Early History of Lake Maxinkuckee -- Orthography of Maxinkuckee Lake  

The numerous ways of spelling the name of the lake has led the compiler of this sketch to investigate the question, and the res ult is as follows:

Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C., September 12, 1889.
Dear Sir - In reply to your letter of the 18th, I have to say that the lake referred to is spelled "Muk-sin-cuck-u" in the official field notes of the survey of the township in which the lake is situated.
Respectfully Yours.
W. M. Stone, acting commissioner


Auditor of State, Indianapolis, Ind., September 27, 1897
Dear Sir - On examination of our field notes, I find in the survey made by Deputy Surveyor David Hillis he spells it 'Mek-in-kee-kee". In another place in a survey of a small fraction of land on the lake Jerry Smith, deputy surveyor, spells it "Muk-sen-cuk-ee". This is all the field notes sow as to the name.
Very Tr uly yours
A. C. Daily, Auditor of State.


County Surveyor's Office
Plymouth, Ind., February 1, 1898
Dear - Sir - On examination of the records of the surveyor's office of Marshall County, containing copies of the orginial field notes, I find the following in regard to the orthography of Maxinkuckee Lake. One page 43 of the survey of twon 32 and 22, David Hillis, deputy surveyor, makes the following note: "There are also several lakes in the county. The Max-in-kuck-ee lake is large and beautiful, with a fine sandy and gravel margin, supposed to be ten or twelver miles in circumference with an outlet and first rate for fish. July --nd. 1834."

In a survey of section 32, range 1 east, Jerry Smith, deputy surveyor, on page 48 says: "Set post on 'Muk-sen-cuck-ee' Lake." Also on same page he says: "Meanders of Lake Muk-sen-cuck-ee. Variation 6 degrees E." These records are copies of the original field notes on file in the Land Department of the Auditor of State at Indianapolis, and in the Department of the Interior of the United STates at Washington. Yours
John C. Butler,
Deputy Surveyor, Marshall County


On page 705 of the revision of the Indian Treaties of the United States in a treaty made at Nees-wau-gee Camp, at the lake between William Marshall and Com-o-za, March 16, 1838, it is spelled Mac-ee-nie-kee-kee.


Hartford, Michigan, February 5, 1898
My Dear Sir - Your inquiry of February 3d, relative to the meaning and pronunciation of the word Muk-sen-cuk-ee at hand. I have written it as nearly correct as the white man's o-daw-naw (tongue) can pronounce it. It means in the Algonquin dialect, "There is grass". Thanking your for the inselfish interest you have taken in my people in advocating their rights connected with the dominant, I am you friend.
Simon Po-Ka-gon

(N.B. - Po-ka-gon was a full-blooded Indian and the last of the Pottawattomie chiefs in this part of the United States, prior to his death in 1900.)

From these official sources it is shown that that usual spelling - Max-in-kukc-ee - appears but once and that is on the records of Marshall county, which is a copy of the original field notes from the records of the Auditor of State at Indinapolis, where the auditor says Mr. Hillis spells it Mek-in-kee-kee. Therefore, whoever transcribed the field notes of Mr. Hillis from the records at Indianapolis, for the records of Marshall County, made a mistake when he copied it Max-in-kuck-ee. The record in the department at Washington has it Muk-sen-cuck-u. At the time the field notes were made the deputy Government surveyors, quill pens were used and it is possible - in fact, probable - that the final "u" was intended for "ee", the top running together and making a letter like "u". The "i" in sin was probably an "e" with the top run togehter. This is a reasonable conclusion as based on the spellin gof Jerry SMith on the Marshall county records and at Indianapolis. The correct spelling is undoubtedly Muk-sen-cuck-ee. There is no authority for Max-in-kuck-ee. The word form which it was erroneously copied is Mek-in-kee-kee, as is shown in the letter of the Auditor of State above quoted.

The name of the lake as no spelled lacks a good deal of being a pur Indiana word. 'Max' is german and the balance of the word is made up of Scotch, Irishm American and Algonquin. In making the treaties, etc., the name was taken down by interpreters, as the Indianas knew not how to spell or write and the interpreters spelled it according to the sound as wellas they could and it is therefore not strange that it appears so many fifferent ways. But no matter. The present spelling, Max-in-kuck-ee, has come to stay, and no power on earth can change it even were it desirable to do so. The railroad company, the Culver Military Academy, the Post office department, and the people generally about the lake recognize the present spelling and that fixes it beyond any possibly change. As to meaning of the word in its present form, it has none. Originally it was an Indian word, but what its meaning was I have been unable to find out. For a long time it was generally believed that it was the name of an Indian chief, but the Government records fail to show that name or anything llike it. The late Charles Cook, who lived a few miles north of the lake, in his early days lived with the Pottawattomie Indians in this region over twenty years and understood their language perfectly, said it was the Indian word ofr moc-ca-sin, because the lake was the shape of an Indian moccasin, and further because of the prevalence of moccasin snakes about the lake at that time. Simon Pokagon, the last of the chiefs of the Pottawattomie Indians in this part of the country, whose death occured in Michigan a few years ago, in raply to an inquiry as to its meaning above quoted, said it means, "There is grass". Pokagon was a graduate of Notre Dame University and knew the meaning of words. A his definition has no relevance to the lake it is additional ecidence that the word as we have it is a bungling translation of the original Pottawattomie name. But notwithstanding the marvelous changes that have taken place during the more than two-thirds of a century since its discovery by the American, what it was to the Indian it is yet to the white men of today, the sparkling, laughing water, the beautiful Max-in-kuck-ee. That is whit it means; let it go at that.