"Many  and  various  were  the  names  presented  by  the  ones  who  usually
eongregated  at  the  public  house  of  Major  Dickason  daily.  During  this
diseussion  the  major  had  a  dream  which  resulted  in  a  name  for  the  set-
tlement. The  following  morning  he  related  it  to  the  assembled  settlers
as  follows:  He  said  he  had  been  on  a  journey  the  night  before  to  a
county  metropolis,  where  all  was  business  and  hustle  ami  the  name  of
the  city  was  Wyocena.  This  so  enthused  his  guests  that  they  at  once
decided  to  eall  it  by  that  name  and  so  the  name  has  remained,  but  the
early  orthography  has  changed  several  times.
"It  was  probably  during  the  following  year.  1S47.  that  one  Parks
Bronson.  a  pioneer  pedagogue  in  this  section  gave  to  it  its  present  spelling.
"The  name  is  not  Indian.  No  one  of  our  Indian  students  has  been
able  to  find  anything  in  any  of  the  Indian  tongues  that  will  admit  of
such  a  construction.
"Then  again  the  major  would  have  nothing  Indian  in  his.  He  had
occasion  the  first  year  of  his  residence  to  dislike  them.  His  first  crop
of  wheat  proved  to  be  too  good  a  food  for  their  ponies  to  have  any  left
for  his  own  necessities.  It  is  said  that  while  an  Indian  was  well  treated
at  the  log  tavern,  his  scalp  was  in  need  of  insurance  if  he  met  the  major
in  the  woods.
"The  early  name  for  tin-  stream  on  which  Wyocena  is  located  was
Wauona  River,  and  this  beautiful  name  hail  to  give  way  to  the  major's
dislike  of  Indian  names  and  be  christened  Duck  Creek,  much  to  the  dis-
like of  many.
