The Sunday Oregonian., June 01, 1913, SECTION FIVE, Page 12, Image 78

- TOE SUNDAY OREGOmX, PORTLAyP, JUXE 1, 1913. '
-"""" " .i.i. . .. ' t ...... . , . 1 . - . i
SIX COAST ARTILLERY OFFICERS
OUT OF 16 PASS EXAMINATIONS
In All 28 Commissioned Men, Including Colonel C. C. Hammond, Commander of Corps, and Adjutant-General
T"".1 qPl t T-J 1 H 1 . . . . .
I
A i S r j. , -v l
If X k.
1 fl
,HV
OF THE 16 offirers of tile Coast Ar
tillery Corps who took the exami
nations following the "officers'
school" conducted at Fort Stevens April
7 to Jl, six attained markings that
show them to he qualified. The fol
lowins were successful: Captain C. O.
Brown. Captain K. H. Jletcalf, First
IJeutenant !. n. Woods Second Lieu
Tl
I
I Th vl 'fr&tl-M fc-irr'
i
NO STATLIER NAME THAN OREGON
DECLARES POET JOAQUIN MILLER
Aragon; Ah-ra-gon; Oregon? Evolutes Lute Pease, Who Claims Spanish Origin for Appellation of Webfoot State,
fcut Sole Formula for Guesses as to Name Make It Indian or Spanish.
BY Ll'TR PEASR.
I
1 our constellation of stars I have
not heard it," wrote Joaquin
-Miller, referring to Oregon. "It Is
hieh time that some one should maka
clear the root of this great name; the
written story of its origin." And then
spiced with poetic license and par
nrsheci with eloquence, he proceeded to
serve up to us his own guess afte,- a
wrVl. y lt of other
writers. But. not counting the nie
.umptuous claim of Dennis OReoKan.
ht the state of OreRon was so named
in honor of -his family. on srues Is as
Food as unollier only some are bet'.
'r "nd ns I believe with the bearded
Joaquin that It is hlKrh time the mat
er were settled. I here (with heeom
ine blushes) venture to set down mv
own guess: y
"Oregon" is from "Aragon"
Sound the Spanish "broad A" in pro
nouncing the name of that grand old
rrovlnce of Spain. Aragon, and see if
you can distinguish the one word from
the other. -
A study of the many guesses that
have been offered will convince vou
that the sole formula followed with
any of them has heen: find an Indian
or a. Spanish word that can be twisted
to sound something 'like "Oregon" or
Invent It if you can't find it and then
more or less Ingeniouslv work out a
tunch of. arguments that will lend
plausibility. finally delivering the
whole mess with well-simulated confi
dence. It is astonishing to note the
number of fearfully far-fetched efforts
that have managed to "get bv in this
way.
There was the veracious historian
who so grandly mentioned "old Span
ish archives in Madrid" as his author
ity, until some one p-mctured him with
the statement ihat the rhap h?d nver
been in Madrid, and noho.lv elso l,-,j
ever mentioned havln; found th word
there. And there was the other who
put forward the "Algonquin word "
M auresan "Beautiful Water" until
Banrrnll punctured Mm. Then con
sider some of the others:
"origanum," it wild marjoram, be
i wicjua nanoaai utuara, Acrcna sc no ol at
4'J. y .' if?. : :
"'''
tenant Van Svarverud. Second Lieuten
ant C. D. Hulbert, Second Lieutenant II.
H. Knox.
The examination ras held May 12 un
der the provisions of section 3. para
graph 2. General Orders No. 66. War
Department. Scries '1911. and the sub
jects used comprise what Is known as
the "hasic course" for all officers.
cause some of it is found far up the
Columbia.
"Oregono." (alleged) sage, artemisia.
because there is sagebrush in Oregon
as elsewhere in the West.
"I.op-Knr" I, I-'nvorlte."
"Ori.ion." Spanish for "a. pull by the
ear" (nllcged by some writers to mean
"Big Kar") because the early savages
distended their ears with ornaments
fop which statement there Is no au
thority in fact or by great straining
assumed to mean -"iop-ear." because
there are some jackrabhits in Oregon!
This enjoyed long popularity; the
forty-niners of the California mining
camps used to call Oregonians "Lop
ears." -
"Ouragan." French for "hurricane":
Spanish, "huracan." because the wind
blows a little on the Columbia, though
hurricanes are unknown on either the
river or the Oregon coast.
