A Brief History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio

changed by substituting “aw" for ••or" and thus changed it became the name the white men gave to the river and valley. In one of the Indian dialects the name means "open mouth.” The definition, however, given by * Heckewelder is probably more correct. He says that Tuscarawas means “old town," and that the oldest Indian town in the valley was situated near the present site of Bolivar and was called “Tuscarawa. ” If the Tuscaro- ras ever occupied the valley it must have been for only a short time, for the Delawares inhabited it when the first white men began to enter it. Geographical Position. The meridian of 80 degrees, 30 minutes, W. divides the county into nearly equal eastern and western parts, and the parallel of 40 degrees, 30 minutes, N. nearly bisects it into northern and southern parts. The point of intersection of these lines is about two miles west of New Phila- • delphia. The area of the county is about 550 square miles. The surface is partly level and partly rolling and hilly. The soil is very fertile, especially in the valleys of the Tuscarawas. River and Sugar Creek. The

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=