Geographic Names in the United States 103 



land to Louisiana. Hundreds of other 

 French words mark the pathway of La 

 Salle, Father Hennepin, and their fol- 

 lowers ; Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Fond 

 du Lac, La Crosse, Des Moines, Des 

 Plaines, Vincennes, Prairie du Chien, 

 Pierre, Versailles, Louisiana, Baton 

 Rouge, and New Orleans. 



The geographical names in the two 

 neighboring States of Mississippi and 

 Louisiana tell differences in the early 

 history of the two states. Not a county, 

 island, lake, river, or city in Mississippi 

 has a " saint" in its name, while 9 

 counties (or parishes) in Louisiana and 

 40 towns, rivers, or lakes do homage to 

 the saints in their names. 



The French occupation of Louisiana 

 obliterated most of the Indian words. 

 The most conspicuous reminder of the 

 French settlers is seen in the ' ' bayous. ' ' 

 This is the French word for small 

 stream ; one scarcely hears of a creek 

 in Louisiana. They are all bayous. 

 In Maryland they are " runs." 



In Kentucky and Tennessee thevocab- 

 ulary of the priest is strikingly absent ; 

 neither state has a county or stream 

 named after a saint, but the vocabulary 

 of the hunter and trapper is found 

 everywhere ; for example, in Tennessee 

 we find the streams telling of the hunter 

 in such names as Buffalo, Duck, Elk, 

 Forked Deer, and Little Pigeon. 



Montana and Idaho geography tells 

 unmistakably of the invasion of the un- 

 schooled miner. He sought the moun- 

 tains with their treasures of ore. Almost 

 every peak and range of these states bears 

 a name which reveals at once that it was 

 given by men who thought or cared little 

 for the names which history or literature 

 might suggest. Such men would natu- 

 rally select Bear's Paw, Big Horn, Snake 

 Head, Saw Tooth, Bitter Root, and Seven 

 Devils. 



Indian names are seldom met with in 

 these mountain states. In fact, if one 

 scans a list of the geographical words 

 in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colo- 



rado he will scarcely suspect that Indian 

 tribes ever lived within their borders. 



The early settlers of Nebraska, Kan- 

 sas, Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa were 

 of a very cosmopolitan character, of 

 varied nationalities, creeds, and ideals. 

 They came from the Eastern States and 

 from foreign countries, and to their set- 

 tlements gave names that tell of the 

 places in the East, or across the sea, 

 whence these pioneers came. 



Though Texas was formerly a part of 

 Mexico and was subjected to Spanish 

 influences, yet one fact at least reveals 

 how slight was the real hold of Mexico 

 upon Texas — the relative infrequency 

 of names with the prefix san or santa. 

 Like the French in the St Lawrence 

 and Mississippi Valleys, the Spaniards 

 in the regions which they explored were 

 inclined to leave a spattering of saints' 

 names. Where Spanish influence really 

 dominated there the san and santa is 

 frequent, and there rivers are " rios " 

 and mountains are "sierras." While 

 such words are often found in Texas — 

 as, for example, San Antonia, San 

 Diego, and Rio Grande — yet these 

 names are relatively infrequent, but 

 naturally increasing as you approach 

 the Mexican border. 



The stronger hold of the Spanish 

 upon California is seen in its 10 coun- 

 ties and 15 important streams with 

 names beginning with san or santa. 

 Nearly all of the large cities and over 

 150 towns of California tell of the Span- 

 ish settlement — San Francisco, Sacra- 

 mento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Ala- 

 meda, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and 

 many more. Indian names are seldom 

 found. 



In the early fifties two important 

 events were taking place on opposite 

 sides of the earth — in Europe the Cri- 

 mean war, in America the rush for the 

 gold fields of California. In 1 854-' 55 

 came the famous siege of Sebastopol in 

 the Crimea. Half way around the 

 world, in the land of new-found gold, 



