Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Monthly Bulletin Published monthly, except in August and September, by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Forbes Street and Bellefield Avenue, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pa. President, S. H. Church, Carnegie Library, Forbes Street and Bellefield Avenue; Secretary, J. D. Hailman; Treasurer, James H. Reed, 1027 Carnegie Building; Director, John H. Leete, Carnegie Library, Forbes Street and Bellefield Avenue. Subscription 50 cents a year. Vol. 26 March 1921 No. 3 Names of National Parks The rapid development of travel in the United States during the last few years has made the mind of the public turn with interest to the tracts set aside as National Parks. The splendors of the scenery of these parks must be seen to be fully appreciated, though there are many books which will help to prepare the prospective visitor for appreciation of what he sees, or which will give pleasure to those who must take their trips in imagination. Not many of these books, however, touch upon one phase of information which should be of interest to traveler and reader alike—and that is the history of how the parks came to have the names by which they are known. In some cases the name has an obvious history, being taken from the special feature which is the reason for the selection of the tract as a park. This is true of Sequoia Park of which Robert Sterling Yard says in "The Book of the National Parks" that it "contains more than a million sequoia trees, twelve thousand of which are more than ten feet in diameter, and some of which are the largest and oldest living things in the wide world." And again, when writing of Crater Lake Park, in which is the incomparable lake formed by melted snow filling a great crater, he says, "The lake was variously named by its early visitors. The Hillman party which discovered it named it Deep Blue Lake on the spot. Later it was known as Lake Mystery, and Hole in the Ground. A party from Jacksonville named it Crater Lake on August 4, 1869." Entirely matter of fact are both names which have been applied to the park in Colorado. According to Enos A. Mills this park was originally called Estes Park because Joel Estes was the first settler to build a cabin there, and in 1915 the official name became Rocky Mountain National Park. It is not possible to reproduce here the history of the names of all the national parks because in a number of cases there is little or no information upon which to draw. About a few, however, there is information which carries one back to the period of early exploration and of tradition. Such material is not only picturesque and interesting, but is often the "stuff" on which is built up a national literature, so that from several points of view it seems worth while to be familiar with it. About a few others there are given here statements in explanation of how the name came to be applied. Yosemite From Galen Clark's "Indians of the Yosemite Valley and Vicinity." According to statements made by Teneiya (Ten-eye'-ya) chief of the Yosemites, to Dr. L. H. Bunnell, and published by him in his book on the "Discovery of the Yosemite," the original Indian name of the Valley was Ah-wah'-nee, which has been translated as "deep grassy valley," and the Indians living there were called Ah-wah-nee'-chees, which signified "dwellers in Ah-wah'-nee." Many years ago, the old chief said, the Ah-wah-nee'-chees had been a large and powerful tribe, but by reason of wars and a fatal black sickness, nearly all had been destroyed, and the survivors of the band fled from the Valley and joined other tribes. For years afterwards this locality was uninhabited, but finally Teneiya, who claimed to be descended from an Ah-wah-nee'-chee chief, left the Mo'nos, where he had been born and brought up, and, gathering some of his father's old tribe around him, visited the Valley and claimed it as the birthright of his people. He then became the founder of a new tribe or band, which received the name "Yo-sem'-i-te." This word signifies a full-grown grizzly bear, and Teneiya said that the name had been given to his band because they occupied the mountains and valleys which were the favorite resort of the grizzly bears, and his people were expert in killing them; that his tribe had adopted the name because those who had bestowed it were afraid of the grizzlies, and also feared his band... There is also a legendary account of its origin, which may be of interest. Long, long ago, when the remote ancestors of the Yosemite Indians dwelt peacefully in the valley called Ah-wah'-nee, one of the stalwart young braves of the tribe went early one morning to spear some fish in the lake Ah-wei'-yah. Before reaching his destination he was confronted by a huge grizzly bear, who appeared from behind one of the enormous boulders in that vicinity, and savagely disputed his passage. Being attacked in this unexpected manner, the Indian defended himself to the best of his ability, using for the purpose the dead limb of a tree which was near at hand, and, after a long and furious struggle, in which he was badly wounded, he at length succeeded in killing the bear. His exploit was considered so remarkable by the rest of the tribe that they called him Yo-sem'-i-te (meaning a full-grown grizzly bear), in honor of his achievement, and this name was transmitted to his children, and eventually to the whole tribe. Yellowstone From Hiram Martin Chittenden's "The Yellowstone National Park." Lewis and Clark passed the first winter of their famous trans-continental expedition among the Mandan Indians, on the Missouri River, fifty-six miles above the present capital of North Dakota. When about to resume their journey in the spring of 1805, they sent back to President Jefferson a report of progress and a map of the western country based upon information derived from the Indians. In this report and upon this map appear, probably for