"Oye-el asm." Spanish for "hear the
water." This is Joaquin's guess be
cause you can hear the water tumbling
from tlv; Cascades into the Columbia!
"Alabama here we rest Is sweet, at
tractive, restful." says the poet, "but
the name has not the rush of waters,
the misty tang of old and somber wood,
of cloud-tossing trees, the strength,
the color of Oregon. . . . 'Where
rolls the Oregon and hears no sound
save his own dashing!' The poetry here
is so perfect, the description, both
sound and sense, so exact and true
poetry is the purest form of truth
that I know 'Oye-agua' means Ore
gon." So w-hen called upon to address
the students of the Oregon State Uni
versity, Miller says, he gave this "root
and definition of the beautiful, word."
but he finally laments: "Alas! what
eviuenre hpve I further than that writ
ten on the face of the waters and heard
in the clouds from the stupendous
steeps?
ttempts Admitted Desperate
However. al these seem rather res
perale attempts to get something that
siunis tike the r.ame. when the iden
tical name has lven available all
straining the language and torturing
logic, when there has been something
easy and pimple and logical right at
hand. Some of the more Important au
i ort Stevens.
.,7 ;. '
ig"
Captain it. W. Collins, a regular
Army officer, of "the Coast Artillery
Corps, "and inspector-instructor of the
Coast Artillery Reserve, conducted trfe
examination.
Jn all 28 officers of the Coast Artil
lery attended the school. Including Col
onel C. C. Hammond, commander of the
Corps. Adjutant-General Kinzer. of the
National Guard, .was also a "student."
thorities, conscious of the absurdities
In all these, guesses, have given up the
job in disgust and fallen back upon
the theory that Oregon Just happened,
or rather than Jonathan Carver faked
the name. - .
Foor old Carver! Brave -fighter of
the -French and Tndlan war. intrepid
traveler of - the Western frontier, his
dreams 'and plans at last gone ' all
asley. he wrote a book for bread and
shelter, in his broken age, but was
allowed to reap no benefit from it.
and 'ne died: "in poverty and neglect."
.Historians like Greehow have sneered
at him. or. like Bancroft, have been
-skeptical, though Lyman is refreshing,
ly fair yet all of them, seem to have
made the astonishing blunder of sup
posing that Carver said that he got the
name "Oregon" from the Indians. Even
the painstaking and cautious Bancroft
records that CaKver says "he heard
from the natives in the vicinity of the
headwaters of .the Mississippi, of a
great river flowing into the Western
ocean and called by them the Oregon,
Oregan or Origan" and the historian
doubts" whether Carver "understood
the natives or whether-they ever made
such a statement." ,
Carver says nothing of the sort.
Carver's Quotation Given.
He no more says that the Indians
gave him the name, Oregon, than that
they gave him "Mississippi." or "Mes
sorie." or "The River Bourbon, the
River of the Torth" fthe Saskatche
wan). It is odd that Bancroft and
other historians did not note the -Mistake
when each of them correctly
quotes the passages in which Carver
uses the name as foilows:
-"From the intelligence I gained Ifom
the Xaudowessie Indians ( Dakotahs).
among whom I arrived on the seventh
of December flT67. and whose lan
guage I perfectly acquired during a
residence of five months: and also from
the accounts I afterwards obtained
from the Assinipoils. who speak the
same langhp.ge, heing a revolted band
of riie Naudowessle; and from the Kii
Hstinoes. neighbors of the Assinipoils.
who speak the Chipeway language and
inhabit the heads of the River Bour
bon. I say from these nations together
is
f if
--'' r-." 1
3- 4
S J
with my own observations. I have
learned that the four most capital riv
ers of the continent of Xorth America,
viz.: the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi,
the River Bourbon and the Oregon or
River of the West (as I hinted In my
introduction) have their sources situ
ated in the same -neighborhood. The
waters of the three former are within
30 miles of each other; the latter, how
ever, is rather further West."
reat Rivers Traced.
He addrs that "it is an instance not
to be paralleled on the other three
quarters of the globe, that four rivers
of such magnitude should take their
rise together, and each, after running
separate courses, discharge their waters
Into different oceans at a distance of
SOOO miles from their sources."
