Historical Question, Possible Wade-Giles, Sichuan river name

Question

I am currently reading an entomologists diaries from the late 19th Century - A.E. Pratt. He travelled Sichuan Province and published his journal, To the Snows of Tibet through China, in 1892. Pratt keeps referring to the Tung River; however, I can find no corresponding river, today.

There are a couple of problems, the first being that names change frequently throughout the frontier's particularly turbulent pre-modern history.

Pratt mentions Fu-lin (which I am assuming is modern day Fuling which he also mentions). Pratt mentions the Yangtse by name, so the Tung is not the Yangtse on which Fuling sits.

So, here is my question: assuming Pratt was using somthing akin to Wade-Gile's system of romanization, what would the pinyin equivalent be, i.e. I can't remember what "T" is in Wade-Giles? Is anyone aware of the Tung?

Answer 1

Tung river is the translation of 銅河, it's called 大渡河 (Dadu river) now.

On page 127 of the "to the snows of tibet through china", it was written:

. . . Lu-ting-chiao, which is built on both banks of the Tung River, . . .

Well, Lu-ting-chiao is 瀘定橋.

BTW, there's a map on page 353, you may compare it with other source :)

Another interesting book about tibet, thanks :)