The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000 Page: 278
554 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
station site, the people today note that her English name was derived
from her Comanche one, Sira. Fletcher is called Pasiwanariimi? ("Sand
Town") and Elgin is Sitoanarmimi? ("Turkey Town"). Lawton is referred to
as Nisoo?narimfi'? ("Tent City"-settlers lived in canvas tents while the
town was built), Sookini? ("Many Houses"), Ohakunawaikin ("Yellow
Firewood Wagon," i.e., 'Streetcar') or simply Puha ripaani; after the near-
by sacred site of Medicine Bluff. For some uncertain reason Cache is
called Pisinarimi'? ("Stinky [Festering] Town"); the name may refer to
spoiled goods at the old reservation issue station there. Tiipiku?e, "Stone
Summit" or 'Rocky Hill', refers to Indiahoma.
Comanche folk etymologies also arose from attempts to claim non-
Indian settlements for the native spatial scheme; the stories are apoc-
ryphal, but nonetheless indicative of the Indian fondness for places and
their names. It is said that Cache got its English name when reservation
chief Quanah Parker took some followers to the site of the future train
station to watch for "a big thing that has a thing that makes it go by
itself"; as the locomotive rolled up some overeager Indians stepped out
on the tracks and Quanah warned "kus!" ("wait!").8 The conductor
heard Quanah and said "that's a good name for a town-we'll call it
Cache." Further west along the tracks, the story continues, a Comanche
man was in New Mexico when the first train came through. He saw the
brakeman with his lantern and exclaimed "tuka? manooril, carry the
light!"; the brakeman, reiterating incompletely, said, "'tukama... carry'
[i.e., Tucumcari], that will be the name of this town."
A much more expansive Comanche geography comprising Texas is
evident in the 18oos from various sources. This information is best orga-
nized by physiographic region, with the caution that the areal break-
down does not reflect known Comanche categories: the Llano Estacado
or Staked Plain(s), with adjacent parts of New Mexico; a Rolling Plains
area including the Western Cross Timbers and Comanche Plateau and
extending into Oklahoma; the far western Basin and Range province,
including the Toyah Basin; the Edwards Plateau or Hill Country, includ-
ing the Llano Plateau; and the Gulf Coastal and Rio Grande plains of
South Texas.9
By compiling and mapping lists of reported Comanche sites in these
regions it is possible to recapture something of the larger, older
Comanche geography of the nineteenth century. The density of
Comanche sites, the linguistic legacy of Comanche place names in
Texas, and the influence of Comanche land use on non-Indian practice
8 The same motif appears in a story about Chief Horseback in J. Emmor Harston, Comanche
Land (San Antonio: Naylor, 1963), 179-18o.
9 Area designations are adopted in modified form from A. Ray Stephens and William M.
Holmes, Hzstoncal Atlas of Texas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989), map 4.278
January
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000, periodical, 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101220/m1/324/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.