New-York tribune., 1880-06-27
THE HUDSON RIVER AND ITS EARLY
NAMES.

From The Magazine Of American History
It WAS in consequence of the discoveries made
by Block and his companions in 1911, that the
country first received d civilized name IN the
charter granted tho " New -Nrtherand Company
In 1916. and aJ the same period the "Manlattans
River" having been fully explored, received the
legal na of De Riviere den Worst Mauritns."
That gro military genius, Prince M0ritz. was then
StadthO 'rr, and the idol Of his eountrynlen, his
whole l,c having been q series Of battles. sIegeS
and victories He was In the full ygor of life and
talent, when Hudson with the . Haalve Maan en-
tered the grand stream. The English, only few
years earlier had given the name OF King James l.
10 Tin" stream III Virginia. 1t was very natural
name of their StadthOlder. Prince Maurice Of
Orange To the river whose banks they were about
to coIonize. The same stream however, was often
spoken OF as the GroOtc Riviere," the NOOrllt
RiVirre." the River of the Manhattans' and the
" Rio tie Montague" The name Of Hudson was
never mt any tne, connected with It's waters by the
Dutch.
In 1924. De I.aet wrote his New World, or De-
scriptOn of the West Indies" and, at that date. he
distinctly SAYS that the Great North River of the
New-Nrthrrands WAS by some called the Manhattes
River. from the people who dwcitnear its mouth,
by others also Rio dc Montague or River Of the
Mountain; by some also Nassau, hut by our own
cOuntrymtn it was generally called the Great
River" BY this time the river had been thor
Oughly explored far ~ the moutll of the Mohawk.
A regular traffic with the different tribes on its
banks ha1 begun; MOhcgln and Mohawk, Tappaen
and MnnSec brought their peltrieS to he pale faces
The rude trading bOatS passing to and fro, had
already noted and named the different reaches, or
rarhes, in the stream. its islands AMI some of the
"AntOines Neus.' in the Highlands, recalled the
prominent nose of worthy citizen. Secretary An
tome de MOOga, we'll known Mt Rensselaerwyck.
POepel Island reminded them of the waiIe-ladlle
which the good wife mt home brandished SO skill
fully. Beeren Island was noted lor the numbr of
bears found there. The Martelaers Rock. or
Martyrs Reach, short but critical reach in
the stream, near West Point. very trying to the
sipners temper Then there was the Crooked Elbow,
Krom Elleboog Rack. Then the Danse Kamer,
the dance room; then the Klauver Rack, or Clover
Reach. and so on to Beverwyck. Beyond the
mouth Of the Mohawk, the Spruyten or Sprouts,
us they called the different channels, very lutte
known of tho GrOOte River. which, forty
years after the discovery, was supposed to How
from Lake Ontario The red men told the first
in boats to the Great River of Canada" OF course
they meant In their own canoes, carrying them
over the pOrtages. But the Dutch seem to have
understood the to refer to some direct connection
with the Lake " great aS the Mediterranean Sea.o
The red men, in speaking of this broad but lonely
the dialect of the different tribes. The AiOhawls
spoke Of il as the Shenahtahde, or the water be-
yond the Pineries. Sanatatea and Shawnatawty
were also heard among the western IroquOis tribes
variations of the same word, doubt. CahO-
hatatea WINS another of their names The two first
of those syllable5 would seem TO have Some con.
nectiOnwith stream, the falls of the COhOes
were named by them, and COhongorOntas WAS the
sOnOTOus word applied by the same people to the
Potomac. Olejue was another name recorded by
think this was synthetic word applicable to any
river, and not peculiar to the Cahohatate.1
Bruyas the missionary, gives the meaning rs at
the water" The M0hegans spoke of the river as
Shata, pelican, though lt has not been proved
that such was the MOhcgan name for this bird To
the Lenni Lennape il was the Mohicanhiteck OF
river of the Mohegans