Ruttenber, E.M. Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names in the Valley of Hudson's River, the Valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware. Published in the Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. VI. 1906.

The exposed surface of the precipice is marked by strata in the conglomerate as primarily laid down. The entire district is a region of split rocks. Verkerde Kill takes that name from Dutch rerkeerd, meaning "Wrong, bad, angry, turbulent," etc. It is the outlet of Meretange Pond near Sam's Point. It flows from the pond to the falls and from the falls at nearly a right angle …

The first word is heard in Alaska, which is said, on competent authority, to mean, "The high bald rocks"; with locative -ing, "At (or on) the high bald rocks." This interpretation is a literal description of the hill, and Aioskawasting may have the same meaning, although those who wrote the former may not have had a thought about the latter.^ (See Pitkiskaker.) Achsinink …

Moggonck, Maggonck, Moggonick, Moggoneck, Mohonk, etc., are forms of the name given as that of the "high hill" which forms the southwest boundmark of the Paltz Patent, so known, now generally called locally, Paltz Point, and widely known as Mohunk. The hill is a point of rock formation on the Shawongunk range. It rises about 1,000 feet above the plain below and is crowned by …

Land Papers, 15), reads: "Beginning at the high hill called Moggonck, then southeast to Juffrouw's Hook in the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian Magaat Ramis), thence north to the island called Raphoos, lying in the Kromme Elbow at the commencement of the Long Reach, thence west to the high hill to a place [called] Warachaes and Tawarataque, along the high hill …

So it came about that they hurried to Governor Andros and secured an amended wording in the patent of the deed description, and Surveyor-General Graham, when he came upon the scene in 1709, to run the patent lines, found the locatives "fixed," and wrote in his description, "Beginning at a certain point on the hill called Moggonick, * * thence south, thirty-six degrees …

This record narrative is more fully explained by the following certificate which is on file in the office of the Clerk of Ulster County : "These are to certify, that the inhabitants of the town of New Paltz, being desirous that the first station of their patent, named Moggonck, might be kept in remembrance, did desire us, Joseph Horsbrouck, John Hardenburgh, and RoelofT …

His testimony, given forty-five years after the sale by the Indians, was simply confirmatory in general terms of a location which had been made in 1677, and the interpretation of what he said was obviously given by the Justices in terms to correspond with what his employers wished him to say. In the days of the locations of boundmarks of patents, his testimony would have been …

Algonquian students who have been consulted, regard the name as it stands as without meaning ; that some part of the original was lost by mishearing or dropped in pronunciation ; that in the dialect which is supposed to have been spoken here the suffix -onck is classed as a locative and the adjectival Mogg is not complete. Several restorations of presumed lost letters have …

There may have been a certain great tree at the foot of the hill, from which the name was extended to the hill, and there may have been one on the Wallkill, which Ankerop said "Was the right Indian name of the place." It will be remembered that the deed boundmark was "The foot of the hill." It is safe to say that the name never could have described "A small run of water and a …

Schoolcraft wrote, "Rock, or solid formation of rock." No particular part of the hill was referred to, the text reading, "There being Ankerop, the Indian, then brought us to the High Mountain which he named Maggeanapogh." The time has passed when the name could have been made permanent. For all coming time the hill will bear the familiar name of Mohonk, the Moggonck of 1677 …

The Dutch name, Juffrouzv's Hook, wtis obviously employed by the purchasers to locate the boundmark by terms which were then generally understood. Juffrouw, the first word, means "Maiden," one of the meanings of which is "Haai-rog" ; "rog" means "skate," or Angel-fish, of special application to a species of shark, but in English shad, or any fish of the herring family …

What that word was, however, may be inferred from the description, "Juffrou's Hook, in the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian Magaat-Ramis)," or as written in the patent, "To a certain Point or Hooke called the Jeuffrou's Hooke, lying in the Long Reach, named by the Indians Magaat-Ramis." That the name was that of the river at that place -- the Long Reach -- is …

Rappoos, which formed the northeast boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is specifically located in the Indian deed "Thence north [from Juffrou's Hook] along the river to the island called Rappoos, lying in the Kromme Elbow, at the commencement of the Long Reach." The island is now known as Little Esopus Island, taking that name from Little Esopus Creek, which flows to the Hudson at …

The root is JVab, or JVap, meaning, "A light or open place between two shores." (Brinton.) Tawarataque, now written and pronounced Tower-a-tauch, the name of the northwestern boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is described inthe Indian deed already quoted: "Thence [from Rappoos] west to the high hills to a place called Warachoes and Tawarataque," which may refer to one and the …

Ralph LeFever, editor of the "New Paltz Independent," from personal knowledge. Tawarataque was the name of this clove. It embodies the root IValak prefixed by the radical Tau or Tazv, meaning "Open," as an open space, a hollow, a clove, an open field, etc., suffixed by the verb termination -aque, meaning "Place," or -dke as Zeisberger wrote in Wochitdke, "Upon the house." The …

I think, but am not certain, that the rock can be seen as you pass on the railroad. It is of the character known as Esopus Millstone, a white or gray conglomerate. I cannot say that it bears the Surveyor's inscription." It is not often that four boundmarks are met that stand out with the distinctness of those of the Paltz Patent, or that are clothed with deeper interest as …

It is from Sepn, "River," and -es, "small." On the Carte Figurative it is written on the east side of the river near a stream north of Wappingers' Creek, as it may have been legitimately, but in 1623 it came to be located permanently at what is now Rondout Creek, from -which it was extended to several streams/ to the Dutch settlement now Kingston, to the resident Indians, and …

De Laet wrote in his "New World" (Leyden edition) : "This reach [Vischer's, covering Newburgh Bay] extends to another narrow pass, where, on the west side of the river, there is a point of land juts out covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river on which another nation of savages called the IVaoranccks, have their abode at a place called Esopus. A little beyond, on the …

Gatschet, of the Bureau of Ethnology, wrote me : "If the Warana-wan-ka lived on a bay or cove of Hudson's River, their name is certainly from Walina, which means ' hollowing, concave site,' and 'cove, bay,' in several eastern languages. A good parallel are the Wawenocks of S. W. Maine, now living at St. Francis, who call themselves Walinaki, or those living on a cove -- 'cove …

