These data rest upon the examination of a large lot of old maps with special reference to the points involved, with the assistance of Mr. Robert F. Thompson of the Indian Bureau at Washington. These maps show a curious reversal in the size of the two rivers, the earlier and poorer ones making the upper stream the larger of the two, and conversely. Furthermore, the tendency has always been to call the larger one "Cimarron" and "Red," no matter which its position. Aside from this, the most sharply contrasted pairs of names are "Salt" and "Negracka" for the upper stream, and "Red" and "Nesuketonga" for the lower one. Thus, to be more specific: 1. John Melish's map of the U. S., engr. by J. Vallance and H. S. Tanner, pub. Philada., 1820, has Negracka, upper, larger; Jefferson, lower, smaller. 2. H. S. Tanner's map of N. Amer., in the New American Atlas, pub. Philada., 1823, map dated 1822, has Negracka or Red r., upper, larger; and Nesuhetonga or Gr. Saline, lower, smaller. 3. The American Atlas, pub. Philada., H. C. Carey and I. Lea, 1823, has a map of the U. S., with Negracka or Red Fork, upper, larger, and Grand Saline, lower, smaller; also, a map of the Arkansaw, etc., drawn by Major S. H. Long, with Negracka or Red Fork, upper, larger; and Nesuketonga or Grand Saline, lower, smaller; also, a map of Mexico, etc., based on Humboldt, etc., by J. Finlayson, with these very same names. 4. A. Finlay's map of North America, pub. Philada., 1826, has upper larger stream Negracka or Semerone R.; lower one, very small, Grand Saline. 5. A map of Mexico in Anthony Finlay's Atlas, pub. Philada., 1830, has Negracka, upper and larger; the lower smaller one unnamed. 6. A map of North America in Tanner's Atlas, pub. Philada., Carey and Hart, 1843, has Negracka, upper and larger; Gr. Saline, lower and smaller; the map of Mexico and Guatemala, in this atlas, represents the two as Red Br. and Saline. 7. On Josiah Gregg's map of the Indian Territory, etc., in Morse's N. A. Atlas, pub. N. Y., Harper and Brothers, 1844, also accompanying Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, the two rivers are represented of about the same size, the upper one being lettered Cimarron R. and Salt Fork; the lower, Red Fork of the Arkansas R. This is a notably good map for its date, and in the matter now under examination may be taken as the turning-point to a better understanding of the facts in the case. 8. On a map of Texas, etc., pub. Philada., S. Augustus Mitchell, 1846, the upper and still larger river appears as Cimarone or Salt Fork; the lower, as Red Fork. 9. On a map of Mexico issued by H. S. Tanner, 3d ed., 1846, the upper, larger stream is given as Semerone, Negracka, or Red River; the lower, as Saline. 10. On a map of the U. S. in Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World, by J. Calvin Smith, pub. N. Y., Harper and Brothers, 1855, the upper stream is called Cimarron or Salt Fork; the lower, Red Fork of Arkansas. 11. Emory's beautiful map of the Western U. S., pub. 1857-58, has Salt Fork for the upper and much smaller stream, and Red Fork of the Arkansas for the other. 12. A map of Kansas, etc., in Mitchell's Atlas of 1861, represents the upper stream as Cimarron River, the lower as Red Fork of the Arkansas. 13. The map of N. A. in Johnston's Family Atlas, pub. N. Y., Johnston and Ward, 1864, shows the two in a peculiar manner, and calls the upper one Semerone, the lower one Nesuketong. 14. The Office of Indian Affairs has on file a very fine map of the Indian Territory, drawn by Ado Hunnius from the reconnoissance of Lieutenant J. C. Woodruff in 1852, and from a War Dept. map of 1866, on which the upper and now smaller river appears as Salt Creek or Nescutanga, or Salt Fork of the Arkansas, and the much larger lower one as Cimarron River or Red Fork of the Arkansas. 15. The War Dept. map of the Indian Territory, Engineer Bureau, Oct., 1866, letters for the smaller upper stream Nescutango R. and Little Arkansas R.; for the other, Cimarron River and Red Fork of Arkansas River. 16. A manuscript map by John C. McCoy, on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, has Red Fork for the upper, and Ne se ke tonga for the lower one. 17. On a cabinet map of the U. S., pub. Chicago, Rufus Blanchard, 1868, the upper one is called Little Arkansas River, the lower one being styled Red Fork of Arkansas River. 18. A map of the U. S. in Mitchell's Atlas of 1874 shows the upper and larger stream as Cimmaron or Salt Fork, and the smaller lower one as Red Fork; the map of Texas in the same atlas shows only the latter, given as Red Fork of Arkansas. 19. The General Land Office map of the Indian Territory, 1879, letters for the upper river Salt Fork of Arkansas R., and for the other Red Fork of the Arkansas or Cimarron River; the same Office's map of Oklahoma, 1894, has Salt Fork of Arkansas River for the one, and Cimarron River for the other.
The consensus of the above, aside from the eccentricities and errors involved, is reducible to Salt fork or Negracka r. for the upper one, and Red fork, Nesuketonga, or Cimarron r. for the other one, of these two important streams. One of the curiosities in the matter is the constancy of the form of the word Negracka, as well as its restriction to a single river.
