USA > West Virginia > Myers' history of West Virginia (1915) Volume II > Part 31
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Ohio River.
All the Indian nations and tribes of the Mississippi Valley and those to the northeastward thereof had names for the Ohio. The Miamis called it Cau-si-sip-i-on-e; the Delawares knew it as the O-h-i-o-ple, the "River of White Caps;" the Shawnees bestowed upon it a name signifying "Eagle River ;" the Wyandots knew it as the Ki-to-no. When La Salle dis- covered it in 1609, the Iroquois nations called it the O-li-gen- si-pen, meaning the "Beautiful River." When the French came to behold it and to admire its enchanting vistas presented by the banks, as scene after scene opened up to view like scrolls of a beautiful panorama, they literally translated the Iroquois name and called it La Belle Riviere-the "Beautiful River," or "How Beautiful the Scene." The English con- tracted the Delaware name to "Oyo." now Ohio, by which this noble river is now known all over the world. The Allegheny River derived its name from the Allegens, the oldest Indian nation of which there is any tradition, and which dwelt upon its banks and far down along the Ohio. For that reason, the name Al-le-ghe-ny was in early days extended to the whole length of the Ohio.
Opequon River.
This is a pretty little river having its source in Frederick County, Virginia, thence flowing across the state line into Berkeley County, West Virginia, and through the eastern part of it to the Potomac, into which it discharges its waters. It retains its Indian name of O-pe-quon, the signification of which is thought to be unknown.
Paint Creek.
This creek is a southern tributary of the Great Kanawha, in Kanawha County. The Delaware Indians called it Ot-to- we, signifying the "Deer Creek." The Miamis knew it as the Mos-coos. The Virginians gave it its present name because the Indians found here an ocherous earth with which they
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marked the trees along their trails over the hills bordering on the Great Kanawha Valley.
Pocatalico River.
A small river. a northern affluent of the Great Kanawha. having its source in Roane County and flowing through Kana- wha into Putnam, where it empties into that river. It retains its Indian name Po-ca-tal-i-co. signifying "River of Fat Doc." The name as now used is usually contracted to Poca.
Pond Creek.
Pond Creek has its source in Wirt County, and flowing thence through the southern part of Wood, falls into the Ohio River about twenty miles below Parkersburg. It is the Law- wel-la-a-con-in Creek of the Indians.
Potomac River.
Captain John Smith, the "Father of Virginia," when ex- ploring Chesapeake Bay. in 1608, entered the mouth of this great river and proceeded up it a short distance. Ile. how- ever. evidently learned something from the Indians of its upper course, for on his map of Virginia published in London in 1612. the North and South branches appear in rough and imperfect outline. That part of the river below. or east of the Blue Ridge, was known to the Indians as the Qui-o-riough. Its sig. nification is believed to be unknown. That portion of the river above or to the westward of the Blue Ridge was called by the Indians Po-to-mac, signifying the "Place of the Burning Pine." Forest fires often swept the pine clad hills around its upper tributaries : hence the name which it still bears.
Sandy Creek.
Sandy Creek has its source in the eastern part of Jackson County, through which it flows and enters the Ohio River at the town of Ravenswood. It is the Mol chu con ic kon of the Indians.
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Shenandoah River.
This river drains the beautiful and fertile Shenandoah Valley to which it gives a name, and, skirting the western base of the Blue Ridge, flows through Jefferson County, and unites with the Potomac at historic Harper's Ferry. From the sum- mit of the Blue Ridge Governor Spottswood and party, in 1716, descended to its banks and bestowed upon it the name of Euphrates. But this was not to last. The Indian name was Shen-an-do-ah, meaning "River of the Stars." From the crest of the mountain barrier at whose base it flows, the Red Men looked down and in its transparent waters saw reflected the twinkling stars overhead. Hence the name with its pretty signification. It will be the Shenandoah as long as its waters continue to flow.
South Branch of the Potomac.
A beautiful river in the valley in which much interesting pioneer history was made during the French and Indian War. Having its source in Highland County, Virginia, it has a northeasterly course into West Virginia ; thence through Pen- dleton, Grant, Hardy and Hampshire Counties, and then unites with the North Branch to form the Potomac River. It lost its Indian name-that of Wap-po-tom-i-ca, meaning the "River of Wild Geese"-more than a hundred years ago, and since then has been known to white men as the South Branch of the Potomac.
