierce County, as the owner of 160 acres and a home in the
southwest portion of Sec 35, Rock Elm. In another article, Miss Evens is noted as the last living member
of the Evens family, having spent most of her life in the Exile area.
“Miss Evens is quoted in an undated St Paul Pioneer Press article. She said Exile has a lonesome
and forsaken connotation, and the name was chosen with purpose. She said Exile post office was
established about 1888, in the home of Mr Ezzerd (also spelled Ezard), who lived on a side road. It was
an out-of-the-way place even for an out-of-the-way bit of country. ‘As first postmaster, Mr Ezzerd
named the office, and I suppose the one he chose expressed his feelings.’
“Another explanation is that William Ezzerd was exiled out of England, so he and his wife
Hannah came to the United States. Ezzerd reportedly lived in a large cave in Section 21 for a short
period of time. The cave is still there and has been visited by James Krings, local historian. This was the
‘original’ Exile on what is now the Gerald Nelson place. The post office was established in 1887, with
Mrs Ezzerd as the first postmaster. She supposedly named the place because of Ezzerd’s exile from
England. William was 45, Hannah 39; they had seven children ranging in age from 16 to 4. (Hannah
Ezzerd is a great grandmother of Mrs Phyllis Linder, Ellsworth.)
“Mail was brought by horseback to Exile from Rock Elm. The contents of the mail pouch was
dumped on the dining room table and picked up by waiting patrons.”2143
***FAIR PLAY, GRANT COUNTY2144, WISCONSIN***
John Scholl notes: “Robert Frost said it – ‘A poem begins with a lump in the throat.’ – and thus
that a certain sadness, a tear or two, then sweeps softly across the page, still strong enough to break the
hardest heart, if it happens to hit close enough to home, if it happens to bring back, if only briefly, the
memory of someone or something once loved but now forever lost.
“There is much of that kind of poetry here in Fairplay, here in this old Wisconsin mining town,
though the lines sweep not across pages but across fields, across fields full of old foundations of what
once were big buildings.
“And big people.
“At least that’s the story told here, though where history leaves off and legend enters in is hard
to tell, as is almost always the case in towns like this, when the source is conversation alone,
conversation of the kind beginning ‘They say …’
“But what’s wrong with a lively legend? And who cares who the always anonymous ‘they’ are?
Like the tall tales and old soldiers, they keep gaining ground until – like a great novel – they’ve larger
than life, but so what?
2143

Exile; The Lost Towns of Pierce County; PCHA Newsletter; June 2001; provided by Pat Mory, Pierce
County Historical Association, 423 W Main St, Ellsworth, WI 54011; [email protected];
http://www.piercecountyhistorical.org/
2144
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Play,_Wisconsin

“The literate take these things for what they’re worth, and what they’re worth is enjoyment
unspoiled by skepticism, unlike those who attempt to analyze everything to the extent of enjoying
nothing. A red rose means ‘I love you.’ Only a fool would try to figure it further than that.
“At any rate, ‘they say’ Fairplay was once bigger than Dubuque, so much so that many
Dubuquers came here to get married, the reason for that being simply that Fairplay had so much more
to offer honeymooners: three big hotels, 13 saloons, a dance hall and a golf course. And for those who
liked it well enough to stay, there also was a good school, for the large families all expected to have in
those happy unplanned-parenthood days, plus two churches and a Maxwell automobile agency.
“But Fairplay was more boom town than marriage mill in its heyday – the 1800s – a lusty
barroom-brawling mining town that got its name from all the saloon and street fights that went on
among the miners, then fights that were fierce enough, all right, ranging from fists to knives to guns, but
all ‘honorable’, all confined to ‘fairplay’.
“Big people.
“And big dreams.
“There were plans to spread the town – the city – over most of Jamestown Township, because
the lead that fed the boom seemed sure to have no end, the wildly lucrative mining would go on
forever.
“‘They say’ the population jumped to several hundred, ‘some say’ several thousand, but
whatever it was it was big, whether big in numbers or not, it was big, very big, if only in action alone.
Fairplay was where the action was, in these parts then: payday dances, girls and gambling, drinking and
fighting, fun and games, Sunday stillnesses. Permanent stillnesses for some, for those too slow on the
draw, or too slow to duck, but life was cheap, and life went on.
“As did the boom.
“Bigger and bigger.
“Then:
“Water.
“‘Water, water everywhere…’
“But not a mine to mine.
“Things weren’t so scientific then – fortunately in many cases, unfortunately in this one – and
the water rushed in, poured in from all sides from unknown underground springs, streams, rivers, lakes,
flooding the mines forever, and that was it.
“The end of everything.
“The boom.
“The town.
“The happy honeymoon.
“Because it was indeed a happy honeymoon, so happy as to be probably too perfect to last, like
an undying love that suddenly shatters, and does die.
“Fairplay today is perhaps 100 in population, one in number of businesses – the Fairplay Tavern,
owned and operated in a more than 100 year-old building by Carl Weigel and his wife – Marie – and not
much else, not many other signs of life, that is.
“Still standing is the old town hall, still used but now mostly only on election days, as a polls for
Jamestown Township voters. There is an honor roll of Fairplay’s war dead in front of the front hall, and
there is a neglected cemetery – the last burial there was in 1929 – with a number of Civil War veterans’
graves. Frank Budden puts flags on these graves every Memorial Day, and the town is trying to get
some state aid to restore and maintain the cemetery, now nearly buried in tall grass, tall grass that
would be even taller were it not for a few sheep roaming there.
“There is in fact tall grass everywhere in Fairplay today, where other things once stood, and the
sites of many of these things have even had time to return to trees. There are many willows. And there

are so few steps that it is not necessary to wait for snow to soften them, to hear the wind in the willows,
to hear the wind’s sad song, a love song.
“Of a truly great love.
“That might have been.”2145
***HURRICANE, GRANT COUNTY2146, WISCONSIN***
Joe Sherwin records: “When the Pioneers arrived, this was a forested area; quite a few trees had
been knocked down by the wind. Hence the name of Hurricane. They cut the trees for housing, etc.”2147
***LITTLE HOPE, WAUPACA COUNTY2148, WISCONSIN***
Waupaca Area Public Library reveals: “Little Hope was settled about 2 miles east of Rural – also
on the Crystal River. It was settled about the same time and had two mills built on the river. At one
time, it was called ‘Crystal River’. Then there was the hope that the railroad would be built through the
area. That hope was dashed when it was routed through Waupaca, bypassing both Crystal River and
Rural. Then it became ‘Little Hope’ and thus it has remained. The mills are long gone as far as their use,
but one was used a gift shop for many years, and there is still a beautiful spot on the river.”2149
***LUCK, POLK COUNTY2150, WISCONSIN***
Chuck Adleman spells out: “As with many historical place names and events, there is no single
simple answer on which everyone agrees. To my knowledge, there are three stories about how the
name Luck was chosen. It should be noted that the town (or some would say township) was named
Luck, before the village later took the name. We expect to soon receive old town records that date back
to 1846; these may shed some light on the true origin of the name. The three generally accepted origins
for ‘Luck’ follow:
“Northwestern Wisconsin was first settled by whites, after land cession treaties with the Ojibwe.
First came loggers and later farmers - new immigrants from mostly northern Europe. In the case of Luck,
most new arrivals were Danes that began the settlement of West Denmark - today about two miles west
of the village of Luck. In those years, the best transportation route to the area was up Mississippi River
by steam boat, and continuing up the St Croix River to the head of navigation at St Croix Falls. At this
point, the river became fast and shallow, suitable only for small shallow draft boats or canoes.
“Early settlers then set out on the St Croix-Clam Falls trail to continue north to the ‘pineries’ for
jobs or cheap (or free) land in the case of farmers. The trail was difficult and slow (often using oxen and
later horses). Legend has it that if one reached the shores of Big Butternut Lake (site of the present
village of Luck), they were ‘in Luck’. Here was food, water and later a store owned by William Foster,
generally considered the founder of Luck.
“Another story involves one of the first residents of the Luck area, Dan Smith. Mr Smith traveled
throughout the country working at many different occupations. He tried gold mining in California
without success, opened a general store which failed and numerous other jobs and enterprises. Finally
2145

John Scholl; provided by Kerin Colson, Library Assistant II, Local History & Genealogy Research,
Schreiner Memorial Library, 113 West Elm Street, Lancaster, WI 53813; [email protected];
https://schreinermemoriallibrary.wordpress.com/
2146
http://wisconsin.hometownlocator.com/wi/grant/hurricane.cfm
2147
Joe Sherwin, Cunningham Museum, Grant County Historical Society, 129 E Maple St, Lancaster, WI
53813; [email protected]; www.grantcountyhistory.org
2148
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Hope,_Wisconsin
2149
Waupaca Area Public Library, 107 South Main St, Waupaca, WI 54981; http://waupacalibrary.org/
2150
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck,_Wisconsin

