# Oregon Geographic Names (1952)/J

​Jack CREEK, Klamath County. Jack Creek is in the northeast part of the county. It heads east of Walker Mountain and flows generally southward to Klamath Marsh and Williamson River. It was originally Jackass Creek. but the passage of time has shortened the name. Dr. Thomas Condon on July 31, 1877, wrote while on a trip to Fossil Lake: "Finally we reached water (at Jackass Gulch), where we camped." See Thomas Condon, by Ellen Condon McCornack, page 199. Despite the fact that there are more than a dozen Jack creeks in Oregon, it is improbable that the original name of Jack Creek will be revived.
JACKKNIFE CANYON, Sherman County. Mrs. Lulu D. Crandall of The Dalles told the compiler that her father, Z. Donnell, named Jackknife Canyon because of the circumstances connected with losing a jack knife near the canyon in the fall of a year in the late '60s. He found the knife the following spring and named the canyon on that account.
JACKPOT MEADOW, Clackamas County. Jackpot Meadow is about ten miles south of Mount Hood and drains into Salmon River. It was named because after periods of wet weather it was easy to get into and hard to get out of.
Jacks BRIDGE, Clackamas and Marion counties. Jacks Bridge is on Butte Creek about a mile southwest of Marquam. The name commemo who was the ​ForestForest in Orego and was rates that of Jeremiah J. Jack, a native of Tennessee, a pioneer of 1847, and an early settler near Butte Creek. For biography, see History of the Silverton Country, page 44. Bute Creek post office was established January 24, 1851, with Jack postmaster. The office was discontinued November 3, 1851. It was on the Marion County list. This office was reestablished in 1867 in Clackamas County with the name Butte Creek and in November, 1889, the name was changed to Marquam. For a time during the '70s the office may have been in Marion County, although the records are conflicting.
JACKSON COUNTY. The discovery of gold in southern Oregon in the early '50s made it desirable to provide a county government for that part of the state, and accordingly on January 12, 1852, Jackson County was created and named for Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States. As then constituted the county comprised all that part of Oregon west of the Cascade Range and between the south boundary of Umpqua County and the north boundary of California. The county has been reduced in size considerably since its original establishment. Large areas have been taken to form most of Curry and Josephine counties to the west. According to the Bureau of the Census the present area of the county is 2817 square miles.
JACKSON CREEK, Douglas County. This stream was for many years called South Fork Umpqua River, a name sufficiently cumbersome to call for a change. It was renamed by the USBGN for Clarence W. Jackson, who was killed by a truck in the state of Washington while in the employ of the Forest Service. He had formerly been a ranger on the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon.
JACKSON CREEK, Multnomah and Washington counties. This stream is a tributary of McKay Creek and is about eight miles north of Hillsboro. The falls of this stream are known as Jackson Falls. These features were named for John B. Jackson, a pioneer settler who took up a donation land claim nearby.
JACKSON Hill, Marion County. Jackson Hill is about eight miles south of Salem. For many years one of the main county highways went over this hill. When the Pacific Highway East was built south of Salem, a new route was followed which eliminated the bad grade over Jackson Hill. Jackson Hill is about one-half mile south of Sunnyside school. It was named for L. A. Jackson, a pioneer resident.
JACKSON LAKE, Wallowa County. Jackson Lake was named for J. H. Jackson, formerly a resident of Lostine, who first stocked it with trout. It is in the Wallowa Mountains about twenty miles south of Lostine, in the northwest quarter of section 2, township 4 south, range 43 east, and its waters drain into Lostine River.
JACKSONVILLE, Jackson County. The development of Jacksonville began with the placer gold discoveries there in 1851-52. Leslie M. Scott told the writer in 1927 that Jacksonville was named for Jackson Creek, upon which it is situated, and Jackson Creek was named for one of the men who discovered gold on its banks. For information about Jacksonville see the Oregonian, August 1, 1926, section 1, page 12. Jacksonville post office was established on February 18, 1854, with R. Dugan first postmaster. Sylvester H. Taylor was appointed postmaster on December 19, 1854.
