Note V-17 — Chapter V · WILKINSON'S REPORT ON THE ARKANSAW.[V-1]

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.