the first time in any official document, the words "Yellow Stone" as the name of the principal tributary of the Missouri. It seems, however, that Lewis and Clark were not the first actually to use the name. David Thompson, the celebrated explorer and geographer, prominently identified with the British fur trade in the Northwest, was among the Mandan Indians on the Missouri River from December 29, 1797, to January 10, 1798. While there he secured data, principally from the natives, from which he estimated the latitude and longitude of the source of the Yellowstone River. In his original manuscript journal and field note-books, containing the record of his determinations, the words "Yellow Stone" appear precisely as used by Lewis and Clark in 1805. This is, perhaps, the first use of the name in its Anglicised form, and it is certainly the first attempt to determine accurately the geographical location of the source of the stream. Neither Thompson nor Lewis and Clark were originators of the name. They gave us only the English translation of a name already long in use. "This river," say Lewis and Clark, in their journal for the day of their arrival at the mouth of the now noted stream, "had been known to the French as the Roche Jaune, or, as we have called it, the Yellow Stone." The French name was, in fact, already firmly established among the traders and trappers of the Northwest Fur Company, when Lewis and Clark met them among the Mandans. Even by the members of the expedition it seems to have been more generally used than the new English form; and the spellings, "Rejone," "Rejhone," "Rochejone," "Rochejohn," and "Rochejhone," are among their various attempts to render orthographically the French pronunciation... By whom the name Roche Jaune, or its equivalent form, Pierre Jaune, was first used, it would be extremely interesting to know; but it is impossible to determine at this late day. Like their successor, “Yellow Stone," these names were not originals, but only translations. The Indian tribes along the Yellowstone and upper Missouri rivers had names for the tributary stream signifying "yellow rock," and the French had doubtless adopted them long before any of their number saw the stream itself... It thus appears that the name, which has now become so celebrated, descends to us, through two translations, from those native races whose immemorial dwelling place had been along the stream which it describes. What it was that led them to use the name is easily discoverable. Seventy-five miles below the ultimate source of the river lies the Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone, distinguished among the notable cañons of the globe by the marvelous coloring of its walls. Conspicuous among its innumerable tints is yellow. Every shade, from the brilliant plumage of the yellow bird to the rich saffron of the orange, greets the eye in bewildering profusion. There is indeed other color, unparalleled in variety and abundance, but the ever-present background of all is the beautiful fifth color of the spectrum. So prominent is this feature that it never fails to attract attention, and all descriptions of the Cañon abound in references to it. Lieutenant Doane (1870) notes the "brilliant yellow color" of the rocks. Captain Barlow and Doctor Hayden (1871) refer, in almost the same words, to "the yellow, nearly vertical walls." Raymond (1871) speaks of the "bright yellow of the sulphury clay." Captain Jones (1873) says that "about and in the Grand Cañon the rocks are nearly all tinged a brilliant yellow." These early impressions might be repeated from the writings of every subsequent visitor who has described the scenery of the Yellow stone. That a characteristic which so deeply moves the modern beholder should have made a profound impression on the mind of the Indian need hardly be premised. This region was by no means unknown to him; and from the remote, although uncertain, period of his first acquaintance with it, the name of the river has undoubtedly descended. Going back, then, to this obscure fountain-head, the original designation is found to have been From Joaquin Miller in "The Grand Canyon of Arizona." It is old, old, this Grand Canyon, and yet so new it seems almost to smell of paint-red paint, pink, scarlet. Left and right, up and down, more than half a mile deep in the earth, every shade and hue of red, as far as eye can compass. It is a scene of death-like silence, a dead land of red, a burning world. We have Arroyo Grande in California, the Yosemite Canyon also. Idaho, Washington, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, each and all have their grand canyon, yet there is only one Grand Canyon on the globe, Cañon Grande de Colorado, the burning hues of which gave name to a great river and, centuries later, to a great state. It is written that the Spanish cavalier and explorer, in quest of the seven cities of gold, pushed the prow of his boat so far into the waters of this fearful chasm of colors that on looking up at midday he could see the stars; and it is written that overcome with religious awe, fearing perhaps that he was daring to approach the gates of Paradise before his time, he raised the cross, bared his head, gave this color world its name and drew back and away, to come again no more. But still the tradition was that at least one of the cities of gold lay within and under the protection of these fearful walls of flaming red. From C. A. Higgins in "Grand Canyon of Arizona." In 1869 Maj. J. W. Powell undertook the exploration of the river [the Colorado] with nine men and four boats, starting from Green River City, on the Green River, in Utah. The project met with the most urgent remonstrance from those who were best acquainted with the region, including the Indians, who maintained that boats could not possibly live in any one of a score of rapids and falls known to them, to say nothing of the vast unknown stretches in which at any moment a |