JAMES, Clackamas County. James post office operated from Novem ​ber, 1904, to March, 1906, and was obviously named for Dudly (or Dudley) James its first postmaster. In May, 1948, Isaac V. Trullinger, formerly a resident of Clackamas County, wrote that the James post office was situated near Milk Creek between Meadowbrook and Colton. Thomas W. Gerber has written from Canby confirming Mr. Trullinger's statement and adding that James post office was in the north part of section 5, township 5 south, range 3 east. The James family came into that part of Clackamas County about the turn of the century according to Mr. Gerber. There were nine sons and the old gentleman used to brag that he had sired a baseball team, although there is nothing to indicate that the sons ever played after they came to Oregon. Mr. Gerber contributes another morsel to the effect that about the time Dudly James, the oldest son, put up a little store building at the location mentioned above, it burned down and postal activities were transferred to the James house where they were continued until the post office was discontinued in 1906.
JAMESTOWN, Baker County. Jamestown post office was established on the Union County list on June 5, 1882, with James B. Sams first postmaster. The office was apparently named in compliment to the postmaster. It was finally closed on June 21, 1886. Jamestown was near Big Creek, in the exireme north part of Baker County, northeast of Baker. The locality was once in Union County, but a subsequent boundary change brought it into Baker County. Jamestown was also called Big Creek, for the stream.
JAMIESON, Malheur County. Oregon Short Line Railroad Company officials named Jamieson for a Dr. William Jamieson, who was an early settler on Willow Creek. The post office was established in 1911, with J. L. Pope first postmaster.
JARBOE MEADOWS, Union County. These meadows are about 15 miles north of Elgin, in the extreme north end of the county. They drain southward through Jarboe Creek into Lookingglass Creek. They bear the name of William H. Jarboe, a local homesteader who was a wellknown character of the vicinity. The compiler has seen Jarboe's original signature attached to a letter dated December 29, 1898, written to Fay S. LeGrow, then of Walla Walla, spelled as indicated. The styles Jarbeau and Jarbo are wrong.
JASPER, Lane County. This is a station on the Southern Pacific Company's Cascade line southeast of Springfield. It was named for Jasper B. Hills who was born in the locality in 1859. He was the son of Cornelius Joel Hills, who settled at the present site of Jasper in 1846. The place was named about 1880.
JAYNES RIDGE, Wallowa County. The ridge is in the southeast part of the county. It was named for Barren Jaynes, a pioneer rancher.
JEFF Davis CREEK, Grant County. This stream, which is just east of Prairie City, was named during the Civil War because there were southern sympathizers mining and prospecting on its banks..
JEFFERS SLOUGH, Clatsop County. Jeffers Slough drains an area west of Miles Crossing and flows into Lewis and Clark River. It was named for a landowner. The spelling Jeffries is wrong.
