Note D — Front matter

An interesting reference to the name “Yellowstone,” in an entirely different quarter, occurs on Pike’s map of the “Internal Provinces of Spain,” published in 1810. It is a corrupt Spanish translation in the form of “Rio de Piedro Amaretto del Missouri,” (intended of course to be Rio de la Piedra Amarilla del Missouri) river of the Yellow Stone of the Missouri. No clue has been discovered of the source from which Pike received this name; but the fact of its existence need occasion no surprise. The Spanish had long traded as far north as the Shoshone country, and had mingled with the French traders along the lower Missouri. Lewis and Clark found articles of their manufacture among the Shoshones in 1805. There is also limited evidence of early intercourse between them and the Crow nation. That the name of so important a stream as the Yellowstone should have become known to these traders is therefore not at all remarkable. There is, however, no reason to suppose that the Spanish translation antedates the French. It certainly plays no part in the descent of the name from the original to the English form, and it is of interest in this connection mainly as showing that, even at this early day, the name had found its way to the provinces of the south.