Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/148



CHLORIDE, Baker County. Chloride post office was established in the Blue Mountains on June 18, 1901, with George B. Rogers first postmaster. The office was closed on May 28, 1904. It was installed to serve a mining development in the east part of township 8 south, range 37 east. In December, 1945, LeRoy A. Grettum of Baker wrote the compiler as follows: "This post office was at the Chloride Mine in the Blue Mountains near the headwaters of Rock Creek, west of Haines. According to people in Haines who were working there at the time, both the post office and the mine shut down in the spring of 1904 because a very bad snow slide carried away a lot of surface improvements and the resulting debris blocked the tunnel." According to F. W. Libbey of the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries the name Chloride was doubtless applied because of the presence of silver chloride in the local outcrops. Mr. Libbey writes: "Chloride is not an uncommon name in western mining camps. In the early days in the West a lessee or prospector who followed a thin vein or small high-grade ore deposit was called a chlorider. According to Albert H. Fay in his Glossary of the Mining and Mineral Industry the term is said to have originated at Silver Reef in southwestern Utah when the rich silver chloride ores were being worked. The name was later extended to apply to similar workers in other fields and to other types of high-grade deposits."

CHOCKTOOT CREEK, Lake County. This creek flows into Sycan Marsh from the east, and was named for a well-known Indian chief of the Piute or Snake tribe.

CHOPTIE PRAIRIE, Klamath County. Choptie Prairie is between Saddle Mountain and Chiloquin Ridge, on Klamath Indian Reservation. The name is derived from a Klamath Indian word meaning hidden, or secluded, which well describes the place.

CHRISTMAN, Lane County. Christman post office was established January 6, 1888, and discontinued September 6, 1893, with Mattie Kirk the only postmaster. It was on Row River southeast of Cottage Grove, probably in the northeast part of township 21 south, range 2 west. In 1947 John C. Veatch of Portland, reared in the Cottage Grove area, wrote the compiler as follows: "I think this office was on the ranch of Wes Christman who lived on Row River a few miles from the Star office. As I remember, Wes moved into Cottage Grove about 1893 and this was probably the reason for closing the office."

CHRISTMAS CREEK, Wallowa County. This small stream flows into Snake River in section 32, township 4 north, range 50 cast. It was named by James Tryon and Lu Knapper. They took their sheep to the canyon for winter range on Christmas Day, 1888, and built a cabin on the creek.

CHRISTMAS LAKE, Lake County. Christmas Lake is a small body of water in township 26 south, range 18 east, about 25 miles east of Fort Rock. The name is one of the puzzles in Oregon nomenclature. It is frequently asserted that John C. Fremont discovered and named the lake in question, which is not a fact. A map of the Oregon territory accompanying Senator Lewis F. Linn's report, prepared under the direction of Col. J. J. Abert in 1838, shows a river flowing from a lake near what is now known as Drew Valley, the river being labeled Christmas River. It is not clear where this name was obtained, but it is possible that such a stream may have been named by Hudson's Bay Company men. Fur brigades visited central Oregon as early as 1825, and may have had something to do with the name of Christmas River. During the second gene Willo north istic noun theo south