[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.
[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."