The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-13
NAMES FROM INDIANS
THEY ARE ATTACHED TO AMERICAN
LAKES, RIVERS AND TOWNS.

Some Interesting Information Concerning
Their Origin They Contain Curious Bits
of Native Thought or Fancy. History or
Tradition.
just as the history of Celtic Roman,
Saxon, Dane and Norman occupation is
marked in England by the geographical
names that these various peoples have
left so in our own country the many
Indian names of rivers, lakes, noun
tains, districts and towns remain per-
manent witness, independent of written
history, to the fact that the red man
possessed the land before us.
Here, as in other parts of the world,
Language adheres TO the soil when the
lips that spoke it have been resolved in
to dust. Mountains repeat and rivers
murmur the voices of nations donation
allied or extirpated in their own land. "
The Indian names that dot the map of
America are full of meaning. Many of
them, when translated, are found to
contain curious bits of native thought
or fancy, history or tradition Some,
like Niagara and Oregon, are so euphoni-
Gus that they easily lend themselves to
the uses of the poet Others, such as
electromagnetic, Mollichunkamunk,
Wellokenepacook, are as savage as were
the people that originated them.
Indian geographical names are very
similar in origin to their personal
names. The Dakota Indians Of the
present day have applied to General
Crook the name Wi-can- hpi- yamni
(Three Stars), in allusion to the stars
on the shoulder strap of generals uni
form, and the cue suggests the name by
which the Chinese are known to them
Pc CO. kan yam han-ska (scalp lock-.
This same quality of poetic descrip-
tiveness is seen in most of their local
and their river names Modern explorers
and geographers often apply personal
names to natural objects, and thus we
have Mount Hood, Pixies peak, the Mac
kenzie river, Hudson bay and many
others The Indians never did this,
though sometimes they gave their tribal
names TO rivers near which they lived.
| The Hudson river was known to the In
/ dams of New York as Mohicanittuck,
the river Of the Mohicans, and the ma
| tive name of the Delaware was Lena
| pewihittuck, the river of the Lenape,
or Delawares
The Assiniboin Indians of Canada
have left their name to province, a
river and town. The word means
"stone people. and is of no significance
| tt trih no 10
the other Indians, made no clay pot
terry, but boiled their food by placing
redhot stones in waterproof vessels of
bark Chippeway, pointed skins, is a
name that refers to the peculiar way in
| which these Indians wore their skin
robes the points hanging down behind
and before Eskimo is an Algonkin
word meaning eaters of raw flesh. Zu-
nj, the people of the long nails, alludes
to the fact that the medicine men OF
this pueblo always wore their nails
long
A South Carolina river, which now
bears the prosaic name OF Broad, was
known to the Indians as Eswawpudde-
nah, the dividing river, after bloody
battle which made this stream the di'
viding line between the Catawbas ano
the Cherokees The name Piscataway
has much the same meaning. Devils
lake, in North Dakota, is still known
to the Indians as Minnewaukan, the
mysterious water They say that in {
terrible battle fought OH its banks many
years ago the contending warriors, al
they slew each other, pitched the dead
over the precipice into the deep water
until very few were left. Since thei
mysterious sounds are heard III the
neighborhood, and the Indians will nei
Their drink the water nor eat fish tina
are taken from it.
Genisee or Geniseo means beautiful
valley; Onondaga, OH the hills; Canaan
daigua, place chosen for a settlement
Omaha, to go against the current; AT
tacapau, man eaters; Chitimacha La
they possess cooking vessels; Athapas
ca, place of hay and reeds; Yankton
end village; Sisseton, village; Owato
; ma, straight; Waseca, rich. Winona
little daughter "a town in Winconsin)
perpetuates the name of an Indian CIR
who, being disappointed in love, cas-
herself into Lake Pepin from a poin
: called Maiden rock and was drowned
The same story, but without the name
: appears in many other Lovers Leap
) in various parts of our country
Kanawha is descriptive name mean
: ing lit is long" Coronaca is Quooran
hequa, the place of big white oaks
Wabasha means red battle standard
Passamaquoddy is an Indian word TO
pollock fish. Shamokin means the plac
of the chief South Carolina was know
to the Indians as Chicola, the place O
foxes. The Delaware Indians calle'
eastern Pennsylvania Winakaking, sas
safras land.
The names of abont half of the state
and territories of the Union are OF LII
dian origin. Alaska means the grea
! land; Alabama, here we rest; Arkansas
' bow on the smoky water; Connecticut
; long river; Dakota, friendly; Idaho
0 gem of the mountains; Illinois, tn
? men; Iowa. drowsy ones; Kansas
smoky water; Kentucky, at the hea
4 | H. ~,yar. Maooach,icefts the MAC