Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/187



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CULP CREEK, Lane County. Culp Creek is a post office as well as a stream tributary to Row River southeast of Cottage Grove. Culp Creek was named for John Culp, who settled in this neighborhood a few years prior to 1900. A logging company established a camp there and called it the Gulp Creek camp, and when the post office was established February 24, 1925, the name naturally attached itself to the new office, Geo. E. Potter, a local merchant, was first postmaster. For additional information, see Cottage Grove Sentinel, March 28, 1929.

CULTUS LAKE, Deschutes County. Cultus is a Chinook jargon word, quite expressive, meaning bad or wholly worthless. It is used in many places in the Pacific Northwest, generally because of the lack of one or more of the pioneer traveler's greatest needs, "wood, water and grass." Cultus Prairie meant that the horse feed was poor. The word found its way into the jargon from the Chinook Indian word kaltas. In addition to Cultus Lake in Deschutes County, there is also a Little Cultus Lake and Cultus Mountain. The latter was doubtless named for the lakes. Cultus has been spelled in many ways, including Kultus, Cultos and Cultis, but the USBGN has adopted the form Cultus.

CULVER, Jefferson County. In the latter part of 1900 at a dinner party of old settlers living in the Haystack country. G. Collver was requested to make an application for a post office and to act as postmaster. A number of names of old settlers were submitted to the department, and Culver was adopted, this being the ancestral name of Mr. Collver. O. G. Collver was born at Roseburg February 10, 1854, and went into central Oregon in June, 1877. He was appointed postmaster of Culver October 31, 1900. The site of Culver post office as first estab. lished was about five miles east of the present town. 0. G. Collver died in Portland November 14, 1939. For a short biography, see Madras Pioneer, November 23, 1939.

CUMLEY CREEK, Linn County. This stream is west of Detroit. Charles C. Giebeler of Detroit, wrote the compiler in 1927 that the creek was named for a nearby resident, but that he could secure no detailed information about the man.

CUMMINGS CREEK, Grant County. Cummings Creek is a tributary, from the north, of John Day River, 13 miles east of Dayville. J. E. Snow, of Dayville, informed the compiler in October, 1927, that James Cummings settled on this stream in pioneer days. He came from Maine and was a bachelor. Members of his brother's family still live in the neighborhood. James Cumming's house was one of those burned by the Indians in 1878. The stream was named for him.

CUMMINS CREEK, Lane County. This creek and Cummins Ridge to the south are in the extreme northwest corner of the county. They were named for F. L. Cummins, an early homesteader. The form Cummings is incorrect.

CUNNINGHAM CREEK, Coos County. This stream is north of the town of Coquille. It was named for E. Cunningham, a pioneer settler on its banks. Cupit Mary MOUNTAIN, Lane County. Cupit Mary Mountain, elevation 6175 feet, is a prominent point just west of Waldo Lake. In March 1943, C. B. McFarland, for many years a ranger with the United States Forest Service at Oakridge, furnished the compiler with information about Cupit Mary. She was the youngest daughter of an Indian known