Tug River.
This river is the North Fork or branch of the Big Sandy River, and as such, in connection with that stream, bore the Indian name of To-te-ry or To-ter-as, but this it lost long ago. Being for many miles the boundary line between West Vir- ginia and Kentucky, it is a stream of historic importance. Whence came the name of Tug River-that which it now bears? In 1756, the French and Indian War was in progress and the authorities of Virginia sent a body of troops against
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the Shawnee towns on the Ohio, that nation being then in alliance with France. This movement was known as the "Sandy Creek Voyage," but usually referred to as the "Big Sandy Expedition." The troops participating therein, about three hundred and fifty, commanded by Major Andrew Lewis. rendezvoused at Fort Frederick on the New River, and in mid winter, marched westward and reached the Tug River at the mouth of Dry Fork the site of the present laeger station on the Norfolk & Western railroad, now in MeDowell County. Ilere the supplies brought overland were placed in canoes pre- pared for the purpose, and the descent of the river begun. A short distance below, the canoes entered the rapids so long known as the "Roughs of Tug," and for three days the oars- men battled with the rushing icy waters. Here for three days they tugged at the oars; it was nothing but tug, tug, tug, all the while, until some of the tuggers who tugged so long and so faithfully, almost lost their lives, and did love the canoes and all the army supplies. During these days of tugging at the oars, the troops advanced but a short distance down the stream, and when they learned that all the provisions and other supplies were lost they disbanded, marched off by companies. and returned to their homes. Captain William Preston and Thomas Morton, both being on the expedition, kept journals of daily incidents. These have been preserved, and with Sparks' "Writings of Washington" and the "Dinwiddie Pa- pers." constitute the chief sources of the history of this cx- pedition. The men engaged therein never forgot the river where they tugged at the oars so long, and it became Tug River.
Seventy-three years thereafter, in 1829, Hugh Paul Taylor. without having access to any of the foregoing sources of in- formation, and when every man engaged on the expedition was dead, wrote an account of it, which was published in the Fin- castle (Va.) Mirror, and copied into the Staunton Spectator. In this he stated that this little army in that wilderness region continued its march to the Ohio River, and that on returning. when the troops were suffering from hunger, they cut into strips or tugs the hides of two buffaloes which they had killed going down, and roasted them in the fame of a burning spring
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on Big Sandy River. Having done this, they ate them and called the stream Tug River. Unfortunately for this state- ment of Taylor's, the army was never within a hundred miles of the Ohio River, nor was it within sixty miles of the so-called burning spring of which he wrote.
Tuscarora Creek.
This is a stream flowing through the town of Martinsburg, Berkeley County, and discharging its waters into the Potomac. It derives its name from the Tuscarora Indians, who dwelt along its banks. Kercheval, the author of the "History of the Valley." p. 58, quotes the statement of Benjamin Beeson, a highly respectable Quaker, to the effect that when he first knew this region, the Tuscarora Indians were residing on this creek.
Wheeling Creek.
Wheeling Creek flows in through Ohio County and dis- charges its waters into the Ohio at the city of Wheeling. It retains its Delaware Indian name, in which we have "Weel." a human head, and "ung," a place, meaning literally the "Place of the Head." Some have it Wie, a head. and lung or lunk. a place, signifying the "Place of a Head." This is where a pris- oner was killed and his head placed upon a pole as a warning to other persons. Captain de Celoron, commandant of the French expedition which buried the leaden plates along the Ohio, in 1749, called this creek the Riviere Kanononara.
CHAPTER XL.
THE AMERICAN INDIAN.
As to what race of people first inhabited West Virginia, or any other part of North America for that matter, it will probably never be known. That a more enlightened race pre- ceded the Indians, there can be no reasonable doubt : and it is equally certain that the Indian tribes who occupied the New World when Columbus discovered it in 192, were not near relatives, if indeed they were descendants at all, of the Mound Builders, who, many centuries ago, occupied a large portion of this continent. as is evidenced by the discovery of relics of peculiar workmanship in numerous ruined structures and mounds at various places on this continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Lakes to the Gulf. These ancient mounds are to be seen in nearly every county in West Vir- ginia, an account of which is given in another chapter in this book.