[V-11] The Verdigris, Vermilion, or Wasetihoge r. has been already noticed, when Pike's party reached its headwaters in Kansas: see [note58, p. 400]. The present nomenclature of its principal branches is: 1. Hominy cr., in the Osage and Cherokee countries of the Indian Territory, with a main fork, Bird cr., site of the Osage Agency; 2. Caney r., or the Little Verdigris, falling in by the Blue Mounds in the Cherokee country, and formed of two main forks known as Big and Little Caney creeks, both of which head in Kansas; 3. Elk r., heading in the Kansan county of that name, and falling in above Independence, in Montgomery Co., Kas.; 4. Fall r., one of the terminal forks of the Verdigris, and on which is Fredonia, Wilson Co.
[V-12] See [note10] for synonymy. The Cimarron is a very large river, which drains from the eastern slopes of the great mountains in New Mexico and runs thence through southwestern portions of Kansas, loops into Oklahoma Territory from Meade Co., Kas., loops back into Kansas in Clarke Co., and thence through the S. W. corner of Comanche Co. into Oklahoma again, traverses this Territory, and joins the Arkansaw between the Osage and Creek countries, at a certain point on the line between Oklahoma and the Indian Territory.
In passing from Salt fork to the Cimarron, we have first, Red or Red Rock cr., a sizable stream from the W. or right; places called Redrock and Otoe on it; second, Buck cr., left, from the N., once known as Suicide cr.; third, Gray Horse cr., small, left, from the N. E.; fourth, Black Bear cr., large, from the W., on the right. The Pawnee Agency is on this stream, which some maps wrongly run into the Cimarron instead of the Arkansaw.
[V-13] This is not easily determined, as there are several small streams of similar character between the Cimarron and the Verdigris, among them those called Polecat, Snake, Cane, and Caney (or Pocan) creeks.
[V-14] For these two rivers, see back, [notes53], [55], pp. [397], [398], and following to p. [402]; also, [note11, p. 555].
[V-15] This was the so-called "Arkansaw band" of Osages, the circumstances of whose secession from the Osage village on the Little Osage r. are mentioned by Pike elsewhere, as well as by Wilkinson in the present instance. The faction seems to have been fomented by Chouteau through jealousy of Lisa's exclusive right to trade on the Osage r. The affair must have been notorious at the time, as various authors speak of the settlement of this Osage band on the Verdigris or, as it was also called, Vermilion r. Among them are Lewis and Clark: see ed. 1893, p. 12.
[V-16] This Illinois r., still so called, heads in Washington and Benton cos., Ark., crosses the W. border of the State N. of 36°, and runs through the Cherokee country in the Indian Territory, to fall into the Arkansaw a short distance above the mouth of the Canadian. Between the Illinois and Canadian rivers, on the E. side of the Arkansaw, opposite the mouth of Elk cr., is a place called Webber's Falls, with reference to the falls of which Wilkinson speaks.
[V-17] The main fork of the Arkansaw, and scarcely a lesser stream. This is one of the six or seven large rivers which have shared the name "Red" or its equivalent, though less frequently than some of the others. This is because the Mexicans called it Rio Colorado at its headwaters, which they knew very well; and because, down to 1820, these were supposed to be those of the true "Red river of Natchitoches," a branch of the Mississippi. The discovery that this Rio Colorado or Red r. was the source of the Canadian was made by Major Long, who followed it down, thinking he was on the Red r. of Natchitoches, and was not undeceived till he found its confluence with the Arkansaw. This is noted in 1844 by Gregg, and in 1855 by Warren; it was the third attempt made by the United States Government to discover the sources of the true Red r., Captain Sparks having been first, in 1806, and Pike second. "Canadian," as applied to the main fork of the Arkansaw, has no more to do with the Dominion of Canada in history or politics than it has in geography, and many have wondered how this river came to be called the Canadian. The word is from the Spanish Rio Cañada, or Rio Cañadiano, through such a form as Rio Cañadian, whence directly "Canadian" r., meaning "Cañon" r., and referring to the way in which the stream is boxed up or shut in by precipitous walls near its headwaters. These drain from E. slopes of the Raton and other great mountains in New Mexico E. of Taos and Santa Fé, by such streams as the Vermijo (Bermejo), Little Cimarron, Pouñel or Poñi, Rayado, and Ocaté, which join above the cañada, and the Moro, which falls in further down. Leaving New Mexico the great river courses eastward through Texas, enters Oklahoma at long. 100° W. (near lat. 36° N., vicinity of Antelope hills), traverses this territory to about long. 98° W., separates it from the Indian Territory to beyond long. 97° W., and runs in the latter to join the Arkansaw near long. 95° W., in the vicinity of Webber's falls, at a point on the boundary between the Cherokee and Chocktaw countries, about 40 m. E. of the Arkansaw State line. Its principal branch is the North fork, which as far as it goes is a parallel stream, skirting the Canadian for hundreds of miles at no great distance northward of the main stream.