Mr Smith went north to try his luck by opening a saw mill on Big Butternut Lake. The mill was
successful and Smith is quoted as saying ‘I plan to be in luck the rest of my life’.
“Finally writer Bret Harte wrote a short story that was published in the Overland Monthly, called
‘The Luck of Roaring Camp’ in 1868. The setting was a gold mining camp in California that had first good
and then bad luck. Rumor has it that the name Luck was borrowed for the thriving (one hoped) area
near the present village of Luck. Not much evidence for this theory, but the dates are about right.
“These stories came from the top of my head - no real research. If you need more information
let me know, but these things are often hard to prove.”2151
***MAIDEN ROCK, PIERCE COUNTY2152, WISCONSIN***
Jacki Drier touches on: “Legend of Maiden Rock: The story of Maiden Rock has several versions.
One by Mary Eastman was published in 1849. She heard the story from an old Indian friend ‘Checkered
Cloud’, who firmly believed the event happened around 1700. James Duane Doty accompanied the
Henry Schoolcraft expedition into this area, and on June 3, 1820, Doty wrote in his journal: ‘It is told that
many years since, a young and beautiful Sioux girl was attached to a young Indian of the same band, and
who would have married her except for the interference of her relatives. They insisted upon her
marrying another one who she despised, and she continued to avoid connection for near a year. At
length her relatives having sent away the young man she loved, on this point they compelled her to
marry the one they wished. It was evening and she had not been united more than an hour before they
missed her from her lodge. Nothing could be found of her until morning, when they discovered her at
the foot of the precipice down which she probably precipitated herself.’
“A more romantic version of the legend was written by Margaret A Persons.”2153
Dean Klinkenberg clarifies: “A long and skinny town wedged between Lake Pepin and the bluffs,
Maiden Rock has a few surprises that make it worth a stop.
“Arriving in town: State Highway 35 dips and rolls through town like a rollercoaster; the small
businesses district is along the highway. Chestnut Street will get you to the river.
“History: Maiden Rock village and bluff get their names from a long-standing legend about a
young, Native American girl called Wenonah (first born daughter), who jumped to her death from the
bluff, rather than agree to an arranged marriage to a man she didn’t love, who was from a rival Indian
nation, or he could have been a French voyageur, or possibly an English trader. The story has many
versions, something noted sarcastically by Mark Twain in Life on the Mississippi. Whatever the true
story, the legend has been around for generations, at least since the 18th century, and it undeniably
resonates with our romantic ideals: this story inspired Perry Williams to compose a libretto for an opera
and Margaret A Persons to write an epic poem.
“The first folks to settle at the future village site were brothers Amos and Albert Harris and John
Trumbell. The village was initially called Harrisburg, but after Trumbell bought them out and platted a
village in 1857, he changed the name to Maiden Rock. Trumbell was pretty much the go-to guy in early
Maiden Rock. He tried to start a number of businesses and was probably the first European to sail on
Lake Pepin. Maiden Rock did not have a regular steamboat stop, because the main channel was on the
Minnesota side; this was a major factor in the town’s slow early growth. Early businesses included a saw

2151

Chuck Adleman, Luck Area Historical Society, Inc, 301 Main Street, PO Box 197, Luck, WI, 54853;
[email protected];
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/localhistory/directory/viewsociety.asp?id=397
2152
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Rock,_Wisconsin
2153
Jacki Drier, Director, Pepin County Economic Development Department, 740 7th Ave West, PO Box
39, Durand, WI 54736; [email protected]; http://www.co.pepin.wi.us/landmanage/economic.php

mill, a shingle mill, a grist mill, a lime kiln, and a ship yard that built boats ranged from 16-foot sailboats
to steamboats. Trumbell moved to Albany, Oregan in 1899 when the town had about 300 residents.
“Maiden Rock lacked road connections to nearby communities for many of its early years,
prompting someone to call it ‘a good place to live but a hard place to get out of’. The village got a boost
in 1886, when railroad connections to St Paul and La Crosse were completed, but repeated fire disasters
were not helpful; six fires ravaged the community just between March 1911 and August 1912.
“This small village knows how to throw a big party though. The town’s centennial drew a large
crowd, especially for the 55-unit parade. The centennial celebration included a beard judging contest
with categories including best full beard and best trim. The major industry today is the Wisconsin
Industrial Sand Company, which has an underground mine where they dig out sand for the oil and gas
exploration industries in the Southwest.”2154
***MISHA MOKWA, BUFFALO COUNTY2155, WISCONSIN***
Kelly Herold documents: “The name came from the Ojibwa Indian tribe, who camped along the
small stream running through Misha Mokwa. The stream was called Little Bear, and Misha Mokwa was
understood as meaning ‘strong Indian’.”2156
Lawrence Kessinger observes: “While there are no mounds or hills of the kind we have hitherto
considered, there are still some others, quite numerous in some localities, especially along the lowlands
of the Mississippi yet but rarely on the prairies. The locations are frequently at the entrance of the
valley of some creek or river from the main valley. Some of them are near the mouth of Beef River, or
rather its junction with Beef Slough in clayey soil. The next collection is on the level space above Deer
Creek, on the east side of the road, branching off from the Alma and Durand road, near the schoolhouse
of Dist No 3 Town of Nelson. There these knolls are quite numerous, but partly obliterated. Another
considerable group we find in the neighborhood of Misha Makwa, on the prairie plateau close to the
foot of the bluff, near the junction of the north side road of Little Bear Creek Valley with the Alma and
Durand road. These latter mounds seem to distinguish themselves from the other two groups, by being,
even down to the surrounding level spots, composed of a very dark sandy loam, quite in contrast with
the soil in the next vicinity, while in the others no other soil appears, but such as is similar to the next
surrounding.
“There is no order or arrangement among those knolls, and it seems evident, that though they
were erected within a short time of each other, and long ago, they were not erected at the same time,
nor any of them for another purpose than the remainder. Their form tends somewhat to the elliptical
cone, the slopes are moderate, and there is usually no level space on the top, and their depth is not
often four feet, though, possibly, sometime that or more. It is very probable that small collections of
such hills are to be found at other places, and they are indeed to be looked for in locations similar to
those described. Some knolls to be seen at different places along sloughs or along places reached by
high water, one or two at a place may also occur.
“These knolls I consider Indian graves. They occur in greater number, where it is most probable
that Indians would congregate for purposes connected with their mode of life, as for hunting, fishing or
fighting. Especially the latter seems to have given a cause to start up these grave-yards. As far as I have
learned, there has no evidence been found, which might controvert my opinion, but I think that all
articles found in or about such grave-yards, as arrows, stone-hatchets, pipes and stone implements in
2154

Dean Klinkenberg; Mississippi Valley Traveler Guide to the Driftless Area: Along the Mississippi River
from Hastings, Minnesota to Lansing, Iowa; Vol 3; Travel Passages; 2010
2155
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misha_Mokwa,_Wisconsin
2156
Kelly Herold, Executive Director, Buffalo County Historical Society, 407 South Second Street, PO Box
394, Alma, WI 54610; [email protected]; www.bchsonline.com

general, have been such as are known to have been used by the Indians before their contact with
civilization.
“Nor it is to be supposed that these knolls are so very ancient. It is less than three hundred
years since the first permanent settlements along the Atlantic, and almost to a year but two hundred,
since the first explorers entered upper part of the Mississippi Valley. This seems more then time enough
to efface almost any knoll of so small a size. Hence we are not justified in ascribing these monuments to
any race anterior to the Indians.
“The possibility of their having remained as perceptible elevations is due to their situation,
almost always a dry one, not swept by occasional surface currents of any considerable force, with a dry
and solid substratum. They also indicate the Indian mode of burial, which was not by digging a grave,
but by heaping earth upon and around the body, until it was not only covered or hid from sight, but also
from the scent of beasts of prey. This seems to have been a good deal of work, yet it was much easier
for a people without spades, mattocks and shovels, than to dig a ditch. Many of these burial spots were
probably intended to be but temporary, and knolls would assist in the finding of the place, and earth
heaped up would be drier and less difficult to remove for the recovery of the remains. About
implements and other objects obtained from any of these graves or burial-knolls, we shall speak in the
chapter on Indians.”2157
***NEW DIGGINGS, LAFAYETTE COUNTY2158, WISCONSIN***
CW Butterfield recounts: “In 1824, Duke L Smith, George Ferguson, James Morrison and three or
four others, started out from Galena, found indications of ancient mining by Indians or French, and
there beginning work, discovered valuable mines which they named New Diggings. The cluster of cabins
which these early prospectors built, situated one mile and a half down the valley west of the present
village of New Diggings, they named Nachez, which village in 1828 contained 100 persons, but now no
vestige remains. Nachez was the abode of excellent families and enterprising people. Here lived Hon
Lewis Kinney, Israel Cowen, Ferguson, Judge Orne, McAffee, Morrison, and many others, all of whom
long since were laid in honorable graves.”2159
***OCONOMOWOC, WAUKESHA COUNTY2160, WISCONSIN***
ME Babich, RJ Higgins, and DL Smith say: “Until 1865 what is now the City of Oconomowoc was
part of the Town of Oconomowoc, so the communities share a joint history before that date.
“In the early 1930s, Captain Anthony Derse wrote a history of Oconomowoc that was published
in pamphlet from by the Chamber of Commerce. The events listed in the beginning of the history, of
course, occurred in the Town.
“Here is Derse’s account of the earliest Oconomowoc settlers:
“‘The History of Oconomowoc: Quite a difference of opinion existed among the earliest white
settlers in this vicinity, regarding the meaning of the word Oconomowoc. Some contended that the
word meant ‘The place of the beavers’, others held it to mean ‘The Meeting of the Waters’.
“‘Tradition informs us that the Winnebago tribe of Indians had for over two centuries occupied
that section, now known as Waukesha County before the advent of the whites. They were superseded
2157