On the latter, near Port Jervis, is met of record JVarinsags-kanieck, which is surely the equivalent of IValina-ask-kameck, "A hollowing or concave site, a meadow or field." It was written by Arent Schuyler, the noted interpreter, as the name of a field which he described as "A meadow or vly." Vly is a contraction of Dutch Vallei, meaning "A hollow or depression in which water …

As it stands the name is one of the oldest and most sonorous in the valley of Hudson's River. Ponkhockie is the familiar form of the name of the point, co\'e or landing-place on the south side of Kingston Point. It is from Dutch Punthoekje, meaning, "Point of a small hook, or angle." The local interpretation, "Canoe harbor," is not in the name, except inferentially from the …

ly a restoration of the early Dutch Rondhout, The stockade was erected by Director Stuyvesant, at the suggestion of the Ainsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, about 1660. There were Dutch traders here certainly as early as 1622, and presumably as early as 1614, but no permanent settlement appears of record prior to 1652-3, nor is there evidence that there was a Rondhout …

It does not seem probable that the Dutch had a Tennis Court here at that early date, but the record so reads.- The hook or cove, was the most desirable place for landing on the south side of the Point. It has since been the commercial centre of the town and city. Punthoekje is certainly not without interesting history. Atkarkarton, claimed by some local authorities as the …

Y., iii, 103.) The Reverend writer obviously quoted the name as of general appHcation, although it would seem to have been that of a particular place. As stated in another connection, Esopus, Sypous, and Sopus were at first (1623) applied to a trading-post on the Hudson, from which it was extended inland as a general name and later became specific as that of the first …

It was separated from the low lands of the Esopus Valley by a ridge of moderate heig'ht extending on the north, east, and west, and had on the south "a swampish morass" which was required to be drained, in 1669, for the health of the town "and the improvement of so much ground." The Groot Plat in the Esopus Valley was a garden spot ready for the plougli and was regarded as of …

P>om the description quoted, and present conditions, it may be said with certainty that the site of the Old Village of Wildwijk was a knoll in an area of prairie and marsh. Neither of the village sites seem to have been occupied by the Indians except by temporary huts and corn-lands. The Wildwijk site was given to Director Stuyvesant by the Indians, in 1658, "to grease his …

It is sufficient to say here that the Indians lost the lands in controversy and a much larger territory. Interpretation of the name can only be made conjecturally. William R. Gerard wrote me: "I think Atkarkarton simply disguises Atuk-ak-aten, meaning 'Deerhill,' from Atnk, 'Deer' ; ak, plural, and aten, 'hill' The rs in the name ■do not mean anything ; they simply indicate …

The Dutch recovered possession in 1673, and changed the name to Swanendale, and the English restored Kingston in 1674. (See Atkarkarton.) Nanoseck, Manoseck, forms of the. name of a small island in Rondout Creek, so "called by the Indians" says the record, may be from Natick Nohoosik, "Pointed or tapering." The Dutch called it "Little Cupper's Island." Clipper, "One w'ho …

Judge Sohoonmaker wrote : "Supposed to have been located in Marbletown." Preumaker's Land, a tract described as "Lying upon Esopus Kil, within the bounds of Hurley," granted to Venike Rosen, April i, 1686, was the place of residence of Preumaker, "The oldest and best" of the Esopus sachems, whose life was tragically ended by Dutch soldiers in the war of 1660. The location of …

Y.. xiii.) Supposed to have been at LeFever's Falls in Rosendale. (Schoonmaker.) l62 INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. A creek now bears the name of the sachem, who was a hero if he was a savage. I'rudyachkamik, so written in treaty-deed of 1677 as the name of a place on the Hudson at the mouth of Esopus (now Saugerties) Creek, is written Tintiagquanneck in deed of 1767 (Cal. Land …

In 1683, in a survey of the Meals Patent, covering lands now included in Saugerties, it is written : "Being part of the land called Sagers," and in another, "Between Cattskill and Sager's Kill." It is also of record that a man known by the surname of Zager located on the stream prior to 1663, obtained a cession of the lands on the kill from Kaelcop, an Esopus sachem, and later …

Three or four miles north is W anion Island, the site of a traditionary battle between the Mohawks and the Katskill Indians. It is now the northeast boundmark of Ulster County. Neither of these islands could have been the boundmark of the lands granted by the Indians. Wanton seems to be from IVanquon (IVankon, Del.), "Heel" -- resembling a human heel in shape -- pertuberant …

spoken of without name in connection with a district of country admitted by the Indians to have been "conquered by the sword," inchiding the "two captured forts." In the subsequent treaty (1665) with Governor Nicolls the ceded district is described as "A certain parcel of land lying and being to the west or southwest of a certain creek or river called by the name of …

The only stream that has been certainly identified as the Maggowasinghingh is the Rondout, where it flows from the west to its junction with the Sandberg Kill, east of Honk Falls, and this identification certainly places Kahanksen south of that stream. And in this connection it may be stated that the conquered lands did not extend west of the Rondout. The Beekman and the Beake …

Colonel Rutsen's land has not been located ; he held several tracts at different times, and one especially on the west line of Marbletown known as Rosindale. iWhatever its location it shows that its name of Kahankasinck was extended to it or from it from some g"eneral feature. Obviously from the ancient treaty and deed boundaries the site of the Old Fort has not been …

Under date of July 31, 1663, Kregier wrote: "In the morning at dawn of day set fire to the fort and all the houses, and while they were in full blaze marched out in good order." And so disappeared forever the historic Indian settlement, not even the name by which it was known certainly translatable in the absence of knowledge of the topography of its precise location.^ …

The Beekman grant was on both sides of Rondout Creek west ^nd immediately above Honk Falls, where a large rock lying in the kill was the boundmark to which the name referred and from which it was extended to the stream and place. The George Davis grant has not been located, and may never have been taken up. Beekman sold to Peter Lowe in 1708, and the survey of the latter, in …

Here, amid the roar, the swirl and dash of waters breaking through rocky barriers, with the rapids at the falls, the Great Rock was an object to be remembered as a boundmark." Without knowledge of the locative of the name or of the facts of record concerning it, the late Dr. D. G. Brinton, replying to inquiry, wrote me : "I take Magozv or M o ggew-assing-ink to be from Macheu …

