The Mohawk River
Kahoos,Kahoes, Cohoes, Co'os,forms of the familiar name of the falls of the Mohawk River at the junction of that stream with Hudson's River, has had several interpretations based on the presumption that it is from the Mohawk-Iroquoian dialect, but none that have been satisfactory to students of that dialect, nor any that have not been purely conjectural. One writer has read it: "FromKaho,a boat or ship," commemorative of Hudson's advent at Half-Moon Point in 1609. Beauchamp repeated from Morgan: "A shipwrecked canoe," and, in another connection: "FromKaho,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,Gä-hŏ-oose(in whichärepresents the Italianaas in father), with the signification of 'ship-wrecked canoe.' This, I presume, is correct, though I cannot analize the word to my satisfaction." The obvious reason for this uncertainty is that the name isnotMohawk-Iroquoian, but an early Dutch orthography of the Algonquian genericKoowa,"Pine";Koaaés,"Small pine," or "Small pine trees"; written with locativeit,"Place of small pine trees"; now applied to a small island. On the Connecticut River this generic is met inCo'osandCo'hos.The "Upper Co-hos Interval" on that stream (Sauthier's map) [FN-1] was a tract of low small pine trees, between the hills and the river, corresponding with the topography at the falls on the Hudson. 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 Mohawk district, but the fact is precisely the reverse. The Hudson, on both sides, was held by Algonquian-Mahicans when the Dutch located at Albany, and for some years later, and the Dutch no doubt received the name from them, as they did others. What few Mohawk names are met in this district are of later introduction. It may be noted that there is no element in the name in any dialect which refers to falls. [FN-2] When the falls were first known they were regarded as the most wonderful in the world, and even as late as 1680 they were so called by visitors. In early days the stream poured a flood nine-hundred feet wide and eight feet deep over a rocky declivity of seventy-eight feet, of which forty feet was perpendicular, in addition to which are the rapids above and below. 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 falls the water separates in four branches or "Sprouts," the northerly and the southerly one reaching the Hudson five miles apart, at Waterford and West Troy respectively.
[FN-1] "L. Intervale-Cowass or Kohas (Coas) meadows." (Pownal's Map.)
[FN-2] The name having been submitted to the Bureau of Ethnology for interpretation, the late Prof. J. W. Powell, Chief, wrote me, as the opinion of himself and his co-laborers: "The name is unquestionably from the AlgonquianKoowa."
Wathoiack,of record as the name of "The Great Rift above Kahoes Falls" (Cal. Land Papers, 134, etc.) is also writtenWathojax, D'Wathoiack,andDeWathojaaks,means, substantially, what it describes, a rift or rapid. The cis-locativeDelocates a place "On this side of the rapid," or the side toward the speaker. 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 fromKanistagionne,primarily located on the north side of the Mohawk,Canastagiowane(1667) being the oldest form of record. The locative description reads: "Lying at a place calledNeastegaione,. . . known by the name ofKanistegaione." West of Schenectady the Mohawk is a succession of rapids. At or below Schenectady it makes a bend to the northeast in the form of a crescent, around which the water flows in a sluggish current. At the north point of the crescent was, and probably is a place called by the Dutch the Aal-plaat (Eel-place), marked on maps by a small stream from the north which still bears the name, and which formed the eastern boundmark of the Schenectady Patent. In Barber's collection it is stated that there was an Indian village here calledCanastagaones,or "People of the Eel-place." Naturally there would 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 1715. (Cal. Land Papers.) The name is fromKeantsica,"Fish," of the larger kind, and-gionni,"Long"—tsi,"Very long"—constructively, "The Long-fish place," the Aal-plaat, or Eel-place, of the Dutch. The suggestion by Pearson (Hist. Schenectady) that the name "was properly that of the flat on the north side of the river," is untenable from the name itself. The reading by the late Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan: "FromOneasti,'Maize,' andCouane,'Great'—'Great maize field'"—is also erroneous. The generic name for the field or flat wasShenondohawah,compressed by the Dutch toSkonowa.In the vicinity of the Aal-plaat was the ancient crossing-place of the path from Fort Orange to the Mohawk castles, in early days regarded as the "Best" as it was the "Most traveled." The path continued north from the crossing as well as west to the castles.