Lawrence Kessinger; History of Buffalo County, Wisconsin; Northern Micrographics; 1888; provided
by Marie Marquardt, Alma Public Library, 312 N Main St, PO Box 277, Alma, WI 54610;
[email protected]; http://www.almalibrary.org/
2158
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Diggings,_Wisconsin
2159
CW Butterfield; History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin; 1881; provided by Office of Joseph G Boll,
Register of Deeds, Lafayette County, PO Box 170, Darlington, WI 53530-0170
2160
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oconomowoc,_Wisconsin

by the Potawatomies, whose villages dotted this section, when the first white man visited here in 18045.
“‘After the Black Hawk War of 1832, the Indians disappeared from this section and would only
pay occasional visits here in the spring of the year for a few week’s fishing. This custom was followed up
to the year 1858.
“‘According to Charles B Sheldon, one of the first white settlers, who was informed by one John
Dority, a ‘half breed’ who married a squaw, and was a member of a band of Potawatomies under Chief
Whirling Thunder, that the word Oconomowoc meant ‘The River of Lakes’.
“‘According to Vieau, a French trader and father-in-law of Solomon Juneau, Con-no-mo-wauk
means a ‘waterfall’ or ‘place where the river falls’. He is reported to have been the first white man to
visit this section in 1804 or 1805.’”2161
***ROMANCE, VERNON COUNTY2162, WISCONSIN***
Pat Moore spotlights: “Romance, Wis – On this annual day of amore, when Cupid’s quiver is
nearly emptied, the search for romance in the Coulee Region might begin in this tiny hamlet in Vernon
County.
“A large sign proclaims Romance, an unincorporated dot on Hwy 56 between Genoa and
Viroqua, as ‘The Wild Turkey Capital’ of Wisconsin.
“Forget about turkeys. The question on this Valentine’s Day is this: Is there a chance for new
romance in Romance?
“Apparently not much, according to a survey of the local residents taken Tuesday afternoon by a
reporter. It’s not that love isn’t in the air, but rather a lack of eligible females.
“According to a tally done by local residents Tuesday, there are about 36 people living in
Romance proper – that’s including the town and the suburbs. Most of those are either kids or people
already romantically involved, with no unattached single women to romance.
“That leaves eligible men like Arnie Wolfe and Marty Wuolle still looking for love.
“‘Me and Marty are looking for romance in Romance,’ said Wolfe, 35, a bachelor who tends bar
at the Romance General Store. Wuolle, 44, is the former owner of the tavern/store, which he sold to his
brother Kevin.
“‘I’d like to find a wife whose fun to be with,’ Wolfe said.
“Wolfe and the Wuolle brothers helped come up with an impromptu census of the Romance
residents Tuesday.
“‘Are we talking just the city here, or suburbs, or what?’ Wolfe asked.
“Just how small is Romance? Wolfe says it was once saluted on the former syndicated country
music show ‘Hee Haw’ with ‘Population 14’.
“So just how did this location of love get its name?
“‘I’ve talked to a lot of people,’ said Janet O’Neal, Kevin Wuolle’s mother-in-law. ‘Nobody seems
to know. But I’ve seen an old map from 1856, and the name Romance is on it.’
“Wolfe has his own theory which he attributes to a pioneer’s lover’s lane.
“‘I was told there was a sand quarry close by, where people went parking with their buggies,’ he
said.
2161

Mildred E Babich, Robert J Higgins, and David L Smith; Town of Oconomowoc: A Town for All Seasons
1844-1994; the Sesquicentennial Committee of the Town of Oconomowoc and the Oconomowoc
Historical Society; 1995; provided by Lissa Radder, Administrative Assistant, Oconomowoc Public Library,
200 W South St, Oconomowoc, WI 53066; [email protected];
http://www.oconomowoc.lib.wi.us/
2162
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance,_Wisconsin

“The tavern turned into a cozy motel of sorts during the recent blizzard, when it was open all
night so people wouldn’t try driving the country roads that had turned treacherous.
“‘I ended up sleeping on the pool table,’ Wolfe said.
“And there was a candlelight night at the tavern once, when the ice storm took out the
electricity.
“From the front windows, there’s a clear view of the Romance Tavern about a block away,
where there is romance every day for owners Ray and Alice Whisler.
“Cupid has nothing on Whisler, who will host a 3-D Archery Shoot this weekend. For $6,
contestants can take aim and shoot at plastic life-sized caribou and other large animals set up at 28
stations.
“‘It’s a real family event,’ Whisler said.
“It seems like Romance knows no bounds – well, no single boundary anyway.
“‘The grill where I’m frying this hamburger is in the town of Harmony,’ said Whisler, talking
through the kitchen window. ‘But when I walk 12 feet out to the bar, I’ll be in the town of Genoa.’
“Romance, alas, does not come without tragedy at times. A love affair gone wrong was settled
with a shooting at the Romance Tavern in 1961. One man was killed and the bullet hole is still in the
bar, a reminder of love gone badly.
“And Romance does not let down its guard, thanks to a mountain lion named Zeuss owned by
Kathy and Kevin Kilmer – Whisler’s daughter and son-in-law.
“The 9-year-old, 120-pound cat stands watch in a fenced-in area.
“‘He’s probably one of the reasons the crime rate in Romance is so low.’ The Kilmers said.”2163
***RURAL, WAUPACA COUNTY2164, WISCONSIN***
Waupaca Area Public Library underscores: “In the early 1850s, a man named James Hinchman
Jones came from the east coast, originally from Wales, and settled in the area now called Rural. He
referred to the area as his ‘rural holdings’, and the name Rural stuck. The village is now on the National
Register of Historic Places, because it is one of only two towns in Wisconsin still retaining its original
Yankee concept. It is a beautiful spot on the Crystal River and has many visitors in the summer. Many of
the homes were built in the era from 1852-72 and have been well preserved and renovated by their
current residents. Actually Mr Jones did not stay around more than about 10 years, before moving
about 15 miles south to a village called Wild Rose, where many Welsh settled.”2165
***SPIRIT, PRICE COUNTY2166, WISCONSIN***
Karen Baumgartner comments: “While answering queries recently, I’ve encouraged several
people to order microfilm of hometown newspapers of Wisconsin from the Wisconsin Historical Society
in Madison through interlibrary loan. A third cousin showed me a snippet of a newspaper article that
was an explanation of why the Town of Brannan changed its name to Town of Spirit. She also had what
looked like the entire article written out in longhand, but the stationery used was from the Brannan Coop Creamery with a line for a date ‘194__’ printed on it. Here begins the mystery. Brannan was renamed in 1921. Obviously, the transcription was much later. The transcription ended ‘Wishing you all a
merry Christmas …’ I looked at December microfilm of the Phillips newspapers for an article titled An
2163

Pat Moore; No romance in Romance? Locals say it’s the truth; LaCrosse Tribune; Wednesday,
February 14, 1996; provided by Kristen Parrott, Curator, Vernon County Museum, PO Box 444, 410 S
Center St, Viroqua, WI 54665; [email protected]; http://www.vernoncountyhistory.org/
2164
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural,_Wisconsin
2165
Waupaca Area Public Library, 107 South Main St, Waupaca, WI 54981; http://waupacalibrary.org/
2166
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit,_Wisconsin

Explanation and came up empty. The other newspaper that was published at the time was the
PRENTICE NEWS-CALUMET. The microfilm arrived from Madison in a short time. There it was, on the
first page, December 26, 1921 issue, the article that we were looking for. Now we could document that
bit of history that Maryalice’s great-grandfather had written. Now comes the rest of the story, the part
that makes newspaper researching so much fun, the reason for the explanation. The week before, in
the Spirit News Notes column of the same paper, the correspondent had written ‘The writer of this news
has been a resident of what was known as the Town of Brannan for the past forty two years and was
always proud of that name. But evidently some one thought the Town of ‘Spirit’ would sound better,
and a petition was presented at the county board meeting, which changed the name of the oldest town
in Price County. Maybe the one responsible for this change would like to have his name changed, and
we would like to suggest a name for him, but then, perhaps the editor would refuse to put it into print.’
“For history buffs, this is the explanation of why the Town of Brannan’s name was changed to
Spirit. The author, Charles B Nelson, was the Spirit postmaster 1895 until his death in 1939. He
participated in Town of Brannan and Price County government most of that time.
“An Explanation [by CB Nelson]: ‘In reading an item in your paper from one of your
correspondence [sic] bewailing the changing of the name of Town of Brannan to Town of Spirit was a
surprise to me, as the same was done in the best interests of the public and to inform the public, I will
state the reason regarding the change of name.
“‘The name of Spirit to this community is older than Brannan, it derives its name from an old
Indian legend that previous to a change of weather, at sunset a canoe with three headless Indians was
observed paddling across the lake, and they named the lake (translated into English) Spirit Lake. There
is a plateau in section 12, range 2, where you have a view east of the Wisconsin River, and the Indians
named that Spirit Mountain, when the government had this territory surveyed into townships and
section. They gave the old Indian names of Spirit Lake and Spirit River. When the writer of this article
settled here, it was part of the Town of Corning, Lincoln County. Town of Corning erected the first
school house here on the site where the town hall now stands. When Price County was organized, the
southern part of what was then called Spirit settlement, included, was named by the legislature, Town
of Brannan.
“‘In 1895 the government established a post office in Spirit and gave it the name of the locality.
There being only two post offices at that time in the Town of Brannan (namely Brantwood and Knox
Mills). Now out of this former vast township of Brannan, they have all discarded the name Brannan and
left Spirit with a dual name to the bewilderment of business and the public.
“‘The above is an explanation of the origin of the name of Spirit. The correspondence [sic] of
the Spirit News Notes, I have no doubt will inform the public about the cherished name of Mr Brannan,
who I doubt ever was or ever will be in this locality except in spirit.
“‘I am in a position to hear the usual complaint about the dual name of our homes, and I took
the initiative and I requested the Chairman of our town to present the resolution to the County Board.
That I understand was his official duty to do.
“‘We all know that the name Brannan is not used except in official matters. It is neither used in
schools nor private, except by mistake, and I, as postmaster, here for twenty-seven years, have had
numerous complaints of loss of mail, that has been wrongly addressed to Brannan instead of Spirit, and
other complaints too numerous to mention.’ [An Explanation is from PRENTICE NEWS-CALUMET,
December 26, 1921, page 1]”2167
2167

