Neosho River.—This stream was first known to the white man as the Grand river and to the Indians as the "Six Bulls" river. The origin and history of the name is unknown. Pike mentions the stream as the "Grand" in the description of his trip to the Pawnee village in 1806. Long, who visited this section in 1819-20, speaks of it as the Neosho or Grand river, which might indicate that the name Neosho attached to the stream between these two dates. Maps of 1825 and later spell the name Neozho. The survey of the Santa Fe trail made in 1825-27, gives the name as Neozho, while later maps adhere to the spelling Neosho. This stream is formed by two branches, one of which rises a few miles west of Parkerville, Morris county, while the other has its source in the southwest part of Wabaunsee county, at a point a little southeast of the village of Alta Vista. These branches unite in Morris county at a point a little northwest of Council Grove and flow in a southeast direction through the counties of Morris, Lyon, Coffey, Woodson, Allen, Neosho, Labette and Cherokee, entering Oklahoma at a point about due south of the village of Melrose. From here the stream flows in a southerly direction and empties into the Arkansas river opposite the town of Lowe, Muskogee county. An early writer, in speaking of the tributaries of the Arkansas, says: "There is not one that is at all navigable, except the Neosho from the north, which has been ascended by small boats for at least 100 miles." The Neosho is about 450 miles in length, 300 of which are in Kansas, and the stream traverses a very fertile section. On the lower river in and around Labette county exist many evidences of an early or ancient civilization, fragments of pottery and flint implements being frequently found.