Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1910-05-21
OMAHA BOOSTERS TODAY.
Omaha Means Go-ahead Short SketcI
Giving Origin Of Name.

SmaR6 Mooub CO-ane6Q-buOFL 6k6tCu
Giving Origin Of Name.
In view Of the fact that the Omaha
Commercial Club will be here this even
ing, We publish the following sketch a.
written by Will Campbell and published
by the Publicity Bureau:
Wherever the name Omaha" is
known, it means ''go ahead.
The Ma-has were the tribe of Indians
which left the valley of the Sioux and
pipestone country in Minnesota, going.
ahead" of the great Sioux Nation and
other tribes, to the country beyond the
Missouri into the land of broad rivers
Nebraska.
In those days the Ojibways and HUI
rons were occupying the southern shores
Of Lake Superior, and, coming in con-
tact with the white race, were first sup
piled with firearms, which gave them a
great advantage over their warlike enc
mics, the Sioux. For the next hundred
years the confederate bands of the Sioux
were driven south and west on the
plains Of Iowa, Minnesota and the Da-
kotas. Here the scattered tribes of the
seven council fires fought as far west
ward as the Missouri river. One tribe
Of the Sioux cared more for a perma-
nent abode, good wigwams, and wide
hunting grounds than for war. This
tribe went ahead of other members of
the confederacy, settling near the mouth
Of the Niobrara. They were called MA
bas''-the Indians who went ahead.
Thus the original meaning of the word
"Ma-has" was "go-shead", and from it
came Omaha, the tribe which went
ahead of other bands across the Mis-
souri, being known to Indisn Nations as
"Omahas". The word "Omahas" never
meant muddy water" nor anything
like 1t, as is commonly supposed. The
tribe of Indians after which the city was
named did not come from region of
muddy waters, nor did they always live
on the Missouri river and derive their
name from the condition of the waters
of that stream. The Ma-has on the
other hand, came from the clear lake
region of the north-from the valley of
the Big Sioux, and the pipestone quar-
ries of the country now called Mime
sofa.
The Ma-has or Omahas moved on
down the river with its mud and chang
ing channel, but their name was settled
on them before they ever saw the Mis-
souri, river.
The form of a village which Manuel
Lisa, the Spanish fur trader, found on
the present site of the city of Omaha,
built by these Indians who "went
ahead" is significant. Each tribe had a
different way of shaping or arranging
their villages. On seeing lodge at
distance, it was possible to tell to what
tribe the Indians belonged. The exte-
rior of the Omaha lodge, on the site of
the present city, betokened prosperity,
ingenuity, frugality, and the home Of
traders. The wigwams were conical in
shape, made of long poles and dressed
buffalo-hides, painted with figures Of
horses, deer, and buffaloes, and with
human faces painted like full moons
four or five feet broad.
Over this village ruled the famous
Washing-guh-sah-ba or Blackbird. He
was one of the frst Indian chiefs on the
Missouri to deal with white traders and
showed great sagacity in his barterings.
But he became exceedingly popular
among the white traders-buying every
thing they had to sell and accommodat-
ing them with everything they wanted
to buy.
Old Blackbird, of whom such savage
and romantic stories are told, was per-
haps the first wholesaler to locate "in
Omaha. His trade with the Astor Fur
company was extensive, and it is befit-
ting that Omaha should become known
as the market Town." inhabited, gov
erned and boosted eternally onward by
people who ''go-ahead."