Maj. C. B. Keith was one of the founders of Muscotah, and an early agent for the Kickapoo Indians. In a letter under date of December 8, 1908, Mrs. Keith, the widow of Major Keith, wrote that Muscotah was named by her husband and her two brothers, William P. and John C. Badger. She corroborates Andreas in his statement that the name signifies “Beautiful Prairie,” or “Prairie on Fire,” and says that Muscotah should be accented on the last syllable. She further says that Paschal Pensoneau may have suggested the name, and incidentally adds: “He was interpreter for my brother, William P. Badger, who was Indian agent under President Buchanan, and later for my husband under Lincoln. He was a good friend for both of my brothers and Major Keith, and accompanied my husband to Washington with the head chiefs when they made their treaty. The original Muscotah was on a fine site and justified the name.” There is a town in the old Kickapoo country, in Illinois, named Mascoutah, and believing it to be synonymous with the Atchison county name, though slightly different in orthography and pronunciation, Milo Custer, of Heyworth, Ill., the well known authority on the Kickapoos, wrote: “As to the meaning of the names Muscotah and Mascoutah, they are synonymous with the old Algonquin word, Masko-teh, meaning ‘prairies.’ The Kickapoo word for prairies was one among others that I failed to get when I visited the tribe in Kansas in October, 1906. However, I am of the opinion that the word was originally derived from Ma-shi O-shkoo- teh, meaning ‘Big Fire,’ and that it referred to the great prairie fires which swept over the country. In fact I have seen the opinion advanced by some other authority, but cannot now recall the name.” When the Kickapoos lived in Illinois there was a band called the Mas-cou-tins, which Maj. H. W. Beckwith, the highest authority on the Illinois tribes, says was the Indian name for “Indians of the Prairie.” Hence it is evident that the name Muscotah is at least a derivation of the word “prairie,” whether a “beautiful prairie” or “prairie of fire.” [Illustration: Scene on Main Street, Muscotah, Kansas ] [Illustration: New Muscotah School Building. Erected 1916, at a cost of $20,000. ]