# Oregon Geographic Names (1952)/T

​TABLE CREEK, Douglas County. Table Creek flows into Cow Creek from the north at a point about a mile due west of Peck. The stream got its name because it drained the south slopes of Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a conspicuous landmark north and west of Cow ​Creek Canyon. It has an elevation of 3335 feet. The name is of course descriptive.
TABLE MOUNTAIN, Lincoln County. This mountain, elevation 2804 feet, has a characteristic flat top and has been known as Table Mountain since pioneer days. Except for the fact that it is much too far south it might be La Mesa of Heceta. See under the heading Cape FALCON.
Table Rock, Jackson County. For nearly a century Upper Table Rock and Lower Table Rock have been well-known landmarks north of Central Point in the Rogue River Valley. They are real mesas, standing nearly a thousand feet above nearby Rogue River. The historic meeting between Rogue River Indians and white soldiers and settlers took place on the southwest slope under Upper Table Rock on September 10, 1853. Table Rock post office was in service near these two landmarks from April 25, 1872, until September 14, 1895, when in a fit of efficiency postal authorities changed the name to Tablerock, and that was the style until the office was discontinued November 15, 1906. Thomas Gianini was the first postmaster in 1872. After inspecting the list of postmasters of this office, Judge J. B. Coleman of Medford, long familiar with Jackson County history, gives it as his opinion that the office did a good bit of moving about to suit the convenience of the postmasters, but it was never far from the valley between the two rocks.
TAFT, Lincoln County. The community of Taft was named for William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States. The post office was established January 22, 1906, and was named when Mr. Taft was secretary of war. John W. Bones was first postmaster, and is said to have suggested the name.
TAGHUM BUTTE, Deschutes County. This butte in the Paulina Mountains is named with the Chinook jargon word for six, it being the sixth of a series all named at the same time by the Forest Service.
TAHKENITCH LAKE, Douglas County. Tahkenitch Lake is in the western part of the county. It is of very irregular shape, and the Indian name is said to mean many arins, but this translation may be apocryphal.
TAKILMA, Josephine County. Takilma is on East Fork Illinois River about a mile southeast of Waldo. It was formerly called Taklamah, and is said to have been named by Colonel T. W. Draper of the Waldo Copper Company, for an Indian chief. Since 1902 the place has been called Takilma, a modification of the name Takelma, applied to an Indian tribe that lived on the middle course of Rogue River, See Handbook of American Indians, volume I, page 673. Takilma post office was established August 2, 1902, with George F. Morgan first postmaster. The writer was told in 1926 that the style Taklamah could not be used for a post office in Oregon because it duplicated the name of a place in Oklahoma. Available post office records do not substantiate this statement.
TALAPUS BUTTE, Deschutes County. This butte, west of Sparks Lake is named with the Chinook jargon word for coyote. See under Mount TalAPUS.
Talbot, Marion County. Guy W. Talbot was the first vice-president and general manager of the Oregon Electric Railway Company, and after he resigned and entered the public utility business, the new owners of the railway extended it south from Salem and this station near the Santiam River was named for him. Talbot station was at first known as Roby, for a pioneer family of the vicinity, but this name was ​
confused with Ruby, a station in Multnomah County, so the change was made.
TALENT, Jackson County. This place was named in the early '80s by A. P. Talent, who platted the town. Talent suggested the name of Wagner, but postal authorities gave the place his own name. He came to Oregon about 1876 from Tennessee. In pioneer days the place was known as Wagner Creek for a family of early settlers.
TALLMAN, Linn County. This station northwest of Lebanon was named for a nearby settler, James Tallman.
TALLOWBOX MOUNTAIN, Jackson County. Tallowbox Mountain, elevation 5021 feet, is a prominent point in the Siskiyou Mountains a little south of Applegate. Thomas V. Williams of Medford has submitted a story about the name, which he says may be fact or fiction, but in either event it is the best available. About 1880 some hunters in the locality shot more deer than they were able to get home with facilities available. They wished to save the tallow for future use, so they packed it in a box to keep it from birds and animals and fastened the box up in a tree. The story is to the effect that the tallow was never salvaged and the box gave the name to the mountain.
TAMARACK, Umatilla County. Tamarack was the name given a post office in the Blue Mountains, about fifteen miles east of Weston on the road to Elgin. This office was established June 2, 1896, with Lewis A. Rambo first postmaster. It was finally closed after the turn of the century, but the writer does not know the exact date. In the Blue Mountains the name tamarack is generally given to the western larch, Larix occidentalis, which is not a true tamarack at all. There are many of these western larch trees near the locality of the Tamarack post office and that is how it got its name.
TAMARACK CREEK, Wallowa County. This creek is in township 5 north, range 45 east. Other geographic features in Oregon are also named for the tamarack, which is correctly, the western larch, Larix occidentalis. This tree has a variety of common names. It grows in many places in Oregon, particularly in the Blue and Wallowa mountains.
TANDY BAY, Klamath County. This bay is at the southwest end of Crescent Lake. In 1925 the Forest Service made a detailed map of Crescent Lake, and at the suggestion of Lewis A. McArthur, this bay was named for William Tandy, who was a member of the pioneer road exploration party sent out by the state in 1852. For information about this exploration see Scott's History of the Oregon Country, volume IV, page 8.
TANDY CREEK, Lake County. Tandy Creek is south of Lakeview and flows westward into Goose Lake. It is about four miles north of the Oregon-California state line. William and Robert Tandy, pioneer settlers in the Willamette Valley, moved into the Goose Lake Valley about 1869, and Tandy Creek was named for some member of the family. The style Tansy Creek is wrong.
TANGENT, Linn County. This station on the Southern Pacific line south of Albany was named because of the long stretch of straight track to the north and south. This tangent is over twenty miles long. Tanks, Umauilla County. This is a summer settlement near the summit of the Blue Mountains on the road between Walla Walla and Elgin. It was named for water tanks used by freight laulers, and not by ​
Irained the anner Creek ow in the city the present locatio at the head me from this e a railroad, as there is no railroad near the place. Tanks post office was established June 2, 1896, with DeWitt C. French first postmaster. It was discontinued May 14, 1906.
TANNER CREEK, Multnomah County. Daniel H. Lownsdale settled on what was later the King claim, now in the city of Portland, in 1845 and built a tannery. Tanner Creek got its name from this enterprise. The creek drained the canyon at the head of Jefferson Street, and flowed under the present location of Multnomah field, and through a ravine where upper Alder Street is situated. Canyon Road, an important factor in the development of Portland, was named because it was built up the canyon of Tanner Creek.
TANNER CREEK, Multnomah County. J. T. Tanner took up a donation land claim near the mouth of this stream in pioneer days, and his name became attached to the creek. It is just west of Bonneville. Tanner Butte near the headwaters of the creek was once known as Tanner Creek Butte, but the government has eliminated the unnecessary part of the name. Tansy POINT, Clatsop County. The name Tansy Point is applied to a place on the south bank of Columbia River just north of Warrenton, and has been in use for many years. The tansy plant, Tanactum huronense, grows there in abundance and the name of the point is appropriate. Sir Edward Belcher's chart of 1839 uses the name Racoon Point, presumably in commemoration of the visit of H.M.S. Raccoon in 1813. Target Spring, Wallowa County. Target Spring, southeast of Wallowa Lake, was named because of the fact that the ground nearby was used as a hunting camp and hunters practiced there, shooting at marks on trees. Tartar GULCH, Josephine County. Tartar Gulch drains into Althouse Creek southeast of Holland. It is shown on various maps as Carter Gulch and Tarter Gulch, but in May, 1943, Forest Service officials wrote the compiler that these forms were wrong and that Tartar Gulch was correct. An old time resident of Selma is authority for the statement that the gulch bears a name applied in mining days indicating that gold in this gulch was in very spotted pockets and the term "tartar" was used to describe that condition. A tartar gulch was considered not good for mining. The compiler has not been able to verify this meaning for the word, but assumes it to be correct.
TAYLOR, Multnomah County. Taylor is a siding west of Corbett on the south bank of the Columbia River. Land office records indicate that E. J. Tavlor took up a homestead nearby, entry 76, in pioneer days, and it may be assumed that the place was named for him or his family. A post office named Leader was established in this locality July 15, 1881, with Joseph H. Leader first postmaster. The name was changed to Taylor on May 25, 1882, at which time Ervine J. Taylor was postmaster. The office was discontinued in June, 1895.
TAYLOR BUTTE, Lane County. Taylor Butte has an elevation of 5835 feet. It is west of the summit of the Cascade Range, three miles north of Waldo Lake. It and other nearby geographic features were named about 1898 for one Joe Taylor, a stockman of the Deschutes country, who ranged sheep in the neighborhood. This information was furnished the compiler by Geo, H. Kelly of Portland and W. P. ​
Vandervert of Bend, both of whom were familiar with the history of the central Cascade Range.
TAYLOR CREEK, Lane County. Most of Taylor Creek is in the extreme west part of township 16 south, range 9 west. It flows west over the township line into Indian Creek. The stream was named in compliment to John L. Taylor, who settled on its banks in 1888 and lived there for nearly twenty years. John L. Taylor named Reed post office that operated for forty years on Taylor Creek. This was to honor Thomas B. Reed of Maine. Mr. Taylor was the father of ten children, several of whom, including Smith L. Taylor of McKenzie Bridge, are well known in Lane County.
TAYLOR LAKE, Linn County. This is an enlargement of Courtney Creek and is northeast of Halsey. Land plats of 1878 show that S. Z. Taylor owned land nearby, and the lake was probably named for him.
TAYLOR SANDS, Clatsop County. These sands in the Columbia River are just northeast of Astoria. They were named for Tom Taylor, who owned the grounds and seined them for salmon.
