[FN] The letters ou, in Gandaouaga and in other names, represents a sound produced by the Mohawks in the throat without motion of the lips. Bruyas wrote it 8. {sic ȣ?} It is now generally written w—Gandawaga.
[Cayudutta,] modern orthography; Caniadutta and Caniahdutta, 1752. "Beginning at a great rock, lying on the west side of a creek, called by the Indians Caniadutta." (Cal. Land Papers, 270.) The name was that of the rock, from which it was extended to the stream. It was probably a rock of the calciferous sandstone type containing garnets, quartz and flint, which are met in the vicinity. "The name is from Onenhia, or Onenya, 'stone,' and Kaniote, 'to be elevated,' or standing" (Hale). [FN] Dr. Beauchamp translated the name, "Stone standing out of the water." The meaning, however, seems to be simply, "Standing stone," or an elevated rock. Its location is stated in the patent description as "lying on the west side of the creek." The place is claimed for Fulton County. (See Caughnawaga.)
[FN] The same word is now written as the name of the Oneida nation. Van Curler's trip, in 1635, extended to the castle of the Oneidas, which he called' Enneyuttehage, "The standing-stone town." (Hale.)
[Canagere,] written by Van Curler, in 1635, as the name of the "Second Castle" or tribal town, was written Gandagiro by Father Jogues, in 1643; Banigiro by Rev. Megapolensis; Gandagora in Jesuit Relations in 1669, and Canagora by Greenhalgh in 1677. The several orthographies are claimed to stand for Canajohare, from the fact that the castle was "built on a high hill" east of Canajohare Creek. It was, however, the castle of the Bear tribe, the Ganniagwari, or Grand Bear of the nation, and carried its name with it to the north side of the Mohawk in 1667. Ganniagwari and Canajohare are easily confused. The creek called Canajohare gave a general locative name to a considerable district of country around it. It took the name from a pot-hole in a mass of limestone in its bed at the falls on the stream about one mile from its mouth. Bruyas wrote "Ganna-tsi-ohare, laver de chaudiere" (to wash the cauldron or large kettle). Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the noted missionary to the Oneidas, wrote the same word "Kanaohare, or Great Boiling Pot, as it is called by the Six Nations." (Dr. Dwight.) The letter j stands for tsi, augmentative, and the radical ohare means "To wash." (Bruyas.) The hole was obviously worn by a round stone or by pebbles, which, moved by the action of the current, literally washed the kettle. Van Curler described the castle as containing "sixteen houses, fifty, sixty, seventy, or eighty paces long, and one of five paces containing a bear," which he presumed was "to be fattened." No matter what may be said in regard to precise location, this castle was east of Canajohare Creek.
[Sohanidisse,] a castle so called by Van Curler, and denominated by him as the "Third Castle," is marked on Van der Donck's map Schanatisse. It is described by Van Curler as "on a very high hill," west of Canajohare Creek, was composed of thirty-two long houses, and was not enclosed by palisades. "Near this castle was plenty of flat land and the woods were full of oak trees." The "very high hill" west of Canajohare Creek and the flat lands remain to verify its position. It is supposed to have been the castle of the Beaver tribe—a sub-gens.
[Osquage,] Ohquage, Otsquage, etc., was written by Van Curler as the name of a village of nine houses situated east of what has been known since 1635 as Osquage or Otsquage Creek. The chief of the village was called "Oguoho, that is Wolf." Megapolensis wrote the same term Okwaho; Van Curler later wrote it Ohquage, and in vocabulary "Okwahohage, wolves," accessorily, "Place of wolves." From the form Osquage we no doubt have Otsquage or Okquage.
[Cawaoge,] a village so called by Van Curler, was described by him as on a "very high hill" west of Osquage. On his return trip he wrote the name Nawoga; on old maps it is Canawadoga, of which Cawaoge is a compression, apparently from Gannawake. For centuries the name has been preserved in Nowadaga as that of Fort Plain Creek.
[Tenotoge] and Tenotehage, Van Curler; t' Jonoutego, Van der Donck; Te-onont-ogeu, Jogues; Thenondigo, Megapolensis—called by Van Curler the "Fourth Castle" and known later as the castle of the Wolf tribe, and as the "Upper Mohawk Castle," was described by Van Curler as composed of fifty-five houses "surrounded by three rows of palisades." It stood in a valley evidently, as Van Curler wrote that the stream called the Osquaga "ran past this castle." On the opposite (east) side of the stream he saw "a good many houses filled with corn and beans," and extensive flat lands. It was undoubtedly strongly palisaded to defend the western door of the nation as was Onekagoncka on the east. Te-onont-ogen, which is probably the most correct form of the name, means "Between two mountains," an intervale or space between, from Te, "two"; -ononte, "mountain," and -ogen, "between." The same name is met later at the mouth of Schohare Creek. General John S. Clark located this castle at Spraker's Basin, thirteen miles (railroad) west of Auriesville and three miles east of Nowedaga Creek. The correctness of this location must be determined by the topographical features stated by Van Curler and not otherwise. General Clark did an excellent work in searching for the sites of ancient castles from remaining evidences of Indian occupation, but the remaining evidence of names and topographical features where they are met of record must govern. In this case the creek that "ran past the door of this castle," is an indisputable mark. The French destroyed the castle in October, 1666. In the account of the occurrence (Doc. Hist. N. Y., ii, 70) it is described as being surrounded by "A triple palisade, twenty feet in height and flanked by four bastions." The tribe did not defend their possession, only a few old persons remaining who were too feeble to follow the retreat of the warriors and kindred. The tribe rebuilt the castle on the north side of the Mohawk under the name of Onondagowa, "A Great Hill." The French destroyed it again in 1693, and the tribe returned to the south side of the river and located on the flat at the mouth of the Nowadaga or Fort Plain Creek, where the government built, in 1710, Fort Hendrick for its protection, and where it became known as the Upper or Canajohare Castle.