Wawarasinke, so written by the surveyor as the name of a tract of land granted to Anna Beake and her children in 1685, has been retained as the name of a village situate in part on that tract, about four miles north of Ellenville. The precise location of the southern boundmark of the patent was on the west bank of the Rondout, south of the mouth of Wawarsing Creek, or Vernooy …

By dialectic exchange of n and r, it may be read Wa-wa-nuwas-ink, "At a place w^here the stream winds, bends, twists, or eddies around a point or promontory." This explanation is fully sustained by the topography. Hon. Th. E. Benedict writes me: "The Rondout at that point (the corner of the Anna Beake Patent) winds around at almost a right angle. At the bend is a deep pool …

meaning, "A rapid stream," or a stream flowing down descending slopes." As now written the name means nothing unless read from Dutdh Honck, ''Home, a standing post or place of beginning," but that could not have been the derivative for the name was in place before the falls became the boundmark. The familiar interpretation: "From Honck (Nar.), 'Goose' -- 'Wild-goose Falls,' " …

The German missionary orthography is Lechauwak (Zeisb.), "Fork, division, separation," that wliich forks or divides, or oomes together in the form of a fork ; literally, "The Fork." Lcchauzvak, "Fork" ; Lechau-hanne, "Fork of a river," from which Lackawanna ; Lechau-wiechen, "Fork of a road," from which Lackawaxen -- "abbreviated by the Germans to Lecha, and by the English to …

Mattachonts, a modern orthography, preserves the name of a place in the town of Rochester, Ulster County, and not that of an Indian maiden as locally stated. The boundary description refers to a creek and to a swamp. The record orthographies are Magtigkenighonk and Maghkenighonk, in Calendar of Land Papers, and "Mattekah-onk Kill," local. Amangag=arickan, given as the name of …

Heckewelder wrote in the Delaware, Saucon, "The outlet of a small stream into a larger one." Ashokan is a pronunciation. The same name is met at the mouth of the East or Paghatagan Branch of the Delaware. Shokan Point is an elevation rising 3100 feet. Koxing Kil, a stream so called in Rosendale, is of record Cocksing and Cucksink -- "A piece of land ; it lyeth almost behind …

Hasbrouck wrote, "Mombakkus is a Dutch term, literally meaning 'Silent head,' from Mom, 'silent,' and Bak or Bakkus, 'head.' It originated from the figure of a man's face cut in a sycamore tree which stood near the confluence of the Mombakkus and Rondout kills on the patent to Tjerck Classen de Witt, and was carved, tradition says, to commemorate a battle fought near the …

Usually trees marked in the manner described included other figures commemorative of the deeds of a warrior de- 17° INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. signed to be honored. Sometimes the paintings were drawn by a member of the clan or family to which the subject belonged, and sometimes by the hero himself, who was flattered by the expectation that his memory would thereby be …

On Van der Donck's map of 1656 it is written Kats Kill, but he never wrote Kil with two I's. Older than Van der Donck's map it evidently was from the frequent reference to the "Kats Kil Indians" in Fort Orange records. Its origin is, of course, uncertain. Reasonably and presumably it was a colloquial form of Katerakts Kil -- reasonably, because the falls on that stream would …

He might have found a better basis for his conjecture in the fact that in 1650, on the north side of the Kat's Kil reigned in royal majesty, Nipapoa, a squaw sachem, while on the other side Machak-nimano, "The great man of his people," held sway ; that, as they painted on their cabins a rude figure of a wolf, their totemic emblem, easily mistaken for a catamount, the name of …

Their hereditary enemies were the Mohawks who adjoined them on the west side of the mountains, their respective territories following the line of the watersheds. They came to be more or less mixed with fugitives from the eastern provinces, after the overthrow of King Philip. A palisaded village they had north of the Esopus, and fierce traditional battles with the Mohawks. They …

Teteachkie, the name of a tract granted to Francis Salisbury and described as "A place lying upon Katskill Creek," has not been located. Teke, from Teke-ne, may stand for "Wood," and -achkie stand for land -- a piece of woodland. Quachanock, modern Qua jack, the name of a place described as the west boundary of a tract sold to Jacob Lockerman, does not mean "Christian …

O'Callaghan interpreted the name from Wachcu, "hill," and -keag, "land" or place -- "Hill country," and Dr. Trumbull gave the same meaning from Wadchuauke. The orthography of the second form, however, is probably the most correct -- Machachkeek -- ^which pretty surely, from the locative, stands for Maskckeck, meaning, "Marsh or wet meadow." Wichquanachtekok, the name of the …

It is widely distributed. (See Paskack.) Assiskowachok or Assiskowacheck, the name of record as that of the fourth flat, is no doubt from Assiskeu, "Mud" -- Assiskewmighk-iik, "At (or on) a muddy place." Potic, the name of the fifth flat, is also of record Potick, Potatik, and Potateuck, probably an equivalent of Pozvntiicknk (Mass.), denoting, "Country about the falls." …

The name is sufficiently explained by the description, "On the west side of a hill," or a hill-side, but descriptive of a hill resembling a head -- "high, erect" -- with the accessory meaning of superiority. "Indian Head" is now applied to one of the peaks of the Catskills. The parts of the body were sometimes applied by the Indians to inanimate objects just as we apply them …

Geographical Names.) Kaniskek, or Caniskek, of record as the name of Athens, is described in orignal deeds : "A certain tract o^f land on the west side of North River opposite Claverack, called Caniskek, which stretches along the river from the lands of Peter Bronck down to the valley lying near the point of the main land behind the Barren Island, called Mackawameck," now …

Kessiewey was a peace chief, or resident ruler, whose ofifice it was to negotiate treaties of peace for his own people, or for other clans when requested, and in this capacity, with associates, announced himself at Fort Orange, in 1660, as coming, "in the name of the Esopus sachems, to ask for peace" with them.^ He was engaged in similar work in negotiating the Esopus treaty …

1 " * * We have, therefore, gathered information from the Mahicanders, who thought we knew of it, that more than fifteen days ago some Esopus [Indians] had been at Keessienwey's Hoeck who wanted to come up [to Fort Orange], but had been prevented until this time, and in order to get at the truth of the matter, we have concluded to send for two or three sachems of the Katskil …

