Yesterday Today by Catherine S. Barker J. Blake Perkins

Author:Catherine S. Barker, J. Blake Perkins [Catherine S. Barker, J. Blake Perkins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
ISBN: 9781610756839
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: 2020-03-06T05:00:00+00:00

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1. Lin Yutang, My Country and My People. New York: The John Day Company.

CHAPTER VI

Ancestry

I lost my mare in Lincoln Lane,

And couldn’t tell where to find her,

Till she came home both lame and blind,

With never a tail behind her.

THEORIES OF THE DERIVATION OF THE WORD “OZARK” TELL something of the early inhabitants of this region. It has been suggested that it is a combination of the word “Osage,” a name of French origin given to an Indian tribe which is said to have been living in the mountains when De Soto explored the country in 1541, and of “Arkansas.” Another explanation is that it is a shortening of the French “Aux Arkansas” to “Aux Arcs,” spelled phonetically. A third theory is based upon the fact that the Indians found the wood of the Osage orange tree especially suitable for making bows. The French called the tree “Bois d’arc” (bow wood) which became “Bodark.” Many of these trees were found in the Ozark region, and there so many Indians went for their bow wood that French trappers spoke of their destination as “the bow mountains” or “Montagnes aux arcs.” Gradually this was shortened to “Aux arcs.”

The name “Arkansas” is also accounted for in various ways. Some say that it was first appropriately used to described the river which still bears the name. According to this explanation, it is the Indian word “kansas” (smoky water) with the French “arc” (bow or bend) prefixed.

Others say that it was the name of a superior tribe of Indians, the Arkansa, and that it was spelled in many ways by early French writers, for example: Arkansea, Acanca, Akanssa, Accanes, Alkansa, Arkensaw.

It may have been the name of a tribe of Indians who separated from the Kansas Nation. These Indians were renowned for the fine bows they made and came to be known as the “bow”—or “arc”—Kansas Indians.

According to an Indian legend, Okanasa (bushy head) was a great chief. The river on which his tribe lived was named for him because a sketch of the river and the many small streams which flowed into it clearly resembled a “bushy head.” As a fulfillment of prophecy, after Okanasa had been taken bodily from the presence of his people by the hand of the Great Spirit, he shouted back to them the new pronunciation of his name, which was henceforth to be used in designating the tribe, the river, and the land on both sides—Arkansaw.

Long before the Indians or the French came to Arkansas the Ozarks were the home of the Rock Shelter people. Archaeologists differ in their estimates of the antiquity of these people. Some say that they inhabited the mountains from 1,800 to 3,000 years ago. Others claim that they may have lived there during the end of the ice age, about 20,000 years ago. There is no evidence that they were in any way connected with the Indians which lived there later.

Many Indian tribes have lived in Arkansas. Some have sojourned long and the stay of others has been brief—an incident in their westward trek.

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