JEFFERSON, Marion County. Apparently the earliest name for the locality of Jefferson was Conser's Ferry, named for Jacob Conser, the owner. Conser, a pioneer of 1848, was a prominent settler in the Santiam Valley who was mixed up with various business enterprises at sev ​eral places, including Syracuse and Santiam City, about two miles down. stream from Jefferson. He left Santiam City and took up a claim upstream and started his own community. He built his ferry in 1851, but it appears that he was still serving as postmaster at Santiam City in the summer of 1852. Jefferson Institute was established in the vicinity of the ferry, and the name of the institute was eventually adopted by the community, probably on account of the strength of the Democratic party in the neighborhood. The institute was of course named for Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. For early history of Conser and the community of Jefferson, see article by Jesse Steiwer Douglas in
OHQ, volume XXXII, number 4. Milton Hale, a pioneer of 1845, was apparently first to sense the strategic importance of this general locality. He established Hale Ferry on the Santiam River, below the present site of Jefferson. He also established Syracuse on his claim on the south bank. Santiam City sprang up on Samuel S. Miller's claim on the north bank. Conser seems to have been ubiquitous. Moving from the vicinity of Scio, he became first postmaster at Syracuse when that office was established on October 4, 1850. Jacob L. Miller became postmaster on March 14, 1851. On July 27, 1852, the name was changed to Santiam City with Jacob Corson postmaster, an obvious misprint in the postal records for Jacob Conser. Samuel S. Miller became postmaster on October 16, 1852. Postal records of this office are confusing, because Syracuse office is listed in Marion County, but the community was of course in Linn County. Santiam City office was listed in Linn County on October 16, 1852, and the community is supposed to have been in Marion County. Douglas, in OHQ, volume XXXII, number 3, mentions the complex history of these two places and Conser's activities. Conser's new community gradually drew business up river and Syracuse and Santiam City faded from the picture. The post office was changed to Jefferson on June 13, 1861.
JEFFERSON COUNTY. Jefferson County was created December 12, 1914, and the territory comprising it was taken from Crook County. It was named for Mount Jefferson, which is one of the principal geographic features in the district, and stands at the west end of Jefferson County. For details concerning the name of Mount Jefferson see under that name. Jefferson County has a land area of 1794 square miles.
JEFFERSON Park, Jefferson and Marion counties. Jefferson Park is a place of peculiar beauty, wedged in across the Cascade Range by Mount Jefferson on the south and by the almost perpedicular walls of a great rock barrier to the north. The floor of the park is about a mile wide north and south, and probably three miles long from east to west. It was formerly known as the Hanging Valley, a name lacking in descriptive quality and appropriateness. The present name of Jefferson Park is much more suitable and is now well established. It was of course suggested by the mountain. The park is about 5900 feet above the sea, and the views to be had from it of the glaciers on the north slope of Mount Jefferson and of the great canyon of the Whitewater to the east must be seen to be appreciated. For excellent pictures of the park and other information see Mineral Resources of Oregon, volume II, No. 1, and Mazama for December 1925.
JEFFRIES CREEK, Lincoln County. This stream, which flows into Big Creek just north of Newport, was named for a homesteader who settled in the northeast quarter of section 5, township 11 south, range 11 west.
JENNIES PEAK, Wheeler County. This point, elevation about 4000 ​feet, is about 12 miles south of Fossil. It was named for Jennie Clarno in the early '70s. The Clarno family were pioneer settlers in that part of John Day Valley.
Jennings Lodge, Clackamas County. Jennings Lodge was platted as a townsite about 1905 and became a post office in 1910. It was named by Judge B. F. Bonham for Berryman Jennings, an Oregon pioneer of 1847. He was receiver of the Oregon City land office under President Buchanan and helped build the Lot Whitcomb, the first steamer built on the Willamette River, at Milwaukie in 1850. In 1927 his house was still occupied by one of his several children, W. B. Jennings. Jennings post office was established November 3, 1910, with Lenora D. Miller postmaster. The name of the office was changed to Jennings Lodge on January 6, 1911.
Jennyopolis, Benton County. This was an early day post office south of the present site of Corvallis. It was established March 24, 1852, with Richard Irwin first postmaster. It was discontinued April 18, 1857. Such a name would be a handicap to any community.
Jerome Prairie, Josephine County. Jerome Prairie is about six miles southwest of Grants Pass. Jerome Dyer settled near this prairie in 1864 and it is probable that it bears his given name.
Jett, Baker County. Jett, a station on the Union Pacific Railroad about eight miles northwest up Burnt River from Huntington, bears the name of a family of early settlers. A post office called Jett was at one time in operation in this locality. It was established July 13, 1895, with Mary F. Jett postmaster. It was closed March 15, 1901.