Henry C. Murphy wrote: "The true orthography isprobably Koek's-rackie (the Cook's Little Reach), to distinguish itfrom the Koek's Reach below the Highlands, near New York." Unfortunately there is no evidence that there was a reach called the Cook's north of the Highlands, while it is certain that the name is Algonquian. Dankers and Sluyter gave no description of the place in …

Stighcook, a tract of land so called, now in Greene County, granted to Casparus Brunk and others in 1743, is located in patent as lying "to the westward of Koghsacky." In Indian deed to Edward Collins, in 1734, the description reads, "Westerly by the high woods known and called by the Indian name Sticktakook." Apparently from Mass. Mishiintugkook, "At a place of much wood." …

The reference seems to have been to land before or on this side of the estuary, or the side toward the speaker, Oniskethau, quoted as the name of CoQjrm.ns' Creek, is said to have been the name of a Sunk-squa, or sachem's wife. Authority not given. The stream descends in two falls at Coeymans' Village, covering seventy-five feet. The same name is met in Onisquathaw, now …

Sankagag, otherwise written Sanckhagag, is given, in deed to Van Rensselaer, 1630, as the name of a tract of land described as "Situated on the west side of the North River, stretching in length from a little above Beeren Island along the river upward to Smack's Island, and in width two days' journey inland." Beeren Island is about twelve miles south of Albany, and Smack's …

It is now assigned to a pond in the town of Cairo, Greene County. (See Neweskeke.) Neweskeke, =keek, about ten miles south of Albany, is described as "The corner of a neck of land having a fresh water river running to the east of it." In another paper the neck is located "near a pool of water called Nepeesteek," and "a brook called Napeesteegtock." The name of the brook and …

This fort was succeeded, in 1623, by one on or near the present steamboat landing in Albany, to which the name was transferred and which was known as Fort Orange until the English obtained possession (1664), when the name was changed to Fort Albany, from which the present name of the capital of the State.- In addition to the early history of the island the claim is made by …

There is some evidence that French traders visited the river, and that they constructed a fort on Castle Island, but none that they called the river "Norumbega." (See Muhheakunuk.) By the construction of an embankment and the filling of the passage between the island and the main land, the island has nearly disappeared.^ Norman's Kill, so well known locally, took that name …

Aside from the names of the stream it has especial historic interest in connection with early Dutch settlement and the location of Fort Orange where Indians of all nations and tongues assembled for intercourse with the government. (See Pachonahellick.) Dr. Schoolcraft wrote, without any authority that I have been able to find, Tazmsenfha as the name of the mound on which Fort …

Heckewelder wrote, in his "Indian Nations," "Gaaschtinick, since called by the name of Norman's Kill," and recited a Delaware tradition, with the coloring of truth, that that nation consented there, under advisement of the Dutch, to take the rank of women, i. e. a nation without authority to make war or sell lands. The tradition is worthless. The Dutch did make "covenants of …

Mathahenaak, "being a part of a parcel of land called the foreland of the Half-Moon, and by the Indians Mathahenaack, being on the north of the fourth branch or fork of the Mohawk." Matha is an orthography of Macha (Stockbridge, Nauklm; Del. Lechau), with locative' iik, "At the fork" -- now or otherwise known as HalfMoon Point, Waterford. Quahemiscos is a record form of the …

van Dyk, Peter Schu3'ler, and others, July 26, 1683, as "A tract of land called Sarachtogoe" (by the Dutch), "or by the Maquas Ochseratongue or Ochsechrage, and by the Machicanders Amissohaendiek, situated to the north of Albany, beginning at the utmost limits of the land bought from the Indians by Goose Gerritse and Philip Pieterse Schuyler deceased, there being" {i. e. the …

Specifically, too, the locative of the name, from the language of the deed and contemporary evidence, would seem to have been on the east side of the river -- "the end of the lands of Sarachtoge, bordering on a kil on the east side of the river, called," etc., a place which Governor Dongan selected, in 1685, on which to settle the Mohawk Catholic converts, who had been induced …

the fort, in the war of 1746, the settlement was removed to the opposite side of the river and the name went with it, but to which it had no legitimate title. (See Kayauderossa.) Apparently the Mahican name, Amiss ohacndiek, is the oldest. It carries with it a history in connection with the wars between the Mohawks and the Mahicans, At the sale of the lands, the Mahicans who …

With a view to obtain a satisfactory explanation of the record names, the writer submitted them to the late eminent Iroquoian philologist, Horatio Hale, M. A., of Clinton, Ontario, Canada, and to the eminent Algonquian linguist, the late Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia. In reply, Mr. Hale wrote: * * "Your letter has proved very acceptable, as the facts you present have …

of the ancient forms, however, which you give from the old Dutch authorities, seems to put us at once on the right track. This form is Ochsechrage. The 'digraph' ch in this word evidently represents the hard guttural aspirate, common to both the Dutch and the German languages. This aspirate is of frequent occurrence in the Iroquois dialects, but it is not a radical element. As …

It may possibly be derived from the verb atona, 'to become' (in its perfect tense atonk), added to osera, in which case the word would mean, 'where a beaver-dam has been forming,' or, as we should express it in English, 'where the beavers have been making a dam.' "With regard to the Mahican name Amissohaendiek or Amissohaendick (whichever it is) I cannot say much, my knowledge …

Trumbull wrote : "Amisk, a generic name for beaver-kind, has been retained in the principal Algonquian dialects." The district was a part of Ochsaraga, "The beaver-hunting country of the Confederate Indians," conquered by them about 1624. The evolution from Ochsera-tongue (deed of 1683) appears in Serachtogue (Dongan, 1685} ; Serasteau (contemporary Frendh) ;. Saractoga …

The stream comes down from small lakes and stream's in Lewis and Hamilton counties, and is the principal northwestern affluent of the Hudson. Scharon, Scarron, Schroon, orthographies of the name now conferred on a lake and its outlet, and on a mountain range and a town in Essex County, is said to have been originally given to the lake by French officers in honor of the widow …

