Origin of Name
Through the years, writers have speculated on etymologies other than the Sullivan Line coordinates:
- Author Homer Croy who chronicled life in Nodaway County speculated that it had something to do with Mormon Trail migration of 1847 in which the river was 102 miles from its previous camp. These coordinates do not fit the coordinates for Mount Pisgah (Iowa) which is less than 100 miles from the river although they would be close in relation to the distance from Hopkins to Kanesville, Iowa which was the outfitting point for the Mormon Trail. Another version of this story says that Brigham Young told his followers that the river was the 102nd they had crossed since leaving Nauvoo.
- Robert L. Ramsay who wrote etymologies for the names of many place names in Missouri speculated it was English translation for the earlier French name Rivière Cent Deux, this in turn being a corruption of the Osage Çondse, meaning 'Upland Forest' (however the traditional area of Osage control was well south of the 102 River).
Read more about this topic: One Hundred And Two River
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