Karen Baumgartner; Notes from the Chairperson; Price County Genealogical Society Newsletter; July,
August, September 2004; pg 2; provided by Beverly Brayton, President, Price County Wisconsin
Historical Society, PO Box 156, Fifield, WI 54524-0156; [email protected];
http://www.pricecountyhistoricalsociety.org/

***TOMAHAWK, LINCOLN COUNTY2168, WISCONSIN***
Robin Comeau emphasizes: “The Tomahawk Chamber of Commerce has this on their
website: Source unknown. In the early days, the Indians, who made this area their favorite hunting
grounds, named this spot Tomahawk, which means ‘made by nature’s own hands’.
“Wisconsin Historical Society: Term: Tomahawk [origin of place name]; Definition: Situated near
the junction of the Tomahawk and Wisconsin Rivers. Ojibwe word otamahuk means ‘strike
them’. Hatchet used by Native Americans was referred to as a tomahawk or tomahican. [Source: Card
file at the WHS Library reference desk; Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug 29, 1939.]
“However, I have seen this written most often: A local Native American tribe, buried a ‘hatchet’
or ‘tomahawk’ at the junction of the Somo, Spirit, Wisconsin, and Tomahawk Rivers. This is the spot
where the city was platted and thus named Tomahawk.”2169
Tomahawk Leader gives: “Before 1886, Tomahawk was a virtual wilderness, except for a handful
of people, a Jesuit priest, a few French and English fur traders, government surveyors, a lonely
innkeeper or two, and a few loggers. It was a wilderness of virgin pine forest, a happy hunting ground
for the Indians.
“It is said, and quite authentically so, that the first white man to see the Tomahawk area was
Pere Rene Menard, a Jesuit missionary, who had come to the Lake Superior region in 1660 to bring the
message of the Gospel to the Huron Indian tribe.
“The completion of the final treaty in 1885-6 with the Chippewa Indians, in which they agreed to
live on reservations at Odanah and Lac du Flambeau, gave impetus to the development of the
Tomahawk area.
“Over the old Indian trails and the old Military Road, supplies were freighted by horse and
wagon, to lay the foundation for the city we now know as Tomahawk.
“There were two way stations on the river. One was owned by Germain Bouchard, located near
the mouth of the Tomahawk River west of the present city. The second was on the Wisconsin River east
of the city and was owned and operated by Albert King. In 1886 the preliminary survey for a railroad
was laid out, extending the railroad from ‘Jennie’ (Merrill) to Tomahawk.
“By June 7, 1887, the Tomahawk Land and Boom Co had completed and recorded its survey of
the Tomahawk City plat, under the direction of Thomas M Doyle. On June 25, 1887, the first lots went
on sale in the City of Milwaukee.
“There were 43 blocks laid out, and the lots were priced at $100 and $200 – one-third cash and
the balance in one to two years, one year’s interest at 7% in advance by deferred payments. Tomahawk
at this time was destined to be one of the largest lumbering and manufacturing towns in the state,
making it a great railroad center.
“Tomahawk is very nearly a level plateau. On the northwest side, the Wisconsin River winds
peacefully about the city. On the southeast, the countryside is somewhat broken. Prospect Hill, the
‘Hog’s Back’, extends cape-like into the bosom of Lake Tomahawk, which was named Lake Mohawksin in
1926 by Herb Atcherson, a local businessman. The ‘Mo’ is from the Somo River, the ‘hawk’ from the
Tomahawk River, and the ‘sin’ for the Wisconsin River. It is at this point where the three rivers meet. It
was officially named on July 4, 1926.”2170
2168

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk,_Wisconsin
Robin Comeau, Tomahawk Historical Society, 18 E Washington Ave, Tomahawk, WI 54487;
[email protected]; http://tomahawkhistoricalsoc.org/
2170
Indian Treaty Led to City’s Beginning; Tomahawk Leader; July 2011; provided by Elaine Koth,
Tomahawk Historical Society, 18 E Washington Ave, Tomahawk, WI 54487;
[email protected]; http://tomahawkhistoricalsoc.org/
2169

***WINNEBAGO, WINNEBAGO COUNTY2171, WISCONSIN***
Wiki maintains: “The Winnebago speak a Siouan language, and their name for themselves,
or autonym, is Ho-Chunk (Hocąk). It has had numerous spelling variations: Hocak, Hotanke,
Houchugarra, Hotcangara, Ochungaraw, Ochungarah, Hochungra, Hochungara, and Ochangara, as
Europeans tried to transliterate the name. Translations include: ‘the fish eaters’, ‘the trout people’, ‘the
big fish people’, ‘the big speech people’, ‘the people of the big voice’, ‘the people of the parent
speech’, and ‘the people of the original language’. Current elders say it means, ‘the people of the big
voice’ or ‘the people of the sacred language’.
“The term ‘Winnebago’ was derived from an exonym, that is, a name given to the people by
others, in this case, the neighboring Algonquian-speaking tribes, such as the Fox, Sauk,
and Ojibway (Ojibwe/Chippewa). Various spellings exist, reflecting the French and English colonists'
attempts to record transliterations of the Algonquian words for the people. These include: ‘Winnebago,
Wiinibiigoo, Wuinebagoes, Ouinepegi, Ouinipegouek, and Winipeg’. This name has been variously
translated as, ‘people of the stinking water’, ‘people of the filthy water’, ‘people of the stagnant water’
and ‘people of the smelly waters’.
“The Algonquian words do not have the negative overtones associated with the French
word puant and the English word ‘stinky’. The French translated and shortened the name to simply les
puants (or les puans), which was translated into English as ‘the Stinkards’. Many researchers believe that
the waters referred to were either stagnant waters of Green Bay or the aromatic, algae-filled waters of
the rivers or lakes, where the Winnebago were living in the mid-17th century. The earliest reports
indicate that both the French explorers and the First Nations people understood the name to refer to
their place of origin, not where they were living at the time of European encounter. They had migrated
from earlier territories. While the names Lac des Puans (for Lake Michigan on a map from 1650) and Le
Baye des Puans (on later maps) led some historians to conclude these referred to the condition of the
waters, early records of both bodies reported them as clear and fresh. The waters were named after the
American Indian people then living on their shores.
“The Jesuit Relations of 1659-1660 said: ‘He started, in the month of June of the year one
thousand six hundred and fifty-eight, from the lake of the Ouinipegouek, which is strictly only a large
bay in Lake Huron. It is called by others, the lake of the stinkards, not because it is salt like the water of
the Sea - which the ‘Savages’ call Ouinipeg, or ‘stinking water’ - but because it is surrounded by
sulphurous soil, whence issue several springs, which convey into this lake the impurities absorbed by
their waters in the places of their origin.’
“Nicholas Perrot was an early 20th-century historian, who believed that the Algonquian terms
referred to salt-water seas, as these have a distinctive aroma compared with fresh-water lakes. An
early Jesuit record says that the name refers to the origin of Le Puans near the salt water seas to the
north. Algonquians also called the Winnebago, ‘the people of the sea’. (A Native people who lived on
the shores of Hudson Bay were called by the same name.)
“When the explorers Jean Nicolet and Samuel de Champlain learned of the ‘sea’ connection to
the tribe's name, they were optimistic that it meant Les puans were from or had lived near the Pacific
Ocean. They hoped it indicated a passage to China via the great rivers of the Midwest.
“In recent studies, ethnologists say that the Winnebago, like the other Siouan-speaking peoples,
originated or coalesced on the east coast of North America and gradually migrated west. The early 20thcentury researcher HR Holand said they originated in Mexico, where they had contact with the Spanish
and gained a knowledge of horses. He cites the records of Jonathan Carver, who lived with the
Winnebago in 1766–8. But contact with the Spanish could have occurred along the Gulf of Mexico or the
2171

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnebago,_Wisconsin

south Atlantic coast, where other Siouan tribes originated and lived for centuries. Others suggested that
the Winnebago originated in salt water areas, to explain how mid-western tribes had a knowledge of the
Pacific Ocean, which they described as where the earth ends and the sun ‘sets into the sea’. The HoChunk say that their people have always lived in what is now the north central United States. Linguistic
and ethnographic studies have generated other deep histories of the various American Indian
peoples.”2172
***WINNEBOUJOU, DOUGLAS COUNTY2173, WISCONSIN***
Wisconsin Indian Place Names/Folklore Section, Federal Writers Projects pens: “Brule River
Myth: Winneboujou, the giant blacksmith, sometimes spoken of as Hiawatha, was an all-powerful
manitou. His forge was near the Eau Claire Lakes in northwestern Wisconsin. He used the highest flattopped granite peak for his anvil. The region where he worked in the southwestern part of Bayfield
County is that of the Smoky Mountains, a wild and rugged country.
“There he shaped the miswabik, or native copper of the Brule River region, into various useful
weapons and implements for his children, the Chippewa Indians. He was especially adept in shaping
copper spear points and fishhooks, required for the catching of the giant sonesuggogo, or speckled
trout. This fish abounded in the clear spring waters of the Lake Superior section of the Brule.
“Much of Winneboujou’s forging was done by moonlight, and the ringing blows of his powabik
(iron) hammer were heard by the Indians as far down the Lake Superior waters as at the Sault Rapids.
These booming noises still echo down the length of the Brule Valley and the waters of the St Croix River.
“On clear moonlight nights, these ringing blows are plainly heard. The glow of his forge fire
lights up the entire sky.
“The sound of the giant smith’s hammer was considered a blessing or lucky portent by the
Chippewa and was dreaded by their ancient enemies, the Dakota or Sioux. An Indian, hearing the noise
of Winneboujou’s smithing, became possessed of strength and industry.
“Winneboujou’s summer home was on the Brule River near its source. It was necessary for him
to keep an eye always on Ahmik, the Beaver, and a rival manitou who might, if not watched, slip across
the onegun (portage) to the St Croix River and then, by way of the Mississippi, reach the gulf.”2174
**WYOMING**
Henry Gannett scribes: “Wyoming: a corruption of the Delaware Indian word meaning ‘large
plains’, ‘extensive meadows’.”2175
KB Harder states: “From Delaware Indian maughwauwame, ‘large meadows’, applied to a valley
in northeastern Pennsylvania. The narrative poem Gertrude of Wyoming (1809), by the British poet
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), concerning an Indian attack on the Wyoming Valley, became extremely
popular and let to the use of the name in various localities. When the Wyoming Territory was organized