Hewitt.) The little valley is described as "a picture of beauty and repose in strong contrast with the rugged hills around." (Lossing.) Oi-o=gue, the name given by the Mohawks to Father Jogues in 1646, at Lake George, to what we now fondly call Hudson's River, is fully explained in another connection. The stream has its sources among the highest peaks of the Adirondacks, the …

Wall-face, on the west side, is a perpendicular precipice 800 to 1,000 feet high, and Mt. Mclntyre rises over 3,000 feet. The gorge is seldom traversed, even adventurous tourists are repelled by its ruggedness. ^ By Colvin's survey Mount Marcy has an elevation of 5,344.411 feet "above mean-tide level in the Hudson." It is the highest mountain in the State. Put four Butter …

At the foot of the fall the current is divided by a small island which is said to bear on its flat rock surface a petrifaction having the appearance of a big snake, which may have been regarded by the Mohawks with awe as the personification of the spirit of evil, according to the Huron legend, "Onniare jotohatienn tiotkon. The demon takes the figure of a snake." (Bruyas.) …

Throughout the mountainous region above that point several Indian names are quoted by writers in obscure orthographies and very doubtful interpretations, the most tangible, aside from those which have been noticed, being that which is said to 'have been the name of Glen's Falls, but was actually the name of the very large district known as Kay-au-do-ros-sa. In Mohawk, Sandy …

Kay-au=do=ros=sa (modern), Kancader-osseras, Kanicaderoseras (primary), the name given as that of a stream of water, of a district of country, and of a range of mountains, was originally the name of the stream now known as Fish Greek,^ the outlet of Saratoga Lake, and signifies, literally, "Where the lake mouths itself out." Horatio Hale wrote me: ''Lake, in Iroquois, is, in …

Lawrence above the present site of Quebec, who were called by the French Algonquins specifically, as representatives of a title which had come to be of general application to a group of tribes speaking radically the same language.^ The term is under- ^ "About Kayaderossres Creek and the lakes in that quarter." "The chief tract nf hunting land we have left, called …

Stood to mean, "They eat trees," i. e. people Who eat the bark of certain trees for food, presumably from the climatic difficulty in raising corn in the latitude in which they lived.^ Horatio Hale analyzed the name : "From Adi, 'they' ; aronda, 'tree,' and ikeks, "eat.*^" The name was not that of the district,nor is it convertible with ^/^ow^ww. The later is a French rendering …

Y., iv, 909.) Cough-sagh-raga is now written Koghsarage (Elliot) and Kohserake (modern), and signifies "Winter" or "Winter land"; but the older name, Cana-gariarc-hio, means, "The beaver-hunting country." ^ It is not expected that this explanation will affect the ' The bark of the chestnut, the walnut, and of other trees was dried, macerated, and rolled in the fat of bears or …

Osera means "Beaver-dam" as well as "Winter," wrote Horatio Hale. (See Saratoga.) In explanation of Canagariachio Mr. Hale wrote : "Kanagariarchio is a slightly corrupted form of the Iroquois word Kanna' kari-kario , which means simply 'Beaver.' It is a descriptive term compounded of Kannagare, 'Stick' or club, Kakarien, To bite,' and Kario, 'Wild animal.' It is not the most …

The nation, however, did not give that name to the stream except in the sense of occupation as the seat of their possessions to ; them it was the O-hyo^hi-yo'ge, ''Large, chief or principal river" (Hewitt) ; written by Van Curler in 1635, Vyoge and Oyoghi, and by Bruyas "Ohioge, a la riviere," now written Ohio as the name of one of the rivers of the west, nor did they apply …

Presumably it was generations prior to the incoming of Europeans and from the discovery of the fire-producing qualities of the flint, which was certainly known to them and to other Indian nations^ in pre-historic times. When the flint ^ Arent Van Curler, in 1635, in his "Journal of a Visit to the Seneca Country," wrote : "I was shown a parcel of flint-stones with which they …

Sank or San, "stone" (from Assin), and -hikan, "an implement," obviously a flint-stone implement for striking fire, or, as interpreted by Heckewelder, "A fire-lock," and by Zeisberger, "A fire-steel." The French called them Agnic and Agniers, presumably derived from Canienga (Huron, Yanyenge). The Dutch called tJhem Mahakuas, by contraction Maquaas, from Old Algonquian Magkwah …

Roger Williams wrote of the Narraganset Indians in 1643: "I have seen a native go into the woods with his hatchet, carrying a basket of corn with him, strike and sconestwoto metalic together strike astones, tire."' just Father Le do as we Junewith wrote, in 1634: a piece "They of flint and iron or steel. * * That is how they light their fire." The "Metalic stones" spoken of …

On a map republished in the Third Annual Report of the State Historian, copied from a map published in Holland in 1666, the first is called Caneray (Van der Donck's Carenay), and the second, Canagera.^ The several names refer in all cases to the same castles tribaUy, in some cases, apparently, by the name of a specific topographical feature near which the castles were located …

* State Historian Hastings writes me : "The map of which you inquire, appeared originally in a pamphlet published at Middleburgh, Holland, at the Hague, 1666. It was first reproduced by the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy in his translation of the 'Vertoogh van Nieu Nederland,' etc. His reproduction gives Canagere, as the name of the second castle, and Caneray as the name of the …

In a Schenectady paper of I'he same year the names of two sachems are subscribed who acted "for themselves" and as "the representatives of ye four Mohock's castles." The French invaded the valley in 1666, and burned all the castles of the early period, and the tribes retreated to tiie north side of river and established themselves, the first at Caughnawaga ; the second about …

Y., iv, 20, 22.) The castles referred to Caughnawaga, Canagora, and Tiononteogen. A castle on the south side of the Mohawk, said to have been about two miles inland, escaped. Presumably it was the village of the Beaver family, but we have nothing further concerning it. The attack was made on the night of Feb. 16, 1693. The warriors of the first two castles were absent, and the …

The Mohawks were the most important factor in the "Five [Six] Nations Confederacy," particularly from the standpoint of their proximity to and relations with the Dutch and the English governments, primarily in trade and later as alliants offensive and defensive under treaty of 1664 and more definitely under treaty of 1683. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., i, 576.) Their written history is …

"We go with them into the woods ; we meet with each other, sometimes at an hour's walk from any house, and think no more of it fhan if we met with Christians." The dark side of their character may be seen in a single quotation from Father Jogues's narrative, as related by Father Lalemant: "Happily for the Father the very time when he was entering the gates, a messenger arrived …