Another proof that these mounds were not the work of Indians is the fact that a god image, or an idol, made of copper of most excellent workmanship, was found deeply buried in a mound within the present limits of New Martinsville. Wetzel County. This could not have been a product from the hand of a savage, nor were the savages worshippers of idols ; and so far as history shows, the Indians knew no more concerning the work of the mound-builders than we do.
The Indians were divided into various tribes, each tribe having its distinctive name and its own simple, unwritten form of government, whose chief, in a manner, exercised the func- tions of governor over his particular tribe, cach holding by treaty, force or otherwise a certain section of country for hunt- ing grounds and habitation.
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History of West Virginia
At the time of the carly settlements by the whites in this country, there were the Pequods and Narragansetts, in New England; the Six Nations, in Pennsylvania and New York; the Yamasces, Catawbas, Seminoles, Creeks, and Cherokees, in Tennessee ; the Powhatans, in Virginia; the Miamis, Pota- wamies and numerous other tribes, known and unknown, at that time, west of the Ohio River. Of the tribes still living in the United States are the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Six Nations, Saint Regis, Sioux, Com- manches, Apaches, and a few others.
The report of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs shows the following Indian population by states for the year 1900:
Arizona
40,189
North Carolina
1,436
California
11,431
North Dakota
8,276
Colorado
995
Oklahoma
13,926
Florida
575
Oregon
4,063
Idaho
3,557
South Dakota
19,212
Indian Territory
86,265
Texas
290
Jowa
385
Utah
2,115
Kansas
1,211
Washington
9,827
Michigan
7,557
Wisconsin
10,726
Minnesota
8,952
Wyoming
1,642
Montana
10,070
Miscellaneous
849
Nebraska
3,854
New Mexico
0,480
Total
270,544
New York
5.334
In 1910 the Indians had increased in population in the United States, exclusive of Alaska, to about 305,000.
Of the above, 98,199 wore citizen's dress and 32,846 wore a mixture of Indian and civilized clothing.
Those who could read numbered 46,144, and 57,975 could carry on an ordinary conversation in English.
The Indian population increased about 30,000 between 1890 and 1900.
The total Indian population of the United States, exclu- sive of Alaska, but including 32,567 counted in the general census, being the taxed or taxable Indians, numbers 251.355.
The following table gives the division of the Indians in detail :
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History of West Virginia
Indians on reservations or at school, under control of the Indian office (not taxed or taxable ) . ........ 133,382
Indians incidentally under the Indian office, and self- supporting :
The five civilized tribes :
Cherokees 24.599
Chickasaws 7.182
Choctaw's
14,397
Creeks
14,632
Seminoles 2.501
Total
08,371 68,371
Pueblos of New Mexico
8,278
Six Nations, Saint Regis and other Indians of New York . 2,855 5,301
Eastern Cherokees of North Carolina
Indians taxed or taxable, and self-sustaining citizens, counted in the general census (98 percent not on reservations ) 32.567
Indians under control of the War Depart .. prisoners of war (Apaches at Mount Vernon Barracks ) .
384
Indians in State or Territorial prison- 184
Total 251.355
It will be noticed from the foregoing that out of a popu- lation of 270.544 Indians 40.144, or approximately one out of every six, could read, while 57.975 could "carry on an ordinary conversation in English." This is certainly a splendid show- ing for a race of people who, but a little over one hundred years ago, were generally regarded as savages.
Anent the much talked-of race suicide among the Indians. Captain J. MeA. Webster, superintendent of Indian reserva- tions in Washington, has this to say:
"Indian girls on the reservations in the State of Wash- ington are attractive in the eyes of young ranchmen, and many of them are joining in matrimony and in the fight against race suicide.
"Uncle Sam has placed a premium on Indian babies, and the result is there has been a large increase in the population on the reservations in Washington the last few years. The largest number of births is reported on the Colville reservation. north of Spokane, which contains 1.400,000 acres of land.
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History of West Virginia
"Every Indian baby is entitled to 80 acres of agricultural land, or if the land in the reservation is not agricultural, he or she is entitled to 160 acres. This right can not be alienated after the child is registered, and in case of his death, even though only a few days old, the land which would be allotted to the child goes to the parents as the heirs.
"One hundred and sixty acres of land is a substantial and attractive bounty for bringing a child into the world, and the Indians on the unallotted reservations are not slow in taking advantage of it.
