The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-08-18
THE ODD N|ckNAMEs Of STATES
Strange Epithes Of Citizens Not Traced
to Their Source.
Whs North Caroiinians arr Tar
Heels"-TItIcs nj commemorative
That We're Suggested by Romance.
Others Tina We're Dsx.nicsily
proseic.
From the Chicago Chronicle.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
George Washington delivered an ad-
dress before the common council of
New York city in 1854 in which he
said:
Il pray that heaven may bestow it's
choicest blessings on your city; that the
devastation of war in which you found
it may soon be without Il trace; that a
well-regulated and beneficial commerce
may enrich your citizens and that your
stat-at present the seat Of empire
may set such examples of wisdom as
shall have a tendency TO strengthen
the Union"
And from that day TO this New York
has been known as the Empire state.
Back in the early days, before Amer
lea as a nation began 10 make history,
somebody wrote a romance and called
it LAS Sergas de Esplanadian" and
somebody else published it in 1910. In
this tale a beautiful pagan queen call
ed Salatia, living in a kingdom called
California furnished an army of anna
zcnians TO Esplandian, Emperor of the
Greeks, to aid in defending CONSTANT
nople against eastern infidels. This
land of he pagan queen was filled with
gold.
CorteZ, the explorer of later date,
had read and been impressed by this
tale. When he set out upon his expe-
ditiOn of adventure his mind was
thrilled at the thought of new riches he
was to acquire and thus he called the
land which he discovered on the Pa
cific coast California. From that day
to this it has been known as the ''gol-
den" state II its people nave been
nicknamed gold hunters"
TAR HEELS AND HOLSTERS.
1t is an interesting matter for inves-
tigation, this of how the states of the
Union came to be called what they are
today, the manner in which they ac-
quired their various nicknames and
why their respective citizens are char
acterized by h more oil less odious
epithets that cling to them. In other
words, why are North Caroiinians call
ed tar HEELS citizens of Colorado
called 'rovers," Indianians 'hoosiers,"
or MlSSOurlanS "pukeS!'
1t is recalling facts i'm history to an
swer. In the first place, most of the
states which form this union tool their
names originally from the stream or
mountain that formed a conspicuous
feature of the territory and these had
been previously named by the Indians.
The state of Colorado was named for
the river. The word means red. AS
a general thing Colorado streams are
clear, limpid and reflect the blue of the
heavens and natures green. But when
mountain storms arise there is rolled
through these disturbed waters guam
titles of red sand. Hence the name.
Colorado was. admitted into the
Union the year Of the centennial, and
hence its nickname, the Centennial
State" It's people are called ''rovers,"
an epithet that was called into being
by the Pixies Peak gold fever.
To Missouri, named for the river, the
Indians called Big Muddy" and her
people is attached the represensible
nickname of ''puke." This dates back
to 1927, the time when the Galena lead
mines were drawing people from all
over the country. So many Of these
came from Missouri hat other Missou-
rians who had gone on before remark
ed that the state had taken a sudden
"'pnke."
Several years previous to this time
there had been a big exodus from these
same mines that had given rise to the
nickname of the citizens of Illinois or
Tribe of men," \ large party while
boarding the steamer at the Galena
wharf was asked. Where We goingT'
T hum" was the reply. We'll" was
the reioinder Of the old miner, we put
me in mind of suckers. They go up
the river in the spring, spawn and all
return down again in the fall II
Illinoisans became suckers" The state
is known as the Prairie state on &C
count of its sweeping land.
Just why Indianaians are called
"hoosiers' is a matter that has not
haen entirely settled. In the earlier
days the word "husher" was a COM
mon western word for a bully, and this
is offered by some authorities as an
explanation of the term hoOsier. Others
say that it is the result Of contraction
of the question, Who's ye!"
HAWKEYES.
Iowans. "drow sy ones" are hawk
eyes because an Indian chief of
that name once spread terror among
travellers abroad in his land. kansans
have been jayhawkers since the days
of the civil war, when the guerrilla
bands inaugurated Il lawless method
of warfare. On the other hand. as il
TO atone for this unpleasant epithet,
the state has been dubbed the garden
of the West" On o of its great
rroductiveness.
DeniZens of the land where the blue
grass grows. Kentucky, are called
corn crackers because a rail with
this peculiar name is the game bird Of
that region. Sometimes they are called
red horses" but nobody seem to
know why.
When La Sale entered the Gulf of
Mexico in 1862 he founded the fort of
st. Louis and named 1t for Louis XIV
of France. and the surrounding terri