Tribe wants name change for NC’s Lumber River

[Skabewis]

Pembroke, North Carolina (AP)

The Lumbee tribe wants to change the name of the river that winds through its ancestral lands in North Carolina.

The Tribal Council passed an ordinance during June to ask the state Legislature to change the name of the Lumber River to the Lumbee River, according to The Fayetteville Observer.

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[Wojapi4Me]

strange...so, they were named for the river and now they want the river to be named after them?

[eap7]

I'm a little confused. I first read about this in the Fayetteville Observer:

FayObserver.com - -

This article says

"In 1809, the state General Assembly designated the stretch of waterway from Hoke and Scotland counties to the North Carolina and South Carolina border as the Lumber River. It was also known as Drowning Creek. American Indians in the area referred to the river as Lumbee River before the legislation. Lumbee is an Indian term referring to the river's dark water.
Even today, a majority of Lumbees still call the river by its ancestral name.
In the 1809 legislation, the state established the Lumber River Navigation Co. to open the river as a public highway, Locklear said. Lumber was moved from Lumberton down the river to the Pee Dee River in South Carolina to be used at naval shipyards.
"The name seems to have been changed solely for the business purposes," said Locklear, who researched the use of the river's name prior to 1952."


I had always understood that the Lumber River was named because of Lumber, and it was called Drowning Creek before. I've seen sign that still calls a section Drowning Creek.


These 2 articles say that the Lumbee River's historic name is Lumbee, and the river was named Lumber from Lumbee. Am I reading these articles wrong? Have I misunderstood that the name Lumbee derives from the Lumber River which got its name from lumber, not from a historical Lumbee name? It seems a little strange/too convenient to me that a historical Lumbee river, referring to dark water, just happens to have lumber floating down it and have its name changed for the business purpose of lumber...

[Wojapi4Me]

well that and the fact that there is no such thing as the Lumbee language so what are they talking about?

[Flying_Raven]

when i lived in NC, our history and geography books listed it as "Lumbee" river to begin with.... not "Lumber" (mind you i'm refering to when i was in the 5th grade soo.... might be different in other books....)

I've always heard it called the Lumbee river

[DarkWaterDeweller]

Because even though it was the lumber river we called it the lumbee river and always have if you dont belive me look it up facts have it.Plus we are Siouan Indians we had more then one tribe facts also proven South carolina cheraws are also in the Catawaba tribe which are Siouan indians.We just had alot of intermarraige we were name cherokee/Croatan but the names were forced on us, then when they notice even though we were calling are selfs lumbees instead of cherokee then they gave us are own name that we call are self.it been called the lumbee river for a long time there is many proof.And we just cant be played off like that because the same because look the peedee is got a river with the same name so why cant we??(no trouble actions to the peedee)!so i tryed to explain but i can answear many question to one who dont belive.

[DarkWaterDeweller]

strange...so, they were named for the river and now they want the river to be named after them?

No we were named after the river. Because all are family stayed on the river look at the timeline at lumbeetribeofnorthcarolina.com

http://www.lumbeetribe.com/History_Culture/Timeline.html