Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/181



CRESWELL, Lane County. Creswell was named by Ben Holladay for John A. Creswell, postmaster general from 1869-74. John A. Creswell was born in Maryland in 1828, and served as U. S. representative and as senator before joining the cabinet. In 1874 he was appointed counsel of the United States in the Alabama Claims matter and served until 1876. He died December 23, 1891. Creswell station was named by Holladay several years before the post office was established. The date of establishment of Creswell post office is uncertain, due to difficulty in reading postal records. It may have been on March 4, 1873 or possibly on March 4, 1876. Creswell has an elevation of 543 feet and is on the line of the Southern Pacific Company and the Pacific Highway. Creswell Butte, about a mile to the south, has an elevation of 982 feet.

CRESWELL CANYON, Marion County. This is a canyon in the hills north of Jefferson and its lower end is crossed by the Pacific Highway East just north of Steiwer Hill. It was named for Donald C. Creswell, a pioneer of Oregon. He was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, in 1830, and his land office certificate 4993 says that he arrived in Oregon on October 10, 1852. He cultivated his donation land claim near this canyon beginning October 31, 1853. He was married to Mary Ann Rush on November 30, 1851, in Louise County, Iowa. He spelled his name without a "t."

CRIBBINS Hill, Coos County. This is a small hill south of Myrtle Point. It was named for William Cribbins, a pioneer settler nearby.

CRICKET Flat, Union County. J. H. Horner of Enterprise told the compiler in 1927 that this flat was named for the very large crickets which infested this place in the early '70s. William Knight, whose parents settled at what is now Cove, Oregon, in the '60s, informed Horner that his father drove hogs from Cove to Cricket Flat to feed on these crickets. Cricket Flat was considered to be a fine hog pasture. General O. 0. Howard crossed this flat in the late summer of 1878 and camped about three-quarters of a mile west of the present site of Elgin.

CRIMS ISLAND, Columbia County. Broughton discovered Crims Island and nearby islets in the Columbia River on October 26, 1792, and named them Bakers Islands for the second lieutenant of Vancouver's ship Discovery. This seems to be the same island that Lewis and Clark named Fannys Island, in honor of Frances, William Clark's youngest sister. Wilkes gives the name Gull Island in the atlas accompanying U. S. Exploring Expedition, volume XXIII, Hydrography. James F. Crim took up a homestead on the island and received his patent February 10, 1871. The USBGN adopted the name Crims Island on October 5, 1927, at the suggestion of the compiler of these notes. With the lapse of time Wilkes' name Gull Island has become transferred to a small islet north of the west end of Crims Island.

CRIPPLE CREEK, Clackamas County. This stream flows into the Clackamas River from the east in township 5 south, range 6 east. In 1927 W. C, Elliott, civil engineer of Portland, told the compiler that a surveyor in his emyloy cut his foot with an ax at this point in 1897.

CRITERION, Wasco County. It is understood that a number of homesteaders suggested several names to the Post Office Department when the application was made for a post office at this point. The first preference was for Three Notches and the second was for Criterion. The Post Office Department objected to the first name because it was made of two words and adopted the second name. The writer has been