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: "The name means simply, 'beyond the pines.' fromoneghta(orskaneghet), 'pine,' andadiorati,a prepositional suffix (if such an expression may be allowed), meaning 'beyond,' or 'on the other side of.' The suffix is derived fromskati,side. It was equally applicable to Albany or Schenectady, both being reached from the Mohawk castles by passing through openings in the pine forest." Mr. Hale's interpretation, from the standpoint of a Mohawk term, is exhaustive and no doubt correct, and the correctness of the preceding interpretations may be admitted from the combinations which may have been employed to determine the object of whichaskatiwas "one side," as in "Skannátati,de un coste du village," or the end of, as in "Skannhahati,a l'autre bout de la cabane" (Bruyas). The word does not appear to mean "beyond," but one side or one end of anything. 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 MohawkSkannatatiwith the original DutchSchaenhecstede,the primary application of which is amply sustained by official record, while the Mohawk term is without standing in that connection, or later except as a corrupt Mohawk-Dutch [FN-1] substitution. The facts of primary application may be briefly stated. The deed from the Mohawk owners of the Schenectady flats, in 1661, reads: "A certain parcel of land called in Dutch the Groote Vlachte, lying behind Fort Orange, between the same and the Mohawk country called in IndianSkonowe."Skonoweis the equivalent of the Dutch "great flat," and nothing more. Its Mohawk equivalent is written on the sectionShenondohawah,which the Dutch reduced toSkonowe.(See Shannondhoi.) Van der Donck wrote on his map (1656), in pure Dutch,Schoon Vlaack Land,or "Fine flat land." It was not continued in application to the Dutch settlement, the proprietors of which immediately (1661) gave to it the Dutch nameSchaenechstede,"as the town came to be called." (Munsell's Annals of Albany, ii, 49, 52; Brodhead's Hist. N. Y., i, 691.) Under that name the tract was surveyed (1664), and it has remained apparent in the synthesis of the many corrupt forms in which it is of record.Schaenechstedeis a clear orthographic pronunciation of the DutchSchoonehetstede,signifying, literally, "The beautiful town." The syllablehetis properlyhek,"fence, rail, gate," etc., and in this connection indicates an enclosed or palisaded town. In 1680,Schaenschentendeelappears—a pronunciation ofSchoonehettendal,"Beautiful valley," or the equivalent of the GermanSchooneseckthal,"Beautiful corner or turn of a valley." The German Labadists, Jasper Bankers and Peter Sluyter, made no mistake in their recognition of the name when they wroteSchoon-echten-deelin their Journal in 1679-80, describing the town as a square set off by palisades. [FN-2] Unfortunately for the Dutch name it was conferred and came into use during the period of the transition of the province from the Dutch to the English, with the probability of its conversion to Mohawk-Dutch, as already noted. 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 Schenectady, 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 without anterior or subsequent record, though possibly traditional, and it may be added that it was never the name of Albany, nor is there record that there ever was a Mohawk village "on the site of the present city of Albany," nor anywhere near it. The Mohawks did go there to trade and on business with the government and occupied temporary encampments probably. The occupants primarily were Mahicans. The evolution of the name from the original Dutch to its present form may be readily traced in the channels through which it has passed. Even though clouded by traditional and theoretical rendering, the truth of history will ever rest inSchoonehetstede(Schaenechstede) and in the interpretation which it was designed to express by the intelligent men who conferred it. 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 nine miles (English) above the falls called Cahoes" (1792).
[FN-1] A considerable number of the early settlers had Indian wives. (Dominie Megapolensis wrote: "The Dutch are continually running after the Mohawk women.") The children, growing up with Indian relatives, among the tribes and with men speaking so great a variety of tongues, built up a patois of their own, the "Mohawk-Dutch," many words in it defying the dictionaries of the schools. Many words are untranslatable save by the context. (Hist. Schenectady Patent, 388.)
