Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/152



Raymond Caufield of Oregon City was good enough to gather these facts from George A. Clarke, a son of Irving L. Clarke, in September, 1945.

CLARNIE, Multnomah County. The origin of the name Clarnie is obscure, but the following explanation is derived from trustworthy sources: Two locators of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company decided to name the railroad station after their daughters, the name of one being Clara, and that of the other being Jennie. They combined syllables of the two names to make Clarnie. This station is five miles west of Fairview.

CLARNO, Wheeler County. This post office is on John Day River near Clarno Bridge, and in 1944, happened to be in Wheeler County. Clarno was named for one of the earliest white settlers on John Day River, Andrew Clarno. Just below the post office is the site of the proposed Clarno Dam for impounding irrigation water. For information about this dam see the co-operative report on the John Day project issued by the state engineer and by the U. S. Reclamation Service in 1916. The Clarno post office is generally situated not far from the bridge, depending upon who can be prevailed upon to take the postmastership. Sometimes it is in Wasco County, sometimes in Wheeler. Clarno has an elevation of 1304 feet. Clarno post office was established September 15, 1894, with Nannie Chichester postmaster. It was then in Gilliam County, as Wheeler County had not yet been formed. When Andrew Clarno settled on John Day River, he had no neighbors. Stockmen in those days did not feel the need of any. When he heard that a friend had settled on a homestead about 20 miles to the east, near the present site of Fossil, he rode over on horseback, and said: "Bill, don't you think you're crowding me a little?" Maps and postal records of the '80s show a post office named Crown Rock in the present locality of Clarno, but the compiler has been unable to get information about it, except that it was named for a rock formation nearby. . Classic RIDGE, Tillamook County. Classic Ridge is between Nehalem and Neahkahnie Mountain. Classic Lake is east of the ridge. These features were named by J. H. Edwards of Portland, who was interested in music, and had hopes of developing a community of persons devoted to the arts. ClATSKANIE, Columbia County. Silas B. Smith, Clatsop County pioneer, is quoted in the OHQ, volume I, page 322, to the effect that Tlats-kani was a point in the Nehalem Valley reached by the Indians from the Columbia River either by way of what we now know as Youngs River, or by way of Clatskanie River. The Indians used the word Tlatskani by applying it to certain streams indicating the route they took to get to Tlats-kani, and not as the name of the streams for Indians were not in the habit of naming streams. White men carelessly applied the name to the stream. Clatskanie River in Columbia County, and Klaskanine River in Clatsop County were thus named, and Clatskanie, a town, developed near the point where the former joined the Columbia River. Clatskanie is the spelling adopted by the USBGN for the features in Columbia County. The locality Tlats-kani in the hills south of Clatskanie River was named for the Tlatskanai Indians, who lived along the river and in the Nehalem Valley to the south. See Handbook of American Indians, volume II, page 763. There are many variations in the