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BATTLE CREEK BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
This is beautiful, poetically reminding one of a chime of silver bells. We have dropped the 'Ke, ' but the music is mostly retained. On my enquiring what Battle Creek meant in Indian, he promptly answered 'Waupakisco, ' and that it meant 'the river or water of battles. ' A very curious coincidence, both names originating at different times, and meaning the same thing. Ours from a little skirmish between the surveyors and the Indians, and theirs in commemoration of a great battle fought by two tribes of their people. His legend was this: Many years ago when there were no che-mo-ko-men in the country, and the red men were plenty and strong, two tribes of his people were at enmity, and many braves, from different tribes, were on the war path. Here, at the junction of these streams, and extending up and along the Battle creek and the adjacent country, a mighty battle was fought, and many braves were sent to the happy hunting grounds; for the stream was filled with the dead and is waters were colored with'their blood. Hence the name Waupakisco—river of battles or water of blood. " Such is a synopsis of the old Indian legend.
"But, " continues our friend, "I love the Indian name of our stream; it commemorates the great event, and it should have been retained. We, in later years, when our city charter was obtained, tried to give the place its expressive
Indian name. The committee who drafted the charter recommended it. But on a vote of citizens we lost it, only sixty voting for it. I think it was a great mistake; there is a grandeur and euphony that is pleasant in Waupakisko. But we lost it to our shame and sorrow, and must, henceforth and forever, rest under the appellation of 'ites. ' Battle Creekites reminding one continually of the rejected races—the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Perizzites, and the Amlekites, driven from the promised land.
Michigan
Page 71
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