[FN-2] Memoirs Long Island Hist. Soc, i, 315.
ShannondhoiandShenondohawahare record forms of the name of a section of Saratoga County now embraced in Clifton Park, Half-Moon, etc. It is a sandy plain running west from the clay bluffs on the Hudson to the foot of the mountain, and extends across the Mohawk into Schenectady County. The name is generic Iroquois, signifying "Great plain," and as such was their name for Wyoming, Pa., where it is writtenSchahandoanah(Col. Hist. N. Y., vi, 48), andSkehandowana(Reichel). Scanandanani, Schenondehowe, Skenandoah, and Shanandoah, are among other forms met in application. Skonowe is followed on Van der Donck's map of 1656, by the Dutch legendSchoon Vlaack Land,literally, "Fine, flat land," and for all these years 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 wordKahenta(orKahenda), meaning 'plain'—frequently abridged toKenta(orKenda)—with the nominal prefixSand the augmentative suffixowa(orowana)." "The great flat or plain in Pennsylvania was called, in the Minsi dialect, 'M'chewomink, at (or on) the great plain.' From this word we have the modern name Wyoming. The Iroquois word for this flat wasSkahentowane,'Great meadow (or plain),' a term which was applied also to extensive meadows in other localities and became corrupted to Shenandoah." (Gerard.)
Quaquarionu,of record, Calendar Land Papers, p. 6: "Bounds of a tract of land above Schenectady purchased of the Mohawk Indians, extending from Schenectady three miles westward, along both sides of the river, ending at Quaquarionu,where the last Mohawk castle stands." The deed of same date (1672) reads: "The lands lying near the town of Schenhectady within three Dutch miles in compass on both sides of the river westward, which ends at Kinaquariones, where the last battle was between the Mohawks and the North Indians." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 465.)Canaquarioenyis the orthography in another deed. In Pearson's History of Schenectady: "Lands lying near the town of Schonnhectade 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 battle "In a place that was precipitous, . . . about eight leagues [French] east of Gandauague" (Caughnawaga), or about sixteen miles English, and modern authorities have added, "A steep rocky hill on the north side of the Mohawk, just west of Hoffman's Ferry, now called Towareoune Hill, east of Chucktanunda Creek, a stream which is supposed to have taken its name from the overhanging rocks of the hill." [FN] Dr. Beauchamp, on the authority of Albert Cusick, an educated Tuscarorian, translated: "Kinaquarioune,'She arrow-maker,' the name of a person who resided there." Rev. Isaac Bearfoot, an educated Onondagian, especially instructed in the Mohawk dialect, and an educator on the Canada Reservation, supplied to W. Max Reid of Amsterdam, N. Y., the reading: "Ki-na-qua-ri-one, 'He killed the Bear,' or, the place where the Bears die, or any place of death. It seems to have been used to denote the place of the last great battle with the Mahicans." The battle referred to occurred on the 18th of August, 1669. An account of it is given in Jesuit Relations, iii, 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 subsequently sustained until the war of the Revolution, when the Mahicans united with the revolutionists.
[FN] In a deed of 1685 is the entry: "Opposite a place called Jucktumunda, that is ye stone houses, being a hollow rock on ye river bank where ye Indians generally lie under when they travel."
Onekee-dsi-enosis of record in a deed of land purchased by one Abraham Cuyler of Albany, in 1714, "from the native owners of the land at Schohare, on the west side of Schohare creek, beginning on the north by a stone mountain called by the Indians Onekeedsienos." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 110.) The name is probably an equivalent of Bruyas'Onueja-tsi-entos,a composition fromOnne'ja,"Stone";tsiordsi,augmentative, "Very hard," such as stones used for making hatchets, axes, etc., andentos,plural inflection—"very hard stones," or "where there are hard stones." The location has been claimed for Flint Hill at Klein, Montgomery County, which, it is said, the name correctly describes. Positive identification, however, can only be made from the lines of the survey of Cuyler's purchase. It has also been claimed that the Mohawk castle calledOnekagonckaby Van Curler in 1635, and theOsseruenonof 1642, was located at Klein, about eight miles east of Schohare Creek. 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 ofCarenaydirectly 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 than as showing that the places existed. On an ancient map reprinted by the War Department at Washington, the lake and the castle are both located east of Schenectady. The old maps are from traders' descriptions in general terms.
