The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-29

the shape of an arrow head, great hill
mouth "the blue hills
Nauvoo; city In Hancock county, Illi-:
nois,, named in obedience to a revelation
made to Joseph Smith, one of Its Mormon
founders.
Newport News; city in Warwick county,
Virginia named for Captain Christopher
Newport and Captain Cor Sir. William)
Newce. III
Ninety-six: town in Greenwood county,
South Carolina, named because 1t was
ninety-six miles from the Cherokee In
dian trading town of Keowee.
Ogden: city IN Weber county, river,
canyon and valley in Utah, named for an
old mountameer of the Hudson Bay COM
pany Peter Skeen Ogden. s...
Penn Yam village in Yates county, New
York. The name is formed by COM
pound Of the names Of the two classes Of
settlers-Pennsylvania and Yankees.
Shenandoah; an Indian word, said by
some to mean "the sprucy stream; by
others, "a river flowing along side of high
hills and mountains'' and still another au-
thority states that it means daughter
of the stars. III s...-. --.. r -. ..-.E
Tarrytown; village in Westchester coun-
ty. New York. Modification of it's: former
name of Terwen, wheat town. given on
account of it's large crops Of that cereal.
Tombstone; town in Pima county, Ari-
zona. so named by it's founder, because
he was assured he would find his tomb
stone" -.,- E
Vancouver, town and military, fort In
Clarke county, Washington, named for
Captain George Vancouver, royal navy.
who explored that part of the country in
1871. E.
Vandalia, city in Fayette county,
Illinois, so named at the suggestion of a
wag, who told the story of the Goths and
Vandals to the commissioners, jokingly
giving them to understand that the select
| ed townsite was the scene Of their en-
counters.
! Ypsilanti, city in Michigan, named for
a Greek prince.
Conclusions From Perusal of the Volume.
1t is doubted if an yother country in
| the world has derived it's geographic
| names from sources so diverse and so in
| teresting. The way that names have
been passed around is remarkable. A
! pioneer may give his own name to an inn
or camp. and that in turn descends to a
! town, when there is one. and then per-
| haps to the railroad line; settlers from
| that region going into other states will
carry the name along with them, with re-
! suits that are striking. The least salts
| factory names seem to be those directly
| transferred from other countries, although
| this may have meant vast deal Of affec-
| tion for an older home at the time the
| selection made. Our Indian words
| have greatly enriched the language, and
| by graded processes are getting into it
| through these geographic names to
which they were in the first instance ap-
piled. An interesting study might also
| be made of the proportions in which
| the desire to do honor to some famous
| parsonage and the preference for an easy
and melodious name have been combined
Mr. Gannett's book necessarily tells
only a part Of the story, extensive as are
it's pages. Every reader could supple
ment it by recollections from his
reading or from the traditions Of the To-
| cality Of which he may be acquainted. In
a collection Of antiques at Terre Haute
| may be found a target rifle which was the
| means, it is said. of giving Logansport
in the same state it's name. The story, as
Maurice Thompson tells it, is that when
a number Of names were proposed for the
new settlement, the frontiersmen decided
! to shoot at a target to see which name
| should prevail. The rifeman who pro-
| posed "Logansport' hit the bullseye.
| 1t is often related that, in a like man
ner. a man from Portland, Maine, and
! one from Boston pitched pennies to see
| whether their new settlement on the Will
lamette should be named Portland or
| Boston The namesake has since greatly
! outgrown in population the old Portland
| on the Atlantic coast.
Denver possesses the distinction of hav-
| ing been named for man who lived to
! see it become great city. General Den
| Yer died about ten years ago.. when the
town named in his honor had rea ched a
| population of nearly 100000.