Mt. Moosilauke (1784) - Origins of the Name
(1784) Mooselock
". . . This mountain is a huge mass of rock 4,811 feet high. It presents a grand appearance from whatever point viewed. From the east or west it shows a south peak, a high crest, and a blue dome, lying almost in a north and south line. The peak and crest are bald; the blue dome is covered with a dense forest of fir. Its meaning and origin have been the subjects of some discussion.
The first mention of this mountain we have met - we wish we could find an earlier one - is by Samuel Holland, Esq. He was the surveyor of the King's woods, northern New Hampshire, in 1773-'74; and on his map of the state, published in 1784, appears 'Mooselock Mountn' (Moo-se-lock). It is located in what was the town of Fairfield, a part of which is now Woodstock. From whom he learned the name and its orthography, or whether or not he ever knew its meaning, we should certainly like to know. . . ."
(1791) Mooshelock
". . . In 1791 Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire, published a map of the state to illustrate his forthcoming history. On it, in bold round print, is 'Mooshelock M.' (Moo-she-lock), an h having been put in the second syllable of the name as Holland spelled it. Why he changed the spelling of the word, or what the name means, he does not tell us.
Two years later, 1793, he published his History of New Hampshire, and in Vol. III, p. 32, he says, in describing the mountains of the state: - 'Thirty miles north of this [Grand Monadnock] lies Sunapee Mountain, and forty-eight miles farther in the same direction is 'Mooshelock'. . . ."
(1800) Moosehillock
". . . After [1800] reference to this mountain is much more frequent; and some writers made a farther change in the orthography of its name. The first to do this was Dr. Dwight, once president of Yale college. In his Travels, written about 1803, Vol. I, p. 31, he says, - 'The principal eminences in the White Mountains are Monadnock, in Jaffrey and Dublin; Sunapee, in Fisherfield, twenty-seven miles east of Charlestown; Mooshelock or Moosehillock, eight miles from Haverhill,' etc. . . ."
(1803) Moose Hillock
". . . There is a grain of propriety in the name Moose-hillock, for all the early settlers in the region round the mountain testified that 'it was a remarkable range for moose,' the last of which was killed in 1803.
We once read a newspaper article by some romantic writer, who had seen Holland's Moo-se-lock and Belknap's Moo-she-lock. It stated that an Indian hunter, traversing the dark forests high up in a ravine of the mountain, came across two bull moose. They had been fighting, and had got their horns inseparably interlocked. They had eaten nothing for many days, and being much emaciated, the hunter easily killed them for their hides. Telling the story in poor English, he said, - 'Moose he lock his horns up there;' and Holland, hearing it, gave to the peak the name, 'Mooselock Mountn.' To the writer this probably was a beautiful legend, but to us pure fiction. . . ."
(1852) Moosilauke
". . . In 1852, Judge C.E. Potter, in the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, Vol. XII, p. 354, said, - 'The name of the towering Moosilauke, with its bald peak of rock, is an Indian word, meaning the 'Bald Place,' derived from moosi, bald, and auke, a place, the letter l being thrown in for the sake of euphony.' The judge was a great student of the history of the Indians, and of their manners, customs, and language.
In Cotton's Vocabulary of Indian Language, Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. XXII, p. 168, he found the name moosi, bald, and in Roger Williams's Key to the Indian Language, idem,Vol. III, p. 220, auke, a place; and having seen Holland's 'Moo-se-lock,' and Belknap's 'Moo-she-lock,' he concluded, with Goodrich, that Moose-hillock was a corruption, and that Holland's Moo-se-lock was identical with the Indian words Moosi-l-auke (idem sonans); and that Holland so spelled the word Moos-se-lock, because he was not well acquainted with Cotton's and Williams's Indian spelling-books. Any one familiar with the spelling of Indian names knows that there are as many ways of spelling them as there are learned writers who try to write them. . . ."
Note: See Wm. S. Morse's A Mix of Years (1998) for the oldest map (and oldest name) identifying Moosilauke. This map, published by Thomas Pownal in 1776, was based on earlier surveys by Lewis Evans. - RWA
From "About the Names of Moosilauke" by William Little, pp. 24-36, The Moosilaukee Reader (Vol.1). ©1999.