Onuntadass,Onuntasasha,etc., "six miles west from Schoharie between the mountains of Schoharie and the hill called by the Indians Onuntadass" (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers), describes a hill or mountain—Ononté—with adjective terminationesorese,meaning "long" or "high."Jonondese,"It is a high hill." The hill has not been located. The name could be applied to any long or high hill.
Schoharie,now so written as the name of a creek and of a county and town, would properly be written without thei. 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 ofTi-onondar-agaandTi-ononta-ogen;but later from the location on the creek about sixteen miles above its mouth of what was known in modern times as "The Third Mohawk Castle," more frequently called "The Schohare Castle," a mixed aggregation of Mohawks and Tuscaroras who had been converted by the Jesuit missionaries and persuaded to remove to Canada, but subsequently induced to return. "A few emigrants at Schohare," wrote Sir William Johnson in 1763. In the same district was also gathered a settlement of Mahicans and other Algonquian emigrants. From the elements which were gathered in both settlements came what were, long known as the Schohare Indians. The early record name of the creek,To-was-sho'hare,was rendered for me by Mr. J. B. N. Hewitt, of the Bureau of Ethnology,T-yoc-skoⁿ-hà-re,"An obstruction by drift wood." [FN] In Colonial History, "Skohere, the Bear," means that the chief so called was of the Bear tribe. He was otherwise known by the title, "He is the great wood-drift."
[FN] "Schoharie, according to Brant, is an Indian word signifying drift or flood-wood, the creek of that name running at the foot of a steep precipice for many miles, from which it collected great quantities of wood." (Spofford's Gazetteer.)
Ti-onondar-agaandTiononta-ogenare forms of the name by which the "First Mohawk Castle" was located after the Tortoise tribe was driven by the French from Caughnawaga in 1693. The castle was located on thewestside and near the mouth of Schohare Creek, as shown by a rough map in Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 902, and also by a French Itinerary in 1757, in the same work, Vol. i, 526. [FN-1] For the protection of the settlement, the government erected, in 1710, what was known as Fort Hunter, by which name the place is still known. The settlement was ruled over for a number of years by "Little Abraham," brother of the Great King Hendrick of the "Upper Mohawk Castle," at Canajohare. Its occupants were especially classed as "Praying Maquas," and had a chapel and a bell and a priest of the Church of England. 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. [FN-2] There were only four houses—very good frame buildings—then standing, and on the solicitation of settlers, who had been made houseless in the Brant and Johnson raids, they were given to them. It was the last Mohawk castle to disappear from the valley proper.
Ti-onondar-ágaandTe-ononte-ógenare related terms but are not precisely of the same meaning. The first has the locative particleke,oracu, as Zeisberger wrote it, and the second,ógen,means "A space between," or "between two mountains," an intervale, or valley, a very proper name for Schohare Valley. It is a generic composition and was also employed in connection with the "Upper (Third) Mohawk Castle" (1635-'66).
[FN-1] The settlement included "Some thirty cabins of Mohawk Indians" in 1757. as stated in the French Itinerary referred to, Rev. 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.
[FN-2] A detachment of one hundred men, sent out for that purpose, surprised the castle on the 29th of October, 1779, making prisoners of "Every Indian inmate." The houseless settlers took possession of the four houses and of all the stock, grain and furniture of the tribe. The tribe made claim for restitution on the ground of neutrality, which the settlers denied. They had come to hate the very name of Mohawk.