TAYLORS FERRY ROAD, Multnomah and Washington counties. John A. Taylor was born in New York state September 12, 1825. He crossed the plains with an ox team in 1852, and, upon arrival in October of that year, took up a donation land claim ten miles from Portland on the Tualatin River, and installed a ferry there. Afterwards he built a toll bridge to take the place of the ferry. He was at one time the county judge of Washington County. He died in Walla Walla, Washington, February 12, 1919. Taylors Ferry Road led from the south part of Portland over the north end of Palatine Hill to the ferry. Most of the road southwest of West Portland is now incorporated in the Capitol Highway and in the Pacific Highway West, leaving the name to be applied only to a short section of the old road between Fulton and West Portland. Taylors Ferry post office was in service from October 8, 1869, to December 13, 1869, with John A. Taylor postmaster.
TAYLORVILLE, Wasco County. Taylorville is a locality on Fifteenmile Creek about eight miles southwest of Dufur. For the geography of the place, see USGS map of the Dufur quadrangle. At late reports there was not much stirring in Taylorville. Taylor post office was established on August 20, 1909, and discontinued September 30, 1910, with Albert Tavlor postmaster. The community was apparently named for the postmaster. According to Judge Fred W. Wilson of The Dalles, who wrote the compiler in 1946, a sawmill was established in the timber near this locality, and to accommodate the employees, Taylor opened a store and had the post office established. I'hen the mill stopped operation, the post office was closed. Teal Creek, Polk County. Teal Creek rises in the Coast Range south of Black Rock and flows generally eastward to join Little Luckiamute River near Bridgeport. In pioneer times the stream was called Brown Creek in compliment to Adam Brown, through whose farm it ran. Later John B. Teal moved into the mountains south of Falls City and gradually the name Teal Creek supplanted the name Brown Creek. The change in name took place during the 1890s. Teal was a carpenter, wagonmaker and also a sawmiller. He was at times county commissioner and also county judge. He was a much respected resident of Polk County. The spelling Teel is wrong. ​
TEASER CREEK, Wallowa County. This creek, which was named for a stallion that ranged thereabouts, flows into Deep Creek in township 3 north, range 50 east.
TECHUMTAS ISLAND, Umatilla County. This is the Indian name for an island in the Columbia River east of Umatilla. It is also known as Switzler or McComas Island, for men who have owned land on it. In the fall of 1940 the compiler mentioned this name to William Switzler of Umatilla, and was told that Techumtas was the name given by the Cayuse Indians to J. B. Switzler, father of William Switzler, and one-time owner of the island. J. B. Switzler always referred to the island as Techumtas Island, not Switzler Island, and that was the family custom. On December 4, 1941, USBGN adopted the official name Techumtas for the island.
TECUMSEH CREEK, Klamath County. Tecumseh Creek is a stream about one and one-half miles north of Klamath Agency. It is sometimes erroneously known as Spring Creek, which is unsatisfactory because this duplicates the name of a stream not far to the east. Klamath County pioneers used the expression Tecumseh Creek because a wellknown Klamath Indian, Tecumseh, was found dead near the stream many years ago in circumstances that indicated that he had been mur. dered. He was of course named for the famous chief in Ohio.
TELLURIUM PEAK, Douglas County. Tellurium is a rare, metallic element, generally found associated with other elements such as silver and gold. This peak, just southwest of Canyonville, was so named because tellurium has been found thereon.
TELOCASET, Union County. This place was once called Antelope stage station. When the railroad was built through the Blue Mountains, Dr. William C. McKay was asked to suggest new names for stations that had names duplicating others in Oregon. Among those he suggested was Telocaset. This word is from the Nez Perce language and means a thing at the top, or put on top, such as a tree growing on a hill, summit or plateau, overlooking a valley. The Indians pronounced the word Taule karset, according to O. H. Lipps, of Fort Lapwai Indian Agency, Idaho, in a letter dated March 2, 1927. Telocaset post office was established February 25, 1885, with William A. Cates first postmaster.
TEMPERANCE CREEK, Wallowa County. This stream flows into Snake River in township 1 north, range 50 east. It was named by Ben Johnson and others with him as a result of the coffee giving out. The party had nothing but water to drink and named the stream on that account.
TEMPLETON, Coos County. Templeton post office was established June 21, 1898, and was discontinued February 28, 1917. Albina Coleman was the first of five postmasters. When a petition was circulated asking for a post office Robert Templeton, a local resident, sponsored the document and the office was thereupon named in his honor. Templeton was in the extreme north end of the county, east of Tenmile Lake. It was in several locations, at least twice on Benson Creek and twice on Johnson Creek, but as far as the compiler knows it was always in township 23 south, range 12 west.
TENASILLAHE ISLAND, Clatsop County. The name Tenasillahe is composed of two Chinook jargon words, tenas meaning small or little, and illahe, meaning land, hence, "little land." There are many ways ​
of spelling Chinook words, but the USBGN as a matter of standardization has adopted the form shown at the head of this paragraph. This island is low, and marshy in places, which doubtless accounts for the Indian name. Maps prepared by Lewis and Clark show this and other islands nearby in the Columbia River marked marshy islands, but the expression was apparently not used as a geographic name. W. R. Broughton passed Tenasillahe Island on October 25, 1792, and describes it as a "long, sandy, shallow spit." His report on this part of the Columbia River is not entirely clear, but it may be that he camped on the island that night as he mentions "the dampness of the situation." Wilkes used the name Kathlamet for this island, a form of Cathlamet. See under CATHLAMET.
TENCENT LAKE, Harney County. This is a small lake at the extreme north end of Alvord Valley. It is fed largely by ditches, which are also its outlet. It has an elevation of about 4400 feet. It was so named because it was small and round like a dime.
TENINO CREEK, Jefferson County. This stream on Warm Springs Indian Reservation bears the name of the Tenino Indians, a Shahaptian tribe of the Columbia and Deschutes valleys. They are now classed with the Warm Springs Indians. See Handbook of American Indians, volume II, page 729. In December, 1942, J. W. Elliott, superintendent at Warm Springs Indian Agency, wrote the compiler that he had discussed with several older Indians the origin of the name. At the time of the treaty of 1855 the Teninos had as their habitat a locality on the Columbia River a few miles down stream from Celilo. This locality was known as the Tenino Fishery, and as nearly as Mr. Elliott could understand the translation, the name meant a river channel where the water was confined by steep rock walls. When the Teninos were moved to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation they took the name with them to the new location. Many of them return to the Tenino Fishery during the fishing season.
TENMILE, Douglas County. The name of the post office of Tenmile is derived from the fact that a man who lived in Happy Valley drove cattle from the valley and grazed them at the place now known as Tenmile. The distance was about ten miles, hence the name. This incident happened in pioneer days.
TENMILE CREEK, Coos County. This creek was doubtless named because it emptied into the Pacific Ocean about ten miles south of Winchester Bay, at the mouth of Umpqua River. It is also about ten miles north of the northern bend of Coos Bay, but Winchester Bav was settled earlier than any settlement on the northern part of Coos Bay, and the compiler thinks that the first explanation is the correct one. Tenmile Creek has given its name to Tenmile Lake, to Tenmile Butte, southeast of Tenmile Lake, and to North Tenmile Lake.
TENMILE CREEK, Lane County. This stream, which flows into Pacific Ocean south of Cape Perpetua, was named by surveyors because it was about ten miles long. Tenmile Ridge to the north was named for the stream.
TENMILE LAKE, Coos County. This lake was once known as Johnson Lake. The USBGN has officially named it Tenmile Lake. North Tenmile Lake is nearby. Both lakes probably received their names from Tenmile Creek, which connects Tenmile Lake with the ocean. ​
Tenmile Creek was named because it was supposed to be about ten miles south of the pioneer settlement at Winchester Bay. The name South Tenmile for this lake is incorrect. It was approved by the
USBGN, but subsequently the decision was revised.
TENMILE RAPIDS, Wasco County. These rapids of the Columbia River were named by U. S. Engineers because of their distance east from the boat landing at The Dalles. They form part of The Dalles of the Columbia, and were formerly known as the Little Narrows, Short Narrows, and Les Petites Dalles. See under THE Dalles in this book, and OHQ, March, 1926, page 115. Part of Tenmile Rapids is in the state of Washington.
TEPEE CAMP, Wallowa County. This is an old Indian campground in township 5 north, range 46 east. It was used generally during hunting seasons.
TEPEE Draw, Deschutes County. This is a draw on the northeast slopes of Paulina Mountains. It was so called because remains of Indian tepees were found therein.
TEPEE SPRINGS, Wallowa County. These springs are about six miles north of Enterprise and about a mile west of the Lewiston Highway. They were named for a group of tepees, the poles of which were left standing by Indians. They are on a piece of land reported filed on by Chancy Akin, but Akin did not prove up for title. A post office named Teepy Springs was established August 3, 1886, with Akin postmaster. This spelling is from Post Office Department records and does not agree with local style. The office operated until the summer of 1890.
TERREBONNE, Deschutes County. The community of Terrebonne was first know as Hillman, a word made by taking parts of the names of two prominent railroad men, James J. Hill and E. H. Harriman, whose lines ran a race to see which could reach central Oregon first. Shortly after the town was founded a man named Hillman, a prominent real estate operator in the Deschutes Valley, got into trouble with the government, amidst unpleasant notoriety. This was disquieting to the good people of Hillman, who changed the name of the place to Terrebonne, a French expression meaning good earth. It is said that a Mr. Stevens suggested the new name. The name of the post office was changed in September, 1911.
TERRY, Multnomah County. On October 13, 1899, a post office named Bement was established at or near the road intersection at Twelvmile Corner on the Base Line Road north of Gresham. Francois M. Graham moved a store building from Fairview and set it up at the Twelvemile Corner. He was appointed first postmaster at Bement. Shortly thereafter the name of the office was changed to Terry, and it was closed October 31, 1903. The patrons were then served by rural delivery. It has been reported that Terry was named for some postal official, but the compiler has not been able to identify any such official.
TESTAMENT CREEK, Tillamook County. This creek flows into Nestucca River in the south part of the county. It was named by association with Bible Creek just to the south. See under that heading.
TETHEROW BUTTE, Deschutes County. Tetherow Butte is about three miles north of Redmond, and Tetherow bridge across Deschutes River is three miles west of the butte. These geographic features were ​named for a local settler, A. J. Tetherow, a pioneer stockman and a member of a prominent early pioneer family of the Willamette Valley. He had a farm on Crooked River and a ferry on Deschutes River, near the present site of the bridge. This information was furnished by J. N. Williamson of Prineville.
