60 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of the Senecas at Buffalo creek occasioned many local names, and 

 led to their preservation. In 1863 a discussion of the name of the 

 city of Buffalo elicited some facts not commonly known, and 

 Hon-non-de-uh or Nathaniel T. Strong, a Seneca chief of good 

 education, took part in the debate. As the name of an Indian came 

 into the question it may be well to give the leading features of the 

 discussion. 



As regards the present name of the city there is nothing very 

 improbable in the occasional presence of the buffalo there. That 

 it was known to the New York aborigines is certain. Wassenaer, 

 1621-32, in describing the Indians in the Highlands of the Hudson 

 said : ''On seeing the head of Taurus, one of the signs of the 

 Zodiac, the women know how to explain that it is a horned head 

 of a big, wild animal, which inhabits the distant country, but not 

 theirs." In Van der Donck's Neiv Netherland, not much later, he 

 said that "Bufifalos are also plenty. The animals keep toward the 

 southwest, where few people go." His account of them is quite 

 good. In 1688 Lahontan said that at the foot of Lake Erie "We 

 find wild beeves, upon the banks of two rivers that discharge into 

 it without cataracts or, rapid currents." That Cattaraugus creek 

 was one of these is certain, and that Buffalo creek was intended 

 for the other is probable. In 1718 M. de Vandreuil said that 

 "Buffalos abound on the south shore of Lake Erie, but not on the 

 north." Oak Orchard was Buffalo creek in 1721, and there were 

 others of this name, though a mere name proves little. These 

 animals were abundant in the open forests of Ohio and West 

 Virginia 150 years ago, and there were suitable spots for their 

 grazing in the western parts of New York. Bishop Cammerhoff's 

 words have never been quoted and are therefore given here. He 

 was a few miles east of the Genesee river and the town of Geneseo, 

 July 2, 1750, and said: "As we continued we saw many tracks of 

 elks ; they, as well as buffalos abound in these parts," but he saw 

 neither of these animals. However rare east of the Apalachian 

 range, Lawson relates that two were killed in one year on the 

 Appomattox, a branch of the James river. That a few may have 

 followed the shore of Lake Erie to Buffalo creek is every way 

 probable, though without distinct record. 



Regarding the present name of the creek and city Mr Ketchum 