2172

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho-Chunk#Etymology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winneboujou,_Wisconsin
2174
Wisconsin Indian Place Names/Folklore Section, Federal Writers Projects; Works Progress
Administration, Wisconsin; 1936; provided by Teddie Meronek, Area Research Librarian, Superior Public
Library, 1530 Tower Ave, Superior, WI 54880; [email protected];
http://superiorlibrary.org/
2175
Henry Gannett; The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States; Government Printing Office;
1905
2173

in 1868 from a portion of the old Nebraska Territory, the name Wyoming, suggested by Representative
James M Ashley of Ohio, was chosen over Cheyenne.”2176
“The musical name, ‘Wyoming’, was used by JM Ashley of Ohio, who as early as 1865,
introduced a bill to Congress to provide a ‘temporary government for the territory of Wyoming’. It was
to be formed from portions of the Dakota, Utah and Idaho territories. The bill was referred to a
committee, where it rested until 1868. During debate on the bill in the US Senate in 1868, other possible
names were suggested, such as Cheyenne, Shoshoni, Arapaho, Sioux, Platte, Big Horn, Yellowstone,
Sweetwater and Lincoln. ‘Wyoming’ was already commonly used and remained the popular choice.
The name Wyoming was adopted from two Delaware Indian words, MECHEWEAMI-ING. To the Indians,
it meant ‘at the big plains’, or ‘on the great plain’, certainly appropriate for Wyoming.
“From the Delaware Indian word, meaning ‘mountains and valleys alternating’; the same as the
Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania
“Legh Freeman, publisher of The Frontier Index in Kearny, Nebraska, claimed that it was he who
first suggested Wyoming as the name for this portion of the Dakota Territory. Wyoming comes from the
Dakota mscheweamiing meaning ‘at the big flats’ or ‘large plains’.”2177
**OREGON TRAIL, WYOMING**
MB Urbanek sheds light on: “A path of least resistance for westbound emigrants following the
North Platte and Sweetwater rivers and on through South Pass, branching into several routes; it was
used from 1834 to 1868, the coming of the railroad.
“In 1849 more than 35,000 gold seekers, traveling with covered wagons drawn by oxen or
horses, used this route. Mormons seeking religious freedom followed it, pushing handcarts. It was the
path of Empire, filled with caravans, plodding through heat and blizzards, plaguing with Indian attacks,
broken wagons, sickness and death. There was no turning back.
“Neihardt, Nebraska poet, describing the Oregon Trail, also voiced the feelings of Indians:
‘Were all the teeming regions of the dawn
Unpeopled now? What devastating need
Had set so many faces pale with greed,
Against the sunset?
… They did but look
And whatsoever pleased them that they took.’”2178
**PONY EXPRESS ROUTE, WYOMING**
MB Urbanek suggests: “Started in 1860 by Russell, Majors, and Waddell, for rapid transit of the
mail to the west coast; 504 miles of the 1,919-mile route were in Wyoming, which had the longest
mileage of the eight states through which the Pony Express passed.
“Riders started from St Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, at the same time on April
3, 1860, with mail pouches on the back of saddles; they passed each other near South Pass; the trip took
10 days, used 500 fast horses, usually mustangs, 200 riders, and 190 relay stations spaced about 70
miles apart. The keeper at the station had a fresh horse ready; two minutes were allowed for a rider to
change the mail pouches and horse.

2176

Kelsie B Harder; Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names, United States and Canada; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company; 1976
2177
http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-name/wyoming.html
2178
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

“Each rider received an inscribed Bible and took an oath not to drink, use profane language, or
fight. These riders lived dangerously, suffering the hardships of winds and blizzards; they often died
swiftly at the hands of Indians.
“The charge for mail was $5 per ounce. In the 16 months the company operated the Pony
Express, it lost $200,000 on the venture, and went bankrupt. This dramatic service stopped in October
1861, when a transcontinental telegraph line was joined by east and west crews at Salt Lake City.
“The fastest news carried by the Pony Express was of Lincoln’s inauguration in 7 days and 17
hours. The Pony Express was re-run in 1960, with a large crowd of spectators watching the passing of
the east and west riders near South Pass City.”2179
***ARLINGTON, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek alludes: “Founded about 1860 by Joe Bush as Rockdale at the crossing of Rock
Creek; when the post office was established, it was changed to Arlington – no one knows why Arlington;
it was a log store and dance hall with a school room upstairs. Here in 1865, Indians attacked a train of
75 wagons; they captured two young girls, Mary and Lizzie Fletcher, after killing their mother. After
months with the Indians, Mary was bought by a white trader, and returned to her father in Salt Lake
City. Thirty-five years later, a white woman, who was raised as an Arapaho, came to Casper with Indians
from Wind River Reservation. Mary, reading about her, returned to Wyoming, and identified the
woman as her sister Lizzie. Lizzie Brokenhorn refused to leave the reservation, where she enjoyed the
superiority her white skin gave her over other Indian women.”2180
***BATTLE, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek communicates: “Ghost town and discontinued post office near top of Sierra Madre
Mountains; in 1898 an overnight stop for freight wagons en route to Ferris-Haggarty Mine; once had
forty houses, a saw mill, newspaper, five saloons in false-front buildings; name for several battles; in
early days, two Indian tribes battled near the mouth of the creek; Jim Baker and companions were later
surrounded by Araphaho and Ute Indians between Battle Creek and Little Snake River, where they dug
pits and stood off the Indians for two days. The Indians, tired of the fight, left without killing any whites.
Another story says Henry Fraeb and four companies of Rocky Mountain Fur Company were killed here
by Indians about 1841.”2181
***BONE CABIN QUARRY, ALBANY COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek depicts: “One of the most famous dinosaur beds in the world. A sheepherder used
the plentiful dinosaur bones to build part of his cabin. Sixty complete skeletons were removed from the
quarry, both large and small species. Dinosaurs roamed here in the Mesozoic era about 200 million
years ago.”2182
***BOZEMAN TRAIL, CAMBPELL COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek enumerates: “Following the discovery of gold in Montana, John M Bozeman in
1863, against the advice of Jim Bridger, laid out a new route from Platte River near Fort Fetterman up
Powder River, and north into Montana east of the Big Horn Mountains. When heavy traffic started in
1864, Indians fought fiercely to protect their invaded hunting lands.

2179

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2181
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2182
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2180

“Bozeman Trail was laid out in violation of the treaty of 1851 with Indians; still the US
government built protecting forts along it, and many were the bloody battles. The northern forts were
abandoned, and the trail closed in 1868, in order to satisfy Indians, and keep them north of Platte River,
so the Utah Pacific railroad could be built; the trail became known as ‘The Bloody Bozeman’.
“Nelson Story, of Ohio, brought the first big trail herd of 1,000 cows with calves, up the
Bozeman Trail to Livingston, Montana, in 1866. Cows were then worth $10 a head with calves thrown
in.”2183
***CHUGWATER, PLATTE COUNTY2184, WYOMING***
Platte County Public Library System gives an account: “The best known legend of the Chugwater
name involves a mighty chief of the Mandan tribe of the upper Missouri. In a fall hunt on the Wyoming
plains, a buffalo bull badly injured the chief. Unable to conduct the next effort to surround the herd and
make a kill, he ordered his only son to take charge. Known as the Dreamer because he was a man of
thought rather than action, the young man called the braves to council during the interval between
surrounds. It was a waste of time, he said, to gallop around the buffalo and throw spears at them. He
directed his tribesmen to stampede the herd over the bluff. They did, and as each shaggy creature
crashed to the ground below, it made a chug like sound. The stream was thereafter known as
Chugwater Creek, the ‘water where the buffalo chug’.”2185
***CRAZY WOMAN CREEK AND HILL, JOHNSON COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek points out: “Two legends: a trader bought whiskey or ‘fire water’ to gain favor with
the Indians; when it was gone, the Indians demanded more which he could not supply; Indians then
killed him in the presence of his young wife who made her escape, and wandered up and down the
stream, demented. Second version: a squaw left alone after an attack on an Indian camp, lost her mind,
and lived in a squalid wickiup until her death; she could be seen on moonlit nights leaping the creek.
Crow Indians thought she brought them good luck in 1850.”2186
GB Grinnell relates: “Crazy Woman’s River: Tun’shinuwiyohe ‘Foolish woman river’. Many years
ago, a large village of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho were camped on this stream, when on the return of
a successful war party, a scalp dance was held, and in the enthusiasm and excitement certain women
hitherto above reproach gave themselves up to the members of the successful war party.”2187
***CROWHEART, FREMONT COUNTY2188, WYOMING***
Allison Pluda stipulates: “First off, if you enjoy hearing local stories about the places you drive
through or visit on road trips and adventures and enjoy learning about geology, whether you’re a
geologist by trade or someone who always found it interesting, then I would highly recommend buying
the Roadside Geology Books! They make them for every state. Great to read from on long road trips.
I’ve even had someone in another car reading it into a walkie talkie for others in the caravan to listen to
as the landscape passes through the car windows. I thought I would share one of the stories that really
stuck with me.

