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THE RED MEN OF IOWA.
Fawn. The daughter appeared to understand the question, and laughed pleasantly. It occurred to the gentlemen who were interested in the town, that the name An-a-mo-sa would be much more appropriate than Dartmouth, and they therefore determined to re-christen it. Several years after this the change of name was legally made, and the seal of the city adopted was a white fawn.
Black Hawk.--A county named in honor of the great Sac chief and warrior. The name, of course, is not an Indian one, but is our English translation of the Indian name of that chief, which was Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah. Black Hawk was the name under which he became famous, and was generally adopted among the Sacs and Foxes themselves, especially when among the whites they referred to him.
Cherokee.--Name of a county and town, adopted from the southern Indian tribe of that name.
Chickasaw.--A county named also in honor of a southern tribe of Indians.
Camanche.--A town in Clinton county, and was doubtless named for the roving and warlike tribe in Texas and Mexico, known to us as Camanches, or Comanches.
Competine.--A small stream in Wapello and Jefferson counties. It was the name of a Sac Indian who had his wigwam on its banks at the time of the earliest white settlement. A small creek in Marion county has also been known by this name, and was doubtless applied by the settlers in honor of the same Indian. The meaning of the word was '"a small office."
Chariton.--The name of a tributary of the Missouri, which rises in southern Iowa, and also the name of the
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IOWA INDIAN NOMENCLATURE.
county seat of Lucas county. Like many other Indian names the orthography has undergone many changes. To the Osage Indians and the early French traders the stream was known by the name Char-a-ton-Scarty, defined as meaning "like the otter." "Charaton" is the orthography used by Lewis and Clark in the journal of their expedition, in 1804, and they say it is a corruption of the word Thier-aton, but do not give the meaning of this term.
The pioneer settlers along the stream, in Missouri, pronounced the name Char-a-taw, which is quite likely more nearly the true Indian pronunciation. They claim that its meaning was a country rich in honey.
Dakota City.--The county seat of Humboldt county. Dakota is the name of the great family or race of Indians to which the Sioux tribe belongs. This is the orthography of the name now generally adopted, though other methods of spelling it have been in use, as Da-co-ta, Dacotah, Dakotah; etc. The word means "united," or "a confederacy."
Decorah.--The county seat of Winneshiek county, named in honor of the Winnebago chief Dacorah, or Waukon-Decorah. The town embraces the site of an Indian burial-ground, and among the rest was a grave supposed to be that of the chief in whose honor the town was named. The remains were taken up and deposited near the northeast corner of the court-house yard.
Iowa.--Name of the State, and of a river and county in Iowa. It was the name of a once powerful tribe of Indians. There has been great diversity of opinion as to the origin and meaning of the word "Iowa." Some writers have interpreted it as signifying beautiful. One, in "Annals of Iowa," in 1864, cited a legend to the effect, that "once a
