Revisiting the Possible Abenaki Origins of Saranac Lake’s “Ampersand”

In my recently-published book, History and Legends of the Northern Adirondacks, the chapter on Ampersand Mountain explored the origins and meaning of the name of the mountain and its neighboring brook and lake. [1] For well over 150 years, it has been a mystery as to where the appellation “Ampersand” came from. The most prominent conjectures refer to the shape of the lake or brook, and the sandy shores of the lake. William M. Beauchamp alludes to an indigenous origin with his brief, unilluminating mention of “am-per-sand” in his 1893 work, Indian Names in New York, with a Selection from Other States. [2]

Over the course of my research, I uncovered what appears to be the Native American term that was corrupted by white settlers of the Saranac Lake region to “Ampersand.” After about three years of seeking the etymology of the term, two scholars with an intimate knowledge of the Western Abenaki language provided me with several plausible explanations. This article is the first to discuss.

History of the Name

The general consensus is that Ampersand Mountain takes its name from the like-named lake and brook at its southern foot. What follows is a table showing the earliest instances for the three names I have found, both in writing and on a map. Whether Ampersand Brook was named before Ampersand Lake is not clear. Since the lake was likely reached from the brook via Stony Creek, which connects the Saranac Lakes to the Raquette River, the brook may have been christened first. The brook and pond are denoted, albeit unnamed, as early as 1801 on Thomas Wightman’s 1801 map, The State of New York: compiled from the latest surveys.

There are three conjectures about the origin of the “Ampersand” name:

• Regarding the sandy shores of Ampersand Lake, famed nineteenth-century surveyor Colvin claimed in his 1872 report: “’Ampersand.’ I believe this to be the incorrect etymology, and do not think it is derived from the and-per-se-and termination of old alphabets; but attribute the name to the bright, yellow sandy shores and islands, which make it truly Amber-sand lake.” [6]

• Regarding the shape of Ampersand Lake, the 1876 travel-guide The Middle States, a Handbook for Travellers claims that it resembles the character &. [7] Colvin echoes this theory in his 1897 report, where he further asserts that the lake “was named (from its form &= ‘and per se and’) by ‘The Philosophers,’ Louis Agassiz, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes and others.” [8]

   

• Regarding the shape of Ampersand Brook, in an 1885 essay by Henry Van Dyke entitled “Ampersand,” he claims its bent and curved nature lends itself to the & character and asserts that the brook was the first to be named. [9] Colvin echoes Van Dyke’s theory in a footnote in his 1894 report. [10]

Note that the inconsistency of Colvin’s claims indicate they were based more on personal speculation than reliable outside sources.

When it comes to the Saranac Lake region, some of the earliest instantiations of the moniker “Ampersand” have come from the American artist, photographer, and journalist, William James Stillman. Stillman was one of the principal figures of the Philosophers’ Camp, the legendary mid-nineteenth-century encampment of the Saranac Lake region. [11] These appeared in his October 2, 1855 letter published in the art journal, The Crayon, and in his December 1, 1858 letter to his friend and scholar, James Lowell. It is in the latter that Beauchamp’s allusion to the aboriginal origin of “Ampersand” seems confirmed.

In his letter to Lowell describing his effort to search for a site for the Bostonian club’s new camp, Stillman mentions “Am-peh-ah-san-at Pond” (in quotes) as a prime location, following their historic stay at the Philosophers’ Camp at Follensby Pond. Local guides and trappers told Stillman that the pond was commonly called Ampersand Pond (today’s Ampersand Lake). Given that Native American terms were often syllabicated in their representation, Stillman’s ampehahsanat implies a Native American term. I include herein a portion of Stillman’s letter, which is held by the Schaffer Library of Union College, New York, in their William James Stillman Collection (SCA-0144).

I believe ampehahsanat may be of Abenaki origin, which is not without merit. According to Melissa Otis in Rural Indigenousness: A History of Iroquoian and Algonquin Peoples of the Adirondacks, Upper Saranac Lake guide Carlos Whitney (c.1838-1917) said the “Saranac” Indians had two communities at the Indian Carry (between Upper Saranac Lake and the Stony Creek Ponds) as late as the 1850s. Furthermore, Abenaki Maurice Paul Dennis claimed the “Saranac” Indians were Abenaki, and anthropologist John Dyneley Prince believed the word “Saranac” to be a corruption of the Abenaki word “Salanac” (sumac bud or cone). Otis believes it is plausible there was a group of Abenaki who settled in the Saranac Lake region and came to be known by the settlers as the “Saranac” Indians. [12]

Stillman’s 1858 letter seems to refute the three conjectures. He does not tie the term “Ampersand” to the character & or allude to the sandy shores of the lake, claims which came about only later in the 1870s and later. Stillman clearly mentions an anglicized form of ampehahsanat, based on the information he received from the Saranac guides and trappers. This revelation from his letter begged the questions: what did ampehahsanat mean and was it accurately expressed? Regarding the second question, the term was surely a phonetic spelling, based on how Stillman’s contacts heard it.