2183

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chugwater,_Wyoming
2185
Platte County Public Library System, 904 9th St, Wheatland, WY 82201; [email protected];
http://plattecountylibrary.org/wheatland.htm
2186
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2187
George Bird Grinnell; Cheyenne Stream Names; American Anthropologist; 1906
2188
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowheart,_Wyoming
2184

“This is one story of Crowheart Butte just east of Dubois, Wyoming. As you drive past the butte
and see it off in the distance, you can look around the wide vast plain and image the elk and bison that
once made these prime hunting grounds for the Native Americans.
“‘Crowheart Butte, the isolated butte north of the highway, is composed of clay stone and
sandstone of the Eocene Wind River formation. Behind its name is a colorful story. In 1866 Indian tribes
in the area fought a battle to establish supremacy over hunting grounds in the basin. Chief Washakie led
the Shoshone and Bannock tribes against the Crow Indians, led by Chief Big Robber. In an effort to save
lives, Chief Washakie suggested that he and Chief Big Robber fight alone at the top of this butte – the
winner would eat the other’s heart! Washakie won and the butte was named ‘Crow Heart’. In his old
age, Washakie was asked if he actually ate Big Robber’s heart; he replied ‘youth does foolish things’.’
From Roadside Geology of Wyoming by David Lageson and Darwin Spearing
“When you realize that stories like these are not made up for a good Western move but instead
actually happened, it puts a new perspective on the land. White men were not the first people to come
here. Native Americans had been fighting wars over this beautiful territory long before we even
discovered the continent and have seen great leaders like Chief Washakie. I have heard many slightly
different versions of the story, although the one above is my favorite. The sign on the side of the road
tells another story:
“‘In March, 1866, a battle was fought in this vicinity between Shoshone and Bannock Indians on
one side and Crow Indians on the other.
“‘The contest was waged for the supremacy of hunting grounds in the Wind River basin.
Crowheart Butte was so named because the victorious Washakie, Chief of the Shoshones, displayed a
Crow Indian’s heart on his lance at the end dance after the battle. The major portion of the battle was
fought near Black Mountain, several miles to the north.
“‘Washakie in his youth and middle age was a very mighty warrior. He was a wise chief and
friendly to the white people. No white man’s scalp hung in this chief’s teepee.’
“Next time you are driving or exploring and staring off into the country side, imagine all the
other eyes that have looked at the same scene you are seeing now, and all the stories a place has to
tell.”2189
***DEAD INDIAN CREEK, PARK COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek writes: “Also Hill, Pass, Peak and Summit. One version: In the early days,
prospectors were attacked by Indians on this huge hill, and one Indian was killed; the prospectors
propped him up on the rocks near the top of the hill as a warning to other war parties, and the place
became known as ‘the hill with the dead Indian on it’.
“Another version is that Gen Miles in 1878 attacked a party of Bannock Indians here, and one
Indian was killed; the next day Crow Indians found and scalped him. Third version: from one place the
peak looks like the profile of an Indian.
“Through this portal or break in the mountains, great herds of wild game once migrated from
the mountains to the plains, and back again. Countless Indian hunting and war parties used this pass. In
1877 Chief Joseph led his Nez Perce Indians this way in their strategic retreat, pursued by soldiers of the
United States Army.
“The first road improvement was done here by the settlers of Sunlight Basin in 1909; the road
was very dangerous, and wagons going down had to be rough-locked. The road is improved now, but
still steep and winding; exotic scenery.”2190
2189

Allison Pluda; http://blog.senecacreekphotography.com/2011/12/17/the-story-of-crowheart-buttewyoming/
2190
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

***DEVIL’S DEN, PARK COUNTY2191, WYOMING***
Lyn Stallings articulates: “And the canyon in Yellowstone National Park known as Devil’s Den was
named in 1871 by Francis V Hayden, head of the surveying party from the US Geological Survey. The
canyon had thick, tangled vegetation, and was named after the thicket at the Battle of Gettysburg,
known as the Devil’s Den during our American Civil War.”2192
***DEVIL’S GATE, NATRONA COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek describes: “Beyond Independence Rock, the Sweetwater River makes an abrupt
turn, and flows through a granite ridge, through which it has cut a chasm 330 feet deep; 400 feet wide
at the top, and only 30 feet wide at the bottom. In 1812 the returning Stuart party noted the chasm,
which may have been cleft by a convulsion of nature, and then widened by the river.
“Near here in 1856, Capt Edward Martin’s handcart company of 576 Mormons found shelter in a
November blizzard. They had left Iowa City in the spring, pushing and pulling their handcarts across the
prairies; the handcarts made of green lumbar warped, and often fell apart; more than a third of the
company died on the way; they were rescued at Devil’s Gate by a party from Salt Lake City, coming with
food and supplies.
“Devil’s Gate was on the Oregon Trail; once a Pony Express stop.”2193
***DEVILS TOWER, CROOK COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek establishes: “An 865 foot monolith resembling a colossal petrified tree stump;
formed in the earth of molten lava about 50 million years ago; cooling slowly in the earth formed the
columns; the earth eroded away from around it, leaving a unique landmark.
“Indians called it Bad God’s Tower; also Mateo Tepee, Grizzly Bear Lodge, for the legend which
stated it was raised to save several little Indians girls from a bear. Richard I Dodge, while escorting a US
Geological Survey party in 1875, named it Devils Tower, Bad God’s Tower.
“Local ranchers, Willard Ripley and Will Rogers, drove wooden pegs in a crack, and fashioned a
wooden ladder on which they climbed the tower, July 4, 1893; it is now tourists’ delight and a climbers’
mecca.
“Devils Tower rises 1,280 feet about Belle Fourche River, and is estimated to contain enough
material to surface a road nine times around the world at the equator. Capt WF Reynolds and members
of his expedition of 1859 were probably the first white men to see it.”2194
***FORT LARAMIE, GOSHEN COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek highlights: “In 1834 Robert Campbell and William Sublette built a small trading post
on Laramie River, and called it Fort William; in 1835 they sold it to the American Fur Company. It was
renamed Fort John for John B Sarpy, a fur trader and partner. It was enlarged and fortified with
bastions, blockhouses, and loopholes; Indians were encouraged to come and trade furs for trinkets,
tobacco, and whiskey.
“A shipping clerk in St Louis, instead of writing ‘Fort John on the Laramie’, simply wrote Fort
Laramie on freight boxes, and thus it became known.

2191

http://wyoming.hometownlocator.com/wy/park/devils-den.cfm
Lyn Stallings, Curator/Director, Park County Archives, 1501 Stampede Avenue, Unit 9001, Cody, WY
82414; [email protected]; http://www.parkcounty.us/historicalarchives/historicalarchives.html
2193
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2194
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2192

“The Laramie River was named by early trappers for Jacques La Ramie, a French-Canadian
trapper, who according to Jim Bridger, set out to look after his traps and did not return in the spring of
1818; it is said he was killed by Indians. La Ramie has his name perpetuated in Wyoming by having a
county, a city, a town, three rivers, a peak, plains, a fort, and a national monument using the Anglicized
version of his name.
“This was the most important post in the settlement of the west; all travelers on the Oregon
Trail stopped here for supplies and repairs; Indians camped nearby for trade, treaty making, and
annuities. On the recommendation of Gen JC Fremont, the US government bought the fort in 1849, and
made in a military post.
“In 1836 Dr Marcus Whitman and Rev HH Spalding arrived at Fort Laramie with their brides,
Narcissa and Eliza, the first white women to enter and cross Wyoming. With the discovery of gold in
California in 1848, a flood of emigrants and Mormons fleeing persecution for their religion came up the
Oregon Trail.
“Fort Laramie was the first permanent settlement of white men in Wyoming; it was a Pony
Express station in 1860 and an important stage and telegraph station. Mrs Susan Luman, born here in
1836 when the fort was in Missouri Territory, lived here 54 years, and was in Missouri, Idaho, Dakota,
and Wyoming territories before Wyoming became a state.
“The iron bridge across the Platte River near the fort was built in 1875, and is the oldest iron
bridge in Wyoming, also the oldest existing military bridge west of the Mississippi River; it was used by
the Cheyenne-Deadwood stage line, and even by heavy trucks until 1958, when a new concrete
structure was built.
“A famous treaty with Indians, ‘inscrutable as granite rocks’, was signed at Fort Laramie in 1868,
promising them the land north of the Platte River inviolate ‘so long as grass shall grow and water flow’.
This was to keep them away from construction crews building the Utah Pacific railroad. By government
order, General Custer and the 7th Cavalry marched through these Indian lands in 1874, and discovered
gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, breaking the treaty with the Indians.
“The first school in Wyoming opened at Fort Laramie in 1852. The first Wyoming book was
Dictionary of Sioux Language, compiled by Charles Guerren, and printed at the fort.
“This famous historic site was abandoned as a military post in 1890. Buildings were auctioned
off to homesteaders at bargain prices, dismantled, and hauled away. Not until 1937 did the State of
Wyoming buy 214 acres, on which the remaining ruins of some buildings stood, and give them to the
nation. Fort Laramie was declared a national monument in 1938. Twenty-one of the original structures
remain – some as ruins, many, repaired and restored. They are being used as museums with military,
Oregon Trail, and pioneer displays.
‘FORT LARAMIE
‘Two hundred years ago this was
La-no-wa, Land of Paradise;
Land of the grass-clothed plains and blue
Majestic mountains capped with ice.
Here Indians, camping by the bend
Of the river, dried their buffalo meat;
And in the smoke of campfires danced
To the boom, ta ta boom of the tom-tom beat.
Then to this red man’s paradise
Came change, as bearded men explored

