HISTORICAL
CHAPTER I (CONT'D).
RIVERS OF SHELBY COUNTY AND THEIR NAMES.
The leading stream of southwestern Iowa is the Nishnabotna river. Two of its very important branches run through Shelby county. The valleys of this stream and its tributaries are far-famed for their fertility. The best corn in the world is undoubtedly grown in these valleys, including the land closely adjacent thereto. It is, therefore, of more than ordinary importance to know whence this stream received its name, which at a glance appears to be of Indian origin. Deciding to get the best possible information, the author wrote to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C, asking the origin of the word, "Nishnabotna," and in reply received the following courteous and satisfactory response from F. W. Hodge, ethnologist-in-charge: "In response to your inquiry of July 14, I beg to say that it was referred to Mr. Francis LaFlesche, ethnologist on the staff of the bureau, who has just returned from several weeks' stay in the West, and for this reason the reply has been delayed until now. Mr. LaFlesche states that the name is Oto, and its correct spelling Ni'-shna, ba-te-ni (ni-river; shna-swollen; ba-te-ni-boat). Freely translated, the name signifies 'Swollen river where boats are made.'"
Inquiry was also made of the Research Bureau of Nelson's Encyclopedia
and they replied that an authority on the origin of Indian geographical names stated that the word meant "Canoe-making river."
In looking over the Shelby County Record of February 2, 1871, the author found quoted there an article written by Hon. A. R. Fulton, then secretary of the Iowa board of immigration, which article he had written to the editors of the Avoca Delta. Mr. Fulton in this article says:
"Some two years ago, soon after the completion of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific railroad to Atlantic, I fell in company on the cars with a party of Indians and their interpreter, on their way to see the Great Father at Washington City, and to look after the interests of their tribe. * * * Among them was a venerable chief of more than seventy winters, whose mind seemed to be a capacious depository for the traditions of his people. * * * He said that a long time ago a party of Indians, going westward, came to the little river, the several branches of which, in southern Iowa, are known as Kast, Middle and West Nodaway. * * * When they first approached the stream they expected to find some difficulty in crossing, but upon further examination found they could walk or wade over, so they named the stream Nod-a-wa, the meaning of which, in their language, was 'crossed by wading.' Passing on westward, they came to a larger stream, that could not be crossed without a boat or canoe, and found it necessary to construct one before they could pursue their journey. From this circumstance they applied to this stream the name of Nish-na-bot-na, which in their own language meant 'crossed with a boat'".
Another important stream in Shelby county is the Mosquito. In looking over early historical records, it is found that this stream in the vicinity of Council Bluffs was known as the "Musketo," and that indeed in some of the very early records of Shelby county it was called the "Musketo." Since this word had the appearance of being an Indian term, the author again wrote the Smithsonian Institution and was favored with the following reply from H. W. Dorsey, chief clerk:
"In response to your letter of September 10, I beg to say that in the case of most Indian names adopted by white people as geographical and other designations, many of them have been so corrupted from their aboriginal form their meaning can no longer be determined. The Indian term Musketo is possibly Algonquian, and if so its meaning is 'meadow.'" In this connection it is significant that the valley of the Mosquito is almost devoid of trees--it is a meadow.
With reference to the origin of the name Picayune creek (which stream flows through the northwest part of the county) there is a tradition in the Galland family that one of the Gallands at a very early day picked up in that vicinity a Spanish picayune ( which the reader will recall as a coin of early origin and trifling value) and that after finding the coin the name Picayune creek came to exist.
It is very difficult to secure any information as to what persons named the various streams of the county or when (hey were named and this author does not pretend to have information with reference to most of the streams of the county.
STREAMS OF THE COUNTY.
Keg creek rises in Westphalia township and flows southwest through the southeast part of Cass township through the famous Deer Ridge stock farm of E. A. Collins, and thence southwest near the southwest corner of section 6 into Harrison county. Mosquito creek rises in Union township and flows southwest through Washington and Cass townships into Harrison county, the stream passing through Leland's grove in section 31 of Cass township. Another branch of this stream rises in Union township and flows southwest, crosses the northwest corner of Westphalia township, joining the other branch in section 12 of Washington township.
Pigeon creek rises in the north part of Washington township and flows southwest across Washington township into Harrison county. Picayune creek rises in Grove township and flows southwest across the northwest corner of Washington township into Harrison county. Mill creek rises in the northwest corner of Union township and flows in a westerly direction on the north side of Galland's grove into Harrison county. The town of Manteno was on the north side of this stream in section 18 of Grove township. Willow creek rises in Crawford county, flows through Washington township, slightly west of the town of Defiance, below which town it joins the west fork of the West Nishnabotna river.
The west fork of the West Nishnabotna river rises in Crawford county, flows across the northwest corner of Greeley township, through the east portion of Union township, thence through the southwest corner of Greeley across Douglass township and the north part of Center township (formerly Harlan township), to its junction with the West Nishnabotna river northeast of Harlan on the H. Baughn farm. (This stream has been straightened by a drainage ditch from a point slightly above the town of Defiance running to its mouth, and the West Nishnabotna is being straightened from that point to the south line of Center township (formerly Harlan township), and will, undoubtedly, be straightened through to the county line to connect with the drainage ditch at the town of Avoca.) The east fork of the Nishnabotna river rises in Audubon county, coming into Polk township in section 13, thence running, in a southwesterly direction through said township across Harlan township in a southerly direction, then again southwest through the northwest corner of Monroe township, across the southeast part of Fairview township, and thence southwest to the town of Avoca where it joins the West Nishnabotna river. (This fork is called, on the map of 1883, the east fork of the West Nishnabotna river.) A stream rises in section 11 of Monroe township and. running thence in a southerly direction through that township, is called Walnut creek, running near the town of Walnut in Pottawattamie county. A stream running through a part of Jackson and through Clay township is known as Indian creek, a branch of which, known as Elkhorn creek, rises northeast of the town of Elkhorn. A branch of Indian creek, rising about three miles or more below Elkhorn, is called Squaw creek. Another branch, in the southeast corner of the lownship is called Camp creek.
A branch of the east fork of the Nishnabotna river rises in Jackson township, flows southwesterly and joins said fork on the farm known as the Horace Graves farm in section 23 of Center township and is known as Elm creek.
A place known as the Big Slough was found along a stream running through the southwest quarter of section 27, Harlan township, in the vicinity of the farm formerly belonging to Neil Carmichael. A branch of the West Nishnabotna, flowing through the west part of Jefferson township and southeast part of Greeley township, joining the Nishnabotna southwest of the town of Irwin, is known as Elk creek.
A stream rising in Audubon county and entering Jefferson township in section 12 and flowing thence southwest through Jefferson and Polk townships, joins the east fork of the Nishnabotna river in section 28 of Polk township, and is known as Long Branch. A stream rising in Westphalia township, flows in a southerly direction east of the village of Westphalia, thence in a southerly direction through Lincoln township, thence in a slightly southwesterly direction through Shelby township about a mile and a quarter east of the town of Shelby, and is called Silver creek.
A branch of Silver creek, rising in the south part of Lincoln township, flowing in a southerly direction and joining Silver creek in section 27, is called Little creek, or Little Silver creek.
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Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, October, 2018 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 35-38. |
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