Tripol (I) or Tripol (E)?
That is the question...and I have
my answer.
In the early 1900's, a rare and valuable variety of
diatomaceous earth was found at the bottom of a pond in Livermore, N.H. Shortly afterwards mining operations began and three grades of tripolite, "A", "AA", and "AAA" were being dredged up from the bottom of East Pond. Note: Don't confuse tripolite with the mineral "tripoli".
I'd like to point out that both the mineral "tripoli' and the diatomaceous earth "tripolite" get their names from the city where they were previously discovered...Tripoli, Libya.
Diatomite is also known as “kieselgur” (a German name
compounded from the words for flint and earthy sediment in
water) and as tripolite after a diatomite occurrence near Tripoli,
Libya. Tripolite is used in some U.S. Government trade
documents as a short term for a longer description of siliceous
fossil meals and similar siliceous earths that is used more
generally in the various tariff codes which cover diatomite. An
impure (up to 30% clay) Danish variety is called moler.(a German name
Source Lower-left, page 1
So...do you think Tripoli Road is named after a shortened version of tripolite. Why would they bother just dropping two letters off the word.....Just perhaps, it's named after the city where tripolite got it's name from. Keep in mind that back in the early 1900's Livermore and the surrounding area was a bit
rural to say the least. I doubt many of the miners, loggers, and other people in the area had high school educations, and the few that had heard of Tripoli, Libya probably didn't know how to spell it. Maybe they saw the word ending with an "i" and not knowing any better pronounced it Tripol-eye.
Still don't know the answer, here's one more piece to the puzzle.
The company that was mining the diatomaceous earth was called
The Livermore Tripoli Company. and it was founded by Charles Henry, the youngest son of
James E. Henry. By this time Charles Henry and his two brothers were millionaire railroad tycoons. Now think about how railroad men name their railroads, ex: Boston & Maine, Burlington Northern, Texas-New Mexico. (Locations, get it.) Do you really think Charles Henry dropped a couple of letters off of tripolite to get the name of his company and the road that led to it, or did he name it after the two places where tripolite, a rare and valuable commodity was known to come from.
I called it Tripol-I up until today, but now I'm a Tripol-EEE believer.
FWIW: I know that some websites as well as the USFS claim it's pronounced Tripol-eye. I wonder if any of them can produce some documentation or other evidence other than "we say so" to support their claim.
