Footprints of the Red Men: Indian geographical names in the valley of Hudson's river, the valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: their location and the probable meaning of some of them.Ruttenber, Edward Manning
History
Footprints of the Red Men: Indian geographical names in the valley of Hudson's river, the valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: their location and the probable meaning of some of them.
Ruttenber, Edward Manning
Indians of North America -- New York (State); Names, Geographical -- New York (State); Names, Indian -- North America
Keht-hanne, Heckewelder--_Kittan,_ Zeisberger--"The principal or greatest
stream," _i. e._ of the country through which it passes, was the generic
name of the Delaware River, and _Lenapewihittuck,_ "The river or stream
of the Lenape," its specific name, more especially referring to the
stream where its waters are affected by tidal currents. In the Minisink
country it was known as _Minisinks River,_ or "River of the Minisinks."
At the Lehigh junction the main stream was called the East Branch and the
Lehigh the West Branch (Sauthier's map), but above that point the main
stream was known as the West Branch to its head in Utsyantha [FN-1] Lake,
on the north-east line of Delaware County, N. Y., where it was known as
the Mohawk's Branch. It forms the southwestern boundary of the State from
nearly its head to Port Jervis, Orange County, Where it enters or becomes
the western boundary of New Jersey. At Hancock, Delaware County, it
receives the waters of what was called by the Indians the _Paghkataghan,_
and by the English the East Branch. The West Branch was here known to the
Indians as the _Namaes-sipu_ and its equivalent _Lamas-sépos,_ or "Fish
River," by Europeans, Fish-Kill, "Because," says an affidavit of 1785,
"There was great numbers of _Maskunamack_ (that is Bass) and _Guwam_
(that is Shad) [FN-2] went up that branch at Shokan, and but few or none
went up the East [Paghkataghan] Branch." [FN-3] In the course of time the
East or Paghkataghan [FN-4] Branch became known as the Papagonck from a
place so called. The lower part of the stream was called by the Dutch the
"Zuiden River," or South River. In early days the main or West Branch was
navigable by flat-boats from Cochecton Falls to Philadelphia and
Wilmington. Smith, in his "History of New Jersey," wrote: "From Cochecton
to Trenton are fourteen considerable rifts, yet all passable in the long
flat boats used in the navigation of these parts, some carrying 500 or
600 bushels of wheat." _Meggeckesson_ (Col. Hist. N. Y., xii, 225) was
the name of what are now known as Trenton Falls, or rapids. It means,
briefly, "Strong water." Heckewelder's _Maskek-it-ong_ and his
interpretation of it, "Strong falls at," are wrong, the name which he
quoted being that of a swamp in the vicinity of the falls, as noted in
Col. Hist. N. Y., and as shown by the name itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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