Etymology of Ampersand

After about three years of searching for an answer, or even an educated guess, as to the etymology of Stillman’s ampehahsanat, a breakthrough came following my talk in July before the Wilmington Historical Society. Kierin Bell, an independent scholar with an intimate understanding of the linguistics of the Western Abenaki language, reached out to after watching a video of my presentation. He informed me that “I thought [ampehahsanat] sounded Abenaki (it is definitely not Iroquoian).” After corresponding with Jesse Bruchac, a fluent speaker of the language and Director of the School of Abenaki at Vermont’s Middlebury College, they proffered two Western Abenaki etymologies: ôbosanek (“the returning place/the walk in and out place”) and ôbadasinat (“the one that lies leaning back”). [13, 14]

Regarding the orthographic use of ô, Jesse notes: “The ô represents a long ‘a’ and when long ‘a’ is followed by a consonant like ‘p/b’ our mouths close. This closing of the mouth restricts the air flow and causes the effect of an ‘m’ sound. This examination of the long a or ā is further evidence of the English spelling choice ‘Amp-’ at the beginning of this place name.” [15] Thus, in both terms, /ôb/ sounds like /amp/. Kierin asserts that “it would be difficult to mistake /amp/ for anything but /ôb/.” Jesse suggested ôbosanek since ôbosan sounds like ampehahsan and its construction is one that is used in everyday conversations. As for the suffix (or stem) -ek, which Kierin says is a locative (i.e., an expression of location), it could have been heard as /at/. Together, ôbosanek may have been phonetically interpreted as ampehahsanat.

Concerning ôbadasinat, ôbadasin means “someone leans/is leaning back.” In Western Abenaki linguistics, it is an animate intransitive verb, a type of verb which takes a subject which is characteristic of a living being. Kierin notes that to the Western Abenaki, the mountains are considered animate.

Of the two etymologies, Kierin and Jesse believe ôbosanek to be closer in pronunciation to ampehahsanat. Furthermore, its meaning lends itself more to a sense of geography than that of ôbadasinat. Unfortunately, we are left to making educated guesses as to the actual form of ampehahsanat and its meaning since Stillman failed to enlighten us on the latter. Fortunately, two scholars of the Western Abenaki language stepped forward to provide some well-reasoned propositions.

Could there be an aboriginal term that is like ampehahsanat which refers to the shape of Ampersand Lake or Brook? Perhaps, although Kierin and Jesse were unable to discern such a term. We should not be so bold as to contend that ampehahsanat translates to something regarding shape, in keeping with what Colvin, Van Dyke, and others have stated. Kierin cautioned me that how Native Americans described natural features versus the way white settlers did is complex: “There are indeed a lot of differences, but there are a lot of similarities, too. … cultures change and influence each other over time – Indigenous peoples have definitely influenced language used by settlers and vice versa. Determining which way the influence goes is fascinating, sometimes futile, often enlightening. The best the [sic] we can do is try to highlight the similarities and the differences as they are, and learn from them.”

If the reader takes anything away from this article, it should be that there is strong evidence from Stillman’s 1858 letter that Saranac Lake’s “Ampersand” is rooted in the language of the Indigenous People who once inhabited the region. Other scholars may differ as to the etymology of ampehahsanat but suffice to say that the claims of resemblance to “&” or the corruption of “amber sand” should be dispensed with, once and for all.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Kierin Bell, Jesse Bruchac (Middlebury Language Schools), and the Kelly Adirondack Center of Union College for their assistance and material contributed towards this historical profile.

Endnotes

1. Sasso, John. History and Legends of the Northern Adirondacks. Vol. 1. United States: High Peaks Publishing, 2024, pp. 169-201.
2. Beauchamp, William M.  Indian Names in New York, with a Selection from Other States.  Fayetteville, N.Y.: Recorder Office, 1893, p. 28.
3. Stillman, William J.  “Sketchings.”  The Crayon.  Vol. 2, No. 18.  October 31, 1855, p. 281.
4. “Life in the Adirondack, Number Six.”  New York Times.  August 23, 1858.
5. “An Excursion to the Adirondack Mountains, in the Summer of 1861.”  Friends’ Intelligencer.  Vol. 18, No. 41, 1861, p. 651.
6. Colvin, Verplanck.  Ascent and Barometrical Measurement of Mount Seward.  Albany, N.Y.: The Argus Company, 1872, p. 9.
7. Sweetser, Moses F.  The Middle States, a Handbook for Travellers.  Boston, MA: James R. Osgood and Company, 1876, p. 146.
8. Colvin, Verplanck.  Report of the Superintendent of State Land Survey of the State of New York.  Senate Doc. No. 42.  Albany, N.Y.: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, 1897, p. 457.
9. Van Dyke, Henry.  “Ampersand.”  Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.  Jun.– Nov. 1885, pp. 217-218.
10. Colvin, Verplanck.  Report on the Progress of the State Land Survey of the State of New York.  Senate Doc. No. 84.  Albany, N.Y.: James B. Lyon, 1894, p. 278.
11. Schlett, James.  A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden.  Ithica, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2015.
12. Otis, Melissa.  Rural Indigenousness: A History of Iroquoian and Algonquin Peoples of the Adirondacks.  Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2018, p. 68.
13. Bell, Kierin. Facebook Messenger message to author. August 21, 2024.
14. Bell, Kierin. “Follow-up to Ampersand: Kane Mountain and research topic.” E-mail to John Sasso. August 22, 2024.
15. Bruchac, Jesse B. “Re: Ampersand paper review (Inquiry).” E-mail to John Sasso. October 4, 2024.

Published by John Sasso on October 14, 2024 in the Adirondack Almanack.