Thatcher, Washington County. Thatcher is a cross-roads community about three miles northwest of Forest Grove and close to the northeast slope of David Hill. The place was named for Harmon and Jemima Thatcher who took up a homestead in the locality in early pioneer days. The Thatchers were married in Indiana in 1847 and came to Oregon soon afterward. Thatcher post office was established August 3, 1895, with Thomas J. Clark first postmaster. The office was closed August 21, 1902.
Thayer Glacier, Deschutes County. This glacier is on the eastern part of the North Sister. It was named by Professor E. T. Hodge of the University of Oregon for Eli Thayer, representative in Congress from Massachusetts, who assisted in securing the passage of the bill admitting Oregon to the Union. See Mount Multnomah, page 75. For information about Oregon's debt to Thayer, see Scott's History of the Oregon Country, volume V, page 3.
The Dalles, Wasco County. The name The Dalles is derived from the French word dalle, meaning flag-stone, and was applied to the narrows of the Columbia River, above the present city of The Dalles, by French-Canadian employees of the fur companies. Among other things, dalle meant a stone used to flag gutters, and the peculiar basalt formation along the narrows doubtless suggested gutters. The word dalles signified, to the voyageurs, the river rapids flowing swifty through a narrow channel over flat, basaltic rocks. The name is common in America. Well-known dalles are those of the Saint Louis, Saint Croix, Wisconsin, and Columbia rivers. The best known dalles are those of the Columbia. The name is not derived from the French dale meaning trough. As far as the compiler knows the first use of the name Dalles in Oregon is in Franchere's Narrative, on April 12, 1814, where it is used to describe the Long Narrows. John Work, in his journal of 1825, speaks of Dalls. The name La Grande Dalle de la Columbia became established. The incorporated name of the community is now Dalles City, but the postal name, and the one in universal use is The Dalles, this style being adopted not only for historical and sentimental reasons but also to avoid duplication with Dallas, Polk County. The post office was established with the name Dalles on November 5, 1851, with William R. Gibson first postmaster. On September 3, 1853, the name was changed to Wascopum, and on March 22, 1860, it was changed to The Dalles. The narrows of the river are generally known as The Dalles of the Columbia, and this collective term describes the geographic features from the Big Eddy on the west to Celilo Falls on the east. Just east of Big Eddy is Fivemile Rapids, formerly known as the Long Narrows, The Dalles or The Great Dalles. Further east is Tenmile Rapids, formerly known as the Short Narrows, Little Narrows or Les Petites Dalles. For information about The Dalles of the Columbia, see OHQ, March, 1926, in the article by Henry J. Biddle entitled "Wishram." The neighborhood of Mill Creek at The Dalles was called Quenett by the Indians, which was a word for salmon trout. Lewis and Clark camped ​
in October 25,7maps. In any, in an artifl died Town Chis and" at the mouth of this stream on October 25, 26 and 27, 1805, and recorded the form Que-nett in their journals and maps. In April, 1806, they named this place "rockfort camp." Dr. William C. McKay, in an article in The Dalles Mountaineer, May 28, 1869, gives the Indian names of a great many places in the vicinity of The Dalles. Dr. McKay says that long before the white men came, the Indians called the locality of what is now the city of The Dalles Win-quatt, signifying a place encircled by rock cliffs.
THE DUNGEON, Clackamas County. This locality is on the east side of Molalla River about three miles southwest of Table Rock. The place was named by Andy Wyland and Joe Davis of Molalla, who built a rough shelter of cedar shakes there in the early '80s. Most of the structure has since disappeared, but the place is still known by its original name. The building was low and without windows and this name was quite descriptive. Joe Davis, a well-known character of Molalla, was a prospector and trapper. He died on Molalla River and was buried about 150 feet south of the original site of The Dungeon. Dee Wright of Eugene furnished these data.
THE WATCHMAN, Crater Lake National Park, Klamath County. The Watchman, elevation 8025 feet, is one of the highest points on the western rim of Crater Lake. It was named because a party of topographic engineers was placed on its summit in 1886 to take observations while the lake was being sounded. It had previously been christened Bentley Peak by Captain 0. C. Applegate in honor of A. Bentley of Toledo, Ohio, who visited Crater Lake in 1871 with Sir (then Mr.) William F. Maxwell, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a Dr. Munson of Klamath Agency. Munson died of over-exertion and Marshall faithfully watched his body all night while Bentley went for assistance. For an account of this event, see Klamath Record, March 22, 1918, See also under GLACIER PEAK and MUNSON VALLEY.
THELAKE, Harney County. Thelake post office was in service from November 3, 1914, to March 1, 1919, with Rose G. Balcomb the only postmaster. It was at the east border of the Mann Lake Ranch, about ten miles south of the old Alberson post office. The name was intended as an allusion to Mann Lake, an intermittent feature named long ago. Mann Lake is supposed to have been named for a local settler.
THEORA, Lake County. Theora post office, situated near the middle of section 7, township 40 south, range 19 east, was established December 4, 1916, with Hubert E. Koons first and only postmaster. The office was discontinued to Lakeview on March 15, 1918. Theora office was named for Theora Swift, sister of Alvin J. Swift. Swift was secretary of the local irrigation district.
THIEF VALLEY, Union County. This little valley east of North Powder, was the place where John Wetherly was hanged in December 1864, for stealing mules from an emigrant at Boise.
THIELSEN, Polk County. This is a station on the Southern Pacific line between Salem and Dallas, and is near the farm of the late Henry B. Thielsen, who was for a number of years engaged in railroad surveying and construction work in Oregon and in Washington, and subsequently conducted a farm near the site of Thielsen station. For several years before his death Mr. Thielsen resided in Salem. He was a son of Hans Thielsen, a prominent Oregon pioneer railroad ​
builder for whom Mount Thielsen in the Cascade Range was named.
THIMBLE MOUNTAIN, Clackamas County. This point in the northeast corner of the county was named by T. H. Sherrard of the Forest Service because of its resemblance to a thimble.
THIRD LAKE, Linn County. Third Lake is the third of a series of four lakes extending along the east bank of Willamette River north of Albany. These lakes are named in accordance with their position, First Lake being the one nearest Albany.
THIRTY-Two Point CREEK, Wallowa County. This creek is in the extreme southeast part of the county. There are two theories about the name, one to the effect that a pair of antlers with 32 points was found nearby, and the other to the effect that there are 32 points of land fronting on the creek between its mouth and its source. The reader may take his choice.
THOMAS CREEK, Linn County. Thomas Creek is one of the important streams of the county. It was named for Frederick Thomas who in 1846 settled on the banks of the stream, where he took up a donation land claim. Other nearby settlers named the stream.
THOMSON, Lane County. Thomson was an early-day post office on McKenzie River, but should not be classed as a pioneer establishment. Mary C. Thomson was appointed postmaster April 15, 1891. She ran the office until June 24, 1893, when it was closed to McKenzie Bridge. An effort was made to revive the office in May, 1895, when Cynthia J. Isham was appointed postmaster, but the order for some reason or other was rescinded in July, 1895. The C. W. Thomson homestead was in section 17, township 16 south, range 5 east, just across the McKenzie Highway from Belknap bridge, but bridge and highway were not there when the Thomsons settled. Thomson post office was between Blue River and McKenzie Bridge.
THORN HOLLOW, Wallowa County. Thorn Hollow drains into Cougar Creek in township 4 north, range 45 east. In 1885 J. Pern Averill and James Alford killed two bears there that were found feasting off the thornberries, and the name Thorn Hollow resulted.
THORNBERRY, Sherman County. This station, formerly known as Grebe, was named for a local resident and stockman. It is south of Biggs. Grebe post office was established in February, 1916, with Henry Grebe postmaster. Harvey B. Thornberry became postmaster in January, 1919, and the name of the office was changed to Thornberry in October, 1920. The office was discontinued in November, 1923.
THORNHOLLOW, Umatilla County, Thornhollow was the name of a post ofhce situated in the natural geographic feature Thorn Hollow about eighteen miles east of Pendleton. The name Thorn Hollow was applied in the '70s, but the post office was not established until 1923. Marietta Jones was the first postmaster. Postal authorities made the name one word. Thorn Hollow was originally named by a stage driver because of an abundance of thorns along the road. Thornhollow was not on the post office list in 1927, but Thorn Hollow was a railroad station in 1941 and for many years prior.
THORNTON LAKE, Benton County. This is a long narrow lake about a mile northwest of Albany. It is on what was the donation land claim of J. Quinn Thornton, one of Oregon's prominent pioneers, and was named for him, 'Thornton was born in Mason County, West Virginia, ​
August 24, 1810. He came to Oregon in 1846. He rendered important service toward creation of Oregon Territory. He wrote Oregon and California in 1848, in two volumes, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1849. He died at Salem February 5, 1888. His address on the migration of 1846 to Oregon appears in OPA Transactions, 1878, pages 29-71; history of the provisional government, ibid., 1874, pages 43-95. Thornton was a member of the emigration that came by the Applegate Route in 1846, and for many years was especially bitter against Jesse Applegate and other members of the party who went from the Willamette Valley to prepare a road for the emigration. Particulars of this difficulty may be found in Bancroft's History of Oregon, volume I, page 542, et seq. Thornton challenged the integrity of David Goff, a member of the Applegate party, and James W. Nesmith, Goff's son-in-law, challenged Thornton to a duel. As a result of Thornton's failure to accept Nesmith's challenge, the latter prepared a poster and tacked it up on trees about Oregon City in June 1847, calling Thornton a variety of names. Judge Deady describes the poster as "a wealth of adjectives." C. H. Stewart, of Albany, calls attention to the fact that Thornton called this lake Fairmount Lake, presumably for a small hill to the north. The name Fairmount has not persisted for the lake, although it is applied to a school nearby. When Thornton settled on his homestead in November, 1846, he called the place Forest Grove. The name seems to have been unusually attractive to him, for on January 10, 1851, he suggested it for the locality which is now a town in Washington County. See under Forest
GROVE for details.
