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Another interesting word origin is Ouachita. I happened to mention
the word Ouachita a few years ago in the proximity of an Idabel
(Oklahoma) native here at work and she severely reprimanded me for
mispronouncing the word. It was not "washita" but "owa chita" for
which there is an annual Owa chita festival. I, of course, was
happy to jump into the argument and made a quick call to the central
library here in Tulsa. After all, I had heard the pronunciation
in all my geology courses and could not be wrong, right? Wrong!
It would appear that she was indeed right. The word originated from
either a Choctaw or Shawnee word "Owa chita" which means big hunt.
Then the French happened through and changed it to Ouachita. Then
the British came through and changed it to Washita. I could of course
be wrong in the order of European adaptations, but I think you get the
point.
 
I would also like to respond to the query on the oil and gas fields
map of Eastern Russia.
 
 
 
There are countless publications with maps included in the text, but
here are some I find useful:
 
           International Petroleum Encyclopedia (published annually)
 
           USSR Energy Atlas (published by CIA January 1985)
                              (updated edition ?)
 
           Oil and Gas Map of Commonwealth of Independant States
              (published by International Petroleum Encylcopedia
               and Oil and Gas Journal, available through Pennwell)
 
There are as I said before countless maps available in text of
published articles that are of excellent quality.
 
Mark Finnegan
Petroleum Abstracts/Tulsa University