Jewell, Clatsop County. This place was named after Marshall Jewell, postmaster general from 1874 to 1876. The name was given by W. H. Kirkpatrick, first postmaster at Jewell in 1874.
Jim Creek, Wallowa County. This stream enters Snake River in the northeast part of the county, about seven miles south of the Oregon-Washington state line. J. H. Horner informs the compiler that it bears the name of James Wright, who attempted to cross the creek on a small footlog, lost his balance and fell in. This was in the late '70s. He squatted on a claim near the creek, ranged cattle there and started to build a log cabin on the place.
Jim Hunt Creek, Curry County. James M. Hunt was a gold seeker of 1853 and prominent pioneer settler near the mouth of Rogue River. He is mentioned in Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties. Jim Hunt Creek bears the name of this pioneer. It flows into Rogue River from the south about six miles northeast of Gold Beach. Hunt Rock at Wedderburn is named for the same man.
Jockey Cap, Clatsop County. The name Jockey Cap has been applied to a prominent monolith standing close to the shore at a point a little south of Silver Point. The rock is plainly visible both from the beach and from the Oregon Coast Highway, and should be viewed from the southeast to get the characteristic appearance. The visor of the cap points to the southwest.
Joe Ney Creek, Coos County. This slough is a tributary of South Slough of Coos Bay. S. B. Cathcart of Marshfield informed the compiler in 1929 that Joe Ney settled on the slough in pioneer days. He later went to Elk River in Curry County and bred horses. He died many years prior to 1929.
John Day, Grant County. The town of John Day in Grant County ​
was reestablished Tihis office was discuary 20, 1865, wice, with the with Joh shipments, therman County callroad just west ok, For a good took its name from John Day River. The post office, with the name John Day City, was established January 20, 1865, with Abraham Himes first postmaster. This office was discontinued in March, 1871. The office was reestablished in July, 1879, with the name John Day. For a good many years there was a station on the railroad just west of the mouth of John Day River in Sherman County called John Day, but due to confusion in shipments, the name was changed to Day. Similar difficulties with John Day station at the mouth of John Day River in Clatsop County resulted in a change to Van Dusen, for a well-known county family.
JOHN DAY RIVER, Clatsop County. This stream, like the other of the same name, in eastern Oregon, was named for John Day of the Astor-Hunt Overland party of 1811-12. For information about him, see under the other heading, JOHN Day RIVER. John Day Point, just east of the river, takes its name from the stream, Lewis and Clark mention the river in their journals for November 27, 1805, and give an Indian name Kekemarke. Wilkes, in U. S. Exploring Expedition, volume XXIII, Hydrography, atlas, shows this as Swan Creek. There was formerly a railroad station near this river, called John Day, but some years ago the name was changed to Van Dusen, in honor of the pioneer family of Astoria.
JOHN DAY RIVER, Gilliam, Grant, Sherman, Jefferson, Umatilla, Wasco and Wheeler counties. John Day River is one of the important rivers of Oregon, but due to the fact that it drains an area with little rainfall, the stream does not deliver much water. If it is remarkable in this respect, it is still more so for the great amount of suspended material it carries from its drainage basin. Measured in tons per square mile, the John Day carries off 198 a year, or practically double that of any other important stream in the state. (This calculation is at Dayville.) Its total delivery at the Columbia is more than 750,000 tons of suspended matter a year. It bears the name of John Day (1771-1819) of the Astor overland party. John Day was a Virginia backwoodsman. He was a member of the Astor-Hunt overland party, and he and Ramsay Crooks fell behind the main party in the Snake River country in the winter of 1811-12. They had several terrible experiences, but eventually got through the snow of the Blue Mountains and fell in with friendly Walla Walla Indians. These Indians aided the wanderers and sent them on their way down the Columbia River. In the vicinity of the mouth of John Day River Crooks and Day met hostile Indians who robbed them, even of their clothes. The two naked men started back to the Walla Walla country, but fortunately were rescued by Robert Stuart's party which was descending the Columbia. John Day's name was applied to the Oregon river apparently because it was near the mouth of the stream that the two men were attacked. According to one account John Day went insane in Astoria in 1814 and was buried there, but T. C. Elliott cites McKenzie's statement that Day died in the Snake River country in 1820. See OHQ, volume XVII, page 373. Lewis and Clark named this stream Lepages River on October 21, 1805, after one of their party. John Work uses the name Day's River in his journal for June 25, 1825. (Washington Historical Quarterly, volume V, page 86.) Peter Skene Ogden mentions John Day's River by that name November 29, 1825. (OHQ, volume X, page 337.) For editorial by Harvey W. Scott ​
showing impossibilities of Mrs. S. A. Weeks of Sherwood being daughter of John Day, see the Oregonian, January 10, 1910. The fossil beds of the John Day country are among the most important in America.