So successful were they that many of the nation were drawn off to Canada and became zealous partizans of the French and a scourge to English settlements, especially emphasized in the massacre at Schenectady in February, 1689-90. Those who remained true to the English became no longer "barbarians" inthe full sense of that word, but "Praying Maquas." The subsequent story of the …

He wrote that he left Fort Orange in company with Jeronimus la Crock, William Thomasson, and five Mohawks as guides and bearers, "between nine and ten o'clock in the morning," December 12, 1634, and after walking "mostly northwest about eight miles" (Dutch), stopped "at half-past twelve in the evening" (p. m.) "at a little 'hunters' cabin near the stream that runs into their …

The "little hunters' cabin" at which he stopped and which he located "near the Vyoge," he explained in his notes of his second day's travel, as "one hour's walk" from the place where he crossed the stream, which would have taken him to a crossing^lace west of Schenectady, noted in a French- Itinerary of 1757 as about one and one-quarter leagues west of the then fort at that …

In considering his miles' travel the survey Of 1792 may be safely referred to.- His miles' travel, which he wrote as "eleven" (Dutch) he wrote on his return as "ten," which, counted as standard Dutch, would have been about thirty-five English miles; if counted by * General Wilson wrote me that the Journal was translated for him by a Hollander, now (1905) dead, and that the …

Referring particularly to his Journal: On the morning of the 13th, at three o'clock, he left the "little hunters' cabin" where he passed the night, spent one hour in walking to the crossing-place, crossed "in the dark," resumed his march on the north side "mostly along the aforesaid kill that ran swiftly," and after marching ten miles arrived, "at one o'clock in the evening" …

Certainly he did not cross on the ice which had frozen over the rapids east of the mouth of Schohare Creek, for they were never known to freeze over in one night, if at all. Certainly he did not cross east of the rapids, for they extended three and one-half miles east of the mouth of the creek. Obviously, if he crossed Schohare Creek on the ice and "did not know it," as one …

""Our Lady of Martyrs," whether that castle was east or west of Aurie's Creek, evidences of Indian occupation having been found on a ihill on the west side of the creek as well as on a hill on the east side.^ These evidences, however, prove very little in determining the location of a particular castle three hundred years ago; they only become important when sustained by …

He found the castle "built on a hill without any palisades or any defence." He located it east -of Canajohare Creek, a stream which has never lost its identity. When Van Curler visited the castle it contained "sixteen houses, fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty paces long." Detained in this castle by a heavy fall of rain which broke up the streams -- the "January thaw" of 1635 in …

The very high 'hill, and the flat lands which he referred to, remain. On the 2 1 St, before reaching the second stream which he noted later as having crossed, he wrote that "half a mile" west of Canajohare Creek he came to a village of "nine houses of the name of Osqiiage'' which gave name to the stream now known as the Otsqiiage, which he also called Okqiiage and Okwahohage …

It was, he wrote, composed of fifty-five houses like the others. 'It stood in a valley evidently, probably on the bank of the creek, as he wrote that the stream (Otsquaga) which 'he had crossed in the morning "ran past" the castle ; that he saw on the opposite (east) "bank" of the stream "a good many houses filled with com and beans," and also extensive flat lands. Further …

General Clark located the castle at Spraker's Basin, thirteen miles by rail west of Aurie's Creek. Van Curler located it on the west side of Otsqiiage Creek. On Simeon DeWitt's map of survey of patents in 1790 (Doc. Hist. N. Y., i, 420), the direct line from the west side of the mouth of Otsquage Creek to the west side of the mouth of Aurie's Creek is fifteen and three-tenths …

Van Curler's notes supply interesting evidence of the strength of the Mohawks when the Dutch first met them, w'hich was then at its highest known point in number and in the number of their settlements, namely: Two hundred and twenty-five "long houses" in castles and villages, without including villages on the lower Mohawk "where the ice drifted fast," which he passed without …

Beauchamp repeated from Morgan: "A shipwrecked canoe," and, in another connection : "From Kaho, a torrent." Another writer has read it: "Cahoes, 'the parting of the waters,' the reference being to the separation of the stream into three channels at its junction with the Hudson." The late Horatio Hale wrote me : "Morgan gives, as the Iroquois form of the name, Ga-ho-oose (in …

The Dutch termination -hoos, meaning in that language, "Water-spout," may have given rise to the interpretation "The Great Falls," but if so the reading was simply descriptive. The presumption that the name was Mohawk-Iroquoian was no doubt from the general impression that the falls were primarily in a Mohav/k district, but the fact is precisely the reverse. The Hudson, on …

The roar of the falling waters, and in the breaking up and precipitation of ice, was very distinctly heard at Fort Orange, nine miles distant, and the hills on which Albany now stands trembled under the impact. Primarily the falls were much higher than they are now, the stream having cut its way through one hundred feet of rock which rises on either side in massive wall. Below …

The flow of water is between walls of rock over a rocky bed, and the rapids extend for a distance of thirty-five or forty feet. (Ses Kahoes.) Niskayune, now so written as the name of a town and of a village in Schenectady County, is from Kanistagionne, primarily located on the north side of the Mohawk, Canastagiozcane (1667) being the oldest form of record. The locative …

In Barber's collection it is stated that there was an Indian village here called Canastagaones, or "People of the Eel-place." Naturally there wovild be fishing villages in the vicinity. The location of the Aal-plaat is particularly identified in the Mohawk deed for five small islands lying at Kanastagiowne, in 1667, and by the abstract of title filed by one Evart van Ness in …

Schenectady, now so written, is claimed by some authorities to be an anglicism of a Mohawk-Iroquoian verbal primarily applied by them to Fort Orange (Albany), with the interpretations, "The place we arrive at by passing through the pine trees" (Bleecker) ; "Beyond the opening" (L. H. Morgan) ; "Beyond (or on the other side) of the door" (O'Callaghan), and by Horatio Hale …

Aside from a critical rendering, it would seem to be evident that all the interpretations are in error, not in the translation of the name as a Mohawk word-sentence, but in the assumption that Schenectady was primarily a Mohawk phrase, instead of a confusion of the Mohawk Skannatati with the original Dutch Schaenhecstede, the primary application of which is amply sustained by …

