Tucannon Columbia County, Washington
Mapped Location
Tucannon: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.
Information
General information on Tucannon
- Feature Type: Place
Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Tucannon
A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Tucannon | Official |
Origin Notes and History of Tucannon
References to Tucannon that document the origin of its place name
ALTO, a town in Columbia County, eleven or twelve miles northeast of Dayton. The railroad engineer gave the name because it was the summit of the divide between Whetstone Hollow and Tucanon.
TUCANNON, a tributary of Snake River, in the northwestern part of Columbia County, was called "Kimooenim Creek" by Lewis and Clark on October 13, 1805. (Journals, Elliott Coues edition, Volume II., page 629.) Rev. Gustavus Hines, during his journey of 1843, refers to it as "Tookanan." (Exploring Expedition to Oreqon, page 174.) In 1853, the railroad surveyors had difficulty with the name. They spelled it "Tchannon," "Tukanon" and "Two Cannon," and the map artist drew in two cannons. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume I., pages 376 and 536; Volume XI., Part II., chart 3; Volume XII., Book I., map.) F. T. Gilbert wrote: "Tu-kan-non is also a Nez Perce word meaning 'abundance of bread-root' or 'bread-root creek.' The root is called 'kowsh'." (Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia, and Garfield Counties, page 89.)
Columbia County
- Alto
- Baileysburg
- Covello
- City of Dayton
- Delaney
- Dumas
- Grange City (historical)
- Huntsville
- Jackson
- Long
- Marengo
- McKay
- Menoken
- Mountain Home Park
- Mountain Top
- Patit
- Powers
- Relief
- Ronan
- Town of Starbuck
- Tucannon
- Turner
- Varna
- Whetstone
- Wild Goose (historical)
Political Boundaries
Last updated: 2017-02-05