The "hint" that he "gives In his in
troduction. Tves merely to call atten
tion to the importance .of the "account
I give o"? the Naudowessie. and the sit
uation of the heads of the four great
rivers that take their rise within a few
leagues of each ether, nearlv- a-bout
the center of this great continent: the
River Bourbon which- empties itself
Into Hudson's Bay; the w-SUers of the
Pt. Lawrence, tl.e Mississippi and the
River Oregon. or T!ier of the West,
that falls into the Pacific Ocean at
the. Straits of Anmian."
It is clsar that the important matter
Carver felt that he had to give was
not the name of any of these rivers, or
that he had" heard of a river hitherto
unknown his tp?.n map- shows the
"River of the. "West, discovered by
A gui'ar" . but that the sources of
thei-e already-known rivers. were In the
sa-ttie neighborhood., -
HonrHty . IS'et Qtienttosed.
'Hie confidence with which ' Carver
Introduces "Oregon" . along with the
names of the other rivers, is proof of
his honesty. He' has heard the name
'before, applied to ' the ' River of the
West, and puts tt down- Jurt as it
sounded to him Just as he puts down
the names of various Indian tribes, the
spelling of which he is uncertain about,
but he interprets the sounds so accu
rately that we have no difficulty in
rocogn'slng most of them today.
Bancroft admits "that there could
have been no object for- him to mis-
I represent. From his standpoint, it was
a smucb to his credit to report a great
river-to which there was no name as
one to which there was a name."
'o wonder Bancroft was a little puz
zled by his own error a minor one and
doubtless unusual in his great work.
He adds truly: "That any native of
America ever employed the word for
any purpose there is no evidence. As
a rule the aboriginals of North America
have no ' names for Jtheir rivers and
mountains and lakes; the Indians of
the Columbia basin . in Lewis and
Clark's time had no special name for
the Columbia: merely a general term,
and it is fairly certain that it is Im
possible that the Columbia ever had a
distinctinve appellation - by which it
was known to any peoples about the
headwaters of the Mississippi" where
Carver visited -"I-t Is very -certain that
the,- word Oregon dees not belong to
any of the several dialects of the ter
ritory drained by the Columbia."
Natureily enough as it is Spanish.
Spanish Names Common.
; While- it is true that the nanies of
saints figure most prominently among
the geographical names" used by the
Spanish discoverers, it was not unusual
for them to borrow the names of old
Spain, as "New Granada." "New Gero
na," and others: jnst as 'the French
gave us New Orleans; while the Eng
lish quite, overdid it with : their New
York. Kev.' Jersey. New London, Dover,
Thames and a score of others. And it
was Drake who gave the name- New Albion-
to- this same- region. So what
more likely Spanish name than Ara
gon? It was the union of Casttle-and
Aragon that formed the great Spanish
monarchy which became the terror of
Europe, ana Aragon, individually, filled
for a long time a greater -place in gen
eral European politics 'than any other
Spanish power.
- Now, many important place- have
been known by some distinctive appel
lation long before they were "officially
discovered" and renamed, thus "Vine
land" preceded America, and "Bulshai"
was familiar to the Russians of old
Alaska 'a century before some "Che
chaco" had the assurance to take credit
for'It-as his own find and rename it
Mount McKinley. We have plenty of
svidence. that long before the time of
Lewis aud flark or Captain Gray, other
white men had seen the great River of
the West. These unknown snd unre
corded wanderers were mostly Span
iards, doubtless; and is it not quite' pos
sible . that .from some of these was
passed alonjg the name Aragon until it
reached, the' ears of the Connecticut
Yankee. Carver, who, having but distant-acquaintance
with the "broad A'
spelled it as it sounded to him? Mad
he been a Spaniard .he would have writ
ten it Aragon. and Bryant's line would
have been . quite as fine and sonorous
had it been: , '. .
"Where rolls the Aragon.'- . ..
Records -of Earlx Vyasres "Poor. '
Bancroft says "we shall never know"
where Carver got ' the name. Possibly,
but few historians have ever managed
to exhaust all records in such a matter.
Time always brings to light some un
expected bit of writing. Only the other
day was unearthed Pontius Pilate's of
ficial account of the trial of the Savior-.
