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A taconite mine .,.. H ' ir>ir'<«*||H*?*y,».*^"*j,;fi5^^ on the IS ^ ' ''••^'Krff Mesabi Range

By EDWARD W. DAVIS TACONITE The Derivation of the Name

IN MINNESOTA geology, "taconffe" is the whole series, by its stratigraphic position, its name applied to the sedimentary rocks that fauna, lithology, and its accidental features, make up the iron formation of the Mesabi is bound in one grander group, and resem­ Range. These are very old pre-Cambrian bles that which is known as Taconic." On rocks, containing from twenty to thirty-five page 124 of the same volume Winchell adds per cent ffon. They were given the name that "This rock is widely spread over the "taconyte" in 1892 by Newton H. Winchell, whole length of the Mesabi, and being dif­ state geologist of Minnesota, because they ferent from anything found elsewhere and make up what he called the "Taconic strata." peculiar to this horizon of the Taconic, has Many references to "Taconic" and "taconyte" been called taconyte by the writer." occur in Winchell's Annual Reports of When Winchell published this statement the Geological and Natural History Survey a dispute was in progress among leading of Minnesota for 1889 and 1891. In the Eastern geologists regarding Emmons' pro­ Eighteenth Annual Report (p. 68-86, 184) posal of 1842 to introduce a new rock classi­ he includes a lengthy explanation of Eben- fication into the early Cambrian series. ezer Emmons' Taconic theory and its appli­ For this classification, he proposed using cation to the older rocks of North America. the name "Taconic," for the Taconic Moun­ Emmons was connected with the New York tains in western Massachusetts and Vermont, geological survey from 1838 to 1842, and in where this geologic series was first recog­ 1851 he became geologist of North Carolina. nized. His classification has now been Of the Mesabi iron formation comprising generally rejected, but Winchell accepted "the beds immediately overlying . . . the Emmons' proposal and classed the sedi­ granite and greenstone of the Giant's range" mentary rocks of the Mesabi iron formation WincheU writes as follows in the survey's as Taconic. Twentieth Annual Report (p. 4): "This It is, therefore, obvious that the name PROFESSOR DAVIS, dircctor of the Mines Experi­ "taconite" can be traced directly to that of ment Station of the University of Minnesota, has the Taconic Mountains. A search of the devoted many years to studying taconite and literature for the source of the name pro­ methods of extracting iron ore from it. duced ample proof that it was derived from

282 MINNESOTA Histoty an Indian name for a portion of the Berk- wrong, but of a dozen more probable ones shires, or perhaps for a particular hill, now that might be suggested, it cannot be af­ known as Mount Washington, which was firmed that any is certainly right. The least cafled "Tachanick" by the Indians. objectionable is 'forest' or 'wilderness,' the The first recorded use of the Indian name Delaware tachanigen which Leisberger known to the writer is found in a petition translates by 'woody,' 'full of woods,' but dating from the spring of 1685 for the right literally 'wild land,' 'forest.' A sketch of to purchase land in western Massachusetts. Shekomeko, (Dutchess county, N.Y.), drawn It contains a reference to "a Peece of Land by a Moravian missionary in 1745, shows in Eyeing upon ye Same Kill cafled by the the distance eastward a mountain summit Indians Tachkanick behinde Patkook about marked 'K'takanatschan, the big mountain,' Two or SOOhund acres." From a Documen­ (Moravian Memorial, 62,) a name which tary History of the State of New York, the resolves itself into ket-takone-wadchu, great petition is quoted by Franklin Leonard Pope woody mountain, i.e. great Taconic moun­ in an article on "The Western Boundary of tain. (Trumbull's Indian Names of Conn.) Massachusetts," which appears in the Berk­ The name is spelled twenty or thirty different shire Historical and Scientific Society's ways in the Archives of New York, Massa­ Papers, 1:48 (1886). The same author (p. chusetts and Connecticut." 62) quotes a letter addressed to Robert A few of these spellings follow: Livingston, Jr., of the town of Mount Wash­ Tachkanick (1685) Taghconic ington in southwestern Massachusetts on K'takantshan (1745) Tachanizen March 24, 1752. His correspondent, Ol'r Tackinick (1752) Tocconuc Partridge, reports that "to lay out Equiva­ Taughkaughnick Taghonic lents in the Province land, I have begun on Toghconnuck Taconick the East side of Tackinick Barrick, and laid Toghconnuc Tacon'ic (modern) out a large Farm." Taghkan'nuc Taconyte After recording that a Massachusetts Taghkanick Tac'onite "township was incorporated under its pres­ From these and other records, it seems ent name of Mount Washington in 1779," obvious that taconite, our name for the iron Pope adds (p. 83): "It is to be regretted that formation of the Mesabi Range, came, via in their determination to sweep away every Winchell and Emmons, from the Indian vestige of the hated manorial proprietorship, name of a mountain or a range of mountains the inhabitants should have gone to the on the western border of Massachusetts. One length of replacing the significant and beau- of the earliest names for these geographic tfful name of Taconic, by the patriotic but features was "Tachkanick," probably mean­ nevertheless inappropriate one of Mount ing "forest wilderness" in the Delaware Washington. It is to be hoped that we may tongue. An earlier suggestion that taconite yet witness the restoration of the ancient came from the Greek word Tako, meaning and historical name of the oldest settlement "to melt," is untenable. of Berkshire." The author supplies information about the RESERVE Mining Company's Babbitt plant earlier name in the following footnote on the same page: "Taghkan'nuc, Taughkaughnick, mod. Taconic Mts. The name has been said to mean 'Water enough' and to have been taken from a spring on the west side of Mount Tom in Copake, N.Y., which was a favorite resort of the Indians. (Hough's Gaz. N.Y., 249) This interpretation is certainly

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