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History of the Alcovy Basin - a Clean, Abundant Water Supply (continued)
The Alcovy and its tributaries teemed with trout, catfish, perch, sucker and eel. The Creek, or Muscogee, may have gotten their name from their tendency to settle near streams. To these tall, intelligent, handsome people the Alcovy was the Ulcofau-hatchee. Hatchee being the Indian word for stream, and ulcofau meaning, according to some accounts, bog potato. This name honored the abundance of the edible bog potato, growing along the banks of the river.
European settlers heard this name, the Ulcofau-hatchee, and gradually fashioned it into the "Alcovy." William Read, who wrote Indian Stream-Names in Georgia in the Journal of International Linguistics, translated Ulcofauhatchie from Muscogee to "a river among the pawpaw trees." While the pawpaw tree does not provide timber, the Native Americans knew the secrets of value. They fashioned the inner bark into cloth, and cordage to string fish and repair fishing nets, and enjoyed the pawpaws' delicious fruit The pawpaw, considered by connoisseurs as one of the best tasting fruits in the world, may be the "bog potato" written about in some historical descriptions.
 
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