"General Indian Question.
"The government of the United States did not intend pri- marily to encourage the raising of children, but the situation has developed as the result of the general Indian question. The Indians are to receive their final allotments of land. In most reservations in the country these allotments have been made, but the work still has to be done on the Colville reser- vation.
"The law provides that every Indian, regardless of age. is entitled to a share of the land on the reservation to which he belongs. It is only necessary for the child to be born, and registered on the nation's books, to make sure of getting his share of land.
"Before the land on the Spokane reservation was appor- tioned every Indian that had any claim to membership in the tribe moved his residence to the reserve, and secured his ap- portionment, and it was noticed at the time that births had increased at a tremendous rate. As soon as it was announced that the allotments were to be made on the Colville reserva- tion, the same conditions were observed.
"There is this difference, however: The opening of the Colville reservation is to be delayed several years, and conse- quently hundreds of papooses will be brought into the world and each will be a land-owner in its own right.
"If the land in the Colville reservation were apportioned at this time about 200,000 acres of the best would be given to natives. Registration of Indian children may go until such time as the allotments are made, and with a continuation of the present birth rate not many years will pass before there will
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be so many Indians that they will be able to take all the good land on the reservation, and the opening of the reservation will be of no particular value to white settlers."
It has been estimated that the original Indian population east of the Mississippi River was about 200,000, but since the advent of the white man there has been a gradual decrease in pure Indian blood through the inter-marriages with the whites and other races, until today comparatively few of the so-called Indians of the United States are full blood, and some of the carly tribes that once occupied the country cast of the Mississ- ippi have entirely disappeared.
Lawson in 1701 crossed the Carolinas from Charleston to AAlbemarle Sound, meeting in his journey sixteen different tribes. Only two of these tribes have any representatives to- day, the Tuscarora and Catawba. At that time the Tuscarora were estimated at 1,200 warriors. Today all told they num- ber perhaps 700. and probably not one-fourth could make a valid claim to pure blood.
About the time of the first settlement of Carolina the Ca- tawba had 1.500 warriors. They now number altogether hard- ly 100 souls. of whom not more than a dozen are of pure blood.
Furthermore, the Catawba themselves in 1743 represented all that were left of more than twenty broken tribes.
On the plains the decrease has been appalling. The Con- federated Mandau, Minitari and Arikara in 1804 numbered nearly 8,000 souls in eight villages. In 1900 they were 110 in one village. The Osage and Kaw at the previous date were estimated on good authority at 6,300 and 1,300, respectively. In 1900 they numb ered 1,781 and 217, including all mixed bloods. In 1634 the Pawnee numbered 12,000; in 1900, 650. and probably fewer today.
The Tonkawa were estimated at 1,000 in 1805 and now number not over 50. Since 1890 the confederated Kiowa, Comanche and Apache have decreased over 10 per cent. . All that remains of some twenty tribes of the Oregon coast are now gathered upon Siletz reservation to the number of less than 500.
The Aleuts on the North Pacific coast have dwindled within a century from an estimated 25.000 to a present 2,000.
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History of West Virginia
The celebrated Haida, with 39 villages and 7,000 souls in 1840, are now reduced to two villages, with a population of about 600.
Five Civilized Tribes.
The five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory seem to form the exceptions proving the general rule of Indian exter- mination, their number now being apparently as great as at any previous era. It must not be overlooked, however, that these figures are somewhat deceptive, for the reason that the ma- jority of those now enrolled in these tribes are mixed bloods, sometimes with but an infinitesimal proportion of Indian biood. Thus in 1890 the so-called "Cherokee Nation" of 27,000 should include 2,000 adopted whites. 3,000 adopted negroes and about 1,500 Indians of other tribes, while those of full Cherokee blood were estimated at not more than one-fifth of the remainder.
Since then the rolls have been swelled by the compulsory admission of some 7,000 claimants repeatedly repudiated by the government. At the moment the Indian population of the United States is about 305,000.
Other reasons ascribed to the decline of pure blooded Indians in the United States are, that in mental capacity, physical strength and endurance, as well as in vital force to resist or overcome disease, the Indian is far below the white man. This condition is probably partially due to long indo- lent habits and unsanitary conditions on reservations. Of course there are some notable exceptions. Some of the most able men in the various occupations and professions in the United States are full-blooded Indians, mention of some of whom will be made further along.