JOHN HENRY LAKE, Wallowa County. This lake was named for John Henry Wilson of Wallowa, who had mining interests nearby. It is in township 3 south, range 43 east.
JOHN SMITH ISLAND, Benton County. This is an island in the Willamette River south of Corvallis. This was named for a prominent citizen of Benton County, who lived in Corvallis for many years. He owned the island and other land in the vicinity.
JOHNNY KIRK SPRING, Grant County. This spring is on John Day Highway, north of Dayville. It bears the name of an eccentric pioneer character who settled in the John Day Valley, after having been a participant in the '49 gold rush to California. He came to Oregon probably about 1870. In the winter he lived in his bachelor's cabin near the spring that now bears his name; during the summer he mined and prospected in the Blue Mountains. He was popular because of his inveterate story-telling.
JOHNSON, Lincoln County. Johnson post office was at the Parmele place about half a mile up Drift Creek from the mouth of that stream on the east side of Siletz Bay. The office was established March 11, 1899, with George S. Parmele first and only postmaster. The office was closed May 23, 1903, and what business there was was turned over to Kernville. Parmele operated a general store. The office was named in compliment to Jakie and Sissy Johnson, a local Indian couple, well and favorably known. Jakie is said to have been a Siletz Indian, but his wife was from California. The Johnsons held land by patent and part of the town of Taft is on property owned by the pair.
JOHNSON CREEK, Clackamas and Multnomah counties. U. S. land surveyors named this stream for William Johnson, a pioneer of 1846, who settled near what is now Lents, and there built a sawmill in the '50s. Scott's History of the Oregon Country gives some additional facts and also information about Johnson's sons, Jacob and Jasper W. Johnson. See also Oregon Journal, August 20, 1934, editorial page.
JOHNSON CREEK, Grant and Wheeler counties. This stream flows into John Day River about 10 miles southeast of Spray. It was named for Henry Johnson, a pioneer stock man who settled near the mouth of the stream in the '70s.
JOHNSON CREEK, Multnomah County. This stream, which formerly flowed from the neighborhood of Barnes Road across the northern part of Portland, has been partly confined to a drainage sewer and is no longer visible outside of the canyon west of Washington Park. It was named for Arthur Harrison Johnson, a leading meat dealer of Portland for many years. He arrived in Portland in 1852 and soon formed a partnership with Richard S. Perkins in the butcher business. In 1862 Perkins retired, but Johnson continued and enlarged the business. His slaughterhouses were in the neighborhood of Twentythird and Flanders streets, Portland. For information about Johnson, see Scott's History of the Oregon Country, volume II, pages 82 and 273, and for his obituary, see the Oregonian, April 30, 1902.
JOHNSON CREEK, Wallowa County. This is a small tributary of Imnaha River from the east at a point about 25 miles east of Wallowa ​
Lake. It was named for one Tom Johnson, who took up a homestead along the stream and ranged cattle here.
