The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-09-12
Real Meaning of Missouri.
The Word, 1t Is Clsimed, Is Not
Indian for Muddy Water.
From the Kanana Cifn stnr.

. From the hdnsGs CITY Star
DID you ever wonder where Missouri
got its name? The following. reprinted
from the Boonvllle, Mo-, Democrat at the
time Colonel William F. Switzier was the
editor. explains It:
Among certain classes Of thinkers
historians and writer's there has always
existed some controversy respecting the
meaning Of the word Missouri" and the
proper. or preferable. pronunciation,
quite large number of our
historians and newspaper writer's have
taught the people to believe that the
word Missouri as applied to our great
river means muddy water"
We are well persuaded this is an error
the history OF which may be thus briefly
stated: After the discovery of the up
per or northern Mississippi River by
Marquette and Joliet at the mouth of
the Wisconsin on Juno II. 1873, these
two explorers called the great river
which stretched away hundreds OF miles
south to an unknown sea Conception
Surrcndering their frail bark canoe to
the swift curront OF the broad river now
known In all languages as the Missis-
sippi they descended to the mouth OF
the Illinois and then to the mouth of
the Missouri, which Marquette named
Pe-kit-a-noui.' an Indian name which
means muddy water To this fact we
think can be reasonably referred the
popular error that Missouri means
muddy water"
The name given the river by Mar
quette prevailed until Marest's time
1712). when It was called Missouri
from the fact that a tribe Of Indians
known as Missouris inhabited the
country at the rivers mouth. the same
probably now embraced within the limits
of st. Louis county.
Missouri does not and never did prop
erly mean muddy water but wooden
canoe" 1t belongs to the Illinois dia-
lect OF the Algonquin Indian language,
the language which was generally
spoken. as maintained by many histo-
rians, by the various aboriginal tribes
between the Mississippi River and Della
ware Bay. Discussing this subject some
years ago the Brooklyn Eagle main
tanned that It Is not very difficuIt to
gather support for the definition and
derivation of the word Missouri
Among the Indians of Maine a boat
or canoe was called "A-ma-Sui," with
the Narragansetts It was "Me-shu-e,"
with the Delawares 1t was "Ma-sho-la,"
with the Miamis about Lake Michigan Il
was "Mis-so-la,' with the Illinois tribe
II was Missouri" for a birch
bark canoe and I'VE Mis-su-re" for a
wooden canoe or canoe fashioned from
a log of wood. The name Missuris or
Missouri was originally applied by the
Indians of the Lake Michigan region to
the tribe Of Indians living west of the
Mississippi and along the shore of the
Missouri. The term meant THE people
who use wooden canoes" The Lake
Michigan Indians used birch bark
canoes. az did Marquette and Joliet in
their descent Of the Wisconsin to the
Conception. while the Indians on the
Muddy River used canoes dug out Of
logs because the birch bark canoes were
too fraii for tho navigation of that
turbulent stream.
The first reference to the Missouris
tribe Of Indians made by European
was by Marquette in a letter written in
1870 to La Mercier. his father superior,
as Indians who use canoes Of wood"
On Marquette's map appears the name
and location OF the lou Messoure."