THORP CREEK, Wallowa County. Thorp Creek is just southwest of Wallowa Lake. It was named for C. H. Thorp by Fred McClain.
THREE FINGERED JACK, Jefferson and Linn counties. While this peak is one of the lesser ones of the Cascade Range, as far as altitude is concerned, its unusual appearance has given it much prominence. Its elevation is 7848 feet, or practically the same as that of its neighbor, Mount Washington. Its name is in a way descriptive, but the writer has been unable to learn who named it, or when. It has three main rock spires. It is not mentioned by any writer of the exploratory period. Some time in the '70s it was called Mount Marion because of the activities of a Marion County road locating party under the leadership of John Minto, who investigated passes over the Cascade Range nearby. The writer was told about 1900 that the present name had been applied because of a three-fingered trapper who lived nearby, whose name was Jack. As far as known the first ascent made of Three Fingered Jack was on Labor Day, September 3, 1923, when six boys from Bend, some of whom had made the first ascent of Mount Washington on August 26, reached the summit. These boys found a series of lava chimneys to ascend in mounting the almost perpendicular walls of the highest finger. For particulars about Three Fingered Jack, see Mazama, for December, 1917.
THREE LYNX CREEK, Clackamas County. This stream, a tributary of Clackamas River below Old Grove Fork, bears a name that has provoked much controversy. Old maps show the name Three Links, and there is a legend in eastern Clackamas County to the effect that this name was the result of loss, by a surveyor, of three links out of a surveying chain. Ernest P. Rands and William C. Elliott of Port ​land, for many years civil engineers in Oregon, both informed the compiler that there was no truth in the three links story. They were in the neighborhood of the stream at the time it was named. They are authority for the statement that one of the Austin family, early settlers nearby, named the stream Three Lynx Creek because he saw three bobcats on its banks. The USBGN has adopted the name Three Lynx.
THREE SISTERS, Deschutes and Lane counties. These peaks are among the most interesting in Oregon. There are but two higher mountains in the state, and the Three Sisters, together with Broken Top, comprise the most majestic alpine group in the Cascade Range in Oregon. The writer has been unable to learn who named the Three Sisters, and they are not frequently mentioned either by explorers or pioneers. The earliest mention of these mountains, as far as known, is by David Douglas, as follows: "Thursday 5th. [October 1826.] After a scanty breakfast proceeded at nine o'clock in a south course. Country more hilly. At one o'clock passed on the left, about twenty-five or thirty miles distant, Mount Jefferson, of Lewis and Clarke, covered with snow as low as the summit of the lower mountains by which it is surrounded. About twenty miles to the east of it, two mountains of greater altitude are to be seen, also covered with snow, in an unknown tract of country called by the natives who inhabit it 'Clamite'." (Journal Kept by David Douglas, London, 1914, page 216.) From certain positions the Three Sisters appear as two mountains, and Douglas' mistake was natural. The mountains appear as the Three Sisters on Preston's Map of Oregon, 1856. There is a story to the effect that at one time the three mountains were known as Mount Faith, Mount Hope and Mount Charity, beginning at the north. In 1927 William P. Vandevert of Bend, a native son of Oregon, confirmed this, and informed the compiler that when a youth, he was often told that the name Three Sisters was originally applied by members of the Methodist mission at Salem in the early '40s, and that the individual peaks were given the names mentioned above. In 1928 John C. Todd of Bend told the compiler that in early days he heard the Three Sisters called Faith, Hope and Charity many times. The best information about the Three Sisters is that contained in USGS Bulletin 252, by Dr. I. C. Russell; in Mineral Resources of Oregon, volume I, No. 1; in Mazama for October 1912 and December 1916 and 1922; in Mount Multnomah by Professor E. T. Hodge and in Vational Geographic Magazine, June 1912. In the summer of 1944 the University of California Press issued Howel Williamsl'olcanoes of the Three Sisters Region, a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the area. It contains some very fine plates. Williams controverts the notion that there was a Mount Multnomah.
THREEBUCK CREEK, Wallowa County. This stream flows into Little Sheep Creek in township 2 south, range 46 cast, and was named by J. J. Blevans and his son Murat Blevans, in 1878, because the two had good luck there hunting. They were getting food for the white people who were in the Prairie Creek stockade.
THREEMILE CANYON, Morrow County. Threemile Canvon is about three miles cast of the mouth of Willow Creek, and is so called on that account. ​
THREEMILE CREEK, Coos County. The Coos County gold rush of 1853-55 was largely centered at Randolph, a mining town near the mouth of Whisky Run north of Coquille River. Threemile Creek was named because it was about three miles north along the beach from Randolph.
THREEMILE CREEK, Douglas County. This is a small creek flowing into the Pacific Ocean north of the mouth of Umpqua River. It was named on the assumption that its mouth was three miles from the river. As a matter of fact it was about four miles.
THREEMILE CREEK, Harney County. Threemile Creek flows westward from Steens Mountain into Catlow Valley at a point about three miles south of Home Creek and the Home Creek Ranch, It got its name on that account.
THREEMILE CREEK, Wasco County. This stream was so named because the pioneer road from The Dalles into central Oregon crossed it about three miles from town. The mouth of the stream is also about three miles east of The Dalles, but the compiler is of the opinion that this fact was not the original reason for the name.
THREEPINES, Josephine County. Threepines was the name of a post office on the Southern Pacific line a few miles south of Hugo that operated from November, 1910, until November, 1921. W. E. Daniel was the first postmaster. The place was named for three prominent pine trees nearby:
THUNDER ROCK, Clackamas County. This rock, in the northeast corner of the county, was named by R. S. Shelley of the Forest Service in the fall of 1906 because he was caught there in a violent thunder storm.
THURSTON, Lane County. Geo. H. Kelly of Portland told the compiler in 1926 that this town was named for George H. Thurston, a pioneer settler of Lane County. Among other things, he was one of the early day land surveyors of the county. He was born in Burlington, Iowa, December 2, 1846, and was the son of Samuel R. Thurston, who was later Oregon's first territorial delegate in Congress. George H. Thurston was brought to Oregon before he was a year old. For biographical information, see Hines' Ilustrated History of the State of Oregon, pages 475 and 1272. A post office named Thurston was established December 31, 1853, with Gamaliel Parrish postmaster. It was near the present site of Harrisburg, Linn County, and had nothing to do with the place in Lane County. It was discontinued December 3, 1856. Tiara, Harney County. Tiara was a word originally used to refer to an ancient roval Persian headdress, but the meaning has been extended to include several forms of head ornament, including a style of coronet. On May 18, 1916, Tiara post office was established in Harney County with Mrs. Minerva Benson first and only postmaster. The office was closed January 15, 1917. It was in township 32 south, range 31 cast, near the north end of Catlow Valley. In June, 1947, Mrs. Benson, then living in Albany, wrote the compiler that the name Tiara was selected for the post office by her son, Hill M. Benson, because it was at the head of the valley.
TICHENOR ROCK, Curry County. Tichenor Rock is south of The Heads and southwest of Port Orford, and is a well-known landmark. It was named for Captain William Tichenor, who was born at Newark, ​
New Jersey, in 1813. In 1843 he settled in Illinois and in 1848 was elected state senator from Edgar County. In 1849 he started for California and engaged in the sea trade. In 1851 he commanded the steamer Sea Gull, one of the first in the San Francisco-Columbia River trade. He lost the steamer at Humboldt Bay on January 22, 1852, but saved the lives of all on board and was given a gold watch for heroisın. Captain Tichenor founded the town of Port Orford, Oregon, in 1851, and brought his family there in May, 1852. For history of the first attempts at settlement, see under BATTLE Rock. He gave up sea life in 1868 and settled down at his home in Port Orford. He died in San Francisco July 28, 1887, and was buried in the family cemetery at Port Orford. He was a public spirited and highly respected citizen of southwest Oregon.
TIDBITS MOUNTAIN, Linn County. This mountain is an important triangulation station and lookout north of Blue River. It received its name because the top is shattered into fingers or tidbits. Tipe CREEK, Columbia County. The name Tide Creek as applied to a stream in the east part of Columbia County is very old and doubtless resulted from the fact that there were manifestations of small tides in the creek. Tidecreek post office was established near the lower reaches of this stream on November 29, 1902, with Fred A. Bucher first and only postmaster. Mr. Bucher was apparently not able to develop a heavy postal business as the office was closed to Goble on June 24, 1903.
TIDEWATER, Lincoln County. Tidewater is east of Waldport, and received its name because it is near the head of tide on Alsea River.
TIERNAN, Lane County. The post office at Tiernan was established about 1919. It was named for R. Tiernan of San Francisco who at the time was leasing a sawmill in the neighborhood. Tigard, Washington County. Tigard was named for Wilson M. Tigard, who came from Arkansas to Oregon in 1852 and took up a donation land claim near the present site of the town. The community first bore the name of Tigardville and was situated about a half a mile west of the railroad station at Tigard. The village of Tigardville existed many years before the development at the railroad station.
TILLAMOOK, Tillamook County. For the origin of this name, see under TILLAMOOK COUNTY. The locality of the town of Tillamook was, in early days, called Lincoln, Hoquarton, the Landing and Tillamook Landing. The word Tillamook by itself generally meant the county. Hoquarton was an Indian word, the meaning of which is unknown to the compiler. This word, now spelled Hoquarten, is applied to a slough at Tillamook. Even though the place was called by other names, a post office named Tillamook was established March 12, 1866, with George W. Miller first postmaster. Stories to the effect that the office could not be named Lincoln because of another Oregon office with that name are wrong, because the Lincoln office in Polk County was not established until more than a year later, on May 31, 1867. It is possible that at some later date an effort was made to change the name of Tillamook to Lincoln but the existence of the Polk County office may have put a stop to the proposal. The Tillamook airbase for dirigibles was put in commission December 1, 1942, with the name U. S. Naval Air Station, Tillamook, Oregon.
