36 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



pose of urging that this body of water be given the name Nis- 

 kayuna or some other appropriate historic, name. 



Decision. It was the view of the Board that the term " lake " 

 should not be applied to such artificial bodies of water, but that 

 in view of their character a better procedure would be to apply 

 to them the designation of " pool," and the employment of the 

 term Niskayuna pool was recommended in place of Peck lake. 



Railroad Mills. A petition signed by a number of citizens in the 

 vicinity of the railroad station known as Railroad Mills, situated 

 on the Auburn branch of the New York Central Railroad, re- 

 quested the change of this name to Glendale or Wildwood. These 

 names were disapproved by the board as being both inappropriate 

 and commonplace. Meanwhile, as it appeared from a personal ex- 

 amination made by one of the members of the board that Railroad 

 Mills is merely a road crossing and flag station with no post office 

 or settlement attached, and that the present name has stood for 

 a half century and serves the purpose of a local designation, and 

 further that the request was based upon a desire of the land 

 owners in the vicinity to effect the train service at this place, it 

 was regarded by the board that the request was not serious and 

 no action was taken. 



AuRELius. The following correspondence has passed with regard to 

 the change of the name of Aurelius to Relius by the officials of 

 the New York Central Railroad : 



The State Board of Geographic Names desires the coopera- 

 tion of your road in restoring to its proper form the name of 

 Aurelius, on the Auburn branch, which now appears in your 

 time tables as Relius. 



As you are aware, Aurelius is one of the many names taken 

 from Greek and Roman geography and biography that were 

 imposed upon New York by the land offices of the early days. 

 These names have now been standing so long— all of them for 

 over a century — that they have become a part of the political 

 geography of New York and have established their right to 

 remain. The mutilation of the name AureHus has doubtless 

 resulted from an easy shortening of the term which would have 

 remained entirely local had it not received the approbation of 

 your road by the speUing adopted in your time tables. As 

 you may remember, the first departure from the correct usage 

 appeared in your time table under the form of 'Reims, the 

 apostrophe thus indicating the decapitation of the word. 



The State Board of Geographic Names regrets and depre- 

 cates such a mutilation of the venerable place name and as 

 nothing is accomplished by its adoption, no business facilitated, 

 no convenience afforded, we desire to reinstate the name m its 

 proper and original form. 