The streams, or climbed the mountain heights;
Blazed trails; and marked the river ford.
Sometimes with Indians they smoked
A pipe of peace, and promised wealth
In stocks of glittering ornaments;
Their frauds provoked the native stealth.
Here LaRamie explored and trapped –
And, massacred, he left his name
To do Wyoming’s map. And here
The long, grass-covered mounds acclaim
The last of those first buildings made
In this vast wilderness, where trade
And treaty with the Indians
Brought need for force and armed brigade.
In eighteen forty-nine The Stars
And Stripes were raised above a fort
That stood where rivers bend and flow
Together; in seas of grass a port,
Half way to California
And Oregon, where tired and worn,
The weary caravans could rest,
And resting find their dreams reborn.
To eastward lay the dusty miles,
The heat and hunger, broken wheels;
The stone-marked graves along the trail,
The disappointments life reveals.
To westward rose the dim, blue peak
Of Laramie, lone mountain scout,
That promised them the gold they sought,
And freedom for the more devout.
The plodding caravans are gone.
In rocks their tracks may still be seen.
Some of the palisade’s old walls
Still stand, although they seem to lean
And crumble with a century’s weight.
Bare rivers now are edged with trees,
While homes surround the ancient Fort,
Immortalized with memories.’
“By Mae Urbanek”2195
***FORT PHIL KEARNY, JOHNSON COUNTY, WYOMING***
2195

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

MB Urbanek portrays: “First called Fort Carrington, but renamed for Gen Philip Kearny, Civil War
general; a cavalry post with the bloodiest history of any fort in the west; established in 1866 in the heart
of Indian county. Indians stood on nearby bluffs and watched white men move into their beloved
hunting grounds, pledged to them by treaties. Indians called it ‘the Hated Fort’.
“On a bitter winter day in 1866, Col Henry B Carrington, the commander, sent Capt William
Fetterman and 81 men in pursuit of Indians, who had attacked a wood-cutting crew. Carrington warned
Fetterman not to follow the Indians over the ridge. Fetterman, who had boasted that with 80 men he
could ride through the whole Sioux nation, was led on into ambush, and all 82 men were killed.
“That night John ‘Portugee’ Phillips started on the greatest ride in Wyoming history, 236 miles to
Fort Laramie, for reinforcements. Mounted on Carrington’s thoroughbred horse, he fought a blizzard
and sub-zero temperatures for three days and three nights, until he reached Fort Laramie on Christmas
Eve. The horse dropped dead in front of Old Bedlam. Portugee Phillips, a civilian, was never paid for his
service, and never fully recovered from the ordeal.
“In the spring of 1867, another wood-hauling crew was attacked near Fort Phil Kearny. They
used their overturned wagons for protection, and with new, breech-loading rifles routed the Indians.
This was the Wagon Box fight.
“In March after the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868, Fort Reno and Fort Phil Kearny were
abandoned, and immediately burned by Indians. Fort Phil Kearny is now partly restored, and opened to
visitors as an historic site.”2196
***GRATTAN MASSACRE, GOSHEN COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek remarks: “In 1854 a Mormon emigrant lost a lame cow which the Indians killed.
When Mormons reported it at Fort Laramie, Lt L Grattan and 29 men went to the Indian camp,
demanding the surrender of the Indian who killed the cow.
“The Brule chief refused to give up the Miniconjou Sioux, his guest, but offered to bring him to
the fort, saying, ‘If you shoot, you will all be killed.’ Grattan ordered his men to fire and they were all
killed; also Brave Bear, the Brule chief. Some blame a drunken white interpreter for the incident. When
Indians won, it was recorded in history as a massacre; when white men won, it was called a victory.”2197
***GREEN RIVER RENDEZVOUS, SUBLETTE COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek shares: “As early as 1825, trappers, traders, and Indians met in the Green River
valley for an annual get-together, trading session, and celebration. Fur companies packed in supplies
and whiskey to trade for the winter’s take of pelts. Rendezvous is French for ‘get-together’.
“Missionaries came to pray. Mountain men and Indians both thrilled at the presence of two
white women, wives of Dr Whitman and Rev Spalding in 1836. The last rendezvous was held here in
1840, with corn meal $1 a pint; coffee beans, cocoa beans and sugar $2 a pint; diluted alcohol $4 a pint;
chewing tobacco, which also smoked, $2 a twist.
“Sublette County Historical Society now presents a colorful pageant of a rendezvous each year
on the second Sunday in July, where the early ones took place, at the junction of today’s US Highways
187 and 189. Costumes used are authentic.”2198
***HOLE-IN-THE-WALL, JOHNSON COUNTY2199, WYOMING***

2196

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2198
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2199
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hole-in-the-Wall
2197

Debbie Herman stresses: “Hole-in-the-Wall is not actually a town: It’s a valley that was once
used as a hideout by outlaws of the Wild West, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid! The
hideout was called Hole-in-the-Wall, because the only way in from the east was through a ‘hole in a
wall’, a narrow v-shaped gap in a wall of red rock cliffs about 50 miles long, often called the Red Wall.
Aside from being hard to find and enter, the hideout was easy to defend, and a good lookout point for
approaching lawmen. Hole-in-the-Wall was part of a chain of hideouts along a trail known as the Outlaw
Trail. Around 1880-90, about 30 to 40 outlaws spent time in Hole-in-the-Wall.”2200
***JACKSON HOLE, TETON COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek composes: “In the language of fur trappers a ‘hole’ was a valley protected by
mountains, and usually named for the trapper who frequented the place. William Sublette in 1829
named this valley for his partner, David E Jackson. The name ‘Jackson’s Hole’ has been simplified to
Jackson Hole; it is surrounded by the Grand Tetons, the Wind River Range, and the Gros Ventre
Mountains.
“The world’s largest elk herd winters here; 7,000 to 10,000 animals are fed baled hay. Cutter
races settle the old bet ‘my horse is faster than yours’. This is a fast growing sport with few rules.
“Jackson Hole is ski country with steep mountains. America’s first 63 person aerial tramway has
been installed; also three double chairlifts. A chairlift to the top of Snow King Mountain runs all year for
tourists, who crowd this wonderland of beauty. In summer, tourists enjoying boating, fishing, and
hiking.”2201
***JAY EM, GOSHEN COUNTY2202, WYOMING***
Maysie McVay designates: “Springtime in Texas in the early 1850s found a cowboy and his
helpers heading north on the Texas Trail with the steers he had bought.
“His destination was a bit of land that he had discovered, when he had come to Wyoming earlier
and had purchased around one hundred acres from the government. It included water, salt-licks and
access to unfenced grassland stretching for miles. Here he could turn the cattle loose to graze until
round-up time in the fall, when the cattle were shipped by rail to eastern markets from Lusk and
Chadron, Nebraska.
“One summer a nephew of Jim Moore’s came to visit. He was a young college professor. When
he learned about his uncle’s business, and how much money could be made in this venture, he wanted
to be let in on it. His Uncle Jim told him that if he would borrow money to buy some steers, he would do
that for him, and would trail them to Wyoming with his herd.
“The young professor couldn’t wait to see his banker, when he returned to New England. But
when he poured out the story of the cattle bought in Texas, trailed to Wyoming Territory, and then
turned loose on the vast grazing land available, the banker turned away from him. The young man was
shocked. ‘Surely, sir, you don’t understand what I’m telling you …’ The banker broke in ‘… I understand
alright, and I tell you, I would sooner mortgage on a school of fish in the ocean, than to give a loan on a
bunch of cattle turned loose on the western prairie.’

2200

Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
2201
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2202
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Em,_Wyoming

“Jim Moore’s ranch changed hands several times. The “ ” brand was passed on to each new
owner. Later it became known as the ‘Jay Em Ranch’ – the title derived from the letters of the
brand.”2203
***LITTLE AMERICA, SWEETWATER COUNTY2204, WYOMING***
Dina Mishev expands: “If every near-death experience were like SM Covey’s, the country would
be a much more civilized place, with a luxury room, 32-inch digital flat-screen television, goose-down
pillows, velvet drapes, room service, and a heated outdoor pool for all. His brush with hypothermia
here led directly to the founding of the town/140-room resort/uber-travel center called Little America.
“In the 1890s, while working this stretch of prairie as a sheepherder, Covey was caught in a
blizzard. The winds were blowing at 50 miles per hour, and the temperatures were forty degrees below
zero. He thought, quite rightly, that he was going to die, along with most of his flock. Not willing to
freeze without a fight, Covey hunkered down for the night, all the while dreaming of a roaring fire, warm
blankets, and hearty food. ‘How nice would it be if someone actually built some sort of shelter here?’
he thought. Against the odds, he survived to see the next day and the end of the blizzard. With the
whiteout conditions gone, Covey was able to find his way back to his base camp.
“No one knows how much longer Covey’s career as a sheepherder lasted. He lived a fairly
uneventful life until the 1930s, when seeing a picture of Admiral Byrd’s ‘Little America’ in Antarctica
triggered the memory of his near-death experience on the Wyoming prairie. Inspired by Byrd’s polar
paradise, and with more to invest than a sheepherder’s salary, Covey decided that he would be the one
to build the shelter he had dreamed about the night he nearly died.
“In 1934 Covey’s Little America – naturally named after Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic venture –
opened on the Wyoming plains. It had twelve rooms, two gas pumps, and a twenty-four-seat café. No
one would be at the mercy of the weather in this spot again. Today Little America has grown to 140
rooms as well as its own incorporated town.
“The town even has a mascot, albeit not the one Covey originally had in mind. Thinking a
penguin would fit well with his Antarctic – inspired idea, he arranged to have Emperor the penguin
shipped to Wyoming, via Boston, from Antarctica. Unfortunately Emperor died en route to Boston.
Obviously not one to give up, Covey ordered Emperor stuffed and shipped out to Wyoming anyway.
Today the penguin stands on a block of fake ice a sealed glass case in a hallway on the hotel’s ground
floor.
“Of course this stretch of prairie isn’t the only place where lost and weary travelers might be
looking for shelter. Little Americas have also popped up in Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, and Flagstaff. But
since there’s only one Emperor, those hotels are left with Emperor imitators in their lobbies.”2205
***MAGGIE’S NIPPLES, CARBON COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek illustrates: “Two sharp-pointed hills named by cowboys for Maggie Baggs.”2206
2203