JOHNSON MOUNTAIN, Coos County. Johnson Mountain is in the southwest part of the county and Johnson Creek flows around it on the south. These two geographic features were named for a pioneer miner, "Coarse Gold" Johnson, who discovered gold nearby in rich nuggets in 1854. The Coos Bay News, August 31, 1887, contains an item to the effect that George Bailey had recently found the remains of a man in the woods south of Sixes River. The remains were identified as those of "Coarse Gold" Johnson, who discovered gold on what was later called Johnson Creek.
JONES CREEK, Josephine County. Jones Creek is a tributary of Rogue River, about two miles east of Grants Pass. John K. Jones was a pioneer settler near the banks of this stream and it was named in his honor. He and his wife were killed by Indians, and their heirs subsequently owned the claim.
JONESBORO, Malheur County. This station was named for William Jones, a local cattleman. The place is between Juntura and Harper, on the Union Pacific Railroad.
JONT CREEK, Polk County. Jont Creek is a small stream that rises in the extreme south border of the county and flows northeastward through Airlie. It was named for one Jont Williams, an early day homesteader in the vicinity.
JOPPA, Washington County. The Pacific Monthly and Official Gazette, date uncertain, but probably about 1880, contains the following: "Joppa is not the celebrated place where the timber was floated to build King Solomon's Temple, but a discontinued post office eight miles northwest of Forest Grove. A migratory peddler was the postmaster. The authorities in Washington City having learned that he carried the post office in his pocket, concluded it was rather an inaccessible place for the numerous population of Joppa to obtain their mail, and discontinued the office." The compiler has not been able to get much additional information about this post office except that it was established March 13, 1874, with Alvin C. Brown the first of three postmasters. The office was closed July 5, 1876. It has been impossible to get the exact location of the office. It seems probable that the office was named by a biblical enthusiast. The original Joppa was one of the most ancient seaports of the world, on the coast of the Holy Land about 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem. The spelling of the more modern community on the coast of Palestine is generally given as Jaffa.
JORDAN CREEK, Lane County. Jordan Creek flows into Coyote Creek about four miles upstream from Crow. Some maps show this stream with the name Jorden Creek, but in December, 1945, Merle Nighswander, an old timer of the vicinity, wrote the compiler that the correct spelling was Jordan. Mr. Nighswander added that the name was that of an earlyday squatter on the banks of the creek.
JORDAN POINT, Coos County. When the USGS mapped the Coos Bay quadrangle in 1895-96, it applied the name Jordan Point to a feature on the east side of Coos Bay just north of the mouth of Kentuck Slough. This name was supposed to be derived from James Jordan, an early settler who ranged Kentuck Slough as a hunter for the North Bend mill. See Dodge's Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, ​
page 358. When the area was remapped nearly a half century later it was found that the name Jordan Point had wandered off to a low promontory on the north side of the bay just west of the Southern Pacific Company railroad. How and when the name made this jump of two miles northwestward the writer has been unable to learn. Students of Coos Bay history have been unsuccessful in getting any facts about the matter. On the new map a place called Jordan Cove is shown just west of the new Jordan Point. The point on the east side of the bay formerly called Jordan Point is now known as Glascow Point.
JORDAN VALLEY, Linn County. Jordan Valley is just south of North Santiam River, but does not drain that stream. Jordan Creek carries the waters of the valley southward into Thomas Creek, which flows into South Santiam River west of Scio. Local tradition says that Jordan Valley was named by Linn County's famous pioneer circuit rider, Joab Powell, in compliment to the Valley of the Jordan in the Holy Land. Many years ago there was a post office called Jordan on the lower reaches of Jordan Creek. This office was established August 10, 1874, with Elias Forgey first of six postmasters. The office was closed out to Scio October 21, 1905. This was due to the extension of rural free delivery. Most maps show this office close to the mouth of Jordan Creek, but it may have wandered around a little.