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History of West Virginia
An Ancient Rite in Modern Days.
(From Leslie's Weekly.)
"Chief Three Bears, of the Blackfeet Indians, holding a tribal council amid the most primitive surroundings near Lake McDermott, Glacier National Park. Civilization seems not to have displaced the primeval racial instincts, passions and customs of these rugged braves, and they are a never-ending source of interest and wonderment to the thousands of tour- ists annually visiting their camping grounds. The Blackfeet are a division of the Algonquins, and they formerly ranged from the Missouri River north to the Saskatchewan along the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. At one time they were very powerful and owned great herds of horses, but about 1840 smallpox broke out among them and carried off so many that the tribe never afterward gave the Government any serious trouble. They now number about 6,000. While they lived upon buffalo and their general culture was about the same as that of the Plains Indians, they practiced a highly developed ceremonial religion in which bundles of sacred objects with long rituals were a special feature. Upon their reservation in Montana they have, in addition to hunting and fishing, suc- cessfully engaged in stock raising, so they are to an extent prepared for the transition to agricultural life. Many of them are wealthy and they are generally an industrious people. They are regarded as the highest type of Indians. Their in- tegrity, fortitude, chastity, and dignity place them above most. if not all, other tribes of savages. The Blackfoot is a frank. simple person, yet he is unusually cunning when the occasion demands. His sense of humor is keen. Some of his customs are comical. For example, a Blackfoot must never meet his mother-in-law. Should he ever happen to do so, the tribal customs demand that he shall make her a handsome gift. Naturally, therefore, the thrifty Blackfoot always endeavors to avoid his wife's mother. The last great dance of this people was a ceremony not soon to be forgotten."
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History of West Virginia
Indian Rally at Columbus, October, 1912.
A conference of the Society of American Indians was held at Columbus, Ohio, from October 2nd to 7th. 1912.
The society is composed entirely of men and women of Indian blood, and this was their second gathering.
Their relation to American citizenship is now quite ditfer- ent from what it was when white men first came to this coun- try. They have long since given up their nomadic life. Many of them have abandoned their old communal ideas, and hoki property as individuals instead of clans and tribes.
The objects of the society which held this conference, as set forth in its call, are as follows :
"To promote the good citizenship of the Indians of this country, to help in all progressive movements to this end, and to emulate the sturdy characteristics of the North American Indian, especially his honesty and patriotism. To promote all efforts looking to the advancement of the Indian in enlighten- ment which leave him free, as a man. to develop according to the natural laws of social evolution."
"Manifestly," says Dr. Charles M. Harvey. in Leslie's Weekly. "a creed of this sort must be intended for a different order of being from that of which we used to read in Cooper, Emerson Bennett, Captain Mayne Reid. Edward S. Ellis and the other writers who depicted the wild Indian of the forest, prairie and mountain. That sort of an Indian has become pretty nearly extinct. The Indians who met at Columbus preserve the physical and moral vigor of their race, supple- mented with an education and an intellectual and manual training which make them valuable members of the commu- nity. Among them are many graduates of Carlisle and other Indian schools, and also of white universities of the East and West. Their members represent practically all of the call- ings-law, literature, medicine, journalism, the ministry. banking, agriculture, pedagogy, mining, manufacturing, fruit and stock raising and the rest of the employments of a high civilization. The addresses delivered covered a wide range of topics of general interest.
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History of West Virginia
"Men of Indian blood are prominent in most of the great fields of activity. Three men-Senator Owen of Oklahoma, Senator Curtis of Kansas, and Rrepresentative Carter of Oklahoma-are in Congress. Dr. Sherman Coolidge, a well- known Episcopalian clergyman, a full-blooded Araphoe, born in a buffalo-hide tepee in the Rocky Mountains, is president of the society, and among its other members are Dr. Charles A. Eastman, writer and Chautaqua lecturer, a Sioux; Dr. Carlos Montezuma, a Chicago physician, an Apache; Charles E. Dagnett, a Quapaw ; Miss Laura M. Cornelius, an Oneida. The Osages, of Oklahoma, are the richest people on the globe, with a per capita wealth of over $5,000, which is more than three times that of the average person of the 95,000,000 people of the United States.
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