French Broad River

FRENCH BROAD RIVER
Near Rosman, North Carolina the French Broad begins its journey and flows in a north-westerly direction some 210 miles until it joins the Tennessee River. Two major tributaries feed the large river in western North Carolina, they are the Pigeon and the Nolichucky Rivers. The French Broad is one of the oldest rivers in the United States and only the New River, in the upper region of the state and the Nile, in Egypt, are older.	Rogers Asheville, p. 12
"....It was a species of vandalism to substitute French Broad for Agiqua and Tocheeostee, the former being the name applied by the Erati, or 'over the mountain' Cherokees to the lower valley, and the latter by the Ottari, or 'valley' towns to the upper or North Carolina section below Asheville. 'Racing river' is a literal translation of the term Tocheeostee. Above Asheville, [towards Burnsville] where the stream is placid and winds snake-like through the wide alluvions, it took the name Zillicoah. (1883, Zeigler, Wilbur and Ben Grosscup. The Heart of the Alleghanies, p.18.)
"The Indian names for the French Broad probably differed among the different tribes and possibly even in a single tribe for different portions of the stream. Indians did not reside on that river after it became known to white men. One writer, H.E. Colton, says that it was called by the Indians, Tocheste, or Racer. Another writer, Dr. J.G. M. Ramsey, says that they called it Agiqua throughout its length. Another writer, C. Lanman, says they called it Pse-li-co. Two other writers, W.G. Zeigler and B.S. Grosscup, say that the Erati, or "Over-the-Mountain" Cherokees, called it Agiqua, and the other Cherokees, known as Ottari, called it Tocheeostee below Asheville and Zillicoah above Asheville. The best authority on the subject, J. Mooney, says: "The Cherokees have no name for the river as a whole, but the district through which it flows about Asheville is called by them Un-takiyastiyi, "Where they race.'" (Sondley, F.A.. Asheville and Buncombe County and Davidson, Theodore F.. Genesis of Buncombe County, Asheville: The Citizen Company, 1922.)