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 byRoode,the Indian, in his life time, [FN] principal sachem, by and with the consent of the rest of the Praying Indian Castle in the Mohawk country" (Land Papers, 61), is further referred to in grant of permission to Mabie, in 1715, to purchase additional land "known as Kadarode," on theeastside of the creek, and also lands "adjoining" his lands on thewestside of the stream. (Ib. 118.) By the DeWitt map of survey of 1790, Mabie's entire purchase extended east from the mouth of Aurie's Creek to a point on the east side of Schohare Creek, a distance of about four miles, the territory covering the presumed site of the early Mohawk castle called by different writers from names which they had heard spoken, Onekagoncka, Caneray, Osseruenon, and Oneugioure, now the site of the Shrine, "Our Lady of Martyrs." The Mohawk River, west of the long rapids, above and including the mouth of Schohare Creek, flows "in a broad, dark stream, with no apparent current," giving it the appearance of a lake—"a long stretch of still water in a river." The section was much favored by the Tortoise tribe, whose castle in 1635 and again in 1693-4 was seated upon it. The record name,Kadarode,has obviously lost some letters. Its locative suggests its derivation fromKanitare,"Lake," and-okte, "End, side, edge," etc. Van Curler wrote here, in 1635,Canowarode,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.CarenayorKaneray,Van der Donck's name of the castle, may easily have been fromKanitare.The lettersdandtare equivalent sounds in the Mohawk tongue. The aspiratekwas frequently dropped by European scribes; it does not represent a radical element. The several record names which are met here is a point of interest to students.
[FN]Roodewas living in 1683. An additional name was given to him in a Schenectady patent of that year, indicating that the name by which he was generally known was from his place of residence. He could easily have been a sachem in 1635.
Oghrackee,Orachkee, Oghrackie,orthographies of the record name of what is now known as Aurie's Creek, appear in connection with land patented to John Scott, 1722. In the survey of the patent by Cadwallader Colden, in the same year, the description reads: "On the south side of Mohawk's river, about two miles above Fort Hunter, . . . beginning at a certain brook called by the Indians Oghrackie, otherwise known as Arie's creek, where it falls into Maquas river." (N. Y. 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 site of the Mohawk castle called by Father JoguesOsserueñon,in which he suffered martyrdom in 1646. [FN] The Indian name,Oghrackie,has no meaning as it stands; some part of it was probably lost by mishearing. The digraphghis not a radical element in Mohawk speech; it is frequently dropped, as inOrachkee,one of the forms of the name here. Omitting it from Colden'sOghrackie,and inserting the particleseorsa,yieldsOsarake,"At the beaver dam," fromOsara,"Beaver dam," and locative participleke,"At." (Hale.) This interpretation is confirmed, substantially, by the Bureau of Ethnology in an interpretation ofOsseruenonwhich Father Jogues gave as that of the castle. W. H. Holmes, Chief of the Bureau, wrote me, under date of March 8, 1906, as has been above stated, "The termOsserueñon(orOsserneñon, 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 testimony has its value in the force which it gives to the conclusion that the castle in which Father Jogues suffered was at or near Aurie's Creek. The relation between Megapolensis'Assarueand Jogues'sOsseruis readily seen by changing the initialAin the former toO.
Aurie's,the present name of the stream, otherwise writtenArie's,is Dutch forAdrianorAdrianus(Latin) "Of or pertaining to the sea." It is suggestive of the nameAdriochten,written by Van Curler as that of the ruling sachem of the castle which he visited and calledOnekagonckain 1635. The only tangible fact, however, is that the stream took its present name from Aurie, a ruling sachem who resided on or near it.
In this connection the several names by which the castle was called, viz:Onekagoncka, CarenayorCaneray, Osserueñon, Assarue,andOneugiouré,may be again referred to. As already stated, the "best expert authority" of the Bureau of Ethnology readsOnekagonckaas signifying, "At the junction of the waters," andOsserueñon,in any of its forms, as signifying "At the beaver-dam." Possibly the names might be read differently by a less expert authority, butOnekacertainly means "Water," andOsserameans "Beaver-dam." Add the reading by the late Horatio Hale ofOghracke,"At the beaver-dam," and the locative chain is complete at the mouth of Aurie's Creek (Oghracke).Tribally,the names referred to one and the same castle, as has been noted, and the evidence seems to be clear that the location was the same. There is no evidence whatever that any other than one and the same place was occupied by the "first castle" between the years 1635 and 1667. 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; nor were they ever removed to any considerable distance from their original sites.
