[Aschalege,] Oschalage, Otsgarege, etc., are record forms of the name given as that of the stream now known as Cobel's Kill, a branch of Schohare Creek in Schohare County. Morgan translated it from Askwa or Oskwa, a scaffolding or platform of any kind, and ge, locative, the combination yielding "At or on a bridge." Bruyas wrote Otserage, "A causeway," a way or road raised above the natural level of the ground, serving as a passage over wet or marshy grounds. Otsgarage is now applied to a noted cavern near the stream in the town of Cobel's Kill.
[Oneyagine,] "called by the Indians Oneyagine, and by the Christians Stone Kill," is the record name of a creek in Schohare County. J. B. N. Hewitt read it from Onehya (Onne'ja, Bruyas), "stone"; Oneyagine, "At the broken stone," from which transferred to the stream.
[Kanendenra,] "a hill called by the Indians Kanendenra, otherwise by the Christians Anthony's Nose"—"to a point on Mohawk River near a hill called by the Indians Kanandenra, and by the Christians Anthony's Nose"—"to a certain hill called Anthony's Nose, whose point comes into the said river"—"Kanendahhere, a hill on the south side of the Mohawk, by the Christians lately called Anthony's Nose"—now known as "The Noses" and applied to a range of hills that rises abruptly from the banks of the Mohawk just below Spraker's. The name is an abstract noun, possessing a specialized sense. The nose is the terminal peak of the Au Sable range. The rock formation is gneiss, covered by heavy masses of calciferous limestone containing garnets. "Anthony's Nose," probably so called from resemblance to Anthony's Nose on the Hudson.
[Etagragon,] now so written, the name of a boundmark on the Mohawk, is of record "Estaragoha, a certain rock." The locative is on the south side of the river about twenty-four miles above Schenectady. (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 121.) The name is an equivalent of Astenra-kowa, "A large rock." Modern Otsteara-kowa, Elliot.
[Astenrogen,] of record as the name of "the first carrying place," now Little Falls, is from Ostenra, "rock," and ogen, "divisionem" (Bruyas), literally, "Divided or separated rock." The east end of the gorge was the eastern boundmark of what is known as the "German Flats," which was purchased and settled by a part of the Palatine immigrants who had been located on the Livingston Patent in 1710. The patent to the Germans here was granted in 1723. The description in it reads: "Beginning at the first carrying place, being the easternmost bounds, called by the natives Astenrogen, running along on both sides of said river westerly unto Ganendagaren, or the upper end [i. e. of the flats, a fine alluvial plain on both sides of the river], [FN] being about twenty-four miles." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 182.) The passage between the rocks, now Little Falls, covered a distance of "about three-quarters of a mile" and the rapids "the height of thirty-nine feet," according to the survey of 1792. The Mohawk here breaks through the Allegheny ridge which primarily divided the waters of the Ontario Basin from the Hudson. The overflow from the basin here formed a waterfall that probably rivaled Niagara and gradually wore away the rock. The channel of the stream was very deep and on the subsidence of the ice sheet, which spread over the northern part of the continent, became filled with drift. The opening in the ridge and the formation of the valley of the Mohawk as now known are studies in the work of creation. The settlements known as the German Flats were on both sides of the river. The one that was on the north side was burned by the French in the war of 1756-7. It was then composed of sixty houses. The one on the south side was known as Fort Kouari and later as Fort Herkimer. The district shared largely in the historic events in the Mohawk Valley during the Revolution. There are very few districts of country in the nation in which so many subjects for consideration are centered.
[FN] Ganendagraen is probably from Gahenta (Gahenda), "Prairie."
On the Delaware.
[Keht-hanne,] Heckewelder—Kittan, Zeisberger—"The principal or greatest stream," i. e. of the country through which it passes, was the generic name of the Delaware River, and Lenapewihittuck, "The river or stream of the Lenape," its specific name, more especially referring to the stream where its waters are affected by tidal currents. In the Minisink country it was known as Minisinks River, or "River of the Minisinks." At the Lehigh junction the main stream was called the East Branch and the Lehigh the West Branch (Sauthier's map), but above that point the main stream was known as the West Branch to its head in Utsyantha [FN-1] Lake, on the north-east line of Delaware County, N. Y., where it was known as the Mohawk's Branch. It forms the southwestern boundary of the State from nearly its head to Port Jervis, Orange County, Where it enters or becomes the western boundary of New Jersey. At Hancock, Delaware County, it receives the waters of what was called by the Indians the Paghkataghan, and by the English the East Branch. The West Branch was here known to the Indians as the Namaes-sipu and its equivalent Lamas-sépos, or "Fish River," by Europeans, Fish-Kill, "Because," says an affidavit of 1785, "There was great numbers of Maskunamack (that is Bass) and Guwam (that is Shad) [FN-2] went up that branch at Shokan, and but few or none went up the East [Paghkataghan] Branch." [FN-3] In the course of time the East or Paghkataghan [FN-4] Branch became known as the Papagonck from a place so called. The lower part of the stream was called by the Dutch the "Zuiden River," or South River. In early days the main or West Branch was navigable by flat-boats from Cochecton Falls to Philadelphia and Wilmington. Smith, in his "History of New Jersey," wrote: "From Cochecton to Trenton are fourteen considerable rifts, yet all passable in the long flat boats used in the navigation of these parts, some carrying 500 or 600 bushels of wheat." Meggeckesson (Col. Hist. N. Y., xii, 225) was the name of what are now known as Trenton Falls, or rapids. It means, briefly, "Strong water." Heckewelder's Maskek-it-ong and his interpretation of it, "Strong falls at," are wrong, the name which he quoted being that of a swamp in the vicinity of the falls, as noted in Col. Hist. N. Y., and as shown by the name itself.