l8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the bones and tusk were found is a little more than a mile from, 

 and 140 feet higher than Lake Erie. 



Chemung County 



17 Before 1757. Chemung. Chemung is an Indian name mean- 

 ing big horn or great horn, and it is evident from the following' 

 account by Beauchamp 16 that at least one tusk of a mammoth or 

 mastodon had been found in this country before the coming of the 

 early white settlers. " Chemung has various forms, as that of 

 Skeemonk in 1777, and Shimango in 1779. In 1757 the French 

 spoke of the ' Loups of Chaamonaque or Theoga,' meaning the 

 Delawares living at Tioga. It was written Shamunk in 1767, but 

 usually Chemung. The river and an Indian village bore this name, 

 which meant big horn. The village was burned in 1779. Zeisberger 

 has wschummo for horn, and the locative may be added. Spafford 

 said : ' Chemung is said to mean big horn, or great horn, in the 

 dialect of the Indian tribes that anciently possessed this country. 

 And that a very large horn was found in the Tioga or Chemung 

 river is well ascertained.' This was a Delaware name, and the river 

 had another of similar meaning. In Schoolcraft's larger work 17 

 (5:669) is a communication from Thomas Maxwell, who gave the 

 usual definition and said that the name came from a large horn or 

 tusk found in the river. Of course this must have been in colonial 

 times to have originated the Delaware name. The early settlers 

 found a similar one in the stream in 1799. It was sent to England, 

 and an eminent scientist called it the tusk of an elephant or some 

 animal." In the communication referred to above, Maxwell also 

 states that the tusk was found embedded in sand, and the year given 

 is "about 1794" instead of 1799. 



According to Thomas Maxwell, the tusk from which Chemung 

 derived its name, had been preserved by the Indians, as shown in 

 the following paragraph 18 : " The name of the river is given in 

 the journal of Col. Gansevoort as the Tioga. It has since been 

 called the Chemung — and it is said it was so called from a large 

 horn having been found in the river near Bydelman's, by the 

 Indians — Chemung meaning great horn. The Muncies and Dela- 

 wares called it Conongue, which in their language means horn in 



18 N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 108, 1907, p. 42. 



17 Information respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the 

 Indian Tribes of the United States by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Philadelphia, 



18SS. 



18 Brigham's Elmira Directory for 1863 and 1864. Elmira 1863, p. 16, 17. 