Van Curler's description of the castle has been quoted. He did not say that it was palisaded, but he did call it a "fort," which means the same thing. Rev. Megapolensis wrote, in 1644: "These [the Tortoise tribe] have built a fort of palisades and call their castleAssarue." It was not an old castle when Van Curler visited it in 1635, or when Father Jogues was a prisoner in it in 1642, but in its then short existence it had had an incident in the wars between the Mohawks and the Mahicans of which there is no mention in our written histories. On his return trip Van Curler wrote that after leavingOnekagonckaand walking about "two miles," or about six English miles, his guide pointed to a high hill on which the immediately preceding castle of the tribe had stood and from which it had been driven by the Mahicans "nine years" previously,i. e.in 1627, when the war was raging between the Mohawks and the Mahicans of which Wassenaer wrote. 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 was again destroyed by the French, and the tribe found a resting place on the west side of the mouth of Schohare Creek. The remarkable episode in the early history of the castle, the torture and murder of Father Jogues in 1646, is available in many publications. The location in Brodhead's and other histories of the castle in which he suffered as at Caughnawaga, is now known to be erroneous. Caughnawaga was not occupied by the tribal castle until over twenty years later.
[FN] The site of the Shrine was approved by the Society of Jesus mainly on examinations and measurements made by General John S. Clark, the locally eminent antiquarian of Auburn, N. Y., who gave the most conscientious attention to the work of investigation. The data supplied by Van Curler's Journal, which he did not have before him, may suggest corrections in some of his locations.
Senatsycrossy,written by Van Curler, in 1635, as the name of a Mohawk Village west ofCanowarode,seems to have been in the vicinity of Fultonville, where tradition has always located one, but where General John S. Clark asserts that there never was one. It may not have remained at the place named for a number of years. Villages that were not palisaded were sometimes removed in a single night. Van Curler described it as a village of twelve houses. It was, presumably, the seat of 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 was never a ruler of the tribe proper. They did sign deeds for possessions which were admitted to be their own, but never a treaty on the part of the nation.
Caughnawaga,probably the best known of the Mohawk castles of what may be called the middle era (1667-93), and the immediate successor ofOnekagonckaof 1635, was located on the north side of the Mohawk, on the edge of a hill, near the river, half a mile west of the mouth of Cayuadutta Creek, in the present village of Fonda. The hill on which it was built is now known as Kaneagah, writes Mr. W. Max Read of Amsterdam. Its name appears first in French notation, in Jesuit Relations (1667),Gandaouagué.[FN] Contemporaneous Dutch scribes wrote itKaghnawagaandCaughnawaga,and Greenhalgh, an English trader, who visited the castle in 1677, wrote itCahaniaga,and described it as "about a bowshot from the river, doubly stockaded around, with four ports, and twenty-four houses." The most salient points in its history are in connection with its wars with the French and with the labors of the Jesuit missionaries, who, after the murder of Father Jogues and the destruction of the castle in which he suffered and the peace of 1667, were very successful, so much so that in 1671 the occupants of the castle erected in its public square a Cross, and a year later a very large number of the tribe under the lead of the famous warrior Krin, removed to Canada and became allies of the French. The members of the tribe who remained occupied the castle until the winter of 1693, when it was captured and burned by the French, and the tribe returned to the south side of the river and located on the flats on the west side of Schohare Creek, where they were especially known as "The Praying Maquaas," and where they remained until 1779, when they were dispersed by the Revolutionary forces under General Clinton.Caughnawagais accepted as meaning "At the rapids," more correctly "At the rapid current." It is from the Huron radicalGannawa(Bruyas), for which M. Cuoq wrote in his LexiconOhnawagh,"Swift current," or very nearly the DutchKaghnawa; with locative particle-geor-ga,"At the rapids." It is a generic term and is met of record in several places. As has been noted elsewhere, the rapids of the Mohawk extend at intervals fifteen in number from Schenectady to Little Falls, the longest being east of the mouth of Schohare Creek. The rapid or rift at Caughnawaga extends about half a mile.
