Recalling historian M. Paul Keesler
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History Daily Gazette, 09-16-06
Later this year, relatives and friends of the late M. Paul Keesler hope to publish the book that the late Mohawk Valley historian and outdoorsman was working on before his death. Keesler died of cancer on July 27, 2005 at age 67.
The working title for Keesler’s last book was “Mohawk—Discovering the Valley of the Crystals.”
The Mohawks did not choose to be called by that name, according to Keesler.
“The Mohican Indians living in the upper Hudson Valley called their enemies, who lived in the valley to their west, 'Mohowaug’—they eat living creatures,” Keesler said in an interview in 2002. Europeans corrupted the Mohican slur into the word Mohawk. Keesler said the Mohawks called themselves “Kanyenkehaka” and the valley they lived in “Kanyenka.”
For years, the common wisdom was that the Mohawks were calling themselves the “people of the flint” and calling their homeland the “place of the flint.”
But Keesler came to the conclusion that the Mohawks’ name for themselves meant “people of the crystals” and the name for the homeland meant “place of the crystals.”
Flint was important for making cutting edge tools and weapons but no major source of flint has been found in the Mohawk Valley. University at Albany anthropologist Dean Snow has pointed out that the valley is a major source of clear quartz crystals embedded in dolostone rocks. These crystals are called “Herkimer diamonds” today and a tourist site north of Herkimer exists where people look for these “diamonds.”
“Crystals were symbolically important (to American Indians) as amulets of success, health and long life,” Keesler said. “The Mohawks were the main suppliers of quartz crystals up to 1644.”
Keesler added, “Mohawks and Indians around the Northeast used these crystals as a religious item. They were found at gravesites.”
Before he died, Keesler maintained a “book-in-progress” web site as he gathered information for his book--www.paulkeeslerbooks.com He explored the 161 miles of the river from Rome to Waterford, 30 miles on foot and the rest by canoe. He also explored tributaries including the Schoharie Creek and the two Chuctanunda creeks in Amsterdam.
Keesler once said, “Exploring is more fun than writing. I keep coming across things and start wondering why this is here, why is this old mill dam here, why is this village here.”
Originally an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration, Keesler began his writing career in 1966 with a magazine article about fishing on West Canada Creek. For several years, he wrote the outdoors column for the Utica Observer Dispatch. In 1972, he founded the Mid York Sportsman magazine, which became the New York Sportsman in 1975. In 1992, he retired as editor of the magazine and wrote three books about history and the outdoors. “Kuyahoora—Discovering West Canada Valley” was a book he published in 1999 describing the history and wildlife of the valley of the West Canada Creek, which flows into the Mohawk River at Herkimer. Keesler lived in Newport, along the creek. Kuyahoora was the Indian name for the creek and means “leaping waters” because of a spectacular waterfall.
This past week, a portion of State Route 28 between Middleville and its junction with Route 12 in Mapledale was named the M. Paul Keesler Memorial Highway.
"He was the nicest, loving, good-hearted man you could ever ask for," Gert Keesler, his wife of 24 years, told the Utica Observer Dispatch at the time of his death.
"Everyone looked up to him when it came to outdoor communications," said friend and fellow outdoor enthusiast Bill Lloyd, also of Newport. "He was the premier authority when it came to the outdoors in New York."
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