N. Y., i, 691.) Under that name the tract was surveyed (1664), and it has remained apparent in the sviithesis of the many corrupt forms in which it is of record. Schaenechstede is a clear orthographic pronunciation of the Dutch Schoonehetstede, signifying, literally, "The beautiful town." The syllable het is properly hek, "fence, rail, gate," etc., and in this connection …

Certain it is that the name is not met in any form until after its introduction by the Dutch, and is not of record in any connection except at Sc^henectady, the statement by Brodhead, on the authority of Schoolcraft, that it was applied in one form, by the Mohawks, to a place some two miles above Albany, as "the end of a portage path of the Mohawks coming from the west," being …

It is not expected that the correction will be adopted, now that the term has passed to the domain of a "proper name." With the aroma of assumed Mohawk origin and the negative "beyond" clinging to it, it will remain at least as a harmless fiction, although the honor due to a Dutch ancestry would seem to warrant a different result. By ancient measurements Schenectady is "about …

Skonowe is followed on Van der Donck's map of 1656, by the Dutch legend Schoon Vlaack Land, literally, "Fine, flat land," and for all these 3'ears the name has been accepted as meaning, "Great meadow," or "Great plain." The late Horatio Hale wrote : "The name is readily accounted for by the word Kahenta (or Kahenda), meaning 'plain' -- frequently abridged to Ken fa (or Kenda) …

In Pearson's History of Schenectady: "Lands lying near tihe town of Schonn'hectade within three Dutch miles [about twelve English miles] on both sides of the river westward, which ends at Hinquariones [Towareoune], where the last battle was between the Mohoax and North Indians." The last battle in that section of country explains the text. Father Pierron, in 1669, located the …

An account of it is given in Jesuit Relations, liii, 137, by Father Pierron, the Jesuit missionary, who was then stationed at Caughnawaga. The war which was then raging was continued until 1673, when the Governor of New York succeeded in negotiating peace and by treaty "linked together" the opposing nations as allies of the English government, a relation which they …

Land Papers, no.) The name is probably an equivalent of Bruyas' Onueja-tsi-cntos, a composition from Onne'ja, "Stone" ; tsi or dsi, augmentative, "Very hard," such as stones used for making hatchets, axes, etc., and entos, plural inflection -- "very hard stones," or "where there are hard stones." The location has been claimed for Flint Hill at Klein, Montgomery County, which …

This claim is based on what is certainly an erroneous computation of Van Curler's miles' travel, but particularly on the location on Van der Donck's map of Carcnay directly north of a small lake now in the town of Duane, Schenectady County. Van der Donck's map locations are merely approximative, however, and of no other value tihan as showing that the places existed. On an …

The stream came into notice particularly after 1693-4, when the Tortoise tribe retreated from Caughnawaga and located their principal town on the west side of the stream a short distance south of its junction with the Mohawk, taking with them their ancient title of "The First Mohawk Castle," and where its location became known by the name of Ti-onondar-aga andTi-onouta-ogcn …

He was otherwise known by the title, "He is the j^reat wood-drift," Ti-onondar=aga and Tiononta-ogen are forms of the name by which the "First Alohawk Castle" was located after the Tortoise tribe was driven by the French from Caugfhnawaga in 1693. The castle was located on the zvcst side and near the mouth of Schohare Creek, as shown by a rough map in Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii …

In the war of the Revolution they professed to be neutral but came to be regarded by the settlers as being composed of spies and informers. So it came about that General Clinton sent out, in 1779, a detachment, captured all the inmates, and seized their stock and property.* There were onl}- four houses -- very good frame buildings -- ^then standing, and on the solicitation of …

Gideon Hawley described it, in 1753, as on the southwest side of the creek "Not far from the place where it discharges its waters into Mohawk River." The place is still known as "Fort Hunter," although the fort and the Indian settlement disappeared years ago. ' A. detachment of one hniulred men, sent out for that purpose, surprised the castle on the 29th of October, 1779 …

Kadarode, of record in 1693 as the name of a tract of land "Lying upon Trinderogues (Schohare) creek, on both sides, made over to John Petersen Mabie by Roode, the Indian, in his life time,^ principal sachem, by and with the consent of the rest of t'he Praying Indian Castle in the Mohawk country" (Land Papers, 61), is further referred to in grant of permission to Mabie, in …

The record name, Kadarode, has obviously lost some letters. Its locative suggests its derivation from Kanitare, •"Lake," and -oktc, "End, side, edge," etc. Van Curler wrote here, in 1635, Canozvarode, the name of a village which he passed while walking on the ice which had frozen over the Mohawk ; it was evidently on the side of the stream. Carcnay or Kaneray, Van der Donck's …

Land Papers, 164.) In other -words the name was that of a place at the mouth of the brook. Near the brook at Auriesville, which takes its name from that of the stream, has been located the Shrine, "Our Lady of Martyrs,'' marking the presumed rite of the Mohawk castle called by Father Jogues Osseruenon, in which he suffered martyrdom in 1646.^ The Indian name, Oghrackie, has no …

Holmes, Chief of the Bureau, wrote me, under date of March 8, 1906, as has been above stated, "The term Osseruenon (or Ossernenon, Asserua, Osserion, Osserrinon) appears to be from the Mohawk dialect of the Iroquoian stock of languages. It signifies, if its English dress gives any approximation to the sound of the original expression, 'At the beaver dam.' " This expert …

As already stated, the "best expert authority" of the Bureau of Ethnology reads Onekagoncka as signifying, "At the junction of the waters," and Osseruefion, in any of its forms, as signifying "At the beaver-dam." Possibly the names might be read differently by a less expert authority, but Oneka certainly means "Water," and Ossera means "Beaverdam." Add the reading by the late …

It is not strictly correct to say that "castles were frequently removed." Villages that were not palisaded may have been frequently changed to new sites, but the evidence is that palisaded towns remained in one place for a number of years unless the tribe occupying was driven out by an enemy or by continued unhealthfulness. as the known history of all the old castles shows …