As for the- records we have of early
voyages to the Northwest Coast, they
are" the most unsatisfactory in the an
nals of discovery. - Juan Roderiguez
Cabr'illo.-In 1542, "thought" he reached
latitude 44, "though not landing." His
successor, Bartolome Ferrelo. "may
have passed 4"!, but did not land." Mar
tin Frobrlsher (1576-8) struck the coast
of British Columbia. . Drake, in 1579, in
search of the .fabled Strait of Anian,
unquestionably did 'sail along some '50
or 60 miles of the Oregon coast, but
turned "back and afterward fibbed about
the terribly cold weather of the region
iri'.Tune! " It -was no doubt a case of
cold feet. -John Davis (1585-7). like
Frobrlsher." skipped Oregon and reached
the 'coast further north, making the
highest latitude of his time In these
waters.' Sebastian vizcalano, in 1603.
repeated Cabrlllo's exploit, reaching 42
and Cape' Blanco, but his associate.
Aguilar, "possibly" reached 43, in the
neighborhood of which he found ".a. very
copious . and . soundable river, on - the
banks of which were very large ashes.
willows, brambles and other trees of
Castile." , He was ; therefore credited
with the discovery of the River of the
Vt est. but it is now thought that he
only saw the jnouth of the Umpqua. It
seems that nearly all of these - old
timers claimed a higher latitude than
they actually reached.
'- Tall Tales. Told.
Besides these real captains, there
were a number of such fellows as Mal
donado. Jnan de File a and other Dr.
Cooks of .those days, who told pretty
tall tales of .the Strait of Anian: all
worthies except that de Fuca. got his
name on the -map an honor probably
as -undeserved as it was unearned.
And so on down to Carver's time,
apparently, there Is no genuine record
of a discovery, of the big river: still,
tt was known to exist! The Indians at
the Missouri River told Marquette and
Joliet about It in 1763; and long be
fore that date Moncacht Ape visited
the Columbia and saw white men in its
vicinity: and long before Moncacht Ape
"reports of a great Western river were
current." Doubtless it was discussed
from the later years of the 17th cen
tury. ,
Who' were the white men seen by
Moncacht Ape? Who survived the
beeswax ship? And who were Konopee
and his companions or companion?
Alas! we have no record.
Drake says nothing of having put
ashore, somewhere along the coast of
Oregon, the "Spanish pilot. Morena,"
yet there is the Spanish account of a
poor devil of that name being so treat
ed by Drake, and afterward making
CIRCUS WILL INVADE CITY TODAY
AND SEASON TO OPEN TOMORROW
Scptch Kfltie Band, Trained Hippopotamus, Forty Clowns, Educated
' &7 v-.
Ha,
, - - - irr:.".
w7"s::.:ifc- V vaX:-.ii.
; tit
SO far as Portland is concerned the
regular circus season of 1913 com
mences tomorrow, when the Sells
Floto circus will open its fourteenth
annual engagement here on Monday
afternoon. The tents will be pitched
on the regular circus lot at Twenty
fourth and Raleigh streets.
Aa the big show -played -Walla Walla
yesterday, it Is expected that the three
trains bearing this immense organiza
tion will arrive in Portland some time
in the forenoon today, and then the
work of erecting the -big top" and its
adjuncts will proceed with that peculiar-rapidity
only known to circus folk.
This latter usually perhaps has as
much appeal attached to it as anything
else connected withshow life, and a
visit to the circus grounds today
would be a Sunday's outing either for
the little or big people who believe in
this form of amusement.
. The most remarkable feature of a
circus Is that while it practically is
always th? same, it retains its hold
upon the affections of its patrons. The
man who says he has seen it before and
guesses he won't go this year is usual
ly the first to the ticket wagon ana
frequently attends two or three per
formances for good measure. The peo.
pie who manage these big circuses are
perhaps the most astute showmen on
the face of the globe. Years of expe
rience have taught them that the old
time circus atmosphere must be - pre
served and that the people at large
would resent any innovation which di
vested it of its original charm. That
really is th "why" of the circus.
Sells-Floto, . of course, hardly needs
a sponsor in Portla-nd. There are few,
if any. attractions that have ever vis
ited this locality which have made
themselves more popular than the big
tent nhow hailing from Denver.