TILLAMOOK COUNTY. Tillamook was the name of a large tribe of Salish Indians, whose habitat was near and south of Tillamook Head. ​
In the journals of Lewis and Clark, this name is spelled Kilamox and Killamuck. Gass' journal gives it Callemeux and Cal-a-mex; the journals of Henry and Thompson, by Coues, give it Callemex. For references to various spellings used by early writers, see OHQ, volume
XXVIII, page 183. Tillamook County was created by the territorial legislature December 15, 1853, and has a land area of 1115 square miles according to the Bureau of the Census. For further information about its name and establishment, see Holman's "Oregon Counties," OHQ, volume XI, pages 1-81. Apparently the initial K was changed to a T about the time the county was created. In addition to the county, the name is used for Tillamook (city), Tillamook Bay, Tillamook Head and Tillamook River. Dean Collins' book Cheese Cheddar, Portland, 1933, contains information about the early history of Tillamook County and a popular account of the Tillamook cheese industry, a business of great importance.
TILLAMOOK HEAD, Clatsop County. For the origin of the name Tillamook, see under TillAMOOK COUNTY. The first white man of record to visit Tillamook Head was William Clark, who spent the night of January 7-8, 1806, near the top of the head, and in his journals comments on the fine view to be had, which gave the place the name of Clarks Point of View. Clark was on his way to what is now called Cannon Beach on a short exploring expedition. The wording of his diary has caused several authorities, notably Greenhow and Thwaites, to confuse Tillamook Head with other features further south along the coast. Clark crossed over but one head though his journal seems to indicate two. For additional information see under Capes, Can NON BEACH, ECOLA and Elk Creek. Tillamook Head triangulation station, on the highest point, has an elevation of 1136 feet. Steel says the Clatsop Indian name for Tillamook Head was Nah-se-u—su.
TILLAMOOK Rock, Clatsop County. Tillamook Rock takes its name from Tillamook Head. It is famous because upon it is built Tillamook Rock lighthouse. An act approved June 20, 1878, made an appropriation of $50,000 for a first-class light on Tillamook Head. Subsequent appropriations of 1880-81 added $75,000 to this sum. The heavy cost of a road, and the fact that the light would be a thousand feet above the sea led Major G. L. Gillespie, U.S.A., then Light-House Engineer for the 13th District, to recommend a light on Tillamook Rock. An inspection was made of the rock, and H. S. Wheeler, superintendent of construction, was landed on the rock from the revenue-cutter Corwin on June 26, 1879. This was probably the first time a white man ever stood on the rock. An attempt by Wheeler to land on June 22 was a failure. John R. Trewavas, of Portland, a mason who had had experience in England working on lights, tried to land on September 18, 1879, to make a preliminary survey, but was drowned in the attempt. Construction was started in October. A little over 29 feet of rock was blasted off the pinnacle to provide a platform for the station. The rock was originally 80 feet high and a mile from shore, and had a sharp overhang to the west. All materials and supplies were landed by derricks.
TILLER, Douglas County. Tiller was named for a pioneer settler, Aaron Tiller. The post office was established October 15, 1902, with Alfred B. Marquam postmaster. TilLICUM CREEK, Lane County. Tillicum is a Chinook jargon word · tried io mason who on June 22 ​that has been in popular use in the Pacific Northwest for well over a century, but not always with exactly the same meaning. The early Chinook use referred to people, or tribe or even relatives. With the passage of time the word came to mean also friendly people or even a friend. It also means friendly, or agreeable, as in the case of Tillicum Creek. The older Chinook jargon word for friend, applied to persons rather than things, is siks or six. Tillicum Creek flows into Salmon Creek northeast of Oakridge. Tilly JANE CREEK, Hood River County. This stream, east of Mount Hood, was named for Mrs. William M. Ladd of Portland. See under
LADD GLACIER. The Ladd family spent many summers at Cloud Cap Inn, and the stream heading near the inn was given Mrs. Ladd's nickname.
TIMBER, Washington County. When this post office was established a number of local residents suggested names and a list was sent to the government. Postal officials chose the word Timber. The name was suggested on account of the heavy forests in the neighborhood.
TIMBERLINE, Clackamas County. 'Timberline and Timberline Lodge are names that have developed naturally and spontaneously because such names fit the physical conditions. The writer had some correspondence from Francis E. Williamson, Jr., of the United States Forest Service, which gives some interesting history about the origin of this name. The following quotations are from Mr. Williamson's letter of January 31, 1947: "The popularity of Timberline Lodge, combined with the public's idea that the area was new and possibly unexplored until recent years, causes me to assume that many people claim the distinction of naming it. Historically, I believe that you will find the following steps in the development of the lodge are correct and have some bearing on the actual naming. Plans and drawings for the formal compilation of a recreation plan for the south slope of Mount Hood were started by me in 1927. My ideas were the result of several trips over the area with Fred Cleator and a reconnaissance with Cecil Lord in which we ran a P-line for a road. The plan, as developed, authorized a lodge at the timberline along with ski club and mountain climbing club chalets." E. J. Griffith became interested in the project and soon thereafter became head of the W.P.A. in Oregon. Timberline Lodge as it now stands was a cooperative project and had the name Timberline Lodge from the very first. The name was natural and undoubtedly came about as the result of conferences between the U. S. Forest Service and the W.P.A. The post office was first called Timberline Lodge and established August 19, 1939, with Arthur V. Allen first postmaster. This office was officially closed as of December 19, 1943, but the compiler has been informed that due to war conditions the place was shut up in the latter part of 1942. As this paragraph is being written, September, 1948, there is now a post office in service called Timberline at the lodge.
TIMON, Coos County. In the spring of 1894 J. H. Timon opened a vein of coal on the east side of Coquille River about four miles south of the community called Riverton. The Timon mine was diligently operated for a number of years and coal was shipped to California. For an account of this enterprise, see Dodge, Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, page 250. The name was near what is now known as Lampa Creek. On January 22, 1902, Timon post office was established in this locality, with James L. Bean postmaster. The office was closed October 9, 1902. ​
The compiler does not know if the mine was in operation at the time the post office was established or not. Bean also ran a store. Three years later Bean had a new office established with the name Lampa, at or close to the site of the Timon office. Tioga, Douglas County. The name Tioga is probably taken from an Iroquois Indian word meaning "where it forks," referring to a place in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, which was the southern gateway to the Iroquois country. Several important trails met there. For a discussion of the word, see Handbook of American Indians, volume II, page 755. Tioga, as a post office name, has been popular throughout the country. Tioga was once a post office on North Umpqua River about six miles northeast of Glide. The office was established April 3, 1890, with J. S. Williams postmaster, and was discontinued November 28, 1892. The name may have been selected because it was near this point that a trail forked away from the river and followed up Rock Creek. A later post office, Idleyld Park, has been established at this place. Tioga Fork is the name given a stream in the east part of Coos County, tributary to South Fork Coos River. It is probable that the name was used in this case because of its pleasing sound. There is a locality on this stream called Tioga, but it was not a post office in 1945. Tipsoo PEAK, Douglas and Klamath counties. This peak is on the summit of the Cascade Range north of Mount Thielsen. It is named with the Chinook jargon word for grass. Tipsoo also means hair.
TIPTON, Baker County. Tipton post office was established at the summit of the Blue Mountains near the Baker-Grant county line west of Whitney at a high point on the Sumpter Valley Railway, and was named on this account. The office was put in service February 13, 1904, with Robert W. Cecil first of two postmasters, and was closed January 17, 1906. The locality has an elevation of a little over 5100 feet.
TIPTOP, Lane County. Tiptop post office was named with the nickname of the first postmaster, Isaac Hamner, who was frequently called Tiptop because of some hunting incident that suggested the name. The post office, which was established May 16, 1895, was in section 36, township 21 south, range 3 east, on or near Hills Creek. Isaac Hamner was the first and only postmaster. The office was discontinued April 5, 1901. The locality of Tiptop post office is frequently called The Boulders and in 1948 the place was owned by Cliff Morgan. Tire CREEK, Lane County. In May, 1943, Ranger C. B. McFarland of Oakridge wrote the compiler as follows: "Tire Creek was named during the early days soon after the old military wagon road was constructed. A traveler broke his wagon wheel. The wagon tire rolled to the lower side of the road and was abandoned in the small creek bed. It lay there for many years and the creek was referred to as Tire Creek." The stream is about four miles north of Westfir.
TNT CREEK. Lane County. This is a tributary of Hills Creek. It is named because a Forest Service pack mule bucked off a box of TNT at this creek when the trail was being built.
TODD LAKE, Deschutes County. Formerly called Lost Lake because of the difficulty in finding it. Citizens of Bend asked to have the name changed because of confusion with other Lost lakes, and the name Todd Lake was selected in commemoration of Uncle John Y. Todd, an early settler of central Oregon. John Young Todd was born in Carroll ​
County, Missouri, November 30, 1830, and died at Salem, November 8, 1919. He fought in the Mexican War and arrived in Oregon in 1852, by way of California. He packed goods to the mines and engaged in other business, and settled on a homestead in Tygh Valley. He built Sherars Bridge in 1860 and rebuilt it later. Todd later moved to the Farewell Bend ranch at the present site of Bend and lived in that vicinity for many years. For additional data, see OHQ, volume XXX, page 70.
TOKETEE Falls, Douglas County. These falls are on the North Umpqua at the mouth of the Clearwater. Toketee is the Chinook jargon word for pretty, or graceful. The word is pronounced Tuck-et-tee, with the accent on the first syllable.
TOLEDO, Lincoln County. Toledo is on the homestead of John Graham, a pioneer resident, who emigrated from Ohio. It is said that when the post office was established in 1868, Joseph D. Graham, a son, was told that he could name the place. He said: "I am homesick for Ohio. We will call the place Toledo." Toledo post office was established on July 14, 1868, with William Mackey first postmaster.
