{"id":15489,"date":"2014-10-29T18:41:40","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T23:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=15489"},"modified":"2021-12-13T08:43:16","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T13:43:16","slug":"seriously-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/seriously-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Seriously Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The number of broken place names seemed amazing. I didn’t know what led people to memorialize broken objects, just noted that they they did and it amused me. Broken Lakes, Broken Ridges, Broken Points, Broken Valleys and on and on. The list was so exhaustive that I had a terrible time limiting my selection. So I focused on the largest of populated places, a couple of different themes and some oddballs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Native Americans Broke Stuff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That’s what I felt anyway after identifying several names related to the original inhabitants of the Americas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Broke Arrows<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Priorities.<\/a>
Road Sign in Broken Arrow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the largest broken location I found, is a major suburb of about a hundred thousand residents on the eastern side of Tulsa (map<\/a>). The image I selected didn’t have all that much to do with Broken Arrow per se except that someone took it there and it seemed to serve as a poignant commentary of one sort or another. They could have taken it anywhere, I suppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the City of Broken Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When a group of Creek Indians established a settlement near what is now our city, they called it ‘Broken Arrow.’ Broken Arrow is the name of the place where many of those same Creeks had lived when they were in Alabama – before moving west on the Trail of Tears. While many Americans think of the term ‘broken arrow’ as meaning an act of peace by Native Americans a few hundred years ago, the Creeks who got that name did so because they broke branches of trees to make their arrows, rather than cutting them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They Broke Bows<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Broken<\/a>
Broken Bow in the snow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A broken arrow in Oklahoma paired nicely with a Broken Bow in Nebraska (map<\/a>) although it was considerably smaller with about 3,500 residents. Broken Bow<\/a> was the seat of local government in Custer County. So did the name refer to Custer’s demise<\/a> at the Battle of Little Bighorn somehow? No, the explanation provided in the History of Custer County, Nebraska<\/a> proved rather more mundane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mr. Hewitt was a blacksmith and a hunter, and while out hunting one day he found, on an old Indian camping ground, a broken bow and arrow, which he carried home with him… some time afterwards he received notice that the third name [for the town] he had sent to Washington had been rejected, and going to the box after a piece of iron he picked up the broken bow, and the name ‘Broken Bow’ came to his mind quickly.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I also discovered a similarly-sized Broken Bow in Oklahoma about a three hour drive<\/a> from Broken Arrow. They named<\/a> it for the Broken Bow in Nebraska, strangely enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Miners Broke Stuff Too<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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