This season, it is said, the show has
been added to In many ways and sev
eral new features will be offered, in
cluding a complete troupe of trained
animals, the famous Scotch Kiltie band
from Toronto, Canada: the Devlin
Zouaves, the Stlckney Sisters, a
trained hippopotamus, Tex McLeod,
his way over the interminable moun
tains and valleys and deserts to the
padres of Mexico.
.'As for the famous "beeswax ship"
wrecked on Nehalem Beach: whether
its 'cargo was beeswax or as some
scientist has alleged of mineral wax,
is of no importance, for the presence
of certain brands and markings con
spicuous ' on many specimens (as the
letters I. H. S.) and the fact that some
of the stuff had been -molded into tall
altar candles, indisputable ' proves it
to have belonged to white men. As
the historian Lyman suggests, the
wreck. may have been the Spanish ship
San Jose, which sailed from ' La Paz,
Lower California June 16. 1769. laden
with. supplies for the missions of Cali
fornia, and which was never seen
thereafter. Wax for candles would
form an important part -of the equip
ment of 'Catholic missions. Lyman, . to
whom we are indebted for most care
ful investigation and study of the Ore
gon Indian traditions, says that, ac
cording to the natives' story, several
of the crew of the beeswax shio' sur
vived and lived for a time with the
Indians of the vicinity. They got too
free with the ' women of the tribe
quite the usual thing with the grace
less early voyagers and after a rat
tling good fight -were duly killed by
their properly .offended hosts.
Konopee, however, was doubtless the
first -white man ever seen- by the Ore
gon aboriginals.. Lyman does not doubt
the authenticity of this tradition of
the Lower Columbia Indians. These
Clatsops tell of a ship that appeared
offshore.' Just south of the mouth of
the -Columbia. They were frightened,
suspecting a return of their unpleas
ant "Tallapus." Next day they saw that
the ship had come ashore, and 'they
found two' survivors strange, pale
creatures, with thick hair on their
faces, and these men were parching
corn, on the beach. Com was a com
mon provision of the Spanish ships of
those days. , - -
Castaways Made Slaves.
Thereafter the Clatsop name, for
white men was "Tlo-hon-nipts." mean
ing "of those that drifted ashore.''
The natives enslaved the castaways,
looted the wreck and found their first
iron. One of the survivors worked this
iron; into knives for them and event
ually became a great personage in the
tribe, long remembered by the name
Konopee. The tradition has it that Kon
opee at last attempted to reach the
"land of sunrise." by. way of the Co
lumbia, but gave it up at the Cascades.
where he eventually married an Indian
woman and settled down. "Gabriel
Franchere. in 1814." says Lyman, "met
an old man at the Cascades, named
Soto, son of a Spaniard, one. -of four
who had been wrecked at the mouth of
""Sk
x cawuits pi oeus-x loto snow.
" - V -
i -
vSBEji.
- - ' .
- fj;-'--- o
king of the lariat; Rhoda Royal's light
horse brigade. 40 clowns, Lucia Zora.
introducing the best trained herd of
elephants on the face of the globe, and
several big spectacular equestrian acts.
Added, of course, to this will be all the
conventional features of the old-time
and modern circus.
The usual parade will he given to
morrow morning, about Q:30 o'clock,
the route being as follows: Leaving
the grounds and proceeding south on
the Coulmbia." and Lyman thinks lie
was til son of Konopee, though he
story doubles the "number of the cast
aways of the tradition.
But most Important of all - is the
story of that wonderful Indian.- Mon
cacht Ape. whose exploits as-a trans
continental traveler made de Sota, Ca
beza ric Vaca, Lewis and Clark and all
the others seem amateurish in compar
ison. This barbarian philosopher, in
search of the secrets of life, belonged
to one of ttie Lower Mississippi tribes,
and gave his story to the Frenchman, Le
Page du Pratz. -who published it in Paris
In 178. Moncacht Ape ("he who kills
trouble and fatigue") or, as Lyman
spells the name, "Moncachtabe," first
traveled to the" shore of the Atlantic:
"When I saw 'it I was so delighted
that' I "could not speak. My eyes were
too small for my soul's ease. The wind
so disturhed" the great water that I
thought the blows it save would beat
the land In pieces."
Flowing Tide Scares Him.