TOLLGATE, Umatilla County. Sometime in the '70s the proprietor of the toll road over the Blue Mountains in the northeast part of the county established a toll gate and for many years the locality of this barrier was called Tollgate. With the development of Langdon Lake close by, the name Langdon Lake came into general use as the locality name. However, when a post office was established in September, 1941, the old name Tollgate was revived and used for the post office. Mrs. Harry (Gertie) Hunter was the first postmaster. The toll road was generally referred to as the Woodward road. Its west end was at the junction of the Lincton and Weston mountain roads and the southeast terminus was at Summerville. The gate was at the Woodward meadow in section 32, township 4 north, range 38 east. The meadow is the site of the Tollgate Ranger Station of the U. S. Forest Service. The locality is now on the main Weston-Elgin highway. Tolo, Jackson County. Will G. Steel is authority for the statement that this place was named in error by postal authorities. Cleophas C. Ragsdale, formery a resident of Yolo, California, was living in Willow Springs, Oregon, in 1885, and as he disliked the commonplace name of his adopted home, he petitioned to have it changed to Yolo. The Y was misread as a T in Washington, and on March 30, 1886, postal authorities changed the name of the office from Willow Springs to Tolo, and so it has been ever since. Yolo or Yolay was the name of an Indian tribe in California. The word is said to mean a place abounding in rushes. Willow Springs post office was established August 12, 1864, with Samuel P. Dean first postmaster.
TOLOVANA Park, Clatsop County. Tolovana Park is a place on Cannon Beach, named for Tolovana, Alaska. The town in Alaska is on Tanana River, about a hundred miles above Fort Gibbon, established in 1905 as a telegraph station and post ofhce. This Indian name was selected by the Signal Corps, but the compiler has been unable to get the exact meaning. Some say it is an Indian tribe name, others that it means a wooded country and another version is that it means a pile of driftwood or log jam. Mark Warren and his brother, William E. Warren, spent some time in central Alaska, and, after their return, they platted prop ​erty on Cannon Beach. Mark Warren chose the name Tolovana Park for his tract, because he fancied the sound of the word as used in Alaska.
TOMAHAWK ISLAND, Multnomah County. This name was originally given by Lewis and Clark to a small island between what is now known as Hayden Island and the north shore of the Columbia River. The name was the result of an incident that took place on November 4, 1805, when William Clark's tomahawk pipe was stolen. The incident is mentioned several times in Thwaites' Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. While the theft took place on the mainland, a small island was a silent witness and received its name on that account. See atlas volume, plate 34. Eventually the island disappeared. After the construction of the interstate bridge between Portland and Vancouver another island gradually emerged from the river not far from the original Tomahawk Island. In 1927 a group of students from the Catlin school in Portland petitioned the USBGN to attach the name Tomahawk Island to the new island in the Columbia River, which occupies a position between Ryan Point and Hayden Island. The USBGN made the requested decision on April 6, 1927, and thus perpetuated the old name.
TOMBSTONE GAP, Jackson County. Tombstone Gap is at the north edge of the county, about a mile south of Richter Mountain. It is a pass through the watershed between the Umpqua and Rogue river drainages. It was named for an outcrop of gray rock nearby, which in a small degree simulates a gravestone.
TOMBSTONE LAKE, Union County. Tombstone Lake, in township 5 south, range 43 east, was not named because of a tombstone. In January, 1944, J. F. Irwin, for many years connected with the Forest Service, wrote the compiler that the lake was named because a prominent mountain peak stands immediately at one end, like a gravestone.
TOMBSTONE PRAIRIE, Linn County. This is a pleasant place on the South Santiam Highway, despite its melancholy name. Hackleman Creek flows eastward from the prairie into Fish Lake, and just west of the prairie the highway crosses Tombstone Summit, the watershed between the South Santiam and the McKenzie River drainage. On the south edge of the prairie is a tombstone with the inscription: "JAMES A., son of J. W. & C. M. McKnight. From an Accidental Shot. Oct. 17, 1871. AGED 18 Y's 9 M's 9 D's." Below this inscription there are eight stanzas of poetry, apparently composed by Mrs. McKnight.
TOMLIKE MOUNTAIN, Hood River County. This mountain is south of Wyeth. According to H. D. Langille of Portland, it bears the name of Tomlike, or Indian George, a familiar character in the Hood River Valley. He was the son of Chinidere, the last Indian chief in that part of Oregon.
TONGUE POINT, Clatsop County. As far as the writer knows Tongue Point was the first geographic feature in Oregon not fronting on the Pacific Ocean to be named by white men. Captain George Vancouver, at the head of his expedition, attempted to sail into the mouth of the Columbia River in his sloop Discovery on October 19 and 20, 1792, but was forced to abandon the attempt on October 21, and sailed southward, leaving Lieutenant William Robert Broughton on the armed tender Chatham safely inside the bar. On the day that Vancouver sailed south, Broughton noted "a remarkable projecting point, that obtained the name of TONGUE POINT, on the southern shore, appearing like an island." No ​
the name has Indian name for 2016 a submarine and prior to World ibid. AprillesOregonidescriptio pony, was named Wood River 1887, page A one has ever suggested a better name. It speaks for itself. Lewis and Clark tried to attach the name Point William, for William Clark, but the name has not prevailed. See under YOUNGS Bay, Silas B. Smith says that the Indian name for Tongue Point was Secomeetsiuc. See
OHQ, volume I, page 321. About 1920 a submarine and destroyer base was authorized for Tongue Point but it was not finished. Prior to World War II, the name of the installation was changed to U. S. Naval Air Station, Tongue Point, Oregon. The station was developed rapidly and was commissioned December 15, 1940.
TONQUIN, Washington County. When the Oregon Electric Railway was built in 1907-08, it was the policy of the company to establish stations with names of historic interest to Oregonians and the station Tonquin was named for the ship that brought the Astor party to Astoria. The Tonquin entered the Columbia River, with the Astor sea party from New York, March 24, 1811; was destroyed at Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, in June, 1811, and all the crew were killed through treachery of Indians. Its fate makes one of the most terrible and heroic tales of the Pacific Coast. For description of the place where the vessel was destroyed, see the Oregonian, April 17, 1887. For narrative of the tragedy, ibid., April 23, 1887, page 3
TONY CREEK, Hood River County. Tony Creek, north of Mount Hood, was named by members of the Langille family for their Cayuse pony, Tony. The stream was named about 1885. This information was furnished by H. D. Langille of Portland, who told the compiler that stories to the effect that the stream was named for Thornton Ladd of Portland, better known as Tony, were wrong.
TOOMEY GULCH, Wallowa County. Toomey Gulch drains into Imnaha River from the west in township 4 north, range 49 east, and bears the name of Michael Toomey, who with Hamilton Vance, had some mining claims there. Top, Grant County. Top is in the extreme northwest corner of the county. The post office was established October 22, 1915, with James Porter postmaster. Porter resigned, however, without actually having served and S. V. Cochran was the first postmaster who really conducted the office. Local residents who signed the petition for the post office sent in six names and Top was selected. It was suggested by one of the prospective patrons of the office because it was the first name of a prominent local resident, Top Reasner.
TOPE CREEK, Wallowa County. This stream is north of Wallowa and flows into Mud Creek. It bears the name of William A. Tope and was named for him in 1883 when he had a homestead near the head of the stream.
TOPsy, Klamath County. Topsy post office got its name from the Topsy grade on the old road from Ager in northern California northeast to Linkville, now Klamath Falls. The post office, which was established January 9, 1884, was at the Overton ranch at the top of the grade leading up from Klamath River, not far north of the California-Oregon state line and east of the river. This establishment was about fifteen miles southwest by road from what was later Keno. The name Topsy was descriptive and was doubtless applied by freight haulers. Major Overton was listed as the only postmaster and the office was closed February 2, ​
1885. The compiler does not know if the first part of Overton's name was a military title, or whether it was his veritable given name. Tor MOUNTAIN, Deschutes County. Tot Mountain is not a mountain at all, but a butte or point on the south slope of Bachelor Butte. It is named with the Chinook jargon word for uncle. The word was applied by the Forest Service because it was necessary to have a name for the butte for convenience in fire fighting. A little to the south is Kwolh Butte, and kwohl is the Chinook jargon word for aunt. These two names were doubtless selected because of Bachelor Butte, Three Sisters, The Husband and The Wife in the same general locality. Tower MOUNTAIN, Umatilla County. Tower Mountain is in section 12, township 6 south, range 34 east, and was formerly known as Lookout Mountain. There is another Lookout Mountain 66 miles northeast, and on June 2, 1925, the USBGN changed the name of the mountain here considered to Tower Mountain because that was the name used by the USC&GS for a triangulation station on the summit. This was done to avoid confusion with the other Lookout Mountain. The triangulation station is about a quarter of a mile east of the Forest Service lookout.
TOWNSEND, Marion County. This station was named for a pioneer family of the vicinity. Trail, Jackson County. Trail is a post office on Rogue River at the mouth of Trail Creek. Trail Creek is so known because an Indian trail from Rogue River to Umpqua River traversed its banks, forming a short cut between the military road and Roseburg in pioneer days. Will G. Steel is authority for the statement that the earlier name of Trail Creek was Stewart Creek, but it does not now go by that name.
TRAIL CREEK, Wallowa County. Trail Creek flows into Camp Creek west of Imnaha. J. H. Horner told the compiler that it was named for an important Indian trail extending west from Imnaha River to camps on Camp Creek. The Indian name for the creek and trail is Wa-lim-isk-kit, with the accent on the second syllable.
TRAILFORK, Gilliam County. Trailfork is a descriptive name for a locality situated about ten or twelve miles southeast of Condon. The name came into use in pioneer days, but the post office was not established until July 1, 1902, with Nancy M. Mattingly first postmaster. This office was discontinued January 31, 1916. Government maps use the style Trail Fork, and there is a Trail Fork Canyon shown on the map of the Condon quadrangle. Trapp CREEK, Lincoln County. Trapp Creek in the Coast Range flows into Yaquina River from the south in the extreme southwest corner of township 10 south, range 9 west, at a point a little over a mile west of Chitwood. The stream was named for a well-known family of pioneer settlers of the vicinity. The spelling Trap is wrong.