[FN] The lettersou,inGandaouagaand in other names, represents a sound produced by the Mohawks in the throat without motion of the lips. Bruyas wrote it 8. {sicȣ?} It is now generally writtenw—Gandawaga.
Cayudutta,modern orthography;CaniaduttaandCaniahdutta,1752. "Beginning at a great rock, lying on the west side of a creek, called by the Indians Caniadutta." (Cal. Land Papers, 270.) The name was that of the rock, from which it was extended to the stream. It was probably a rock of the calciferous sandstone type containing garnets, quartz and flint, which are met in the vicinity. "The name is fromOnenhia,orOnenya,'stone,' andKaniote,'to be elevated,' or standing" (Hale). [FN] Dr. 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 is stated in the patent description as "lying on the west side of the creek." The place is claimed for Fulton County. (See Caughnawaga.)
[FN] The same word is now written as the name of the Oneida nation. Van Curler's trip, in 1635, extended to the castle of the Oneidas, which he called'Enneyuttehage,"The standing-stone town." (Hale.)
Canagere,written by Van Curler, in 1635, as the name of the "Second Castle" or tribal town, was writtenGandagiroby Father Jogues, in 1643;Banigiroby Rev. Megapolensis;Gandagorain Jesuit Relations in 1669, andCanagoraby Greenhalgh in 1677. The several orthographies are claimed to stand forCanajohare,from the fact that the castle was "built on a high hill" east of Canajohare Creek. It was, however, the castle of the Bear tribe, theGanniagwari,or Grand Bear of the nation, and carried its name with it to the north side of the Mohawk in 1667.GanniagwariandCanajohareare easily confused. The creek calledCanajoharegave a general locative name to a considerable district of country around it. It took the name from a pot-hole in a mass of limestone in its bed at the falls on the stream about one mile from its mouth. Bruyas wrote "Ganna-tsi-ohare,laver de chaudiere" (to wash the cauldron or large kettle). Rev. 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. Dwight.) The letterjstands fortsi,augmentative, and the radicaloharemeans "To wash." (Bruyas.) The hole was obviously worn by a round stone or by pebbles, which, moved by the action of the current, literally washed the kettle. Van Curler described the castle as containing "sixteen houses, fifty, sixty, seventy, or eighty paces long, and one of five paces containing a bear," which he presumed was "to be fattened." No matter what may be said in regard to precise location, this castle waseastof Canajohare Creek.
Sohanidisse,a castle so called by Van Curler, and denominated by him as the "Third Castle," is marked on Van der Donck's mapSchanatisse.It is described by Van Curler as "on a very high hill,"westof Canajohare Creek, was composed of thirty-two long houses, and was not enclosed by palisades. "Near this castle was plenty of flat land and the woods were full of oak trees." The "very high hill" west of Canajohare Creek and the flat lands remain to verify its position. It is supposed to have been the castle of the Beaver tribe—a sub-gens.
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 "Oguoho,that is Wolf." Megapolensis wrote the same termOkwaho; Van Curler later wrote itOhquage,and in vocabulary "Okwahohage,wolves," accessorily, "Place of wolves." From the formOsquagewe no doubt haveOtsquageorOkquage.
Cawaoge,a village so called by Van Curler, was described by him as on a "very high hill" west ofOsquage.On his return trip he wrote the nameNawoga;on old maps it isCanawadoga,of whichCawaogeis a compression, apparently fromGannawake.For centuries the name has been preserved inNowadagaas that of Fort Plain Creek.
