Note V-10 — Chapter V · WILKINSON'S REPORT ON THE ARKANSAW.[V-1]

"Neskalonska" is a name I have failed to find elsewhere, but fortunately there is no question of the river to which Wilkinson applies it. This is Salt fork, the third largest branch of the Arkansaw from the W.—the Cimarron being second, and the Canadian first in size. Wilkinson's "Neskalonska" and his "Grand Saline or Newsewtonga" are respectively Salt fork and Cimarron r. of present nomenclature. Notwithstanding their great size and importance, and the fact that they fall into the Arkansaw about a degree of latitude and of longitude apart, they have been completely confused by geographers, on whose maps almost every name of each has been misapplied to the other. Salt fork is the upper and smaller one of the two, which falls in through the Ponca Reservation, at or near Ponca P. O. and Ponca Agency, in Oklahoma. Cimarron r. is the lower and larger one of the two, which falls in through the Indian Territory at a point on the boundary of Oklahoma. Salt fork has been called: Salt fork; Salt r.; Salt cr.; Saline fork; Saline r.; Saline cr.; Red fork; Red r.; Little Arkansaw r. (duplicating a name: see note8, p. 548); Nescutango r.; Negracka r. (its usual name for many years); Semerone, Cimarone, Cimmaron, Cimarron r.—the last four variants of the same word, and like Nescutango, properly belonging only to the next, viz.: Cimarron r. This has been called: Red fork; Saline r.; Grand Saline r.; Jefferson r.; Nesuketong, Nesuketonga, Nesuhetonga, Nescutanga, Newsewketonga r.; Cimmaron, Cimarron r. On analyzing the comparative applicability of these names, I find that "Salt" or "Saline" belongs most properly to the upper and smaller stream, for which we now use it, and when applied to the lower is usually qualified as Grand Saline; that "Red" is misapplied to both indifferently; that "Little Arkansas" is only applied to the upper, and "Jefferson" only to the lower stream; that "Negracka" is absolutely the name of the upper one alone; that "Nesuketonga" and its variants are almost entirely confined to the lower one; and finally that "Cimarron" in its variations is equally common to both, though in present usage it is absolutely restricted to the lower one.

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.