He was grreatU' frightened by the in
coming tide, thinking the land would
be engulfed; he had observed that the
length of the days varied with -the sea
sons more in the North than in the
South, and Was delighted to have du
Pratz enlighten him thereon. Having
heard that the cradle of his race was
somewhere beyond the sources of the
Missouri, he .tourneyed westward. Pro
ceeding slowly from tribe to tribe,
learning the language and winning the
friendship of each, he came at last to
the Columbia. Here he encountered a
curly chief to whom he, pointedly re
marked: . -'
"When hears meet, they, rub noses,
but men speak rudely!"
However, his message from "Salt
Tears" to the "Big Roebuck" got' him
a warm welcome with the tribesmen of
the I.ower Columbia. Here Hie found
the Indians hiding from an expected
visit of white men "to the Coast. Ac
cording to their account, the white men
came each year, "from where the sun
sets," to get "stinking yellow wood"
and to steal their maidens.
Joining the other Indians with great
enthusiasm. Moncacht Ape helped to
waylay and kill more than a dozen of
the villainous visitors. They were
bearded and very white of skin, and
had guns.
Moncacht Ape made a powerful im
pression upon the Columbia tribes
without' doubt, and as the similarity
in sound between his name and the
queer name, Konopee. is rather striking
it is possible that the Clatsop tradi
tion has confused him with another.
Vsme of River Lost.
The point of all this is that there
were several unofficial discoveries of
the Columbia, and it'seems tome most
probable that Carver had access to
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Elephants and Street Parade Amonf
si ss s
o
"A V -?!- v -
s-i
sV
Twenty-fifth tQ Overton, tnence tc
Twentieth, along Twentieth street to
W'ashington, down Washington to
Sixth, along Sixth to Yamhill, thence
to Third, along Third to Everett, up
Kverett to Twentieth, Twentieth to
Overton and back to the grounds.
The circus will remain here three
days, closing its engagement on Wed
nesday evening. The first perform
ance will be given tomorrow at 2
o'clock. .'
some Account, or heard some story, in
which the name Aragon wa applied
to the River of the West, but which has
become -lost. .
The name is peculiarly well adapted
to transmission by any tongue, with
comparative safety from alteration by
mouth-to-mouth exchange, : and not
withstanding Greenhow's sneering
guess tHat Carver invented the name,
I think a contrary inference is war
ranted by logic and the facts.
Jefferson used the ' name in his in
structions to - Lewis and Clark, and
Bryant,, in 1817, quite heedless of Cap
tain Gray and his "discovery" of the
Columbia years before, used tho earlier
namo in his Thanatopsis and so gave
"Oregon" enormous currency. Never
theless, Gray's name. Columbia, ur
vived, and but for Hall J. Kelly, the
name Oregon would doubtless have
been dropped from the map altogether.
Kelly, as stated in his "History of the
Settlements of Oregon," . was the first
to apply the name to the territory ad
jacent to the river; so we shouid be
grateful to Kelly.
As Bancroft sums it up: "The word
came from Carver through Bryant and
Kelly. How Carver obtained it we
shall never know."
Quien sahe? Perhaps on some dusty
shelf of some musty corner of old
Spain or Mexico is . lying the worm
eaten log of a long-forgotten galleon,
or the worn and crumbling journal of
some old. padre or gallanV adventurer
of Iberia, telling of "Nueva Aragon."
or "El Rio Aragon."
But if Oregon Is Aragon phonetically
spelled by a Yankee, why hasn't it been
suggested by some one of recognised
authority and prestige. There you
have me! Perhaps somebody did In
tend to but forgot about it. Of course,
far be it from me to more than deli
cately hint that er some folks are
smarter than others!
WOMAN'S LONG WAIT VAIN
Linden Julie Dies Aftor 42 Years
Watch for Sweetheart.
BE RUIN, May 31. (Special.) The
death took place this week cf a. wo
man who for 42 years, in sunshine and
rain, had waited, in Unter den. Linden,
the chief street of Berlin, for the re
turn of her soldier lover. J
The woman, who was known as
"Linden Julie, was the only person
whom the police allowed to stand still
on the pavement in the Linden. Her
mind became deranged when her lover
failed to return after the Franco-German
war of 1871. -
S
'''V-' nv ,