TenotogeandTenotehage,Van Curler;t' Jonoutego,Van der Donck;Te-onont-ogeu,Jogues;Thenondigo,Megapolensis—called by Van Curler the "Fourth Castle" and known later as the castle of the Wolf tribe, and as the "Upper Mohawk Castle," was described by Van Curler as composed of fifty-five houses "surrounded by three rows of palisades." It stood in a valley evidently, as Van Curler wrote that the stream called the Osquaga "ran past this castle." On the opposite (east) side of the stream he saw "a good many houses filled with corn and beans," and extensive flat lands. It was undoubtedly strongly palisaded to defend the western door of the nation as was Onekagoncka on the east.Te-onont-ogen,which is probably the most correct form of the name, means "Between two mountains," an intervale or space between, fromTe,"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)westof Auriesville and three mileseastof Nowedaga Creek. The correctness of this location must be determined by the topographical features stated by Van Curler and not otherwise. General Clark did an excellent work in searching for the sites of ancient castles from remaining evidences of Indian occupation, but the remaining evidence of names and topographical features where they are met of record must govern. In this case the creek that "ran past the door of this castle," is an indisputable mark. The French destroyed the castle in October, 1666. In the account of the occurrence (Doc. Hist. N. Y., ii, 70) it is described as being surrounded by "A triple palisade, twenty feet in height and flanked by four bastions." The tribe did not defend their possession, only a few old persons remaining who were too feeble to follow the retreat of the warriors and kindred. The tribe rebuilt the castle on the north side of the Mohawk under the name ofOnondagowa,"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, where the government built, in 1710, Fort Hendrick for its protection, and where it became known as the Upper or Canajohare Castle.
Aschalege,Oschalage, Otsgarege,etc., are record forms of the name given as that of the stream now known as Cobel's Kill, a branch of Schohare Creek in Schohare County. Morgan translated it fromAskwaorOskwa,a scaffolding or platform of any kind, andge,locative, the combination yielding "At or on a bridge." Bruyas wroteOtserage,"A causeway," a way or road raised above the natural level of the ground, serving as a passage over wet or marshy grounds. Otsgarage is now applied to a noted cavern near the stream in the town of Cobel's Kill.
Oneyagine,"called by the IndiansOneyagine,and by the Christians Stone Kill," is the record name of a creek in Schohare County. J. B. N. Hewitt read it fromOnehya(Onne'ja,Bruyas), "stone";Oneyagine,"At the broken stone," from which transferred to the stream.
Kanendenra,"a hill called by the Indians Kanendenra, otherwise by the Christians Anthony's Nose"—"to a point on Mohawk River near a hill 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 called Anthony's Nose"—now known as "The Noses" and applied to a range of hills that rises abruptly from the banks of the Mohawk just below Spraker's. The name is an abstract noun, possessing a specialized sense. The nose is the terminal peak of the Au Sable range. The rock formation is gneiss, covered by heavy masses of calciferous limestone containing garnets. "Anthony's Nose," probably so called from resemblance to Anthony's Nose on the Hudson.
Etagragon,now so written, the name of a boundmark on the Mohawk, is of record "Estaragoha,a certain rock." The locative is on the south side of the river about twenty-four miles above Schenectady. (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 121.) The name is an equivalent ofAstenra-kowa,"A large rock." ModernOtsteara-kowa,Elliot.
Astenrogen,of record as the name of "the first carrying place," now Little Falls, is fromOstenra,"rock," andogen,"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 Livingston Patent in 1710. The patent to the Germans here was granted in 1723. The description in it reads: "Beginning at the first carrying place, being the easternmost bounds, called by the nativesAstenrogen,running along on both sides of said river westerly untoGanendagaren,or the upper end [i. e.of the flats, a fine alluvial plain on both sides of the river], [FN] being about twenty-four miles." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 182.) The passage between the rocks, now Little Falls, covered a distance of "about three-quarters of a mile" and the rapids "the height of thirty-nine feet," according to the survey of 1792. The Mohawk here breaks through the Allegheny ridge which primarily divided the waters of the Ontario Basin from the Hudson. The overflow from the basin here formed a waterfall that probably rivaled Niagara and gradually wore away the rock. 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 with 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 north side was burned by the French in the war of 1756-7. It was then composed of sixty houses. The one on the south side was known as Fort Kouari and later as Fort Herkimer. The district shared largely in the historic events in the Mohawk Valley during the Revolution. There are very few districts of country in the nation in which so many subjects for consideration are centered.
[FN]Ganendagraenis probably fromGahenta(Gahenda), "Prairie."