JORDAN VALLEY, Malheur County. Jordan Valley is the name of a post office in Jordan Valley on the banks of Jordan Creek, which is a tributary of Owyhee River. The stream was named for Michael M. Jordan who was the leader of a party that discovered gold on its banks in May, 1863. He was killed in an Indian fight in the Owyhee country in 1864. See Bancroft's History of Washington, Idaho and Montana.
JORY HILL, Marion County. Jory Hill, with an elevation of 737 feet, is southwest of Salem. Several members of the Jory family settled in this neighborhood in pioneer days on donation land claims, and the hill was named for them.
JOSEPH, Wallowa County. Joseph is a town in the Wallowa Valley and is named for Chief Joseph, (1837-1904), who claimed the valley as his ancestral home, thus bringing on a war with the whites, which resulted in Joseph's retreat to Montana. For details of his life see under
CHIEF JOSEPH MOUNTAIN. Joseph Creek in Wallowa County also bears his name. In January, 1944, J. H. Horner of Enterprise told the compiler that the community of Joseph was first called Silver Lake and also Lake City. When the post office was established about 1880 these two names were suggested but authorities would not accept them because of duplication with other Oregon places. Matt Johnson then suggested the name Joseph, which was accepted.
JOSEPHINE COUNTY. Josephine County was created January 22, 1856, from a western part of Jackson County. It now has a land area of 1625 square miles. It was probably named for Josephine Rollins, who was the daughter of the discoverer of gold in the Josephine Creek that bears her name, according to H. H. Bancroft, (History of Oregon, volume II, pages, 415 and 713). This is confirmed by Walling, on page 447 of his History of Southern Oregon, who says that Josephine County received its name from Josephine Creek, which was named for Josephine Rollins. Further confirmation is contained in a letter from the woman herself, dated February 19, 1909, a copy of which is in possession of the Oregon Historical Society. She signs herself Virginia Josephine Rollins Ort, — ​and says she was born in Morgan County, Illinois, in 1833. In 1850 the family started for California from Missouri, but finally landed in Oregon. The family again started for California in 1851, and several members, including Miss Rollins, went into the valley of the Illinois River near the stream that now bears her name. Mrs. Ort says as far as she knew, she was the first white woman in that part of Oregon, and that the county was named for her. She was married in 1854 to Julius Ort, in Colusa County, California, and in 1863 moved to Sonora County, where she was living at the time she wrote the letter. Walling's statement that Miss Rollins' married name was O'Kelly does not seem to be correct. According to Geo. H. Parker (letter to the Oregonian, November 2, 1913), Josephine Rollins was then (1913) living at Sonoma, California; Parker wrote that he had received a photograph of her taken when she was fortyfive years of age; that she was the sister of the wife of Jacob Thompson, of Ashland; that she came with her father, in 1851, to the county now bearing her name. In 1846 a girl named Martha Leland Crowley died on what has since been called Grave Creek. The legislature, by act of January 6, 1854, tried to change the name to Leland Creek, in honor of Miss Crowley (see Special Laws of legislature, page 19). The general public never adopted the new name and the stream is still called Grave Creek. Assertions that Miss Crowley's first name was Josephine and that the county may have been named for her do not seem to be substantiated by the available records. Josephine Rollins was the first white woman who made her abode there, so that the name of the county is probably hers. For history of the grave of Martha Leland Crowley, by C. P. Fullerton, Oregonian, November 23, 1883; by James W. Nesmith, ibid., November 23, 1883; page 2; by Matthew P. Deady, ibid., December 5, 1883.
JOSEPHINE CREEK, Josephine County. This is a tributary of Illinois River west of Kerby. According to Bancroft's History of Oregon, volume II, page 713, it was named for Josephine Rollins, who was a daughter of the man who discovered gold in the creek. In another place, volume II, page 227, note 38, Bancroft makes the conflicting statement that Josephine Creek was named for Josephine Kirby whose father discovered gold nearby. The compiler has been unable to reconcile these statements, and in view of what is known about Josephine Rollins, suspects that the story of Josephine Kirby is wrong or possibly a typographical error. For further information, see under JOSEPHINE COUNTY. Joy, Wallowa County. Joy was a pioneer post office near the Findley Buttes, about fifteen miles airline northeast of Enterprise. J. H. Horner told the compiler in 1931 that the office was named because of the joy settlers expressed at the possibility of mail service. These people did not then know about circular letters and advertising by mail. Newton W. Brumback was the first postmaster at Joy, in 1888.