TRASK RIVER, Tillamook County. Elbridge Trask, a native of Massachusetts, first came to Oregon in Wyeth's brig May Dacre in 1834, and in the fall of 1835 he went to the Rocky Mountains to trap and hunt. He returned to Oregon in 1842 and settled on Clatsop Plains probably in 1843. Silas B. Smith says Trask worked on Hunt's Mill, pioneer sawmill of Clatsop County, built at Hunts Mill Point in the winter of 1843-44. He moved from Clatsop Plains to Tillamook ​
County in August, 1852. Trask River bears his name. Trask's land title certificate was number 3926. He died June 22, 1863, aged 49 years.
TRAVERSE RIDGE, Wallowa County. This ridge is south of Lostine and east of Lostine River. It was named by R. L. Hensel about 1915 during some mapping operations, and on account of a survey traverse.
TREASURE COVE, Tillamook County. This is an almost inaccessible cove in the northern base of Neahkahnie Mountain. It is said to have a cave in its face not far above the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The name was bestowed because of the many legends of pirate treasure in the neighborhood of Nehalem. See Cotton's Stories of Nehalem. Just north of Treasure Cove is a similar indentation called Devils Cauldron, and the much larger Smugglers Cove is still further north.
TREMONT, Multnomah County. The plat for the addition called Tremont was filed June 4, 1892, covering an area in what is now southeast Portland, and about a mile westward of Lents. There are other additions with Tremont as part of the name, including Tremont Park and Tremont Place. The name Tremont is familiar to Bostonians and refers to three hills or mounts. It is possible that someone from Massachusetts named the Tremont additions. In the summer of 1892 a post office was petitioned for, and it was established August 18, 1892, with J. A. Forbes postmaster, but to the surprise of the local enthusiasts the name turned out to be Fremont. Whoever wrote the petition did not have the benefit of the Spencerian method of handwriting. The mistake was soon corrected and the name of the office was changed to Tremont on October 15, 1892. The office was closed to Lents on February 18, 1903.
TRENT, Lane County. Rattlesnake post office was established near Rattlesnake Creek in 1868. The office name was changed to Trent in 1875, but the compiler has been unable to learn why.
TRESTER, Grant County. Trester was at one time a post office in Grant County at a point about six miles west of Fox, named for a local resident. The office was established August 6, 1913, with Gertrude Trester first postmaster. The office was discontinued June 29, 1918, and the business turned over to Fox.
TRIANGLE, Curry County. Triangle post office was in the extreme north end of the county on the old mail road between Myrtle Point and Langlois. It was in service from September 29, 1914, to December 15, 1916. Mrs. Elinor Lehnherr was the only postmaster. The office was named for the Triangle ranch, operated by the Lehnherr family, where a triangular stock brand was used.
TRIANGLE HILL, Deschutes County. A descriptive name, applied on viewing the hill from the east. The point is in the foothills of the Cascade Range east of the Three Sisters.
TROUT CREEK, Jefferson County. Trout Creek post office was one of several established in the stock pioneering days northeast of what is now Madras. Cross Keys was another and also Hay Creek and Heisler. They were well-known places and have left a legacy of pioneer lore. Trout Creek post office was established July 3, 1878, with Jasper A. Friend postmaster. William Heisler became postmaster October 17, 1878. It seems probable from an inspection of postal records that the name of this office was changed to Cross Keys on February 13, 1879, but the record is not clear and the two offices may not have been in the same place, but they were both near the stream Trout Creek. ​
TROUTDALE, Multnomah County. The community of Troutdale was once known as Sandy. Sandy post office was established June 1, 1854, with Emsley R. Scott postmaster. The office was discontinued February 26, 1868. It was apparently near the present site of the town Troutdale. Captain John Harlow, an Oregon pioneer from Maine, originated the name Troutdale, because of the fact that there was a small dale near his house where he had a fish pond, which he stocked with trout. This occurred about 1880. Shortly thereafter he secured the establishment of Troutdale post office. This office was for a time discontinued. When the railroad built through this section of the country the station was named Troutdale, at the request of Captain Harlow, and so it has been known ever since. Troy, Wallowa County. The postmaster at Troy informed the compiler in December, 1926, that at the time the post office was established, which was in 1902, several names were suggested, but the Post Office Department rejected them all. Finally the department suggested a list which included the name Troy. This was adopted. However, in 1931, J. H. Horner of Enterprise told the compiler that the place was probably named for Troy Grinstead, son of A. L. Grinstead. Mormons settled in the locality about 1898 and the place was generally called Nauvoo. Truax ISLAND, Linn County. Truax Island is northeast of Corvallis, on the south side of Willamette River and north of Dead River. It was named for Wallace and Maud Truax, landowners. The spelling Traux is wrong.
TRYON, Columbia County. Tryon, the name of a locality in Columbia County, came from the family name of Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon, son of an Oregon pioneer of 1850. Dr. Socrates H. Tryon, Sr., settled near Oswego and Tryon Creek just west of Palatine Hill in Clackamas and Multnomah counties bears his name. The younger Tryon was left fatherless in 1855 and had to shift for himself most of his life. In 1869 he became a fisherman on the Columbia River and later engaged in logging and farming. Tryon post office was established near the Columbia River at a point between Rainier and Mayger on December 1, 1884, with S. H. Tryon postmaster. The place was about a mile and a half south of Walker Island. The office was discontinued in September, 1894. There is an account of the activities of S. H. Tryon in Fred Lockley's column in the Oregon Journal, August 25, 1928, editorial page. Records at the Oregon Historical Society do not substantiate the statement that Dr. Tryon was an Oregon pioneer of 1849. That was probably the year he arrived in California. He reached Oregon in 1850. TryON CREEK, Clackamas and Multnomah counties. Dr. Socrates Hotchkiss Trvon was born in Vermont about 1815 and came to Oregon by way of Panama about 1850. He settled near Oswego, and Tryon Creek is named in his memory. He died in 1855. Tryon Creek drains the west slope of Palatine Hill and flows into Willamette River just north of Oswego, For information about the Tryon family, see article by Fred Lockley, Oregon Journal, August 25, 1928.
TRYON CREEK, Wallowa County. Tryon Creek flows into Snake River in township 3 north, range 50 east. It bears the name of Nate and James Tryon, who ranged sheep there and built a two-story cabin.
TUALATIN, Washington County. The town of Tualatin is near Tualatin River and was named on that account. There was formerly a dis ​crepancy in spelling between the post office name and the railroad station name. The USBGN finally decided on Tualatin, which is now in universal use. The post office with the spelling Tualitin was established November 5, 1869, with Marcellus S. Dailey first postmaster. The name was changed to Tualatin on September 25, 1915. In the '80s the place was sometimes called Bridgeport probably because of the construction of one of the first bridges over Tualatin River nearby.
TUALATIN RIVER, Washington County. Tualatin is probably an Indian word meaning lazy or sluggish, this being the character of the river's flow; another meaning is land without trees, signifying the plains of Tualatin. The latter was vouched for by Tolbert Carter, pioneer of 1846, whose home was near Wells, Benton County (Geo. H. Himes). Tualatin was Twha-la-ti, according to Silas B. Smith in the OHQ, volume I, page 323. John Work gave Faladin in 1834. The name has had many variations, among them Twality, Quality, Falatine and Nefalatine. There is a town named Tualatin in Washington County. The settlements near what are now known as Hillsboro and Forest Grove were in pioneer days called East and West Tualatin precincts. One of the original districts or counties of Oregon was called Twality. See OHQ, volume XI, page 11, volume XVI, page 278 and volume
XXVIII, page 56. The spelling Tuality was also used officially
TUB SPRING, Wallowa County. Tub Spring is in township 2 north, range 41 east, and is so called because it was lined with a tub to keep the water clean. This was done about 1890 when McDonald brothers had a cattle camp nearby.
TUCKER BRIDGE, Hood River County. B. R. Tucker built a bridge and a sawmill at this place about 1881, and the locality was named Tucker Bridge for him. Tucker post office was established January 15, 1892, with B. R. Tucker postmaster. The office was discontinued June 2, 1900.
TUCKER CREEK, Clatsop County. J. B. Kilmore of Astoria wrote the compiler in 1927 that this stream, southeast of Astoria, was named for a wood scow operator who cut wood near the stream and brought it to Astoria for sale.
TUFTI MOUNTAIN, Lane County. Tufti Mountain is about six miles southeast of Oakridge. It was named for a local Indian celebrity Charlie Tufti.
TULE LAKE, Klamath County, Oregon, and Modoc and Siskiyou counties, California. Tule Lake was discovered May 1, 1846, by then Captain John C. Fremont, and was later named Lake Rhett for his friend, Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina. See Fremont's Memoirs of My Life, Chicago, 1887, page 480. On July 6, 1846, the Applegate exploring party first saw this lake. See OHQ, volume XXII, page 1. It is possible that members of the exploring party named the lake Tule Lake at that time, because of its surroundings, although the article does not specifically say so. The article was not written at the time of the exploration. In any event, the name Tule Lake has come into general use and has been adopted by the USBGN in preference to Lake Rhett. Tule is the name of a certain kind of rush. Due to the fact that the waters of Lost River have been diverted, the lake is being gradually reclaimed and at the time of this writing does not exist in Oregon. See Oregonian, September 16, 1923, page 2. There has been a post ER ​
office called Tule Lake at various locations in Klamath County, but it was not in service in 1945. In 1944 there was a Tulelake post office just over the line in California, serving among others, a Japanese relocation center frequently in the news. Gatschet, in Dictionary of the Klamath Language, gives a number of Klamath and other Indian names for this lake. One was Mayaltko E-ush, meaning the lake overgrown with rushes or tule-grass. Moatak and Moatokni E-ush were words used by the Klamaths in referring to this lake, indicating that it was in the neighborhood of the Modoc Indians. The Pit River Indians, according to Gatschet, used the word Lutuami when speaking of this lake.
TULLEY CREEK, Wallowa County. Tulley Creek drains into Imnaha River in township 3 north, range 48 east. It was named for James Tulley, who, with Aaron Wade, drove cattle to the mouth of the stream in 1880 or 1881 for winter range.