It was obviously about that time that the tribe, retreating from its enemies, rallied west of Schohare Creek and founded the castle of which we are speaking, and there it remained until it was driven out by the French under De Tracey in 1666, when its occupants gathered together at Caughnawaga on the north side of the Mohawk, where they remained until 1693 when their castle …

It was, presumably, the seat oY a sub-tribe or gens of the Tortoise tribe. Its precise location is not important. A gens or sub-tribe was a family of the original stock more or less numerous from natural increase and intermarriages, and always springing from a single pair -- 'the old, old story of Adam and Eve, the founders of the Hebrews. The sachem or first man of these gens …

Its name appears first in French notation, in Jesuit Relations (1667), Gandaouague} Contemporaneous Dutch scribes wrote it Kaghnuzvaga and Caughnazvaga, and Green'halgh, an English trader, who visited the castle in 1677, wrote it Cahaniaga, and described it as "about a bowshot from the river, doubly stockaded around, with four ports, and twenty-four houses." The most salient …

Caughnawaga is accepted as meaning "At the rapids," more correctly "At the rapid current." It is from the Huron radical Gannazva (Bruyas), for which M. Cuoq wrote in his Lexicon Ohnaivagh, "Swift current," or very nearly the Dutch Kaghnazva; with locative particle -ge or -ga, "At the rapids." It is a generic term and is met of record in several places. As has been noted …

Beauchamp translated the name, "Stone standing out of the water." The meaning, however, seems to be simply, "Standing stone," or an elevated rock. Its location isstated in the patent description as "lying on the west side of the creek." The place is claimed for Fulton County. (See Caughnawaga.) Canagere, written by Van Curler, in 1635, as the name of the "Second Castle" or …

Samuel Kirkland, the noted missionary to the Oneidas, wrote the same word "Kanaohare, or Great Boiling Pot, as it is called by the Six Nations." (Dr. D wight.) The letter /stands for tsi, augmentative, and the radical oharc means "To wash." (Bruyas.) The hole was obviously worn by a round stone or by pebbles, which, moved by the action of the current, literally ' The same word …

Osquage, Ohquage, Otsquage, etc., was written by Van Curler as the name of a village of nine houses situated east of what has been known since 1635 as Osquage or Otsquage Creek. The chief of the village was called "Ognoho, that is Wolf." Megapolensis wrote the same term Okwaho; Van Curler later wrote it Ohquage, and in vocabulary "Okivahohage, wolves," accessorily, "Place of …

Te-onont-ogen, which is probably the most corredt fomi of the name, means "Between two mountains," an intervale or space between, from Te, "two" ; -ononte, "mountain," and -ogen, "between." The same name is met later at the mouth of Schohare Creek. General John S. Clark located this castle at Spraker's Basin, thirteen miles (railroad) ivest of Auriesville and three miles east …

The tribe rebuilt the castle on the north side of the Mohawk under the name of Onondagowa, "A Great Hill." The French destroyed it again in 1693. and the tribe returned to the south side of the river and located on the flat at the mouth of the Nowadaga or Fort Plain Creek, w^iere the government built, in 1710, Fort Hendrick for its protection, and where it became known as the …

Kanendenra, "a hill called by the Indians Kanendenra, otherwise by the Christians Anthony's Nose" -- "to a point on Mohawk River near a htll called by the Indians Kanandenra, and by the Christians Anthony's Nose" -- "to a certain hill called Anthony's Nose, whose point comes into the said river" -- "Kanendahhere, a hill on the south side of the Mohawk, by the Christians lately …

Astenrogen, of record as the name of "the first carrying place," now Little Falls, is from Ostenra, "rock," and ogen, "divisionem" (Bruyas), literally, "Divided or separated rock." The east end of the gorge was the eastern boundmark of what is known as the "German Flats," which was purchased and settled by a part of the Palatine immigrants who had been located on the …

The channel of the stream was very deep and on the subsidence of the ice sheet, which spread over the northern part of the continent, became filled vath drift. The opening in the ridge and the formation of the valley of the Mohawk as now known are studies in the work of creation. The settlements known as the German Flats were on both sides of the river. The one that was on the …

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 Lcnapezvihittnck, "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 …

The West Branch was here known to the Indians as the Namacs-sipu and its equivalent Lamas-scpos, or "Fish River," by Europeans, Fish-Kill, "Because," says an affidavit of 1785, "There was great numbers of Maskunamack (that is Bass) and Ginvam (that is Shad)^ went up that branch at Shokan, and but few or none went up the East [Paghkataghan] Branch." - In the course of time the …

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. The Delaware was the seat of the Lenni-Lenape (o as a in father, e as a in mate -- Lenahpa), or "Original people," …

From their principal seat on the tide-waters of the Delaware, and their jurisdiction on that stream, they became known and are generally met in history as the Delawares. In tribal and subtribal organizations they extended over Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, V'irginia, New Jersey, and New York as far north as the Katskills, speaking dialects radically the same as that of the …

The geographical names which they gave to the hills and streams of their native land are their most remindful memorial. While western New York was Iroquoian, southern New York was Lenni-Lenape or Algonquian. Minisink, now so written and preserved as the name of a town in Orange County, appears primarily, in 1656, on Van der Donck's map, "Minnessinck ofte t' Landt van Bacham," …

The former embraced the mountainous country of the Delaware River above the Forks or junction of the Lehigh Branch; the latter was on Minnisink Plains in New Jersey, about eight miles south of Port Jervis, Orange County. It was obviously known to the Dutch long before Van der Donck wrote the name. It was visited, in 1694, by Arent Schuyler, a credited interpreter, who wrote …

In August, 1663, they asked the Dutch authorities at New Amsterdam, through Oratamy, sachem of the Hackinsacks, "For a small piece of ordnance to use in their fort against the Sinuakas and protect their corn." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 290.) In the blanket deed which the tribe gave in 1758, to their territory in New Jersey they were styled "Minsis, Monseys, or Minnisinks." …

try,' or brieHy, 'Mountaineers.' It is the synthesis of Minthiu, 'To be scattered,' and Aclisin, 'Stone.' according to the best native authority." Apparently from Alin-assin we have Van der Donck's Minn-cssin; with locative -k, -ck, -g, -gh, Minn-essin-ks, "People of the stony country," back-landers or highlanders. Interpretations of less merit have been made. One that is …