this river as also named "Oulame Thepy", which was his own phonetic interpretation of one of the Native-American tribes' names for it. "Thepy"(or "sepe"/"sipi") was a Native word for 'river' or 'creek'; and "Oulame" may translate directly as 'paint' -- this River seems to be referred to as "Paint Creek" by later 18th-century European inhabitants —- it is said that the local Native-Americans used the purplish-red clay from along this river, as a sort of paint on their bodies (by mixing it with bright red berry juices). But the name "Vermillion" undoubtedly was an attribution by the first European explorers here, who apparently presumed that the red clay-and-berry mixture was the same as the substance (and highly valuable European commodity) 'vermillion' -- and although the native's body-paint really instead turned out to be made from worthless brownish-purple mud, but the name "vermillion" stuck anyway. [source, Diary (1787–1791) of David Zeisberger, (publ.1885 by Robert Clarke and Co., Cinti.)] The prior spelling for this river was "Vermillion" (double 'L') until about the end of the 19th-century, when the double 'L' was dropped, reportedly due to the spelling conflict with nearby Ashland County's township of 'Vermillion' (which is not upon this river). But an urban-myth circulating in the city of Vermilion in the early 1970s claims that the name "Vermillion" lost its second 'L' because it was more expensive to paint two L's on the water tower. Although the Geographic Names Server also listed (erroneously) the "River en Grys" as an alternate name for the Vermilion River and also (erroneously) for the Black River, but actually that name ("Riviere en Grys") was originally intended for what is now called Beaver Creek, which is in between these two rivers. [The "Riviere en Grys" appears on Hutchins 1778 map, east of the "Vermillion River" and west of the "Reneshoua"(the Black River).] See also List of rivers of Ohio Vermilion, Ohio References External links Vermilion River Property Rights Association Rivers of Ohio Rivers of Ashland County, Ohio Rivers of Erie County, Ohio Rivers of Huron County, Ohio Rivers of Lorain County, Ohio Tributaries of Lake Erie