TUMALO, Deschutes County. The original name of the community of Tumalo was Laidlaw. It was named in 1904 for W. A. Laidlaw, one of the promoters of the place, and Laidlaw post office was established about 1905. At the time the state was active in the development of the Tumalo irrigation enterprise a post office named Tumalo was established near the construction camps. After the work was finished and the camps abandoned the name Tumalo was transferred to Laidlaw. For the origin of the name Tumalo, see under TUMALO CREEK. For editorial about the early history of Bend, Laidlaw and Tumalo, see Bend Bulletin, December 8, 1936.
TUMALO CREEK, Deschutes County. Satisfactory information about the origin of Tumalo has not been forthcoming, but the compiler inclines to the belief that it is from the Klamath Indian word temolo, meaning wild plum. This shrub was once quite plentiful in south central Oregon. The Klamaths had another word temola meaning ground fog, which may have been used to describe the vicinity of Tumalo Creek, but this is conjectural. Robert B. Gould of Bend informed the compiler that an old settler told him the original name was Tumallowa, and meant icy water. Any one of the above explanations might fit the facts, so there you are.
TUMALT CREEK, Multnomah County. This stream in the eastern part of the county was formerly called Devil Creek and Devil Slide Creek, but at the instigation of the Mazamas in 1915 the name Tumalt was adopted by the government to commemorate an Indian who was killed by Sheridan's command during the Cascade engagement in 1856.
TUMIA, Umatilla County. In 1928 the Union Pacific Railroad established a new station just west of Gibbon and called it Tumia. The word is an abbreviation of the Indian name Toom-hi-ya. The accent is on the middle syllable. Toom-hi-ya was an Indian woman living near the siding, the wife of Charles Shaplish.
TUMTUM CREEK, Benton and Lincoln counties. Tumtum is a Chinook jargon word, meaning heart and Tumtum Creek was so named because it was considered to be the heart of the valley through which it flowed. Mrs. H. G. Downing, of Burnt Woods, wrote the compiler in 1927 that, when a post office was proposed, an effort was made to have the place called Tumtum, but the post office department selected the name Burnt Woods because of the forest fires that had swept over that part of the country many years ago. ​
TUNNEL POINT, Coos County. Tunnel Point is a natural rock formation on Bastendorff Beach at the south side of the entrance to Coos Bay. It has a hole in it, hence the name.
TUPPER ROCK, Coos County. This was a well-known landmark near Bandon, and just south of Coquille River. It was named for John P. Tupper, who kept a hotel at Bandon for many years. Most of the rock has been removed and used to build the Coquille River jetty. There is a snappy picture of J. P. Tupper's Ocean House and Tupper Rock in Walling's History of Southern Oregon, page 268.
TURNER, Marion County. When the railroad was built through this part of the state the officials shipped a load of construction material to the present site of Turner, with instructions to build a station and warehouse to be known as Marion. A man in charge of the shipment unloaded it at the wrong place and built a station some six miles farther south which was called Marion and is in the present location of the station of that name. When the railroad officials discovered the material had been sent to the wrong place they sent a new consignment to the place originally intended to be called Marion, and after building a station named it Turner, for Henry L. Turner, a well-known pioneer resident of this vicinity.
TURNER CREEK, Yamhill County. The stream heading near the Yamhill-Washington county line and flowing south into North Yamhill River near Pike is generally known as Turner Creek. The name came from a family of pioneer settlers which at one time operated a small water driven sawmill on the upper reaches of the stream. This creek has also been called Hay Creek and Hayes Creek, but local sentiment at Pike seems to be in favor of Turner Creek. That is the name used by the Army Engineers who mapped the Fairdale atlas sheet and it is also the name favored by Yamhill County authorities.
TURNER MOUNTAIN, Grant County. Turner Mountain is in the extreme northwest corner of Grant County, in the southwest part of township 7 south, range 27 east. It was named for Joseph A. Turner, a pioneer homesteader on the Howell ranch nearby.
TUSKAN, Wasco County. This is a railway station near Sherars Bridge. The Indian name of the locality near Sherars Bridge was Tush-kan-ee, and the modern form is derived from the old name.
TUSTIN LAKE, Yamhill County. This intermittent pond was named for Charles S. Tustin, a pioneer settler. The lake is near the North Yamhill River west of St. Joseph.
TUTUILLA CREEK, Umatilla County. Information about the origin of this name is conflicting. Judge Fred W. Wilson of The Dalles told the compiler in 1927 that there was a family tradition that this stream was named about 1870 by his father, the late Judge Joseph G. Wilson, because of some childish remark made by his sister, Lucy Wilson, later Mrs. Joseph T. Peters of Portland. Lucy Wilson's nickname was Toots and the story is that Judge and Mrs. Wilson and their little girl were camped near the mouth of this stream and the child referred to it as Toots Creek. Judge Wilson then made up the name Tutuilla Creek. Residents on the Umatilla Indian Reservation do not agree with this version. One old Indian says that the stream has been known as Tutuilla Creek by the Indians for several generations and that the word tutuilla means a thorn bush which grows along its banks. There is another story ​
in circulation in Umatilla County to the effect the stream was named for a place in the South Seas, by an old resident. It is of course possible that the Indians originally named the stream and Miss Wilson or the old resident or both of them applied their own versions. Such coincidences are not unknown in geographic nomenclature.
TUTUTNI Pass, Crater Lake National Park, Klamath County. This pass is in Vidae Ridge, south of Crater Lake. It bears the name of a tribe of Indians that lived near the mouth of Rogue River. The name has no especial significance near Crater Lake, and was probably chosen for sentimental reasons.
TWELVEMILE CREEK, Lake County. This stream flows generally eastward back and forth across the California-Oregon state line southeast of Lakeview. Its waters eventually find their way into the Warner Valley. Twelvemile Creek was so called because the old wagon road north from Fort Bidwell, California, crossed the stream about twelve miles north of Fort Bidwell. Twelvemile Creek flows into Fifteenmile Creek.
TWENTY THREE CREEK, Lincoln County. For most of its course Twenty Three Creek flows through section 23, township 10 south, range 10 west, and for that reason was named for the section number. The stream is about six miles northeast of Toledo and is tributary to Simpson Creek.
TWENTYMILE CREEK, Lake County. Twentymile Creek flows into the Warner Valley south of Adel. The stream received its name because the old road from Fort Bidwell, California, crossed it about twenty miles from the fort.
TWICKENHAM, Wheeler County. Twickenham is a place on John Day River about twenty miles south of Fossil. In August, 1943, W. H. Steiwer of Fossil wrote the compiler that the locality was formerly called Contention, and that there was once a post office of that name, apparently commemorating a quarrel between "Pike" Helms and Jerome H. Parsons, local celebrities. Contention post office was established July 8, 1886, with Edward F. Horn first postmaster. Miss Frankie Parsons, daughter of Jerome H. Parsons, is said to have been responsible for changing the name of the office to Twickenham. While away at school she appears to have become familiar with Theophile Marzials' poem, Twickenham Ferry, the scene of which is laid at Twickenham, a western suburb of London on the River Thames. Upon her return from school, Miss Parsons is said to have objected to the name Contention as being undignified and she determined to get rid of it. Whatever the reason, the facts are that Twickenham post office was established on June 6, 1896, with Anthony Helms as postmaster. It is not clear whether this was a new office or a change of names, and the available records are not conclusive. Twickenham post office was discontinued on February 28, 1917, and mail is now sent through Fossil. Twilight Creek, Clatsop County. This stream is east of Astoria. It was named for W. H. Twilight who located land on its banks in pioneer days. He was one time sheriff of Clatsop County. Twin Cities. The compiler has had several requests for information about a locality in Oregon known as Twin Cities. It may have been a mining camp. Twin Rocks. Tillamook County. Twin Rocks post office serves a ​summer resort, and was named for two large rocks more than a hundred feet high in the Pacific Ocean just below low tide line. The office was established in the summer of 1914, with William E. Dunsmoor first postmaster.
TWIN SISTERS CREEKS, Douglas County. These streams are in the northwest part of the county, in the Coast Range. They converge into one stream just before they flow into Smith River in section 18, township 20 south, range 8 west. The two creeks are very much alike, and of about the same size. They are known as North Sister Creek and South Sister Creek, and Twin Sister Guard Station is situated at the junction of the two streams. According to H. R. Oglesby, district fire warden, the names are very old and were applied in natural consequence of the similarity of the two creeks.
Two Corral CREEK, Wallowa County. This stream flows into Snake River in township 1 north, range 50 east, and was named because W. H. Winters had two stock corrals there in the early days.
TWOBUCK CREEK, Wallowa County. This stream is called Twobuck Creek because the Warnock brothers once killed two deer nearby at a time when they badly needed meat. It is in township 2 south, range 49 east.
TWOCOLOR CREEK, Baker County. This stream is in township 6 south, range 43 east. It was named because of the contrast in color of the two main forks,
TWOMILE CREEK, Coos County. This stream is about ten miles north of Bandon. It was named during the Coos County gold rush of 1853-55 because it was about two miles north along the beach from Randolph and Whisky Run, one of the important points of the excitement.
TwoMILE CREEK, Coos County. Twomile Creek south of Bandon is said to have been named because it was that distance south of the town and of the mouth of Coquille River. However, maps do not support this theory. The stream is more than five miles south of Bandon. See under FOURMILE CREEK.
TyCER CREEK, Josephine County. Tycer Creek is about five miles southeast of Kerby. It was named for James E. Tycer who settled in Brownsville in 1853 and moved to Josephine County in 1866. He owned a ranch near the stream.
TYEE MOUNTAIN, Douglas County. Tyee is the Chinook jargon word for chief, and this mountain was so named because of its important position in its surroundings. The word comes from the Nootka language. There is a post office near the mountain called Tyee.
TYGH VALLEY, Wasco County. Tygh Valley is a post office in the valley of the same name on the banks of Tygh Creek. To the north is an imposing range of hills over 3000 feet high, known as Tygh Ridge. The name comes from the Tygh Indian tribe, now part of the Warm Springs Indians. The Pacific Railroad Surveys Reports, 1855, use the form Tysch Prairie. Fremont in his Report of 1845 gives Taih Prairie. Handbook of American Indians, volume I, page 860, gives other forms.