Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/16

 timental reasons, and also resulting in the use of many pioneer family names for Oregon features, particularly for streams and mountains.

Fifth—The Indian wars and the mining periods, resulting in the application of the names of soldiers and also of the picturesque nomenclature that always follows the early pursuit of gold.

Sixth—The modern period of made up names, real estate phraseology, and the occasional praiseworthy effort to apply a suitable historic or Indian name to something that bears an unsatisfactory title. The work of others has been drawn upon freely. When Leslie M. Scott collated the writings of his father and published them under the title History of the Oregon Country, he presented a storehouse of information about Oregon geographic names. The writer found this of great assistance. Material compiled by Judge Charles H. Carey, T. C. Elliott, Will G. Steel and H. H. Bancroft has been referred to constantly. Professor Edmond S. Meany's Origin of Washington Geographic Names has been used freely, and should be in the library of everyone interested in the history of the Oregon country.

The spelling used by the United States Board of Geographical Names and by the government mapping bureaus have been followed as closely as possible. There may be some who do not agree with such forms, but the compiler feels that as long as these spellings appear on the government maps they should stand as they are until changed by decisions of the Board. Where elevations are given for communities, they indicate the elevations of important government bench marks, expressed to the nearest foot.

An attempt at this time to make an exhaustive analysis of the origin of Oregon geographic names would be premature. Material now available is not completely representative. There are probably 50,000 geographic features in Oregon sufficiently important to be distinguished by names. At least half of these features deserve but minor consideration. For the most part they bear simple descriptive names with no historical background. There are innumerable Dry, Alkali and Fish creeks, and Bald, Rocky and Huckleberry mountains. The remaining 25,000 names of Oregon geographic features are worthy of serious study. The author has information printed under about 3400 headings in this book, and these headings cover approximately 5000 features, or about one-fifth of the more important ones of the state.

From an historical point of view, it is apparent that practically all the best names of the state are mentioned.

The compiler has made a rough analysis of the names of features in this book. He is of the opinion that the origins of these names may be classified in accordance with the percentages in the following table: