Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/171



COSPER CREEK, Polk and Yamhill counties. This stream is near Grand Ronde, and was named for a pioneer family. Casper Creek is wrong.

COTTAGE GROVE, Lane County. Cottage Grove is an important community in the southern part of Lane County, on the line of the Southern Pacific Company and on the Pacific Highway. Its elevation is 641 feet and the Coast Fork Willamette River Aows through it. The post office was first established east of the present site of Creswell, March 3, 1855, with G, C. Pearce as postmaster. Pearce had his home in an oak grove, and named the post office Cottage Grove. Andrew Hamilton became postmaster in September, 1861, and he moved the ofhce to the present site of Saginaw. When Nathan Martin was postmaster in the latter '60s the office was moved to a point on the west bank of Coast Fork Willamette River in the extreme southwest part of what is now the town of Cottage Grove. When the railroad was built through in the '70s a station was established more than half a mile north and east of the post office. This was the start of a bitter neighborhood controversy that ran on for nearly two decades. The people living near the post office would not allow it to be moved to Cottage Grove railroad station, so a new post office was established at that point and named Lemati. Lemati is a Chinook jargon word meaning mountain, but why it was selected as a name for the new post office is not apparent. Lemiti is the generally accepted spelling of the word as used elsewhere in Oregon. Cottage Grove was incorporated in 1887, but in 1893 the eastsiders rebelled and secured a charter for East Cottage Grove. The name of this place was changed to Lemati by the legislature in 1895, and the railroad station sported two names on its signboard, although Lemati was in small letters. The differences were subsequently composed and an act was passed in 1899 to consolidate the places with the name Cottage Grove. Lemati post office, as a rival to Cottage Grove, was in operation from November 21, 1893, to September 5, 1894, with Laban F. Wooley postmaster. However, on March 28, 1898, the name of the Cottage Grove office was changed to Lemati and it operated that way until May 10, 1898, when the name Cottage Grove was restored. Perry P. Sherwood was postmaster at this time.

COTTON, Multnomah County. Cotton is a station on the line of the Portland Electric Power Company about a mile west of Gresham. It was named for William Wick Cotton (1859-1918), a well-known attorney of Portland, who owned a large farm near the station. Cotton was a native of Iowa, and studied law at Columbia University, New York City. He came to Portland in October, 1889, and practiced law continuously until his death, at which time he was counsel of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company and other important corporations.

COTTONWOOD, Lake County. Cottonwood post office was named for Cottonwood Creek which flowed nearby the office. The place was about ten miles southwest of Lakeview, and Rial T. Striplin was the only postmaster the office ever had. Cottonwood office was established May 1, 1897, and was discontinued November 1, 1897, with papers to Lakeview. The office was near the west quarter-corner of section 34, township 39 south, range 19 east. Cottonwood Creek flows very close to this land corner.

COTTONWOOD CREEK, Lake County. This stream is northwest of