JUDKINS POINT, Lane County. Judkins Point, in the east part of Eugene, was named for Thomas H. Judkins, who settled on a farm just east of the promontory in 1853. Judkins was born in New York in 1803 and came to Oregon in 1851. He settled first near Monroe. He died in 1878.
JUDSON Rocks, Marion County. These rocks are in Willamette River about two miles northwest of Sidney. They were named for L. B. Judson, a nearby landowner of pioneer days.
JUMPOFF Joe Creek, Josephine County. Jumpoff Joe Creek is in ​the extreme northeast corner of the county. The Pacific Highway crosses it in Pleasant Valley James W. Nesmith, in a letter printed in the Oregonian for November 23, 1883, says the stream was named for an exploit of Joe McLoughlin, in 1837 or 1839, but does not state the nature of the exploit. McLoughlin died December 14, 1848. Data in possession of Oregon Historical Society indicate the naming of the stream probably took place in 1828 rather than at the time mentioned by Colonel Nesmith. Joe McLoughlin, son of Dr. John McLoughlin, was in southern Oregon in a trapping party under the leadership of Alexander R. McLeod. The trappers camped one night on this stream and McLoughlin, who came in after dark, fell over the edge of the bluff and received very severe injuries, which, it is said, subsequently caused his death. Myron Eells gives this as the correct origin of the name, and practically the same facts are printed in West Shore, October 1883, page 26. Other stories about this name do not seem to be substantiated by historical records.
JUNCTION City, Lane County. About 1870 when the railroad construction war was being waged in the Willamette Valley, Ben Holladay had a scheme to build a west side railroad. It was to join his east side line at a point in the Willamette Valley, not further south than Eugene. Junction City was selected to be the place where the two roads were to come together. The west side road was not built according to plans and as a result the city never became a junction for railroad traffic, but fifty years later it did become a junction of the two main branches of the Pacific Highway through the Willamette Valley. The name, therefore, is now quite appropriate.
JUNE, Lane County. June post office, which was situated on the upper reaches of Lost Creek south of Dexter, was established January 3, 1899, with Malinda Mathews first postmaster. The office was discontinued September 18, 1907, and the business was turned over to Zion, which was a few miles north down Lost Creek. June post ofhce was named for Mount June, a prominent point to the southeast. Mount June was named because snow generally lies on its summit and slopes until that month of the year.
JUNIPER, Umatilla County. Juniper is a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, in the extreme north part of the county, close to the Columbia River. It is just north of the mouth of Juniper Canyon, which drains a considerable area north of Holdman. These features were named for the scattering juniper trees of the locality. Juniper post office was established June 26, 1884, with John B. Davis first postmaster. Except for a period from June, 1894, to March, 1898, this office was in service until January 31, 1912, though it appears to have been in several different places, never very far from Juniper Canyon.
JUNIPER BUTTE, Jefferson County. Juniper Butte is just south of Culver. It is a prominent feature on the landscape, and has a rather peculiar concavity on the north, like a natural amphitheater on a large scale. The compiler is unable to determine why it should have been called for the juniper tree any more than several other buttes in the neighborhood which have as many of these trees growing on their slopes. The juniper of Oregon is Juniperus occidentalis, or western juniper.
JUNTURA, Malheur County. Juntura is the Spanish word for juncture. It was applied to a community in Malheur County because it was near the junction of the North Fork with the main Malheur River. The ​name is said to have been selected by B. L. Milligan who settled in the locality in the early '80s and was later county school superintendent.