Maysie McVay; Jay Em, Wyoming; published by Goshen County History Book Committee; Wind
Pudding and Rabbit Tracks: a History of Goshen County, Wyoming; Platte Valley Printers; 1989; provided
by Janet Flock, Goshen County Library, 2001 East A St, Torrington, WY 82240;
http://www.goshencounty.org/index.php/library-home-page
2204
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_America,_Wyoming
2205
Dina Mishev; Wyoming Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff
(Curiosities Series); Globe Pequot Press; 2007; provided by Jason Grubb, Director, Sweetwater County
Library System, 300N 1st East, Green River, WY 82935; [email protected];
http://www.sweetwaterlibraries.com/
2206
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

***MOTHER FEATHERLEGS MONUMENT, GOSHEN COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek maintains: “Marks the site of the dugout and grave of Mrs Shephard, called old
Mother Featherlegs by cowboys, because of long, red pantalets she wore tied around her ankles. They
fluttered briskly in the breezes, as she dashed about on horseback. She was a go-between for road
agents and desperadoes, and she kept stolen jewelry and money hidden in her dugout; this was a place
of ‘entertainment’ for travelers; rot-gut whiskey was served.
“Mother Featherlegs was the mother of Tom and Bill Shephard, Louisiana outlaws after Civil
War. Dick David, one of the gang, known as dangerous Dick, the Terrapin, used her place as a hangout.
“Mrs OJ Demmon, wife of a rancher who lived nearby, found Mother Featherlegs shot to death;
she had fallen while filling a pail at a spring. A monument was placed in 1964 to preserve a story spot in
frontier history.”2207
***MOUNT SACAJAWEA, FREMONT COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek presents: “13,607 feet. Named for the famous girl guide of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition from 1804-6; a Shoshone, she had been stolen by Mandan Indians and taken to present
North Dakota; her husband Charbonneau won her gambling. Lewis and Clark hired him, so that
Sacajawea could guide them westward. Carrying her two-month-old son Baptiste on her back, she led,
remembering the way.
“Sacajawea’s named translated ‘boat launcher’; explaining it, Charbonneau waved his arms; the
explorers, misunderstanding, called her ‘Bird Woman’. Back with her people, the Shoshones, she
obtained horses and fresh provisions for the expedition to continue westward. Without her wisdom,
fortitude, and ability to make friends with the Indians, the expedition would have failed. She taught the
men how to live in the wilderness, nursed them back to health, when sick, with herbs, and saved their
records, when a canoe overturned.
“Sacajawea died at Fort Washakie in 1884 at the age of 96. She is buried with her son Baptiste
and her nephew Bazil in a Shoshone cemetery in the land of her fathers.
‘First of all women leaders,
First to make her name a legend
In the history of Wyoming,
First to lead with dauntless courage,
First to blaze the unknown pathways,
Was that fearless Indian maiden …
Sacajawea!
When the white men sought a leader
For their expedition westward
Through the land of hostile red men,
Through the deserts and the forests,
Through the drought and through the blizzards,
Wisely they sought out this maiden …
Sacajawea!
On her back a son she carried,
While she led them ever westward,
2207

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

Keen of eye and long of memory,
Safely over unmarked prairies,
Safely over mountain passes,
Daughter of a brave Shoshone …
Sacajawea!
When the men grew gaunt with hunger
She would find them roots and berries;
When they met defiant Indians,
She, a woman, spoke for friendship;
When they were engulfed by rapids,
Swimming, she saved all their records …
Sacajawea!
Now within her native valley,
Close to her beloved mountains,
In the land of the Shoshone,
She is sleeping; renowned leader
Of explorers, Clark and Lewis;
First of all Wyoming’s daughters …
Sacajawea!’
“By Mae Urbanek”2208
***OLD FAITHFUL, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek renders: “Most famous of all geysers; named by Gen HD Washburn in 1870,
because of its regularity of eruption; a timepiece of the ages. About every 65 minutes, after terrific
hissing and rumbling, large cauliflower-like masses of steam unfold like an atomic explosion, and rise
hundreds of feet above the water column. An estimated ten thousand gallons of scalding water rises
175 feet on a wind still day, and stands for four minutes, unfurling like a white flag, with the evergreencovered mountains in the background.
“Geologists judge Old Faithful to be still in its youth; perhaps two or three hundred years old; it
has never been known to miss an eruption. Lt Doane called it ‘the most lovely inanimate object in
existence.’”2209
***SPECIMEN RIDGE, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek calls attention to: “8,700 feet. Named prior to 1870 because of petrified forests
here and the great variety of minerals and semi-precious stones. Yellowstone River has cut deep,
revealing 27 petrified forests that grew one on top of another.
“These forests, unique in the world, record the history of incomparable eons of time. For each
of the forests, soil formed by erosion of rocks and seeds sprouted and grew into huge Sequoia trees,
which were buried by volcanic ashes and lava. Then the cycle started again with the forming of soil. It is
estimated by scientists that the last forest was buried about 40 million years ago.

2208
2209

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

“Trees were redwood, sycamore, hickory, oak, magnolia, walnut, and pine. Jim Bridger once
said, ‘Yessiree, thar’s miles o’ peetrefied trees, and on ‘em trees are peetrefied birds a’singin’ peetrefied
songs.’
“There are petrifactions and imprints of leaves of plants that do not grow above an elevation of
3,000 feet – evidence that Specimen Ridge, with its forests both growing and petrified, was lifted
upward thousands of feet during its formation.”2210
***TEN SLEEP, WASHAKIE COUNTY2211, WYOMING***
Debbie Herman connotes: “Some Indian tribes measured distance by how many days (sleeps) it
would take to arrive at one’s destination – how much distance one could cover between sleeps. The
community of Ten Sleep was ten sleeps away from both Fort Laramie and Yellowstone Park. It was also
ten sleeps from the Great Sioux Camps to the south, and from the northern camp, near Bridger,
Montana.”2212
***TETON RANGE, TETON COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek details: “8,000 to 13,766 feet. Probably the first name applied to the Tetons was
‘Pilot Knobs’ by Wilson Price Hunt in 1811. Alexander Ross, who visited the area in 1824, gives a clue to
the first use of Trois Tetons, (French name meaning ‘three teats’). He claims this name was first given to
smaller buttes near the Crater of the Moon, which more closely resemble female breasts. French
trappers had named these Idaho buttes, and then in their wanderings applied the name Les Trois Tetons
to the more spectacular Wyoming Mountains. Indians called them Tee-win-ot, ‘three pinnacles’.
“The Tetons, unrelieved by foothills, rise abruptly 7,000 feet above the floor of Jackson Hole,
and spiral majestically into the sky. Their bases are robed in forests of pines and silver spruce; their
summits are glistening rocks covered with glaciers creating awe-inspiring beauty. William H Jackson
took the first pictures of them in 1872. They are the most photographed mountains in the world.
“The Tetons were formed by a bursting of the earth’s crust from a fault 40 miles long, breaking
abruptly up on the east side, hinged, and more sloping on the west. Scientists think they are about
three million years old, formed of granite and crystalline rock from deep within the earth. They have
been carved and polished by glaciers of three ice ages, which left valleys and alpine lakes to reflect their
grandeur. Grand Teton is the Matterhorn of America.”2213
***THREE CROSSINGS, FREMONT COUNTY, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek explains: “A stage, Pony Express, and telegraph station on the Oregon Trail, which
crossed the Sweetwater River three times within a short distance.
“Here Buffalo Bill, Pony Express rider, found his relief killed; he rode on to Rocky Ridge and back
to Red Buttes, the start of his run, a distance of 322 miles in 21 hours, a feat unequaled in recorded
history.
“When the station was burned by Indians, it was replaced by one of stone with a log stockade
and a lookout.
“The transcontinental telegraph line, which passed through here, was joined with one from the
west coast at Salt Lake City. The first message flashed across the country October 24, 1861. This meant
the end of the Pony Express. Indians puzzled over ‘talking wires’; they hated them and often tore them
2210

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Sleep,_Wyoming
2212
Debbie Herman; From Pie Town to Yum Yum: Weird and Wacky Place Names Across the United
States; Kane Miller; 2011
2213
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
2211

down and burned poles. Buffalo enjoyed rubbing on the poles. It was hard and dangerous work to
maintain those lines in the early days.”2214
***YELLOWSTONE RIVER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING***
MB Urbanek imparts: “Called by Indians Mi-tsi-a-da-zi, ‘Yellow Rock River’ and named by early
French explorers and trappers, Roche Jaune, or ‘rock yellow’, for the yellow soil and rocks of its canyons.
Lewis and Clark, explorers, crossed this river in Montana in 1805 and officially used the translation
Yellowstone in their reports.
“Rising on Younts Peak and Two Ocean Pass, the Yellowstone River flows north northeast for
700 miles to join the Missouri. Although less than 100 miles run through Wyoming, its tributaries drain
almost a third of the state.”2215

2214
2215

Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988
Mae Bobb Urbanek; Wyoming Place Names; Mountain Press Publishing; 1988

Coming soon…
Tragic (but Interesting) History of Anti-Semitism and Persecution of Jews

Already published:
Revised Interesting Place Names and History of Australia
Interesting Place Names and History of Canada
Interesting Place Names and History of England
Revised Interesting Place Names and History of Ireland
Interesting Place Names and History of New Zealand
Interesting Place Names and History of Northern Ireland
Interesting Place Names and History of Scotland
Interesting Place Names and History of South Africa
Interesting Place Names and History of Wales